Donnell, in North Carolina, has left his plantation with several hundred
thousand dollars worth on it--rather risking their loss than to sell
them.

DECEMBER 4TH.--All is quiet (before the storm) on the Rappahannock, Gen.
Jackson's corps being some twenty miles lower down the river than
Longstreet's. It is said Burnside has been removed already and Hooker
given the command.

Gen. S. Cooper takes sides with Col. Myers against Gen. Wise. Gen. W.'s
letter of complaint of the words, "Let them suffer," was referred to
Gen. C., who insisted upon sending the letter to the Quartermaster-General
before either the Secretary or the President saw it,--and it was done.
Why do the Northern men _here_ hate Wise?

Gen. Lee dispatches to-day that there is a very large amount of corn in
the Rappahannock Valley, which can be procured, if wagons be sent from
Richmond. What does this mean? That the enemy will come over and get it
if we do not take it away?

A letter from the President of the Graniteville Cotton Mills, complains
that only 75 per ct. profit is allowed by Act of Congress, whose
operatives are exempted from military duty, if the law be interpreted to
include sales to individuals as well as to the government, and
suggesting certain modifications. He says he makes 14,000 yards per day,
which is some 4,000,000 per annum. It costs him 20 cts. per yard to
manufacture cotton cloth, including, of course, the cotton, and 75 per
ct. will yield, I believe, $500,000 profits, which would be equivalent
to 32 cts. per yard. But the market price, he says, is 68 cts. per yard,
or some $2,000,000 profits! This war is a great encourager of domestic
manufacturers, truly!

The Governor sends out a proclamation to-day, saying the President has
called on him and other governors for assistance, in returning absent
officers and men to their camps; in procuring supplies of food and
clothing for the army; in drafting slaves to work on fortifications;
and, finally, to put down the extortioners. The Governor invokes the
people to respond promptly and fully. But how does this speak for the
government, or rather the efficiency of the men who by "many indirect
ways" came into power? Alas! it is a sad commentary.

The President sent a hundred papers to the department to-day, which he
has been diligently poring over, as his pencil marks bear ample
evidence. They were nearly all applications for office, and _this_
business constitutes much of his labor.