Clear and pleasant—but
little frost. Beef (what little there is in market) sells to-day at $6 per
pound; meal, $80 per bushel; white beans, $5 per quart, or $160 per bushel. And
yet Congress is fiddling over stupid abstractions!
The government will
awake speedily, however; and after Congress hurries through its business (when
roused), the adjournment of that body will speedily ensue. But will the
President dismiss his cabinet in time to save Richmond, Virginia, and the
cause? That is the question. He can easily manage Congress, by a few letters from
Gen. Lee. But will the potency of his cabinet feed Lee's army?
A great panic still
prevails in the city, arising from rumors of contemplated evacuation. If it
should be evacuated, the greater portion of the inhabitants will remain,
besides many of the employees of government and others liable to military
service, unless they be forced away. But how can they be fed? The government
cannot feed, sufficiently, the men already in the field.
Everybody is
conjecturing what Mr. Blair has proposed; but no one expects relief from his
mission, if indeed he be clothed with diplomatic powers-which I doubt.
The President, I
believe, is calm, relying upon the loyalty of his cabinet. But he is aware of
the crisis; and I think his great reliance is on Gen. Lee, and herein he agrees
with the people. What will be the issue of the present exigency, God only
knows!
I believe there is a
project on foot to borrow flour, etc. from citizens for Gen. Lee's army. Many
officers and men from the army are in the city to-day, confirming the reports
of suffering for food in the field.
There is a rumor
that Goldsborough has been taken.
Mr. Secretary Seddon
is appointing men in the various districts of the city to hunt up speculators
and flour; appointing such men as W. H. McFarland and others, who aspire to
office by the suffrages of the people. They will not offend the speculators and
hoarders by taking much flour from them. No-domiciliary visits with bayonets
alone will suffice.
Of thirty Federal
deserters sent to work on the fortifications of Lynchburg, all but four ran
away.
It is understood
that the President announced to Congress today the arrest of the Hon. H. S.
Foote, member of that body, near Fredericksburg, while attempting to pass into
the enemy's lines. This, then, may have been Capt. Norton's secret mission; and
I believe the government had traps set for him at other places of egress.
Meantime the enemy came in at Savannah. This is considered the President's
foible—a triumph over a political or personal enemy will occupy his attention
and afford more delight than an ordinary victory over the common enemy. Most
men will say Mr. Foote should have been permitted to go—if he desired it.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 384-5
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