their respective sessions and make laws, among which is their adoption of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States known as "Article Fourteen." These sessions of the Assembly have been continued since without interruption, except by recesses or adjournments. Its acts from the beginning may be looked upon as legalized by the subsequent action of Congress; though influential papers of the State published the reports of its proceedings under the heading, "The Pretended Legislature."

Upon these grounds has Arkansas been recognized and readmitted by Congress as a State of the Union, and entitled to have her representatives sitting among those of the other States in both halls of the Federal Legislature; as appears from the following act passed in May and June, 1868:

Whereas, The people of Arkansas, in pursuance of the provisions of an act entitled an Act for the more effective government of the rebel States," passed March 2, 1867, and the acts supplementary thereto, have framed and adopted a constitution of State government which is republican in form, and the Legislature of said State has duly ratified the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen: therefore,

Be it enacted and it is hereby enacted, That the State of Arkansas is entitled and admitted to representation in Congress, as one of the States of the Union, upon the following fundamental condition: That the constitution of Arkansas shall not be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the United States of the right to vote who are entitled to vote by the constitution herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof he shall have been duly convicted.

This bill was indeed vetoed by the President; it has, however, become a law notwithstanding; and the Representatives of Arkansas, on the basis of her new constitution, have taken their respective seats in Congress.

In consequence of the new condition of things thus introduced in Arkansas, the commander of the Fourth Military District, by an order dated June 30, 1868, its provisions, however, to be reckoned as from June 22d, turned that State over to her civil authorities, recognizing them to have the full power in the government and administration of her affairs, as follows:

General Orders, No. 25.

HEADQUARTERS FOURTH MILITARY DISTRICT, DEPARTMENT OF MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS,

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, June 30, 1868.

1. Official information having, this day, been received at these headquarters, of the admission, on the 22d inst., of the State of Arkansas to representation in Congress, it is hereby made known to all concerned that so much of the Act of March 2, 1867, and of the several acts supplementary thereto, as provides for military government in certain States, have become inoperative as to said State of Arkansas; and that every thing in the hands of the military authorities concerning its civil affairs will be immediately turned over to the several duly elected officers of the State, to date as from the 22d instant.

2. Brevet Brigadier-General C. H. Smith, com

manding Sub-District of Arkansas, will see to the

immediate execution of this order.

By command of Brevet Maj.-Gen. MCDOWELL. JOHN TYLER, First Lieutenant 43d Infantry. Brevet Major U. §. A., A. A. A. General.

Official:

NAT WOLF, Second Lieut. 34th Infantry, A. A. A. General.

By a subsequent order of August 4th, General Gillem, pursuant to directions from the army headquarters at Washington, declared the State of Arkansas as separated from any further connection in military matters with the State of Mississippi, and attached for the future to the Department of Louisiana, headquarters at New Orleans, whereto he enjoined the military commander of the late Sub-District of Arkansas, at Little Rock, to report himself for instructions.

Meantime, under the auspices of the new State constitution, General Powell Clayton had been elected Governor of Arkansas, and on July 2, 1868, entered upon the duties of his office.

Serious disturbances having taken place in various parts of the State, and enormities perpetrated, especially within three counties, Governor Clayton adopted severe measures to suppress the disorders and restore public tranquillity, for which purpose, on August 27, 1868, he issued the following proclamation:

Whereas, It has been made known to me that a large number of lawless and evil-disposed persons in the counties of Conway, Perry, and Columbia, in the laws of the State, that a court of justice has been State of Arkansas, are in open rebellion against the broken up, and the civil authorities overpowered in said counties, by bodies of armed men, who have driven from their homes a large number of peaceable loyal citizens; and that the officers of the law are wholly powerless to preserve order or protect citizens from violence, within either of said counties; and reliable information having been received that quiet men have been assassinated, and attempts have been made upon the lives of others, in various other counties in this State, in which the laws are set at defiance, the lives of officers are threatened, and the civil authorities of the State are openly defied and set at naught, rendering it impossible for the constituted authorities of the law to preserve order and protect the lives and property of the people:

State of Arkansas, do hereby enjoin upon all persons Now, therefore, I, Powell Clayton, Governor of the within said State to keep the peace, and command all bodies of armed men (not organized in pursuance of the laws of the State, or of the United States) to immediately disperse, and return to their homes."

I do furthermore make known that I shall at once cause to be enrolled and organized the reserve militia in pursuance of said act, and shall use, as far as may be necessary, all the power and authority vested in me by the constitution and laws of the State of Arkansas, to preserve order, enforce the law, and protect the lives and property of every person within the State.

