inquiries as to the facts and circumstances connected with the arrest of certain prisoners confined at Camp Chase to whom I referred in my letter to the Adjutant-General of the 13th ultimo I have been information by direction of Governor Tod of Ohio that all of them had been already discharged at his receipt of my letter. I am not informed by what authority the discharge was made, though I judge it was not made by order of the Governor as his private secretary went out to Camp Chase to inquire for the men. The following are their names, viz: G. A. Davis, Matthew Bright, George T. Henderson, J. Allen Harwood, W. H. Wise, Lewis S. Farrell, A. W. Jones, J. W. Wigal, W. H. Peterson, J. B. Smith, G. S. Grove, John W. Coffman, John Bartneto and Thomas W. Tillman. From those it was my intention to select the most favorable cases.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

Lieutenant Colonel, U. S. Army, Commissary-General of Prisoners.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 12, 1862.

His Excellency DAVID TOD, Governor of Ohio.

GOVERNOR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 28th ultimo introducing General George W. Morgan and requesting the Department to consult freely with him relative to prisoners confined at Camp Chase, Ohio, and also to have your duties in the premises defined and pointed out. In reply I have the honor to state that the Department sometimes desires to take the advice of gentlemen of known character and standing in regard to the cases of prisoners confined at different military posts in the country so that the Secretary of State may act intelligently and for the best interests of all concerned. Governor Dennison was kind enough to perform these duties for a time at Camp Chase, and when his term of office as governor expired the Secretary sent to you not as a duty but as an act of kindness to him and for the Governor of the United States, and if he should have occasion to make similar requests in the future he will endeavor to explain the nature of the service required in each case in the communication to you upon the subject.

I have the honor to be, governor, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

F. W. SEWARD,

Assistant Secretary.

ALEXANDRIA, VA., February 12, 1862.

Honorable WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

SIR: In compliance with your request I respectfully submit to you the following report of the arrest of a secessionist on Sunday last in this city whose arrest and subsequent release by order of General Montgomery occasioned considerable excitement.

The Rev. J. R. Stewart, an Episcopal clergyman officiating at Saint Paul's Church, has long been notoriously known in this city as an open and avowed secessionist, denying the authority of the Government of the United States and recognizing that of the (so-called) Confederate States and of Bishop Meade who has seceded. He has habitually refused to read the prayer for the President of the United States as established