Editorial Notes
Messrs. Lippincott & Co., of Philadelphia, put us in possession of a “Rebel War Clerk’s Diary,” in two volumes. The author, J. B. Jones, who was long connected with the newspaper press, and was a sincere and true patriot, espoused very early the cause of the revolution which he had opposed, and accepted a position under the Confederate Government, which he held at Montgomery and Richmond, during the entire war. All who had business with the departments will remember him as the indefatigable chief of the Passport Office, from which his opportunities of observation and information were of consequence very great. He has availed himself of this in his work, and furnishes much in relation to the secret history of the government. Of what was going on outside of Richmond his knowledge was limited, and this is the field which we have selected for ourself, but we shall very often refer to the pages of our friend for illustrations. He is now in his grave, poor fellow, having just lived long enough to complete his work, which will long live as an able and interesting chronicle of the “times that tried men’s souls.” For the sake of his family, as for its intrinsic merits, we trust the work will pass through many editions. There are points in it which we shall criticise hereafter.