We have seen in the Northern papers that Mr. William B. Mumford, of New Orleans, and Colonel John L. Owen, of the Missouri State Guard, have been executed by the U. S. authorities-Mr. Mumford for having pulled down the U. S. flag in New Orleans, and Colonel Owen upon the charge o bridge burning in Missouri. The former was hung, the latter was shot.

We are informed that Mr. Mumford pulled the flag down when the enemy were not yet in possession of the city, but had merely anchored their vessels before it and had made a demand for a surrender which had not been complied with. A party landed, hoisted the flag and retired. The city was not in their possession nor subject to their jurisdiction.

Under such circumstances the execution of Mr. Mumford was the murder of one of our citizens. I inclose* the account of his execution from the New Orleans Delta.

We are informed that Colonel Owen was shot without trial. Such is the account given in the Missouri papers, as you will perceive from the inclosed+ slip containing an extract from the Hannibal [Mo.] Herald. He was a duly commissioned officer of the Second Division of the Missouri State Guard.

We have executed private individuals for burning bridges and persons in military service for coming disguised within our lines to destroy railroads, but we have given them fair trials. If Colonel Owen entered the enemy's lines in disguise and burnt bridges, we could not consistently deny their right to try and punish him, but an execution without trial is not justifiable under any circumstances, and if he acted in obedience to orders and without entering the lines of the enemy in disguise his execution is a palpable murder committed by a U. S. officer.

Supposing Mr. Mumford, a citizen of the Confederate States, to have been executed for an insult to the U. S. flag hoisted in a city not in their possession, and Colonel Owen to have been executed without trial, we deem it our duty to call on the authorities of the United States for a statement of the facts, inasmuch as we do not intend to permit outrage of that character to be perpetrated without retaliation.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. W. RANDOLPH,

Secretary of DEPARTMENT, Richmond, June 29, 1862.

Honorable T. A. HARRIS, Lynchburg, Va.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd instant and to inform you that in consequence of the information in your letter of the 10th instant I directed General Lovell to inform the United States Government through General Butler of our intention to retaliate in case members of the State Guard of Missouri were executed under circumstances not justified by the laws of civil warfare. We ourselves have exercised the right of hanging persons not in military service who entered our lines disguised for the purpose of destroying a railroad. We cannot therefore retaliate without accurate knowledge of the facts of the case.

I directed General Lovell to inform General Butler that we claimed the right of fair trial in such cases and that we reserved the right to

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*See page 135.

+See page 134.

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