tinuing as hereinafter prescribed, until completed, to determine whether conventions shall be held, "for the purpose of establishing constitutions and civil governments for the States loyal to the Union," and, in case a majority of the votes cast are in favor thereof, for delegates thereto.

2. In order to secure as nearly as possible an expression of the voice of the people, the election will be held at each precinct of every county of the States, in the district, and-as required by law-under the supervision of the county Boards of Registration. The method of conducting the election in each county will be as follows: Immediately upon receipt of this order each board of registrars will meet-divide the whole number of election precincts of their respective counties into three portions as nearly equal in number as possible, and assign one of the shares thus made to each registrar, who will be responsible for the proper conduct of the election therein. Thereupon each registrar will appoint a judge and clerk of election, who, with himself, will constitute the "commissioners of election," for all the precincts of his district. Each registrar will provide himself with a ballot-box, with lock and key, and of sufficient size to contain the votes of all the registered voters in his largest precinct. Each registrar will give full and timely notice throughout his district, of the day of election in each precinct, so that he, with his judge and clerk, can proceed from precinct to precinct of his district, and hold election on consecutive days-when the distance between precincts will permit-with a view to the early completion of the voting. The election will be by ballot, and will be conducted in all details, not herein prescribed, according to the customs heretofore in use in respective States. Each ballot will have written or printed upon it, "For a Convention," or Against a Convention," and in addition the correct name (or names) of the delegate (or delegates) voted for. Each voter, in offering his ballot, must exhibit his certificate of registry, across the face of which the clerk of election will write his name in red ink, to indicate that a vote has been cast upon that certificate-at the same time the registrar will check off the voter's name on the precinct book, serving as the "poll book." The polls will be opened at 10 o'clock A. M., at each precinct, and will be kept continuously open until sunset, at which time the polls will be closed, the ballot-box opened, votes counted by the commissioners, and a written return thereof, under oath of the commissioners, immediately made to these headquarters, in duplicate. The votes cast will then be securely enclosed and forwarded by mail to the assistant adjutant-general at these headquarters, with a letter of transmittal, setting forth the number of votes cast for, and the number against the convention, which letter will be witnessed by the deputy sheriff present, in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 5 of this order. (Special instructions will be given hereafter with regard to the voting of some of the more populous precincts, in which it would be difficult to take the entire vote by the above method in one day.)

66

3. Judges and clerks of election will be selected by registrars, preferably from among the residents of their respective districts, but if they cannot be obtained therein competent and qualified under the law, then from among the residents of the county, and if not attainable in the county, then from the State at large; they are required to take and subscribe to the oath of office prescribed by the Act of Congress of July 2, 1862, which oath may be administered by the registrar. The oaths, properly subscribed, will be forwarded immediately for file in the office of the assistant adjutant-general at these headquarters.

The pay of these officers will be six dollars per diem, for each day actually employed on their legitimate duty, and their actual expense of transportation within their district will be reimbursed.

4. Commencing fourteen days before the election, Boards of Registrars will, after having given reasona ble public notice of the time and place thereof, revise, for a period of five days, the registration lists, and, upon being satisfied that any person not entitled thereto has been registered, will strike the name of such person from the lists, and such person shall not be allowed to vote. The boards will also, during the same period, add to the registry the names of all persons who at that time possess the qualifications required by law, and who have not been already registered. All changes made in the lists of regis tered voters will be immediately reported to these headquarters.

5. The sheriff of each county is made responsible for the preservation of good order, and the perfect freedom of the ballot at the various election precincts in his county. To this end he will appoint a deputy -who shall be duly qualfied under the laws of his State for each precinct in the county, who will be required to be present at the place of voting during the whole time the election is being held. The said deputies will promptly and fully obey every demand, made upon their official services by the commissioners of election, in furtherance of good order during the election, under penalty of immediate arrest and trial by military commission. Sheriffs, in making their appointments, will exercise great care to select men whom they know to be in every way able to serve. The persons thus selected are required to accept; no excuse will be taken for failure to

serve.

6. As an additional measure for securing the purity of the election, such registrar, judge, and clerk, is hereby clothed with all the functions of a civil executive officer, is empowered to make arrests, and authorized to perform all duties appertaining to such officers under the laws of the States, during the days of election.

