diff options
Diffstat (limited to '29264.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 29264.txt | 9089 |
1 files changed, 9089 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/29264.txt b/29264.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39294f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/29264.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9089 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Diary from November 12, 1862, to October +18, 1863, by Adam Gurowski + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863 + +Author: Adam Gurowski + +Release Date: June 28, 2009 [EBook #29264] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIARY *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Christine P. Travers and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. +Hyphenation and accentuation have been standardised, all +other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling +has been maintained. + +Page 94: The word "of" has been added in "If the Army of the Potomac".] + + + + +DIARY, + +FROM + +NOVEMBER 18, 1862, TO OCTOBER 18, 1863. + + +BY + +ADAM GUROWSKI. + + + + +VOLUME SECOND. + + + + +NEW-YORK: + +_Carleton, Publisher, 413 Broadway._ + +MDCCCLXIV. + + + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, + +By GEO. W. CARLETON, + +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern +District of New York. + + + + +Of all the peoples known in history, the American people most +readily forgets YESTERDAY; + +I publish this DIARY in order to recall YESTERDAY to the memory of +my countrymen. + + GUROWSKI. + +WASHINGTON, October, 1863. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + NOVEMBER, 1862. 11 + +Secretary Chase -- French Mediation -- The Decembriseur -- +Diplomatic Bendings. + + + DECEMBER, 1862. 22 + +President's Message -- Political Position -- Fredericksburgh -- Fog +-- Accident -- Crisis in the Cabinet -- Secretary Chase -- Burnside +-- Halleck -- The Butchers -- The Lickspittle Republican Press -- +War Committee Patriots -- Youth -- People -- Ring out. + + + JANUARY, 1863. 61 + +Proclamation -- Parade -- Halleck -- Diplomats -- Herodians -- +Inspired Men -- War Powers -- Rosecrans -- Butler -- Seward -- +Doctores Constitutionis -- Hogarth -- Rhetors -- European Enemies -- +Second Sight -- Senator Wright, the Patriot -- Populus Romanus -- +Future Historian -- English People -- Gen. Mitchel -- Hooker in +Command -- Staffs -- Arming Africo-Americans -- Thurlow Weed, &c. + + + FEBRUARY, 1863. 119 + +The Problems before the People -- The Circassian -- Department of +State and International Laws -- Foresight -- Patriot Stanton and the +Rats -- Honest Conventions -- Sanitary Commission -- Harper's Ferry +-- John Brown -- The Yellow Book -- The Republican Party -- Epitaph +-- Prize Courts -- Suum cuique -- Academy of Sciences -- Democratic +Rank and File, etc. + + + MARCH, 1863. 159 + +Press -- Ethics -- President's Powers -- Seward's Manifestoes -- +Cavalry -- Letters of Marque -- Halleck -- Sigel -- Fighting -- +McDowell -- Schalk -- Hooker -- Etat Major-General -- Gold -- Cloaca +Maxima -- Alliance -- Burnside -- Halleckiana -- Had we but +Generals, how often Lee could have been destroyed, etc. + + + APRIL, 1863. 182 + +Lord Lyons -- Blue Book -- Diplomats -- Butler -- Franklin -- +Bancroft -- Homunculi -- Fetishism -- Committee on the Conduct of +the War -- Non-intercourse -- Peterhoff -- Sultan's Firman -- Seward +-- Halleck -- Race -- Capua -- Feint -- Letter-writing -- England -- +Russia -- American Revolution -- Renovation -- Women -- Monroe +Doctrine, etc. + + + MAY, 1863. 215 + +Advance -- Crossing -- Chancellorsville -- Hooker -- Staff -- Lee -- +Jackson -- Stunned -- Suggestions -- Meade -- Swinton -- La Fayette +-- Happy Grant -- Rosecrans -- Halleck -- Foote -- Elections -- +Re-elections -- Tracks -- Seward -- 413, etc. + + + JUNE, 1863. 238 + +Banks -- "The Enemy Crippled" -- Count Zeppelin -- Hooker -- Stanton +-- "Give Him a Chance" -- Mr. Lincoln's Looks -- Rappahannock -- +Slaughter -- North Invaded -- "To be Stirred up" -- Blasphemous +Curtin -- Banquetting -- Groping -- Retaliation -- Foote -- Hooker +-- Seward -- Panama -- Chase -- Relieved -- Meade -- Nobody's Fault +-- Staffs, etc. + + + JULY, 1863. 257 + +Eneas -- Anchises -- General Warren -- Aldie -- General Pleasanton +-- Superior Mettle -- Gettysburgh -- Cholera Morbus -- Vicksburgh -- +Army of Heroes -- Apotheosis -- "Not Name the Generals" -- Indian +Warfare -- Politicians -- Spittoons -- Riots -- Council of War -- +Lords and Lordlings -- Williamsport -- Shame -- Wadsworth -- "To +meet the Empress Eugenie," etc. + + + AUGUST, 1863. 286 + +Stanton -- Twenty Thousand -- Canadians -- Peterhoff -- Coffey -- +Initiation -- Electioneering -- Reports -- Grant -- McClellan -- +Belligerent Rights -- Menagerie -- Watson -- Jury -- Democrats -- +Bristles -- "Where is Stanton?" -- "Fight the Monster" -- Chasiana +-- Luminaries -- Ballistic -- Political Economy, etc. + + + SEPTEMBER, 1863. 310 + +Jeff Davis -- Incubuerunt -- O, Youth! -- Lucubrations -- Genuine +Europe -- It is Forgotten -- Fremont -- Prof. Draper -- New Yorkers +-- Senator Sumner's Gauntlet -- Prince Gortschakoff -- Governor +Andrew -- New Englanders -- Re-elections -- Loyalty -- Cruizers -- +Matamoras -- Hurrah for Lincoln -- Rosecrans -- Strategy -- Sabine +Pass, etc. + + + OCTOBER, 1863. 338 + +Aghast -- Firing -- Supported -- Russian Fleet -- Opposition -- Amor +scelerated -- Cautious -- Mastiffs -- _Grande Guerre_ -- Manoeuvring +-- Tambour battant -- Warning, etc. + + + + +DIARY. + + + + +NOVEMBER, 1862. + + Secretary Chase -- French Mediation -- the Decembriseur -- + Diplomatic Bendings. + + +_November 18._--In the street a soldier offered to sell me the pay +already several months overdue to him. As I could not help him, as +gladly I would have done, being poor, he sold it to a curb-stone +broker, a street note-shaver. I need not say that the poor soldier +sustained a loss of twenty-five per cent. by the operation! He +wanted to send the money home to his poor wife and children; yet one +fourth of it was thus given into the hands of a stay-at-home +speculator. Alas, for me! I could not save the poor fellow from the +remorseless shaver, but I could and did join him in a very energetic +cursing of Chase, that at once pompous and passive patriot. + +This induced me to enter upon a further and more particular +investigation, and I found that hundreds of similar cases were of +almost daily occurrence; and that this cheating of the soldiers out +of their nobly and patriotically earned pay, may quite fairly be +denounced as rather the rule than as the exception. The army is +unpaid! Unspeakable infamy! Before,--long before the intellectually +poor occupant of the White House, long before _any_ civil employe, +big or little, the ARMY ought to be paid. Common humanity, common +sense, and sound policy affirm this; and common decency, to say +nothing about chivalric feelings, adds that when paymasters are sent +to the army at all, their first payments should be made to the rank +and file; the generals and their subordinate officers to be paid, +not before, but afterwards. Oh! for the Congress, for the Congress +to meet once again! My hope is in the Congress, to resist, and +sternly put an end to, such heaven-defying and man-torturing +injustice as now braves the curses of outraged men, and the anger of +God. How this pompous Chase disappoints every one, even those who at +first were inclined to be even weakly credulous and hopeful of his +official career. And why is Stanton silent? He ought to roar. As for +Lincoln--he, ah! * * * * The curses of all the books of all the +prophets be upon the culprits who have thus compelled our gallant +and patriotic soldiery to mingle their tears with their own blood +and the blood of the enemy! + +_Nov. 18._--Again Seward assures Lord Lyons that the national +troubles will soon be over, and that the general affairs of the +country "stand where he wanted them." Seward's crew circulate in the +most positive terms, that the country will be pacified by the State +Department! England, moved by the State papers and official +notes--England, officially and non-officially, will stop the +iron-clads, built and launched in English ports and harbors for the +use of the rebels, and for the annoyance and injury of the United +States. England, these Americans say, England, no doubt, has said +some hard words, and has been guilty of some detestably treacherous +actions; but all will probably be settled by the benign influence of +Mr. Seward's despatches, which, as everyone knows, are perfectly +irresistible. How the wily Palmerston must chuckle in Downing +Street. + +The difference between Seward and a real statesman, is this: that a +statesman is always, and very wisely, chary about committing himself +in writing, and only does it when compelled by absolutely +irresistible