the control of the military authorities, and litigants have been obliged, from the absence of civil officers, to appeal to commanding officers to nave their difficulties adjusted by military commissions. This has thrown upon my department of the public service a great deal of labor that does not properly pertain to it, unless where a country is wholly under martial law. If the civil authorities have officers present whose duty it is to attend to the adjudication of such matters I am very anxious that they should without delay relieve the military of this unusual burden or formally announce their inability to do so. In this event the officers under my command will continue to discharge the duty without a murmur, as they hitherto have done.

I write to you this letter thus early after my return from Mesilla as I learn the Legislature is about to adjourn, whose province it may be to take some action in the premises.

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

JAMES H. CARLETON,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NEW MEXICO,
Santa Fe, N. Mex., January 28, 1863.

His Excellency JOHN EVANS,

Governor of Colorado Territory, Denver City, Colo.:

MY DEAR SIR: Your very kind letter of December 16, 1862, in which you offer to help us with all the troops in your Territory in case New Mexico should be again invaded, came safely to hand, as did likewise your note of the 13th instant. Pray accept my thanks for your generous and patriotic offer.

I have just returned from Northwestern Texas, and from what I could learn I do not believe any considerable force from that State will attempt to invade this country again, at least for the present. That the so-called Southern Confederacy, looking to a permanent separation from the Union, will desire to have a strip of territory extending across the continent to cover the silver and gold fields of Arizona and to have a port on the Pacific there cannot be a doubt; and that there will be a strong effort made to this end sooner or later, unless we are more successful in the East than we have recently been, is more than probable. But the chances for such an attempt appear to be so remote at the present moment as to warrant my sending the remainder of the Colorado troops home. I have therefore issued an order to this end, which please to find herewith inclosed.

With many wishes for your health and prosperity, I have the honor to be, Your Excellency's most obedient servant,

JAMES H. CARLETON,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, No. 12. New Orleans, January 29, 1863.

The proclamation of the President of the United States, dated January 1, 1863, is published in general orders for the information and government of the officers and soldiers of this command and all persons acting under their authority. It designates portions of the State