Ibid., 161. In February Benjamin voiced the administration's disapproval of Congress. “There has been less promptness and energy in the legislation by Congress than we had hoped for, and less than the magnitude of the interest at stake warranted us in expecting.” Benjamin to Mann, in Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, II, 623. For the deplorable condition of the country at large, see the special message of Davis, February 1, 1864. Ibid., I, 395-400.