7. At every precinct during the election, all public bar-rooms, saloons or other places at which intoxicating or malt-liquor is sold at retail will be closed from 5 o'clock A. M. until 10 o'clock P. M. Should any infraction of this order in this respect come to the knowledge of the commissioners of election, or the deputy sheriff in attendance, they will immediately cause the arrest of the offending party, or parties, and the closing of his or their place of business. All parties so arrested will be placed under bonds, of not less than one hundred dollars, to appear for trial when required by proper authority, or, in case of failure to give the required bond, will be held in arrest to await the action of the general commanding.

8. Should violence or fraud be perpetrated at the election in any precinct, the general commanding will exercise to the fullest extent the power vested in him for the prompt punishment of offenders, and the election will be held over again under the protection of United States troops.

9. No registrar, judge, or clerk will be permitted to become a candidate for office at the election for which he serves as commissioner.

10. When the election returns are received from all the counties, the result of the election will be made known, and in case the majority of the legal votes cast are in favor of a convention, the names of the delegates elected thereto will be officially announced, and further orders published assembling the convention.

By command of Brevet Major-General ORD.

O. D. GREENE, Assistant Adjutant General. An order of September 18th stated that the oath required of members of the convention would be the same as that required by registrars.

On November 8th the following order was issued:

HEADQUARTERS SUB-DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS, Į

LITTLE ROCK, AKE., November 9, 1867. HOLLY SPRINGS, November 8, 1867. General C. H. Smith, Commanding: Send me the name or names of any official or other person who has been or may make inflammatory speeches to freedmen, or endanger the public peace by exciting one class or color against another. Con publish this telegram. I desire to make prompt ar

sult commanding and other officers for facts, and

rests and trial of such offenders.

Time and place of offence, and name of witnesses, should accompany the charge. (Signed) E. 0. C. ORD, Brevet Major-General Commanding.

The result of the election was in favor of a convention, but the votes showed that only about two-thirds of the registered voters had gone to the polls. The majority for the convention was about 14,000. Nearly all the delegates elected to the convention were Radicals. On December 2d, a public meeting was held in Little Rock" to initiate a united movement on the part of the white people of the State against negro supremacy, and to preserve the principles of the national Constitution by cooperation with the Democratic party of the Union." A State Central Committee was formed, who subsequently issued an address to the people, in which they said: "That a very large majority of the registered voters of the State are opposed to the adoption of a constitation which confers the elective franchise upon a class of persons who have just emerged from slavery, and are in every respect unfit to be intrusted with so high a privilege, and the practical operation of which would have the effect to give the control of the State government to that class, no truthful man will deny. That such majority will vote against a constitation embracing a provision of that kind, if they vote at all, is equally certain. That the people of this whole country-those whose fathers established the Government and have made the American name respectable and respected every where-have determined that this shall be a white man's government, will not be questioned. In view of the astonishing results of the recent elections in different portions of the Union, the voices of the Demoeratic and Conservative masses of the North call upon us now to assist in defeating the attempt of radicalism to destroy our old constitutional government and set up in its place one in which others than white men shall have the controlling influence. We must heartily respond to that call." The result of this movement was not manifested until the next year.

On December 5th General Ord issued another order, stating that the question for a convention had received a majority of votes; and that such convention would be held at Little Rock, on Tuesday, January 7, 1868; and that a similar convention would assemble at the same time at Jackson, for the State of Mississippi. Irregularities in the conduct of the election in certain precincts having been reported, the vote in those precincts was suspended, to await official investigation.

Another order established boards of arbitration to adjust the claim of laborers and others upon the crop of the year in any localities.

Another order informed the collectors of revenue for the year 1867, "that they would be required to make returns in accordance with orders from headquarters in special cases, or they would be immediately proceeded against. And if the State courts failed to take cognizance of such offences, they would be tried by military commission. No further time would be given for the payment of taxes, or for settlement of revenue by the collectors, than that prescribed by law."

Another order forbade all persons, not in the Federal military service, and not properly engaged in the execution of the laws, from carrying concealed weapons, under a penalty of a forfeiture of the weapons and of being tried and punished by military commission, for disturbing the public peace. Justices of peace, magistrates, and sheriff's were authorized and directed to execute the order, so far as to arrest and confine the offenders and seize the weapons. It was supposed this was prompted by the knowledge that the freedmen were all armed throughout the district.

