the $1,000,000 authorized for the purchase of arms abroad, under date of August 28, shall be placed under the control of U. S. Minister Sanford, as suggested by him.

Respectfully,

THOMAS A. SCOTT,

Acting Secretary of War.

[Indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,

October 14, 1861.

Respectfully referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with request that the last remittance of $1,000,000 be placed under the control of our minister to Belgium to pay for arms when inspected as suggested by him. If the remittance has been to the credit of the several parties named in letter of August 28, please have the proper transfer made with the Messrs. Baring. If this can be arranged please advise Mr. Sanford by next steamer and send him such evidence as may be needful.

Very respectfully,

THOMAS A. SCOTT,

Acting Secretary of War.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, D. C., October 14, 1861.

His Excellency the GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MAINE:

SIR: The present insurrection had not even revealed itself in arms when disloyal citizens hastened to foreign countries to invoke their intervention for the overthrow of the Government and the destruction of the Federal Union. These agents are known to have made their appeals to some of the more important States without success. It is not likely, however, that they will remain content with such refusals. Indeed, it is understood that they are industriously endeavoring to accomplish their disloyal purpose by degrees and by indirection. Taking advantage of the embarrassments of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce in foreign countries resulting from the insurrection they have inaugurated at home, they seek to involve our common country in controversies with States with which every public interest and every interest require that it shall remain in relations of peace, amity, and friendship. I am able to state for your satisfaction that the prospect of any such disturbance is now less serious than it has been at any previous pecourse of the insurrection. It is nevertheless necessary now, as it has hitherto been, to take every precaution that is possible to avoid the evils of a foreign was to be superinduced upon those of civil commotion which we are endeavoring to cure. One of the most obvious of such precautionsts and harbors in the seas and lakes should be put in a condition of complete defense; for any nation may be said to voluntarily incur danger in tempestuous seasons when it fails to show that it has sheltered itself on every side from which the storm might possibly come. The measures which the Executive can adopt in this emergency are such only as Congress has sanctioned and for which it has provided. The President is putting forth the most diligent efforts to execute these measures, and we have the great satisfaction of seeing that these efforts, seconded by the favor, aid, and support of a loyal, patriotic, and self-sacrificing people, are rapidly bringing the military and naval forces of the United States into the highest state of efficiency; but Congress was chiefly absorbed, during