Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/92

66, with the earnest recommendation that the application of Gen. Robert E. Lee for amnesty and pardon be granted him." But President John son was at that time embittered against all participants in the rebellion, and seemed determined to have Lee and others punished for the crime of treason. Lee afterward made a strong plea by letter to Grant for protection. Grant put a long and emphatic endorsement upon this letter, in which he used the following language: "In my opinion, the officers and men paroled at Appomattox Court- House and since, upon the same terms given to Lee, cannot be tried for treason so long as they preserve the terms of their parole. … The action of Judge Underwood in Norfolk has already had an injurious effect, and I would ask that he be ordered to quash all indictments found against paroled prisoners of war, and to desist from further prosecution of them." Grant insisted that he had the power to accord the terms he granted at Appomattox, and that the president was bound to respect the agreements there entered into unless they should be abrogated by the prisoners violating their paroles. He went so far as to declare that he would resign his commission if so gross a breach of good faith should be perpetrated by the executive. The result was the abandonment of the prosecutions. This was the first of a series of contests between