like an incubus upon my spirits; but I am still in prison, as ignorant of the grounds of accusation as when I came here, for I have been allowed to see no paper that alluded to it and here heard nothing implicating me from my wardens. My condition has been not unlike that of one whose wife or daughter was forced from him into outer darkness to death or dishonor, while he was lying bound, gagged, and blind-folded within his home. I have borne such anguish of soul while enduring the pains of physical disorders and infirmity greatly aggravated by my prison discipline. I have suffered long and severely, enough I think, to satisfy the vengeance of my worst enemy. Now, I submit to you whether public justice requires that I should longer endure such punishment. If there be no evidence to warrant this imputation, should not my family, if not, I be relieved from the reproach of it? If there be any, should not I be allowed means to rebut it and vindicate myself? The long delay of my trial persuades me that the evidence of my complicity, if any, is insufficient to warrant a prosecution. But the greater rigor with which I am treated, if I may credit newspper reports of privileges accorded political prisoners elsewhere, impress me with the belief that I am regarded as more criminal than they are.

Of those professing my faith in the sovereignty of the States and the right of secession, and acting with me, som with more power and efficiency and in higher positions, it appears that many have suffered no imprisonment or arrest, no confiscation or seizure of their property, while others have undergone shorter and less rigorous imprisonment and are now at liberty. I was educated in that faith, held it religiously, maintained it honestly and unseflishly; gave it both my hands and all my heart; sacrificed to it an ample fortune and a seat in the U. S. Senate, which I could have held during my life. I still think the States did not surrender that right in adopting the U. S. Constitution, and I know that the power of coercing them is not granted in that instrument, and was refused when asked. I have ever regarded the States' rights dogma as conservative of popular liberty and personal rights. But the subordination of the States and supremacy of the General Government has been established in the court of last resort-the field of battle-and its judgment is conclusive and final. The established theory now is that the citizen owes his highest and first allegiance to the General Government. Such is the fact, and none should dispute it. I should deprecate any effort to revive defunct principles and obsolete ideas that can never prevail, but may irritate the wounds and aggravate the sufferings of the conquered States. No rebellion, insurrection, or resistance to the U. S. Government could be excited, in my opinion, in either of the Southern States. They have not only been overcome and subjugated, but quite disabled for self-protection. Emancipation has paralyzed their mutilated limbs. They are not only powerless to resist the will of the majority of States, but I fear to preserve domestic peace, tranquillity, order, law, and justice within her own limits. It will, at all events, require all their moral and physical resources, with the aid of the General Government, to do so. They have not only to recognize governments in few forms, but to recast society and create strange and hitherto repugnant relations between blacks and whites, conceding to the former rights heretofore denied, and maintaining them, and restraining the latter from exercising accustomed rights by prohibiting and punishment them as wrongs. A revolution so radical can scarcely be effected without great distress, serious difficulties, anxious disquitude, and common distrust. It will