In the following pages are submitted to the unbiassed judgment and consideration of my fellow-citizens and the Christian public, the various documents connected with my deposition and excommunication. It is not therein my aim to vindicate my conduct in the eyes of the so-called national teachers, or priests, or of the so-called Catholic Christians who are notoriously hypocrites, and who only follow religion for a livelihood, or as a means of attaining power and eminence: to attempt my vindication before such as these would be degrading to myself and to the nation. I desire a verdict of acquittal from those alone, who either have, or long to have, religion dwelling in their souls, and who are earnestly striving after light and truth, Christian love, and moral freedom. All such will acknowledge that I have fought a good fight, and not for myself alone; they will grant me their confidence, that we may devote our united strength to the accomplishment of that great and desirable end, to the achievement of which we are called, as well by our holy profession, and our sense of duty, as by our care for the moral and temporal well-being of existing and of future generations. The Author.