This letter, it will be observed, is without date; but the box in which it was found was marked, "Adjutant and Inspector General's Office; letters received July to December, 1864." Lieutenant Alston was captured in Kentucky in June, 1864, and so, in making his escape through Canada, made the acquaintance of the rebel agents there, just at the time that they were full of the assassination scheme. It was probably from his intercourse with them that he became infatuated with this idea, although he does not give them the credit of it. He seems to have been an ambitious youth who desired to impress the rebel President with the idea that this was an original scheme of his own. Mark how unblushingly he opens his mind to Davis in presenting his plot! It is nothing less than "striking at the heart's blood of some of his country's deadliest foes," of whom everybody then knew that Abraham Lincoln was universally regarded in the South as chief. It is a plain offer to aid his country's cause by entering upon the policy of assassinating the loyal men of the country whose official duty required them to put down the rebellion. He considers nothing dishonorable that tends to accomplish this. He does not merely propose to strike at the heart's blood of Abraham Lincoln. No; like the Canada conspirators, he has a more comprehensive scheme. Did Jefferson Davis feel insulted by being thought capable of giving his sanction to such a foul and dishonorable proposition? Let us see. The following is his endorsement put upon it:-- INDORSEMENT. A. 1. 390. Lieut. W. Alston, Montgomery, Sulphur Springs, Va. (no date). Is Lieutenant in General Duke's command. Accompanied raid into Kentucky and was captured, but escaped into Canada, from whence he found his way back. Been in bad health. Now offers his services to rid the country of some of its deadliest enemies. Asks for papers to permit him to travel within the jurisdiction of this government. Would like to have an interview and explain. Respectfully referred, by direction of the President, to the Honorable Secretary of War. BURTON N. HARRISON, _Private Secretary_. Received November 19th, 1864. Recorded book A.A.G.O., December 16th, 1864. A.G. for attention. By order of J. A. CAMPBELL, A.S.W. The handwriting of the private secretary of Jefferson Davis, Burton N. Harrison, and of the Assistant Secretary of War, J. A. Campbell, in the endorsements, was verified before the Commission by Lewis W. Chamberlain, who had been a clerk in the war department at Richmond, and was well acquainted with the handwriting of both of these gentlemen.