Another order was issued, on December 12th, directing that whenever a citizen was arrested by the military authorities, he should be furnished with a copy of the charges against him, prior to his arraignment for trial; and further, that writs of habeas corpus issued by United States courts should in all cases be obeyed and respected.

In December a petition was addressed to General Ord by the grand jury, judicial officers, and citizens of Chicot county, asking for his protection. The petition stated as follows:

That the colored population of said county is largely disproportioned to the white population, constituting nine-tenths of the whole; that the result of the present year's operations is the failure of the freedmen to make provisions to feed them and their families until the first of January next, and the utter ruin of the planting interest-not one in ten of our planters will be able again to renew planting as formerly, and cannot feed or employ the freedmen and their families now depending upon them for support; that the freedmen, as a general thing, throughout the county, are already depredating upon our stock, and the agent of the Freedmen's Bureau is unable to prevent their depredations, and by the first of February we believe they will nearly have consumed all of our stock, unless some means can be devised for supplying their wants.

tween the races is apprehended as the result of Your petitioners further show that a collision betheir depredations on stock and other property, a contingency which your petitioners most earnestly desire to avoid.

earnestly request that you will order a company of In consideration of the foregoing, your petitioners troops, under an efficient officer, to our county, for the protection of our families and property, and that you will use your official influence to procure necessary food for destitute colored families in our county, and that you will give us all the aid within your power toward obviating the troubles anticpated.

Similar applications were made by other counties on the Mississippi River, south of Chicot.

On December 19th an order was issued by the sub-commander of Arkansas, BrigadierGeneral C. H. Smith, directing the county courts, in compliance with the State law, to make suitable provision for their poor by the establishment of almshouses, etc. At the same time General Ord issued an order directing Major-General A. S. Gillem to proceed to Washington, and to represent to the President and Secretary of War "the starving condition of the freedmen in a large number of the counties in his sub-district of Mississippi, due to the ruin and bankruptcy of cotton planters, and the absence of corn or the means to buy it."

Commanding officers were directed to notify leading colored men, and take such other measures as might be necessary to give publication of the fact that all freedmen, who were able, would be required to earn their support during the next year, and to go to work upon the best terms that could be procured, even should it furnish a support only, and thus prevent their becoming a burden to the Government. All freedmen who can, but will not, earn a livelihood when employment can be procured, will lay themselves liable to arrest and punishment as vagrants. The cooperation of sheriffs, constables, and police magistrates, was requested in the enforcement of this order, and any just action of theirs under the provisions would be sustained by the military authorities.

On December 21st an order was issued by General Ord, stating that at the recent election 41,134 votes were cast on the question of a convention; and of this number 27,576 were cast for the convention, and 13,558 were cast against it, and the total number of registered voters in the State was 66,805, and the convention would accordingly be held as previously ordered.

On December 28th an order was issued by General Grant, directing General Ord to turn over his command to Major-General Gillem, and to proceed to San Francisco, California. Major-General Irvin McDowell was then ordered to the command of the Fourth Military District.

The agricultural result of the year was sufficient to convince every one that the old system of an exclusive cotton-crop must be abandoned. Grain-crops, with the use of labor-saving machinery, it was urged, would, in a few years, put the planters in a state of independence. In every district of the State the cotton-planters, at the close of the year, determined to abandon its cultivation. The grain-crop in the State was unusually abundant. No statement has been made of the condition of the various institutions of the State.

ARMY, UNITED STATES. According to the report of the Adjutant-General, September 30, 1867, the total strength of the army was 56,815, including officers and men. Of the

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 1867. The following orders have been received from the War Department, and will be duly executed: First. All the regiments of infantry and of artillery, the minimum allowed by law, of fifty privates per company. The reduction will be by casualty, and when one company falls below the minimum, it will be recruited by transfer from other companies of the same regiment until all are at the minimum.

except the Eighth light battery, will be reduced to

Second. The general recruiting service will be immediately reduced by breaking up all excepting four principal rendezvous to each arm, cavalry and infantry, and ordering the surplus recruiting officers regiments until they are reduced as above ordered. to their regiments. No more recruits will be sent to This will not be construed to prevent the reenlistment in their regiments of men who may be discharged by expiration of term of service.

Third. All volunteer officers now retained in service will be mustered out, to take effect January 1, 1868, except the commissioner and the disbursing officer of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

By command of General GRANT.

