All slaves not delivered by the sheriff, &c., may be seized by the enrolling officer of the county, or such other agency as the Confederate Government may provide.

Penalties. -The sheriff, for neglect of duty, is liable to a penalty of not less than $500 nor more than $2,000.

Clerks, justices of the peace, or sheriffs failing or refusing to perform the duties imposed by this act are guilty of malfeasance in office, and upon conviction thereof in the circuit court their offices are declared vacant.

Owners of slaves will observe that for their slaves they will be entitled to $60 per month each, soldiers' rations, medicines, and medical attendance; that they are entitled to an overseer of their own selection; that they can furnish their slaves rations, which can be comuted, and that their overseers will be allowed to issue them.

I regret to have to inform the counties that many of them have wholly neglected to respnd to the former requisition, and that the new act has been passed to prevent in future such delinquency. I need not say that it wil be rigidly enforced. Nothing but the sternest necessity has induced the present call. The officer conducting this branch of the service says:

In consideration of the urgent need for labor on the defenses in the vicinity of Richmond and Petersburg, as set forth in the letter of Brigadier-General Stevens, chief engineer of the Army of Northern Virginia, written by direction of General Lee, I respectfully call the attention of His Excellency the Governor of Virginia to the modified act of Assembly of March 5, 1865. Every day that is lost may involve most serious consequences to our country. The negroes should be delivered to Captain Snead, adjutant to General W. H. Stevens, chief engineer, corner of Franklin and Nineteenth streets, city of Richmond.

I earnestly hope prompt and immediate response to this call will be made, involving, as it does, the safety of the capital of our State, and, it may be, of the institution of slavery itself.

Respectfully, &c.,

WILLIAM SMITH.

The following are the counties, cities, &c., called on for their quotas of 10 per cent. of slaves:

Albemarle, Alleghany, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Augusta, Bath, Bedford, Botetourt, Brunswick, Buchanan, Buckingham, Campbell, Caroline, Charlotte, Chesterfield, Craig, Cumberland, Danville, Dinwiddie, Floyd, Fluvanna, Franklin, Giles, Goochland, Grayson, Greenbrier, Greene, Halifax, Hanover, Henrico, Henry, Highland, King and Queen, King William, Lee, Louisa, Lunenburg, Madison, Mecklenburg, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Nelson, Nottoway, Orange, Patrick, Petersburg, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Rappahannock, Richmond City, Roanoke, Rockbridge, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Spotsylvania, Surry, Sussex, Tazewell, Washington.

[Inclosure.]

AN ACT prescribing the mode of apportioning slaves to work on fortifications and other public works, and regulating the impressment of slaves therefor by the Confederate Government, passed March 4, 1865.

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That it shall be the duty of the Governor, and he is hereby authorized and required, whenever thereto requested by the President of the Confederate States, to call into the service of the Confederate States, for labor on fortifications and other works for the public defense within this State, from time to