Case of Ex-commander
--A hearing in the case of E. B. can wait of took place before Judge Meredith yesterday. The petitioner represents that after resigning his commission in the U. S. Navy, he left Washington, about the 7th of August, and came to Virginia to attend to private for a relative that having done this, openly and without disguise or concealment, he obtained a passport from the office of the Secretary of War and left for Nashville, Tenn, where he was arrested by order of Gen., under directions from the Secretary of the Navy. Since the 25th of August he has been a prisoner in the county jail; has (it is further represented) been unable to obtains a hearing, and has been suffering oppressive and unlawful confinement and detention. The counsel for the petitioner, R. R. Howison, Esq., has produced in this case a letter, of which the following is a copy, to show that Mr. Boutwell had resigned his commission previous to the time of his arrest:--When you commenced the present war on the Southern States, a large number of the officers of the army and navy, from that section of country, resigned their commissions. For adopting that course, the Northern newspapers the patriotism of those officers who declined to serve under this very black Administration; and you, Mr. President, in your massage to Congress at its commencement, stated that those Southern officers who remained true to the Constitution and the Union, deserved great credit. You gave those who did not resign to understand that they would be dealt with justly. Being one of the officers who did not think proper to resign my commission, and who desired to test the sincerity of your declaration, I have remained in the naval service until you have attempted to degrade me by promoting my juniors over my head. Your ostensible reason for year unjust act is that the last Administration left me on furlough pay, and you did not think proper to order me on duty. But the real motive for treating me so unjustly is to be found in the fact that I am a Catholic and a Southern man. I desire to call the attention of the Arch bishops of Baltimore and New York to these facts. They know that civilization and religious freedom met in me a friend throughout my cruise among the islands of the Pacific ocean. I have been persecuted by Toucey and Welles because I am a Southern man and a Catholic. It is in their nature to hate both. In taking leave of the naval service, Mr. President, allow me to say, that the grief I feel at leaving it, after a service of forty two years, would be much greater, but for the fact that honor and justice do not dwell in the breasts of those who now control the naval service of the United States. I resign my commission in the United States Navy.
Since the writ of the issue of habeas corpus, a letter has been received, under flag of truce, from Mrs. Boutwell, now in Washington, enclosing the following reply, from the Secretary of the Federal Navy, to the foregoing letter of resignation. It was offered in Court yesterday by counsel, and the handwriting of the letter and signature was sworn to by a former resident of Washington, who claimed to be perfectly familiar with both:
Navy Department, 12th Aug., 1861.
Sir
--Your letter of the 31st ultimo, tendering your resignation as a Commander of the Navy of the United States, has been received.
By direction of the President, your name has been stricken from the rolls of the Navy from the 31st July, 1861.
Sir
Mr. Edward B. Boutwell, Late Commandant U. S. Navy, Washington, D. C. After a full hearing of the evidence, Mr. Howison commenced his argument in behalf of the application of Mr. Boutwell, urging the reasons why he ought to be discharged from further confinement as an alien enemy, which fact, he contended, was not established by the testimony. The case will be resumed on Saturday, at 11 o'clock.
