rs. In spite of large squadrons, under command of competent and
zealous officers, enough war material was carried into ports of the
Confederate States to enable them, for three years, to contend
vigorously against all the armies the United States could collect, not
only from its own population, but from all the countries of Europe.

Well may the people of the Northern portion of the reconstructed Union
be proud of their fellows, who for four long years contended against
such fearful odds.

The fourth year of the war saw an end of the struggle, not only because
of the immense superiority of the North in men and material, but also on
account of a change of policy in procuring supplies. For a long time
there were no contractors between the European sources of supply and
the great consumer, the army. Cotton, the only article of value to the
outside world, passed into possession of the Government continuously and
without friction, and was landed in Nassau--exceptionally in
Bermuda--with no back charges due. Every shilling that a bale was worth,
as it lay at the landing-place, was so much to the credit of the War or
Navy Department with Fraser, Trenholm & Co., Liverpool, and was
available as soon as the arrival was announced by mail _via_ New York.
There were literally no leaks. More devoted or more intelligent and
trustworthy agents than were Fraser, Trenholm & Co., during the four
years in which they acted for the Richmond Government, never served any
principal.

But in the latter stages of the war, contracts with the Government began
to appear. These contracts, made in Richmond, were generally a sort of
partnership affair by which the contractor, usually an English company,
shared equally the freighting capacity of each blockade runner. A
representative of one of these companies brought to me, one day, a draft
on myself for a large sum in sterling--I think it was L10,000, but this
may not be the exact sum. What to do with it was a difficult problem.
The payee, a respectable merchant of Richmond, presented it in person,
and there was no doubt of its genuineness. After considering the matter
a few minutes, I said:

"I can't pay this, Captain C----."

"What!" he said, "Repudiate the draft of Colonel Gorgas?"

"Can't help it; I cannot and shall not honor it. I need much more money
than I have received, to pay for what has gone forward, and I have large
contracts out for supplies."

"I will assume your contracts," he re