Bright and cool. A
violent southeast gale prevailed last evening, with rain. Of course we have no
news in the papers from any quarter. Sheridan having retired, all the local
troops returned yesterday.
After all, the
President does not reap a perfect triumph over Congress. The bill suspending
the writ of habeas corpus passed the House by only four majority; and in the
Senate it was defeated by nine against six for it! So the President cannot enjoy
Cromwell's power without the exercise of Cromwell's violence.
We shall have a
negro army. Letters are pouring into the department from men of military skill
and character, asking authority to raise companies, battalions, and regiments
of negro troops. It is the desperate remedy for the very desperate case— and
may be successful. If 300,000 efficient soldiers can be made of this material,
there is no conjecturing where the next campaign may end. Possibly "over
the border," for a little success will elate our spirits extravagantly;
and the blackened ruins of our towns, and the moans of women and children
bereft of shelter, will appeal strongly to the army for vengeance.
There is a vague
rumor of another battle by Bragg, in which he did not gain the victory. This is
not authentic; and would be very bad, if true, for then Sherman's army would
soon loom up in our vicinity like a portentous cloud.
The
Commissary-General, in a communication to the Secretary urging the necessity of
keeping the trade for supplies for Lee's army, now going on in Eastern North
Carolina, a profound secret, mentions the "miscarriage of the
Fredericksburg affair," which proves that the government did send cotton
and tobacco thither for barter with the enemy.
One reason alleged
for the refusal of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, is the
continuance of Mr. Benjamin in the cabinet.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 451
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