make a full and faithful report of the speeches made at it. The result is that I have the satisfaction of annexing hereto a copy of the speech made by him, taken down in shorthand on the spot, and which may be strictly relied on as correct. It is marked with the letter Z and deserves attention, if for no other purpose than for the remarkable paragraph relating to secret associations, to be not only a consummate demagogue, but also a terrible falsifier of the truth.

I annex, also, a report of William Thorpe, the phonographer, whom I sent to report the speech, giving an account of what he saw and heard of the occasion of the meeting, and correct reports of the speeches delivered by the other speakers.

I forward herewith, also, the report of William Jones, giving an account of a recent tour through the interior of this State, marked Z 5, a number of letters from Edward F. Hoffman, while on a visit of observation at Cincinnati, marked Z 6, and a few letters from William Taylor, now in Illinois, conferring with members of the order in that State, marked Z 7; also copies of letters addressed to you by General Carrington from Indianapolis, and referred to me, which show fully the existence of the order in that State, and confirm all the information I have from my own agents there, marked Z 8.

In addition to the numerous evidences of the existence and operation of this grand conspiracy against the Government already produced, I have yet to add two statements of a most important and conclusive character, to which I invite your most careful attention. I attach more than usual importance to them, because, in both instances, the testimony comes from sources likely to be well informed, and corroborates in the fullest manner all I have stated on the subject. I refer to the statement, under oath, of William G. Cheeney, hereto annexed, marked Z 9, and to that of Mary Ann Pitman, marked Z 10.

By reference to Cheeney's statement it will be seen that within the past four weeks, while in confinement in Gratiot Street Prison, as a rebel prisoner, he made the acquaintance of a fellow-prisoner named Charles E. Dunn, of this city, who represented himself to him as deputy grand commander of the Order of American Knights; that he was initiated by said Dunn into the mysteries of the first degree thereof within the past two weeks, and that he was informed by Dunn very fully of the objects and character of said order. I will not dwell upon the details of the information set forth in the statement which Dunn communicated to Cheeney. It is enough to say that it is not only sufficient to justify the arrest and imprisonment of Dunn, by his own confession, as well as that of Hunt, Doctor Shore, Smith, and others, but conclusive proof of all that has been represented by others as to the character of the order. Of the truthfulness of Cheeney there can be no question. He has been a prisoner for the last six months past, cut off from the outer world, and could have had no other information on the subject than that which he obtained from prisoners belonging to the order, as he states he did, and the fact that information so obtained from them exactly coincides with that which was in my possession, unknown to those prisoners, is certainly a strong ground upon which to rest the belief that it is strictly true.

A still stronger and more conclusive assurance of the truth as to the character and purposes which I have given to the order is to be found in the statement of Mary Ann Pitman. I will not incorporate in this report any of the important facts disclosed in her statement, but content myself by simply stating her history to show that she could only speak of her own knowledge in regard to the order, without bias or influence from other persons. She had been an officer, for a year or