e by a committee, the persons
mentioned, with several others, were admitted to seats in the assembly.
Henry was selected by Wintergreen to assist him in his duties as
Secretary. The preliminaries being settled, the Chairman (Valamburg) was
quite severe in his strictures against Dan Bowen, Thos. A. Strider, C.
H. Eagle and N. Judy Cornington for not attending, saying he had letters
from each of those gentlemen promising to be present. He characterized
their conduct as cowardly and they as sunshine friends, which was loudly
applauded by all.

"After remarks by quite a number of delegates on the situation and
probabilities of the success of the Confederacy, which were generally
tinged with ill-forebodings, a committee of five was appointed to take
into consideration and report to the assembly ways and means by which
the rebellion could be materially assisted. This report was to be
submitted the next day at 12 o'clock. The meeting then adjourned until
that time.

"During the evening a variety of discussions were indulged in by various
delegates in favor of different schemes. Some went so far as to favor
the assassination of many of our leading men. Wilkes, Page, and quite
a number of persons from the South were in favor of assassinating the
President and Gen. Silent, with such others as the necessity of the case
demanded. And so the conversation and discussions ran until the meeting
of delegates the next day.

"At 12 o'clock the assembly was called to order by Valamburg. When the
roll had been called and all were quiet, the Chairman inquired of the
committee if they were ready to report. The Chairman, Mr. Carey,
arose with great dignity and responded that the committee, after due
consideration of the many suggestions submitted to them, were now ready
to report. He was invited to take the stand, which he did.

"He said that, preliminary to reporting, he desired to make an
explanation, which was as follows: That on his return from Montreal to
Richmond, since the Presidential election, in viewing the many disasters
that had recently befallen the Confederacy, the authorities at Richmond
suggested to him to ascertain if he could communicate in some way with
the newly elected Vice-President, and discover his attitude towards
the people of the South. This was accomplished by sending one of the
Vice-President's old friends from North Carolina to Nashua, who being a
citizen, and not in any way connected with the Confederate army