"What I have done to Jackson, was on account of money which he owes me. I went there for that purpose. I consider all in this court as under me. The United States bank has owed me money ever since 1802, and I want my money. I must have my revenue from that bank. You are under me, gentlemen. (Mr. Woodward, the deputy-marshal, endeavoring to prevail on him to resume his seat, Lawrence turned round, indignantly, and said, 'Mr. Woodward! mind your own business, or I shall treat you with severity!") It is for me, gentlemen, to pass upon you, and not you upon me."

Again did the counsel appeal to the feelings of the court to spare itself, and the jury, this painful exhibition, by permitting Lawrence to depart in custody of the marshal. He, the counsel, felt, for his own part, that he could not do justice to the cause of the prisoner, if he sat beside him; the very fact, that he should take a course in the defense of the prisoner with which he was displeased, would prevent it. The court replied, that Lawrence should remain until proven to be insane; he would, however, be permitted to withdraw, if it was his own wish so to do. The unfortunate maniac here shouted out

"I deny the power of the court to try me-I am my own man-I will have my revenue!"

Lawrence's counsel here endeavored to soothe him, by telling him he should have his rights. "Ay, but when?" "Today," replied his counsel; and he sat down, contentedly, on this assurance.

It was, of course, not at all difficult for the prisoner's counsel to prove his insanity and consequent irresponsibleness. Mr. Redfern, who married Lawrence's sister, testified on this point, to the following effect I have known Lawrence for sixteen years, and first observed a change in him in 1833. In the fall of 1832 he left Washington with the intention, he said, of going to England; he went in November, and returned again in December, assigning as a reason, that the weather was cold. In the spring of the next year, he started

again to go to New York or Philadelphia, but he certainly got no farther than Philadelphia; on his return this time, he said the people would not let him go, that the government opposed his going, that I and others had prevented him; that he should not be able to go until he got a ship and captain of his own,-that, when he got to Philadelphia, he found all the papers so full about him, that he was obliged to come back. After this, he remained in my house six months, but did nothing, saying he had no occasion to labor, that he lived on his people,-it was very well for men such as me to work, but he had no such need, that he had large claims on this government which were now before congress. He used to attend congress regularly. In January, 1834, he left my house, but, previous to this, had got quarrelsome with his sister, said the colored girl laughed at him and that he would kill her, and that other people also laughed at him. He struck all his sisters on several occasions, and once took up a four-pound weight to throw at my wife. I have seen him pass since this time, but never have spoken to him since 1833; he would go about the house, without speaking, for days together, but would talk and laugh to himself continually in his own chamber. It was the general impression of the neighbors, that Lawrence was insane from the beginning of 1833.

The question being put to Mr. Redfern, as to whether Lawrence held two estates in Ireland, the answer was in the negative. On asking Lawrence the names of his estates, he replied, very gravely, "Tregear and Kinnany! and they are attached to the crown of England!"

Similar in its bearing, was the testimony of Mr. Drury, who had known Lawrence twenty-five years, and who stated the following facts: For the last year I have observed a change in his conduct; he would talk to himself continually in his shop, sometimes saying, '— him, he does not know his enemy; I will put a pistol-erect a gallows.' He conceived himself to be King Richard the Third, of

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England, and likewise king of this country; this was about the latter end of last December, or the beginning of January, after which, I heard him say, General Jackson! who's General Jackson?' On one occasion a black boy called to collect a bill, and Lawrence said he would call and pay it; but, as soon as the boy had left, he said, " him he don't

know who he's dunning!' He would stand at the door for hours, wrapt in thought, and, even when I passed, he took no notice of me. He was continually talking to himself, and would now and then burst into fits of laughter. I noticed no particular change in him as to dress-he was always fond of dress,-but I did in his conduct and appearance. I have often said he was a crazy man, and have heard others say so; the boys would call him 'King Richard.' On the morning of his attack on the president, he came to the shop at the usual time, and went to a place where I could see him through a partition; he was sitting on a chest, with a book in his hand, laughing. I heard soon after the lid of the chest fall, and heard him say, 'I'll be if I don't do it!' He then came out, left the shop, and locked the door. Lawrence did some little work within the last twelve months, and had a shop. I had a room adjoining this.

Much testimony of the same purport as the preceding was brought forward, and nothing of a conflicting character presented itself. The law, in criminal cases,

says that the existence of reason is necessary to constitute punishable crime-its deprivation renders the individual dispunishable. Acting upon this ground, several physicians were examined as to their opinion of Lawrence's condition, judging from the facts drawn out by the evidence, and their personal interviews with the prisoner. Their testimony was unanimous in declaring Lawrence's state of mind to be that of morbid delusion,-not possessing a judgment of right and wrong, especially as to anything connected with General Jackson, and therefore not to be treated as a moral agent. Among the physicians who expressed this as their decided opinion, were Messrs. Coussin and Thomas Sewell, two of the most eminent in their profession.

In accordance with the evidence thus given, the jury were out only five minutes, returning at once with a verdict of "Not guilty, he having been under the influence of insanity at the time of committing the act." But, long before the trial and its termination, the intense excitement produced by the act, throughout the country, had almost entirely subsided, the first impression, that the horrid deed had been prompted by secret political conspiracy, under partisan instigation, rapidly dying away, as the true character of the man and his unaided deed became known. Lawrence was sent to a lunatic asylum, where he remained an inmate thirty or forty years.

man on board had been describing some experiments made in Paris with the electro-magnet, and the question arose as to the time occupied by the fluid in passing through the wire, stated to be one hundred feet in length. On the reply that it was instantaneous, Professor Morse (recollecting the experiments of Franklin,) suggested that it might be carried to any distance instantly, and that the electric spark could be made a means of conveying and recording intelligence. Here was the idea, but a greater triumph was the application of the theory to practice, which he successfully accomplished, after much study and multitudinous trials, in New York, where, in 1835, he put in operation the model of his recording electric telegraph.

