New Orleans are all menaced by numerous fleets on
the sea-board, and in the West great numbers of iron-clad floating
batteries threaten to force a passage down the Mississippi, while
monster armies are concentrating for the invasion of Tennessee and the
Cotton States. Will Virginia escape the scourge? Not she; here is the
bull's-eye of the mark they aim at.

JANUARY 3D.--The enemy have in the field, according to their official
reports, some three-quarters of a million of men; we, about 250,000, or
one-quarter of a million. This might answer for defense if we could only
know where their blows will fall; but then they have a strong navy and
thousands of transports, and we have next to nothing afloat to oppose to
them. And there is no _entente cordiale_ between Mr. Benjamin and any of
our best generals.

JANUARY 4TH.--It is just as I feared. Gen. T. J. Jackson, supposing his
project to be a profound secret, marched on the 1st instant from
Winchester, intending to surprise a force of the enemy at Romney. But he
had not proceeded half the distance before he found a printed account of
his intended expedition in a Baltimore paper at an inn on the roadside.
This was treason of the blackest dye, and will cost us a thousand men.
The enemy, of course, escaped, and our poor soldiers, frost-bitten and
famished, must painfully retrace all steps of this fruitless march.

JANUARY 5TH.--There are rumors of a court-martial, and I fear the
enterprising Jackson will be made to suffer for the crime of others.
That men sympathizing with the Union cause were daily leaving Richmond
for Baltimore was known to all, but how they gained intelligence of the
contemplated movement of Jackson is the mystery.

JANUARY 6TH.--No news.

JANUARY 7TH.--Brig-Gen. Wise is to command on Roanoke Island. It is not
far from Princess Ann County, where his place of residence is. If they
give him men enough, say half as many as the enemy, he _will_ defend it.

JANUARY 8TH.--Dearth of news.

JANUARY 9TH.--Butter is 50 cts. per pound, bacon 25 cts., beef has risen
from 13 cts. to 30 cts., wood is selling for $8 per cord, but flour is
abundant, and cheap enough to keep us from starving.

JANUARY 10TH.--The President is rarely seen in the streets now, and it
is complained that he is not so accessible as formerly in his office. I
do not know what foundation there is for these reports, and see no
reason to credit them. I know he rides out in the afternoon, if the