From Washington.
barbarous designs of the U. S. Leaders — troops pouring in — Manassas Junction to be attacked by 40,000 men — plan for assassinating President Davis--strict watch of the U. S. Officers, and Laxity on the part of the Confederate authorities.
[special Correspondence of the Dispatch.]
Washington, D. C., June 1.
Dear Dispatch:
At the risk of the halter, if I am discovered, and with the hope of opening the eyes of our people to the hellish plots soon to be attempted against them, I write this hurried scrap.
Scarcely a train reaches here that is not filled with Hessians for the subjugation of the South; and no sooner is one regiment landed here than another is pushed off to Alexandria, to make up the great invading column soon to move against Manassas Junction and Harper's Ferry, the great key to the Southern heart.
I am informed by a distinguished Black Republican Senator that the grand attack is to be made by forty thousand picked men, and the Lincolnites, little knowing the courage of our own gallant men, who are fighting for their homes and their firesides, expect, by the aid of the traitor, Scott, to overrun and subjugate us with very little loss.
Judging from what I have seen here, their number, multiplied by ten, will hardly be able to carry out their designs; for a more miserable, ignorant, brutal looking herd I have never seen together than are the armies with which Scott hopes to crush out his own native State.
Let our leaders be prepared for them at all points and we have nothing to fear.
While standing in Willard's Hotel last night, a small party of men gathered near me, and engaging in earnest conversation, I heard one of them say to another, ‘"Jeff. Davis, the rebel leader, is soon to be cared for."’ I have just seen with my own eyes the gentleman who has sworn to take his life at any cost; and he will do it. His plan is to get a letter of introduction from some leading Secessionist here to President Davis; then to visit him at his rooms in your city, and ask for a private friendly interview; and then, under the guise of friendship, to plunge a dagger to his heart, regardless of the consequences!
That there is a plan on foot here for the murder of the Southern President, I have not a shadow of a doubt.
From all I can learn here, I am satisfied that the authorities in your city, and throughout Virginia, are entirely too liberal with their passes for foreigners and strangers.--Scarcely an hour passes that some fresh arrival from the South is not announced to the Lincolnites of this place, many of them having plans of the works at Harper's Ferry, Manassas Junction, Acquia Creek, and along the York and Potomac rivers, and many of them being able to give the number of soldiers at each point, the strength of our batteries, the names of commanders, and the most accessible routes by which to attack them.
If this liberality --this suicidal looseness of management — is to continue, the consequences may be serious, before we are aware of it. Without presuming to dictate to our leaders, may I not be allowed to suggest to them the impropriety of allowing any others than our own soldiers to enter any of our encampments at any point; and, above all, to permit no more Northern men, even with Southern principles, to go into or to leave the State?
Depend upon it, the Republicans have spies in our midst, in every capacity — even as soldiers — and unless the strictest watch is kept, and every avenue guarded, we may be sold to our foes, or our cause seriously damaged by pretended friend. Dear Dispatch:
South. Yours,
