ground that he had reason to believe that his long imprisonment in Fort Lafayette was, to same extent, caused by that testimony. The permission was accordingly granted to him. The committee do not now see any good reason to induce them to depart from a rule so long established and hitherto so strictly adhered to. Should satisfactory reasons hereafter be presented, they would undoubtedly grant such a privilege to other. Until then they deem it expedient to adhere to the rule here indicated. The committee cannot suppose that any person would for a moment seriously entertain the idea of calling any witness they may think proper to examine to account for the testimony he may give. Being clothed by Congress with all its powers in the premises, their own self-respect and dignity will not permit them to acknowledge the right of any person to question their authority to examine any one upon any subject which they have been authorized and directed to investigate. In order to do that, every witness must feel himself perfectly free to answer any interrogations the committee may ask, or to give any testimony which may relate to the subject upon which he may be examined.

I remain, very respectfully,

B. F. WADE, .

Chairman, &etc.

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.]

HDQRS, OF THE ARMY,
Washington, March 20, 1864.

Major General GEORGE G. MEADE,

Army of the Potomac:

GENERAL: The Secretary of War has shown me your letter in regard to the communication in the Herald signed "Hisoricus. " I have no doubt that and other articles of the same kind in the New York papers were written or dictated by General Sickles; nevertheless, you will not be able to fix on him the authorship, and nothing would suit him better than to get you into a personal or newspaper controversy. He would there be perfectly at home, and, with his facilities for controlling or giving color to the New York press, would have greatly the advantage. My advice would be to ignore him entirely in this controversy, unless he makes himself officially amenable, which I think he is too shrewd to do. He cannot by these newspaper articles injure your military reputation in the slightest degree. Indeed, I think that any attacks from him will have the contrary effect.

Yours, truly,

H. W. HALLECK.

CONFIDENTIAL]

HDQRS. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
March 22, 1864.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I have received and thank you for your friendly letter of the 20th instant. I have no intention of entering into a personal or newspaper controversy with General Sickles. I hardly expected he would acknowledge writing, or being a party to the writing, of the letter by Historicus; but I did expect he would have the manliness to say, though he was not a party to its publication, that its contents