threaten to become a burden instead of a benefit, being mostly unarmed. In some counties the question was not who should go to the army, but who should stay at home. I am satisfied that could I have remained in Missouri this winter the army would have increased fifty thousand men.
My thanks are due Lieutenant-Colonel Bull, my Provost Marshal-General, for the able, energetic and efficient discharge of his duties.
I have the honor to remain, your obedient servant,
Instructions to Hon. James M. Mason—Letter from Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, Secretary of State, C. S. A.
[The following letter has never been published, so far as we are aware, and will be read with pleasure as an important link in the history of the Confederacy.]
Department of State,
To the Honorable James M. Mason, Etc., Etc.:
Sir—The President desires that you should proceed to London with as little delay as possible, and place yourself, as soon as you may be able to do so, in communication with the Government. The events which have occurred since our commissioners had their first interview with Lord John Russell have placed our claims to recognition in a much stronger point of view; but in presenting the case once more to the British Government, you ought again to explain the true position in which we appear before the world. We are not to be viewed as revolted provinces or rebellious subjects, seeking to overthrow the lawful authority of a common sovereign. Neither are we warring for rights of a doubtful character, or such as are to be ascertained only by implication. On the contrary, the Union from which we have withdrawn was founded upon the express stipulations of a written instrument which established a government whose powers were to be exercised for certain declared purposes and restricted within well defined limits. When a sectional and dominant majority persistently violated the covenants and condi-
