conceived than that presented by the case of Yulee. His attempt, in connection with his clleaugue, to obtain from the Government information which could have been sought only for the purpose of facilitating a successful resort to force and armed rebellion; his urging upon his constituents in Florida the immediate capture of the forts and navy-yard at Pensacola, and their actual seizure by irregular troops one week after the date of his letter; his emphatic injunctions in regard to the speedy formation of a Southern army and Confederacy; his characterizing the Government and its supporters at that early days as the enemy, with his insolent declaration that he is willing to be their masters, but not their brothers; as also his record of the secret consultation of the Senators from the seceding States in which he took part, and his personal report of the traitorous scheme of action agreed upon - all these facts constitute a body of proof so strong and convincing as to exhibit hisguilty participation in the conspiracy for the destruction of the Government in no less glaring a light than that of its acknowledged chief.

Of the criminality of Mallory at that early period, the evidence, though less full and significant, is perceived to be sufficiently positive to fix upon him beyond a question the character of one of the original conspirators against the Government. At a later date his administration of a department of the rebel Confederacy whose only business, in the absence of a naby, was simply the authorization and direction of a general system of piracy, has rendered his agency in conducting the rebellion more conspicuous and his name more odious even than that of his former colleague. As it is believed that punishment is yet to be visited on the rebellion, which, as is well known, involved in its course all other crimes, and that some atonement is yet to be made for the hundreds of thousands of lives sacrificed thereby, it would seem that the original conspirators who incited and organized the movement should be first arraigned and tried. To this class Yulee and Mallory unquestionably belong. The experience of the world has shown that great crimes never have been andnever can be repressed without punishment, and that laws which are not vindicated when violated are, in effect, no laws at all. Should the statute against treason, for lact of its enforcement, cease to be a terror to ambitious men wickedly lusting for power, whatever protection might remain for individual life, there would be none whatever for the life of the nation, which would be exposed to the stabs of every traitor who might choose to lift his dagger against it. If the leaders in an unprovoked attempt to assassinate such a nation as this have not forfeited their lives, then it is not believed to be within the compass of human depravity to incur such forfeiture. The conviction is entertained that this Republic might exist for ages without developing in its bosom a band of conpirators and parricides more steeped in guilt or more surrounded by its arms, and who, covered with the blood of our people, are now standing in the presence of the Government, and happily, completely in its power.

With the views expressed of the treasonable conduct of Yulee and Mallory no other recommendation can be made than that they be put upon their trial as soon as the interests of public justice will permit. It is not perceived how faith could be reposed in the parole of men who have already violated far more solemn obligations than such parole would impose. Allison's case differs from those of Yulee and Mallory, in that he was not a member of Congress or so conspicuous

55 R R - SERIES II, VOL VIII