the direction of the President conveyed in my letter* of the 15th instant will be carried into effect. The same difficulties present themselves in the case of M. Handly, who was tried by court-martial at Petersburg in October last, and the President directs that the decision in the case of Moore be applied to that of Handly. The Articles of War provide for the trial of officers and soldiers of the Army for military offenses. No civilian can be tried by court-martial under these articles except in the cases of camp-followers and retainers to the camp, &c. (see Articles 60 and 96), or in cases provided for in Articles 56 and 57, and second section of Articles 101. Where citizens of the Confederacy offend against the military rules and orders the only remedy is to place them in confinement or send them beyond the limits of the military command.

General Orders, Numbers 11, on which your action was probably based, was issued in consequence of the President's proclamation, but the authority for the latter having expired by the limitation contained in the act of Congress approved April 19, 1862, some modification of the order will now be necessary. In the meantime, although the power to arrest offenders continues in the provost-marshal till the order is revoked, action under the fourth paragraph requiring them to be punished by sentence of a court-martial should be suspended until more definite instructions are communicated. Messrs. Moore and Handly must therefore be released from the sentence of the court, but the contraband liquor may be destroyed or confiscated to the use of the Government.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE, Numbers 1.
Tullahoma, November 23, 1862.

* * * *

II. All officers and men who have been delivered at Vicksburg, Miss., up to the 1st of November have been duly exchanged as prisoners of war and will without delay join their respective regiments and corps.

* * * *

By command of General Bragg:

GEORGE WM. BRENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, November 24, 1862.

Judge HEATH, North Carolina.

SIR: The papers connected with the case of Joseph G. Godfrey, a person seized as a hostage by the Federal authorities at New Berne, N. C., for one Baker White, a deserter from the Confederate Army to the service of the United States, have been examined. We cannot consent to the exchange of Baker White for Mr. Godfrey. The seizure of Mr. Godfrey was in the judgment of this Department an abuse sanctioned by no law of war. A tyrannical employment of power to the injury of a person not engaged in the war is the only aspect in which it

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*Not found.

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