papers, including the report of Col. Walter H. Jenifer, was sent with the report of the Secretary of War in December last to the Congress, and it is supposed that the notice of this fact will be accepted by you as a satisfactory compliance with the resolution above described.
[Received March 1, 1862.]
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In response to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 19th inst., asking for "the report of Major General Thomas J. Jackson respecting the recent operations of the division under his command in the Valley District of Va.:"
Also, "the report of Col. George Lay, Inspector General of the Department of Northern Virginia, as to the condition of the command in the Valley District:"
I have to state that upon an examination of the files of the War Department, it appears that no such report from Major General Jackson as that called for has reached that Department, and that the report of Col. Lay was made without actual inspection on his part of the army at Romney, then under the immediate command of General Loring, and only gives, in relation to it, such information as he received from officers at Winchester.
The usual and generally necessary practice is to consider inspection reports as confidential. It would frequently happen that the publication of such reports would needlessly wound the feelings of officers and would promote discord and heartburnings among the troops.
The present instance forms no exception to the general rule, and it is believed that the public interest would receive detriment from the communication of the report which is called for. Justice to the parties concerned would require that much more should be communicated than the report, if it were submitted.
[Received March 1, 1862.]
To the Senate of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit the report of the Secretary of the Navy, which I recommend be considered in secret session.
[Received March 1, 1862.]
