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Monthly Record of Current Events, June 9.

UNITED STATES.

OUR Record closes on the 9th of June. It includes the surrender of the remaining armies of the Confederacy, the capture of the principal members of the late Confederate Government, and furnishes indications of the policy of the administration of President Johnson.

The surrender of Johnston's army took place on the 26th of April, not on the 29th, as erroneously printed in our last Record. General Johnston states that on that day the returns showed that his whole force of infantry and artillery, present and absent, was 70,510, only 18,578 being present, of whom 14,179 were effective, besides which there were 2000 or 3000 cavalry. Twenty days before (April 6) Sherman estimated that Johnston had with him, "well in hand," 35,000 infantry and artillery, and from 6000 to 10,000 cavalry. In the interval three-fourths of his army had scattered. Many of these, however, came back and took the prescribed parole. The whole number paroled by General Hartsuff was fully 30,000; among these were "Generals" Johnston and Beauregard; "Lieutenant-Generals" Hardee, Stewart, and S. D. Lee; " Major-Generals" Lomax, Butler, Brown, Hoke, Cheatham, Loring, Walthal, Anderson, Hill, and Stevenson, with their respective staffs; and Rear-Admiral Semmes, having the rank of Brigadier-General. Besides the foregoing, the surrender of Johnston included those of all the Army of the Tennessee, which were made by the various officers actually in command of different portions. Johnston, in announcing to his army the terms of surrender, said that "the object of the convention is pacification, to the extent of the authority of the commanders who made it. Events in Virginia, which broke every hope of success by war, imposed on its General the duty of sparing the blood of this gallant army, and saving our country from further devastation, and our people from ruin." In his farewell address, he exhorted his soldiers to "discharge the obligations of good and peaceful citizens to the powers as well as you have performed the duties of soldiers in the field." — General Sherman, in his report, presents as elaborate and wholly successful justification of his course in entering upon the convention with Johnston, which was disavowed by the Government. The essential points are that in their first interview Johnston acknowledged that the Confederate cause was lost, and that every life sacrificed after Lee's surrender was the highest possible crime; that the terms granted to Lee were magnanimous, but that he wished, in addition, some general concessions that would enable him to control his followers until they could be got back to the neighborhood of their homes, thereby saving North Carolina from the devastation which would result from turning the men loose and unprovided, and by the pursuit of these scattered bodies through the State. All of Sherman's generals were in favor of his granting, as far as lay in his power, such concessions. At the next meeting Johnston satisfied him that he had power to disband all the Confederate armies, as well as those under his own immediate command. What he especially dreaded was that the States would be dismembered and deprived of any political existence, and that the absolute disarming of his men would leave the South powerless and exposed to the depredations of assassins and robbers. Sherman believed that in granting concessions which would provide against these evils he was acting in accordance with the policy of the President; and when, in the midst of the negotiations, he received intelligence of the murder of Lincoln, he saw no good reason to change his course, but thought to manifest his respect for his memory by following, in a case where the interests of living millions were concerned, the policy which he thought Lincoln would have approved, or at least not rejected with disdain. In any case, he adds, "The memorandum" was expressly, on its very face, "a mere basis for reference to the President, to enable him, if he chose, at one blow to dissipate the power of the Confederacy which had threatened the national safety for years. It admitted of modification, alteration, and change. It had no appearance of an ultimatum, and by no false reasoning can it be construed into a usurpation of powers on my part." General Sherman speaks indignantly of the harsh manner in which this basis was set aside by the Government,

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contrasting with the conduct of Grant, who, having been ordered to direct military movements, kept the rations in the hands of Sherman; gave him the honor of concluding the final negotiations with Johnston, and of receiving his surrender. "There," says Sherman, "was surrendered to us the second great army of the so-called Confederacy; and although undue importance has been given to the so-called negotiations which preceded it, and a rebuke and public disfavor cast upon me wholly unwarranted by the facts, I rejoice in saying that it was accomplished without further ruin and devastation to the country; without the loss of a single life to the gallant men who had followed me from the Mississippi to the Atlantic; and without subjecting brave men to the ungracious task of pursuing a fleeing foe who did not want to fight. As for my-self, I know my motives, and challenge the instance during the last four years, when an armed and defiant foe stood before me, that I did not go in for a fight; and I would blush for shame if I had ever insulted or struck a fallen foe. I still adhere to my then opinions, that by a few general concessions — glittering generalities — all of which must and will be conceded to the organized States of the South, there would not be this day an armed battalion opposed to us within the broad area of the dominions of the United States."

