It has already been mentioned, that among the prisoners taken at the battle of Queenstown, 23 were sent to England for trial as British born subjects and deserters, and that the American government had placed an equal number of British soldiers into close confinement as hostages. In consequence, Sir George Prevost, by a general order of the 27th October, 1813, made known that he had received the commands of the prince regent to put 46 American officers and non-commissioned officers into close confinement as hostages for the 23 soldiers confined by the American government. He at the same time apprized that government, that if any of the British soldiers should suffer death by reason of the guilt and execution of the traitors taken in arms against their country, he was instructed to select out of the American hostages double the number of the British soldiers who might be so unwarrantably put to death, and to cause them to suffer death immediately. The governor-general also notified to the American government, that in the event of their carrying their murderous threat into execution, the commanders of the British forces, by sea and land, were instructed to prosecute the war with unmitigated severity against all the territory and inhabitants of the United States. On the 10th of December, Sir George Prevost received a communication from Major-General Wilkinson by a flag of truce, stating that the American government, adhering unalterably to their previously declared purpose, had placed 46 British officers into close confinement, there to remain until the same number of American officers and non-commissioned officers were released. In consequence, the governor-general ordered all the American officers, prisoners of war, without exception of rank, to be placed into close confinement as hostages, until the number of 46 was completed over and above those already in confinement. In pursuance of this order, Generals Winder, Chandler, and Winchester, were confined in a private house at Quebec, with as little inconvenience as their security would admit. On the 15th April, 1814, after some negotiation, opened at the solicitation of the American government, a convention was entered into at Montreal, by which it was agreed to release the hostages and to make an exchange of prisoners, the American government relinquishing its pretensions to retaliate for the prisoners sent to England for legal trial as traitors to their country. This convention was ratified in July, at Champlain, near the lines; but, whether by previous agreement or tacit understanding, the traitors, we believe, escaped the just punishment of their crime.