His first move was not a reassuring one to the people, who, trusting in the pledge given by Governor Cumming and the Peace Commissioners, that the Federal representatives would keep faith with the citizens and hold sacred the amnesty extended by President Buchanan, had abandoned their exodus and returned to their homes and various avocations.
It seemed to them an attempt to ignore or override the President's decree; to render null and void his offer of pardon which the people had accepted.
The Judge held that President Buchanan's pardon, while it was "a public fact in the history of the country," "ought to be brought judicially by plea, motion or otherwise."
This meant that the decree of the Chief Magistrate of the nation was not to have full force and effect until he, Charles E. Sinclair, appointed by said Chief Magistrate an Associate Justice of Utah, had sat upon it and pronounced it valid; or, as Mr. Stenhouse puts it, "he wanted to bring before his court Brigham Young and the leading Mormons to make them admit that they had been guilty of treason, and make them humbly accept from him the President's clemency.
[1][5] After the war he resumed private practice in Richmond, and served in the Senate of Virginia, "where he was known as a fine linguist",[5] and "made an enviable reputation both as a lawyer and an orator".