d 30,000 operatives are thrown out of employment!

From England we learn that the mass of the population are memorializing
government to put an end to the war!

I saw a _ham_ sell to-day for $350; it weighed fifty pounds, at $7 per
pound.

FEBRUARY 21ST.--Cold, clear, and calm, but moderating.

Mr. Benjamin sent over, this morning, extracts from dispatches received
from his commercial agent in London, dated December 26th and January
16th, recommending, what had already been suggested by Mr. McRae, in
Paris, a government monopoly in the export of cotton, and in the
importation of necessaries, etc.

This measure has already been adopted by Congress, which clearly shows
that the President can have any measure passed he pleases; and this is a
good one.

So complete is the Executive master of the "situation", that, in advance
of the action of Congress on the Currency bill, the Secretary of the
Treasury had prepared plates, etc. for the new issue of notes before the
bill passed calling in the old.

Some forty of the members of the Congress just ended failed to be
re-elected, and of these a large proportion are already seeking office
or exemption.

The fear is now, that, from a plethora of paper money, we shall soon be
without a sufficiency for a circulating medium. There are $750,000,000
in circulation; and the tax bills, etc. will call in, it is estimated,
$800,000,000! Well, I am willing to abide the result. Speculators have
had their day; and it will be hoped we shall have a season of low
prices, if scarcity of money always reduces prices. There are grave
lessons for our edification daily arising in such times as these.

I know my ribs stick out, being covered by skin only, for the want of
sufficient food; and this is the case with many thousands of
non-producers, while there is enough for all, if it were equally
distributed.

The Secretary of War has nothing new from Gen. Polk; and Sherman is
supposed to be still at Meridian.

There is war between Gen. Winder and Mr. Ould, agent for exchange of
prisoners, about the custody and distribution to prisoners, Federal and
Confederate. It appears that parents, etc. writing to our prisoners in
the enemy's country, for want of three cent stamps, are in the habit of
inclosing five or ten cent pieces, and the perquisites of the office
amounts to several hundred dollars per month--and the struggle is really
between the clerks in the two offices. A. Mr. Higgens, from Mary