surely will the action of this convention command the acquiescence and secure the ratification of the people of Louisiana. No shadow of suspicion of military dictation should darken the future page of the brilliant record of returning loyalty and renewed devotion to the Union and the Constitution.

Whatever, therefore, I may do in furtherance of your views in relation to the call of a convention must be rather in aid of the expression of the popular sentiment than as originating, much less dictating, any form of expression or mode of action.

The only immediate action you desire on my part is, that I should order a registration of the loyal voters of the State and appoint one or more loyal citizens of the United States as commissioners of registration in each parish, with directions to register the names of all citizens of such parish who shall have taken and subscribed an oe to the United States, and repudiation of any allegiance to the so-styled Confederate States.

This registration I shall immediately order to be made of those voters who voluntarily come forward to register themselves.

I invite the co-operation and assistance of your committee and of the associations they represent, not only by recommending suitable persons for commissioners in the various parishes, but in every legitimate and honest effort to secure a full registration of all loyal voters.

I defer any action upon the second and third propositions in the concluding clause of the plan submitted to me until I shall have had an opportunity to receive definite instructions on the subject, and also to afford and opportunity, for the expressions of the sentiments of the people in the other parishes in the State.

I cannot close this communication without expressing to you individually and to the associations you represent my heartfelt gratitude for the generous manner in which you have alluded to my public labors in Louisiana. From my first advent in Louisiana my most earnest desire has been to see the State restored to its pristine prosperity in the Union and its pristine loyalty to the Constitution. No citizen of Louisiana desires more earnestly than I do to see a civil government re-established on that basis.

With the assistance of your associations in dispelling the delusions of treason from the minds of the people, with the aid of our gallant and victorious, army which will soon drive the last armed rebel from the soil of Louisiana, and with the blessing of that Providence which has ever presided over the destinaties of the Union, I expect soon to witness its accomplishment.

To that end I pledge you my unceasing efforts.

With the assurance of my full appreciation of the patriotism and loyalty of the members of the Union associations and the high respect and sincere regard I entertain for yourselves individually,

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. F. SHEPLEY,

Military Governor of Louisiana.

ACTG. ASST. PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Wheeling, Va., May 28, 1863.

Colonel J. B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General:

SIR: I have the honor to inclose letters of H. J. Samuels, adjutant-general State of Virginia, and Samuel Crane, auditor of State,