E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. The maximum strength of the army, as established by the act of July 28, 1866, allowing one hundred men to a company, would be nearly 76,000; the above order will eventually reduce it to about 45,000, probably the smallest number necessary for the security of the extended and increasing territory of the country. The number of recruits for the year ending September 30, 1867, was 34,191, and of desertions 13,608. General Grant recom

mends the extension of the term of enlistment to five years for the infantry and arti!lery; also an improvement in the courts-martial, to prevent the numerous desertions.

The Bureau of Confederate Archives, and the Bureau for the Exchange of Prisoners, etc., were, during the past year, transferred to the Adjutant-General's Department thereby effecting a needed reduction in the Government expenditures.

The total estimate for military appropriations, for the year ending June 30, 1869, is $77,124,708, being $51,919,038.44 in excess of the estimate for the previous year. This large increase is owing partly to a deficiency in the appropriation of the previous year, and partly to the large balance on hand at the commencement of the present fiscal year. For the following departments no appropriations are asked: Office of Inspector-General, Bureau of Military Justice, Subsistence Department, and Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, etc.

The disbursements of the Paymaster-General for the year ending June 30, 1867, were $58,875,858, of which $28,389,213 were paid to disbanded volunteers, and $14,369,243 to the

Regular Army and the Military Academy. The following is the financial summary of the Pay Department:

Balance on hand at the beginning of the fiscal year..

..$23,941,899

Received from Treasury and other sources

34,933,958

$58,875,857

during the year..

Total.....

Accounted for as follows:

Disbursements to the Army and Military

Academy

Disbursements to volunteers.

.$14,369,243 28,389,014

Requisitions cancelled..

Amount refunded to Treasury.

Paymasters' balances on deposit in Merchants' National Bank, at date of closing, not heretofore accounted for... Unissued requisitions in Treasury. In bands of paymasters.....

Total.......

The total disbursements of each the fiscal year are as follows:

To troops in service...
To troops in muster-roll.

To Treasury certificates..
To referred claims..

Total.....

8,100,000 39,000

.$58,875,857 class during

$42,758,457 Under the act of July 28, 1866, authorizing the payment of additional bounties, there have been recorded up to October 20, 1867, 407,857 claims, of which 105,378 have been paid, at an expenditure of $9,352,797, leaving 302,479 to be settled. During the year 31,000 other claims for bounty and arrears of pay have also been disposed of, at an expenditure of $3,353,203. Under the joint resolutions of Congress of March 30, 1867, and July 19, 1867, $1,500,000 were appropriated for reconstruction expenses in the five military districts of the South. Of this there had been drawn from the Treasury at the close of the year $1,454,729, leaving a balance of $45,271, to the credit of the second military district. The estimated expenditure of the Pay Department for the coming fiscal year is $22,412,068.

The pension-rolls on June 30, 1867, contained the names of 153,093 persons, of whom more than 150,000 are army invalids, widows, or other representatives of soldiers in the late war. The remainder are on the rolls of previous wars. The last pensioner of the Revolutionary War, Samuel Downing, of Edinburgh, New York, died during the year. By special acts of Congress, two other veterans, who were not enrolled prior to the close of the fiscal year John Gray, of Ohio, and Daniel F. Bakeman, of New York-have been granted pensions as Revolutionary soldiers at the rate of $500 per annum. There still remain on the pension-rolls 997 widows of Revolutionary soldiers, of whom one only was married previous to the close of the War of Independence. This number is greater by 66 than that reported last year, pensions having been restored to widows in the Southern States

In the Quartermaster-General's Department there have been examined and passed 11,130 accounts, estimated at $300,738,171; 1,544 remain for examination, estimated at $47,451,262. The sales of surplus or unserviceable animals for the year amount to $268,572 24, and the aggregate derived from that source since the close of the war is $16,242,716. 16,086 horses and mules have been purchased for the public service. The supply of clothing and equipage is so large that no purchases will be necessary for the ensuing year. Under the act of Congress of July 14, 1866, clothing and equipage were issued to the sufferers by the recent disastrous fire in Portland, Me. The fund of $1,000,000, known as the sheltering fund for the troops on the Plains, has been applied to its proper purposes. One thousand temporary buildings have been sold during the year for $112,000. A fire-proof warehouse, to cost $138,800, is in process of erection at Philadelphia, Pa.

