t Lee at the head of military affairs.

The rumor of the death of Gen. Price is not confirmed.

Gen. Pemberton has been relieved _here_ and sent _elsewhere_.

The Piedmont Railroad has been impressed. A _secret_ act of Congress
authorizes it.

Miers W. Fisher writes that if the cabinet indorses the newspaper
suggestions of giving up slavery and going under true monarchies, it is
an invitation to refugees like himself to return to their homes, and
probably some of the States will elect to return to the Union for the
sake of being under a republican government, etc. He says it is
understood that the Assistant Secretary often answers letters unseen by
the Secretary; and if so, he can expect no answer from Mr. S., but will
put the proper construction on his silence, etc.

Flour is $700 per barrel to-day; meal, $80 per bushel; coal and wood,
$100 per load. Does the government (alone to blame) mean to allow the
rich speculators, the quartermasters, etc. to starve honest men into the
Union?

JANUARY 10TH.--Rained hard all night. House leaking badly!

We have nothing new in the papers this morning. It is said with more
confidence, however, that Butler's canal is not yet a success. Daily and
nightly our cannon play upon the works, and the deep sounds in this
moist weather are distinctly heard in the city.

The amount of requisition for the War Department for 1865 is
$670,000,000, and a deficiency of $400,000,000!

Mr. Hunter had his accustomed interview with Judge Campbell this morning
in quest of news, and relating to his horoscope. His face is not plump
and round yet.

A Mr. Lehman, a burly Jew, about thirty-five years old, got a passport
to-day on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury, to
arrange (as agent, no doubt) for the shipment of several thousand bales
of cotton, for which sterling funds are to be paid. No doubt it is
important to keep the government cotton out of the hands of the enemy;
and this operation seems to indicate that some fear of its loss exists.

Some 40,000 bushels of corn, etc. were consumed at Charlotte, N. C., the
other day. A heavy loss! Both the army and the people will feel it.
There seems already to exist the preliminary symptoms of panic and
anarchy in the government. All the dignitaries wear gloomy faces; and
this is a gloomy day--raining incessantly. A blue day--a miserable day!

The city council put up the price of gas yesterday to $50 per 1000 feet.

JANUARY 11TH.-