e whence they may!

FEBRUARY 18TH.--Mr. H----s, another of Gen. Winder's detectives, has
gone over to the enemy. He went on a privateering cruise from
Wilmington; the vessel he sailed in captured a brig, and H----s was put
in command of the prize, to sail into a Confederate port. Instead of
this, however, H----s sailed away for one of the West India islands, and
gave up his prize to Com. Wilkes, of the United States Navy.

One or two of the regiments of Gen. Lee's army were in the city last
night. The men were pale and haggard. They have but a quarter of a pound
of meat per day. But meat has been ordered from Atlanta. I hope it is
abundant there.

All the necessaries of life in the city are still going up higher in
price. Butter, $3 per pound; beef, $1; bacon, $1.25; sausage-meat, $1;
and even liver is selling at 50 cents per pound.

By degrees, quite perceptible, we are approaching the condition of
famine. What effect this will produce on the community is to be seen.
The army must be fed or disbanded, or else the city must be abandoned.
How we, "the people," are to live is a thought of serious concern.

Gen. Lee has recommended that an appeal be made to the people to bring
food to the army, to feed their sons and brothers; but the
Commissary-General opposes it; probably it will not be done. No doubt
the army could be half fed in this way for months. But the "red tape"
men are inflexible and inscrutable. Nevertheless, the commissaries and
quartermasters are getting rich.

FEBRUARY 19TH.--The resignation of Gen. Gustavus W. Smith has been
accepted by the President. It was well done--the acceptance, I mean. Who
will Gen. Winder report to now? Gen. Winder has learned that I am
keeping a diary, and that some space in it may be devoted to the history
of martial law. He said to Capt. Warner, his commissary of prisons, that
he would patronize it. The captain asked me if Gen. Winder's rule was
not dwelt upon in it. I said doubtless it was; but that I had not yet
revised it, and was never in the habit of perusing my own works until
they were completed. Then I carefully corrected them for the press.

Major-Gen. Pickett's division marched through the city to-day for
Drewry's Bluff. Gen. Lee writes that this division can beat the army
corps of Hooker, supposed to be sent to the Peninsula. It has 12,000
men--an army corps 40,000. Brig.-Gen. Hood's division is near the city,
on the Chickahominy. Gen. Lee warns the government t