wn at Pig's Point to-day; and
it is said our battery has torn the farthingale of the Harriet Lane
pretty extensively. The cannon was heard by persons not many miles east
of the city. These are the mutterings of the storm. It will burst some
of these days.

JUNE 6TH.--We have hard work at the War Department, and some confusion
owing to the loss of a box of papers in transitu from Montgomery. I am
not a betting man, but I would wager a trifle that the contents of the
box are in the hands of some correspondent of the New York _Herald_ or
_Tribune_. Our careless people think that valor alone will win the day.
The Yankees desire, above all things, _information_ of our condition and
movements, of which they will take advantage. We must learn by
dear-bought experience.

JUNE 7TH.--We have a Chief of the Bureau of War, a special favorite, it
is said, of Mr. Davis. I went into the Secretary's room (I now occupy
one adjoining), and found a portly gentleman in a white vest sitting
alone. The Secretary was out, and had not instructed the new officer
what to do. He introduced himself to me, and admitted that the Secretary
had not assigned him to duty. I saw at a glance how the land lay. It was
Col. A. T. Bledsoe, lately of the University of Virginia; and he had
been appointed by the President, _not_ upon the recommendation of the
Secretary. Here was a muss not larger than a mustard-seed; but it might
_grow_, for I knew well how sensitive was the nature of the Secretary;
and he had not been consulted. And so I took it upon myself to be
cicerone to the stranger. He was very grateful,--for a long time. Col. B.
had graduated at West Point in the same class with the President and
Bishop Polk, and subsequently, after following various pursuits, being
once, I believe, a preacher, became settled as a teacher of mathematics
at the University of Virginia. The colonel stayed near me, aiding in the
work of answering letters; but after sitting an hour, and groaning
repeatedly when gazing at the mass of papers constantly accumulating
before us, he said he believed he would take a number of them to his
lodging and answer them there. I saw nothing more of him during the day.
And once or twice, when the Secretary came in, he looked around for him,
but said nothing. Finally I informed him what I had done; and, without
signifying an assent, he merely remarked that there was no room in his
office for him.

JUNE 8TH.--This morning Col. Bledsoe came i