say so. I desire of course, no difficulty with the Navy Department or any other of the Government, struggling and straining as they are in the public defense. I was induced more particularly to make this public complaint because it was not the first time that the coals for my steamer had been seized by the Confederate authorities in Wilmington, and for the further reason that from the first I met with nothing but opposition from all sides in my efforts to clothe the troops of North Carolina. I mentioned those other matters, to which you allude as irrelevant to the present question, simply because I considered the general policy of my message on this head as assailed by you, and as I have assailed the policy on of the Government. Now that the fall of the defense of the Cape Fear and the closure of our last port have given a melancholy confirmation to my strictures, I have no more to say.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Z. B. VANCE.

RICHMOND, February 10, 1865.

Brigadier Gen. A. R. LAWTON,

Quartermaster-General:

GENERAL: By authority of the Governor of Alabama I have contracted with sundry parties to import army stores, payment of the same to be made in cotton. The prices fixed in said contracts vary but little from prices established by the Quartermaster's Department under the contract system. The object of the State is simply to aid and assist the Confederate States in obtaining army supplies, and as far as possible clothe the troops from Alabama. The only obstacles to the successful operation of the plan is the prohibition on the shipment of cotton. I have the honor to request that you will request the Honorable Secretary of War to give such orders as will permit me to ship such cotton across our lines as may be necessary to pay for army stores received under contracts with the State. My object is to aid your department, and I will regulate the issue of clothing according to the regulations of the Army, giving the troops from Alabama preference in all cases. I propose, after the stores are delivered to me within our lines, to transfer them to your department at cost price, to be paid either in cotton or gold, or Confederate Treasury notes, or I will make the issue direct to the troops, upon requisitions properly approved, and I will hold he receipts of the brigade quartermasters as a claim upon the Confederate States.

I have the Honorable to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

DUFF C. GREEN,

Quartermaster-General of Alabama.

P. S. -The following prices annexed to each article are to be the rates at which said articles, whether furnished by the State of Alabama to the Quartermaster's Department of Confederate States for the troops from Alabama or issued directly to said troops under arrangements alluded to in foregoing letter. The prices are to be as follows: Gray and blue cloth, per yard, $7. 50; flannel, per yard, $1. 50; blankets, each $10; shoes, per pair,, $10. The above specified prices to be paid in cotton, 50 cents per pound; l that is, the goods to be sold and the cotton received on a gold basis, and all other stores at proportionate rates in like conditions. All other contracts will be carried