to defend the institution by making him raise provisions for the Army, &c. Let him be used still further, and put the sword and the musket in his hand, and make him hew down and shoot down those who come to destroy the institution and enslave us. Would this be giving up the question? I opine not. True, our slaves are our property. True, too, that our Government take our fathers, our brothers, and our property for the same purpose? He who values his property higher than his life and independence is a poor, sordid wretch; a gold worshiper; a slave in spirit.

Sir, our Congress should make haste and put as many negro soldiers in the field as you and General R. E. Lee may think necessary. I would not make a soldier of the negro if it could be helped, but we are reduced to this last resort. It is not worth while to blink or evade the question. The negro must be put into the Army or we shall be subjugated by the hated foe. Demoralizatioin is rife in our armies, and among the people at home the sign of succumbing may be seen.

Reconstruction and separate State action is boldly talked, and treason is talking in the land. Sir, I tell you these unwelcome facts not to discourage you, but to put you on the alert that you may prepare to meet them. I am for fighting out this war to the bitter end. If we had been united as we should have been, the hated foe would have been driven from our country long ago. Governor Joseph E. Brown, by his perverse rse, has done our cause much harm. To some extent he has divided and broken the spirit of the people. Siir, let us not pass under the yoke of Lincoln; rather let our country be ceded to France and Englanad. I had rather live with any people than the Yankees, and so every one talks whom I hear speak on the subject. I will close, and let my letter be short. I could say more. God preserve you and give you good health.

Your friend,

SAMUEL CLAYTON.

ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Richmond, Va., January 10, 1865.

Major Gen. D. H. MAURY,

Comdg. Dept. of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana:

GENERAL: The letter of Major M. O. Tracy, Thirteenth Louisiana Regiment, relating to the subject of recruiting prisoners of war, has been forwarded to this Department with your indorsement asking instructions in such cases.

The Secretary of War directs me to say that the Department considers it desirable in general that prisoners of war, if received as recruits, should not be placed in new organizations nor collected in large numbers in those now existing, but should be distributed as much as possible among companies, regiments, and brigades of undoubted fidelity.

In one case in which a new battalion was formed from such material a conspiracy was discovered; and although it was promptly crushed, yet it was found expedient to disband the battalion.

Nevertheless, the experiment is now in course of triaal by other officers, who believe that by recruiting chiefly among Catholic Irish and other foreigners and obtaining the influence of the Catholic priesthood they may secure faithful soldiers.