show where men who were petty officers or seamen two years ago are now lieutenants, a position which I was sixteen years in reaching after I first entered the Navy.

Again, let me impress upon you the importance of vigilance and discipline. The enemy we have been fighting so persistently is now in his last dying agony, and a few months more or less will close this rebellion. Do not by any want of vigilance on your part give the rebels a chance for a single success over you. Remember all the general orders I have issued with regard to the proper precautions to be observed. I can trace many of the mishaps which have occurred to want of attention to orders on the part of those in command, and though I am happy to say that instances of this kind are few, I cannot but regret that they have that instances of this kind are few, I cannot but regret that they have taken place, for the sake of the squadron and those concerned.

There cannot, however, be any war without captures, and while I regret the brave fellows who have killed or thrown into the hands of the enemy, by inattention to orders, I console myself that in almost all cases the flag was properly defended and the vessels seldom surrendered.

Go where I may I shall always entertain a lively recollection of scenes on the Mississippi and its tributaries, scenes that will hereafter be chronicled by historians, as they deserve to be, and those who have figured in them, or performed prominent actions, will certainly be remembered by a grateful county when she is rescued from the hands of the wretched rebel traitors who desire her overthrow.

I bid you all farewell, hoping that we may meet on other fields.

Ere we die our country will have a debt to pay to those foreign nations who have dared to hamper us while struggling in the mightiest contest the world ever saw-may we then al meet again.

DAVID D. PORTER,

Rear-Admiral, Commanding Mississippi Squadron.

N. B.-To be read to the officers and crew upon the quarter-deck of every vessel in the Mississippi Squadron.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, New Orleans, La., September 28, 1864.

JUAN CALLEJOU,
Consul of Spain, New Orleans, La.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication* of yesterday's date, and the accompanying papers,* in relation to the shipment of corn to Matamoras and specie to Havana. Provisions and forage are contraband of war whenever they are applied directly to the use of an enemy and are necessary to support and maintain his armies. This condition now exists with reference to the rebel troops on the Rio Grande frontier, and as nearly all the corn sent from this city to Matamoras has passed directly into the hands of the rebels, its exportation has been prohibited. There are no restrictions upon commerce with Havana, except such as grow out of the act of Congress of May 20, 1862, and the general law of nations. The provost-marshal-general has been instructed to refuse military permits whenever from

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*Not found.

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