A Mr. J. C. Jones
has addressed a letter to the President asking permission to run the blockade
to confer with Mr. Bates, of President Lincoln's cabinet, on terms of peace,
with, I believe, authority to assure him that none of the Northwestern States,
or any other free States, will be admitted into the Confederacy. Mr. J. says he
has been on intimate terms with Mr. B., and has conceived the idea that the
United States would cease the war, and acknowledge the independence of the
South, if it were not for the apprehension of the Northwestern States seceding
from the Union. If his request be not granted, he intends to enter the army
immediately. He is a refugee from Missouri. He assures the President he is his
friend, and that a “concentration of power” in his hands is essential, etc. The
President refers this paper, with a gracious indorsement, to the Secretary of
War, recommending him either to see Mr. Jones, or else to institute inquiries,
etc.
S. Wyatt, Augusta,
Ga., writes in favor of appeals to the patriotism of the people to counteract
what Mr. Toombs has done. What has he done? But he advises the President, to
whom he professes to be very friendly, to order a discontinuance of seizures,
etc.
A. Cohen (Jew
name), purser of the blockade-running steamer “Arabia” at Wilmington, has
submitted a notable scheme to Gen. Winder, who submits it to the Secretary of
War, establishing a police agency at Nassau. Gen. W. to send some of his
detectives thither to examine persons coming into the Confederate States, and
if found “all right,” to give them passports. It was only yesterday that a
letter was received from Gen. Whiting, asking authority to send out a secret
agent on the “Arabia,” to see what disposition would be made of her cargo,
having strong suspicions of the loyalty of the owners and officers of that
vessel.
Gov. Z. B. Vance
complains indignantly of Marylanders and Virginians appointed to office in that
State, to the exclusion of natives; he says they have not yet been recalled, as
he had a right to expect, after his recent interview with the President. He
says he is disgusted with such treatment, both of his State and of himself.
Alas I what is behind?
Night before last
some thirty of the enemy's barges, filled with men, attempted to take the ruins
of Sumter by assault. This had been anticipated by Beauregard, and every
preparation had been made accordingly. So the batteries at Forts Moultrie, Bee,
etc. opened terrifically with shell and grape; the amount of execution by them
is not ascertained: but a number of the barges reached the debris of Sumter,
where a battalion of infantry awaited them, and where 115 of the Yankees,
including more than a dozen officers, begged for quarters and were taken
prisoners. No doubt the casualties on the side of the assailants must have been
many, while the garrison sustained no loss. This is substantially the purport
of a dispatch from Beauregard to Gen. Cooper, which, however, was published
very, awkwardly — without any of the niceties of punctuation a fastidious
general would have desired. Nevertheless, Beauregard's name-is on every tongue.
The clerks in the
departments were startled to-day by having read to them an order from
Brig.-Gen. Custis Lee (son of Gen. R. E. Lee), an order to the captains of
companies to imprison or otherwise punish all who failed to be present at the
drills. These young gentlemen, not being removable, according to the
Constitution, and exempted from conscription by an act of Congress, volunteered
some months ago for “local defense and special service,” never supposing that
regular drilling would be obligatory except when called into actual service by
the direction of the President, in the terms of an act of Congress, which
provided that such organizations were not to receive pay for military service,
unless summoned to the field by the President in an emergency. They receive no
pay now—but yet the impression prevails that this order has the approbation of
the President, as Gen. G. W. Custis Lee is one of his special aids, with the
rank and pay of a colonel of cavalry. As an aid of the President, he signs
himself colonel; as commander of the city brigade, he signs himself
brigadier-general, and has been so commissioned by the President. How it can be
compatible to hold both positions and commissions, I do not understand — but
perhaps the President does, as he is well versed in the rules and regulations
of the service. Some of the clerks, it is said, regard the threat as
unauthorized by law, and will resist what they deem a usurpation, at the hazard
of suffering its penalties. I know not what the result will be, but I fear “no
good will come of it.” They are all willing to fight, when the enemy comes (a
probable thing); but they dislike being forced out to drill, under
threats of “punishment.” This measure will not add to the popularity of Col.
(or Gen.) Lee.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p.
39-41