[SEAL]

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed, at Little Rock, this the twenty-seventh day of August, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight. POWELL CLAYTON, Governor.

By the Governor :

ROBERT J. T. WHITE, Secretary of State.

In accordance with the provisions of this proclamation, the enrolment of the State militia was set immediately on foot by order of the commander of the regular army in Arkansas, issued on the same day.

Public disturbances and criminal acts of violence did not cease, however; they continued and even increased in frequency as well as enormity and extent of place; so that, on November 9, 1868, Governor Clayton placed ten counties of the State-Ashley, Bradley, Columbia, Lafayette, Mississippi, Woodruff, Craighead, Greene, Sevier, and Little Riverunder martial law.

"For the purpose of perfecting the organization of the militia and carrying into effect this proclamation," a general order from headquarters of the State of Arkansas, dated November 7, 1868, abolished the previouslyexisting districts and established in their stead four military districts, apportioning to each respectively a proportionate number of the counties in the State.

In the House of the General Assembly of Arkansas, at its session of November 23, 1868, two memorials, addressed to the Legislature of the State, were duly presented and read, wherein the petitioners, proffering themselves advocates of peace, "most solemnly protest against the organization and arming of the militia and the levy of a tax for its support." After consideration of the matter, the action and answer of the House was, that all of the fifty-nine members present, without a dissenting voice, adopted among other resolutions the following:

3. Being fully persuaded of the preconcerted existence of wide-spread lawlessness and systematic assassination of the friends of the government, State and national, in certain counties for months past, and the desperadoes without a single exception being still at large and defying the officers of the law, we do, therefore, most earnestly approve and indorse the recent course of Governor Powell Clayton declaring

martial law in several counties.

Of this deplorable condition of things, Governor Clayton spoke at length in his message sent to the Assembly at the opening of its session in November, 1868. They seem, how ever, to have grown still worse afterward, notwithstanding the organization and actual operations of the militia.

As to the present political disabilities of a portion of the white residents in the State, who are looked upon to be the principal, if not the only, authors of the criminal acts and disturbances which have so long kept and still keep that community in anxiety, the Governor said in his message that he "desired to see these disabilities removed as soon as it is safe to do so;" namely, "when this class of people show a willingness to recognize and fully acquiesce in these measures, and support the government established thereby."

In respect to the State finances, Governor Clayton expressed his gratification, and recommended the funding of the State indebtedness,

which amounts to less than five millions, by "issuing new bonds and cancelling the old ones."

He recommended also, as a measure worthy the attention of the Legislature at a future time, a new assessment of taxable property, one-third of which he says has heretofore escaped taxation, assuming that "the taxes of the great mass of tax-payers will be reduced very nearly in the same ratio as the valuation is increased." For the rest he sets down the best rule that "the burden of taxation rest equally upon all, in proportion to the property they possess."

Concerning the taxes to be levied on the people under different titles and for various purposes in detail, a number of tax-payers in Arkansas signed and submitted to the consideration of the Legislature during its session a memorial, of which the following is an extract:

"From the new tax law passed during your recent session, it appears that the taxes have been greatly increased by adding new subjects of taxation, by making new levies for extraor dinary purposes, and by making provision for a new assessment, from which the revenue to be derived for the year 1868, even according to the moderate estimate of Treasurer Page, will amount to $600,000, not including the school-tax of one-tenth per cent., nor the poll-tax for school purposes of one dollar, which will amount to about $150,000 more, making, together, the sum of $750,000 for State purposes alone, to say nothing about county, town, and local railroad taxes, and the United States internal revenue taxes and licenses, which together will amount to at least $1,750,000, altogether making the enormous sum of $2,500,000-ten times more than the government ever cost before."

The unsettled condition of affairs greatly retarded the prosperity of the State, and has afforded little opportunity for the development of its resources.

The vote of the State at the presidential election was as follows: Total vote, 41,230. Majority for Gen. Grant, 3,074. In fifteen counties the registration and returns were rejected. The Legislature was divided as follows: Senate-Republicans, 21; Democrat, 1; House-Republicans, 79; Democrat, 1.

ARMY, UNITED STATES. The work of reducing the army has gone on with considerable celerity during the year. Orders were issued in November, 1867, to reduce all regiments of infantry and artillery, with the exception of the ten light batteries, to the number of fifty privates in each company, and to diminish the recruiting rendezvous to four for cavalry and four for infantry. On the 3d of April, 1868, all enlistment for artillery or infantry service was suspended, except in the case of old soldiers desiring to enlist; and further instructions, issued on the 24th of July, prohibited all enlistment or reënlistment in these two branches of the service. The war with the

Indians on the Western plains prevented a corresponding reduction of the cavalry force, and the services of a volunteer regiment of cavalry from the State of Kansas were accepted, which regiment was mustered in on the 6th of October. Five stations for recruiting the cavalry force remained open through the year.

