out the monitors becoming entangled with
obstructions are utterly false, for there were no obstructions in the
water to impede them. But he says one of the monitors was directly over
a torpedo, containing 4000 pounds of powder, which we essayed in vain to
ignite.

APRIL 26TH.--This being Sunday I shall hear no news, for I will not be
in any of the departments.

There is a vague understanding that notwithstanding the repulse of the
enemy at Charleston, still the Federal Government collects the duties on
merchandise brought into that port, and, indeed, into all other ports.
These importations, although purporting to be conducted by British
adventurers, it is said are really contrived by Northern merchants, who
send hither (with the sanction of the Federal Government, by paying the
duty in advance) British and French goods, and in return ship our cotton
to Liverpool, etc., whence it is sometimes reshipped to New York. The
duties paid the United States are of course paid by the consumers in the
Confederate States, in the form of an additional per centum on the
prices of merchandise. Some suppose this arrangement has the sanction of
certain members of our government. The plausibility of this scheme (if
it really exists) is the fact that steamers having munitions of war
rarely get through the blockading fleet without trouble, while those
having only merchandise arrive in safety almost daily. Gen. D. Green
intimates that Mr. Memminger, and Frazer & Co., Charleston, are
personally interested in the profits of heavy importations.

APRIL 27TH.--A dispatch from Montgomery, Ala., states that the enemy
have penetrated as far as Enterprise, Miss., where we had a small body
of troops, conscripts. If this be merely a raid, it is an extraordinary
one, and I feel some anxiety to learn the conclusion of it. It is hard
to suppose a small force of the enemy would evince such temerity. But if
it be supported by an army, and the position maintained, Vicksburg is
doomed. We shall get no more sugar from Louisiana.

APRIL 28TH.--The enemy's raid in Mississippi seems to have terminated at
Enterprise, where we collected a force and offered battle, but the
invaders retreated. It is said they had 1600 cavalry and 5 guns, and the
impression prevails that but few of them will ever return. It is said
they sent back a detachment of 200 men some days ago with their booty,
watches, spoons, jewelry, etc. rifled from the habitations of the
non-combating