assure the committee or Congress that should the powers asked for be granted, they will be exercised only with the most careful reference to the requirements of the public interest.

Whatever the authority granted may be, no issue of notes will be made except to replace notes withdrawn and cancelled, and to meet the current expenditures authorized by Congress, which cannot be met from the receipts of revenue, from the increase of deposits, and from the proceeds of the conversion into five twenties. With great respect,

S. P. CHASE, Sec'y of the Treasury.

Hon. THADDEUS STEVENS, Ch. Com. of Ways and Means.

RULES FOR THE REDEMPTION OF TREASURY NOTES.

Treasury Department, Washington, May 18, 1862.

To guard against frauds upon the government, and to secure the just rights of holders, the following rules, for the redemption of United States notes, are hereby established:

RULES.

First. Mutilated notes, which have been torn, no matter how much, but of which it is evident that all the fragments are returned; or defaced, no matter how badly, but certainly satisfactorily genuine, will be redeemed at their full face value on presentation.

Second. Fragments of notes will be redeemed in full only when accompanied by an affidavit, stating the cause and manner of the mutilation, and that the missing part of the note is totally destroyed. The good character of the affiant must, also, be fully vouched by the officer before whom the affidavit is taken.

Third. In the absence of such affidavit, fragments of notes will not be paid in full, but the parts presented will be redeemed in their proportion to the whole note; reckoning, as a general rule, by twentieths.

Fourth. Less than half of a note will not be redeemed except by payment of the full value of the note under the second rule; or by the payment of the proportional value of the missing part, when presented under the fifth rule.

Fifth. Fragments of notes for which less than the full face value has been paid will be retained for a year, to the end, that the owners, who have received less than the value of a full note, may have opportunity to return the missing part and receive the amount previously withheld.

Sixth. Until further order, mutilated notes and fragments will be redeemed only at the Treasury of the United States, at Washington; whither they can be sent, addressed to the "Treasurer of the United States," by mail, free of postage. A draft on the Assistant Treasurer, at New York, for the amount allowed, will be returned, in the same way, to the address of the person remitting the same.

S. P. CHASE, Secretary of the Treasury.

TAXATION OF THE NATIONAL SECURITIES.

The Worcester Spy says, that to satisfy the general wish to ascertain if there was any doubt in regard to the promised exemption of the bonds and notes of the United States from State taxation, a letter has been addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, and in reply to it the following letter has been received:

Treasury Department, June 3, 1862.

SIR: Your letter of the 31st ult., is received, asking a copy of an opinion of the attorney-general upon the liability of the notes and bonds. of the United States to municipal and State taxation. And you quote the statement in my appeal in behalf of the national loan as the ground for asking such a copy for public information to those whose subscriptions you received as agent.

My statement was founded on the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Weston vs. the City Council of Charleston, reported in 2d Peters, 449, where this question will be found to be elaborately discussed and judicially decided.

Since that time, it seems the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, have ruled that the capital of the banks of that State being subjected to tax under the State laws, a portion of such capital is withdrawn from such taxation by being invested in stocks of the United States. The question has been again brought before the Supreme Court, where it is now pending.

Upon inquiry after the opinion of the attorney-general, to which you refer, I learn that the Board of Brokers of the city of New York addressed a letter to that officer, asking his views upon the ruling of the Court of Appeals, to which he replied, that he had been requested by me to appear in that case before the Supreme Court, and had no doubt but the former decision of that court would be confirmed. I understand it was a mere letter of acknowledgment, and not a formal opinion on the question. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. P. CHASE, Secretary of the Treasury.

STEPHEN SALISBURY, Esq., Worcester, Mass.

TRADE WITH NEW ORLEANS AND MEMPHIS.

The Cincinnati papers of Wednesday, June 11th, contain the following:

On Monday last JOSEPH C. BUTLER, President of the Chamber of Commerce, telegraphed Secretary CHASE as follows:

Cincinnati, June 9.

I would like to announce by authority that shipments of provisions and manufactures may be made to Memphis, and also to New Orleans, if Vicksburg is taken. Our merchants and manufactures will not abuse the privilege.

JOSEPH C. Butler,

President Chamber of Commerce.

To this dispatch Secretary CHASE responded as follows:

Washington, June 9, 1862.

Shipments may be made to Memphis, and all other places in possession of the United States forces, under the existing regulations to prevent aid to the rebels, and subject to the inspection and control of the military commanders at points of arrival and destination; and also from all such places, with permission of the military commanders.

Tender to the Chamber of Commerce, and my fellow citizens of Cincinnati, my heartiest congratulations on the partial reopening of our great rivers, soon, I trust, to be completed. May they never again be closed to American commerce.

S. P. CHASE.

ACT TO ESTABLISH A BRANCH MINT.

