Mr. A. and his friends were very indignant at the sentence; said it should never be paid; that he would rot in the jail first; that they would appeal to General McClellan, to the President, to the Cabinet, to Congress; but to all such threats the Judge only replied, when they came to his ears, "He shall have all the opportunities he wants for appeal, but until the fine is paid, or the judgment set aside by a higher authority, he must remain in jail." That afternoon and evening every possible effort was made with General Montgomery and with Judge Freese to have him released on bail, but without avail. Next day, when the court opened, a friend of Mr. A. was present with five hundred dollars in silver, which he paid down, and thereupon received an order from the Judge for Mr. A.'s release from jail. That money, as all other received by the court for fines, and not used for feeding the prisoners and other incidental court expenses, was deposited with the United States Treasurer, at Washington, to await such further action as might be had in this or in any other case. In pursuance of their threats, Mr. A. and his friends at once went to work to have the fine refunded, and finally, after several months' effort, succeeded in getting General McClellan to issue an order on General Montgomery for the refunding of the money. This was done by an order on the United States Treasurer for the five hundred dollars. Mr. A. got his money back, but neither he nor any other secessionist of Alexandria ever again made an assault, with threat to kill, upon a Union man; nor did any Union man make a like assault or threat upon a secessionist. And, better still, it had the effect to convince every secessionist that Judge Freese's court was no respecter of persons; that while it punished such of the poor as violated the law, it was no less ready to punish the rich; and that a Union man in Alexandria would be protected by the court with as much vigilance as one could possibly be in New York or Philadelphia. The refunding of the fine, however, proved that General McClellan and his advisers, while pretending great love for the Union, were largely in sympathy with the secessionists, and would, so far as they could, undo anything the Provost-Court might do in punishing rebels and protecting loyal men. General Montgomery and Judge Freese, being convinced that such would thenceforth be the policy of General McClellan and his advisers, tried thereafter to so shape the proceedings of the court that General McClellan should know as little about it, and have as little to do with it, as possible--believing (as afterwards proved true) that he would not only thwart its proceedings, but really abolish the court altogether, whenever he could see that he could do so without calling down upon himself and political associates condemnation from the administration.