This report was dated on the 9th of May. Sherman could not then know how near the time was when no army of the Confederacy should exist. Five days before, though the tidings had not yet arrived, General Richard Taylor — commonly known as Dick Taylor — surrendered to General Canby all "the forces, munitions of war, etc., in the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana." The negotiations for this surrender took place at Citronelle, Alabama, on the 4th of May. The terms were essentiaily the same as those accorded to Johnston: officers and men to be paroled until duly exchanged or otherwise released by the United States; officers to give their individual paroles; commanders of regiments and companies to sign paroles for their men; arms and munitions to be given up to the United States; officers and men to be allowed to return to their homes, and not to be molested so long as they kept their paroles, and obeyed the laws where they reside, but persons resident in Northern States not to return without permission; officers to allowed to retain their side-arms, private horses, and baggage; horses, the private property of enlisted men, not to be taken from them, but they to allowed to retain them for private purposes only: as was to be expected, every horse worth any thing was shown to be private property. This surrender virtually involved that of the Confederate vessels blockaded in the Tombigbee River. These, numbering twelve, wore formally given up at the same time to Admiral Thacher, of the Western Gulf Squadron.

Thus before the close of the first week in May the entire Confederate force east of the Mississippi had been formally surrendered. But beyond the great river, in Western Louisiana and Texas, was a large rebel force under General E. Kirby Smith. The war had hardly readied this vast region, and the general result there had been unfavorable to the Union cause. The country was ill adapted for the advance of an invading army. Smith was reported to have from 20,000 to 50,000 or even 80,000 men. To these, it was thought, might be added all the Southern population who should refuse to accept the terms of surrender given to Lee, Johnston, and Taylor. It was thought that an irregular warfare might be waged there for years, until the energies of the Union should be worn out. By the 20th of April Kirby Smith had learned of the surrender of Lee's army. From his head-quarters at Shreveport he addressed on the 21st a flaming general order to his troops:

"Soldiers of the Trails-Mississippi Army," he said, "the crisis of our revolution is at hand. Great disasters have overtaken us. The army of Northern Virginia and our Commander-in-Chief are prisoners of war. With you rest the hopes of our nation. You possess the means of long resisting invasion. You have hopes of succor from abroad. Protract the struggle, and you will surely receive the aid of nations who already deeply sympathize with you. The great resources of the Department, its vast extent, the numbers, discipline, and the efficiency of the army, will secure to our country terms that a proud people can with honor accept, and may, under the providence of God, be the means of checking the triumph of our enemy, and securing the final success of our cause."

Five days later, when the tidings of the assassination of Lincoln had arrived, a mass meeting assembled at Shreveport. Among those present were Kirby Smith, Price, and Buckner, with a brace of nominal Governors, Allen of Louisiana, and Reynolds of Missouri. Colonel Flournoy delivered an oration eulogizing Booth, and comparing him with Brutus, the slayer of Caesar. Just two days before, April 24, a great war meeting was held at Houston, Texas, whereat General J. Bankhead Magruder made a speech. To this Magruder the Confederacy owed much. His obstinate defense of the lines at Yorktown, four years before, had saved the Confederacy. At the Houston meeting Magruder declared that he was not at all discouraged at the present position of affairs; he would at all events "rather be a Camanche Indian chief than bow the knee to Yankeedom." A week thereafter the citizens of Washington County, Texas, submitted to Magruder a proposition that every white male over the age of thirteen years should be called into the army; that every male slave should be brought in with his master; and that every white female should be provided with arms. Magruder thought the plan, with sundry amendments, worthy of his cordial support. Plans and resolutions of this sort were rife in Texas late in April and early in May. At a meeting in Richmond County, on the 8th of May, it was unanimously resolved that "to the 80,000 veteran soldiers now in the Trans-Mississippi Department we ought to add at once 80,000 new recruits, and at least 80,000 negro auxiliaries; and that with this force, well-fed and well-clothed, and under the protection of God and the leadership of Smith and Magruder, we can not be conquered in Texas." Smith's head-quarters were in the Red River region. His force, evidently much less than had been supposed, was wasting away by desertion, and received few accessions from across the Mississippi. On the 23d of May he sent officers to General Canby, at Baton Rouge, to negotiate terms of surrender; these were agreed upon on the 26th — General Buckner, whose surrender of Fort Donelson, in February, 1862, was the first of the great series of Unions victories, being one of the commissioners for Smith. The terms were the same as those accorded to Taylor? — The last action in the war appears to have been a skirmish, on the 13th of May, near Brazos, in Western Texas. Colonel Barret had two days before set out from Brazos to seize a rebel camp a few miles distant, and to secure horses and cattle. The camp was seized, but before a return could be effected