circumstances, or by temptations brilliant enough to +overrule all other considerations; for, such a statesman never for +one moment forgets or disregards the old adage which saith that +"_Verba volant, scripta manent_." But Seward, on the contrary, +literally revels in a flood of ink, and fancies that the more he +writes, the greater statesman he becomes. + +At the beginning of this month, I wrote to the French minister, M. +Mercier, a friendly and respectful note, warning him against +meddling with politicians and busybodies. I told him that, before he +could even suspect it, such men would bring his name before the +public in a way neither pleasant nor profitable to him. M. Mercier +took it in good part, and cordially thanked me for my advice. + +_Nov. 19._--Burnside means well, and has a good heart; but something +more is required to make a capable captain, more especially in such +times as those in which we are living. It is said that his staff is +well organized; God be praised for that, if it really is so. In that +case, Burnside will be the first among the loudly-lauded and +self-conceited West-Point men, forcibly to impress both the military +and the civilian mind in America, with a wholesome consciousness of +the paramount importance to an army of a thoroughly competent and +trustworthy staff. + +The division of the army into three grand corps is good; it is at +once wise and well-timed, following the example set by Napoleon, +when he invaded Russia in 1812. If his subordinate generals will but +do well, I have entire confidence in Hooker. He is the man for the +time and for the place. As a fighting man, Sumner is fully and +unquestionably reliable; but I have my doubts about Franklin. He is +cold, calculating, and ambitious, and he has the especially bad +quality of being addicted to the alternate blowing of hot and cold. +Burnside did a good thing in confiding to General Siegel a separate +command. + +The _New York Times_ begins to mend its bad ways; but how long will +it continue in the better path? + +_Nov. 20._--England stirs up and backs up rebellion and disunion +here; but, in Europe, for the sake of the unity of barbarism, +Islamism, and Turkey, England throttles, and manacles, and lays +prostrate beneath the feet of the Osmanli, the Greeks, the Sclavi, +the heroic Montenegrins. England is the very incarnation of a +treachery and a perfidy previously unexampled in the history of the +world. The _Punica fides_, so fiercely denounced and so bitterly +satirized by the historians and poets of old Rome, was truthful if +compared to the _Fides Anglica_ of our own day. + +_Nov. 22._--Our army seems to be massed so as to be able to wedge +itself in between Jackson in the valley and Lee at Gordonsville. By +a bold manoeuvre, each of them could be separately attacked, and, I +firmly believe, destroyed. But, unfortunately, boldness and +manoeuvre, that highest gift, that supreme inspiration of the +consummate captain, have no abiding place in the bemuddled brains of +the West-Pointers, who are a dead weight and drag-chain upon the +victimised and humiliated Army of the Potomac. + +_Nov. 25._--The Army is stuck fast in the mud, and the march towards +Fredericksburgh is not at all unlikely to end in smoke. There seems +to be an utter absence of executive energy. Why not mask our +movements before Gordonsville from the observation of Lee? Or, if +preferable, what is to hinder the interposition of _un rideau +vivant_, a _living curtain_, in the form of a false attack, a feint +in considerable force, behind which the whole army might be securely +thrown across the Rappahannock, by which at least two days' march +would be gained on Lee, and our troops would be on the direct line +for Fredericksburg, if Fredericksburg is really to be the base for +future operations. In this way, the army would have marched against +Fredericksburg on both sides of the river. Or, supposing those plans +to be rejected, why not throw a whole army corps at once, say 40,000 +to 50,000 strong, across the Rappahannock. On either plan, I repeat +it, at least two days' march would have been stolen upon Lee; three +or four days of forced marches would have been healthy for our army, +and a bloodless victory would have been obtained by the taking of +the seemingly undefended Fredericksburg. A dense cloud enveloped +this whole enterprise, and it is not even improbable, that the +campaign may become a dead failure even before it has accomplished +the half of its projected and loudly vaunted course. But bold +conceptions, and energetic movements to match them, are just about +as possible to Halleck or Burnside as railroad speed to the tedious +tortoise. + +_Nov. 25._--Oh! So Louis Napoleon could not keep quiet. He offers +his mediation, which, in plain English, means his moral support to +the South. Oh! that enemy to the whole human race. That +_Decembriseur_.[1] Our military slowness, if nothing else is the +matter, our administrative and governmental helplessness, and +Seward's lying and all-confusing foreign policy have encouraged +foreign impertinence and foreign meddling. I have all along +anticipated them as an at least very possible result of the above +mentioned causes. [See vol. I of the Diary.] Nevertheless, I +scarcely expected such results to appear so soon. Perhaps this same +impertinent French action may prove a second French _faux pas_, to +follow in the wake of the first and very egregious _faux pas_ in +Mexico. The best that we can say for the _Decembriseur_ is, that he +is getting old. England refuses to join in his at once wild and +atrocious schemes, and makes a very Tomfool of the bloody Fox of the +Tuileries. My, Russia--ah! I am very confident of that--will refuse +to join in the dirty and treacherous conspiracy for the +preservation of slavery. Well for mediation. But Mr. _Decembriseur_, +what think you and your diplomatic lackeys; what judgment and what +determination do you and they form as to the terms and the +termination, too, of your diabolical scheme? Descend, sir, from your +shilly-shally generalities and verbal fallacies. Is it to be a +commercial union, this hobby of your minister here? What is it; let +us in all plainness of speech know what it is that you really and +positively intend. Propound to us the plain meaning and scope of +your imperial proposition. + + [Footnote 1: The men who, in the great French revolution, + and under the leadership of Danton and of the municipality + of Paris, massacred the political prisoners in September, + 1792, are recorded in history under the name of + _Septembriseurs_. Louis Napoleon may no less justly be + called the _Decembriseur_, from that frightful massacre on + the 2nd of December, from which he dates his despotism.] + +_Nov. 27._--Lee, with his army, marches or marched on the south side +of the river, in a parallel to the line of Burnside on the north +side of the river, and Jackson quietly, but quickly follows. They +are at Fredericksburg, and our army looms up, calm, but stern; +still, but defiant and menacing. I heartily wish that Burnside may +be successful, and that I may prove to have been a false prophet. +But the great _Fatum_, FATE, seems to declare against Burnside, and +Fate generally takes sides with bold conceptions and their energetic +execution. + +_Nov. 28._--The French despatch-scheme reads very like a Washington +concoction, and does not at all bear the marks of Parisian origin. I +find in it whole phrases which, for months past, I have repeatedly +heard from the French minister here. Perhaps Mr. Mercier, in his +turn, may have caught many of Mr. Seward's much-cherished +generalities, unintelligible, very probably, even to himself, and +quite certainly so to every one but himself. Perhaps, I say, Mr. +Mercier may have caught up some of them, and making them up at +hap-hazard into a _macedoine_, a hash, a hotch-potch, has served up +the second-hand and heterogeneous mess to his master in Paris. The +despatch expresses the fear of a servile war; this may very well +have been copied from Mr. Seward's despatch to Mr. Adams, (May, +1862,) wherein Seward attempted to frighten England by a prophecy of +a servile war in this country. + +_Nov. 30._--Mr. Seward semi-officially and conveniently accepts the +French impudence. Computing the time and space, the scheme +corresponds with McClellan's inactivity after Antietam, and with the +raising of the banner of the Copperheads. I spoke of this before, +(see Diary for November and December, 1861, in Vol. I.) and +repeatedly warned Stanton. + +_Nov. 30._--Mercier, the French diplomat, rapidly gravitates towards +the Copperheads--Democrats. Is he acting thus _in obedience to +orders_? After all, some of the diplomats here, and especially those +of what call themselves the "three great powers," almost openly +sympathize and side with secessionists, and patronize Copperheads, +traitors, and spies. The exceptions to this