eight months of which period had been passed by him in the Southern States; that his sympathies were with the rebels; that without authority from the United States Government to pass beyond our lines he had succeeded in so doing, and had proceeded to Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah; that, his profession being that of a pyrotechnic, he had visited Charleston in this capacity, and had actually rendered services as such in the construction of torpedoes for the defense of the harbor of the city. Most of these facts were made known by the prisoner himself in statements made by him to Mr. Wood, the superintendent of the prison. But it is to be observed that these statements were made freely and voluntarily and in a boastful manner, especially when the defenses were alluded to, the prisoners frequently vaunting their magnitude and impregnable character.

In view of these antecedents of his and especially of the services represented by him to have been rendered the enemy in the preparation of engines of war, it is submitted that the arrest and confinement of Hardcastle were fully warranted and that his liberty as a British subject was not interfered with without cause or in breach of that good faith which should prevail between this Government and that of a neutral power. Is not his case indeed more truly represented when it is said that his acts in secretly making his way across our lines, without any passport whatever, in defiance of the authority of the United States, and in subsequently giving important aid and comfort to the rebellion, after having enjoyed the protection of our laws during a residence of more than seven years, were such as to oblige our Government, if not to imprison him as an enemy, at least to confine his person till the most satisfactory guarantees were tendered as to his strict neutrality in the future? It can be held in nowise a violation of the flag of truce, which had procured safe conduct behind the rebel lines, that he was received from it subjection of military police which had been adopted in our armies. May he not himself rather be deemed to have abused the privilege of the flag, in availing himself of the opportunity which it afforded him of reaching our lines, when, if his character and antecedents had been known, he would assuredly not have been received under it at all?

From the reports submitted in relation to the shooting of Hardcastle, the circumstances of his death are found to be these: The prison in which he was confined fronted directly upon a main street of Washington, and was thus so situated that communication between prisoners and persons outside could have been readily indulged in, if no precautions had been taken to prevent it. That the parties in confinement should be debarred, not only from such communications, but from the view of persons passing on the street, would appear to be most desirable in a city like Washington, situated near the enemy's lines, constantly menaced by his forces and frequented by parties in secret sympathy with the rebellion or engaged in enterprises prohibited by the laws of war. Such parties would naturally seek to communicate if possible with their friends in confinement for the purpose of advising with or assistant them or in procuring their escape. It appears that, to facilitate such intercourse, the bars of the windows have in several cases been cut through, and it was to prevent this communication as effectually as possible that screens were erected outside the windows, rising to a height of four feet above the sills and projecting about eighteen inches beyond them toward the street. The prisoners were forbidden to look or extend their bodies over and outside these screens, and the guards on duty at the prisons were instructed to warn prisoners making