. The country
was unhappy, for it had lost faith in the Government at Richmond. The
blockade was producing its effect. European intervention was receding
into the distance. One of the characteristics of the editorials and
speeches of this period is a rising tide of bitterness against England.
Napoleon's proposal in November to mediate, though it came to naught,
somewhat revived the hope of an eventual recognition of the Confederacy
but did not restore buoyancy to the people of the South. The
Emancipation Proclamation, though scoffed at as a cry of impotence, none
the less increased the general sense of crisis.

Worst of all, because of its immediate effect upon the temper of the
time, food was very scarce and prices had risen to indefensible heights.
The army was short of shoes. In the newspapers, as winter came on, were
to be found touching descriptions of Lee's soldiers standing barefoot in
the snow. A flippant comment of Benjamin's, that the shoes had probably
been traded for whiskey, did not tend to improve matters. Even though
short of supplies themselves, the people as a whole eagerly subscribed
to buy shoes for the army.

There was widespread and heartless speculation in the supplies.
Months previous the Courier had made this ominous editorial remark:
"Speculators and monopolists seem determined to force the people
everywhere to the full exercise of all the remedies allowed by law." In
August, 1862, the Governor of Florida wrote to the Florida delegation at
Richmond urging them to take steps to meet the "nefarious smuggling"
of speculators who charged extortionate prices. In September, he wrote
again begging for legislation to compel millers, tanners, and saltmakers
to offer their products at reasonable rates. As these men were exempt
from military duty because their labor was held to be a public
service, feeling against them ran high. Governor Vance proposed a state
convention to regulate prices for North Carolina and by proclamation
forbade the export of provisions in order to prevent the seeking of
exorbitant prices in other markets. Davis wrote to various Governors
urging them to obtain state legislation to reduce extortion in the food
business. In the provisioning of the army the Confederate Government had
recourse to impressment and the arbitrary fixing of prices. Though the
Attorney-General held this action to be constitutional, it led to sharp
contentions; and at length a Virginia court granted an injunc