H. P. Bee, August 27, 1863

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch August 3 [47], 1563.

In the exercise of that discretion in the discharge of my duties here which was granted to ine in repeated letters from the general commanding, I permitted those to whom the Government was indebted for supplies furnished to export their cotton. Iregret that my course does not meet his approval. I believed that it was but simple justice. Major Hart may say that there was no specified time for payment, yet I know that there was a clear understanding that by the Ist of April the cotton was to commence to arrive here. The middle of July was at hand, and no cotton or bills of lading of cotton had been received by his agent here; there was no prospect then that they would get their cotton this season, and I was satisfied that, as I was instructed to shield and foster the public credit, I would not be doing so by taking the cotton of these creditors to pay for supplies furnished by other con- tractors, none of whom, except the Bellot contract, stood on as high ground of public faith as theirs did. My action was in entire accord with my sense of jusfice, right, and policy, which makes me regret the more that my views were not coincided in by the general commanding.

It was my intention, and still is, that should the cotton of Major Hart to pay these debts arrive here, I would use it for present purposes of the Government, and delay the payment until all our wants were supplied; in a word, I will claim an extension of, say, ninety days on the debts in consideration (not expressed) of their being allowed to export their cotton now here. All persons here to whom the Government was indebted have availed themselves of my exemption, and, so fur as they are concerned, I cannot enforce the wishes of the general commanding. I feel satisfied, however, that no harm has been done to the great objects sought to be obtained here, as there is cotton enough to pay for the cargo of the Sea Queen, and we have retained the good feelings and friendship of those who had proved themselves to be willing to aid us and to be worthy of it.

There is but one cargo here under contract with the Secretary of War, the Sea Queen, and the cotton is ready to pay for it.

Clements’ contract is with Major Hart, and no more national credit is involved than in the debt due any of the creditors. Mr. Attrill’s contract is payable in Confederate money at San Antonio, excepting the order for Major Washington, for which cotton was pledged, and cotton is now ready to pay that part of it.

Major Russell has made a full report of this proceeding; he thinks that the 20 per cent. loan here will answer present purposes, and [ hope to hear soon from you on that subject.

In explanation of the absence of Major Russell at the date of the receipt of your orders concerning the impressment of cotton, I state that I understood Major Russell to have remained on the Rio Grande to carry out certain instructions from the general commanding not conveyed through me, and when he applied to me for orders to go to San Antonio to settle up the business of his oftice proper—brigade quartermaster—then much neglected, and to the detriment of the soldiers of the brigade, that I ordered him when he had complied with the instructions of the major-general to do so, and the subsequent orders passed him on the road.

If you will refer to your letter of July 2, 1863, you will find the following paragraph: ‘” But you will not under any circumstances impress the cotton of planters.” I soon, however, ascertained that nearly all belonged to planters, or rather aflidavits were filed to that effect, and 1 was glad to stop it by the 20 per cent. loan, for it forced me to make a distinction between the planter and stock-raiser or the mechanic, and, what was more important, it rankled the sore spot of our revolution ; that it made distinctions against the poor man in favor of the rich, &e. I know that the dissatisfaction is even dangerous on this point; the soldiers’ wives talk about their husbands being taken from their homes and their families left to starve, or to charity, in order that the planter can keep his negroes. It is re-echoed by the disloyal and the demagogues until the population west of the Colorado is dangerously lukewarm on the subject of the war. My judgment is that those in authority should seek to calm this state of feeling, and that where distinction is made, it should be made against the planter. His negroes should be taken for the public use, and his whole means (as in the case of the poor soldier) be at the disposal of the Government.

186 W. FLA., 8. ALA., 8. MISS., LA.. TEX., N. MEX. [Caar. XXXVIIL

I have no right to criticise the orders of my superiors, nor do I seek to do so, but surely when I am ordered to discharge an onerous and intensely disagreeable duty, and one not appertaining to my official rank, I may be allowed to discuss the effects of the carrying out of those orders in all its phases, and that when I construe them in the broad sense of all its bearings on our present and future position, 1 will not be considered as wanting in respect.

In my opinion, the Bellot contract Las not a spark of vitality; it has been dead for months; and no liberal, impartial arbiter would say that our public faith is in any way involved. It is on proof that the contract was hawked around Paris and London for months, and finally invested in as in a lottery. The agents of the house of Bellot owe thousandsof dollars to our own citizens for moneys advanced on drafts drawn by them on Bellot in Paris. There was no such house, and in a garret in Bordeaux Bellot was found, who protested, of course, the drafts. Would not our own citizens, Duff and McCarthy, Laranberg, &c., have a just and legal right to stop this cotton in my hands before it leaves the State? I think they would, and hope they will do so.

I have the special order of the general commandiug to exempt the cotton of McCarthy, Clements, and Attrill from impressment, on the ground that they have imported goods. Yet we have to pay for these goods in cotton as soon as we get them, and at enormous prices, fully 50 per cent. more than we can buy them for in the market. Surely, if they can pass their cotton free of impressment, Droege, Octling & Co., Marks & Co., Woodhouse & Co., who have advanced their goods months ago, and are still ready to advance more, should have the same privilege. I am also informed to-day that Angus McNeill, a planter, has a special permit to export his cotton individually. This gives me great pleasure, for he has been my friend for twenty years, but its effect will be on the public faith of the Government, and its results be felt, perhaps, on the battle-field. I demand from all planters 20 per cent. of their cotton; this leaves them four-fifths of its value for the purchase of supplies; but to make exceptions to this rule brings discredit on my acts, and I respectfully ask that no more exceptions be allowed.

With great respect, your obedient servant,