encouraging letter from Georgia. He says there
is more meat in that State than any one supposed; and men too. Many
thousands of recruits can be sent forward, and meat enough to feed them.

The President has issued a stirring address to the army.

The weather is still clear, and the roads are not only good, but
dusty--yet it is cold.

They say Gen. Butler, on the Peninsula, has given orders to his troops
to respect private property--and not to molest non-combatants.

FEBRUARY 11TH.--Night before last 109 Federal prisoners, all
commissioned officers, made their escape from prison--and only three or
four have been retaken!

The letter of Mr. Sloan, of North Carolina, only produced a reply from
the Secretary that there was not the slightest suspicion against Gen. W.,
and that the people of North Carolina would not be satisfied with anybody.

Eight thousand men of Johnston's army are without bayonets, and yet Col.
Gorgas has abundance.

Governor Milton, of Florida, calls lustily for 5000 men--else he fears
all is lost in his State.

To-day bacon is selling for $6 per pound, and all other things in
proportion. A negro (for his master) asked me, to-day, $40 for an old,
tough turkey gobbler. I passed on very briskly.

We shall soon have martial law, it is thought, which, judiciously
administered, might remedy some of the grievous evils we labor under. I
shall have no meat for dinner to-morrow.

FEBRUARY 12TH.--It is warm to-day, and cloudy; but there was ice early
in the morning. We have recaptured twenty-odd of the escaped prisoners.

A bill has passed Congress placing an embargo on many imported articles;
and these articles are rising rapidly in price. Sugar sold to-day at
auction in large quantity for $8.00 per pound; rice, 85 cents, etc.

There is a rumor that Gen. Finnegan has captured the enemy in Florida.

Gen. Lee says his army is rapidly re-enlisting for the war.

FEBRUARY 13TH.--Bright, beautiful weather, with frosty nights.

The dispatches I cut from the papers to-day are interesting. Gen. Wise,
it appears, has met the enemy at last, and gained a brilliant
success--and so has Gen. Finnegan. But the correspondence between the
President and Gen. Johnston, last spring and summer, indicates constant
dissensions between the Executive and the generals. And the President is
under the necessity of defending _Northern_ born generals, while
Southern born ones are without trusts, etc.

INTERESTING FROM F