rule are but few; +strictly speaking, indeed, I should except only one young man. Some +diplomats justify this conduct on the plea that the Republican +Congressmen are "great bores," who will not play at cards, or dine +and drink copiously; accomplishments in which the Secesh was so +pre-eminent as to win his way to the inner depths of the diplomatic +heart. The people, I am sure, will heartily applaud those of its +representatives for thus incurring the contempt of dissipated +diplomats. + +Some persons maintain that Stanton breaks down, perhaps that he +suffers, physically as well as mentally, from his necessitated +contact with his official colleagues and his and their persistent, +inevitable and inexorable hangers-on and supplicants. I do not +perceive the alleged failure of his health or powers, and I do not +believe it; but assuredly, it were no marvel if such really were the +case. It must be an adamantine constitution and temper that could +long bear with impunity the daily contact with a Lincoln, a Seward, +a Halleck, and others less noted, indeed, but not the less +contagious. + + + + +DECEMBER, 1862 + + President's Message -- Political position -- Fredericksburgh -- + Fog -- Accident -- Crisis in the Cabinet -- Secretary Chase -- + Burnside -- Halleck -- the Butchers -- The Lickspittle Republican + Press -- War Committee patriots -- Youth -- People -- Ring out. + + +Grammarians may criticize the syntax of the President's message, and +the style. It reads uneasy, forced, tortuous, and it declares that +it is _impossible_ to subdue the rebels by force of arms. Of course +it is impossible with Lincoln for President, and first McClellan +and then Halleck to counterfeit the parts of the first Napoleon, and +the at once energetic and scientific Carnot. Were the great heart of +THE PEOPLE left to itself, it would be very _possible_ and even +quite easily _possible_. + +The message is written with an eye turned towards the Democrats; +they are to be satisfied with the prospect of a convention. Seward +puts lies into Lincoln's pen, in relation to foreign nations. But +all is well, in the judgment of our _Great Statesmen_. Even the poor +logic is, according to them, quite admirable. + +Contrariwise, Stanton's report corresponds to the height and the +gravity of events, and is worthy alike of the writer, and of the +people to whom it is addressed. + +_Dec. 6._--Nearly four weeks the campaign has been opened; the enemy +adds fortifications to fortifications before the very eyes of our +army, yet nothing has been done towards preventing the rebels from +working upon the formidable strongholds. + +Does Halleck-Burnside intend to wait until the rebels shall be +thoroughly prepared to repel any attack that may be made upon them? +Either there is foul play going on, or there is stupendous +stupidity pervading the entire management. But no one sees it, or +rather few, if any, wish to see it. Stanton, I am quite sure, has +nothing to do with the special plans of this enterprise. All is +planned and ruled by Lincoln, Halleck and Burnside. + +_Dec. 7._--The political situation to-day, may be summarily stated +as follows: the Republicans are confused by recent electoral +defeats, and by the administrative and governmental helplessness, as +exhibited every day by their leaders; the Democrats, flushed with +success, display an unusual activity in evil doing, and are risking +everything to preserve Slavery and the South from destruction. I +speak of the Simon-pure Democrats, _alias_ Copperheads, such as the +Woods, the Seymours, the Vallandighams, the Coxes, the Biddles, &c. +The Sewards and the Weeds are ready for a compromise. The masses of +the people, staggered by all this bewildering turmoil and impure +factiousness, are nevertheless, stubbornly determined to persevere +and to succeed in saving their country. + +_Dec. 7._--The European wiseacres, the would-be statesmen, whether +in or out of power, especially in England, and that opprobrium of +our century, the English and the Franco-Bonapartist press, have +decided to do all that their clever brains can scheme towards +preventing this noble American people from working out its mighty +and beneficent destinies, and from elaborating and making more +glorious than ever its own already very glorious history. As well +might the brainless and heartless conspirators against human +progress and human liberty endeavor to arrest the rotation of a +planet by the stroke of a pickaxe. + +Ah! Mr. _Decembriseur_, with your base crew of lickspittles, your +pigmy, though treacherous efforts, even contending with those of the +English enemies of light, and of right, your common hatred of +Freedom and Freemen will end in being the destruction of yourself. + +_Dec. 7._--Burnside complains of the manner in which he is +victimised, and explains his inactivity by the fact that the War +Department neglected to furnish him with the necessary pontoons. +How, in fact, was Burnside to move a great army without pontoons? +But it was the duty of Halleck, and his lazy or incompetent, or +traitorous staff, to have seen to the sending on of the pontoons. +However, supposing Burnside and _his_ staff to have as much wit as +an average twelve-year-old school boy, they could have found in the +army not merely hundreds, but even thousands of proficient workmen +in a variety of mechanical trades, who would have constructed on the +spot, and at the shortest notice, any number of bridges, pontoons, +&c. Oh, how little are those wiseacre generals, the conceited and +swaggering West Pointers; oh, how very little, if at all are they +aware of the inexhaustible ingenuity and resources, the marvelous +skill and power of such intelligent masses as those of which they +are the unintelligent, the unsympathising and the thoroughly +unblessed leaders! + +On a Sunday, exactly four weeks back from the day which I wrote +these lines, McClellan was dismissed, and was succeeded by Burnside. +But, after the established McClellan fashion, the great, great army +was marched 30 to 50 miles, and then halts for weeks up to its knees +in mud, and occupies itself in throwing up earthworks. And this is +called making War! and the Hallecks are great men in the sight of +Abraham Lincoln, and of all who profess and call themselves +Lincolnites, and the rest stand around wondering and agape: + + _Conticuere omnes intentique ora (asinina) tenebant._ + +Stanton's magnificent report states that there are about 700,000 men +under arms; yet this tremendous force is paralysed by the inactivity +of most of the generals; those in the West, however, forming a +bright and truly honorable exception. But, to be candid, how can +activity and dash be expected from generals who have at their head, +a shallow brained pedant like Halleck? Napoleon had about 500,000 +men, when, in between four and five months, he marched from the +Rhine to Moscow. Yet he had the aid of no railroad, on land, no +steam, that practical annihilator of distance, no electric +telegraph, with which to be in all but instantaneous communication +with his distant generals, and had not similar material resources. + +_Dec. 10._--Mr. Seward's long correspondence with Mr. Adams shows to +Europe that Mr. Seward imitated the rebels, and tried to frighten +England with the bugbear of King Cotton; and also that he has no +solid and abiding convictions whatever. Now, he preaches +emancipation, yet, at the beginning of his _great_ diplomatic +activity, he openly sided with slavery; aye, he is still willing to +save it for the sake of the Union, and, above all, and before all, +for his own chances for the next Presidency. + +_Dec. 10._--Burnside has finally crossed the Rappahannock. Of course +I do not know the respective positions. But I am sure that if the +rebels have not a perfectly enormous advantage of position, and if +the leading of the generals be worthy of the courage of their men, +the victory must be ours. Oh! were all our generals Hookers, and not +Burnsides! + +General McDowell's Court of Inquiry produces some strange revelations. +The inquiry will not end in making a thorough general of McDowell. He +may have been somewhat unfortunate, no doubt; but his want of good +fortune was at least equalled by his want of good generalship. I, and +many others besides, were quite mistaken in our early estimate of +McDowell. He should not so easily have swallowed the second Bull Run. +He should at least have been wounded, if only ever so slightly; his +best friends must wish that. But to be defeated, and come out without +even a scratch! What a digestion the man must have for the hardest +kinds of humiliation! But neither the President nor that curse of the +country, McClellan, has great reason to plume himself much upon his +share in the revelations that are made in the course of this Inquiry. +McDowell himself seems to have been intended, by nature for a scheming +and adroit