SELMA, ALA., October 7, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel E. SURGET,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Selma, Ala.:

COLONEL: Herewith I have the honor to inclose for the approval of the lieutenant-general commanding requisitions in duplicate for cotton as follows, viz: For 30,942 pounds due Messrs. S. C. Manning & Co. ; for 68,714 pounds due Messrs. Hultte & Lancaster; being for supplies introduced by the respective parties, and received by officers of the Government, as shown by documents accompanying the requisitions. It is requisite these papers should be returned to me for file with other evidence of the Government indebtedness. Messrs. Manning & Co. desire to receive their cotton at some point in East Louisiana, the other parties at Mobile, Ala. I have the honor also to inclose herewith the letter of Mr. J. W. Clapp, chief produce loan for State of Mississippi, handed me yesterday for perusal.

Very respectfully, &c.,

R. W. SANDERS,

Major and Quartermaster, Chief Cotton Exchange, Department of Ala., Miss., and East La.

[Inclosure.]

OFFICE PRODUCE LOAN,

Columbus, Miss., October 3, 1864.

Lieutenant General R. TAYLOR,

Selma, Ala.:

GENERAL: Since writing to your adjutant, E. Surget, on the 1st instant, I have received from the Secretary of the Treasury instructions to deliver, to your order, such quantity of cotton as you may from time to time call for on account of the War Department, taking your drafts for the value of the same on the Treasurer at Richmond. The Secretary further says:

On the receipt of the drafts here the Secretary of War will make the necessary requisitions, and warrants will be issued by the Secretary of the Treasury in favor of General Taylor for the amount of the same.

The terms upon which I am instructed to deliver the cotton are: First. If situated where it may be sold for specie, the price to be the specie value multiplies by three; but if the sum thus obtained is less than the market value of the cotton so situated in currency, then I am to charge the market price in currency. Second. If the cotton is in a locality where the sales are for currency only, then I am to charge the market price in currency.

The above regulations are for ttlements between the departments, and not particularly concern you: nor do I have anything to do with the rate at which you may afterward agree to exchange the cotton for supplies, and I have referred to it merely by way of explanation. Various contracts for the sale of Government cotton have been made at Richmond, and by my predecessor (Mr. De Bow) and myself, in all of which it is stipulated that the purchasers shall be permitted to remove to cotton so purchased beyond our lines without molestation by our forces. Most of these contracts are still in process of execution, and it will be indispensable that Brigadier Gens. Wirt Adams and G. B. Hodge be instructed by you to grant the necessary permits. To avoid confusion and all improper use of such permits I will confine my deliveries to purchasers to a single reliable