The actual strength of all the regiments in the service, on the 30th of September, was 43,741, and it was reported that the term of enlistment of 4,500 of these would expire before the close of the year. The engineer, ordinance, and other special branches of the service employed 4,340 men. Of 203 volunteer officers remaining in the service in November, 1867, all have been mustered out but General Howard, the head of the Freedmen's Bureau. The whole number of colored troops mustered into service during the civil war was 169,624; of these 86,923 were mustered out, 20,236 were discharged, 31,866 died, 14,887 deserted, 1,514 were killed in action, 1,344 missing in action, and 366 were transferred to the navy. Several colored regiments still belong to the army.

The actual current expenses of the War Department for the fiscal year, ending June 30th, were $68,743,094.71, to which is to be added the sum of $9,961,405.43, old war debts paid during the year, making the total expenditures of the department $78,704,501.14. The appropriations for the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1869, were $35,400,557.47, and it has been estimated that there will be deficiencies to the amount of $13,975,000. The requirements of the department for the year, ending June 30, 1870, are estimated at $65,682,380.85. The disbursements of the pay department for the last year

The expenditures of the Ordnance Bureau for the last fiscal year were $3,192,000, which is less than three-fifths those of the previous year. From the Commissary Department supplies were furnished for freedmen and refugees to the extent of $882,884 in the year 1867, and $632,776 in the year 1868, making a total of $1,515,461, of which the Freedmen's Bureau repaid $1,048,669. Army stores were issued to the Indians to the extent of $640,439 in 1867, and $373,926 in 1868. Besides these expenses outside of the ordinary claims on the department, $250,500 were paid for commutation of rations, to soldiers who were prisoners during the war, or to their heirs, under the act of Congress of July, 1864.

Claims to additional bounty were allowed during the year, to the number of 241,992, involving an expenditure of $23,649,157.78. Since the act of Congress granting this bounty, 435,199 claims have been received, of which 387.091 have been paid, 32,403 rejected, and 15,705 remain unsettled. The aggregate dis

bursement on these claims has already amounted to about $54,000,000.

The cost of reconstruction during the year was $2,261,415.02, and a balance of funds to the amount of $467,626.46 remains available for that object, which it is thought will finish the business.

The amount of money subject to the requisitions of the Quartermaster-General for the year was $37,000,000, of which $36,500,000 were disbursed. The surplus and new appropriations for the fiscal year, ending in 1869, amount to about $15,000,000. The debts of Southern railroads to this department, for material furnished and interest thereon, are $8,500,000. This is chiefly due from four roads in Tennessee, namely: Nashville and Chattanooga; Northwestern; Memphis, Clarksville, and Louisville; and East Tennessee and Georgia. A large quantity of clothing and equipments was left on hand at the close of the war, and no appropriation for new purchases has been made since.

More attention has been given, than heretofore, to the inspection of the army, and still further improvements in that regard are suggested. The officers of the Bureau of Inspection consist of a Judge Advocate-General, an Assistant Judge Advocate-General, and eight Judge Advocates. The work of the bureau, thus far, is comprised in 15,046 records of military courts, received, reviewed, and registered; and 1,457 reports on various subjects especially referred for opinion.

The number of military arsenals in the country is 27, including the national armory at Springfield. Measures have been taken for the sale of the St. Louis and Liberty Arsenals, and legislative authority is recommended to sell those at Rome, N. Y., and Vergennes, Vt., and a new arsenal is required at Omaha.

The Bureau for Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, has been kept up through the year, but there has been considerable reduction in the number of officers and agents, and arrangements are in progress to put an end to all its functions, excepting those of collecting claims for colored soldiers, and organizing and supporting schools for the freedmen. Treasury certificates and checks, for the settlement of claims of colored soldiers and marines, have been collected by the bureau to the number of 17,000, having a total value of nearly $3,500,000. During the past year transportation was furnished to 6,418 persons; 150,000 received medical attendance; and 2,802,478 rations were issued, affording subsistence to an average of 16,000 persons daily; 27 hospitals have been closed and 21 still remain; but efforts are made to turn over the charge of the sick, the infirm, and the insane, to the civil authorities. The number of day and night schools in operation was 1,831, with 2,295 teachers, and 104,327 pupils. The aggregate number of Sunday and day schools of all kinds was 4,026, with 241,819 scholars; $942,523.66 were ex

pended in the support of these schools during the year, besides the funds furnished by benevolent societies, amounting to $700,000, and about $360,000 contributed by freedmen. Fifteen normal schools and colleges have been chartered and incorporated in different parts of the country. The total expenditures of the bureau during the fiscal year were $3,977,041.72, and a balance of $3,622,067.99 remained on hand.

