these people, or at least the men, that they were free, and if they wished could leave, thus recognizing the proclamation and renouncing his claim to their services. They did not then leave him. In the course of last year the white man, McAfee, who had been cohabiting with the woman Lucy, who was a light mulatto, frequently besought the prisoner to assist him in getting her and her children away with him to Texas. This arrangement the prisoner claims to have declined to enter into on the ground that it was contrary to existing law. McAfee then proposed to buy them, but the prisoner refused to make the sale; yet, after much solicitation and the offer of $7,000 for the lot, he finally yielded; the bargain was struck, he received $4,000 cash in hand and the purchaser's promise to pay the balance carried off the women and children, eight in number, beyond the lines, and, as it is supposed, to Texas. One of the colored men, the husband of Lucy, left his wife at home on Monday morning, and returning on Tuesday evening found no trace of her or her children. Powerless to assert their rights, or ignorant of them, they had been abducted by McAfee, who abandoned his own wife at Flat Bayou, where she still resides. The men both testify that their wives did not want to go away; and it would appear that they contemplated with aversion and terror the probability of being compelled by McAfee to accompany him. It seems that the conscience of the prisoner, or his fear of the vengeance of the outrage law, would not let him rest. He made his appearance at the headquarters at Pine Bluff and, relating his story, solicited exemption from prosecution. He was, however, arraigned before a military commission for kidnaping and for selling into slavery persons of African descent, made free by the President's proclamation, found guilty, and sentenced to confinement in a military prison for five years. Major-General Steele, commanding the department, approves the finding and sentence, and forwards the proceeding for the action of the President, which has not yet been had. In the opinion of this office it was not requisite that the confirmation of the President should be obtained; but, as it is presumable that the execution of the sentence will not commence until directed by him, it is expedient and proper that action should be taken, and it is recommended that the sentence be confirmed.

The pardon of the prisoner is now applied for by citizens of Arkansas, who sign a petition averring that he has subscribed the oath prescribed by the proclamation of amnesty, and has always heretofore been a good and influential man in the church and in the community. The paper sets forth no other proof of loyalty. This petition is favorably recommended by Colonel Powell Clayton, commanding at Pine Bluff. It is presented by Mr. A. A. C. Rogers, who claims to be a member of Congress, elect, from the Second District of Arkansas, and who says that he believes the prisoner intended no wrong; that the act for which he was tried occurred soon after the Federal occupation of that section, whilst all was confusion, doubt, an uncertainty; that the husband and father of the negroes sold had been taken to Texas. The owner wanted the wife and children, they wanted to go, and the prisoner sold them, in ignorance of the nature of the offense. He adds that he thinks the pardon, if granted, would strengthen the good feeling of his district toward the Government. Mr. Rogers has fallen into several serious errors in his version of the case. He states that the husband and father of the negroes sold had been taken to Texas. So far from this being true it is in evidence that the husbands of both the women are still at Flat Bayou; and so far from the woman Lucy wanting to go,