If we fall from Suffolk we must have a larger force at Norfolk.

With no other force in the Department of Virginia I think the above estimate the lowest number by which the several places occupied by us can be held against the forces which the enemy can easily send against us.

If Peck's division is taken from me I shall have but 9,000 effective men left, and of these more than one-third are entirely raw-for the most part unacquainted even with the manual of arms.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN A. DIX,

Major-General.

FORT MONROE, VA., September 20, 1862.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief:

I have just received a dispatch from Captain Rodgers, of the Galena, informing me that 2,000 troops came from Petersburg the day before yesterday and 3,000 yesterday to the Blackwater; that from 8,000 to 10,000 are assembled now, and that 15,000, recently arrived, are on the south side of the James River, in the vicinity of Richmond. This accords with my information from other sources.

JOHN A. DIX,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS SEVENTH ARMY CORPS,
Fort Monroe, Va., September 21, 1862.

Honorable SALMON P. CHASE,

Secretary of the Treasury:

SIR: Captain Slicer, of the revenue service, has written to you in regard to some shipments by the schooner Geranium from Baltimore to this post, under a regular clearance from the custom-house. I gave a permit to the shippers to bring certain enumerated articles for the people at Back River and the vicinity. But a quantity of other articles not embraced in my permit were allowed to be shipped by the collector; among them are 3,000 percussion caps. These articles were intended for a neighborhood where there is at this season a good deal of game, and the inhabitants ought not to be deprived of the privilege of shooting. I propose to detain them to be sold here to individuals, for their personal use, under special permits and in such small quantities as to make it clear that they are not intended for traffic. Back River is about 7 miles from the fort.

There are also, not embraced in my permit, 84 gross of matches-12,096 boxes. In Baltimore they may have cost $75. In Richmond they would bring 75 cents a box-$9,072. Such a quantity imported for a small neighborhood, taken in connection with the difference of price, shows that they were intended for sale where the enormous profit is to be obtained. These I propose also to detain.

As the custom-house officers have cleared these articles, and as there is no irregularity, there seems to be no reason for holding the vessel or the residue of the cargo. She has been detained by Captain Slicer, and the only question is whether the articles referred to shall be stopped here. This question I suppose need not embarrass me as the clearance