person who is not legally and properly entitled to such discharge, shall be tried by a court-martial, and, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not less than three hundred dollars and not more than ten thousand dollars, shall be imprisoned at the discretion of the court, and be cashiered and dismissed the service.

SEC. 26. And be it further enacted, That the words "precinct" and "election district," as used in this act, shall not be construed to require any subdivision for purposes of enrollment and draft less than the wards into which any city or village may be divided, or than the towns or townships into which any county may be divided.

SEC. 27. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act entitled "An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for to the purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, as may be inconsistent with the provisions of this act, is hereby repealed.

Approved February 24, 1864.

By order of the Secretary of War:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, D. C., February 25, 1864.

Major-General STEELE,

Little Rock, Ark.:

General Sickles is not going to Arkansas. He probably will make a tour down the Mississippi and home by the Gulf and ocean, but he will not meddle in your affairs. At one time I did intend to have him call on you and explain more fully than I could do by letter or telegraph, so as to avoid a difficulty coming of my having made a plan here while the convention made one there for reorganizing Arkansas, but even his doing that has been given up for more than two weeks. Please show this to Governor Murphy to save me telegraphing him.

A. LINCOLN.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
New Orleans, February 25, 1864.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:

SIR: The election of the 22nd of February was conducted with great spirit and propriety. No complaint is heard from any quarter, so far as I know, of unfairness or undue influence on the part of the officers of the Government. At some of the strictly military posts the entire vote of the Louisiana men as for Mr. Flanders; at others for Mr. Hahn, according to the inclination of the voters. Every voter accepted the oath prescribed by your proclamation of the 8th of December. The aggregate number of voters is about 11,000. There is no sounder basis for a State government in this country than is presented by this population, nor any where the proportion of men hostile to the chief measures of the Government for the suppression of the rebellion will not be equal or greater. The ordinary vote of the State has been less than 40,000. The proportion given on the 22nd of February is nearly equal to the territory covered by our arms. The convention for revision of the constitution will confirm the absolute extinction of slavery, upon which the election has proceeded, and to which every voter has assented, and provide for such extension of suffrage as will meet the demands of the age. I have been and still am unable to write as fully as I could wish, but I desire to say in a word that the