communication from the Secretary of State, submitting copies of the correspondence with our commissioners abroad, referred to in my message of the 7th inst.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 8th instant, I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of War, which conveys the information requested relative to the act of June 14, 1864, to "provide and organize a general staff."
The seventh section of the act invests the Executive with the discretion which has been exercised. The eighth section, by restricting appointments, indicates the course which has been pursued in the attempt to ascertain with accuracy the number of officers in the several staff corps, so as to distribute them in accordance with the order from the Adjutant General's office, a copy of which is annexed, as well as to ascertain whether there are not supernumerary staff officers now in commission who should be discharged.
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I response to your resolution of the 17th instant, I herewith transmit a communication[1] from the Secretary of State, which conveys the information requested.
To the House of Representatives.
In response to your resolution of the 9th inst., I herewith transmit communications from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, covering copies of all orders now in force which have been issued to the assessors and collectors of taxes.
- ↑ *Stating that no intimation has been received by the Confederate Government of a willingness on the part of any State of the United States to go into convention with the States of the Confederacy for the purpose of negotiating a peace, or consulting on the best method of effecting a cessation of hostilities, or for any purpose whatever.
