Bright and frosty
morning.
All quiet. No
confirmation of Early's defeat; and the nightfeat of Mahone puts the people in
better hope.
One-third of all our
lead comes from the mines near Wytheville, Virginia.
I got 128 pounds of
flour from the investment in supplies in North Carolina, and one-fourth of that
amount is still behind. We got 26 pounds of bacon, worth $260; the flour
received, and to be received, 160 pounds, $320; and we expect to get 6 gallons
molasses, $30 per gallon, $180: total, $760; and only $200 invested. This shows
the profits of the speculators!
Gov. Yates, of
Illinois, bas declared Richmond will be in the hands of the Federals before the
8th of November. This is the 1st. It may be so; but I doubt it. It cannot be so
without the effusion of an ocean of blood!
I learned to-day
that every tree on Gov. Wise's farm of any size has been felled by the enemy.
What harm have the poor trees done the enemy? I love trees, anywhere.
The President
attends to many little matters, such as solicitations for passports to leave
the country, details or exemptions of husbands and sons; and generally the
ladies who address him, knowing his religious bias, frame their phraseology
accordingly, and often with effect.
The following is his
last proclamation:
Proclamation appointing a Day for Public Worship.
It
is meet that the people of the Confederate States should, from time to time,
assemble to acknowledge their dependence on Almighty God, to render devout
thanks for his manifold blessings, to worship his holy name, to bend in prayer
at his footstool, and to accept, with reverent submission, the chastening of
his all-wise and all-merciful Providence.
Let
us, then, in temples and in fields, unite our voices in recognizing, with
adoring gratitude, the manifestations of his protecting care in the many signal
victories with which our arms have been crowned; in the fruitfulness with which
our land has been blessed, and in the unimpaired energy and fortitude with
which he has inspired our hearts and strengthened our arms in resistance to the
iniquitous designs of our enemies.
And
let us not forget that, while graciously vouchsafing to us his protection, our
sins have merited and received grievous chastisement; that many of our best and
bravest have fallen in battle; that many others are still held in foreign
prisons; that large districts of our country have been devastated with savage
ferocity, the peaceful homes destroyed, and helpless women and children driven
away in destitution; and that with fiendish malignity the passions of a servile
race have been excited by our foes into the commission of atrocities from which
death is a welcome escape.
Now,
therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America,
do issue this my proclamation, setting apart Wednesday, the sixteenth day of
November next, as a day to be specially devoted to the worship of Almighty God;
and I do invite and invoke all the people of these Confederate States to
assemble on the day aforesaid, in their respective places of public worship,
there to unite in prayer to our heavenly Father, that he bestow his favor upon
us; that he extend over us the protection of his Almighty arm; that he sanctify
his chastisement to our improvement, so that we may turn away from evil paths
and walk righteously in his sight; that he restore peace to our beloved
country, healing its bleeding wounds, and securing to us the continued
enjoyment of our right of self-government and independence; and that he
graciously hearken to us, while we ascribe to him the power and glory of our
deliverance. “Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States, at
Richmond, this 26th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
JEFFERSON
DAVIS.
By
the President:
J.
P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.
The President gets
but few letters from members of Congress.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 320-2
