tion to a
speculator who had been paid by the Government for flour less than it
had cost him.

In an attempt to straighten out this tangled situation, the Confederate
Government began, late, in 1862, by appointing as its new Secretary of
War, * James A. Seddon of Virginia--at that time high in popular
favor. The Mercury hailed his advent with transparent relief, for no
appointment could have seemed to it more promising. Indeed, as the
new year (1863) opened the Mercury was in better humor with the
Administration than perhaps at any other time during the war. To
the President's message it gave praise that was almost cordial. This
amicable temper was short-lived, however, and three months later the
heavens had clouded.

* There were in all six Secretaries of War: Leroy P. Walker,
until September 16, 1861; Judah P. Benjamin, until March 18,
1862; George W. Randolph, until November 17, 1868; Gustavus
W. Smith (temporarily), until November 21, 1862; James A.
Seddon, until February 6, 1865; General John C.
Breckinridge, again, for the Government had entered upon a
course that consolidated the opposition in anger and
distrust.

Early in 1863 the Confederate Government presented to the country a
program in which the main features were three. Of these the two which
did not rouse immediate hostility in the party of the Examiner and the
Mercury were the Impressment Act of March, 1863 (amended by successive
acts), and the act known as the Tax in Kind, which was approved the
following month. Though the Impressment Act subsequently made vast
trouble for the Government, at the time of its passage its beneficial
effects were not denied. To it was attributed by the Richmond Whig the
rapid fall of prices in April, 1863. Corn went down at Richmond from $12
and $10 a bushel to $4.20, and flour dropped in North Carolina from $45
a barrel to $25. Under this act commissioners were appointed in each
State jointly by the Confederate President and the Governor with the
duty of fixing prices for government transactions and of publishing
every two months an official schedule of the prices to be paid by the
Government for the supplies which it impressed.

The new Tax Act attempted to provide revenues which should not be paid
in depreciated currency. With no bullion to speak of, the Confederate
Congress could not establish a circulating medium with even an
approximation to constant value. Realizing t