for the best places, "but only to say that the rule adopted seemed to be different from what was adopted by myself, and so far as it had transferred or changed the relative rank the officers had borne to each other in the South Carolina service, it might produce some "temporary complaint," and I only mentioned it as an excuse for what you might hear, and I did not think it-the complaint-would last long. You say there was "no comity requiring this Department to appoint in the Army of the Confederate States the officers of the army of South Carolina. Your criticism, therefore, in this particular strikes me as being untenable. " I regret you should have so understood my remarks connected with the appointments. I certainly never meant to urge that there was any comity requiring the appointment of officers in the forces of this State, but only stated the circumstances to apologize for any complaints that might be made for our officers because their relative, &c., rank had been changed. You say also, "Now, if we adopted the rule to incorporate into the Army of this Government all the officers of the regular armies of the several States, every officer resigned from the service of the United States would be excluded, for there are more officers in the armies of Mississippi and South Carolina than there will be in the Army of the Confederate States. " I did not mean to urge the appointment of all our officers into the Regular Army of the Confederate Government, but desired to present their claims, so far as our regular force was concerned, to be retained for their term of service-one year-as a regular local or garrison force on the coast of South Carolina; but if I had urged the appointment of all the officers into the Regular Army, that would not "have excluded every officer resigned from the service of the United States," for out of fifteen captains I appointed twelve were actually officers in the U. S. Army, resigned, and none below rank of first lieutenant. A colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major of infantry were also officers resigned from the U. S. Army. The major of our dragoons was also captain in the U. S. dragoons; so, too, many of our lieutenants were graduates of West Point and in the Army. I merely write to explain that I in reality had no intention to do anything more in my last communication than to explain the position of the officers in the force we have raised, in order that everything might be understood if any temporary excitement (particularly from the first list of appointments published, which turned out to be incorrect) or complaint might be made. I hope everything will be arranged with perfect satisfaction, as the convention is now to decide upon what will be definitely done with all our forces.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

F. W. PICKENS.

JOINT RESOLUTION in regard to the movement of troops and arms within the limits of this Commonwealth by the General Government. Adopted April 1, 1861.

Whereas, the people of Virginia, in convention assembled, are now deliberating as to their future relations with the Government at Washington, D. C., and the non-slave-holding States of the Condeferacy, known as the United States of North America;

And whereas, the General Assembly of Virginia (at present sitting) and the Governor of this Commonwealth have Declared their opposition to the exercise of force against the slave-holding seceding States,