shop of Vermont.

NOVEMBER 5TH.--The President has not yet returned, but was inspecting
the defenses of Charleston. The Legislature has adjourned without fixing
a maximum of prices. _Every night troops from Lee's army are passing
through the city._ Probably they have been ordered to Bragg.

Yesterday flour sold at auction at $100 per barrel; to-day it sells for
$120! There are 40,000 bushels of sweet potatoes, taken by the
government as tithes, rotting at the depots between Richmond and
Wilmington. If the government would wake up, and have them brought
hither and sold, the people would be relieved, and flour and meal would
decline in price. But a lethargy has seized upon the government, and no
one may foretell the consequences of official supineness.

The enemy at Chattanooga have got an advantageous position on Bragg's
left, and there is much apprehension that our army will lose the ground
gained by the late victory.

The Commissary-General (Northrop) has sent in his estimate for the
ensuing year, $210,000,000, of which $50,000,000 is for sugar,
exclusively for the hospitals. It no longer forms part of the rations.
He estimates for 400,000 men, and takes no account of the tithes, or tax
in kind, nor is it apparent that he estimates for the army beyond the
Mississippi.

A communication was received to-day from Gen. Meredith, the Federal
Commissioner of Exchange, inclosing a letter from Gov. Todd and Gen.
Mason, as well as copies of letters from some of Morgan's officers,
stating that the heads of Morgan and his men are not shaved, and that
they are well fed and comfortable.

NOVEMBER 6TH.--The President was to have returned to-day, but did not.

Various conjectures are made as to the object of his month's tour of
speech-making. Some deem the cause very desperate, others that the
President's condition is desperate. If the first, they say his purpose
was to reanimate the people by his presence, and to cultivate a renewal
of lost friendships, and hence he lingered longest at Charleston, in
social intercourse with Gens. Beauregard and Wise, who had become
estranged. The latter is the oldest brigadier-general in the service,
and still they have failed to promote him. The President's power is felt
in the army, and his patronage being almost unlimited, it was natural,
they say, that he should be received with cheers. From a lieutenant up
to a general, all are dependent on his favor for promotion. At all
events, his aus