politician. * * * * + +_Dec. 10._--The Congress feels the ground, hesitates, and apparently +lacks the necessary energy to come to a determination. Lincoln, even +such as he is, contrives to humbug most of the Congressmen. Well! +The first of January is close at hand, and Seward, the Congressional +cook, will concoct unpalatable and costly dishes for Congressional +digestion. Seward is the incarnation of confusion, and of political +faithlessness. + +I have only now discovered certain of the reasons why the Battle of +Antietam, so bravely fought by our army, had no _ensemble_ and such +marvelously poor results. Burnside, with his corps, got into line +many hours too late. The rebels were thus enabled to concentrate on +the wing opposed to Hooker and Sumner, the right wing and centre of +the rebels being for the time unthreatened. And that is generalship! +The blame of a blunder so glaring, and in its effect so mischievous, +attaches equally to Burnside and to McClellan. The victory, such as +it was, was due to the subordinate generals, and to the heroic +bravery of the rank and file of the army. + +When Burnside was invested with the command of the Army of the +Potomac, he for nearly twenty-four hours retained McClellan in camp, +with the intention of returning the command of the army to him if +the rebels had attacked, as it was expected they would, during +Sunday and Monday. + +_Dec. 13._--Night. Fight at Fredericksburgh. No news. O God! + +_Dec. 14._--As the consequence of Halleck-Burnside's slowness, our +troops storm positions which are said to be impregnable by nature, +and still farther strengthened by artificial works. + +The President is even worse than I had imagined him to be. He has no +earnestness, but is altogether in the hands of Seward and Halleck. +He cannot, even in this supreme crisis, be earnest and serious for +half an hour. Such was the severe but terribly true verdict passed +upon him by Fessenden of Maine. + +_Dec. 15._--Slaughter and infamy! Slaughter of our troops who fought +like Titans, though handled in a style to reflect nothing but infamy +upon their commanders. When the rebel works had become impregnable, +then, but not until then, our troops were hurled against them! The +flower of the army has thus been butchered by the surpassing stupidity +of its commanders. The details of that slaughter, and of the +imbecility displayed by our officers in high command,--those details, +when published, will be horrible. The Lincoln-Seward-Halleck-influence +gave Burnside the command because he was to take care of the army. And +how Burnside has fulfilled their expectations! It seems that the best +way to take care of an army is to make it victorious. + +My brave and patriotic Wadsworth has gone in the field, also his two +sons; one of them, (Tick,) was at Fredericksburgh, and his bravery +was remarkable, even among all the heroism of that most glorious and +most accursed day. How many such patriots as Wadsworth, can we boast +of? Yet the miserable Halleck had the impudence to say--"Wadsworth +may go wherever he pleases, even if he pleases to go to Hell!" + +Hell itself, would be too good a place for Halleck; imbeciles are +not admitted there! + +_Dec. 17._--The details are coming in. The disaster of our army is +terrible--indescribable; the heroic people bleeds, bleeds! And all +this calamity and all this suffering and humiliation, are brought on +by the stupidity of Burnside and Halleck, or both of them. The curse +of the people ought to rest for centuries upon the very names of the +authors of such frightful disaster. They are fiends, yea, worse, +even, than the very fiends themselves. + +Why, even the very rabble in Constantinople would storm the seraglio +after such a massacre. But here--oh, here, it just reminds Mr. +Lincoln of a little anecdote. + +_Dec. 17._--I meet with but few such as Wade, Grimes, Chandler and +other radicals in both Houses of Congress, who seem to feel all the +heart burning and bitterness of soul at this awful Fredericksburgh +disaster. The real criminals, those who ought, in the agonies of a +great shame, call upon the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them +not, blush not, sorrow not. + +In many of the general public, I have no doubt that the feeling of +shame and sympathy, are blunted by these repeated military +calamities, and by Mr. Lincoln's undaunted i.......... + + * * * * * and men, + Have wept enough, for what? To weep, + To weep again. + +_Dec. 17._--About ten days ago, Mr. Seward again sent forth to +Europe and to her Cabinets, one of his stale, and by no means +Delphic oracles, predicting the success of Burnside's campaign, and +immediately follows a bloody and disgraceful calamity! Such is +always the result of Seward's prophecies! A diplomat calls Seward +the evil eye of the Cabinet, and of the country. I suggested to some +of the senators that a resolution be passed prohibiting Mr. Seward +from playing either the prophet or the fool. + +Burnside took care of the army, no doubt, but it was of the rebel +army. Our soldiers have been brought by him to the block, to an easy +slaughter, he himself being some few miles in the rear, and having +between him the river, and the intervening miles of land. All this, +however, was according to the regulations, and on the most approved +Halleck-McClellan fashion of fighting great battles. + +_Dec. 18._--The disaster was inaugurated by the shelling of +Fredericksburgh. One hundred and forty-seven (147!) guns playing +upon a few houses. It was the play of a maddened child, exhibiting +in equal proportions, reckless ferocity and egregious stupidity; and +it is difficult to find one dyslogistic term which will adequately +describe and condemn it. + +From what I can already gather of the details of the attack, it may +be peremptorily concluded that Burnside, Sumner, and above all, +Franklin, are utterly incompetent of a skillful and effective +handling of great masses of troops. They attacked by brigades, +positions so formidable, that if they could possibly be carried by +any exertion of human skill and strength, they could only be carried +by large masses impetuously hurled against them. Franklin seems +especially to have acted ill in not at once throwing in 10,000 men +to be followed rapidly and again and again by 10,000 more. In that +wise and only in that wise, he might possibly have broken and turned +the enemy, and thrown him on his own centre. It is said that +Franklin had 60,000. If so, he could easily have risked some 20,000 +in the first onslaught. Sixty thousand! Great God! Why, it is an +army in itself, in the hands of a general at all deserving of that +name. If those great West Pointers had only even the slightest idea +of military history! More battles have been fought and won with +60,000 men, and with fewer still, than with larger numbers, and at +Fredericksburgh Franklin's force formed only a wing against an enemy +whose whole army could number but little more than 60,000. I want +the reports with the full and positive details. + +The clear-sighted and warlike TRIBUNE discovered in Burnside high, +brilliant, and soldier-like qualities--admirably borne out and +illustrated no doubt, by the Fredericksburgh butchery! To the +hospital of imbeciles with all such imbeciles! + +The _Times_ was manly in its appreciation, and flunkeyed to no one +under hand, that is, confidentially and for newspaper publication. + +Mr. Seward reveals to the world at large, that, besides his volume +of 700 pages, containing the last diplomatic correspondence, he has +still an equal number of masterpieces as yet not published. What a +dreadful dysentery of despatch-writing the poor man and his still +more afflicted readers must labor under. + +The Lincoln-Seward policy, has rebuilt the awful Democratic party, +which was broken up, prostrated in the dust. Lincoln--Seward--Weed, +partially emasculated the Republican party, and may even emasculate +the thus far thoroughly virile and devoted patriotism of the people. + +A helpless imbecile in the hands of a cunning and selfish and +ruthless charlatan, is the sight that daily meets our eyes in +Washington. + +General Bayard, one of the slaughtered at Fredericksburgh, was a +true Bayard of the army, and one of the very few West Pointers free +from conceit, that corrosive and terribly prevalent malady of the +West Point clique. + +_Dec. 18._--Senators waking up to their duties, and to the +consciousness of their power. These patriots have said to Seward, +_Averte Sathanas_, and overboard he goes, after having done as much +evil as only _he_ could do. + +The most contradictory rumors are in circulation about Stanton. I +cannot find out the truth. I do not believe all that is said, but it +is necessary to put the rumors on record. It is said then, that +Stanton stands up for the butchers and asses in the army and in his +department. I believe that in all this, there is not a