WAR DEPARTMENT,

September 24, 1861.

Governor CURTIN, Harrisburg, Pa.:

Arms from arsenal at Washington will be sent to-day.

T. A. SCOTT.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

September 24, 1861.

Honorable A. G. CURTIN,

Governor of Pennsylvania:

We shall send the arms you cannot use to the West. General Ripley will order to-day. Assume all the responsibility that may be necessary to organize. As fast as guns can be secured they will be sent.

THOMAS A. SCOTT.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, September 25, 1861.

Mons. ROBERT D'ORLEANS,

Due de Chartres:

MONSEIGNEUR: In placing into your hands a commission which will bring you into the military service of the United States, I avail myself of the occasion, in obedience to the instructions of the President of the United States, to assure you, first, that this Government will cheerfully accept your services without asking from you any oath or declaration that will modify your allegiance or loyalty to your own great country; secondly, that it will cheerfully accept your resignation at any time when you shall wish to retire from our service to obey the calls of duty in France or in Europe; and, thirdly, that this Government appreciates very highly the magnanimity which moves you not merely to give your aid in arms to the cause of the American Union, but also the decline customary compensation which would accrue to you from that service. I am sure that this noble proceeding will bring new honors to an already illustrious name.

I have the honor to be, monseigneur, with very great respect and esteem, &c.,

W. H. SEWARD.

Indorsement on letter of Captain Callender transmitting special estimate for arms purchased by General Fragment.

ORDNANCE OFFICE,

Washington, September 25, 1861.

The within special estimate of funds required at Saint Louis Arsenal for payment of purchases of ordnance and ordnance stores, made by Major General J. C. Fragment or his agents, is respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War.

The authority for making these purchases is not known at this office. The third section of the act approved February 8, 1815, enacts that it shall be the duty of the colonel or senior officer of the Ordnance Department, under the direction of the Secretary of War, to make contracts and purchases for procuring the necessary supplies of arms, equipments, ordnance, and ordnance stores. These purchases by Major-General Fragment or his agents are not in accordance with the requirements of that act.