The following is a copy of an act to establish a branch mint of the United States at Denver, in the Territory of Colorado, approved April 21, 1862:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a branch of the mint of the United States be located and established at Denver, in the Territory of Colorado, for the coinage of gold.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, for carrying on the business of said branch, the following officers shall be appointed as soon as the public interests shall require their service, upon the nomination of the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, namely: One superintendent, one assayer, one melter and refiner, and one coiner; and the said superintendent shall employ as many clerks, subordinate workmen and laborers, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, as may be required. The salaries of the said officers shall be as follows: To the superintendent, the sum of two thousand dollars; to the assayer, the sum of eighteen hundred dollars; to the melter and refiner, eighteen hundred dollars; to the coiner, eighteen hundred dollars; to the clerks, subordinate workmen and laborers, such wages and allowances as are customary, according to their respective stations and occupations.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the officers and clerks to be appointed under this act, before entering upon the duties of their offices, shall take an oath or affirmation, before some Judge of the United States or of the Supreme Court of said Territory, faithfully and diligently to perform the duties of their offices, and shall each become bound to the United States of America, with one or more sureties, to the satisfaction of the director of the mint or the Secretary of the Territory of Colorado and of the Secretary of the Treasury, with the condition of the faithful performance of the duties of their offices.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the general direction of the business of said branch of the mint of the United States shall be under the control and regulation of the director of the mint at Philadelphia, subject to the approbation of the Secretary of the Treasury; and for that purpose it shall be the duty of the said director to prescribe such regula

tions and require such returns periodically and occasonally, and to establish such charges for parting, assaying, refining, and coining, as shall appear to him to be necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the intention of this act in establishing said branch; also for the purpose of preserving uniformity of weight, form, and finish in the coin stamped at said branch.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That said branch mint shall be a place of deposit for such public moneys as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct. And the superintendent of said branch mint, who shall perform the duties of treasurer thereof, shall have the custody of the same, and also perform the duties of assistant treasurer; and for that purpose shall be subject to all the provisions contained in an act entitled "An act to provide for the better organization of the treasury, and for the collection, safe-seeking, transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue," approved August 6, 1846, which relates to the treasury of the branch mint at New Orleans.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the superintendent of said branch mint be authorized, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and on terms to be prescribed by him, to issue in payment of the gold dust and bullion deposited for assay and coinage or bars, drafts or certificates of deposit, payable at the Treasury or Sub-treasury of the United States, to any depositor electing to receive payment in that form.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That all the laws and parts of laws now in force for the regulation of the mint of the United States, and for the government of the officers and persons employed therein, and for the punishment of all offences connected with the nint or coinage of the United States, shall be and are hereby declared to be in full force, in relation to the branch of the mint by this act established, as far as the same may be applicable thereto.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the sum of $75,000 be and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not other wise appropriated, to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and to meet the expenses of the current year, and for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1863.

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE REIMBURSEMENT OF STATES FOR MONEYS ADVANCED IN ENROLLING, ETC., TROOPS.

The following is a copy of the act approved May 13, 1862 :

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provision in the fifty-third section of the act "to provide increased revenue from imports, to pay interest on the public debt, and for other purposes," approved August 5, 1861, allowing such portion of the tax as may be assessed by any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, "to be paid and satisfied, in whole or in part, by the release of such State, Territory, or District, duly executed, to the United States, of any liquidated and determined claim of such State, Territory, or District of equal amount against the United States: Provided, That in case of such release, such State, Terri

tory, or District shall be allowed the same abatement of the amount of such tax as would be allowed in case of the payment of the same in money," shall be construed as applying to such claims of States for reimbursement of expenses incurred by them in enrolling, subsisting, clothing, supplying, arming, equipping, paying, and transporting its troops employed in aiding to suppress the present insurrection against the United States, as shall be filed with the proper officers of the United States before the 13th of July next. And in such cases the abatement of fifteen per centum shall be made on such portion of said tax as may be paid by the allowance of such claims, in whole or in part, the same as if the final settlement and liquidation thereof had been made before the 13th of June. Approved, May 13, 1862.

THE MEXICAN QUESTION.

EARL RUSSELL TO THE BRITISH MINISTER IN MEXICO.

The following copy of the last note addressed by Earl RUSSELL to Sir C. WYKE, the British Minister at Mexico, explains the causes of the disruption of the alliance:

Foreign Office, May 22, 1862.

MY LORD: Her Majesty's government have had under their consideration your dispatch dated from Orizaba the 11th of April, your former dispatches relating to General ALMONTE, and especially the proces-verbal of the conference held at Orizaba on the 9th of April.

Her Majesty's government regret to find that the hope of agreement between the commissioners of Great Britain and Spain on the one hand, and of France on the other, was completely extinguished, and that Admiral JURIEN DE LA GRAVIERE and M. DUBOIS DE SALIGNY had determined to march on Mexico, while you and General PRIM were of opinion that there was no reason for refusing to meet the Mexican Commissioners in the conference which had been fixed to meet at Orizaba on the 16th of April.

The differences of opinion among the Commissioners appear to have turned chiefly on two points. The first of these related to the protection given to General ALMONTE by the French army, and the demand of the Mexican Government that he should be sent back to France. The second point of difference is thus stated by M. DUBOIS DE SALIGNY, in the conference of the 9th of April: "M. DE SALIGNY insists on this point, that it is impossible to deny that the real and principal object of the convention was to obtain satisfaction for the outrages heaped on foreigners by the Mexican Government, and to enforce its observance of treaties; that the temporising and conciliatory system hitherto pursued was condemned by what was daily occurring, inasmuch as the reign of extortion, tyranny, and violence had been made doubly oppressive, and had rendered the situation of foreigners quite intolerable; that proofs of this were continually afforded by the complaints daily sent in to him; that the attitude of the allied forces appeared to have stimulated the government to redoubled audacity; that, for his part, he formally declared that he would not treat with that government; and that his well-matured opinion was that it was necessary to march upon Mexico."