single word +of truth; but if it were true, then I should say, Stanton is ruined +by bad company, and down with him and with them! + +_Quoniam sic Fata tulerunt._ But worthy Senators and +Representatives, believe still in Stanton, and so do I; only the +Seward-Blair-McClellan clique tears Stanton's reputation to pieces. +Stanton seems to be, in some measure, infatuated with Halleck, who, +perhaps, humbugs Stanton with military technicalities, which Halleck +so well knows how to pass current for military science. + +_Dec. 20._--The American generals, at least those in the Army of the +Potomac, for the sake of shirking responsibility, maintain that +when once in line of battle, they must rigidly abide by the orders +given to them. No doubt, such is the military law and rule, but it +is susceptible of exceptions. The generals of the Potomac shun the +exceptions, and thus deprive their action of all spontaneity. +Perhaps, indeed, spontaneity of action is not among their military +gifts. Thus we have from them, none of those _coups d'eclat_, those +sudden, brilliant, and impetuously improvised dashes, which so often +decide the fate of the day, and turn imminent defeat and partial +panic into glorious and crowning victory. We find none such, if we +except some actions of Hooker and Kearney, on a small scale, and at +the beginning of the campaign in the Chickahominy, or the Peninsula. +The most celebrated _coups d'eclat_ in general military history, +have mostly been, so to speak, the children of inspiration, seizing +Time by the forelock,--thus using opportunity which sometimes exists +but for a few minutes, and thus a doubtful struggle terminates in a +brilliant success. At such critical moments, the commander of a +wing, or a corps, nay, even a division, ought to have the courage, +the lofty self-abnegation, and firm confidence in his star or good +luck, and still more in the enduring pluck of his men, and boldly +strike for the accomplishment of that which the "Orders" have not +mentioned or foreseen. Such a general acts on his own inspiration, +and at the same time reports to the Commander-in-Chief, what he has +determined upon. If instead of acting thus promptly, he sends and +waits for further orders, the auspicious opportunity may pass away; +the decisive moments in a battle are very rapid, and a single hour +lost, loses the day, or reduces the results of a victory. + +I respectfully submit these undeniable but much disregarded truths +to the Hallecks, McClellans, McDowells, and other great West +Pointers. + +_Dec. 20._--The political cesspool is deeper, broader, filthier and +more feculent than ever. Seward is triumphant, and the patriots have +very much elongated countenances. + +_Dec. 21._--Senator Wilson has learned from Halleck, Burnside, and +from some other and similarly _great_ captains, that the affair of +Fredericksburgh, and the recrossing of the river, brilliantly +compares with the countermarchings of Wagram, and with that +celebrated crossing of the Danube. As there is not, in reality, a +single point of similitude, the comparison is well selected, and +does great honor to the judgment of the military wiseacres. At all +events, never was the memory of a Napoleon, a Massena, or a Davoust, +more ignominiously desecrated than by this comparison. + +_Dec. 22._--So, then, Sathanas Seward remains, and Mr. Lincoln +scorns the advice of the wisest and most patriotic Senators. To be +snubbed by Lincoln and Seward, is the greatest of all possible +humiliations. Border-state politicians, Harrises, Brownings and +other etceteras of grain, are the confidential advisers. Political +manhood is utterly, and to all seeming, irretrievably lost. + +Stanton still holds with Seward. _Embrassons nous, et que cela +finisse._ + +How brilliantly do even the very basest times of any government +whatever, Parliamentary, royal or despotic, compare with what I now +daily see here in the capital of the great republic! + +Since the earliest existence of political parties, rarely, if ever, +has a party been in such a difficult, and, at times, even disgraceful +position, as that of the patriots of both houses of Congress. Against +the combined attacks of all stripes of traitors, such as ultra +Conservatives, Constitutionalists, Copperheads and pure and impure +Democrats, the patriots must defend an administration which they +themselves condemn, and with the personnel of which, (Stanton and +Wells excepted,) they have no sympathy and no identity of ideas. They +must defend an administration which opposes even measures which they, +the patriots, demand,--an administration which, in the recent +elections, either betrayed or disgraced the whole party, and which +brought into suspicion, if not into actual contempt, the name, nay, +even the principles of the Republicans. And thus the patriots have the +dead weight to support, and are wholly unsupported. The narrow-minded +and shallow Republican press, has no comprehension of the difficulty +of the position in which the patriots are placed; and that press, +being in various ways connected with the administration, rarely, if +ever, supports the patriots, and even mostly neutralises their best +and noblest efforts. Thus, in the move against Seward, and for a +reform in the Cabinet, the enlightened and patriotic Republican press +of New York, was either persistently mute or hostile to the movement. +Every day I am the more firmly convinced that Seward is the great +stumbling block alike to Mr. Lincoln and the country at large. + +_Dec, 22._--Utterly incapable as is McClellan, and absolutely +unfitted by nature to be a great captain as is Burnside, yet I think +it quite clear that neither of them would have blundered quite so +terribly if he had been provided with a really competent, zealous +and faithful staff, as the generals of continental Europe invariably +are. But it seems that here, neither the generals nor the government +even desire to understand the true nature, duty, and value of the +staff of an army, or what the chief of such a staff ought to know +and ought to do. What, in fact, can we at all reasonably expect from +a Halleck! After all, however, and shallow as are his brains, this +mock Carnot must have read books on military science; and yet he has +not learned either the use or the composition of a staff for an +army! Had he done so, he would have organized a staff for himself, +and one for each of the commanders in the field. It is true that in +this country there is no school of staffs, and West Pointers are +generally ignorant on that point. Nevertheless, with a little good +will and care, it would be easy enough to find intelligent officers +of all grades fit for staff duties as arranged for staff officers in +Europe. But then, the necessary good will and good judgment are +wanting in the head of this military organization. And this Halleck, +this Halleck is a mere mockery, a mere sciolist, a shallow pretender +to military science. He may have the capacity to translate a book, +but nothing of all that he translates effects any hold upon his +brain, or he would, long before now, have done something towards +organising the army. A general inspector is the first necessity. +Then establish the necessary proportions of each arm of the service, +_i. e._, of infantry, cavalry and artillery for each division. Then +organise the cavalry as a body. When you do this, or even a +considerable part of all this, oh, sham-Carnot, Halleck! then your +chance to be considered a military authority will be established. +Oh, science, oh, insulted science! How desecrated is thy name in the +high places here, and especially on the right and left of the White +House. And oh! you really great and intelligent American PEOPLE, how +ignominiously you are cheated of your blood, your time, your money, +and most of all, of your so recently magnificent national +reputation! + +What your military wiseacres show you as an organized army, would +actually thrill, as with the death-shudder, any European military +organizer. + +_Dec. 23._--I learn that the day following the butchery at +Fredericksburgh, Burnside wished to renew the attack. What madness! +The generals protested, and Burnside, greatly exasperated, declared +that at the head of his former corps, the 9th, he would himself +storm the miniature Torres Vedras. If all this is true, then +Burnside is weaker headed than I had judged him to be; but I will +not do him the injustice to say that he really intended to play a +mere farce. What, in the name of common sense, could he do with a +single corps, when the whole army was repulsed? + +I am warned by a friend, that the Army of the Potomac is so infected +with McClellanism, that is to say, by presumption, intriguing, envy +and misconception of what is true generalship,--that the army must +undergo the process of strong purification, fumigation, pruning and +weeding, (and especially among the higher