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Should the proposition fail in the House, as I think it has, or will (Congress adjourns tomorrow, till Jan'y 4th)- then the Sec'y of War will make up the transfers to the supernumerary list of such as he proposes to get rid of and they will go out under the law. There will be over 100 officers.

  The Secretary will not be likely to publish his list of supernumeraries till the last minute, as he would be bothered to death by the friends of those he put on it.   He says now that the Congressmen who did most to pass the reductive law have each a dozen unassigned friends whom they now insist the law was not intended to touch, and the generally them put into the Cavalry or Artillery.   The pressure of unassigned officers and their friends for the vacancies, particularly in the Cav. & Art. has been tremendous.
   That is the reason my name does not appear in the list of assignments announced last week.    By an order issued on Friday and published on Saturday, all the vacancies were filled to that date.   I saw Harmon mail one of the papers to you, else I should have done so.  Fourteen Infantry Captains, of whom 10 never [underline] served mounted, were assigned to the Cavalry.  By these transfers three Infty. Capts. who stood from 10 to 70 [underline] on their Lineal List, now go to the top [underline] of the Cav'y list and stand first for promotion to Majorities.  This I do not call fair by any means, but so it goes.