s. One battery
from the Memphis foundery lost three guns in a month by bursting,
one of them at the battle of Belmont, November 7th. After the Rebel
reverses at Forts Henry and Donelson, and the retreat from Bowling
Green and Nashville, when General Beauregard took command of the
army of the Mississippi valley, he issued a call to the citizens for
bells of every description. In some cities every church gave up its
bell. Court-houses, factories, public institutions, and plantations,
sent on theirs. And the people furnished large quantities of old
brass of every description--andirons, candlesticks, gas fixtures,
and even door-knobs. I have seen wagon loads of these lying at
railroad depots, waiting shipment to the founderies. _The Rebels are
in earnest._

But the finest cannon have been received from England. Several
magnificent guns of the Whitworth and Blakely patents I have seen,
or heard described as doing good execution among the "Yankees." How
many have been imported I can not tell, but surely a large number.
In explanation of my ignorance upon this point, let me state this
fact. For some months after the blockade was declared, vessels from
Europe were running it constantly, and the Southern papers
boastfully told of their success. The Confederate authorities saw
the evil of this publicity, and many months ago prohibited the
notice of such arrivals. Hence we see no mention of them recently,
but it is a great mistake to imagine that there are none. The
constant arrival of new European arms and ammunition, the private
talk in well-informed circles, the knowledge of the latest European
news, and especially the letters from Confederate emissaries
regularly received in the South, convince me that the blockade is by
no means perfect. From the innumerable inlets all along the
southeastern coast, and the perfect knowledge possessed of these by
Rebel pilots, it is perhaps impossible that it should be so. The
wisdom of the South in compelling the papers to omit all mention of
the facts in this case, is most unquestionable. Well would it be for
the North if the press were restrained from publishing a thousand
things, which do the readers no good, and which constantly give aid
to the Rebel leaders.

As to small-arms, the energies of the South have been more fully
developed in their manufacture than is dreamed of by the North. As
early as April, 1861, Memphis had commenced the alteration of
immense quantities of flintlock mu