EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, D. C., November 24, 1865.

Major General JAMES B. STEEDMAN, Augusta, Ga.:

I am free to say that it would be exceedingly impolitic for Mr. A. H. Stephens' name to be used in connection with the senatorial election. If elected he would not be permitted to take his seat, or in other words, he could not take the oath required, other difficulties being out of the way. He stands charged with treason and no disposition has been made of this case. His present position will enable him to do far more good than any other. Mr. Stephens knows that there is no one whose personal feelings are more kind than mine and have been so since we first met in Congress. The information we have here is that all the members elect to Congress from Georgia will be not be able to take the oath of office, and a modification of the oath by the present Congress is exceedingly doubtful. I hope you will confer with Mr. Stephens on this subject freely, not as coming from me. There seems in many of the elections something like defiance, which is all out of place at this time.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, D. C., November 28, 1865.

Major-General GRIERSON, Commanding, &c., Huntsville, Ala.:

You will suspend the execution of Frank B. Gurley until further orders.

ANDREW JOHNSON,

President of the United States.

RICHMOND, VA., November 28, 1865.

Honorable E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:

SIR: I most respectfully ask permission to visit Mr. Jefferson Davis, prisoner of state at Fortress Monroe, in the capacity of his pastor and spiritual adviser. More than four years ago Mr. Davis attached himself to my congregation in Richmond, and in the spring of 1862 he became a communicant of the church. You, Mr. Secretary, will understand that the interest thus created in him is a sacred one, independent of outward conditions, and also that the ministrations of his own pastor, who has been a witness to his religious experience and received his vows to the Head of the Church, may be supposed to be more effectual and more edifying than those of any other clergyman; nor will you think it strange that both my sympathy and my sense of duty lead me to ask for permission to minister to him the consolations of the gospel in his adversity. Feeling assured that under the proper circumstances the Government would cheerfully award to him this privilege, and hoping that the time has arrived when, in its judgment, it may be allowed, I venture to make this application to you, with the earnest prayer that you will give it a favorable consideration.

My petition itself implies that it is limited to the ministerial and pastoral character of the proposed visit, exclusive of every other object. I could not be so presumptuous as to expect an interview with Mr. Davis for any other purpose; nor would I desire it, as it is not in itself pleasant to witness distress. I will give every guarantee in my power that I will not abuse the privilege if granted, and I pledge my word of honor as a gentleman and Christian minister that I will in no way be