A snow four inches
in depth on the ground, and snowing. Last night Governor Smith, President
Davis, Senator Oldham (Texas), Rev. Mr. Duncan, Methodist preacher, and a
Yankee Baptist preacher, named Doggell, or Burroughs, I believe, addressed a
large meeting in the African Church, on the subject of the Peace Mission, and
the ultimatum of the United States authorities. The speakers were very
patriotic and much applauded. President Davis (whose health is so feeble he
should have remained away) denounced President Lincoln as "His Majesty
Abraham the First"—in the language of the press—and said before the
campaign was over he and Seward might find "they had been speaking to
their masters," when demanding unconditional submission. He promised the
people great successes, after our destined reverses had run out, provided they
kept from despondency and speculation, and filled the ranks of the army. He
denounced the speculators, and intimated that they might yet be called upon to
"disgorge their earnings."
A grand assemblage
is called for next Thursday, to meet in the Capitol Square.
Congress will soon
be likely to vote a negro army, and their emancipation after the war—as Lee
favors it.
There was some
fighting near Petersburg yesterday and, the day before; but the press is
reticent—a bad sign.
There is a rumor
that Charleston has been evacuated!
Gen. Lee again
writes that desertions occur to an alarming extent, for want of sufficient
food. And he says there is enough subsistence in the country, but that the
Commissary Department is inefficiently administered.
Gen. Breckinridge is
in his office to-day.
A scramble is going
on by the young politicians for the position of Assistant Secretary of War, and
Mr. Kean is supposed to be ahead in the race. When a ship is thought to be
sinking, even the cook may be appointed captain! Anything, now, to keep out of
the field—such is the word among the mere politicians.
It is rumored that
Gen. Pegram (since confirmed) was killed in the enemy's attack on our right
near Petersburg, and that seven brigades were engaged and repulsed the enemy.
Still, there is no official confirmation—and the silence of Gen. Lee is
interpreted adversely.
Senator Haynes, of
Tennessee, and Senator Wigfall, of Texas, denounced the President yesterday as
mediocre and malicious— and that his blunders had caused all our disasters.
Our commissioners
were not permitted to land at Fortress Monroe, but Lincoln and Seward came on
board.
Judge Campbell is
still acting as Assistant Secretary; but he looks very despondent. If
Beauregard gains a victory —.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 411-2
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