liam T. Sherman will be relieved from the command of the Army
on the above-mentioned date and will repair to his home, St. Louis, Mo.,
to await his retirement. The General will be attended prior to his
retirement by those of his aids-de-camp whom he may designate to the
Adjutant-General.

Lieutenant-General Philip H. Sheridan will proceed to Washington, and on
the above-mentioned date assume command of the Army.

Major-General John M. Schofield will proceed to Chicago, Ill., and will
on the above-mentioned date assume command of the Military Division of
the Missouri.

Major-General John Pope will proceed to the Presidio of San Francisco,
Cal., and will on the above-mentioned date assume command of the
Military Division of the Pacific and of the Department of California.

Brigadier-General Christopher C. Augur will proceed to Fort Leavenworth,
and will on the above-mentioned date assume command of the Department of
the Missouri.

Brigadier-General Ranald S. Mackenzie will proceed to San Antonio, Tex.,
and will on the above-mentioned date assume command of the Department of
Texas.

II. The Department of the South will on the 1st day of November, 1883,
be merged in the Department of the East, under the command of
Major-General Hancock, commanding the Military Division of the Atlantic
and the Department of the East.

ROBERT T. LINCOLN,

_Secretary of War_.

In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the
Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third
section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved
January 16, 1883, the following rules for the regulation and improvement
of the executive civil service are hereby amended and promulgated, as
follows:

RULE VI.

1. There shall be open competitive examinations for testing the fitness
of applicants for admission to the service. Such examinations shall be
practical in their character and, so far is may be, shall relate to
those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness
of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the branch of the
service which they seek to enter.

2. There shall, so far as they may be deemed useful, be competitive
examinations of a suitable character to test the fitness of persons for
promotion in the service.

RULE VII.

1. The general examinations under the first clause of Rule VI for
admission to the service shall be limited to the following subjects:
(1)