“Such was the state of Eden when the serpent entered its bowers. The prisoner, in a more engaging form, winding himself into the open and unpracticed heart of the unfortunate Blennerhassett, found but little difficulty in changing the native character of that heart and the objects of its affection. By degrees he infuses into it the poison of his own ambition. He breathes into it the fire of his own courage; a daring and desperate thirst for glory; an ardor panting for great enterprises, for all the storm and bustle and hurricane of life. “In a short time the whole man is changed, and every object of his former delight is relinquished. No more he enjoys the tranquil scene. It has become flat and insipid to his taste. His books are abandoned. His retort and crucible are thrown aside. His shrubbery blooms and breathes its fragrance upon the air in vain; he likes it not. His ear no longer drinks in the rich melody of music; it longs for the trumpet’s clangor and the cannon’s roar. Even the prattle of babes, once so sweet, no longer affects him; and the angel smile of his wife which hitherto touched his bosom with ecstasy so unspeakable, is now unseen and unfelt. “Greater objects have taken possession of his soul. His imagination has been dazzled by visions of diadems, of stars and garters and titles of nobility. He has been taught to burn with restless emulation at the names of great heroes and conquerors. His enchanted island is destined soon to relapse into a wilderness; and in a few months we find the beautiful and tender partner of his bosom, whom he lately permitted not the winds of summer ‘to visit too roughly,’ we find her shivering at midnight, on the winter banks of the Ohio and mingling her tears with the torrents that froze as they fell. “Yet this unfortunate man, thus deluded from his interest and his happiness, thus seduced from the paths of innocence and peace; thus confounded in the toils that were deliberately spread for him, and overwhelmed by the mastering spirit and genius of another--this man, thus ruined and undone and made to play a subordinate part in this grand drama of guilt and treason--this man is to be called the principal offender, while he, by whom he was plunged into misery, is comparatively innocent, a mere accessory. Is this reason? Is it law? Is it humanity? Sir, neither the human heart nor the human understanding will bear a perversion so monstrous and so absurd! So shocking to the soul! So revolting to the reason!”