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Slaughter, the Confederate commander of the district, made an attack upon the party, and drove it back to Brazos, with a loss of from 10 to 15 in killed and wounded, and 50 or 60 prisoners. Slaughter reports that he killed and wounded 30, and captured 80, his own loss being four or five severely wounded.

Jefferson Davis, having left Richmond on the 2d of April, issued on the 5th his Danville proclamation declaring that, if forced to abandon Virginia, he would soon return, repeated the declaration at various other places, but finding that Johnston must surrender, he set off southward from North Carolina, escorted by a large cavalry force, and having with him a considerable amount of specie. Leaving the neighborhood of Raleigh about the 20th of April, the company, among whom were Breckinridge, Benjamin, Trenholm, and Reagan, members of the Cabinet, pushed on rapidly, outstripping Stoneman's force, which was at the beginning close upon them. We catch glimpses, more or less authentic, of them at Charlotte, South Carolina, on the 25th, where Davis made a speech reiterating his purpose soon to return at the head of a large army; at Yorkville on the 28th, at Powelton, in Central Georgia on the 5th of May. But between them and the Mississippi lay Wilson's cavalry, whose headquarters were at Macon. They were dispersed so as to guard every avenue of escape. The party with Davis now appears to have broken up; the greater portion of the specie was divided among the military escort, which scattered. The members of the Cabinet fled by different routes. There remained with Davis only his own family, some members of his personal staff, and Postmaster-General Reagan. This small company now headed toward the coast, moving slowly, and with evident uncertainty, through the pine-woods of the region. On the 7th Colonel Harden, of the First Wisconsin, struck the trail of Davis, who had only five wagons and three ambulances. Harden soon met Colonel Pritchard, of the Fourth Michigan, with 150 picked men and horses. Harden followed the trail, while Pritchard pushed on by a different route to intercept the fugitives at Irwinville. He reached this place at midnight on the 9th, and learned that Davis was encamped two miles out of town. Before daylight Pritchard had quietly surrounded the camp. Harden meanwhile had followed the trail until it became undistinguishable in the darkness. He then encamped, as it proved, within two miles of the fugitives. Before daylight he was again on the march. He had hardly gone a mile when he encountered Pritchard's pickets, who fired upon his men; the fire was returned, each party thinking the other to be enemies. Two of the Michigan regiment were killed, one wounded, and four of the Wisconsin regiment wounded, before the error was discovered. The firing aroused the pursued, who found themselves surrounded. A woman came from one of the tents, and asked that the females within might have time to dress. This was granted. In a short time three persons, apparently women, appeared at the entrance to the tent. One, who seemed quite infirm, had on a long cloak, a shawl muffled over the face, and a tin kettle upon the arm. The others asked that their poor old mother might be allowed to go to the spring for water. A sharp-eyed trooper detected a pair of heavy boots below the cloak. After a scene somewhat variously described, the person was arrested, and proved to be Jefferson Davis. The whole company, consisting of Davis, wife, niece, and children, Reagan, and a few persons of no special note, were captured, brought to Macon, thence taken to Hilton Head, whence they were sent by steamer to Fortress Monroe. With them were Alexander H. Stephens, late Vice-President, who had been arrested at his residence, and Clement C. Clay, once United States Senator from Alabama, afterward Confederate Senator, and subsequently one of the Confederate agents in Canada. Not long ago Clay returned to the South. He is one of those charged by the President's proclamation of May 2 with complicity in the plot to murder Mr. Lincoln, and a reward of $25,000 was offered for his apprehension. He surrendered himself voluntarily to General Wilson being, he said, "confident of my entire vindication from so foul an imputation upon the full and impartial trial which I expect to receive."

