ong letter, that the
Department allows 30 to 40 foreigners (Jews) to leave the Confederate
States, _via_ Maryland, every week!

Mr. Goodman, President of the Mississippi Railroad, proposes to send
cotton to the Yankees in exchange for implements, etc., to repair the
road, and Lieut.-Gen. (Bishop) Polk favors the scheme.

Commissary-General Northrop likewise sent in a proposal from an agent of
his in Mississippi, to barter cotton with the Yankees for subsistence,
and he indorses an approval on it. I trust we shall be independent this
summer.

To-day it is cool and cloudy, but Custis has had no use for fire in his
school-room of nights for a week--and that in January. The warm weather
saved us a dollar per day in coal. Custis's scholars are paying him $95
the first month.

I shall hope for better times now. We shall have men enough, if the
Secretary and conscription officers do not strain the meshes of the
seine too much, and the currency will be reduced. The speculators and
extortioners, in great measure, will be circumvented, for the new
conscription will take them from their occupations, and they will not
find transportation for their wares.

The 2000 barrels of corn destroyed by the enemy on the Peninsula, a few
days ago, belonged to a relative of Col. Ruffin, Assistant
Commissary-General! He would not impress that--and lo! it is gone! Many
here are glad of it.

JANUARY 31ST.--It rained moderately last night, and is cooler this
morning. But the worst portion of the winter is over. The pigeons of my
neighbor are busy hunting straws in my yard for their nests. They do no
injury to the garden, as they never scratch. The shower causes my
turnips to present a fresher appearance, for they were suffering for
moisture. The buds of the cherry trees have perceptibly swollen during
the warm weather.

A letter from Gen. Cobb (Georgia) indicates that the Secretary of War
has refused to allow men having employed substitutes to form new
organizations, and he combats the decision. He says they will now appeal
to the courts, contending that the law putting them in the service is
unconstitutional, and some will escape from the country, or otherwise
evade the law. They cannot go into old companies and be sneered at by
the veterans, and commanded by their inferiors in fortune, standing,
etc. He says the decision will lose the service 2000 men in Georgia.

The Jews are fleeing from Richmond with the money they have made.