similar one from the Federal Congress, communicated to them in
secret session, and now a part of our archives."

How much the country was in the dark with regard to some vital
matters is revealed by an attack on the Confederate
Administration which was made by the Charleston Mercury, in
February. The Southern Government was accused of unpardonable
slowness in sending agents to Europe to purchase munitions. In
point of fact, the Confederate Government had been more prompt
than the Union Government in rushing agents abroad. But the
country was not permitted to know this. Though the Courier was a
government organ in Charleston, it did not meet the charges of
the Mercury by disclosing the facts about the arduous attempts of
the Confederate Government to secure arms in Europe. The reply of
the Courier to the Mercury, though spirited, was all in general
terms. "To shake confidence in Jefferson Davis," said the
Courier, "is...to bring 'hideous ruin and combustion' down
upon our dearest hopes and interests." It made "Mr. Davis and his
defensive policy" objects of all admiration; called Davis "our
Moses." It was deeply indignant because it had been "reliably
informed that men of high official position among us" were
"calling for a General Convention of the Confederate States to
depose him and set up a military Dictator in his place." The
Mercury retorted that, as to the plot against "our Moses," there
was no evidence of its existence except the Courier's assertion.
Nevertheless, it considered Davis "an incubus to the cause." The
controversy between the Mercury and the Courier at Charleston was
paralleled at Richmond by the constant bickering between the
government organ, the Enquirer, and the Examiner, which shares
with the Mercury the first place among the newspapers hostile to