various Governors urging them to obtain state legislation to
reduce extortion in the food business. In the provisioning of the
army the Confederate Government had recourse to impressment and
the arbitrary fixing of prices. Though the Attorney-General held
this action to be constitutional, it led to sharp contentions;
and at length a Virginia court granted an injunction to a
speculator who had been paid by the Government for flour less
than it had cost him.

In an attempt to straighten out this tangled situation, the
Confederate Government began, late, in 1862, by appointing as its
new Secretary of War,* James A. Seddon of Virginia--at that time
high in popular favor. The Mercury hailed his advent with
transparent relief, for no appointment could have seemed to it
more promising. Indeed, as the new year (1863) opened the Mercury
was in better humor with the Administration than perhaps at any
other time during the war. To the President's message it gave
praise that was almost cordial. This amicable temper was
short-lived, however, and three months later the heavens had
clouded

* There were in all six Secretaries of War: Leroy P. Walker,
until September 16, 1861; Judah P. Benjamin, until March 18,
1862; George W. Randolph, until November 17, 1868; Gustavus W.
Smith (temporarily), until November 21, 1862; James A. Seddon,
until February 6, 1865; General John C. Breckinridge, again, for
the Government had entered upon a course that consolidated the
opposition in anger and distrust.