next and thereafter this report will be made weekly. It has been made monthly heretofore because such were my instructions. I respectfully recommend that no more prisoners be sent to this prison until the small-pox has abated. There are now about twenty cases, and though not severe it is probable some will terminate fatally. Last evening a squad of twenty-six prisoners arrived on their way to Chicago. It was discovered when they got here that there is no train on Saturday evening for Chicago, a fact that could readily have been ascertained at Saint Louis. There is no other place to keep them bu the prison, and there is some risk of their taking the small-pox and transferring it to other places. I will send you a list of the Pea Ridge prisoners in a day or two, as soon as it can be prepared. No list of these prisoners was ever sent here and all the information we have we obtained from the prisoners themselves. The exchanged prisoners left yesterday morning. There were 199. The three officers from Columbus did not arrive to go with them.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. BURBANK,

Lieutenant-Colonel Thirteenth Infantry, Commanding.

[First indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
Saint Louis, May 19, 1862.

Respectfully referred to General Schofield and Colonel Farrar for perusal. To be returned.

W. SCOTT KETCHUM,

Brigadier-General and Assistant Inspector-General.

[Second indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS SAINT LOUIS DISTRICT, May 20, 1862.

Respectfully returned. The suggestions within will be observed.

J. M. SCHOFIELD,
Brigadier-General.

Memorandum from Lord Lyons.

MAY 19, 1862.

The crews of British vessels brought into New York as prizes are occasionally sent to Fort Lafayette. It appears that according to the military regulations persons detained in that fort cannot be visited without special permission from Washington. The regulations was no doubt made with a view to political prisoners. It is certainly not the desire of the Government of the United States tosubject the crews of neutral vessels to any restraint beyond that which is essentially necessary in order to secure their evidence being forthcoming, nor can it be the intention of that Government to impede or retard communication between such crews and their consul.

It is therefore suggested that a general order be given that the British consul at New York be permitted to visitat Fort Lafayette the crews of British vessels captured for breach of blockade, and that thus the delay caused by the present regulation requiring a refernece to Washington may with regard to such cases be avoided.

There are at the present moment British crews at Fort Lafayette whom it is desirable that Her Majesty's consul should be able to visit without delay.

[LYONS.]