watched, and that any steam-boat or other vessel giving cause for suspicion by the numbers or character of the persons on board shall be arrested. You will please acknowledge the receipt of this telegram, and communicate to this Department any information you may now or hereafter have on this subject.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

(Copy to mayors of Erie, Pa.; Cleveland, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Chicago, Ill.; Ogdensburg, N. Y.; Oswego, N. Y.; Lewiston, N. Y.; Rochester, N. Y.)

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, D. C., November 11, 1863.

Major General JOHN A. DIX,

Commanding at New York:

The British minister, Lord Lyons, has to-night officially notified the Government that, from telegraphic information received from the Governor-General of Canada, there is reason to believe that a plot is on foot by persons hostile to the United States, who have found an asylum in Canada, to invade the United States and destroy the city of Buffalo; that they propose to take possession of some of the steam-boats on Lake Erie, to surprise Johnson's Island, and set free the prisoners of war confined there, and to proceed with them to attack Buffalo. The city threatened being in your department, the information received from the British minister is communicated immediately to you with directions to employ without delay all the means at your command to guard against and repel any hostile attack by rebels and by their aiders and abettors from canada. You are authorized to call upon the proper authorities, in case you should deem it expedient, for any volunteer force in the State of New York, and it is recommended that you proceed at once in person to the city of Buffalo, to adopt such means of defense and protection of the frontier as circumstances may require. The Governor-General of Canada suggests that steam-boats should be watched, and that any steam-boat or other vessel giving cause for suspicion by the numbers or character of the persons on board should be arrested. He also appears to have some suspicion connected with Ogdensburg, in regard to which place also you had better employ some precautions. You will acknowledge the receipt of this telegram, stating the hour at which it is received.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, D. C., November 11, 1863.

Honorable PRESTON KING,

Ogdensburg, N. Y.:

The British minister, Lord Lyons, has to-night officially notified the Government that, from telegraphic information received from the Governor-General of Canada, there is reason to believe that a plot is on foot by persons hostile to the United States, who have found an asylum in Canada, to invade the United States and destroy the city of Buffalo; that they propose to take possession of some of the steam-boats on