The corps of cadets on the 1st of June numbered 210 members, under the care and instruction of a superintendent, eight professors, and thirty-two army officers. Fifty-four members of the class were graduated on the 15th of June, and appointed to the army. The number of candidates admitted during the last academic year is ninety-six. The whole number of graduates of the Academy, from its first establishment at West Point to this time, is 2,273; the total cost has been $8,236,373. The full number allowed by law at one time, when all the States are represented, is 290. It has been suggested of late that the number should be increased to four hundred.

An artillery school was organized at the close of 1867, by order of the General of the Army, and Brevet Major-General Barry, colonel of the 2d artillery, was assigned to its command. It was established at Fortress Monroe, and one battery from each of the five regiments of artillery was ordered to that post to be used in the instructions and experiments of the first year. The course of instruction includes both the theory and practice of that branch of military tactics. The theoretical studies embrace mathematics, military surveying, and engineering, artillery, military history, and military, international, and constitutional law.

Provision has, moreover, been made for instruction in military telegraphy and signalling. Books on these subjects have been furnished to each company and post, and steps have been taken to provide the necessary telegraphic apparatus and equipments for signalling. A school for study and practice in these branches has been put in successful operation at Fort Grebel, Maryland; and they have been introduced at the Military School at West Point, and the Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Some changes were made in the military districts and departments in the South, owing to the admission to their normal relations in the Union of several of the reconstructed States. The changes are indicated in the following order:

General Orders, No. 55.
HEADQ'RS OF THE ARMY, ADJ.-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, July 28, 1868.

} The following orders from the War Department, which have been approved by the President, are published for the information and government of the army and of all concerned:

The commanding generals of the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Military Districts having officially reported that the States of Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and

Florida, have fully complied with the acts of Congress passed June 22, 1868, entitled "An act to admit the known as the reconstruction acts, including the act State of Arkansas to representation in Congress," and the act passed June 25, 1868, entitled "An act to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida to representation in Congress," and that, consequently, so much of the act of March 2, 1867, and the acts supplementary thereto, as provides for the organization of military districts, subject to the military authority of the United States, as therein provided, has become inoperative in said States; and that the commanding generals have ceased to exercise in said States the military powers conferred by said acts of Congress : therefore, the following changes will be made in the organization and command of military districts and geographical departments:

1. The Second and Third Military Districts having Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, will conceased to exist, the States of North Carolina, South stitute the Department of the South; Major-General George G. Meade to command. Headquarters at Atlanta, Georgia.

only of the State of Mississippi, and will continue to 2. The Fourth Military District will now consist be commanded by Brevet Major-General A. C. Gillem.

3. The Fifth Military District will now consist of the State of Texas, and will be commanded by Brevet Major-General J. J. Reynolds. Headquarters at Austin, Texas.

4. The States of Louisiana and Arkansas will con

stitute the Department of Louisiana. Brevet MajorGeneral L. H. Rousseau is assigned to the command. Headquarters at New Orleans, Louisiana. Until the arrival of General Rousseau at New Orleans, Brevet Major-General Buchanan will command the department.

5. Brevet Major-General George Crooke is assigned, according to his brevet of major-general, to command the Department of the Columbia, in place of Rousseau, relieved.

6. Brevet Major-General E. R. S. Canby is reassigned to command the Department of Washington.

7. Brevet Major-General Edward Hatch, Colonel 9th cavalry, will relieve General Buchanan as Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands in Louisiana. By command of General GRANT:

