March 7, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
(CORRESPONDENCE OF THE MERCURY.)
RICHMOND, Tuesday, March 3.
Everybody admits that the horizon is darker than at any previous stage of the war, yet everybody is cheerful and confident. Dictator LINCOLN, with his powers of purse and sword, has no terrors for a people who have endured and achieved what we have done. His millions of soldiers are all Yankees; his mighty purse is full of rage 72 1/2 per. cent. below par. Great struggles are at hand, but they are the convulsions of a dying giant. We have only to keep our ranks full to secure a speedy peace. This is the feeling in the Confederate Capital.
The European news is less encouraging than we expected. Lord Derby fails us, and the face of England is set as a flint against us. So much the better. This war was not altogether of man’s making, and it seems that Providence, which has so steadfastly sustained us, intends that we shall work out our own salvation, unaided by foreigners, and without debts of gratitude or complications of any sort to arrest our career of permanent peace. No one is sanguine of aid from France, though many are inclined to court it.
Gold advanced 40 per cent. yesterday. Many causes conduce to the rise. Numbers of foreigners are leaving, taking gold with them. Full one hundred of them were at Gen. Winder’s office this morning. Some of them are scared; others desire to return with stocks of goods at the earliest opening of our ports. Again, the capitalists of our city are engaged extensively in the blockade running business, and they require gold for their operations. Thirdly, the discussion in secret session of the question of finance has occasioned vague apprehensions, which no one defines, yet every one acts upon. Lastly, the rise in New York affects the gold market here.
A son of Halleck, the editor of the Journal of Commerce, has just reached this city, bringing with him cheering intelligence of the depression and alarm in the monetary and political circles of the North. He comes to cast his lot with us. Says he has seen more gaiety and confidence in Richmond since his arrival than for six months before.
Gen. Longstreet is said to be only temporarily assigned to the command of this department, vacated by the resignation of Gen. G. W. Smith. Gen. Toombs’ resignation is announced. Reported that the President is anxious to put Gen. Harry Heth in D. H. Hill’s place. Col. Alexander Taliaferro, it is said, will shortly be promoted to a Brigadiership.
The N. Y. Tribune, of the 20th, has a story equal to that about the rebels making spurs out of the jawbones of dead Yankees. Here is the heading: ‘Horrible Barbarities in Texas – Fiendish Ingratitude of Secessionists – Devilish Tortures and Persecutions – Mutilation of the Body of one of their Victims – the Fat Fried out to Oil Firearms.’
Weather clear and warm; roads drying rapidly.
HERMES.