The business of Hay’s motion absorbed the attention of the Court for the better part of a week, but Wilkinson’s failure to appear continued to hold up proceedings. To a friend in New York Washington Irving wrote impatiently: “... you can little conceive the talents for procrastination that have been exhibited in this affair. Day after day we have been disappointed by the non-arrival of the magnanimous Wilkinson; day after day have fresh murmurs and complaints been uttered; and day after day are we told that the next mail will probably bring this noble self, or at least some account of when he may be expected.” Finally the Court gave up hope of the immediate arrival of the General. The Chief Justice granted a recess of the Grand Jury for a week so that, as Irving put it, “they might go home, see their wives, and flog their Negroes.” On Tuesday, June 9, the Jury was recalled and Court reconvened, but it had nothing to do. It was now the turn of the defense to provide diversion to keep the case from dying of inanition. Colonel Burr set things in motion by stating that he thought he might need for his defense a letter of General Wilkinson of October 21, 1806, addressed to President Jefferson, which had been mentioned by the President in his special message to Congress, and the President’s reply to the same. He also would like to have copies of the orders with reference to himself which had been issued to the Army and the Navy. The Colonel said he had asked for the papers in Washington but without result. Therefore he requested the Chief Justice to issue a _subpoena duces tecum_ to the President of the United States demanding either that he supply the papers or else come into court with them himself. Burr’s request called for quick thinking on the part of the District Attorney. How was Hay to protect his master from the indignity of a summons yet at the same time prevent his being exposed to a charge of concealing evidence? How was he to offer assurances without pledging the Government to go farther than the President might want it to go? Mr. Hay settled on a delaying action. He expressed confidence that the Government would comply with the request if the Court should consider the papers pertinent. On the other hand he doubted whether the Court had the power to issue a _subpoena duces tecum_ to the President of the United States. And, suggested Mr. Hay, since the Government was perfectly willing to produce the papers if the Court decided they were pertinent, what need was there for issuing a subpoena at all? Such procedure he thought would be a waste of precious time.