due diligence "to the Confederacy", and the other a certificate made by him that he was a citizen of the State of Louisiana, with a request that the might be provided with means to return "to the Confederacy". Admitting their genuineness, they do not repel the presumption raised by the circumstances attending his arrest-the disguise and the false pretenses with which he was found within our lines. His flight to Canada was not a return within the lines of his own army. If he had found his way back to the insurgent States and had been subsequently captured in battle he could not have been convicted under the first specification of the first charge. But neither of these facts exist to remove or terminate his liability to conviction under that specification.

Whatever question may exist as to the effect of his return to Canada after having lurked as a spy, as charged in the first specification, no such question can arise as to his guilt as a spy, as charged in the second specification, which sets forth an offense entirely distinct from the first, of which he has been convicted on full proof.

The major-general commanding considers his duty as clear in this case as in that of Beall. The lives, the property, the domestic security of non-combatants citizens must be protected against all invasion not in strict accordance with the laws and usages of civilized States in the conduct of war. Crimes which outrage and shock the moral sense by their atrocity must not only be punished and the perpetrators be deprived of the power of repeating them, but the sternest condemnation of the law must be presented to others to deter them from the commission of similar enormities.

Robert C. Kennedy will be hanged by the neck till he is dead at Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor, on Saturday, the 25th day of March, instant, between the hours of 12 noon and 2 in the afternoon.

The commanding officer of Fort Lafayette is charged with the execution of this order*.

By command of Major-General Dix;

D. T. VAN BUREN,

Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS, Ship Island, Miss., March 20, 1865.

Brigadier General WILLIAM HOFFMAN,
Commissary-General of Prisoners of War:

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following inspection report of the condition of the prisoners of war at this station for the ten days ending March 20, 1865:

Conduct-excellent. Cleanliness-good. Clothing-sufficient. Bedding-straw. State of quarters-tents, nearly unserviceable. State of mess-houses-none. States of kitchen-good. Food, quality of-good. Food, quantity of-no complaints. Water-good. Sinks-good. Police of grounds-good. Drainage-good. Police of hospital-good. Attendance of sick-good. Hospital diet-attended to. General health of prisoners-good. Vigilance of guard-excellent.

If prisoners of war are to be kept at this station, barracks must be erected, as tents last no time here. The tents wherein the prisoners are at present are nearly worthless, and if allowed to rot away without

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* Under date of March 25, 1865, Lieutenant Colonel Martin Burke reported to General John A. Dix the execution of Kennedy.

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