3. That in case of conviction, before the sentence should be executed, Davis should be allowed an opportunity to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States; this would silence criticism, secure Davis all his legal rights, and establish a precedent which might stand for all time. 4. That the only doubt that existed as to the conviction of Davis was to be found in the question of the jurisdiction of the military commission. 5. That the prosecution should hold Davis's assumption of military authority against the United States as the overt act of treason, and that his military orders, his commissions of officers, his official announcements of himself as "commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of the Confederate States," his official reviews of troops, the official reports made to him by commanders of armies in rebellion, should be proven to establish the case. 6. That the record of the oaths taken by him as an officer in the United States army, as a Senator, and as Secretary of War, should be shown with evidence that he had violated them. 7. That the various acts of cruelty to prisoners of war committed by his orders should be proven; other minor counts could also be introduced in the indictment to secure an accumulation of charges. General Butler's memorandum further set forth that the prosecution should expect to be met by the defense: 1. With the question of jurisdiction. 2. With an attempt to prove the right of secession. 3. With the claim that the duty of allegiance to a state was superior to the duty of allegiance to the general government. 4. With the claim that the acts of which Davis was accused were performed by him as the head of a _de facto_ government, to which office he had been elected under forms of law. 5. With the further point that the recognition of this _de facto_ government by the United States in the exchange of prisoners, in the acceptance of terms of surrender, in the observance of flags of truce, and in correspondence of various kinds, amounted to such a recognition of the existence of a government with which it was at war, as must prevent the United States from claiming that participation therein was treason.