The Grand Jury of the District of Columbia on the 23d of May brought in a bill of indictment against Davis for treason. The bill, which is couched in the most verbose legal phraseology, would occupy quite two pages of this Record. Its substance is, that "Jefferson Davis, late of the County of Henrico, in the State of Virginia, yeoman, being an inhabitant and resident within the United States of America, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil," etc., "on the first day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, at the County of Henrico aforesaid, in the State of Virginia aforesaid, with force and arms, unlawfully, falsely, maliciously, and traitorously, did compass, imagine, and intend to raise, levy, and carry on war, insurrection, and rebellion against the said United States of America:" and that thereafter, "to wit, on the twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, the insurgents and false traitors, to the number of twenty thousand persons and upward," in obedience to the order of Jefferson Davis, who was recognized as their leader did, "with drums and colors, with horses, mules, ambulances, and wagons, with cannon, muskets, carbines, pistols, swords, cutlasses, powder, shot, shells, cartridges, percussion-caps, bullets, and with other warlike weapons, and with provisions, to wit: flour, cornmeal, pork, bacon, beef, beans, and other provisions, provided, supplied, and furnished by the said Jefferson Davis, attack, assault, and make war upon a certain fort of the United States of America called Fort Stevens," in the District of Columbia, and did kill and wound some five hundred of the troops of the United States and other persons, Stripped of legal verbiage, and circumlocution, this Grand Jury merely indicted Davis for the invasion of the District in July, 1864. If he is tried under this indictment, the trial will take place in the District Court, for the District of Columbia, whose next session is in September. Meanwhile he remains in close custody at Fortress Monroe.

Several persons charged with complicity in the assassination of Lincoln, the attempted murder of Seward, and the proposed killing of Johnson and Grant, have been on trial at Washington before a military court, presided over by General Hunter. J. Wilkes Booth was charged as principal, Jefferson Davis, George N. Sanders, Beverly Tucker, Jacob Thompson, Clement C. Clay, William C. Cleary, and other Confederate agents in Canada as instigators of the crime. The trial commenced on the 10th of May, and was conducted in secret for three days. During this time the main

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evidence against Davis and the agents resident in Canada was brought forward. The principal witness was Sanford Conover, who represented himself as a native of New York, but resident in South Carolina when the rebellion broke out. He was conscripted into the army, but detailed as a clerk in the War Office, and afterward sent to Canada on special service, where he was in the confidence of Thompson and the other Confederate agents. He was also a correspondent of the New York Tribune, and claims to have furnished information which led to the frustration of several plots. He was also engaged as bearer of dispatches between the agents in Canada and the authorities at Richmond, but previously to delivering them placed them in the hands of the Government at Washington. His testimony, if it is to be believed, clearly shows that all the parties named were engaged not only in the plot for murder, but in plots to burn the cities of the North, destroy the Croton Water-works at New York, introduce yellow-fever into the country by means of infected clothing brought from Nassau, and so on. He was confirmed by James B. Merrit, a physician in Canada. Both swore positively that the assassination was a matter of common conversation, and that they knew Booth and Payne to be on intimate terms with the rebel agents. Much incidental testimony bearing upon the subject was introduced during the whole course of the trial. We have already noted that nearly all of the agents in Canada expressly deny any connection with or knowledge of the plot, and that Clay has surrendered himself for personal trial.

