I concur with the majority of the committee that Congress can not grant the precise relief prayed for in the memorial; but I deem it to be the duty of Congress to declare its disapproval of the doctrine asserted and the course pursued in the trial of Miss Anthony; and all the more for the reason that no judicial court has jurisdiction to review the proceedings therein.

I need not disclaim all purpose to question the motives of the learned judge before whom this trial was conducted.  The best of judges may commit the gravest of errors amid the hurry and confusion of a nisi prius term; and the wrong Miss Anthony has suffered ought to be charged to the vicious system which denies to those convicted of offenses against the laws of the United States a hearing before the court of last resort—­a defect it is equally within the power and the duty of Congress speedily to remedy.

When Miss Anthony returned to Rochester in February, she found the inspectors were about to be put into jail because, acting under advice, they still refused to pay their fines.  She wrote Benjamin F. Butler, who replied under date of February 22:  “I would not, if I were they, pay, but allow process to be served; and I have no doubt the President will remit the fine if they are pressed too far.”  They were imprisoned February 26.  Miss Anthony went at once to the jail and urged them not to pay the fine, for the sake of principle, promising to see that they were soon released.  She waded through a heavy snow to consult her attorneys and then to the newspaper offices to talk with the editors in regard to the prisoners, reaching home at dark, and in her diary that night she writes, “I could not bear to come away and leave them one night in that dolorous place.”

She went out for a few lectures in neighboring towns, and at the Dansville Sanitarium was presented by the patients with a purse of $62.  Arriving in Rochester at 7 A. M., March 2, she went straight to the jail and breakfasted with the inspectors; then to see the marshal and succeeded in having them released on bail.  She did not reach home till 1 p.  M., and here she found this telegram from Senator Sargent:  “I laid the case of the inspectors before the President today.  He kindly orders their pardon.  Papers are being prepared.”  Benjamin F. Butler also had interceded with the President and sent Miss Anthony a telegram of congratulation on the result.  In a few days the inspectors were pardoned and their fines remitted by President Grant.  They were in jail just one week and during that time received hundreds of calls, while each day bountiful meals were sent them by the women whose votes they had accepted.  After their pardon a reception was given them at the home of Miss Anthony’s sister, Mrs. Mosher, by the ladies of the Eighth ward, and in the spring they were re-elected by a handsome majority.  Miss Anthony’s fine stands against her to the present day.