suppose cargoes of this
nature have been arriving once a week ever since the war broke out. This
cargo, and the ship, belong to the government.

9 O'CLOCK P.M.--After a very cold day, it has become intensely frigid. I
have two fires in our little Robin's Nest (frame) on the same floor, and
yet ice forms rapidly in both rooms, and we have been compelled to empty
the pitchers! This night I doubt not the Potomac will be closed to
Burnside and his transports! During the first Revolution, the Chesapeake
was frozen over. If we have a winter like that, we shall certainly have
an armistice in Virginia without the intervention of any other than the
Great Power above. But we shall suffer for the want of fuel: wood is $18
per cord, and coal $14 per cart load.

Gen. Bonham, who somehow incurred the dislike of the authorities here,
and was dropped out of the list of brigadiers, has been made Governor of
South Carolina.

And Gen. Wise, who is possessed of perhaps the greatest mind in the
Confederacy, is still fettered. They will not let him fight a battle,
because he is "ambitious!" When Norfolk was (wickedly) given up, his
home and all his possessions fell into the hands of the enemy. He is now
without a shelter for his head, bivouacing with his devoted brigade at
Chaffin's farm, below the city. He is the senior brigadier in the army,
and will never be a major-general.

DECEMBER 21ST, SUNDAY.--Nothing, yet, has been done by the immense
Federal fleet of iron-clad gun-boats which were to devastate our coast
this winter. But the winter is not over yet, and I apprehend something
will be attempted. However, we shall make a heroic defense of every
point assailed.

I omitted to state, in connection with the partnership formed between
Mr. Myers and Mr. Randolph, that the former had already succeeded, when
the latter was Secretary of War, in getting the substitutes of the Jew
extortioners out of the army, on the ground that they were not domiciled
in this country; and now both are intent on procuring the exemption of
the principals. This may be good practice, but it is not good service.
Every man protected and enriched by the government, owes service to the
country in its hour of peril.

I am glad to hear that W. H. B. Custis, of the Eastern Shore of
Virginia, takes no part in the war. This is the proper course for him
under the circumstances. It is said he declined a high position tendered
by the Federal Government. No doubt he has