It will be remembered that the Selby letter (the Selby being, no doubt, an _alias_, as they were all sailing under _aliases_) reveals the fact that it was at that meeting of the conspirators in Montreal, about the last of October, 1864, that the plot was matured, and arrangements made for carrying it into effect. No doubt this arrangement made between the Canada Cabinet and Booth and his fellow assassins involved a large expenditure of money--such an amount, that when the "Cabinet" came to consider the matter over they shrunk from the responsibility and called a halt until they could get the sanction of the Richmond government in such a form that they could have a voucher to show for this expenditure. Hence, their after regret that "the boys had not been allowed to act when they wanted to." This sanction was delivered to them by Surratt on the 6th of April, when Thompson, placing his hand on the despatches, exclaimed, "This makes the thing all right!" It would be a very singular coincidence, indeed, on the theory that Davis, Thompson, and the others in Canada were not in the conspiracy, that on this very day Thompson drew on his bank account for $180,000 by a deposit receipt; and that on the 8th, two days later, he drew for £446 12_s._, 1_d._, and then again on the same day for £4,000 sterling, amounting in the aggregate to over two hundred thousand dollars. Assuming this to have been the cost of the assassinations for which Booth and Surratt had made themselves responsible, and that on which they were counting to keep them well supplied with money all the balance of their lives, the question arises what became of this money? Of course their hired assassins were only to be paid when they had fulfilled their contract. The money was subject to this contingency; hence there was, no doubt, a provisional arrangement by which Thompson held control over the reward promised them, and, when we look at the final result of the thing, we can readily see that the money, in the end, reverted to Thompson.