The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-30 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, MARCU 2A.
The Rop steamship Arabia han arrivtd
with the New YUL k Laaila of the 17th, Boston of the

•
18th, and haiiiax oi ti;. 20th. She has 232,570

doll. on freight.
The following letter, dated headquarters of the
army, Washington, D. 0. March 5, has been ad-
dressed by Major Gen. Halleck to Major-Gen. W.
Rosecrans, Murfreesborough, Tennessee:—
" General,—I have just received Major. General
Reynold's letter of February 10, with your indorse-
ments of Feb. 18. The suggestions of General Rey-
nolds and General Thomas, with regard to a more
rigid treatment of disloyal persons within the lines
of your army are approved. No additional instruc-
tions from these headquarters are deemed necessary.
' You hare already been urged to procure your
subsistence, forage, and means of transportation, s,)
_ _

far as possible, in the county occupied. This you

bail a right to do without any instruction. As the
commanding general in the field, you have the right
to enforce all the laws and usages of war, however
rigid and severe these may be, unless there be some

Act of Congress, regulation, order, or instruction,
forbidding or restricting such enforcement. As a
general rule, you must always be the judge when it
is best to act rigidly. Apply these laws and where
a more lenient course wauld be of greater advan-
tage to our cause.
"Distinctions, however, should always be made
in regard to the character of the people in the dis-
trict of country which is militarily occupied or passed
over. The people of the country in which you are
likely to operate may be divided into two classes.
" First, The true loyal, who neither aid nor assist
the rebels, except under compulsion, but who favour
or assist the Union troops. Where it can possibly
be. avoided, this class of persons should not be sub-
jezted to military requisitions, but should receive
the protection of our arms. It may, however, be
necessary sometimes to take their property either
for our own use, or to prevent its falling into the
hands of the enemy. They will be paid at the time
the value of such property, or, if that be impracti-
cable, they will hereafter be fully indemnified. Re-
ceipts should be given for all property so taken
without being paid for.
" Second, Those who took no part in the war, but
belonging to the class known as military non-com-
batants. In a civil war like that now waged,
this class is supposed to sympathise with the re-
bellion rather than with the Government. There
can be no such thing as neutrality in a rebellion.
This term is applicable only to foreign Powers. Such
Powers, so long as they commit no hostile act and
confine themselves to their private avocations, are
not to be molested by the military forces, nor is
their property to be seized except as a military ne-
cessity. They, however, are subject to forced loans
and military requisitions, and their houses to billets
for soldiers' quarters, and to appropriations for other
military uses. Subject to these impositions, the
non-combatant inhabitants of a district militarily
occupied by one of the belligerents are entitled to
the military protection of the occupying forces.
But, while entitled to such protection, they incur
very serious obligations ; obligations differing, in
some respects, from those of civil allegiance, but
equally binding. For example, those who rise in
arms against the occupying army, or against the
authority established by the same, are war rebels or
military traitors, and incur the penalty of death.
They are not entitled to be considered as prisoners
of war when captured. Their property is subject to
military seizure and military confiscation. Military

treason of this kind is broadly distinguished from
the treason defined in constitutional and statutory
laws, and made punishable by the civil courts.
Military treason is a military offence punishable by
the common law of war. Again, persons belonging
to such occupied territory, and within the military
lines of the occupying forces, can give no informa-
tion to the enemy of the occupying power without
proper authority. To do so the party forfeits not
only all claim to protection, but subjects himself or

herself to be punished either as a spy or military
traitor according to the character of the particular
offence. Our treatment of such offences and swab
offenders has hitherto been altogether too lenient.
A more strict enforcement of laws of war in this re-
pect is recommended. Such offenders should be
made to understand the penalties they incur, and to
know that these penalties will be rigidly enforced.
" Third, those wha are openly and avowedly hos-
tile to the occupying army, but who do not bear
arms against such forces. In other words, while
claiming to be non-combatants they repudiate obli-
gations tacitly or imp!iedly incurred by the other
inhabitants of the territory. Such persons not only
incur all the obligations imposed upon the other

non-combatant inhabitants of the same territory.

and are liable to the same punishment for offences
committed, but they may be treated as prisoners of
war, and be subjected to the rigour of confinement
or to expulsion as combatant enemies. I am of
opinion that such persons should not, as a rule,
be permitted to go at large within our lines. To
force those capable of bearing arms to go within
the lines of the enemy adds to his effective forces.
To place them in confinement will require guards,
and, necessarily, diminish ours. You will determine
in each particular case which will be most advan-
tageous. We have suffered very severely from this
class, and it is time the laws of war should be more
rigorously enforced against them. A broad line of
distinction must be drawn between friends and
enemies, loyal and disloyal.
" The foregoing remarks have reference only to
the military status and to military offences under
the laws of war. They are not applicable to civil
offences under the Constitution and general laws of
the land. The laws and usages of civilised war must
be your guide, in the treatment of all classes of
persons in the country in which your army may
operate, or which it may occupy; and you will be
permitted to decide for yourself where it is best to
act with rigour and where best to be more lenient.
You will notbe trammelled with minute instructions.
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"H. W. HALLECK, General-in-Chief."
Persuasion having failed to secure the voluntary
enlistment of negroes into the Federal army at
Hilton Head and Key West, the following order
had been issued :
" Headquarters' Department of the South,
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S.C., March 6.
" In view of the necessities of the military situa-
tion, the impossibility of obtaining from Govern-
ment all the troops required for service in this
department, and paramount importance (in view of
existing complications of foreign policy) of at once
placing strong garrisons of thoroughly acclimated
troops in the Southern forts and posts of this depart-
ment, in order that the troops now there may be
used in the more active field operations for which
they are better suited—such forts and posts being
Peculiarly liable to the ravages of climatic and
epidemic diseases—all the able-bodied male negroes
between the ages of 18 and N within the military
lines of the Department of the South, who are not,
on the day of the date of this order, regularly and
permanently employed in the Quartermaster and
Commissary Departments or as the private servants
of officers, within the allowance made by the Army
Regulations, are hereby draughted into the military
service of the United States to serve as non-commis-
sioned officers and soldiers of the verions regiments
and brigades now organised, and in process of being
organised by Brigadier General Rufus Saxton,
specially authorised to raise such troops by orders
of the War Department.
" Until other arrangements can be made the
families of all negroes thus draughted will be pro-
vided for by order which General Saxton has autho-
rity to issue. . . .

By command of
" Major-General DAVID HUNTER.
"C. G. Halpine, Assist..•Adjutant-General."
Advices from Cairo, Illinois, of the 15th report
that 12,000 Confederates were within 28 miles of
Fort Donelson.
Louisville advices of the 15th express considerable
apprehension of an invasion in force of Kentucky
by ,`he Confederates.
In the Confederate Congress on the 11th Mr. Co-
nrad offer,
ld the following peace preamble and reso-
lution Whereas the present Administration of
the United States, by its reckless disregard of all