e my opinion of the present state of the country. It is
bad enough. The utter incompetency of Mr. Davis and his
West Point generals have brought us to the verge of ruin.
If McClellan is unwise enough to fight us here, we shall
whip and drive him out of Virginia.... As to Richmond, it
will never be taken while this army is here.

General Toombs' estimate of the army and of the futility of an attack
from McClellan was justified when, after the 26th of June, the Army of
the Potomac, almost in sight of the spires of Richmond, was forced to
reel back, in the deadly clinch of a seven days' combat, to the James
River. The Confederate army changed its position from one of retreat to
a brilliant and aggressive policy, and the subtle tactics of Johnston
gave way to the bold strokes of Lee. The South was thrilled with
victory.

General Toombs frequently referred to the incompetency of Mr. Davis. The
letters which have just been quoted were written to his wife, and were
not made public then, but he did not hesitate to express his opinion
openly. Jefferson Davis and Mr. Toombs had some differences while the
former was Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce and Mr. Toombs was in
the Senate. Mr. Toombs believed that President Davis was too partial to
West Point, at which school Mr. Davis had been trained, and that in his
management of the army he showed the tenacity of a martinet rather than
the breadth of a statesman.

In February, 1859, the Army Appropriation bill had come up before the
United States Senate. Mr. Toombs attacked, and Mr. Davis defended the
whole system. Mr. Toombs contended that the compensation of army
officers was too great. It was more than the same talent could command
in any other walk of life. It was upon a wrong basis. "You take a boy of
sixteen and send him to West Point, and when he comes out you give him
$1400 a year. In the course of a few years you carry him up to $3000,
$6000, or $8000. Take the general employment of the youths of the
country who are educated at the different colleges for all civil
purposes. You may have the highest amount of genius and intellect, and
you get nothing like such average there. It will take them many years to
make that much money." Mr. Toombs declared that a brigadier general's
commission was higher than that of a United States Senator. "I think,"
said he, "it requires as great qualifications to govern this country as
it does to be a brigadi