HDQRS. C. S. ARMY IN NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA,
July 16, 1861.

Major General GEORGE B. McCLELLAN,

Commanding U. S. Forces.

SIR: Your letter of the 15th instant with its anomalous address has been received. In response I have simply to say that I am as yet wholly unapprised that a different policy in regard to the arrests of suspected persons or the protection of private property from the line you have so naturally proposed for yourself has been pursued by the chief of this division of the Confederate Army. Hence your suggestion as to the propriety of abandoning any other would seem to be uncalled for. Begging to remind you that any information you may receive as to the absence of sufficient grounds for the arrest and detention of the persons you name (or any others) may to say the least of it be quite as unreliable as the evidence upon which such persons are held I will conclude by saying to you that justive will be duly regarded by me in the treatment of all persons whatsoever.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

H. R. JACKSON,

Brigadier-General, C. S. Army.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, July 19, 1861.

Lieutenant Colonel MARTIN BURKE, U. S. Army,

Fort Hamilton, N. Y.

SIR: The General-in-Chief directs that you assume command of Forts Hamilton and Lafayette, New York Harbor, taking quarters at the former place.

Orders have been given for the confinement of certain political prisoners and prisoners of war in Fort Lafayette, and a guard has been detailed for their custody, the officers of which will be quartered with the guard in the same fort. The general directs that you give orders to the following purpose:

First. That the prisoners be securely held and that they be allowed every privilege consistent with this end and be treated with all kindness.

Second. That a record be kept of the names, dates of confinement and release of the prisoners.

Third. That the prisoners be permitted to provide themselves with such comforts as they require.

Fourth. That an exact account be kept of the subsistence, &c., furnished the prisoners of war.

I am, &c.,

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 20, 1861.

JOHN A. KENNEDY, Esq.,

Superintendent Metropolitan Police, New York.

SIR: I inclose a copy of a private and confidential letter to me from Mr. Adams, at London, relative to Doctor Holland, of Texas, who was the subject of your note to me of the 17th of May last. The French house