home are respected in their rights of person and property. In return for this privilege they are expected to take no part in hostilities unless called on by their Government. If, however, in violation of this usage private citizens of Missouri should be oppressed and maltreated by the public enemy they have unquestionably a right to take arms in their own defense, and if captured and confined by the enemy under such circumstances they are entitled as citizens of the Confederate States to all the protection which their Government can afford, and among the measures to which it may be needful and proper to resort is that of the lex talionis. We shall deplore the necessity of retaliation as adding therefore we shall act with great circumspection and only upon facts clearly ascertained; but if it is our only means of compelling the observance of the usages of civilized warfare we cannot hesitate to resort to it when the proper time arrives.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

[Indorsement.]

This being a rough draft without signature I have taken the liberty to interline in pencil for your consideration.

J. D.

RICHMOND. July 16, 1862.

General EARL VAN DORN, Vicksburg, Miss.:

The arms are generally damaged and need repair, but we will send some of them as soon as possible if you will indicate the number you require and the point at which you wish them delivered. I congratulate you on your successful defense of Vicksburg. You have done much to raise the spirits of the country. The Washington Government has agreed to a general exchange of prisoners, and General John A. Dix on their side and General D. H. Hill on ours are now arranging the details.

GEO. W. RANDOLPH,

Secretary of War.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT Numbers 2., Numbers 121.
Tupelo, Miss., July 16, 1862.

I. At a military commission, convened by virtue of Special Orders, Numbers 112, paragraph VII, Headquarters Department Numbers 2, at Tupelo, Miss., on the 14th day of July 1862, was tried Simeon Tidwell, a citizen of the Confederate States, on the following charges and specifications:

CHARGE: Treason.

Specification. - In this that the said Simeon Tidwell, being a citizen of the Confederate States, on or about the 4th day of July, 1862, in the State of Mississippi did steal certain negro slaves, the property of Ferguson and Fitzhugh, with intent to deliver them over to the enemy.

To which charge and specification the prisoner pleaded as follows:

To the specification "Not guilty.,"

To the charge,"Not guilty. "

Finding and sentence.

The commission, after mature deliberation on the testimony adduced, finds the prisoner, Simeon Tidwell, as aforesaid, as follows:

Of the specification, "Guilty. "

Of the charge,"Guilty. "