branches,) before it can +ever again be made truly useful and reliable. + +_Dec. 22._--Burnside's report. I am sure that the great luminaries +of the press, and the declaimers, the intriguants and the imbeciles, +will be thrown into fits of ecstatic admiration of what they will +call the manly and straight-forward conduct of Burnside in assuming +the responsibility and confessing his own fault. But what else could +he do? And if he acted thus in obedience to the orders of Halleck, +then instead of manliness, his conduct is almost treasonable towards +the people, for in withholding the truth as to the orders given by +Halleck, he gives that incarnation of calamity the power to repeat +the butchery and ensure the ill success of our armies. + +The report is altogether unsoldierly; it is fussy and inflated; a +full blown specimen of the pompously inane. How can Burnside venture +to say that after the repulse, during three days he expected the +enemy to leave his stronghold and attack him--Burnside? The rebels +never did anything to justify such a supposition. They are neither +idiots nor madmen, and only from a McClellan, or some bright pupils +of the McClellan school, could such imbecility, such gratuitously +ruinous playing into the hands of an enemy be expected. A commander +ought to be on the watch for any mistake that his antagonist may +commit, but he is not justified in setting that antagonist down as +an ass. For two days the army was unnecessarily kept under the guns +of the enemy, that is the truth, and I will make the truth known, no +matter who may try to conceal it. Here, for the present, I stop in +sheer and uncontrollable disgust. By and by, however, I will return +to the consideration of this report. + +Oh! American people! In so very many respects, truly great people! +Far, very far beyond my poor powers of expression are the great love +and veneration with which ever and always I look upon you. But allow +me, pray allow me to use the frank familiarity of a true friend, so +far as just plainly to tell you, that even I, your sincere friend, +should love you none the less, and certainly should hold you in all +the greater reverence, were you not quite so ultra-favorable in +judgment of your civil and military rulers and pastors and masters +and nincompoops generally! + +Further back in this diary, I termed Mr. Secretary Chase a _passive +patriot_. _Peccavi._ And here let me write down my recantation! +Chase exerted himself for the retaining of Seward in the cabinet, +and it was by Chase alone that the efforts of the patriots to expel +Seward, were baffled. And yet, from the first day of the official +assemblage of this cabinet down to the day of the meeting of the +present session of Congress, Chase was more vigorously vicious than +any other living man in daily, hourly, _all the time_, denunciation +of Seward,--of course, behind Seward's back! Several insoluble +problems, no doubt, there are; but there is not one thing, physical +or not physical, which so completely defies any comprehension and +baffles my most persistent inquiry, as just this. + +How, unless Chase has drank of the waters of Lethe, how can he +possibly look, now, in the face of, for instance, Fessenden of +Maine, to whom he has said so many bitter things against the now +belauded "Secretary Seward!" Bah! Chase most certainly must have a +forty-or-fifty-diplomatist power of commanding--literally and not +slangishly be it spoken!--his _cheek_, if, without burning blushes +he can look in the face of Fessenden, Sumner or any honest man and +say,--"I admire and I support Secretary Seward!" God! If all who, +during the last two years, have come into contact with Chase, would +but come forward and speak out! In that case, thousands would stand +forth, a "cloud of witnesses," to confirm this statement. Chase! +Faugh! I hereby brand him, and leave him to the bitter judgment of +all men who can conscientiously claim to be even _half honest_. + +In merest and barest justice to Seward, greatly as I disapprove of +his general course, I must here note the fact that he is by no means +addicted to evil speaking about any one. Not that this reticence +proceeds from scrupulous feeling or a proud stern spirit. Seward, +however, never speaks evil of any one unless to destroy, and to one +who sympathises in that same amiable wish. To undermine a rival or +to destroy an enemy, Seward will expend any amount of slander; but, +in the absence of personal interest, Seward, though officially +civilian, is, by nature, far too good and too old a soldier to waste +ammunition upon worthless game. + +_Dec. 23._--Why could not Mr. Lincoln choose for his Secretary of +State some man who has a holy and wholesome horror of pen, ink, and +paper? Some man gifted with a sound brain, who never is quick at +writing a dispatch, and would demand double salary as the price of +writing one? Oh! Mr. Lincoln, had you but done this, not only would +all America, but all Europe also be truly thankful for great +immunity from the curse of morbid attempts at diplomacy and +statesmanship. + +_Dec. 23._--Mr. Lincoln's proclamation to the butchered army! For +heaven's sake let us know, pray, _pray_ let us know who was +Lincoln's amanuensis? I hope it was not Stanton. The army is +defiled. "An accident," says this precious proclamation, "has +prevented victory." _What_ accident? Let the country know the +precise nature of that same accident, and the manner, time, and +place of its occurrence! Burnside talks about a fog! Oh! yes, a +deep, dense terribly foul fog--in the _cerebellum_! Is that the +_accident_ of which the precious proclamation so impudently speaks? +Lincoln makes the wonderful discovery that the crossing and the +recrossing of the river are quite peerless, absolutely unparallelled +military achievements. + +Happy it was for the army, and happy for the country that at +Fredericksburgh, our heroic soldiers gave far other and nobler +proofs of more than human courage and fortitude than the mere +crossing and recrossing of a river. + +The _Tribune_ is either in its dotage, or still worse. Burnside's +unsoldierly blundering is compared to the great victorious splendors +of Asperm, Esslingen, Wagram, and the tyrant-crushing three days of +immortal Waterloo! The _Tribune_ lauds the crossing and the +recrossing of the river, as an act of superhuman bravery; and +Lincoln sympathises with the heavily wounded, and twaddles +extensively about _comparative_ losses. Comparative to what? Oh! +spirits of Napoleon and his braves; oh! spirit of true history, +veil your blushing brows! And the _Tribune_ dares to make this +impudent attempt at befogging the American people, and at the same +time dares to tell that people that it is "intelligent." + +But let us not forget those comparative losses! Comparative to what? +To those of the enemy? What knows he about them? + +_Dec. 24._--Crisis in the Seward cabinet. The "little Villain" of +the _Times_, repeated what he did after the first "Bull Run." But he +did not now confess to his dining with Seward, as formerly he did +with the great "anaconda Scott!" The New York Republican press is +attracted to Seward by natural affinity of election. Seward, +however, holds the honey pot, and the flies are all eager to dip +into it. + +I wish, yet dread to hear the exact particulars of Stanton's +behavior during the crisis in the cabinet. It is so very, _very_ +painful to be rudely awakened to distrust of those whom once we have +too implicitly, too fondly believed. Lincoln has now become +accustomed to Seward, as the hunchback is to his protuberance. What +man who has an ugly excrescence on his face does not dread the +surgeon's knife, although he knows that momentary pain will be +followed by permanent relief? + +At the public dinner of "The New England Society," John Van Buren +nominated McClellan for next President, and proposed the health of +Secretary Seward. _Oh! quam pulchra societas!_ + +I am charged with being "dissatisfied with every thing, and abusing +every body." The charge is unjust. I speak most lovingly and in most +sincere admiration of the millions, of the great, toiling, brave, +honest People, and of the hundreds of thousands of the gallant +people-militant--the army! But I _do_ censure some thirty or forty +individuals who dispense favors and appoint to fat offices, and, +quite naturally, every dirty-souled lickspittle is indignant against +me therefor! The blame of such people is far preferable to their +praise! + +I am rejoiced, I am almost proud that Hooker insisted upon crossing +the Rappahannock, and marching to Fredericksburgh, and that he +opposed the subsequent attack. + +But of what benefit to me is this fatal, this Cassandra gift of +foreseeing? Alas! Better, happier would it be for me could I not +have foreseen and vainly, all vainly foretold, the terrible butchery +of a brave people during two long and fatal years! + +_Dec. 24._--It is impossible to keep cool while reading Burnside's +report. Once more this report justifies and corroborates Prince +Napoleon's judgment on American generals, _i. e._, that their plan +of campaigns will always be deficient in practice, like the +theoretical war-exercises of schoolboys. From this sweeping and +terribly true charge, however, we must except the Grants and +the--alas! how few!