t anxious among them. But the wires
are cut in all directions, and we must rely on couriers.

The wildest rumors float through the air. Every successive hour gives
birth to some new tidings, and one must be near the Secretary's table
indeed to escape being misled by false reports.

For two days no dispatch has been received from Gen. Lee, although one
hears of a dispatch just received from him at every corner of the
streets. A courier arrived to-day from the _vicinity_ of our army. He
saw a _gentleman_ who saw Gen. Lee's son _Robert_ yesterday, and was
informed by him that our army was five miles nearer Fredericksburg,
having driven the enemy farther down the river.

Our iron-clads--Virginia, Richmond, and Fredericksburg--I understood
from Lieut. Minor, this morning, will not go out until in readiness to
cope successfully with the enemy's fleet of gun-boats and monitors. How
long that will be he did not say. It may be _to-day_. And while I write
(4-1/2 P.M.) I can distinctly hear the roar of artillery down the river.
It may be an engagement by land or by water, or by both; and it may be
only the customary shelling of the woods by the enemy's gun-boats. But
it is very rapid sometimes.

A courier reports the raid on the Danville Road as not formidable. They
are said, however, to have blown up the coal-pits. They cannot _blow_
coal _higher_ than our own extortionate people have done.

I directed my wife to lay out all the money about the house in
provisions. She got a bushel of meal and five pounds of bacon for about
$100. If we must endure another turn of the screw of famine, it is well
to provide for it as well as possible. We cannot starve now, in a month;
and by that time, Gens. Lee and Beauregard may come to our relief. Few
others are looked to hopefully. The functionaries here might have had a
six-months' supply, by wise and energetic measures.

The President has had the Secretary of War closeted with him nearly all
day. It is too late now for the evacuation of Richmond, and a
_desperate_ defense will be made. If the city falls, the consequences
will be ruinous to the present government. And how could any of its
members escape? Only in disguise. This is the time to try the nerves of
the President and his counselors!

Gen. Bragg is very distasteful to many officers of the army; and the
croakers and politicians would almost be willing to see the government
go to pieces, to get rid of the President and his cabine