VII. Each commanding officer will send out such patrols and scouting parties as may be necessary to keep him informed of all matters pertaining to his jurisdiction, and will be vigilant and prompt in suppressing all combinations against the authority of the United States or the peace of the country.

No arrests will be made for opinion's sake, unless the parties are engaged in open acts of hostility, or are stimulating others to such acts by inflammatory words or publications.

It is the mission of the forces under my command in North Missouri to restore peace and safety to a region distracted with civil commotion, and to bring to punishment the infamous assassins and incendiaries who have been infesting this country.

All the forces in North Missouri, therefore, are cautioned against excesses of any kind, and especially against any depredations upon the persons or property of any citizen of Missouri.

Discipline and good order are essential to the efficiency and good repute of any military force, and they will be exacted from the forces under my command with all the power vested in me. The honor and reputation of their States depend upon the good conduct of the troops they have sent into the field, and I expect all commanding officers to notice, with the greatest severity possible under the articles of war, all infractions of military discipline and of good order.

JNO. POPE,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
Saint Louis, July 30, 1861.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:

MY DEAR SIR: You were kind enough to say that as occasions of sufficient gravity arose I might send you a private note.

I have found this command in disorder, nearly every county in an insurrectionary condition, and the enemy advancing in force by different points of the southern frontier. Within a circle of 50 miles around General Prentiss there are about 12,000 of the Confederate forces, and 5,000 Tennesseeans and Arkansas men, under Hardee, well armed with rifles, are advancing upon Ironton. Of these 2,000 are cavalry, which yesterday morning were within twenty-four hours' march of Ironton. Colonel Bland, who had been seduced from this post, is falling back upon it. I have already re-enforced it with one regiment; sent on another this morning and fortified it. I am holding the railroad to Ironton and that to Rolla, so securing our connections with the South. Other measures which I am taking I will not trust to a letter, and I write this only to inform you as to our true condition, and to say that if I can obtain the material aid I am expecting, you may feel secure that the enemy will be driven out and the State reduced to order.

I have ordered General Pope back to North Missouri, of which he is now in command. I am sorely pressed for want of arms. I have arranged with Adams Express Company to bring me everything with speed, and will buy arms to-day in New York. Our troops have not been paid, and some regiments are in a state of mutiny, and the men whose terms of service have expired generally refuse to enlist. I lost a fine regiment last night from inability to pay them a portion of the money due. This regiment had been intended to move on a critical post last night. The Treasurer of the United States has here $ 300,000 entirely