DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 24, 1862.

JOHN VAN BUREN, Esq., New York.

SIR: Your note of the 22nd instant requesting an interview on professional business with the Honorable Pierre Soule has been received and referred to the Secretary of War, who alone has authority in the matter.

I am, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Madison, Wis., November 24, 1862.

Colonel WILLIAM HOFFMAN,

Commissary-General of Prisoners, Washington, D. C.

SIR: I inclose a copy a petition forwarded to me signed by forty-eight of the Wisconsin paroled men at Annapolis and beg the favor of your attention to the subject. In regard to the return of these men to the State I have no wish to interfere with any established rules of the Government in regard to them, but the complaints referred to are of long standing and fully corroborated by correspondence from officers and from agents of the State who have visited the camps. For the honor of the service these things ought not to be allowed to continue. I am informed that the States of Iowa and Ohio have obtained the privilege of having their paroled men sent to camp elsewhere, and if so I desire the same privilege. From recent publication of general orders I notice that a large number of prisoners have been exchanged. I desire to know what Wisconsin officers and men are included in the exchange. Our men are scattered in various camps through the country or at home, anxious to return to duty, and I will be obliged to you for information on the subject.

Yours, respectfully,

EDWARD SALOMON,

Governor of Wisconsin.

[Inclosure.]

CAMP PAROLED PRISONERS,

Near Annapolis, Md., November 15, 1862.

His Excellency E. SALOMON, Governor of Wisconsin:

We, the undersigned, enlisted men of Wisconsin troops and paroled prisoners at Annapolis, would respectfully represent that the camp where we are kept is not a fit place for men to stay in on account of its filthy condition and the want of proper discipline. Men are being assaulted, robbed and killed. Drunkenness and gambling are raging to a fearful extent and threaten to destroy the morale of even the best among us. We would therefore ask to be delivered from this horde of crime and misery and to be permitted to go to our own State, there to remain until we shall again have the privilege to join our comrades in the field.

[Signed by forty-eight Wisconsin paroled men.]

HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, ARMY OF THE FRONTIER,
Camp Babcock, November 24, 1862.

Brigadier General JOHN S. MARMADUKE,

Commanding Confederate Forces.

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated Evansville, Ark., November 23, 1862. The sick soldiers belonging to the U. S. Army taken prisoners at Fayetteville by Colonel MacDonald, to whom your letter refers, belonged to General Schofield's command. I have no means of obtaining a list of the names or their