The conclusion is obvious, that he was actuated, not by a desire to uphold the law and administer justice, but by some motive alike discreditable to him as a Judge and a man. With this conclusion, I leave him to settle with his own conscience. I have no disposition to call him hard names. He has done me all the injury he could, and though I may forgive him, I am satisfied that he never can forgive himself, or escape from the doom to which he has already been sentenced by every sensible and right thinking person in the community. Honorable Richard H. Baker, Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of Norfolk, I bid you an affectionate farewell. I will here give to my readers a verbatim copy of the law under which I was prosecuted and convicted. It is copied from the code of Virginia, passed by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the month of August, 1849, and will be found on page 747, chapter 198. It reads as follows:-- “Section 31. Every assemblage of negroes for the purpose of religious worship, when such worship is conducted by a negro, and every assemblage of negroes for the purpose of instruction in reading or writing, or in the night-time for any purpose, shall be an unlawful assembly: any Justice may issue his warrant to any officer, or other person, requiring him to enter any place where such assemblage may be, and seize any negro therein; and he, or any other Justice, may order such negro to be punished with stripes. “Sec. 32. If a white person assemble with negroes for the purpose of instructing them to read or write, or if _he_ associate with them in an unlawful assembly, _he_ shall be confined in jail not exceeding six months, and fined not exceeding one hundred dollars; and any Justice may require _him_ to enter into a recognizance, with sufficient security, to appear before the Circuit, County, or Corporation Court, where the offence was committed, at its next term, to answer therefor; and in the meantime, to keep the peace and be of good behavior.”