On motion of W. H. F. Gurley, of Scott County, the resolutions were somewhat changed and passed. In response to them Governor Kirkwood sent all the papers in the case to the House with a special message.
The reasons Kirkwood gave for refusing to order Coppoc’s arrest were:
First—No indictment had been found against him.
Second—The affidavit was made before an alleged notary public, but was not authenticated by a notary’s seal.
Third—The affidavit did not show that Coppoc was in Virginia aiding and abetting John Brown.
Fourth—It did not legally charge him with commission of any crime.
The Governor says:
“It is a high prerogative of official power in any case to seize a citizen of the State and send him upon an ex-parte statement without any preliminary examination, and without confronting him with a single witness, to a distant State for trial. It is a prerogative so high that the law tolerates its exercise only on certain fixed conditions, and I shall not exercise that power to the peril of any citizen of Iowa upon demand of the State of Virginia, or any other State, unless these conditions are complied with.
“The fact that an agent of Virginia was here with a requisition for Coppoc became publicly known solely through the acts of the agent himself. After I had communicated my determination to him not to grant the warrant, he sat in my office conversing with me on the subject. During our conversation other persons came in, an to my surprise he continued the conversation in their presence. I said to him that ‘I supposed he did not wish his business made known to the public.’ He replied that as the warrant had been refused he did not care who knew it. In this manner the fact that a requisition had been made for Coppoc became known in this place. The insinuation that I had anything to do, directly or indirectly, with sending information to Coppoc, that a requisition had been sent for him, is simply and unqualifiedly untrue; nor have I any means of knowing whether such information was sent by others, or, if so, by whom sent, other than common rumor. Permit me to say in conclusion that one of the most important duties of the official position I hold is to see that no citizen of Iowa is carried beyond her border and subjected to the ignominy of imprisonment and the perils of trial for crimes in another State otherwise than by due process of law. That duty I shall perform. …
