as compared with the expenditure that must be incurred if hostilities once break out. I am sending an official request now that the troops are being ordered to winter quarters to have one regiment of them here, I am sure it would have a most salutary effect on this East coast even if you removed them again when spring operations are resumed. I regard the East coast now as the most difficult part to manage, having remained neutral so long they are now becoming infected with the fascination of a new faith and it requires vigilance and care with the presence of some force, as I may say that we have comparatively none except friendly Natives to rely upon, and while they are in a minority something is necessary to afford them countenance