--Rosecranses. + +The report says, "but for the fog," etc. All lost battles in the +world had for cause some _buts_--except the genuine _but_--in the +brains of the commander. + +"How near we came to accomplishing," etc.--is only a repetition of +what, _ad nauseam_, is recorded by history as lamentations of +defeated generals. + +"The battle would have been far more decisive." Of course it would +have been so, if--won. + +"As it was, we were very near success," etc. So the man who takes +the chance in the lottery. He has No. 4, and No. 3 wins the prize. + +The apostrophe to the heroism of the soldiers is sickly and pale. +The heroism of the soldiers! It is as brilliant, as pure, and as +certain as the sun. + +The attack was planned, (see paragraph 2 of the report,) on the +circumstance or supposition that the enemy extended too much his +line, and thus scattered his forces. But in paragraph 4, Burnside +stated that the fog, (O, fog!) etc., gave the enemy twenty-four +hours' time to concentrate his forces in his strong positions--when +the calculation based on the enemy's _division of forces_ failed, +and the attack lost all the chances considered propitious. + +The whole plan had for its basis probabilities and +impossibilities--schoolroom speculations--instead of being, as it +ought to have been, as every plan of a battle should be, based on +the chances of the _terrain_, by the position of the enemy, and +other conditions, almost wholly depending upon which the armies +operate. It is natural that martial Hooker objected to it. + +Oh! could I have blood, blood, blood, instead of ink! + +Constructing the bridge over the Rappahannock, our engineers were +killed in scores by the sharp-shooters of the enemy. Malediction on +those imbecile staffs! The _A B C_ of warfare, and of sound common +sense teach, that such works are to be made either under cover of a +powerful artillery fire, or, what is still better, if possible, a +general sends over the river in some way, with infantry to clear its +banks, and to dislodge the enemy. In such cases one engineer saved, +and time won, justify the loss of almost twenty soldiers to one +workman. Some one finally suggested an expedition and they did at +the end what ought to have been done at the start. O West Point! thy +science is marvellous! The staff treated the construction of a +bridge over the Rappahannock as if it were building some railroad +bridge, in times of peace! + +I am told that Stanton took sides with Seward. I deny it; Stanton +remained rather passive. But were it true that Stanton, too, is +_Sewardized_,--then, Oh Mud, how powerful thou art! + +In Boston, the B.s and Curtises, and all of that kidney, make a +great fuss and invoke the name of Webster. If so, they are only +_excrementa Websteriana_. + +_Dec. 24._--Patriots in both Houses of Congress! your efforts to put +the conduct of the national affairs in honorable hands, and on +honorable tracks, to prevent the very life blood of the people from +being sacrilegiously wasted, to prevent the people's wealth from +being recklessly squandered; your efforts to introduce order and +spirit in certain parts of a spiritless Administration, to fill the +higher and inferior offices with men whose hearts and minds are in +the cause, and to expel therefrom, if not absolute disloyalty, at +least, the most criminal indifference to the people's cause and +welfare; your efforts to make us speak to Europe like men of sense, +and not in the senseless oracles which justly evoke the scorn and +the sneers of all European statesmen; all these your efforts as +patriots rebounded against a nameless stubbornness. + +Nevertheless you fulfilled a noble, sacred and patriotic duty. +Whatever be to-day the outcry of the Flatfoots, lickspittles, +intriguers, imbeciles; whatever be the subserviency or want of civic +courage in the public press--when all these stinking, suffocating, +deleterious vapors shall be destroyed by the ever-living light of +truth, then the grateful people will bless your names, which, pure +and luminous, will shine high above the stupidity, conceit, +heartlessness, turpitude, selfish ambition, indirect and direct +treason darkening now the national horizon. + +_Dec. 25._--_Christmas._ The Angel of Death hovers over thousands +and thousands of hearths. Thousands and thousands of families in +tears and shrouds. Communities, villages, huts and log-houses, +nursing their crippled, invalid, patriotic heroes! A year ago, all +was quiet on the _Potomac_--now all is quiet on the _Rappahannock_. + +What a progress we have made in a year! and at the small, +insignificant cost of about sixty to eighty thousand killed or +crippled, and of one thousand millions of dollars! But it matters +not! The quietude of the official butchers and money squanderers is, +and must remain undisturbed in their mansions, whatever be the moral +leprosy dwelling therein! + +A young man from New England, (whom I saw for the first time,) told +me that my Diary stirred up the youth. Oh, if so, then I feel happy. +Youth! youth! you are all the promise and the realization! But why +do you suffer yourselves to be crushed down by the upper-crust of +senile nincompoops? Oh youth, arise, and sun-like penetrate through +and through the magnitude of the work to be accomplished, and save +the cause of humanity! + +_Dec. 25._--As it was and is in all Revolutions and upheavals, so +here. A part of the people constitute the winners, in various ways, +(through shoddy names, jobs, positions, etc.) while the immense +majority bleeds and sacrifices. Here many people left poorly +salaried desks, railroads, shops, &c. to become great men but poor +statesmen, cursed Generals, and mischief-makers in every possible +way and manner. The people's true children abandoned homes, +families, honest pursuits of an industrious and laborious life--in +one word, their ALL, to bleed, to be butcherer, to die in the +country's cause. The former are the winners, the sacrificers, and +the butchers; the second are the victims. + +The evidence before the War Committee shows, to a most disgusting +satiety, that General Halleck is exclusively a red-tapist, and a +small pettifogger, who is unworthy to be even a non-commissioned +officer; General Burnside an honest, well intentioned soldier, +thoroughly brave, but as thoroughly destitute of generalship; +General Sumner an unquestionably brave but headlong trooper; and +Hooker alone in possession of all the capacity and resources of a +captain. General Woodbury's evidence is that of a man under +difficulties, on whom his superiors in rank have thrown the +responsibility of their own crime. + +Halleck alone is responsible for the non-arrival of the pontoons. +Burnside could not look for them; it was the duty of Halleck to +order some of the semi-geniuses of his staff to the special duty of +seeing to their delivery at Fredericksburgh, to give them necessary +power to use roads, steamers, water, animals and men for +transportation, and make it a capital responsibility if Sumner finds +not the pontoons on the spot, and at the precise day and hour when +he wanted them. Then, Gen. Meigs, who coolly asserts that he "gave +orders." O yes! but he never dreamed it was his duty to look for +their execution. The fate of the campaign depended upon the +pontoons, and Halleck-Meigs "gave orders," and there was an end of +it. In any other country, such culprits would have been at the least +dismissed--cashiered, if not shot; here, their influence is on the +increase. Halleck and Meigs are still great before Mr. Lincoln, and +before the mass of nincompoops. + +Rhetors and sham-erudites are ecstatic about Burnside's conduct. +Well! Burnside is good-natured--that is all. They forget the example +of Canrobert and Pellisier, in the Crimea. Canrobert, after having +commanded the army, gave up the command, and served under Pellisier. +Oh declaimers! Oh imbeciles! ransack not the world--let Rome alone, +and its Punic wars, its Varrus, etc.