The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-12-22

on the day before Lees surrender. ut W. are
told 1t would not have been an imposs ble Occur.
renee at any time during tho preceding year.
Mr.. Eggcston himself paid five dollars for little
salt at Petersburg in August, 1864. and. being
thirsty drank his last two dollars In half pint
OF cider. The course finally adopted by tho
Government OF lcvyinR n tax in kind. as the
only possible way Of making taxes Yield any
thing, lcd speedily 10 the introduction OF n SINH
lar plan among the pcopl'. Toward the last
system OF barter was regularly practised I'm
some portions OF the country Thus in nm nd
vcrtiscmcnt Of Hamdcn Sydney College printed
in the Richmond Examiner for October f. 1864.
students are offered GARD in private families ut
about eight dollars a month payable in provis-
ions at tho rates prevailing in September 1860.
Nor was 1t at all uncommon for a physician TO
order from his planter friend ten or twenty
visits worth Of corn
Int chapter entitled Rcd Tape" Mr. Egges-
ton touches with candor and severity some OF
tho shortcomings the Richmond Adminstra-
ton. 1t is certainly ono OF the most striking
anomalies Of history that Government corsti-
tutionally weak beyond all precedent. should
have boon able for four years to exercise in
particularly offensive way all the powers OF tho
most rigorous despotism. and that. too. over a
people which had been living for generations
under democratic institutions. Mr.. Egglcston
II no admirer Of Jefferson Davis. and does not
hesitate to pronounce him and his conductors
wronghcadrd and incompetent in n surprising
degroe. The weakness OF the Government par
alyzed the army and people. but It's weakness
was the least hurtiul side Of its character. To
the authors mind. the only wonder il that with
such an Administration tho Confederate forces
were able to keep the field at all. Mr. Egglcston
confirms the statement which has at various
times been published. that the general distrust
Of Mr.. Davis was engcndercd at nm early date.
and that even in the autumn Of 1861 when the
election Of permanent President took place.
there was decided disposition on the part Of
the troops to vote against him. But there was
no opposing candidate. and the dread Of show
Ing divided front finally secured tho suflraa -
OF the army We are assured. however that
the wish 10 SEQ Gen. Lcc assume n Dictatorship
was very commonly expressed In private life "a
well M in the army during the last two years Of
the war
Mr.. Esgleston finds himself unable TO state
precisely when the conviction became general
that the South was bentef The newspapers
were rs confident as ever W to the hour Of tho
evacuation Of Richmond. but that Of course.
was only whsting to keep up heart. Tho
writer says. however that even during the final
IttTeM htnou-u tnerc were many ue' 'rtlons
after Richmond had been left behind. zone Of
those who chung to the nag gave any verbal ex-
preston to misgiving. much less to despair.
The officers discussed tho relative strategic
merits of the new limo they hoped to form on the
Roanoke River. while the people along their
route affirmed their faith that they would soc
them again on the way TO the rccapture Of Rich
mond.
Some valuable information bearing on the
state OF things at the South In tho interval o.
disintegraiion between the capture Of Lees
army at Appomattox and tho beginning Of re.
construction may be gathered from this vol.
ume. Perhaps no part Of the authors them,
WAS more difficult to treat without sectional
prejudice or rancor. Yet hero as elsewhere
Mr.. Eggleston has acquitted himself with exem'
plary discretion and notable felicity. Indeed
we cannot too highly commend the sound sense
-mindedness. good humor. and good tast,
which invest every chapter Of this book with
| attractiveness aud authority. NJ. W. II.