I shall wait till to-morrow afternoon for Colonel Weer to receive an answer to his telegram and then leave for Indianapolis and Louisville.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. M. CLARK,

Surgeon and Acting Medical Inspector of Prisoners of War.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, Numbers 113.
Saint Louis, Mo., April 25, 1864.

* * * * *

8. Brigadier General Joseph T. Copeland, with his adjutant-general, will repair without delay to Alton, Ill., and assume command of that post.

9. The Thirteenth Regiment Illinois Cavalry, now stationed at Benton Barracks, will proceed to and take post at Alton, Ill.

* * * * *

By command of Major-General Rosecrans:

O. D. GREENE,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT,

Richmond, Va., April 25, 1864.

PETER HAMILTON, Esq., Mobile, Ala.:

SIR: Your letter of the 15th ultimo, inclosing report of evidence in the cases of Fogg, J. D. Suttles, Thomas Vaughn, and Thomas Brown, has been received and considered.

In the case of Fogg the testimony submitted hardly establishes a treasonable design to impair the military power of the Government by destroying or attempting to destroy the property of the Confederate States, and therefore does not show a cause for detention under the thirteenth paragraph of the act to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus of February 15, 1864. The case is one of larceny arising under the State laws of Mississippi, and the person charged had better be sent back to State for trial under those laws. The acts of the United States and Confederate States seem to limit the jurisdiction of the courts of the Confederacy in the punishment of crimes of this nature to places in which the Confederate States have jurisdiction by a cession from the State. If this man be in the military service he would be liable under the military law and the act that creates the military courts, but it is not stated in the report that he is in the military service.

In the cases of Suttles, Vaughn, and Brown the testimony shows that they were banded with others to encourage desertion and to protect and harbor deserters, and there is strong reason to believe that the combination is with the design to assist the enemy, and there is some reason to suppose that they are organized under a commission from the Federal authorities. The district court of the Confederate States is not held with regularity in Mississippi, and the persons cannot be tried in that State owing to the conditions of the country. As soon as it can be done an examination had better be had before a commissioner of the C. S. court, and the necessary proceedings initiated to have the parties brought to trial. In the meanwhile they custody under the act entitled "An act to suspend the privilege of