ponent san meetings a Chat in the or a var g since conduct & hingha enty years ile he res id as a of the Pa called and he ever s but said that I was the cause of it. The foregoing is the O, Father of mercies and God of all comfort, my only help "False witnesses with forged complaints, And to my charge such things they laid The good which I to them had done, And did, with malice undeserv', My harmless life invade," &c. 35th Psalm, 2d part in the Prayer Book. CHAPTER X. PERSECUTION. To impeach a court of justice is not my intention, where there is no abuse of power. To err is human, to retract a known error is noble, is manly, is generous; but with the evidence laid before the court of inquiry where is there any man of good sense and strict integrity, if he were unprejudic ed, would have bound a respectable clergyman to a trial for crimes so enormous, and supported by testimony so doubtful? And where is there another state's attorney who would have gone eight miles, been shut up alone with a young woman, in the situation of Asenath. from one or two o'clock in the afternoon until nine or ten o'clock at night, and there advised, persuaded, and urged her to bring forward charges of that nature, and expose herself to everlasting dishonor and contempt!for if their story which she related were true, and she had consented to what was alleged, and suffered herself to be operated upon in the manner she represented; where is the woman on earth, who would, of her own accord, have come forward and told it? If it were true, I say, where is the woman on earth that would have told it? If it were not true, who would have told such a thing against herself? The story in itself, whether true or false, is disgraceful, and any of woman kind who would tell it, ought to be despised, and not to be believed one way or the other; yet Mr. Lanman could say to this unfortunate girl, that it would be the best and most honorable thing that she could do; that it never should hurt her, nor cost her any hing that she should be protected, and that she need not. ention, n to a tra WOM of that na yer Bak i and should not be called upon to testify publicly in the case; she followed his advice, has broken her peace of mind forever, and brought everlasting disgrace and ruin upon herself, and others, and what good, what profit, what advantage has she, or the public, derived from it! Let others take warning from this example, never to say or do that at one time, of which they would have just cause to be ashamed at another. Within a few days after I was bound over, I called on Farwel Coit, Esq. at his house in Norwich, and requested him to return to me the foregoing papers, which I had delivered to him at the binding over; at that moment Mr. Lannian came in and directed him not to give them up, and insulted and abused me in that manner, of which any gentleman would be ashamed. Coit refused to give up the papers on the ground that it was his duty to keep them for the trial. My next ob ject was to see the witnesses if possible, and learn from them the cause of their bringing these false charges against me; but they were kept out of my sight. Asenath was confined at the house of widow Lester, a strong Presbyterian woman of violent passions and prejudices in Gr swold, and was guarded day and night, and forbidden to see me, or any of my friends, or to speak, or to have any communication with us. I sent counsel to converse with her, but he was refused. I interceded with Mr. Perry Clark to procure for me the privilege of speaking to her in his presence that if she was a witness in a public prosecution, one party had as much right to converse with her as the other; but he said they were afraid that she would retract, that she was strictly guarded at the widow Lester's, and that he could give me no encouragement. Maria was gone off to parts unknown to me--I was out of business, and might as well board at one place as another, and it was convenient for me to board at Mr. Baker's in Jewett City, where I had formerly boarded; and did hope that by some means I might find out the PLAN which had induced these witnesses so swear falsely against me. I employed several friends to see Asenath, and talk with her on the subject, but no one could obtain an opportunity. It was said that the Rev. Levi Nelson, the Presbyterian minister of Lisbon, and the Rev Horatio Walda the Presbyterian winister of Griswold. nd she had If to be ope e is the mo come for Yoman ou ho would b itself, whe kind who wa ieved one his unfortu rable thing ost her 106 had interested themselves so much as to go in person to the widow Lester's. and to exhort her to double diligence in keeping Asenath from me and my friends, lest the whole plan I received proposals which were said to should be defeated. come from Col. Halsey, that if I would pay him 400 dollars, the matter should all be hushed up, and no more done about it. I wholly refused to pay one cent, trusting that my righteousness would yet break forth as the noon-day. For about four months, Asenath was kept and guarded in this way, when she had an opportunity of going privately on a visit to Hampton, about fourteen miles. This was soon communicated to me; I immediately went to see her. At first she was frightened and retired; within a few moments she returned with tears of repentance, confessing and lamenting that she had been overpersuaded, and wickedly induced by threats and promises to lie and swear falsely against me; that she had never enjoyed one moment's peace of mind since; but what to do she did not know; if she did not testify again at the trial as she had done, she should be prosecuted for perjury and suffer all its penalties; if she did, she should perjure herself again; that she knew, I knew, and God knew, that what she had testified against me was false, and that she should be glad to retract and make amends to the utmost of her power, if she could be protected and secured. I informed her that I Judge Swift was one of the most able counsellors in the state, and if she would engage to follow his advice as a lawyer, To this she agreed. I took her into my would do the same. carriage and conveyed her to Judge Swift's, in Windham, about seven miles. She there confessed to him that the charges against me, concerning her, were wholly false; that she had been overpersuaded by my enemies to swear falsely against me, that she was now ready and desirous of retracting, so far as she could consistently with her own safety, and wished for his advice as a lawyer. He replied, that if she had been overpersuaded to commit perjury, and now wished to retract, he knew no better way, than for her to go before a jus tice and confess it, and leave the state immediately; that they could not compel her to return unless she were given up by the ovecutive of the state where she was, and that while ap on to a e in ke hole ere sald 00 dolla Jone a Fora way, t to Ha e was fre hat she hat sie ; but gain sta perjure ew, that he shoul of her po s in the sta k her into Ty false; th swear fais of retrac ety, and w at if she wished to before ap lv: that the plication was making to him, she might go to another state.. To me he said, that there were various ways by which she might be got out of the state, and that he did not think that there was any man, who, if he were falsely accused, and the witnesses would retract and expose the plot which was for med against him, on condition that they should be protected, and he could not make his innocence appear in any other way, who would not do it. This was agreed upon. To the Honorable Superior Court of Connecticut, to be holden in Norwich, in the county of New-London, Sept. 1819. I, Asenath C. Smith, of the town of Griswold, in the coun ty of New-London, and state of Connecticut, of lawful age, depose and say, that the information given, and the complaint made by James Lanman, Esq. attorney for the state of Connecticut, to Farwel Coit, Esq. a justice of the peace, dated Norwich, April 12th, 1819, against the Rev. Ammi Rogersand his conduct towards me, was then, and now is wholly, utterly, and absolutely false and unjust; and I further depose and say, that the testimony which I gave before the said Farwel Coit, Esq. on the 29th day of said April, 1819; was procured, dictated, and I was induced by Col. Halsey, Doct. Downer, and others, who overpersuaded and induced me to say what I did, and for which I am now sincerely sorry, and now confess that my testimony on that subject was wholly occasioned by them, and that it was unjust and wrong. Dated ASENATI C. SMITH.. at Windham, September 2d, 1819. Windham county, ss. Windham, Sept. 2d, 1819. Perscrally appeared the above named Asenath C. Smith, who subscribed and made solemn oath to the truth of the foregoing deposition in due form of law, before me. ABNER ROBINSON, Justice of the Peace. At this, my political and religious ene nies were greatly alarmed. Mr. Webb made out an extortionate bill of 9 dolls. and 88 cents for one day's keeping and service, the neighbor hood was alarmed; suspicions were entertained that Lanman was sent for, that Asenath was to be arrested; my carriage was taken away; in the night she made her escape out at the hack door, and found means to get out of the state into Massamost on horseback about |