Is common sense to be abused with such sophistry?  Did I say what Talbott found it in?  If Talbott did find it in another paper at his office, is that any reason why he could not have folded it in a deed and brought it to my office?  Can any one be so far duped as to be made believe that what may have happened at Talbot’s office at one time is inconsistent with what happened at my office at another time?

Now Talbott’s statement of the case as he makes it to me is this, that he got a bunch of deeds from young Adams, and that he knows he found the assignment in the bunch, but he is not certain which particular deed it was in, nor is he certain whether it was folded in the same deed out of which it was taken, or another one, when it was brought to my office.  Is this a mysterious story?  Is there anything suspicious about it?

“But it is useless to dwell longer on this point.  Any man who is not wilfully blind can see at a flash, that there is no discrepancy, and Lincoln has shown that they are not only inconsistent with truth, but each other”—­I can only say, that I have shown that he has done no such thing; and if the reader is disposed to require any other evidence than the General’s assertion, he will be of my opinion.

Excepting the General’s most flimsy attempt at mystification, in regard to a discrepance between Talbott and myself, he has not denied a single statement that I made in my hand-bill.  Every material statement that I made has been sworn to by men who, in former times, were thought as respectable as General Adams.  I stated that an assignment of a judgment, a copy of which I gave, had existed—­Benj.  Talbott, C. R. Matheny, Wm. Butler, and Judge Logan swore to its existence.  I stated that it was said to be in Gen. Adams’s handwriting—­the same men swore it was in his handwriting.  I stated that Talbott would swear that he got it out of Gen. Adams’s possession—­Talbott came forward and did swear it.

Bidding adieu to the former publication, I now propose to examine the General’s last gigantic production.  I now propose to point out some discrepancies in the General’s address; and such, too, as he shall not be able to escape from.  Speaking of the famous assignment, the General says:  “This last charge, which was their last resort, their dying effort to render my character infamous among my fellow citizens, was manufactured at a certain lawyer’s office in the town, printed at the office of the Sangamon Journal, and found its way into the world some time between two days just before the last election.”  Now turn to Mr. Keys’ affidavit, in which you will find the following, viz.:  “I certify that some time in May or the early part of June, 1837, I saw at Williams’s corner a paper purporting to be an assignment from Joseph Anderson to James Adams, which assignment was signed by a mark to Anderson’s name,” etc.  Now mark, if Keys saw the assignment on the last of May or first of June, Gen. Adams tells a falsehood when he says it was manufactured just before the election, which was on the 7th of August; and if it was manufactured just before the election, Keys tells a falsehood when he says he saw it on the last of May or first of June.  Either Keys or the General is irretrievably in for it; and in the General’s very condescending language, I say “Let them settle it between them.”