To John W. Davis

[September 15?] 1861

The President has read this letter; and he deeply commisserates the condition of any one so distressed as the writer seems to be. He does not know Mr. Davis—only knows him to be one of the arrested Police Commissioners of Baltimore because he says so in this letter. Assuming him to be one of those Commissioners, the President understands Mr. Davis could at the time of his arrest, could at any time since, and can now, be released by taking a full oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States; and that Mr. Davis has not been kept in ignorance of this condition of release. If Mr. Davis is still so hostile to the Government, and so determined to aid its’ enemies in destroying it, he makes his own choice.