RICHMOND, November 30, 1861.

Colonel R. F. LOONEY, Knoxville:

Courts of justice have no power to take prisoners of war out of the hands of the military nor to interfere with the disposal of such prisoners by the military. An answer to a writ of habeas corpus that the prisoner was captured in arms against the Government and is held as a prisoner of war is a good and complete answer to the writ. Send this dispatch to General Carroll and let him send at once all the prisoners to jail at Tuscaloosa as prisoners of war except those found guilty of bridge-burning and murdering the guards placed at the bridges. Let not one of these treacherous murderers escape.

J. P. BENJAMIN,

Secretary of War.

HEADQUARTERS,
Greenville, November 30, 1861.

Honorable J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War:

Two insurgents have to-day been tried for bridge-burning, found guilty and hanged.

D. LEADBETTER,

Colonel.

PROCLAMATION.

HEADQUARTERS,
Greenville, East Tenn., November 30, 1861.

TO THE CITIZENS OF EAST TENNESSEE:

So long as the question of Union or disunion was debatable so long you did well to debate it and vote on it. You had a clear right to vote for the Union but when secession was established by the voice of the people you did ill to distract the county by angry words and insurrectionary tumult. In doing this you commit the highest crime known to the laws.

Out of the Southern Confederacy no people possess such elements of prosperity and happiness as those of East Tennessee. The Southern market which you have hithereto enjoyed only in cmpetition with a host of eager Northern rivals will now be shared with a few States of the Confederacy equally fortunate politically and geographically. Every product of your agriculture and workshops will now find a prompt sale at high prices and so long as cotton grows on Confederate soil so long will the money which it brings flow from the South through all your channels of trade.

At this moment you might be at war with the United States or any foreign nation and yet not suffer a tenth part of the evils which pursue you in this domestic strife. No man's life or property is safe, no woman or child can sleep in quiet. you are deluded by selfish demagougues who take care for their own personal safety. You are citizens of Tennessee and your State [is] one of the Confederate States.

So long as you are up in arms against these States can you look for anything but the invasion of your homes and the wasting of your substance. This condition of things must be ended. The Government commands the peace and sends troops to enforce the order. I proclaim that every man who comes in promptly and delivers up his arms will