No fighting on the Rappahannock yet, that I hear of; and it
is said the enemy are moving farther down the river. Can they mean to cross?
Nothing more is heard of Gen. Corcoran, with his Irish bogtrotters, on the
Peninsula.
The government has realized 50,000 pounds of leather from
two counties in Eastern North Carolina, in danger of falling into the hands of the
enemy. This convinces me that there is abundance of leather in the South, if it
were properly distributed. It is held, like everything else, by speculators,
for extortioners' profits. The government might remedy the evils, and remove
the distresses of the people; but instead of doing so, the bureaus aggravate
them by capricious seizures, and tyrannical restrictions on transportation.
Letters are coming in from every quarter complaining of the despotic acts of government
agents.
Mr. J. Foulkes writes another letter to the department on
his cotton scheme. He says it must be embraced now or never, as the enemy will
soon make such dispositions as would prevent his getting supplies through
their lines. The Commissary-General approves, and the late Secretary
approved; but what will the new one do? The President is non-committal.
What a blunder France and England made in hesitating to
espouse our cause! They might have had any commercial advantages.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 196-7
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