The testimony of Bates was that Mr. Davis, whilst addressing the people from the steps of Bates's house, received a telegram from General Breckinridge informing him of the assassination of President Lincoln, and that an attempt had been made on the life of William H. Seward, and that he was repeatedly stabbed and probably mortally wounded, and that in concluding his speech he read the telegram aloud, and made this remark, "If it were to be done it were better it were well done." The witness added, "I am quite sure that these are the words he used." And again, "A day or two afterward Jefferson Davis and John C. Breckinridge were present at my house, when the assassination of the President was the subject of conversation. In speaking of it, John C. Breckinridge remarked to Davis that he regretted it very much, that it was very unfortunate for the people of the South at that time. Davis replied, 'Well, General, I don't know; if it were to be done at all, it were better that it were well done, and if the same had been done to Andy Johnson, the beast, and to Secretary Stanton, the job would then be complete.' No remark was made at all as to the criminality of the act, and from the expression used by John C. Breckinridge I drew the conclusion that he simply regarded it as unfortunate for the people of the South at that time." Here is Bates's testimony as it stands recorded, and was also published at the time.[6] Why did not Mr. Harrison address himself to this testimony instead of giving his version of it from memory, and confounding it with newspaper reports as to what Bates claimed to have been his testimony, and thus finding an opportunity to substitute Col. William P. Johnston for General Breckinridge, thus contradicting it through Johnston? General Breckinridge was the only man who could have contradicted Bates's testimony. If he ever did do this it has not come to the knowledge of the writer. Bates's testimony cannot be set aside in the manner attempted by Mr. Harrison. The charge made by the government on that trial against Jefferson Davis of inciting and encouraging the assassins, implicating him thus far in the murder of Mr. Lincoln, was only made upon the evidence before it, and which we have already presented at length. It was not a trumped-up charge for the purpose of gratifying malice, or with a view to the taking of the life of Mr. Davis unjustly in revenge, but a charge made in good faith, and sustained by evidence that has never been overthrown. The conclusion of Mr. Harrison, that the government conceded that its charge against Mr. Davis was unfounded in that it did not prosecute it when it had him in custody as a prisoner, is a _non sequitor_.