JACKSON, January 10, 1861.

HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN J. PETTUS,
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.

        Sir:--I have the honor to report to you, that in execution of the trust reposed in me by your Excellency, as Commissioner to the State of Maryland under the act of the Legislature of this State at its recent session, I visited the State of Maryland without delay after receiving my commission at your hands.

        I visited the Executive of that State, who had before my appointment, come to the determination not to convoke the Legislature of his State; and I also addressed him in writing desiring to be informed whether in the present emergency of public affairs, he would call together the Legislature. In my personal interview with him, I respectfuly, but earnestly urged many considerations which appeared to demand an assemblage of the Legislature; but he replied insisting that the emergency did not demand or justify such action; and in reply to my written communication, he addressed me the letter which I herewith transmit, stating his views upon the subject and his determination not to call together the Legislature, under the circumstances then existing.

        I was not surprised at this, as I was aware at the time the commission was tendered to me by your Excellency, that the Executive of Maryland, had taken his position not to convoke the Legislature; and therefore, in accepting the commission, I stated to your Excellency that I was not hopeful of doing any good to the cause of Southern rights through the direct action of the Executive of that State; but that I hoped to make known to the people there, the views entertained by this State in relation to our rights and duties in common with all the Southern States; and in order to do so, that I should address the people upon the subject. Accordingly after visiting the Executive, I visited several parts of the State, and made addresses to the people, setting forth, in my feeble manner, the views and position of this State, and inviting the co-operation of the people of that State.

        I am very happy to believe and to be able to say, that the people of Maryland are in heart and in interest with the State of Mississippi, and that they will ultimately be with us in political union. A large number of the most eminent men of the State agree with us in principle; and the true course of the South, as we regard it here, is gaining strength and force every day. The peculiar local situation of the State--having a long line of a non-slaveholding State to which she is exposed, and having the Federal Capital within her limits--now operates to restrain speedy action in support of the course which we, of this State, deem the proper one in the emergency; and to this may be added the persistent refusal of the Executive, against all petitions, remonstrances and protestations, to allow the people to express their will, by the only mode in which it can be formally done--a course which suppresses for the time the sentiment of the people and paralizes their action. But from the cordial reception that sound doctrine met at the hands of that gallant and patriotic old State in the address I made them, which follows the reply of the Governor to my communication, and in my personal communications with them, I doubt not that, as soon as she shall be relieved of, or is aroused to bid defiance to, the Executive contingency which now paralizes their efforts and their will, she will wheel into the line of the Southern Confederacy, and add the old "Maryland line" to the fortunes and destiny where her rights, her principles and her interest find a congenial home. The Revolutionary spark has touched their hearts and will never be extinguished until it accomplishes now what it achieved in the day of its original glory, the establishment of her rights and her honor, by a re-union with the Southern States whose feelings and interests are identical with her own.

I have the honor to remain with high respect,

Your Excellency's obedient servant,