The arsenal, too, was full of gunpowder, of great guns, of valuable
military stores and equipments. And these were just such things as a
gentleman resolved to be a ruler and have a government according to
his own way of thinking would stand most in need of. In short, the
powder and big guns might be needed as a means of convincing those
who differed with him that his opinions must be respected. This is a
queer world, my son, and man is the strangest and most
uncontrollable animal in it. Mr. Davis understood this as well as
any gentleman within my knowledge. And if he had kept as keen an eye
on his finances as he had on his political fortune, it would have
been much better for him. He knew that if he could show to the world
that his new government was sound financially, and likely to
continue so, his prospects would be bright indeed. And with
Washington, and what Washington contained, in his possession, he
could set up his claim to the confidence of the financial world with
more than ordinary pretensions.

It was indeed said (but I think in a strain of slander) that Mr.
Beauregard looked with an air of great condescension on our noble
Treasury building, and promised his fighting followers a share of
its contents as soon as it came into his master's possession. Indeed
it was said that Mr. Beauregard promised his men that when they got
Washington they should have luxuries for rations, and fight with
their pockets filled with silver and gold. And with their
expectations firmly fixed on a specie basis, who could doubt as to
what the result would be? This was the golden prize Mr. Davis hoped
to win with Washington. And with it he saw, or rather thought he
saw, England extending to him the right hand of fellowship, and the
Emperor of France making him one of his very best bows, and thanking
him for the liberty he had taken with the freedom of a people.