of other substitutes, and will be forwarded to the general rendezvous at which the principal is stationed.

The muster and descriptive roll will, in all cases, give the name of the principal for whom the substitute is accepted. On the arrival of the substitute at the general rendezvous the principal will be discharged.

By command of the Provost-Marshal-General:

N. L. JEFFRIES,

Colonel and Assistant to Provost-Marshal-General.

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1864, UNION EXECUTIVE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE,

Committee Rooms, Washington, D. C., September 23, 1864.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

DEAR SIR: I have the honor to inclose you herewith a letter just received from the Honorable James G. Blaine, of Maine. I need hardly say that I fully concur in the suggestions of Mr. Blaine.

Very truly, yours,

E. B. WASHBURNE.

[Inclosure.]

AUGUSTA, September 20, 1864.

Honorable E. B. WASHBURNE:

MY DEAR SIR: The dreaded draft is now going on all over the country and I"m glad of it. Like the old ladies" tea party, "It will b good to have it over with." There is one feature, however, connected with the present mode of conducting the draft that ought to be changed, and changed very promptly, i. e., the very slow rate of the process. By the orders of Provost-Marshal- General Fry the enrolling boards are only drawing enough names to furnish an average of 120 per day for examination. The result is that the draft is a "lengthened agony long drawn out," and each Congressional district is kept in a ferment for weeks, when the whole thing could be finished up in three days. I mean the drafting proper in three days, with the surgical examinations spread over as many days as may be required for conducting them. As each town or sub-district is drafted the notifications can specify the day in the future on which the conscripts shall report, and in this way secure the proper average for each day. The point I wish to make is this, that as soon as a town is drafted those that are not hit feel such a sensation of relief that they are prepared to enter upon political campaigning with redoubled zeal, while so long as the draft is impending it engrosses the attention of all to such a degree that nothing can be done in the way of organizing for the political campaign. If it goes on in the slow process it will about ruin us in the October elections of Pennsylvania and Ohio. whereas if the quick process were adopted, we should have fifteen or eighteen unembarrassed days for marshaling our political forces in those Sates and would close with a "blaze of glory and a big victory," settling conclusively the Presidential struggle. I wish you would see the Secretary of War on this point. I know it is one of vast importance and the necessary correction cannot be made too speedily. In haste.

Yours, truly,

J. G. BLAINE.