r. Peck, agent
to buy supplies for clerks. What will Mr. Seddon do now?

The Commissary-General says 100,000 bushels corn for Lee's army may be
got in Southwest Virginia.

JANUARY 17TH.--Cloudy, and spitting snow.

Mr. Foote's release from custody has been ordered by Congress.

The news of the fall of Wilmington, and the cessation of importations at
that port, falls upon the ears of the community with stunning effect.

Again we have a rumor of the retirement of Mr. Seddon.

There are more rumors of revolution, and even of displacement of the
President by Congress, and investiture of Gen. Lee. It is said the
President has done something, recently, which Congress will not
tolerate. Idle talk!

Mr. Foote, when arrested, was accompanied by his wife, who had a
passport to Tennessee. He said to the Provost Marshal, Doggett,
Fredericksburg, that he intended to accompany his family, passing
through Washington, and to endeavor to negotiate a peace. He deposited a
resignation of his seat in Congress with a friend, which he withdrew
upon being arrested. He was arrested and detained "until further
orders," by command of the Secretary of War.

Lieut.-Gen. Hood has been relieved, and ordered to report here.

The rumor gains belief that Gen. Breckinridge has been offered the
portfolio of the War Department by the President. This may be the act
alluded to which Congress will not agree to, perhaps, on the ground that
Gen. B. remained in the United States Senate long after secession. The
general is understood to be staying at G. A. Myers's house, which adds
strength to the rumor, for Myers has a keen scent for the sources of
power and patronage.

The Surgeon-General states that, during the years 1862 and 1863, there
were 1,600,000 cases of disease in hospitals and in the field, with only
74,000 deaths. There have been 23,000 discharges from the armies since
the war began.

The Provost Marshal at Fredericksburg telegraphs that his scouts report
the enemy have arrested Mrs. Foote, and threaten to rescue Mr. Foote.
The Secretary and the President concur in ordering his discharge. The
President says that will not be permission for him to pass our lines. He
will come here, I suppose.

Mentioning to R. Tyler the fact that many of the clerks, etc. of the War
Department favored revolution and the overthrow of the President, he
replied that it was a known fact, and that some of them would be hung
soon. He feared Mr. Hunter was a su