He assures all citizens engaged in cultivating their farms, that he will protect them in their rights, and that he will suspend the militia draft under the State laws, that they may raise crops for consumption in the coming year. He invokes the zealous co-operation of the authorities and of all good people, to aid him in his endeavors. The courts of criminal jurisdiction will continue to exercise their functions, save the issuance of writs of _habeas corpus_. Their writs will be served and their decrees executed by the aid of the military, when necessary. When the courts fail to preserve the peace or punish offenders against the laws, those objects will be attained through the action of military tribunals and the exercise of the force of his command. (Signed) E. KIRBY SMITH, Maj. Gen. Comm’dg Dep’t E. T. Five days after the issuance of the above proclamation there was published as follows: TO THE DISAFFECTED PEOPLE OF EAST TENNESSEE. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, OFFICE PROVOST MARSHAL, April 23, 1862. The undersigned, in executing martial law in this Department, assures those interested who have fled to the enemy’s lines, and who are actually in their army, that he will welcome their return to their homes and their families: they are offered amnesty and protection, if they come to lay down their arms and act as loyal citizens, within the thirty days given them by Major General E. Kirby Smith to do so. At the end of that time, those failing to return to their homes and accept the amnesty thus offered, and provide for and protect their wives and children in East Tennessee, will have them sent to their care in Kentucky, or beyond the Confederate States’ line, at their own expense. All that leave after this date, with a knowledge of the above acts, their families will be sent after them. The women and children must be taken care of by husbands and fathers, either in East Tennessee or in the Lincoln Government. (Signed) W. M. CHURCHWELL, Col. and Provost Marshal. It is obvious from the preceding documents, that the Confederate authorities were uneasy over the prospect of a diminished harvest from the soil the ensuing season; and not only for political reasons, but to avoid a scarcity of food because of the departure of many farmers, they would be glad to have them return home.