There are 308 cemeteries in the United States for the interment of soldiers, of which 81 are known as "national cemeteries." In the latter, 238,666 United States soldiers are buried, out of a total of 251,827 interments. 76,263 bodies are yet to be interred, making the aggregate 328,090. Of Confederate prisoners of war, 20,861 have been interred. The total cost of the cemeteries, when completed, is estimated at $3,500,000, of which about $1,737,000 have already been expended.

The Southern railroads were indebted to the Government on July 1, 1866, $6,570,074.05. On June 30, 1867, this amount was reduced to $5,921,372.10.

The estimated expenditure for the Quarter

master-General's Department for the year ending June 30, 1869, is $41,780,066.20, including a deficiency in the appropriations of $13,600,000, required to meet the expenses of the Department for the year ending June 30, 1868. The following are the items: For regular supplies..

For incidental expenses....

For purchasing cavalry and artillery horses For transportation of army..

Miscellaneous items...

For reconstruction expenses in the five military districts..

For Freedmen's Bureau, additional appropriation

$9,467,000 657,000 3,836,800 $13,960,800 From the Subsistence Department sales of accumulated stores continue to be made, and the proceeds are sufficient to meet the demands of the department for the coming year. The extension of the Union Pacific Railroad has greatly facilitated the means of supplying distant military posts. Subsistence was furnished to the Freedmen's Bureau to the amount of $882,684.66, and to the Indians, at a cost of $644,439.22. Sutlers are permitted to continue their traffic with the troops during the inability of the commissary department to supply them, in accordance with a resolution of Congress of March 30, 1867.

The Surgeon-General's Department for the year ending June 30, 1867, exhibits resources amounting to $3,074,603.22, of which $2,546,457.14 were the balance from the previous year. $293,002.82 were derived from the sale of surplus hospital property. The balance on hand, June 30, 1867, was $2,909,614.08. The troops at various points in the West and Southwest were visited with the Asiatic cholera in June, 1867, which threatened to become epidemic. Three surgeons, six assistant-surgeons, and seven acting assistant-surgeons have died since October 20, 1866; of these, five died of yellow fever, and three of Asiatic cholera.

In the mortuary records of this Department, alphabetical registers are kept of the dead who fell in the late war. As far as completed, they contain the names of two hundred and fortyfour thousand seven hundred and forty-seven white soldiers, twenty thousand seven hundred and ninety-six colored soldiers, and thirty thousand two hundred and four Confederate soldiers. The average annual strength of the white troops is reported at forty-one thousand one hundred and four; of the colored, at six thousand five hundred and sixty-one. The number reported sick from all causes is, white, one hundred and twenty-two thousand one hundred and eightyone, and colored, nineteen thousand six hundred and ninety-four; an average of about three entries for sickness to each man. The mortality during the year was one thousand five hundred and twenty-seven; six hundred and eighteen white and colored soldiers were discharged for disability.

In the Ordnance Department, a feature of interest is the conversion of fifty thousand Springfield rifle-muskets into breech-loaders. The converted musket is considered equal to any breech-loader made in this country or Europe. The almost unanimous opinion of officers is, "that the musket is simple, strong, not liable to get out of order, and extremely accurate in firing;" a judgment formed from witnessing its excellent service in the late Indian campaign. There have been fabricated seven million cartridges for breech-loading arms, known as "central fire," extensive trials of which have resulted in an average failure of only one-third of one per cent. Smooth-bore cannon of less than eight inches calibre have proved ineffective against iron-clad war-vessels, and they will be superseded by those of heavier calibre, and by rifled cannon for sea-coast forts. A board of engineer, ordnance, and artillery officers, specially appointed, reported that one thousand nine hundred and fifteen pieces of the calibre of thirteen, fifteen, and twenty inches for smoothbores, and of ten and twelve inches for rifles, were required for the permanent fortifications. This report was approved by the Secretary of War.

An artillery school is to be established at Fort Monroe, Va., by order of the War Department (November 13, 1867), for practical instruction in the construction and service of all kinds of artillery, in the duties of artillery troops in campaigns and sieges, and in military law and history, mathematics, etc. The school is to have at least five batteries, which are to be the "instruction batteries of the foot artillery," to be composed of one battery selected from each regiment of artillery, and such other officers and enlisted artillerymen as may be ordered to the school.

The course of tuition in military signalling and telegraphing has been established at West Point, and steps taken to introduce these studies into the Military and Naval Academies. A pro