In the Freeman's Journal of Dec. 3, McMaster expresses doubts of the arrest of Father J.J. Mullon and Napoleon J. Perché. It is true of Perché, although both were ordered before the Commanding General Butler. Mullon was ill and could not appear. Perché was reproached with preaching reason which he denied. Upon being questioned, Perché said he did not wish to go to any of the places referred to by the General, as he was chaplain to a community of nuns. Perché was told to consider himself under arrest and was told not to leave his home or receive visitors. This lasted for five weeks until General Banks rescinded that and many more of Butler's orders. Mullon suffered from gout of the stomach the whole time and was never out of his house and not arrested. The Catholics as such have been well treated, the brothers and sisters being granted passes, food privileges, to a much greater extent than any other denomination. The Sisters of Charity are working in the Marine Hospital, as are the Jesuits, Fathers H. Riordan and Richard Kane. Butler's motive in arresting Mullon and Perché was probably just to prevent the appearance of partiality toward the Catholics, since all the Protestant ministers had been silenced or suspended, who would not take the oath of allegiance. Both priests had been notorious in politics. One was editor of the Propagation and the other had talked from the pulpit for 5 or 6 Sundays after the arrival of the Federals. He would recommend to the prayers of the congregation the Confederates who had died defending their homes, at the same time abusing the Yankees. Archbishop John M. Odin stopped it finally. He was the only one who used the pulpit for such purposes, and the people were pained and mortified to see it brought to such a level. This went on for five months although there were officers and soldiers present. Many officers have refused to enter the palatial residences obtained unjustly, preferring their own quarters. Among them are Col. Cahill, Capt. O'Brien, Dr. Gallagher, Capt. Carroll and others of the 9th Connecticut Volunteers, all from New Haven. Captain _____ Thompson of the Maine Artillery was court-martialed for refusing to fire on a number of women and children on a marauding expedition on the coast. The Ninth also refused to destroy a church that was in the line of fire. Many such acts of charity and respect for Catholics and their property were shown by the Northern troops, but at the same time, some regiments were engaged in indiscriminate plundering. Butler's fair exchange of the shinplaster currency, his ridding the city of thugs and their accomplices, and other such acts, speak well for him. His tax on the few wealthy to give aid to the poor has resulted in employment for 3000 laborers. The ejectment of hundreds of families from their homes was the cruelest of all his acts, for officers and soldiers in many cases immediately occupied the homes with the lewd characters they could pick up. The former occupants were permitted to take nothing but the clothes they wore. Banks restored the homes to nearly all of the dispossessed, has released many persons from prison, and has gained many friends by his kind civil manner, so different from the coarse harshness of Butler. But the question still remains whether Butler could have done successfully from the first what Banks is now doing. :: I-1-m A.L.S. Incomplete 4pp. 8vo.