ing the Secretary would grant it. He knew this,
for he said the Secretary had promised him one.

DECEMBER 21ST.--Col. Bledsoe was in to-day. I had not seen him for a
long time. He had not been sitting in the office two minutes before he
uttered one of his familiar groans. Instantly we were on the old footing
again. He said Secretary Benjamin had never treated him as Chief of the
Bureau, any more than Walker.

DECEMBER 22D.--Dibble has succeeded in obtaining a passport from the
Secretary himself.

DECEMBER 23D.--Gen. T. J. Jackson has destroyed a principal dam on the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. That will give the enemy abundance of
trouble. This Gen. Jackson is always doing something to vex the enemy;
and I think he is destined to annoy them more.

It is with much apprehension that I see something like a general
relaxation of preparation to hurl back the invader. It seems as if the
government were waiting for England to do it; and after all, the capture
of Slidell and Mason may be the very worst thing that could have
happened. Mr. Benjamin, I learn, feels very confident that a rupture
between the United States and Great Britain is inevitable. War with
England is not to be thought of by Mr. Seward at this juncture, and he
will not have it. And we should not rely upon the happening of any such
contingency. Some of our officials go so far as to hint that in the
event of a war between the United States and Great Britain, and our
recognition by the former, it might be good policy for us to stand
neutral. The war would certainly be waged on our account, and it would
not be consistent with Southern honor and chivalry to retire from the
field and leave the friend who interfered in our behalf to fight it out
alone. The principal members of our government should possess the
highest stamp of character, for never did there exist a purer people.

DECEMBER 24TH.--I am at work on the resolution passed by Congress. The
Secretary sent it to me, with an order to prepare the list of names, and
saying that he would explain the _grounds_ upon which they were
permitted to depart. I can only give the number registered in this
office.

DECEMBER 25TH.--Mr. Ely, the Yankee member of Congress, who has been in
confinement here since the battle of Manassas, has been exchanged for
Mr. Faulkner, late Minister to France, who was captured on his return
from Europe. Mr. Ely smiled at the brown paper on which I had written
his passport. I told him i