commissary and quartermaster at Saint Louis, Mo. Please give orders to have these drafts met.

The distance from Omaha to Marengo, where the railroad terminates, is one hundred and seventy-five miles, and which ought to be marched in eight days. The hire of the wagons will be from $3.50 to $4 per day.

On the descending the Missouri the captain of the steamer received a dispatch from the owner or agent of the line at Brownsville that the military at saint Joe consisted of a battery of four cannon and about two hundred armed infantry; that if I attempted to pass Saint Joe I would be fired on and the boat inured; that he must land the troops at Belmont, five miles above, and I could march four miles to Palermo, line miles below Saint Joe. I determined to do so to save the boat, but on arriving at Belmont an express arrived from the agent that "the Missouri troops had relinquished the idea of attacking me, and that I would be permitted to pass unmolested," which I did without any demonstration whatever, having my men formed, muskets loaded, bayonets fixed, ready for any emergency.

On my arrival at this post I found Captain Steele, Second Dragoons, had taken into service, parts of three volunteer companies from Leavenworth City, under Captains McCook, Cozzens, and Clayton, numbering one hundred and twenty, rand and file. These troops I shall discharge to-day, believing my force at present sufficient to guard the public property at this post against any rabble or detached secessionists formed or forming in this vicinity.

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

D. S. MILES,

Colonel Second Infantry, Commanding.

ALBANY, May 1, 1861.

Honorable SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War:

DEAR SIR: I wish to call your attention to certain matters connected with the affairs of the State of Missouri, and particularly as regards the arsenal at Saint Louis.

1st. There seems but very little doubt at the present time, particularly in Illinois, as regards the secession of the State of Missouri from the Union. The secession movement in Northern Missouri and along the line of the Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad is scarcely stronger in any Southern State.

2nd. Judging from what has been done elsewhere by the various seceding States, one of the first acts of secession by Missouri would be the seizure of the Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad, the interruption, if not the entire suppression of Government and free State transportation and travel over it, and, if the contest continues, in the entire confiscation of the road and its property, as far as concerns Northern and Eastern interests.

3rd. I also think that it is of vital importance to the Government that the Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad be preserved to its owners, and that its free and uninterrupted use be maintained at all times and at all hazards. It furnishes the only accessible and speedy route by which the Government can communicate with Kansas, Nebraks, and Utah, or with its military posts along the Western and Northwestern frontier to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and, if allowed to fall into and remain in the hands of an enemy, it is easy to see how difficult and well nigh impossible in such an emergency it would be for the Government to pre-