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"Now, Mrs. Field, I must require of you one thing, and that is, that you burn this letter as soon as you have read it; don't even let your husband see it at all, or know that you have had a letter from me, and by all means, keep this whole subject a profound secret from Elizabeth."

My sister, true to Mr. Packard's wishes, burned this letter and buried the subject entirely in oblivion.

But when she heard that I was incarcerated in an Asylum then in view of all she did know, and in view of what she did not know, she deeply suspected there was foul play in the transaction, and felt it to be her duty to tell her husband all she knew.

He fully indorsed her suspicions, and they both undertook to defend me, when she received a most insulting and abusive letter from Mr. Packard, wherein he, in the most despotic manner, tried to brow-beat her into silence.

Many tears did this devoted sister shed in secret over this letter and my sad fate -- as this letter revealed Mr. Packard's true character to her in an unmasked state.

"Oh, how could that dear, kind woman live with such a man!" was her constant thought.

Nerved and strengthened by her husband's advice, she determined to visit me in the Asylum, and, if possible, obtain a personal interview.

She did so. She was admitted to my room. There she gave me the first tidings I ever heard of that letter. While at the Asylum, my attendants, amongst others, asked her this question:

"Mrs. Field, can you tell us why such a lady as Mrs. Packard, is shut up in this Asylum? We have never seen the least exhibition of insanity in her." And one in particular said, "I saw her the first day she was entered, and she was then just the same quiet, perfect lady, you see her to be to-day -- now do tell us why she here?"

"It is because her husband is a villain! and if ever there was a man who deserved to he hung it is Mr. Packard! I am not a defender of capital punishment, yet I do say Mr. Packard ought to be hung, if any one ever ought to be!"

In my opinion, sister would have come nearer the truth, had she said he ought to be treated just as he is treating his wife -- as a Monomaniac.

And I hope I shall be pardoned, if I give utterance to brother's indignant feelings, in his own words, for the language, although strong, does not conflict with Christ's teaching or example.

Among the pile of letters above alluded to, which Mr. Packard left accidentally in my room, was one from this Mr. Field, which seemed to be an answer to one Mr. Packard wrote to him, wherein it seemed he had been calling Mr. Field to account for having heard that he had called him a "devil," and demanded of him satisfaction, if he had done so; for Mr. Field makes reply:

"I do believe men are possessed with devils now-a-days, as much as they were in Christ's days, and I believe too that some are not only possessed with one devil, but even seven devils, and I believe you are the man!"

I never heard of his denying the charge as due Mr. Field afterwards!

From my own observations in an Insane Asylum, I am fully satisfied that Mr. Field is correct in his premises, and I must also allow that he has a right of opinion in its application.

Looking from these various stand-points, it seems to me self-evident, that this Great Drama is a woman's-right struggle. From the commencement to its present stage of development, this one insane idea seems to be the backbone of the rebellion.

A married woman has no rights which her husband is bound to respect!

While he simply defended his insane dogma as an opinion only, no one had the least right to call him a monomaniac; but when this insane idea became a practical one, then, and only till then, had we any right to call him an insane person

Now, if the course he has taken with me is not insanity -- that is, an unreasonable course, I ask, what is insanity?

Now let this great practical truth be for one moment considered, namely, all that renders an earth-life desirable -- all the inalienable rights and privileges of one developed, moral and accountable, sensitive being, he wholly suspended on the arbitrary will of this intolerant man, or monomaniac.

No law, no friend, no logic can defend me in the least legally, from this despotic, cruel power; for the heart which controls this will has become, as it respects his treatment of me, "without understanding, a covenant breaker, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful."

And let another truth also be borne in mind, namely, that this one man stands now as a fit representative of all that class in society, and God grant it may be found to be a very small class! who claim that the subjection of the wife, instead of the protection of the wife, is the true law of marriage.

This marriage law of subjection has now culminated, so that it has become a demonstrated fact, that its track lies wholly in the direction of usurpation.

And therefore this track, upon which so many devoted; true women, have taken a through or life ticket, is one which the American Government ought to guard and protect by legal enactments; so that such a drama as mine cannot be again legally tolerated under the flag of our protective Government.