An order has gone forth to-day from the Secretary of War,
that no more flour or wheat shall leave the States. This order was given some
time ago — then relaxed, and now reissued. How soon will he revoke it again?
Never before did such little men rule such a great people.
Our rulers are like children or drunken men riding docile horses, that
absolutely keep the riders from falling off by swaying to the right and left,
and preserving an equilibrinm. There is no rule for anything, and no stability
in any policy.
To-day more propositions from Frenchmen (in New Orleans)
have been received. Butler is preparing to do a great business — and no
objection to the illicit traffic is filed by the Secretaries of State or
Treasury.
Yesterday one of the President's servants was arrested for
stealing Treasury notes. The Treasury Department is just under the Executive
Department; and this negro (slave) has been used by the President to take
important papers to the departments. The amount abstracted was $5000 —unsigned —
but some one, perhaps the negro, for he is educated, forged the Register's and
Treasurer's names.
I saw Gen. J. E. Johnston standing idle in the street
to-day.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 189
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