that the
capital itself was in almost immediate danger of falling into the hands
of the enemy; much less that the President himself meditated its
abandonment at an early day, and the concentration of all the armies in
the Cotton States!

FEBRUARY 20TH.--Another morning of blue skies and glorious sunshine.
Sherman is reported to be marching northward, and to have progressed
one-third of the way between Columbia and Charlotte, N. C.; where we had
"millions of specie" a few days ago.

Some of the lady employees, sent by Mr. Memminger to Columbia last year,
have returned to this city, having left and lost their beds, etc.

Grant's campaign seems developed at last. Sherman and Thomas will
concentrate on his left, massing 200,000 men between Lee and his
supplies, effectually cutting his communications by flanking with
superior numbers. It is probable Charleston, Wilmington, and Richmond
will fall without a battle; for how can they be held when the enemy
stops supplies? and how could the garrisons escape when once cut off
from the interior?

And yet Congress has done nothing, and does nothing, but waste the
precious time. I fear it is too late now! It is certainly too late to
raise recruits for service in the campaign now in _active operation_, a
fact which our politician leaders seem to be unconscious of. Even our
furloughed troops cannot now rejoin their regiments from their distant
homes.

Then, if Lee must evacuate Richmond, where can he go? No one knows!

My belief is that the only chance for Lee--and a desperate one--is to
beat Grant _immediately_, before the grand junction can be formed.

Letters are beginning to come in from the South, advocating the
abandonment of Richmond, and the march of Lee's army into East Tennessee
and Northern Georgia, and so on down to Montgomery, Ala., etc. etc.;
concentrating in the Cotton States. What an ugly programme! How many
would then follow the fortunes of this government? How many heads of
bureaus, etc. would abandon it? How would it be possible for those with
families on their hands to get transportation? A great many other
questions might be asked, that few could answer at this time.

Charleston was evacuated on Tuesday last--nearly a week ago--so says the
_Examiner_, and no one doubts it.

Mr. Hunter seems more depressed to-day than I have ever seen him. He
walks with his head down, looking neither to the right nor the left.

I shall expect soon to hear of a battle. B