interview with the private secretary of General Belknap, which resulted in a letter from the Secretary of War to the Society, in which he gave some interesting facts concerning the Confederate records, and the progress that had been made towards preparing them for publication, assured us that there was no purpose of mutilating those records, and asked our co-operation in completing his files of Confederate reports and documents Our secretary replied, expressing our earnest desire that all of the Confederate archives should be published, and our readiness to co-operate with the Department at Washington—provided they would reciprocate, giving us copies of papers we need in exchange for what they wanted. The Secretary of War did not seem, in his reply, disposed to accede to our conditions, but it was still hoped that a mutually satisfactory arrangement could be effected, when General Belknap resigned,[1] and the correspondence was broken off. We have not deemed it wise since to renew it, but we hope the day is not far distant when a returning sense of justice and fair dealing will allow us full access to those missing links of a history of which no true Southerner need be ashamed, and of which every true American will one day be proud.
FINANCES.
From the organization of the Society, it has been crippled by the want of means to properly carry on its work. We are glad to be able to report a decided improvement in this respect during the past year, for while we could have used very judiciously more money, we have not been so cramped as heretofore, have had much greater facilities than ever, and feel assured that the Society is now on a sound financial basis, and that its receipts in the future will fully meet all of its necessary expenses. At the same time we will need money to buy books for our library, to purchase MSS. and documents which we cannot otherwise procure, to put our publications on the shelves of public libraries whose managers will not purchase them, and to do many other desirable things—so that those of our friends who are able to do so would be promoting a good work by making donations to the treasury of the Society.
The following summary of receipts and disbursements from October 25th, 1875, to October 31st, 1876, will exhibit the financial workings and present status of the Society:
- ↑ He was impeached (Wikisource contributor note)
