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“If you bring these [Confederate] leaders to trial it will condemn the North, for by the Constitution secession is not rebellion. Lincoln wanted Davis to escape, and he was right. His capture was a mistake. His trial will be a greater one.” Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, July 1867 (Foote, The Civil War, Vol. 3, p. 765)

OK so I'm home and I looked up the quote in my copy of Foote's book. Two things I noticed. One, in Foote's book it's not one quote. It's two separate quotes, probably from two separate occasions and two separate audiences. And two, Foote does not source any of his quotes. We don't know who Chase was addressing, when they were supposedly made, nothing. Foote could have made them up and we wouldn't have a clue. Finally, in my book the quotes were on page 1035.

So I have no idea what neo-confederate tribute site you got the quote from but they obviously doctored it to make it sound like one long quote. And without any source, either from Foote or your website, we have no idea of context. So as far as supporting evidence goes it's up to your usual standards.

I'm devastated that you couldn't find the source for which you were looking.

Yeah, that Shelby Foote was obviously a liar. Terrible shame, that. And he's dead, so he can't defend himself, which is probably how you prefer it.

This seems to be the closest thing to a different authoritative source that I could find in a quick search.

http://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/1220328

The quote appears to be used in several other books as well. Here is another one.

The Long Surrender by Burke Davis