of any intention to remove the battery at that time or in that manner from the State. If proper notice had been given to me from any source of General Butler's desire that the battery should sail at that time, I should have been happy to have completed its organization by the appointment of officers. But the first notice I received concerning the matter was a hasty letter from one of the members of the battery, addressed to the adjutant-general of the State, dated "On board steamer Constitution, Boston Harbor, November 21, 1861," and stating that it was at sea by General Butler's command, and was under he direction of men, purporting to be officers, who had been elected by the remaining men at a caucus convened by General Butler's order. With regard to some of these men presuming thus to act as officers, charges are on file in this department which, if substantiated, prove them to be persons of infamous character, unfit for any station of personal trust, honor, or responsibility.

The Twenty-sixth Regiment, which sailed in the Constitution, and is one of the regiments raised by me and assigned to General butler, was fully recruited, carefully uniformed and equipped by the State, and its officers were duly appointed and commissioned by me. but this battery was hurried away without my knowledge, unofficered, incompletely uniformed and equipped, not fully recruited, not having any of its rolls prepared or deposited in the adjutant-general's office, and utterly unfit for service.

In making those suggestions and representations to you, general, I am oppressed by an inexpressible feeling of regret and almost of humiliation that in this time of trouble I should be found, even under compulsion, complaining of any person or of any grievance. And if I had no public function nor any duty other than to myself, I would be silent. But the public service requires obedience, subordination, decorum, and respect to constituted authority from all, to insure good order and the rights of all. And since Major-General Butler returned to New England in September last, authorized to concentrate a force here, 'subject," so far as concerned this Commonwealth, "to the approval and control of the Executive of Massachusetts, all of which force was to be organized under the several Governors of the Eastern States," and in view of the facts--

1. That the policy of the War Department was clearly avowed to be non-interference with our enlistments.

2. That I assigned to General Butler our full quota, and a battery besides, of the force he was authorized to secure.

3. That in my letter to Secretary of War, under date of October 6 (to which I beg to refer you, and to which no reply or acknowledgment has ever been received by me), I avowed clear and commanding reasons why our recruitment should not be further crowded by competition, to which reasons, they being also presented to General Butler in my letter to him of October 5, he never has ventured any reply or objection.

4. That notwithstanding and without my consent and against my declared will, and contrary to my General Order, Numbers 23 (a copy of which you will find annexed to my letter of October 6 to the Secretary), issued conformably to the General Order of the War Department, Numbers 78, and in defiance of my rightful "control," General Butler assumed to raise other and irregular bodies of soldiers, paying no heed and bestowing no care to the Twenty-eighth Regiment, which was placed at his disposal.

5. And that General Butler has long ago been informed by me in writing that I had determined not to organize such bodies of irregular