, Letter, , New Utrecht, Kings Co., NY, to JS, , Hancock Co., IL, 10 Apr. 1843; handwriting of ; endorsement in handwriting of ; docket in unidentified handwriting; three pages; JS Materials, CCLA.
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April 10th 43.
Gen. Smith,
Dear Sir,
Your letter of the 17th & of the 19th ultimo are before me. With regard to your own, I fully concur in the patriotic & noble sentiments expressed in it & I now assure you that should I ever join your religious standard it shall never be under the influence of any sinister or temporal motive. I have been your friend Ab initio and shall remain so through evil & through good report through your prosperity & or adversity until by abandoning the Cause of God & religion you prove yourself unworthy of the respect of Mankind— On your own principles & practices this is a contingency which is very remote. I extremely regret to know that is under arrest in . What in the name of common prudence, could have taken him among the Philistines? Well being there you must now make the best of it in your power. wishes to know if he can be tried in the Courts. I answer No— they have no Jurisdiction in the case whatever. With respect to you[r] own case it was different because here the issue was between the Authorities of one state & a citizen of another state which under the Constitution of the gave the Courts jurisd[i]ction, whereas in the case of the alleged crime is aganst the laws of the state of & being arrested within the he must be tried by its courts— It would be well to change the Venue to some county where influnce is least felt & where religious prejudice is least predominant, if such a county can be found—
With regard to the evidence of in the premises he has already published all he is able to swear to. As regards yourself he admitted to me that there was no evidence against [p. 1]