Nothing additional has occurred at Charleston, the enemy not
having renewed the attack. At Vicksburg all was quiet, and the enemy abandoning
their canal. Such news must have a depressing effect upon the North. They will
see that their monitors and iron-clads have lost their terrors. They have lost
some twenty war steamers within the last few months; and how many of their
merchantmen have been destroyed on the ocean, we have no means of knowing.
British and French capitalists have taken a cotton loan of $15,000,000,
which is now selling at a premium of four per cent, in those countries, Our
government can, if it will, soon have a navy of Alabamas and Floridas.
But we are in danger of being sold to the enemy by the
blockade-runners in this city. High officers, civil and military, are said,
perhaps maliciously, to be engaged in the unlawful trade hitherto carried on by
the Jews. It is said that the flag of truce boats serve as a medium of negotiations
between official dignitaries here and those at Washington; and I have no doubt
many of the Federal officers at Washington, for the sake of lucre, make no
scruple to participate in the profits of this treasonable traffic. They can
beat us at this game: cheat us in bargaining, and excel us in obtaining
information as to the number and position of troops, fortifications, etc.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 289
No comments:
Post a Comment