Second. Or if this proposition be deemed incompatible with the interests of the service, it is suggested in lieu thereof the officers of camps in Tennessee be forbidden to receive Kentucky negroes within their lines.

Third. Order that descriptive lists or certificates be given to every citizen of Kentucky (except those in the rebel army or otherwise notoriously connected with the rebel Government) whose slave has been enlisted.

Fourth. Require all officers commanding camps and detachments in Tennessee to make restitution of all property stolen by fugitive slaves from Kentucky and brought into their lines, and the slaves themselves surrendered as fugitives from justice, upon the requisition of the proper civil authorities in Kentucky.

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

B. H. BRISTOW.

We approve the foregoing suggestions and are hopeful they will accomplish the end desired, if granted by the War Department.

C. F. BURNAM.

GEO. H. YEAMAN.

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, Harrisburg, Pa., December 19, 1863.

Colonel J. B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General:

COLONEL: I received your letter [of 15th] on the 17th, and notice contents.

I did not intend to say or intimate in any letter to the President or yourself my dissatisfaction with Colonel Bomford, with whom all my relations are pleasant.

If a change is made for other reasons by the Government in his office, I beg that I may be consulted before it is made. I do not desire the removal of Colonel Bomford and the appointment of Colonel Sanderson in his place.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. G. CURTIN.

WAR DEPT., PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, D. C., December 20, 1863.

Honorable H. S. LANE, M. C.,

U. S. Senate Chamber:

DEAR SIR: Your note of yesterday asking for certain facts connected with the late draft, and my opinion on certain points in the enrollment act, is received. I inclose a proof of my official report, with appendix, which answers nearly all your questions.* The late draft was conducted with a great deal of care, and though the next may be better managed, it is yet reasonable to assume that the general results in future, even if the entire population is drawn out, will, under the same law, be about as they have been in the draft just closing. "Figures don"t lie," and to understand the subject let us take an arithmetical view of it. We have enrolled in round numbers 3,000,000 of men; from these we are to draw. As stated above, the

---------------

*See p. 1046.

---------------