I hope all is right, and, indeed, I have the strongest faith that you will yet receive the appointment. I know how easy it is for the acts and intentions of public men to be misunderstood, and how common it is for ill-disposed persons to cry a man down without any just cause, and therefore I will not censure the President until I know he has wronged us.

I have been extremely unhappy for the last two weeks or more about your condition. I have not been able to see how you and your men were to extricate yourselves from the perils which seemed to hang over you. I fear your sufferings have been very great, but I trust and hope you are all, with the blessing of God, yet out of the hands of the jayhawkers and Hessians. I have been doing everything in my power to advance our cause.

General Shields has been active and vigilant in pushing forward his work. In ten days, more or less, I think he will have an amount sufficient to pay off Thompson's men. As soon as it is ready I will see that they are paid, and shall then repair to your camp with the least delay possible.

The work on our guns, all things considered, is progressing as fast as I could expect it. Every shop in the whole South is pressed with work, and but for the universal sympathy of the people here for Missouri and the desire of every one to aid us we should not have been able to get our work done in any reasonable time.

The single-barrel shot-guns I have had converted into carbines for mounted men, and will be found to be a valuable weapon.

The old rifles will be made into Mississippi rifles with a saber bayonet-the best war gun now in use, I think. They will all be boxed and forwarded as soon as they are ready; but they will not all be finished under five or six weeks.

The people of this city and State excel any I ever knew in working for our cause. I do not know the exact amount, but I feel confident with what they have already forwarded, together with the articles they are now getting ready for your army, it can hardly fall short of &100,000 in value. They never tire or flag in the good work. They do everything they can to render the soldier comfortable or that will encourage him to perform his duty.

Six young ladies are now raising a subscription to purchase a sword for you, and in order that as many as possible may have a hand in it they allow no one to give over &1. You may therefore look out for a beautiful present from the young ladies of New Orleans.

The news from Washington is that Lincoln has "backed down" and given up Mason and Slidell; just what everybody here thought the cowardly scamp would do. There is no reason to believe a decisive battle is near at hand anywhere.

My kind regards to all the friends.

Faithfully, your fiend,

C. F. JACKSON,

RICHMOND, December 31, 1861.

Colonel L. HEBERT,

Third Regiment La. Vols., Commanding, &c., Fayetteville, Ark.:

SIR: A contract has been entered into with parties in Memphis to work the lead mines near Granby, in Missouri. It is understood that parties from Kansas frequently visit that portion of the country, and it is apprehended they may interfere with the work of these miners and