in the Congressional districts of this State with regard to bounties, &c., for volunteers for old regiments; and while to system so proposed is advantageous in many respects, yet it so discriminates in other respects against regiments which are now in formation here that I feel obliged to present certain points to your attention.

In a communication received from you at the beginning of July dated june 29, I was authorized to raise four regiments of veteran volunteer infantry and three batteries of veteran volunteer artillery. A regiment of heavy artillery, which I had commenced to recruit at Major-General Foster's request, and with authority from the War Department wa shortly afterward admitted, by authority of the Department, to the privileges of a veteran volunteer organization. A few weeks subsequently I was authorized to recruit a battalion of veteran volunteer cavalry; and at about the same time the Third Battalion of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, which had long been stationed in South Carolina, while the two other battalions were in South Carolina, while the two other battalions were in Virginia, was permanently detached from the regiment, and I was authorized to recruit a new battalion to be added to the First Massachusetts Cavalry in its place. Thus, I am now engaged in raising and organizing four regiments of infantry, one regiment of heavy artillery, three batteries of light artillery and two battalions of four companies each of cavalry.

Your order of September 21 to the provost-marshals concerning bounties, &c., for recruiting leaves these organizations altogether out of consideration, and will, I fear, unless modified so as to embrace them defer their completion indefinitely-first, by reason of diverting from them all recruits who are not veteran volunteers, offering to them $302 bounty to enter old regiments, while under existing orders they are offered by the united States only $100 bounty to enter these organizations in question; and, second, by reason of diverting from them veteran volunteers by means of the $25 premium which you authorize to be paid to any get who presents a veteran volunteer recruit for an old regiment, while no such premium is offered for presenting a similar recruit for any of these organizations. In the same manner you off in the one case, but not in the other, a premium of $15 any agent who presents a recruit who is not a veteran volunteer. The result of this order, unless it shall be modified, will be, as above suggested, to retard indefinitely the completion of these new organizations and to leave them in their present fragmentary state. This seems to me to be eminently undesirable and disastrous to future recruiting in this State. The Department having authorized the formation of these new corps-and that not at my request in the case of most of them, but of its own option -ought not now to leave them on my hands with from 100 to 800 men recruited for each of them, and no prospect of filling them up, owing to such a discrimination in premiums and bounties in favor of the recruiting for old regiments.

In your letter to me of the 21st instant you ask my aid in forwarding the recruiting for old regiments. I will gladly give it. I have at my disposal a State bounty of $850 per man, which I shall be happy to add to that which you offer. I will make no discrimination between those to whom is offered, but with the understanding that in like manner you will widen your instructions to the provost-marshals of the 21st instant so as to remove the discriminations which those instructions impose, and so as to offer the same bounties and premiums in respect to these new corps as in respect to