GEORGE A. HUBBELL, THE NEWSBOY.

EITHER age, sex, nor condition was free from the grasp

NE

of arbitrary power during the long night of political persecutions that enshrouded the land under the Administration of Abraham Lincoln. The old man, tottering on the verge of the grave, and the lad not yet old enough to discriminate between right and wrong, alike felt the heavy hand of the oppressor, as they were rudely and ruthlessly snatched up by Government officials, and unceremoniously thrust into nauseous guard-houses or dismal casemates. The lady whose sense of honor and independence would not permit her to

"Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,
Where thrift may follow fawning; "

or she whose charity and humanity prompted her to minister to the wants of the dying, not in sympathy with the Administration; and the humble Irishman, who could not be induced to turn informer on his neighbors, shared the same fate, and became the occupants of a felon's cell.

George A. Hubbell, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was incarcerated in Fort Lafayette on the 20th of September, 1861. He was a small newsboy-a cripple-who made a scanty living by selling newspapers on the cars of the Naugatuck Railroad. He was arrested as he was stepping on the train to make his daily journey.

As no charge was preferred against him, and no authority shown for the commission of such an outrage, this poor little fellow, who had done no wrong, was bewildered with grief and astonishment at finding himself a prisoner, and on his way to Fort Lafayette. Nor does he yet know why he was

arrested, unless it was because, a short time before, he had been to New York, and bought a few copies of the New York "Daily News "-a paper which was obnoxious to the Administration, but which had not then been suppressedand furnished them to his old customers on his daily route.

He can imagine no other grounds for his arrest and imprisonment, as he had not "SPOKEN DISRESPECTFULLY OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN " - had not " ATTEMPTED TO DISCOURAGE ENLISTMENTS"-had not said "IT WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL FOR THE PRESIDENT TO CALL OUT 75,000 MEN WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF CONGRESS - had not said "THE WAR WOULD BE A FAILURE nor had he "ATTEMPTED TO RUN THE BLOCKADE."

This poor, little, penniless, and, most likely, friendless cripple was confined in a damp casemate of the Fort until the 26th of September, when he was released. He was as much surprised at his release as he was at his arrest and imprisonment. He was astonished at the magnanimity of the "Government" in discharging a prisoner so formidable, without first subjecting him to the inquisition of the BUREAU OF MILITARY JUSTICE.

WALTER S. HAWKES.

ALTER S. HAWKES was born in Somersetshire County,

England, and on the 2d day of December, 1826. He was educated in his father's office for the profession of a surveyor and civil engineer, and served in both capacities on railroads in Wales.

He migrated to the United States in the fall of 1850, and for many years held positions on the Ohio Central, Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroads, and others. He has never taken an active part in politics, although he espoused Democratic principles, and has uniformly voted with that party.

About two o'clock on the morning of the 22d of August, 1862, he was arrested at his house in Tamaroa, a town on the Illinois Central Railroad, by a party of armed soldiers, and marched to the depot. There a special train was in waiting, under the charge of Major Eoard, of Ashley, Illinois, who had with him a guard of forty soldiers.

At the depot he met his friends, Dr. Ross, Dr. W. E. Smith, Bedford Lurman, William Haynes, and Rev. O. H. McCarver, who had just arrived, and who were likewise under arrest.

Major Board showed no authority for the arrests, but it is presumed that he was acting under orders of the Provost Marshal of the District.

Mr. Hawkes has since learned the modus operandi of these arrests. It appears that Zebedee P. Curlee, William Woods, and D. C. Barber, members of the Union League of Tamaroa, made a written statement, (the precise contents of which have not been made public,) hiring a fellow-a non-resident of the State, and wholly unknown at Tamaroa-to swear to

it under an assumed name, before Henry Clay, Notary Public, who was also a member of the League. This paper was transmitted to Washington, and upon it, it is supposed, the order was issued to Provost Marshal Phillips, for the arrest of Mr. Hawkes, and many citizens of his and the adjoining counties. Subsequently, the prisoner, Mr. Hawkes, saw the paper in the hands of Judge Advocate Turner, at his office in Washington, D. C.

He was taken directly to Washington City, and imprisoned in the "Old Capitol," where he remained for six weeks in close confinement, guarded, and furnished with very indif ferent food. It was currently reported at that time that the inmates of the building numbered four hundred. At the expiration of the above-stated time, Mr. Hawkes was released, without any charge having been preferred against him, or any trial granted him.

The room in which he was confined contained eighteen Illinois prisoners, six of whom were from his immediate neighborhood; the balance from adjoining counties, some of whom remained in prison for six months.

Mr. Hawkes is now residing at Dubois Post Office, on the Illinois Central Railroad.

THERE

REV. HENRY M. PAYNTER.

HERE are some features in the sufferings endured by Rev. H. M. Paynter, of Booneville, Missouri, during his imprisonment, which warrant a somewhat lengthened narrative. Descended from an ancient family, he inherited true love of country from a sire whose blood was spilled in the Revolutionary War, and whose name has honorable renown.

The blood of those who suffered for righteousness' sake flows in his veins, his ancestors having been compelled to flee from France upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After some years of pleasant and profitable labor in the ministry at Vicksburg, he entered upon, as he supposed, his lifelong labors at Booneville, Missouri. There, for seven years, had he cultivated the field assigned him by Providence; and his labors in the Lord's vineyard were greatly blessed to the good and growth of the Church.

Beside the cultivation of his own field, his labors in different parts of the State were attended with the divine blessing. Fulton, Brunswick, Columbia, Lynn Creek, Glasgow, and Reth Counties witnessed manifestations of grace, which greatly refreshed God's people, and largely added to the number of believers in the Lord. There was he employed when the war began.

Although he sympathized with the people in the South he opposed secession as both wrong and heretical; teaching his people that it was the Christian's duty to be subject to the powers that be; since it was not theirs to make or to unmake government; but only to be faithful to Christ their King. His views were expressed in a discourse, preached January 4, 1861, and published at the request of his people, and which obtained a very wide circulation at the time.