Major General John E. Wool and the rebel general Howell Cobb. To the application of General Wool for an explanation why the U. S. prisoners including Colonels Corcoran and Willcox agreed to be sent to Craney Island for exchange under a flag of truce were not sent pursuant to the agreement no explanation has been given. The exchanges that have taken place since the breach of that agreement were made by individuals without the intervention of the Government otherwise than by permitting the exchange and facilitating it as far as possible.

A late proposition for a new arrangement was promptly rejected by General Wool because its terms involved a distinct recognition of the rebels as an independent belligerent power, and his action has been approved by this Department. Anxious as the Department is to release the prisoners held in captivity by the rebels and to resetore them to their families and their country it will no doubt be recognized by every one as a paramount duty to guard against any recognition of the enemy otherwise than as rebels in arms against this Government.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON.

Secretary of War.

BOSTON April 18, 1862.

Honorable W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State:

Henry Myers, paymaster of the Sumter, and T. T. Tunstall, ex-consul at Cadiz, sent home as prisoners in irons by the U. S. consul at Tangier, have arrived. The consul has reported the fact to your Department. What disposition shall be made of them?

JOHNS S. KEYES,

U. S. Marshal.

WASHINGTON, April 18, 1862.

JOHN S. KEYES, U. S. Marshal, Boston:

Your telegram received. Commit Henry Myers and Thomas T. Tunstall to the custody of Colonel Dimick at Fort Warren.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

U. S. MARSHAL'S OFFICE, Boston, April 18, 1862.

Honorable WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Secretary of State of the United States:

SIR; I have the honor to report that Henry Myers, paymaster of the Sumter, and T. T. Tunstall, late consul at Cadiz, arrived here to-day in the Harvest Home, Captain Dickey. They were arrested in Tangier by the U. S. consul and placed by him in irons and sent on board the U. S. ship Ino, Captain Creesy, and by him sent home in the Harvest Home. The captain in his letter to the district attorney, who is absent, says:

They were delivered to me by the U. S. consul, at Tangier Mr. De Long. Full particulars of their arret have been forwarded to the State Department by Mr. De Long, the consul who informed me on receiving them that they were engaged in Tangier in endeavoring to procure coal and provisions for the rebel steamer Sumter now lying in Gibraltar. Their acts and conversation while at Tangier fully warranted the consul in arresting them.

They arrived at this port with leg irons of several pounds weight firmly riveted to their ankles, requiring a blacksmith to release them,