e subject, says that
the number of vessels arriving at two ports only from the 1st of
November to the 6th of December was _forty-three_, and but a very small
proportion of those outward bound were captured. Out of 11,796 bales of
cotton shipped since the 1st of July last, but 1272 were lost--not quite
11 per cent.

"The special report of the Secretary of the Treasury in relation to the
matter shows that there have been imported into the Confederacy at the
ports of Wilmington and Charleston since October 26th, 1864, 8,632,000
pounds of meat, 1,507,000 pounds of lead, 1,933,000 pounds of saltpeter,
546,000 pairs of shoes, 316,000 pairs of blankets, 520,000 pounds of
coffee, 69,000 rifles, 97 packages of revolvers, 2639 packages of
medicine, 43 cannon, with a large quantity of other articles of which we
need make no mention. Besides these, many valuable stores and supplies
are brought, by way of the Northern lines, into Florida; by the port of
Galveston and through Mexico, across the Rio Grande.

"The shipments of cotton made on government account since March 1st,
1864, amount to $5,296,000 in specie. Of this, cotton, to the value of
$1,500,000, has been shipped since the 1st of July and up to the 1st of
December.

"It is a matter of absolute impossibility for the Federals to stop our
blockade-running at the port of Wilmington. If the wind blows off the
coast, the blockading fleet is driven off. If the wind blows landward,
they are compelled to haul off to a great distance to escape the
terrible sea which dashes on a rocky coast without a harbor within three
days' sail. The shoals on the North Carolina Coast are from five to
twenty miles wide; and they are, moreover, composed of the most
treacherous and bottomless quicksands. The whole coast is scarcely
equaled in the world for danger and fearful appearance, particularly
when a strong easterly wind meets the ebb tide.

"It is an easy matter for a good pilot to run a vessel directly out to
sea or into port; but in the stormy months, from October to April, no
blockading vessel can lie at anchor in safety off the Carolina Coast.
Therefore supplies will be brought in despite the keenest vigilance."

JANUARY 4TH.--Bright, but several inches of snow fell last night.

The President wrote a long letter to the Secretary yesterday concerning
the _assignment of conscripts in Western North Carolina_, at most only a
few hundred, and the appointment of officers, etc. A small subje