Another gun-boat has got past Vicksburg. But three British
steamers have run into Charleston with valuable cargoes.
Gen. Lee is now sending troops to Charleston, and this
strengthens the report that Hooker's army is leaving the Rappahannock. They are
probably crumbling to pieces, under the influence of the peace party growing up
in the North. Some of them, however, it is said, are sent to Fortress Monroe.
Our Bureau of Conscription ought to be called the Bureau of Exemption.
It is turning out a vast number of exempts. The Southern Express Company bring
sugar, partridges, turkeys, etc. to the potential functionaries, and their
employees are exempted during the time they may remain in the employment of the
company. It is too bad!
I have just been reperusing Frederick's great campaigns, and
find much encouragement. Prussia was not so strong as the Confederate States,
and yet was environed and assailed by France, Austria, Russia, and several
smaller powers simultaneously. And yet Frederick maintained the contest for
seven years, and finally triumphed over his enemies. The preponderance of numbers
against him in the field was greater than that of the United States against us;
and Lee is as able a general as Frederick. Hence we should never despair.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 260
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