After the first three days the trial was held in public. The persons actually on trial, with the specific charges against them, are these: Louis Payne, the attempt to murder Mr. Seward and oththers; David O. Harold, assisting Booth in the assasination of the President, and aiding his escape; Edward Spangler, an attache of Ford's Theatre, aiding Booth in the act, and assisting him to escape from the theatre; J. W. Atzerott, design to murder Vice-President Johnson; Michael O'Loughlin, design to murder General Grant; Samuel Arnold, Samuel Mudd, and Mary Surratt, aid and assistance to some or all the others in carrying out their designs, and in concealing them after its commission. Against Payne, whose true name is said to be Powell, formerly of Florida, the evidence is dear. He is positively identified as the person who made the attack upon Mr. Seward. His counsel merely put in a plea of "moral insanity." The case against Harold is equally clear. He waited for Booth outside the theatre, accompanied him in his flight, and was taken with him. The defense in his case is that he was a foolish youth of twenty-three, vain of being admitted to the intimacy of Booth, ready to follow him every where, but too silly and trifling to have been intrusted with the secret of the plot. Spangler was shown to have been a sort of general servant to Booth, taking care of his horse, and doing errands for him. The evidence is strong that he directly aided Booth to make his escape from the theatre after the murder. With respect to the others the evidence thus far is less definite. The main points against Mudd are that he was personally acquainted with Booth before the murder, and that he set his log, knowing who he was, and then aided him to escape. Against Mrs. Surratt, the chief points are that Booth, Payne, and Atzerott were more or less intimate at her house, and that when Payne came there after the attempt upon Mr. Seward, she denied knowing him. It also appears that her son John H. Surratt, who has not been arrested, was deeply implicated in the plot. The proof against Arnold and Atzerott appears to be less definite. But of this we can not pronounce positively until the close of the trial.

The policy of the Administration toward individuals in the lately insurgent States is clearly indicated by the President's proclamation of amnesty, of the 29th of May. It refers to Lincoln's amnesty proclamations of December 8, 1863, and March 26, 1861; states that many persons who had been engaged in the rebellion had failed to take the benefits then offered; that many who had thereby been justly deprived of all claims to amnesty were now desirous of obtaining amnesty and pardon. It then proceeds to declare that:

To the end, therefore, that the authority of the Government of the United States may be restored, and that peace, order, and freedom may be re-established, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do proclaim and declare that I hereby grant to all persons who have directly or indirectly participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and except in cases where legal proceeding's under the laws of the United States providing for the confiscation of property of persons engaged in rebellion have been instituted; but on the condition, nevertheless, that every such person shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate, and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit:

"I, — , do solemnly swear, or affirm, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder, and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God."

The following classes of persons are excepted, from the benefits of this proclamation:

1. All who are or shall have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers, or otherwise domestic or foreign agents, of the pretended Confederate Government.

2. All who left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion.

3. All who shall have been military or naval officers of said pretended Confederate Government above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy.

4. All who left seats in the Congress of the United States to aid the rebellion.

5. All who resigned or tendered, resignations of their commissions in the army or navy of the United States to evade duty in resisting the rebellion.

6. All who have engaged in any way in treating otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war persons found in the United States service as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities.

7. All persons who have been or are absentees from the United States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion.

8. All military and naval officers in the rebel service who were educated by the Government in the Military Academy at West Point or the United States Naval Academy.

9. All persons who held the pretended offices of Governors of States in insurrection against the United States.

10. All persons who left their homes within the jurisdiction and protection of the United States, and passed beyond the Federal military lines into the so-called Confederate States, for the purpose of aiding the rebellion.

11. All persons who have been engaged in the destruction of the commerce of the United States upon the high seas, and all persons who have made raids into the United States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the commerce of the United States upon the lakes and rivers that separate the British Provinces from the United States.

12. All persons who, at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein prescribed, are in military, naval, or civil confinement or custody, or under bonds of the civil, military, or naval authorities or agents of the United States as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offenses of any kind either before or after conviction.

13. All persons who have voluntarily participated in said rebellion, and the estimated value of whose taxable property is over twenty thousand dollars.

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14. All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty as prescribed, in the President's proclamation of December 8, A.D. 1863, or an oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States since the date of said proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept and maintained the same inviolate.

Provided, that special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes, and such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United States.