Professor Morse's discovery was based on these two principal facts, namely: that a current of electricity will pass to any distance along a conductor connecting the two poles of a voltaic battery, and produce visible effects at any desired points on that conductor; also, that magnetism is produced in a piece of soft iron, around which the conductor, in its progress, is made to pass, when the electric current is permitted to flow, and that the magnetism ceases when the current of electricity is prevented from flowing. Hence, if the end of a soft iron lever be placed beneath the iron to be magnetized, it can be made to rise and fall as the electricity flows, or is interrupted. The other end of the lever, having a point in it, may be made to press on a strip of paper or not, at the will of the operator. This point may be made to impress a dot or a line, at pleasure. A dot and a line may represent letters, and by different combinations of dots and lines any letter of the alphabet could be represented. The operator in one city could make the apparatus in another city, at any distance, write what he pleased, by breaking and closing the circuit at longer or shorter intervals.

The invention, as thus devised by Professor Morse, and as described in a popular way by Antisell, Bakewell and others,

is a recording instrument, that embosse the symbols upon paper, with a point pressed down upon it by an electro-magnet; the symbols that form the alphabet consisting of combinations of short and long strokes, and made to stand for different letters, by their repetitions and variations. Thus a stroke followed by a dot signifies the first letter of the alphabet; a stroke. preceded by a dot, the second letter; a single dot, the third letter; and in this manner the whole alphabet could easily be indicated, the number of repetitions in no case exceeding four for each letter,-the letters and words being distinguished from one another by a longer space being left between them than between each mark that forms only a part of a letter or of a word.

Simplicity characterized this instrument in an eminent degree. The transmitter is merely a spring key, like that of a musical instrument, which, on being pressed down, makes contact with the voltaic battery, and sends an electric current to the receiving station. The operator at the transmitting station, by thus making contact, brings into action an electro-magnet at the station he communicates with, and that pulls down a point fixed to the soft-iron lever upon a strip of paper that is kept moving by clock-work slowly under it. The duration of the pressure on the key, whether instantaneous or prolonged for a moment, occasions the difference in the lengths of the lines indented on the paper. A single circuit is sufficient for the purpose, as well as very effective.

As the working of this telegraph depends upon bringing into action at the receiving station an electro-magnet of force equal to mechanically indenting paper, and as the resistance to the passage of electricity along the wires diminishes the quantity transmitted so greatly, that at long distances it was supposed to be almost impossible to obtain sufficient power for the purpose, if it acted directly,—to overcome this difficulty, an auxiliary electromagnet was employed. The electromagnet which is directly in connection

with the telegraph wire is a small one, surrounded by about five hundred yards or more of very fine wire, for the purpose of multiplying as much as possible the effect of the feeble current that is transmitted. The soft-iron keeper, which is attracted by the magnet, is also very light, so that it may be the more readily attracted. This highly sensitive instrument serves to make and break contact with a local battery, which brings into action a large electro-magnet, and as the local battery and the magnet are close to the place where the work is to be done, any required force may be easily obtained.

The batteries used are Grove's zinc and platinum, and two liquids; any number of these may be used. To form the electric

THE ORIGINAL INSTRUMENT.

circuit, one end of a copper wire is attached to the end platina plate, and the other end of the copper wire to the zinc cylinder. A wire is not required to run round all the circuit any metallic connection, such as brass plates, etc., may form part of it. In the practical working of the telegraph, -the battery with the key attached, and a small table, being supposed, for example, to be at the Philadelphia station, and the telegraph register to be at New York, a wire runs from the platina plate up to the metallic binding screw connection on

the small table, and the other wire runs from the zinc, and is connected by the first wire by the metallic connection of the register at New York. This forms the circuit. The key is fixed upon a pivot axis, to be gently pressed by the operator's fingers on the top of an ivory button. The circuit is now broken, and a small gap in the key above the wire from the battery shows the metallic connection to be open. By pressing upon the butt end of the key, its metal surface comes in contact with the metal termination of the wire from the battery, and then the circuit is closed, and the electric fluid fleets along to the distant station.

In connection with the register, there is, as has already been stated, a strip or ribbon of paper passing from the roll between two small metal rollers of the register. This strip is drawn through between the rollers by their motion, they revolving towards the paper roll, drawing in the paper, motion being given to these rollers by a train of clock-work gear wheels, moved by the weight below the machine. The upper small roll has a small groove running around its periphery, and the ribbon of paper is drawn through against its under surface. The instrument for indenting the paper is suspended on a pivot axis at its middle, and its action is like a walking-beam, though the stroke made is very short. This pen-lever is very nicely poised, and at its extreme end from the paper its stroke is neatly regulated by a set or button screw. The metal pen is attached to the lever and fixed on a pivot like a walking-beam. When one end is drawn down, the other end flies up, and, having a steel point on it, it marks the strip of paper, already described as running along a roller, and which is drawn along between other two rollers. Then, by letting the other end of this pen come up, the steel point drops, and then it is thrown up again, leaving a space between the two marks on the paper. As, therefore, the paper is always moving and, as the point is held to it for a longer or shorter time, marks are made-as before