E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. With regard to the employment of the troops in those States after the reestablishment of the civil authorities, instructions were issued to the several commanders on the 25th of August, based upon an opinion, given by the AttorneyGeneral on the subject. The important points in these instructions are contained in the following passage: "The obligation of the military, individual officers and soldiers, in common with all citizens, to obey the summons of a marshal or sheriff, must be held subordinate to their paramount duty as members of a permanent military body; hence the troops can act only in their proper organized capacity under their own officers, and in obedience to the immediate commanders of those officers. The officers commanding troops summoned to the aid of a marshal or sheriff, must also judge for himself, and upon his own official responsibility, whether the service required of him is lawful and necessary, and compatible with the Proper discharge of his ordinary military duties, and must limit his action absolutely to proper aid in the execution of the lawful precepts exhibited to him by the marshal or

sheriff. If time will permit, every demand from a civil officer for military aid, whether it be for the execution of civil process or to suppress insurrections, should be forwarded to the President with all the material facts in the case for his orders, and in all cases the highest commander, whose orders can be given in time to meet the emergency, will alone assume the responsibility of action. By a timely disposition of troops where there is reason to apprehend a necessity for their use, and by their passive interposition between hostile parties, dangers of collision may be avoided. Department commanders, or, in case of necessity, their subordinates, are expected in this regard to exercise upon their own responsibility a wise diseretion, to the end that in any event the peace may be preserved."

In his " opinion," Attorney-General Evarts used this language: "Nothing can be less in accordance with the nature of our Government, or the disposition of our people, than a frequent or ready resort to military aid, in execution of the duties confided to civil officers. Courage, vigor, and intrepidity, are appropriate qualities for the civil service, which the marshals of the United States are expected to perform, and a reenforcement of their power by extraordinary means is permitted by the law only in extraordinary emergencies."

The only portion of the army which has seen active service during the year is that under the command of General Sherman in the Department of the Missouri, where operations against the hostile Indians on the Plains have been carried on from time to time. (See INDIAN WAR.) Among the changes recommended in the general administration of affairs, is the transfer of the management of all matters pertaining to the Indians from the Department of the Interior to that of War, and there is considerable probability that such a change will be made.

Steps have been taken, under authority of the acts of Congress, approved August 3, 1861, and June 25, 1864, for dropping from the rolls of the army, upon the report of an examining board, such officers as may be found unfit for service on account of intemperate or vicious habits. Much will undoubtedly be done in this way to elevate the character of the service. A reform is recommended by the AdjutantGeneral in the matter of military prisons. Guardhouse confinement he regards as an ineffectual and very injurious mode of punishment, and discharge from the regiment is at once followed by an enlistment in another regiment under an assumed name. He recommends military prisons, which, he says, if properly managed, would serve as reformatory institutions, and would rid the army of many vieious and insubordinate men; they would materially diminish the need and expense of courtsmartial, prevent the discharge of many desperate men in the unsettled parts of the country, where they always become pests and outlaws,

and would facilitate the recognition of offendders against the civil law who have entered the ranks of the army. He proposes to build the first prison in New York harbor, and if that is found to work well, then he would have Congress to provide for similar institutions on Ship Island, at one point on the Pacific coast and at one point in the Mississippi valley. The labor of convicts and the stoppages of pay would, he thinks, nearly support each prison after its erection. He would have companies of discipline attached to each prison, into which, under proper regulations, all idle and worthless men of the class who prefer being in the guardhouse to doing duty should be transferred, and would have these vagabonds severely dealt with.

Great attention has been given to gathering and identifying the remains of soldiers, slain in the late civil war. There are now 72 national cemeteries, besides very many local and private grounds. The whole number of graves recorded is 316,233, and the occupants of 145,764 have been already clearly identified. Some twenty-five rolls of honor have been prepared, which contain a list of the graves of nearly 200,000 soldiers, with a record of the place where the remains were found, and about 100,000 concerning the occupants of which no record has yet been made, though documents in existence may furnish the needed information. The records which are made contain all the facts which could be gathered concerning the bodies of the dead. The expense of this care for the relics of the fallen soldiers of the nation thus far is about $2,000,000, and it is thought that $500,000 more will be needed. The Grand Army of the Republic inaugurated this year a custom of strewing with flowers the graves of the buried soldiers, on the 30th of May, a tribute to their departed comrades which it is proposed sacredly to observe from year to year, This touching observance was by no means confined to the members of the Grand Army, but people of all classes throughout the country joined in this floral tribute to the memory of the dead.

There was a "grand reunion" of the officers of the Thirteenth Army Corps, and of the Armies of the Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, and Georgia, at Chicago, on the 15th and 16th of December. These reunions, it is thought, will become common with the officers of the army of the late war.

ASIA. The territory of the European governments in Asia, which already embraces about one-half of the entire area, is steadily enlarging. The war between Russia and the Khan of Bokhara, and the conquest of nearly the whole territory of the latter by Russia, must have taught the weak rulers of Central Asia that they are powerless against their two great Christian neighbors, Russia and England. Only to the disagreement of these two powers is it due that Khokan, Bokhara, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, and a few other countries of Central Asia, are still enumerated among the states of