Bright and frosty.
Gold at $66 for one—yesterday, at auction.
Major R. J. Echols,
Quartermaster, Charlotte, N. C., says the fire there destroyed 70,000 bushels
of grain, a large amount of sugar, molasses, clothing, blankets, etc. He knows
not whether it was the result of design or accident. All his papers were
consumed. A part of Conner's brigade on the way to South Carolina, 500 men,
under Lieut.-Col. Wallace, refused to aid in saving property, but plundered it!
This proves that the soldiers were all poor men, the rich having bought
exemptions or details!
Gen. Lee writes on
the 8th instant, that the troops sailing out of James River are, he thinks,
destined for another attack on Wilmington. But none have left the lines in
front of him, etc.
Gen. Lee also writes
on the 9th instant, that the commissary agents have established "a large
traffic through our lines, in North Carolina, for supplies;" and he
desires the press to say nothing on the subject.
Mr. Ould, to whom it
appears the Secretary has written for his opinion (he was editor once, and
fought a duel with Jennings Wise, Mr. Seddon being his second), gives a very
bad one on the condition of affairs. He says the people have confidence in Mr.
Seddon, but not in President Davis, and a strong reconstruction party will
spring up in Virginia rather than adopt the President's ideas about the slaves,
etc.
The Chief of the
Treasury Note Bureau, at Columbia, S. C., asks where he shall fly to if the
enemy approaches. It is understood one of our generals, when appealed to by the
Secretary, exclaimed: "To the devil!"
Mr. Miles introduced
a resolution yesterday (in Congress) affirming that for any State to negotiate
peace is revolutionary. Ill time, because self-evident.
Gen. Bradley T.
Johnson writes from Salisbury, N. C., that because the travel hither has been
suspended by the government, the Central Railroad Company of that State refuse
to send the full amount of trains for the transportation of soldiers. It must be
impressed too.
I am assured by one
of the President's special detectives that Francis P. Blair, Sr. is truly in
this city. What for? A rumor spreads that Richmond is to be evacuated.
Gen. Lee writes for the
Secretary's sanction to send officers everywhere in Virginia and North
Carolina, to collect provisions and to control railroads, etc. The Secretary is
sending orders to different commanders, and says he would rather have the odium
than that it should fall on Lee! The Commissary. General approves Lee's
measure.
Gen. Lee's dispatch
was dated last night. He says he has not two days' rations for his army!
Commissary-General
Northrop writes to the Secretary that the hour of emergency is upon us, and
that Gen. Lee's name may "save the cause," if he proclaims the
necessity of indiscriminate impressment, etc.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 383-4
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