dered by him to his country during his long and brilliant career, among which will ever be gratefully distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the flag, when assailed by parricidal rebellion. A. LINCOLN.

Upon presenting the foregoing letter the President added:

General :—You will naturally feel solicitude about the gentlemen of your staff, who have rendered you and their country such faithful service. I have taken that subject into consideration. I understand that they go with you to New York. I shall desire them at their earliest convenience, after their return, to make their wishes known to me. I desire you now, however, to be satisfied that, except the unavoidable privation of your counsel, and society, which they have so long enjoyed, the provision which will be made for them will be such as to render their situation hereafter as agreeable as it has been heretofore.

LETTER ON MISSOURI MATTERS.

Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 5, 1861. The governor of the State of Missouri, acting under the direction of the convention of that state, proposes to the government of the United States, that he will raise a military force, to serve within the state as state militia during the war there, to co-operate with the troops in the service of the United States in repelling the invasion of the state and suppressing rebellion therein; the said state militia to be embod

ied and to be held in the camp and in the field, drilled, disciplined and governed according to the army regulations and subject to the Articles of War; the said state militia not to be ordered out of the state except for the immediate defense of the State of Missouri, but to co-operate with the troops in the service of the United State in military operations within the state or necessary to its defense, and when officers of the state militia act with officers in the service of the United States of the same grade, the officers of the United States shall command the combined force; the state militia to be armed, equipped, clothed, subsisted, transported, and paid by the United States during such time as they shall be actually engaged as an embodied military force in the service in accordance with regulations of the United States army or general orders as issued from time to time.

In order that the Treasury of the United States may not be burdened with the pay of unnecessary officers, the governor proposes that, although the state law requires him to appoint upon the general staff an adjutatant-general, a commissary-general, an inspector-general, a quartermaster-general, a paymaster-general, and a surgeon-general, each with the rank of colonel of cavalry, yet he proposes that the government of the United States pay only the adjutant-general, the quartermaster-general, and the inspector-general, their services being necessary in the relations which would exist between the state militia and the United States.

The governor further proposes that, while he is allowed by the state law to appoint aides-de-camp to

the governor at his discretion, with the rank of colonel, three only shall be reported to the United States for payment. He also proposes that the state militia shall be commanded by a single major-general, and by such number of brigadier-generals as shall allow one for a brigade of not less than four regiments, and that no greater number of staff officers shall be appointed for regimental, brigade and division duties than is provided for in the act of Congress of the 22d of July, 1861, and that whatever be the rank of such officers as fixed by the law of the state, the compensation that they shall receive from the United States shall only be that which belongs to the rank given by said act of Congress to officers in the United States service performing the same duties.

The field officers of a regiment in the state militia are one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, and one major, and the company officers are a captain, a first lieutenant, and a second lieutenant.

The governor proposes that, as the money to be disbursed is the money of the United States, such staff officers in the service of the United States as may be necessary to act as disbursing officers for the state militia shall be assigned by the War Department for that duty; or, if such can not be spared from their present duty, he will appoint such persons disbursing officers for the state militia as the President of the United States may designate. Such regulations as may be required, in the judgment of the president, to insure regularity of returns and to protect the United States from any fraudulent practices,

shall be observed and obeyed by all in office in the state militia.

The above propositions are accepted on the part of United States, and the Secretary of War is directed to make the necessary orders upon the ordnance, commissary, pay and medical department to carry this agreement into effect. He will cause the necessary staff officers in the United States service to be detailed for duty in connection with the Missouri state militia, and will order them to make the necessary provision in their respective offices for fulfilling this agreement. All requisitions upon the different officers of the United States, under this agreement, to be made in substance in the same mode for the Missouri state militia, as similar requisitions are made for troops in the service of the United States, and the Secretary of War will cause any additional regulations that may be necessary to insure regularity and economy in carrying this agreement into effect to be adopted and communicated to the governor of Missouri, for the government of the Missouri state militia.

November 6, 1861.

This plan approved, with the modification that the governor stipulates that when he commissions a major-general of militia, it shall be the same person at the time in command of the United States Department of the West; and in case the United States shall change such commander of the department, he, the Governor, will revoke the state commission given to person relieved, and give one to the person substi

tuted to the United States command of said department. A. LINCOLN.

TO MAJOR-GENERAL H. W. HALLECK, COMMANDING IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI.

December 2, 1861.

General:-As an insurrection exists in the United States and is in arms in the State of Missouri, you are hereby authorized and empowered to suspend the writ of habeas corpus within the limits of the military division under your command, and to exercise martial law as you find it necessary in your discretion, to secure the public safety and the authority of the United States.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and cause the seal of the United States to be affixed, at Washington, this second day of December, A. D. 1861. A. LINCOLN.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE, DECEMBER 3, 1861.

Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:-In the midst of unprecedented political troubles, we have cause of great gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant har

vests.

You will not be surprised to learn that in the peculiar exigencies of the times, our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs.

A disloyal portion of the American people have, during the whole year, been engaged in an attempt