equate force to hold them. If the President had only taken Gen. Lee's
advice a month ago, and ordered a few thousand more men there, under the
command of Gen. Ed. Johnson, we should have kept possession of the
works. The President may seem to be a good nation-maker in the eyes of
distant statesmen, but he does not seem to be a good salt-maker for the
nation. The works he has just relinquished to the enemy manufacture 7000
bushels of salt per day--two million and a half a year--an ample supply
for the entire population of the Confederacy, and an object adequate to
the maintenance of an army of 50,000 in that valley. Besides, the troops
necessary for its occupation will soon be in winter quarters, and quite
as expensive to the government as if in the valley. A Caesar, a
Napoleon, a Pitt, and a Washington, all great nation-makers, would have
deemed this work worthy their attention.

Only three days ago the President wrote to the Secretary that the idea
of trading cotton to the enemy must be postponed until the first of
January, and perhaps indefinitely, but now he informs Mr. Randolph that
he has sent the requisite authority to his friend, Gov. Pettus, to
launch out in that trade.

No, the people have made the nation. It is a people's war, and it is the
momentum of a united, patriotic people, which carries everything with
it. Our brave men win victories under adverse circumstances, and often
under incompetent officers, and the people feed and clothe the armies in
spite of the shortcomings of dishonest commissaries and quartermasters.
They are now sending ten thousand pairs of shoes to Lee's army in
opposition to the will of the Jew Myers, Quartermaster-General, who says
everything must be contracted and paid for by his agents, according to
red-tape rule and regulation.

The weather continues cold, 38 deg., and snow still lies on the ground. This
_must_ produce a cessation of hostilities, and afford Lincoln's drafted
recruits opportunity for meditation.

If it be true that the Democrats have carried the day in the North, I
think the war is approaching a termination.

NOVEMBER 10TH.--A day or two ago some soldiers marched through the city
without shoes, _in the snow_. A committee of citizens to-day obtained an
order from the War Department, for the impressment of all the boots,
shoes, blankets, and overcoats in the shops. What a commotion among the
Jews!

It is _certain_ that the enemy are advancing upon Culpepper, on