This proclamation, as far as the sixth class of exceptions, is nearly in the words of Lincoln's amnesty proclamations; the remaining exceptions are additional. It makes also no mention of Lincoln's suggestions for the reorganization of State Governments in the insurgent States. The policy of Mr. Johnson in respect to these is indicated in another proclamation, also issued on the 29th of May, in relation to the State of North Carolina. It recites that the Constitution the United States guarantees to every State a republican form of government, and protection against invasion and domestic violence — that it is the duty of the President to take care that the laws be faithfully executed — that the rebellion has deprived the people of North Carolina of all civil government — that therefore, in order to enable the loyal people of the State to organize a State Government, William W. Holden is appointed Provisional Governor, whose duty it shall be as early as possible to make regulations enabling the loyal citizens of the State to elect delegates to a Convention for the purpose of forming a Constitution. No person to be a delegate, or to vote for delegates, unless he shall have taken the oath required in the proclamation of amnesty, and shall also be a voter according to the laws of the State existing before the date of the act of secession; this Convention, or the Legislature to be thereafter assembled, to prescribe the qualifications of electors and the eligibility of persons to hold office — "a power the people of the several States composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the Government to the present time." The military and naval authorities are directed to assist the Provisional Governor in carrying this proclamation into effect, and in no way to hinder the loyal people of the State from thus organizing a State Government. The heads of the different Departments of the General Government are directed to put into operation the laws of the United States pertaining to their departments. The Secretary of the Treasury to appoint collectors of taxes and customs; the Postmaster-General to establish postal routes and appoint postmasters, the preference to be given to loyal residents of the State; but if none such are found in any district, then persons from other States to be appointed; the District Judge to hold courts, and the Attorney-General to bring suits for confiscation and sale, and so on. This proclamation wholly ignores the existence of the rebel State Government, and, moreover, impliedly defines the position of the Administration in respect to the status of the freedmen. They can not vote for delegates to the Convention; and it is not to be supposed that this body thus chosen will accord to them the right of suffrage.

For some months serious apprehensions were felt in consequence of the Stonewall, a powerful iron-clad ram. The vessel was built at Bordeaux for the Danish Government; but not having been finished in time was not accepted, and was purchased by the Confederates, equipped and sent to sea under the command of Captain Thomas J. Page, once of the United States Navy, known as commander of the La Plata Expedition, and as the author of a valuable work describing that expedition. She was fully iron-clad, bore two 70-pound and one 300-pound gun, and, moreover, was provided with a formidable ram. She was reported to have great speed. For some time she lay in the Spanish port of Ferrol, watched from a neighboring port by the United States Steamers Niagara and Sacramento. An action was expected when she should put to sea. In smooth water it was thought she would be an overmatch for her antagonists. At length she put to sea and reached the port of Lisbon, followed by the American steamers. She was ordered to leave in twenty-four hours, and the Niagara and Sacramento were obliged by maritime law to remain in port until she had twenty-four hours start. Owing to a misunderstanding our vessels were fired upon from the Portuguese fort, but amends were made. The Stonewall stood across the Atlantic, reached Nassau, and then steamed for Havana. Here she found tidings of the overthrow of the Confederacy, and Page delivered his vessel to the Spanish authorities "on deposit" for whom it might concern. The Stonewall has been claimed by the United States.

Measures are being taken to reduce the army, the navy, and the public expenditures to the limts of what will probably be for some time the peace establishment.

The military divisions, as organized, are — (1.) The Atlantic, including the Departments of the East, Pennsylvania, Middle Virginia, North and South Carolina: to be commanded by General Meade; head-quarters at Philadelphia. — (2.) The Mississippi, including the Departments of Ohio, the Northwest, Missouri, Arkansas: to be commanded by General Sherman; head-quarters at St. Louis. — (3.) The Tennessee, including the Departments of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida: to be commanded by General Thomas; headquarters at Nashville. — (4.) The Southwest, including Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona: to be commanded by General Sheridan; head-quarters at New Orleans. — (5.) The Pacific: to be commanded by General Halleck; head-quarters at San Francisco.

By an order, dated June 6, all prisoners of war in the depots at the North, upon taking the oath of allegiance, are to be discharged, except officers of the army above the grade of captain, and of the navy above that of lieutenant, and those who have graduated at the Military or Naval Academy, and those who at the breaking out of the rebellion held commissions in the army or navy of the United States. The commanders of the prison depots are to discharge each day as many of the prisoners as can be included in the rolls properly made out, beginning with those who have been longest in confinement and those who have the farthest to go, Transportation to be furnished to released prisoners to the nearest accessible point to their homes by steamboat or rail. After their release those who desire may take the oath of amnesty. When the privates and lower officers have been discharged, regulations will be issued in respect to the discharge of officers above the rank of captain in the army or lieutenant in the navy.

The entire amount of public debt on the 31st of May is stated by the Secretary of the Treasury to have been $2,635,205,753; the interest upon which is $124,638,874 — about one half payable in gold, the remainder in lawful money.