Germans and Americans; that they are organized and have their officers elected, and they mean to stir up insurrection with all of its horrors in case of conflict, and that six counties were represented. Dr. Robson states that this information was obtained from men who were at the meeting and that it is reliable. Dr. Robson is one of our most prominent citizens.

I also have reliable information that on last Tuesday night large numbers of armed men were seen to go from this (Austin) and Colorado Counties toward Roeder's Mill; one party was headed by an American and passed in the night. On Wednesday morning some 75 men, mostly armed, from this county passed through Fayetteville, a little town in this county 12 miles from here, and reported that they were going to Frelsburg, in Colorado County, but were watched and seen to leave the Frelsburg road and to take the road to Roeder's Mill.

A German, a true man, came to see me yesterday, and stated he wished to communicate something to me, but that he would not do so unless I promised to keep his name secret, and upon my doing so he told me that on Thursday the Germans of his neighborhood had met at the house of a drafted man, and there organized into a company and elected their officers to resist being taken off as drafted men, and also to resist conscription, and that they had threatened every German with destruction who would not join them; that they intended to wait until an attempt was made to force the men off, and then they would assemble and resist to the death.

Two other gentlemen of respectability (W. W. Wade and P. Clawson, of Fayetteville) came to me about midnight Friday night, and reported to me that this meeting detailed by this German was held, and that every movement indicated resistance; also that a German blacksmith in Fayetteville was discovered to be secretly making spear-heads; also that these men had in the last few weeks provided themselves with ammunition.

I also have information of three other meetings of Germans having been held in other and different neighborhoods in this county, all secret, and also of other meetings being appointed for to-day (Sunday) and Monday.

We have a large German population in this county, and in Colorado, Austin, and Washington Counties. Many of them are true men, and if we never had had a traitor American nearly all would have been, and the seeds of disaffection have been sown by native Americans, and they now have natives colleague with the disloyal among them. These secret meetings have been holding for months, but until lately have not attracted much attention. For some two weeks past, however, my attention has been frequently called to them, and I have labored incessantly to keep down the hot-headed men upon our side, in order that we might get into the design, and also to prevent anything being done which would precipitate a civil war and place us in the aggressive. I have, however, had true men on the alert, obtaining all the information possible, but they have been so cautious that this has been very difficult, and a German who was a secessionist was kicked out of one of the meetings, it is rumored, and charged with being a spy.

In times of public excitement it is most difficult to cull out the truth from exaggerated rumor, and while I would have our distinguished commander informed of these matters I would not be instrumental in stirring up unnecessary excitement. It has been because of the true men of this county knowing of the disaffected element among us that they have declined to volunteer, being unwilling to leave their