passports to leave the country,
except to a few men on business for the government. I have ceased to
grant any for some time past." I merely remarked that I was glad to hear
it.

Immediately on returning to my office I referred to my book, and counted
the names of fifty persons to whom the Secretary had granted passports
within thirty days; and these were not all agents of the government. Mr.
Benjamin reminded me of Daniel Webster, when he used to make solemn
declarations that his friends in office were likewise the partisans of
President Tyler.

JANUARY 17TH.--A Mr. O. Hendricks, very lately of the U. S. Coast
Survey, has returned from a tour of the coast of North Carolina, and has
been commissioned a lieutenant by the Secretary of War. He says Burnside
will take Roanoke Island, and that Wise and all his men will be
captured. It is a _man-trap_.

JANUARY 18TH.--Gen. L. P. Walker, the first Secretary of War, is
assigned to duty in the Southwest under Gen. Bragg. How can he obey the
orders of one who was so recently under his command? I think it
probable he will resign again before the end of the campaign.

JANUARY 19TH.--There has been a storm on the coast, sinking some of the
enemy's ships. Col. Allen, of New Jersey, was lost. He was once at my
house in Burlington, and professed to be friendly to the Southern cause.
I think he said he owned land and slaves in Texas.

JANUARY 20TH.--Mr. Memminger advertises to pay interest on certain
government bonds in _specie_. That won't last long. He is paying 50 per
cent. premium in treasury notes for the specie, and the bonds are given
for treasury notes. What sort of financiering is this?

JANUARY 21ST.--A great number of Germans and others are going to
Norfolk, thinking, as one remarked, if they can't go to the United
States the United States will soon come to them. Many believe that
Burnside will get Norfolk. I think differently, but I may be mistaken.

JANUARY 22D.--Some of the letter-carriers' passports from Mr. Benjamin,
which have the countenance of Gen. Winder, are now going into Tennessee.
What is this for? We shall see.

JANUARY 23D.--Again the Northern papers give the most extravagant
numbers to our army in Kentucky. Some estimates are as high as 150,000.
I know, and Mr. Benjamin knows, that Gen. Johnston has not exceeding
29,000 effective men. And the Secretary knows that Gen. J. has given him
timely notice of the inadequacy of his force to hold the position