duty of attending to that office is arduous. they should be paid a salary by the State, quarterly, with power in the Executive at the end of any quarter to discharge them when their services should be no longer needed; or, when he thought necessary, to discharge such as he thought proper and to appoint others in their stead.

I am also compelled to call your attention to the increase of the contingent fund. Under ordinary circumstances the amount under the present law at the control of the Executive would be ample, but the present emergency requires that this sum of $12,000 be increased, and I recommend that $13,000 more be added, making this fund the sum of $25,000.

At your last session the General Assembly made an appropriation for the purchase of arms and ammunition, under the direction of this department. I have purchased about 9,000 stand of small-arms, 10 brass rifled cannon (6-pounders) and 2 columbiads, 20,000 pounds of lead, 700 kegs of powder of 28 pounds each, and 1,500,000 caps. The cannot have not yet arrived, but I am expecting them daily.

The convention on the --- instant authorized me to dispatch troops from this State to aid the State of Florida in taking possession of the forts at the mouth of Pensacola Harbor. Accordingly on the --- instant I ordered 300 men from Mobile by water, and dispatched five companies, under the command of Colonel Lomax, by railroad from this place, to proceed to Pensacola. After the troops left here I received information that on the night of the --- instant all the positions on the west side of Pensacola Bay were abandoned by the forces of the United States which had been concentrated at Fort Pickens, on Santa Rosa Island. The occupation of this fort enables them to command the entrance to the bay and harbor of Pensacola, and as the troops from Mobile were to approach by water, I directed them by telegraph to proceed no farther in the expedition. The troops from this place arrived at Pensacola on the night of the --- instant and are now encamped there. If it should be deemed practicable they will aid in storming Fort Pickens, and for that purpose they remain there. I also had intelligence that a considerable force of ships of war and troops of the United States had been ordered to rendezvous at Pensacola, and probably to make a demonstration on the forts at the mouth of Mobile Bay, or some other point in that vicinity. I therefore ordered five other companies to Mobile to aid in defending whatever point may be assailed.

Your attention is called to the necessity of making some provision for the payment of the expenses of these expeditions. In connection with the subject of placing the State in an efficient state to protect herself, I have a suggestion to make which I thought prudent to reserve for a separate and secret communication, and which I am ready to make when your bodies are ready to receive it. In closing this message I cannot but invoke the blessings of the Most High and Omniscient God upon all your deliberations, and that we may be saved from the horrors of war and enjoy the blessings of peace; that our liberties may be preserved, and that our beloved State may enjoy an uninterrupted career of prosperity and greatness.

A. B. MOORE.

[JANUARY 14, 1861. - For orders of Governor Moore, calling into active service the militia of Louisiana, see Series I, VOL. LIII, p. 612.]