again ours. This is
said to be the sixth battle he has fought in twenty days, and they say
he has won them all. And the Seventh Regiment distinguished itself, and
was presented with four cannon on the battlefield in acknowledgment of
its gallant conduct! Gibbes belongs to the "ragged howling regiment
that rushed on the field yelling like unchained devils and spread a
panic through the army," as the Northern papers said, describing the
battle of Manassas. Oh, how I hope he has escaped!

And they say "Palmerston has urged the recognition of the Confederacy,
and an armed intervention on our side." Would it not be glorious? Oh,
for peace, blessed peace, and our brothers once more! Palmerston is
said to have painted Butler as the vilest oppressor, and having added
he was ashamed to acknowledge him of Anglo-Saxon origin. Perhaps
knowing the opinion entertained of him by foreign nations, caused
Butler to turn such a somersault. For a few days before his arrival
here, we saw a leading article in the leading Union paper of New
Orleans, threatening us with the arming of the slaves for our
extermination if England interfered, in the same language almost as
Butler used when here; three days ago the same paper ridiculed the
idea, and said such a brutal, inhuman thing was never for a moment
thought of, it was too absurd. And so the world goes! We all turn
somersaults occasionally.

And yet, I would rather we would achieve our independence alone, if
possible. It would be so much more glorious. And then I would hate to
see England conquer the North, even if for our sake; my love for the
old Union is still too great to be willing to see it so humiliated. If
England would just make Lincoln come to his senses, and put an end to
all this confiscation which is sweeping over everything, make him agree
to let us alone and behave himself, that will be quite enough. But what
a task! If it were put to the vote to-morrow to return free and
unmolested to the Union, or stay out, I am sure Union would have the
majority; but this way, to think we are to be sent to Fort Jackson and
all the other prisons for expressing our ideas, however harmless, to
have our houses burned over our heads, and all the prominent men
hanged, who would be eager for it?--unless, indeed, it was to escape
even the greater horrors of a war of extermination.

July 5th.

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