The only evidence at all tending to 'implicate any part
of the Confederate Government in the assissihsation plot (except the identity of-Booth's cipher key with that fosnd in Mr. Benjamin's office) is a letter signed "L. W. Alston," datbL Montgomery, White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, to President Davih offering, as soon as his health will permit, "to rid my country of some of her deadliest enemies, by striking at the very heart's blood of those who seek to enchain her in slavery." The writer recites his military his- tory, his invaliding and slow recovery, and his wish for this dangerous service. The letter is endorsed first with a brief of its contents, secondly with -the words "Respectfully re- ferred by direction of the President to, the Honourable Secre- tary of Wan—Barton N. Harrison, Private Secretary. Re- ceived, November 29, 1864. Record Book, A. G. 0., December 8, 1864." Thirdly, with the words "A. G., for attention—by order, J. A. Campbell, A. S. W." The letter may be spurious, or the endorsements (though scarcely the last) may be matters of form put on all communications without reference to their con- tents, but it at least tends to show that more than one effort of this kind was seriously contemplated towards the close of the war.
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