success by the assassinations that had been planned, had been too long delayed, and its execution had become utterly impracticable. The soldiers of the rebellion had fought their fight--a brave and plucky and protracted fight. They realized the hopelessness of their cause and, though greatly disappointed and mortified at their failure, they had the consciousness that they had done all that brave men could do to win success, and so were ready to accept the result, return to their homes, and resume citizenship under the government they were unable to overthrow. Not so with the secret active enemies of the government. They were not willing to accept defeat, but were, nevertheless (happily for the country), in a condition that they could only show their enmity by maligning and villifying the authorities they were unable to overthrow; and of this privilege they fully availed themselves. Thus it has come to pass that the magnitude, scope, and purpose of the assassination conspiracy are unknown to the present generation. All that a large majority of those who have come upon the stage of action since that time know of this, in many respects, one of the most important trials that has ever occurred in our history, is what they have learned through the efforts of these vituperators; and they have never seen it referred to other than as the trial of Mrs. Surratt. The Commission was not called upon to render a decision as to the innocence or guilt of the persons charged by the government with being co-conspirators with John H. Surratt and John Wilkes Booth, who were not in the custody of the government and so not before the Commission; but the government, having assumed the responsibility of charging Jefferson Davis, George N. Sanders, Beverly Tucker, Jacob Thompson, William C. Cleary, Clement C. Clay, George Harper, George Young, and others, with thus conspiring to kill and murder Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Wm. H. Seward, and Ulysses S. Grant, was under the necessity of vindicating its honor and dignity before the world by presenting the evidence in its possession on which its charge was founded. It will be my purpose to present this evidence, and to show the full significance and purpose of the plot, and with whom it originated. Many of the prominent actors in this tragedy have been summoned before a higher tribunal to answer for the deeds done in the body. There we are content to leave them, assured that "all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom they have to do," and that there will be no mistakes made in the decisions there rendered. And toward those who yet remain, it is with no feelings of personal enmity that the author shall write. He only knows them as they are revealed in the testimony, and by this he shall endeavor to deal fairly and candidly. They made themselves conspicuous in their connection with public affairs of the greatest importance, and so their acts belong to the public. If