by John Beauchamp Jones
APRIL 5TH —Cold rain all night and all day; wind northwest.
The Quartermaster-General now recommends that no furloughs be given, so as to devote the railroads to the transportation of grain to Virginia.
The Commissary-General again informs the Secretary of War, to-day, that unless the passenger trains were discontinued, the army could not be subsisted, and Richmond and all Virginia might have to be abandoned, and the country might be pillaged by our own soldiers. Not a word against the Southern (Yankee) Express Company.
Our prospects are brighter than they have been for many a day, and the enemy are doomed, I think, to a speedy humiliation.
I saw a note to-day from Mr. Memminger stating his fears that the amount of Treasury notes funded will not exceed $200,000,000, leaving $600,000,000 still in circulation! It is true, some $300,000,000 might be collected in taxes, if due vigilance were observed,—but will it be observed? He says he can make between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000 of the new currency per day. If this be done, the redundancy will soon be as great as ever. Nothing but success in the field will prevent an explosion and repudiation of the currency, sooner or later.
