They watch the operations of our armies, and hope still for a Southern Confederacy that will restore to them the slaves and privileges which they feel are otherwise lost forever.

In my judgment, we have two more battles to win before we should even bother our minds with the idea of restoring civil order--viz., one near Meridian, in November, and one near Shreveport, in February and March next, when Red River is navigable by our gunboats.

When these are done, then, and not until then, will the planters of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, submit.

Slavery is already gone, and, to cultivate the land, negro or other labor must be hired.

This, of itself, is a vast revolution, and time must be afforded to allow men to adjust their minds and habits to this new order of things.