With my present views, I must decline to remove General Schofield. In this I decide nothing against General Butler. I sincerely wish it were convenient to assign him a suitable command.

In order to meet some existing evils, I have addressed a letter of instruction to General Schofield, a copy of which I inclose you. As to the "enrolled militia," I shall endeavor to ascertain, better than I now know, what is its exact value. Let me say now, however, that your proposal to substitute national force for the "enrolled militia" implies that, in your judgment, the latter is doing something which needs to be done; and if so, the proposition to throw that force away, to supply its place by bringing other forces from the field, where they are urgently needed, seems to me very extraordinary. Whence shall they come? Shall they be withdrawn from Banks, or Grant, or Steele, or Rosecrans?

Few things have been so grateful to my anxious feelings as when, in June last, the local force in Missouri aided General Schofield to so promptly send a large general force to the relief of General Grant, then investing Vicksburg, and menaced from without by General Johnston. Was this all wrong? Should the enrolled militia then have been broken up, and General Heron kept from Grant to police Missouri? So far from finding cause to object, I confess to a sympathy for whatever relieves our general force in Missouri, and allows it to serve elsewhere. I therefore, as at present advised, can not attempt the destruction of the enrolled militia of Missouri.

I may add, that the force being under the national

military control, it is also within the proclamation with regard to the habeas corpus. I concur in the propriety of your request, in regard to elections, and have, as you see, directed General Schofield accordingly.

I do not feel justified to enter upon the broad field you present, in regard to the political differences between radicals and conservatives. From time to time I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. The public knows it well. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I trust it obliges me to follow nobody. The radicals and conservatives each agree with me in some things and disagree in others. I could wish both to agree with me in all things; for then they would agree with each other, and would be too strong for any foe from any quarter. They, however, choose to do otherwise; and I do not question their right. I too shall do what seems to be my duty. I hold whoever commands in Missouri or elsewhere responsible to me, and not to either radicals or conservatives. It is my duty to hear all; but, at last, I must within my sphere, judge what to do and what to forbear. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN.

THE PRESIDENT TO THURLOW WEED.

Washington, October 14, 1863. Dear Sir:-I have been brought to fear recently that somehow, by commission or omission, I have caused you some degree of pain. I have never entertained an unkind feeling or a disparaging thought toward you; and if I have said or done any thing

which has been construed into such unkindness or disparagement, it has been misconstrued.

I am sure if we could meet we would not part with any unpleasant impression on either side.

Yours truly,

A. LINCOLN.

Washington, D. C., October 27, 1863.

In June last, a division was substantially lost at, and near Winchester, Va. At the time, it was under General Milroy as immediate commander in the field, General Schenck as department commander at Baltimore, and General Halleck as General-in-Chief, at Washington.

General Milroy, as immediate commander, was put in arrest, and subsequently a court of inquiry examined chiefly with reference to disobedience of orders, and reported the evidence.

The foregoing is a synoptical statement of the evidence, together with the Judge-Advocate-General's conclusions. The disaster, when it came, was a surprise to all. It was very well known to Generals Schenck and Milroy for some time, before that, General Halleck thought the division was in great danger of a surprise at Winchester; that it was of no service. commensurate with the risk it incurred, and that it ought to be withdrawn; but, although, he more than once advised its withdrawel, he never positively ordered it. General Schenck, on the contrary, believed the service of the force at Winchester was worth the hazard, and so did not positively order its withdrawal until it was so late that, the enemy cut the wire and prevented the order reaching General Milroy. General

Milroy seems to have concurred with General Schenck in the opinion that the force should be kept at Winchester, at least until the approach of danger, but he disobeyed no order upon the subject.

Some question can be made whether some of General Halleck's dispatches to General Schenck should not have been construed to be orders to withdraw the force and obeyed accordingly; but, no such question can be made against General Milroy. In fact, the last order he received was to be prepared to withdraw, but not to actually withdraw until further orders, which further order never reached him.

Serious blame is not necessarily due to any serious disaster, and I can not say that in this case, any of the officers are deserving of serious blame.

No court-martial is deemed necessary or proper in this case. A. LINCOLN.

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.

Executive Mansion, Washington, Oct. 28, 1863. General John M. Schofield:-There have recently reached the War Department, and thence been laid before me, from Missouri, three communications, all similar in import and identical in object.

One of them addressed to nobody and without place or date, but having the signature of (apparently) the writer, is a letter of eight closely written foolscap pages. The other two are written by a different person, at St. Joseph, Mo., and of the dates, respectively, October 12 and 13, 1863, and each inclosing a large number of affidavits. The general statement of the whole are that the Federal and state

authorities are arming the disloyal and disarming the loyal, and that the latter will all be killed and driven out of the state unless there shall be a change. In particular, no loyal man who has been disarmed' is named, but the affidavits show by name forty-two persons as disloyal who have been armed.

A majority of these are shown to have been in the rebel service. I believe it could be shown that the government here has deliberately armed more than ten times as many captured at Gettysburg, to say nothing of similar operations in East Tennessee.

These papers contain altogether thirty-one manuscript pages, and one newspaper in extenso, and yet I do not find it anywhere charged in them that any loyal man has been harmed by reason of being disarmed, or that any disloyal one has harmed anybody by reason of being armed by the Federal or state government. Of course, I have not had time to carefully examine all, but I have had most of them examined and briefed by others, and the result is as stated. The remarkable fact that the actual evil is yet only anticipated-inferred-induces me to suppose I understand the case; but I do not state my impression, because I might be mistaken, and because your duty and mine is plain in any event. The locality of nearly all this seems to be St. Joseph and Buchanan county.

attention to this region, Prevent violence from that the soldiers themYours truly,

I wish you to give special particularly on election day. whatever quarter, and see selves do no wrong.

A. LINCOLN.