March 18.—Jefferson Davis sent a message into the rebel Congress, recommending that all the rebel prisoners who had been put on parole by the United States Government, be released from the obligation of their parole, so as to bear arms in defence of the rebel government.
Of this message the Richmond Examiner said:
“The recommendation was urged as a retaliation for the infamous and reckless breach of good faith on the part of the Northern Government, with regard to the exchange of prisoners, and was accompanied by the exposure of this perfidy in a lengthy correspondence conducted by the War Department We have been enabled to extract the points of this interesting correspondence.
It appears from the correspondence that, at the time permission was asked by the Northern Government for Messrs. Fish and Ames to visit their prisoners within the jurisdiction of the South, our government, while denying this permission, sought to improve the opportunity by concerting a settled plan for the exchange of prisoners. For the execution of this purpose, Messrs. Conrad and Seddon were deputed by our government as Commissioners to meet those of the Northern Government under a flag of truce at Norfolk.
Subsequently, a letter from Gen. Wool was addressed to Gen. Huger, informing him that he (Gen. Wool) had full authority to settle any terms for the exchange of prisoners, and asking an interview on the subject Gen. Howell Cobb was then appointed by the government to mediate with Gen. Wool, and to settle a permanent plan for the exchange of prisoners during the war. The adjustment was considered to have been satisfactorily made.
It was agreed that the prisoners of war in the hands of each government should be exchanged, man for man, the officers being assimilated as to rank, etc., that our privateersmen should be exchanged on the footing of prisoners of war; that any surplus remaining on either side, after these exchanges, should be released, and that hereafter, during the whole continuance of the war, prisoners taken on either side should be paroled.
In carrying out this agreement, our government has released some three hundred prisoners above those exchanged by the North, the balance in the competing numbers of prisoners in the hands of the two governments being so much in our favor. At the time, however, of sending North the hostages we had retained for our privateersmen, Gen. Cobb had reason to suspect the good faith of the Northern Government, and telegraphed in time to intercept the release of a portion of these hostages, (among them Col. Corcoran,) who were en route from points further South than Richmond to go North under a flag of truce to Norfolk. A number of these hostages, however, had already been exchanged.
It now appears that, in contravention of the solemn agreement of the Northern Government, not one of our privateermen have been released, and the Fort Donelson prisoners, instead of being paroled, have been taken into the interior, where they are still confined.
As a judgment upon this open and shameless perfidy of the North, it is proposed that our prisoners, who have been paroled by the Yankees, shall be released from their obligations. There is as little doubt of the honor of such a proposition as there is of its justice and meetness as a retaliatory measure for an act of flagrant perfidy. —Richmond Examiner, March 19.
—The rebel steamer Nashville escaped from the harbor of Beaufort, N. C, this night, evading the National blockading vessels by superior speed.—(Doc. 97.)
—A short time since, anticipating rebel movements in Texas County, Missouri, Gen. Halleck ordered five companies of troops and two light steel six-pounders, mounted on two wheels amd drawn by two horses, under Col. Wood, to repair to that vicinity. Finding no enemy there, Col. Wood pushed on to Salem, Fulton County, Arkansas, where he encountered a largely superior force of rebels, and after a sharp fight routed them, killing about one hundred and taking many prisoners, among whom were three colonels. The National loss was about twenty-five.—(Doc. 98.)
—The ship Emily St Pierre, was this day captured off Charleston, S. C, by the vessels of the United States blockading fleet She had a full cargo of gunnies, and was ostensibly bound to St. John’s, New-Brunswick. She showed no colors, nor was any national ensign found on board. A few moments before she was boarded they were observed to throw over the stern a small package, which immediately sunk.
—To-day Gen. Sickles ordered a portion of the First regiment, Excelsior brigade, under the command of Col. Dwight, to reconnoitre the position of the enemy’s forces between Dumfries and Fredericksburgh, Va. His skirmishers, after marching to a place four miles in the interior, suddenly came upon a force of rebel cavalry, who were put to flight
When within a short distance of Fredericksburgh, a camp of the enemy was discovered, said to number one thousand three hundred infantry and artillery. The force of Col. Dwight being inadequate to make an assault upon them, fearing he might be cut off, he marched toward Dumfries. On the way the force examined a barn where some rebel cavalry were seen to emerge, and found it filled with choice commissary stores, to which the soldiers helped themselves.
On the march from Dumfries to Shipping Point, within five miles of the latter place, a large camp was discovered, containing many good log houses and tents. Articles of furniture were also found, such as sofas, bedsteads, mirrors, cushioned arm-chairs, officers’ trunks, mess chests, and a variety of articles for camp use, which lay scattered in every direction.
The soldiers of Col. Dwight’s force came in at Shipping Point loaded down with commissary stores or articles in the shape of trinkets. One prisoner was captured, who said he belonged to a North-Carolina regiment stationed at Aquia Creek.—N. Y. Times, March 20.
—Aquia Creek, Va., was evacuated by the rebels to-night Previous to their retreat they burned the wharves and buildings of the town. —A New military department, to be called the Middle Department, and to consist of the States of New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, and the counties of Cecil, Hartford, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel, in Maryland, was created. Major-Gen. Dix, was assigned the command, his headquarters at Baltimore.
—Near New-Madrid, Mo., Gen. Pope allowed a rebel gunboat to approach within fifty yards of a masked battery, and then sunk her, killing fifteen of those on board. He had previously allowed five rebel steamers to pass on toward the town, and they are now between his batteries, unable to escape.—N. Y. Tribune, March 22.
