Colonel Toole, which came to hand to-day, which I inclose to you. Colonel Toole is a gentleman of high standing, and his statement can be fully relied upon. It will be seen from his note to me that the conversation was had with Brownlow on the first Monday of November, and that was before the bridges were burned. It also shows that he must have had some knowledge of the intention of the enemy in invade Tennessee. I also send you a copy of his paper of May 21, with the article marked. You will see from reading it that if certain things are done he advises that the railroads should be destroyed. I think he was the first man in East Tennessee that made the suggestion in regard to the destruction of the railroads. I also send you the last paper he issued, with the article marked. You will see from his editorial that he retracts nothing he has said, but indorsed all that he heretofore had written. I also inclose you the Republican Banner, marked, containing a letter written after he stopped the publication of his paper. You will see from this letter that he has gone to Blount, Sevier, Cocke, and Granger Counties, for the purpose of collecting accounts, when in point of fact he only went into Blount and Sevier, and there remained with the most disloyal citizens until after the bridges were burned, and did not return until the rebellion was to a great extent crushed out. So far as I have been able to learn his arrest has been approved of by the public, and in my opinion it has had a good effect. As an index to public sentiment I send you the Knoxville Register, containing extracts from other papers about his arrest. I still think (as I stated to you in my last letter) that it would be proper that he should be sent to Tuscaloosa, but will cheerfully dispose of the case according to your own better judgment. You will please return the newspapers when you are done with them.

Yours, truly,

J. C. RAMSAY,

C. S. District Attorney.

[Inclosure.]

MARYVILLE, December 17, 1861.

General J. C. RAMSAY:

DEAR SIR: At your request I state that in conversation with William G. Brownlow, on the first Monday of November, at the ford of Little River, in Blount County, I asked him for the news at Knoxville. He remarked that his son John had just returned from Nashville, and that the Federals had entire possession of Missouri; that Jeff. Thompson was in Memphis; that they (the Federals) would soon have possession of Nashville and Clarksville, and Knoxville would be destroyed. The above is the purport, and, as well, as I now recollect, the language used.

Your friend,

JAS. M. TOOLE.

BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS, Beech Grove, Ky., December 17, 1861.

Lieutenant-Colonel MACKALL,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Bowling Green, Ky.:

SIR: Your messenger was started back on the 13th instant, via Burkesville and Glasgow, with an escort of 60 cavalrymen, directed to go to the latter place. He bore a dispatch giving you a list of 33 prisoners I send to Nashville, to be disposed of as General Johnston may