would have ceased to persecute me. But in this I was mistaken. It
would seem I must be sacrificed. Nothing short of my entire ruin
will satisfy my enemies, and they seem determined to effect it
without regard to the means. Yesterday the suit which has been
instituted against me for freeing my negroes was called up for
trial. Judge Reynolds not only decided several points of law
against me, in opposition to the opinion of several of the best
lawyers in the State, but he and Mr. Turney rejected _all_ my
testimony as illegal, and would not permit a solitary word to be
uttered by a witness of mine. Under such circumstances the jury
found a verdict of $2,000 against me, which, with the cost, will
be a difficult sum for me to raise, these hard times. I shall ask
for a new trial. If this application should share the fate of all
others I have made, it is to be hoped he will not assume the
power to prevent my taking an appeal to the Supreme Court.

In haste, your friend,
ED. COLES.

GOVERNOR COLES TO ROBERTS VAUX

VANDALIA, Jan'y 21, 1824.

_My Friend_:--While at Edwardsville a few days since, I received
a letter from D. B. Smith, notifying me that he had forwarded to
the care of I. I. Smith & Co., of St. Louis, certain pamphlets;
previous to which, however, I had been informed by one of that
company that he expected them, and had requested him to notify me
so soon as they should be received, and to forward them to me to
this place by the first safe opportunity. I also had the pleasure
to receive at Edwardsville the pamphlet you were so good as to
enclose me by mail. The information contained in this pamphlet in
relation to the foreign slave trade, is highly interesting. I
must, however, be allowed to express my regret that it does not
bear more directly on the question, which is now agitating us
here, by showing the resemblance between the _foreign_ and
_domestic_ slave trade, and the inevitable effect of the
extension of Slavery into new regions, to continue and increase
this odious traffic. To add to the circulation of this, as well
as the pamphlet I had previously the pleasure to receive from
you, I shall, if possible, prevail on some of the editors to
publish the