MY DEAR SIR,--It is nearly _three months_ since I have been seized and held as a close prisoner by the Government of the United States. No charge ever has--none can be--preferred against me,--and yet I am robbed of my liberty--separated from my family and home, and have been subjected to irreparable pecuniary loss. Is it possible that your friend Mr. Lincoln can permit such acts to be done in his name and under his administration? It is not possible for me to give you in a brief letter a just view of my relations to the Government or of its conduct to me, but I ask you to get the President in company with yourself to examine my correspondence with the War and State Departments, commencing on the nineteenth of September. After their perusal I think you will agree with me, that no man has ever within the limits of the United States been more unjustly deprived of his liberty. In truth, the President and yourself will reach the conclusion that the _honor_ and _good faith_ of the Government demand my release. Yours truly, CHAS. J. FAULKNER. In 1862 Hawkins Taylor wrote:-- Thinking back to the Presidential Campaign I cannot help but think how _strange_ things have turned. I was an original Lincoln man, worked for him before, at, and in the State Convention for the nomination of Delegates to the Chicago Convention. Grimes scouted the idea of such a country lawyer being President. When the Chicago Convention came off Colonel Warren, knowing that I was scarce of funds and knowing my anxiety for the nomination of Mr. Lincoln, sent me a ticket to Chicago and back. I pledged a watch that cost me $128 for money to pay expenses there and to our State Convention. Colonel Warren also went to Chicago, and to _my own certain knowledge, rendered most important services to Mr. Lincoln_. At the State Convention he was put at the head of the electoral ticket, canvassed the entire state, made more than _one hundred speeches_, spent his money by the hundreds. While Grimes made two or three speeches, _grumbled_ privately at the nomination, damned the President upon all occasions since he took his seat. Yet Grimes has controlled the entire patronage of the State of Iowa to the exclusion of Colonel Warren and all his friends. How can Mr. Lincoln expect friends in Iowa under this state of things? ILLINOIS, Feb. 12, 1862.