replenish the dilapidated command of
an aspiring "political general."

A Mr. G. Preston Williams, of Eden, Chatham County, Ga., writes to the
President, Sept. 7th, 1863, saying he has lost three sons in the war,
freely given for independence. His fourth son is at home on furlough,
but he shall not return unless the President gives up his _obstinacy_,
and his favorites--_Bragg_, Pemberton, Lovell, etc. He charges the
President with incapacity, if not wickedness, and says our independence
would have been won ere this, but for the obstacles thrown by him in the
way. He threatens revolution within a revolution, when Congress meets,
unless the President reforms, which will cause him to lose his office,
and perhaps his _head_. To which the President replies thus, in an
indorsement on the envelope:

"SECRETARY OF WAR.--This is referred to you without any knowledge of the
writer. If it be a genuine signature, you have revealed to you a
deserter, and a man who harbors him, as well as _incites_ to desertion,
and opposition to the efforts of the government for public defense.
Sept. 19th, 1863.--J. D."

The indorsement was written to-day, since hearing of Bragg's victory.

SEPTEMBER 24TH.--A dispatch from Gen. Bragg, received to-day, three
miles from Chattanooga, and dated yesterday, says the enemy occupies a
strong position, and confronts him in great force, but he is sending
troops round his flanks. No doubt he will cross the river as soon as
possible. Only a small portion of Longstreet's corps has been engaged,
so Bragg will have a fresh force to hurl against the invader. We learn
to-day that Gen. Hood is not dead, and will recover.

The President sent over to the Secretary of War to-day some extracts
from a letter he has just received from Mobile, stating that a large
trade is going on with the enemy at New Orleans. A number of vessels,
laden with cotton, had sailed from Pascagoula Bay, for that destination.
Some one or two had been stopped by the people, as the traffic is
expressly prohibited by an act of Congress. But upon inquiry it was
ascertained that the trade was authorized by authority from
Richmond--the War Department. I doubt whether Mr. Seddon authorized it.
Who then? Perhaps it will be ascertained upon investigation.

Mr. Kean, the young Chief of the Bureau, is a most fastidious civil
officer, for he rebukes older men than himself for mistaking an
illegible K for an R, and puts _his_ warning on record in penc