into the Treasury, the sum of $5,220,299.67, making a total to be accounted for of $5,675,024.60, expended as follows:

Payments to regular troops..........................&4,149,393.49

Payments ot volunteers.............................. 504,896.23

Payments to Military Academy....................... 110,091.54

_______________

&4,764,381.26

Leaving a balance of $910,643.34 to be accounted for. This balance it is believed, has generally been expended and accounted for since the commencement of the present fiscal year. The troops, as far as I can learn, have been paid with commendable punctuality, with the exception of those serving in the field or at remote stations inaccessible during the winter months. The troops have all been paid to the close of the fiscal year, and many to the close of August.

I deem it my duty to report that from the immense accumulation of business in my office it will be impossible to get along with my present clerical force, and I respectfully request that I may be authorized by law to employ six or eight additional clerk, half of the first and half of the second class. They should be selected with great care, as we require rapid writers and good accountants.

BENJ. F. LARNED,

Paymaster-General.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, December 2, 1861.

COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI:

SIR: The Secretary of War directs that such of the home guards or reserve corps of Missouri as have done active service in Missouri away from their homes be paid for the period thus served in the same manner as other volunteer regiments of their respective arms. You will take such further action in regard to these troops as the interest of the service may demand.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

In the midst of unprecedented political troubles, we have cause of great gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant harvests.

You will not be surprised to learn that, in the peculiar exigencies of the times, our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs.

A disloyal portion of the American people have, during the whole year, been engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A nation which endures factious domestic division is exposed to disrespect abroad, and one party, if not both, is sure, sooner or later, to invoke foreign intervention.

Nations thus tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambition, although measures adopted under such influences seldom fail to be unfortunate and injurious to those adopting them.