WASHINGTON, D. C., March 1, 1864.

Major-General ROSECRANS,

Saint Louis, Mo.:

The instructions of the Department as to the new State militia are tot he effect that no more enlistments or musters are to be made for it, either by provost-mashals or commissaries of musters.

THOS. M. VINCENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE MISSOURI, Numbers 35.
Saint Louis, Mo., March 1, 1864.

I. Missouri, for the coming year, needs all the shave and other labor she has within her own border. Humanity, as well as justice, forbids sending away to other States our helpless slaves. Moreover, bad men have been engaged in stealing and carrying negroes out of the State, and selling even those who were free. The exportation of negroes from Missouri is therefore prohibited. Nevertheless, the interests of the service demand that all able-bodied slaves fit for military duty in this department be received to fill up the quotas of the various districts required by the draft. Every one is therefore interested in having them promply enlisted.

II. All officers acting under orders of the provost-marshal-general, and all commanders of troops in this department, will see that theis order is obeyed within their respective districts or commands, and will promptly arrest all who attempt to violate it, and send them to their district headquarters for trial and punishment for violation of military orders.

III. Officers enlisting slaves will be careful to take none unfit for service; but when they take a slave recruit, the master must receive the descriptive list specified in paragraph V, General Orders, Numbers 135, of November 14, 1863, from these headquarters, evidencing this claim on the Government, and the recruit is thenceforth under the charge of the United States, and if found unfit for service on a final examination, is entitled to a discharge and his freedom.

By command of Major-General Rosecrans:

O. D. GREENE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

PATTERSON, MO., March 1, 1864.

Major-General ROSECRANS:

SIR: I learn through the columns of the Missouri Democrat you made a speech in Jefferson City, Mo., speaking of matters in Missouri, and saying the State was quiet in its center and on its borders.

Sir, please suffer me, one who knows that you must be misinformed. Sir, at this time the border counties on the Arkansas line are by no means at ease. I would say that Ripley, Butler, Carter, Oregon, and Howell Counties are so filled with marauding bands, of what they call Southern soldiers, that many other Union men, with myself, are not allowed to stay at their homes. My home and family are in Ripley County, 22 miles north of Pocahontas, Ark., it being near the center of 150 miles square, destitute of Union troops. I