--Disturb not history, which, +for you, is a book with seventy-seven seals. You understand not +events under your long noses, and before your opaque eyes. + +When in animal bodies the brains are diseased, the whole body's +functions are more or less paralyzed. The official brains of the +nation are in a morbid condition. _That_ explains all. + +_Dec. 27._--I wish I could succeed in bringing about the +organization of a good Staff for the army. _Etat Major General de +l'Armee_ Stanton seems to understand it, but the Hallecks and other +West Pointers have neither the first idea of it, nor the will to see +it done. + +_Dec. 28._--The so-called great papers of the Republican party in +New York, as well as some would-be statesmen here, discuss the +probability of some new manifestation by Louis Napoleon, or by +other European powers, of interference in our internal affairs. The +probability of such a demonstration by European meddlers can only +have one of the following causes:--Our terrible disaster at +Fredericksburg, or, what even is worse than that slaughter, the +absolute incapacity of our leaders to cope with such great and +terrible events as this last one. The bravery, the heroism of our +soldiers will be applauded, admired, and pitied in Europe, but the +utter intellectual marasmus, as shown by our administration, will +and must embolden the European marplots to attempt to stop what they +consider a further unnecessary massacre. General Burnside's report, +and the evidence before the War Committee are before the country and +before Europe. Therefore Europe and our country are to judge. + +During his last visit in summer to New York, etc. the French +Minister came in contact with low French adventurers, (Courriers des +Etats Unis) with copperheads and with democrats, and now he is taken +with sickly diplomatic sentimentalism to conciliate, to mediate, to +unite, to meddle, and to get a feather in his diplomatic cap. I am +sorry for him, for in other respects he has considerable sound +judgment. _Mais il est toque sur cette question ci._ He is ignorant +of the temper of the masses, and considers the assertions of +adventurers, of traitors, and of meddlers, as being the expression +of the sentiments of the people. But sensible diplomats are _rari +aves_. + +Hooker, because he alone is a _captain_, cannot be in command. +Infamous intriguers, traitors, and imbeciles, prevent Hooker from +being intrusted with the destinies of our army. Whole regiments +claim to serve under him, and above all such regiments as fought +under others in the peninsula, and always have been worsted, and who +wish once to be led to success and victory, as were always Hooker's +soldiers. The Franklins, and other marplotters in the Potomac Army, +menace to resign if Hooker is put in command. The sooner the better +for the army to get rid of such trash. But the imbeciles and the +intriguers in power think not so; and all may remain as it was, and +a new slaughter of our heroes may loom in the future. + +_Dec. 29._--General Butler's proclamation to his soldiers in New +Orleans is the best and noblest document written since this war. It +is good, because it records noble and patriotic deeds. During those +eighteen months General Butler has shown capacity, activity, energy, +fertility of resources and readiness to meet any emergency, +unequalled by any one in the administration or in command. And for +this, Butler is superseded, because Seward promised it to the +_Decembriseur_ in the Tuilleries, and because he is a _man_, and +_conservative patriots_, _alias_ traitors, could not get at him. + +_Dec. 30._--Angel of wrath, smite, smite! Oh, genius of humanity, +take into thy mercy this noble people! Oh, eternal reason, send the +feeblest breath of divine emanation and arrest this all-devouring +torrent of imbecility, selfishness and conceit that is reigning +paramount here. Only the PEOPLE'S devotion and patriotism, only the +_unnamed_ save the country! + +_Dec. 30._--Those foreign caterwaulings against Butler. England, in +1848-9, whipped women in Ireland, and how many thousands have been +murdered by the _Decembriseur_? And the Russian minister joining in +this music. A shame for him and for his government! + +_Dec. 30._--Poor Greeley looks for intervention, mediation, +arbitration; and selects Switzerland for the fitting arbitrator! How +little--nay--nothing at all, he knows about Switzerland and the +Swiss! Stop! stop! respectable old man! + +_Dec. 31._--Stanton is not at all responsible for the slaughter at +Fredericksburgh, or for the infamy of the belated pontoons. Halleck +has the exclusive control of all military movements, etc., in the +field. But Stanton ought not be benumbed by a Halleck or a Meigs. + +The people at large cannot realize the really awful position of +patriotic members of Congress, and above all, of such senators as +Wade, Grimes, Fessenden, Wilson, Morrill, Chandler and others, or +the almost similar position of Stanton, in his contact with the +double-dealings or the obstinacy of Lincoln. + +_Dec. 31._--To-morrow few, if any, shall miss the occasion to shake +hands with the official butchers, with men dripping with the gore of +their brethren. Oh, Cains! oh, fratricides! + +_Dec. 31._--_Midnight._--Disappear! oh year of disgraces, year of +slaughters and of sacrifices. + + _Tschto den griadoustchi nam gotowit?_ (Puschkine.) + + + Ring out the false, ring in the true, + Ring out the grief that saps the mind, + * * * + * * * + Ring in REDRESS _for all mankind_! + + + + +JANUARY, 1863. + + Proclamation -- Parade -- Halleck -- Diplomats -- Herodians -- + Inspired Men -- War Powers -- Rosecrans -- Butler -- Seward -- + Doctores Constitutionis -- Hogarth -- Rhetors -- European Enemies + -- Second Sight -- Senator Wright the Patriot -- Populus Romanus + -- Future Historian -- English People -- Gen. Mitchell -- Hooker + in Command -- Staffs -- Arming Africo-Americans -- Thurlow Weed, + &c. + + +_Jan. 1._--The morning papers. No proclamation! Has Lincoln played +false to humanity? + +The proclamation will appear. All right so far! Hallelujah! How the +friends of darkness, how the demons must wince and tremble. + +There! Red-tape commander-in-chief, field marshal (who never saw a +field of battle!) parades at the head of victorious generals, of +intelligent staffs, of active pontoon providers, and of really and +highly qualified quartermasters general. To the White House! They +will congratulate Mr. Lincoln. Upon what? Upon Fredericksburgh and +other massacres; but especially they will congratulate Mr. Lincoln +upon the fact of his being surrounded by such a bright galaxy of +know-nothings and do-nothings! + +Death-knell to slavery and to the slaveocracy. The foulest relic of +the past will at length be destroyed. The new era has a glorious +dawn; it rises in the glories of sacrifices made by a generous and +inspired people. Yes! The new era rises above darkness, selfishness, +and imbecility. The shades of the slaughtered are now at length +propitiated; their slaughter is at least in part atoned for; and +outraged humanity is, at least in part, avenged! Let rebels and +conservatives remain hardened in crime; a just and condign vengeance +shall overtake them. + + _Nunc pede libero + Pulsanda tellus._ + +_Jan. 2._--Shallow and brainless diplomats sneer at the +proclamation. So did the Herodians sneer at the star of Bethlehem; +and where now are the Herodians? Oh! shallow and heartless +diplomats, your days are numbered, too! + +_Jan. 2._--A man inspired by conviction and glowing with a fervent +faith, thoroughly knows what he is about. Strong in his faith, and +by his faith, he clearly sees his way, and steadily walks in it, +while others grope hither and thither amidst shadows and darkness +and bewildering doubts! Such a man boldly takes the initiative, +marches onward, and is as a beacon-light to a nation, to a people; +often, sometimes, even for all humanity. A man who has a profound +faith in his convictions has coruscations, fierce flashes of that +second-sight for the signs of the times. The mere trimming and +selfish politician is ever ready to swim with the stream which he +had neither strength nor skill to breast; he never ventures to take +the initiative. In issuing the proclamation, Mr. Lincoln gives legal +sanction, form, and record to what the storm of events and the loud +cry of the best of the people have long demanded and now inexorably +dictate. + +History will pitilessly tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing +but the truth; and small credit will history give to Lincoln beyond +that of being the legal recorder of a righteous deed, and not even +that credit will be given to the countersigner, Seward. + +Mr. Seward countersigned both proclamations of freedom. Europe is +filled with his despatches, written at first plainly for, then +lukewarmly tolerating, and, at length, flatly against, slavery. +European statesmen have thus the exact measure of Mr. Seward's +political character. They know that to the very last he defended +slavery, and then countersigned the decree of its destruction! In +Europe, self-respecting statesmen resign rather than countersign a +measure which they disapprove or have strongly opposed. + +_Jan. 3._--Emancipation under war powers. A mistake by a +contradiction. Spoke of it before. And nevertheless: under war +powers alone, emancipation is palatable to a great many, nay, almost +to millions of small, narrow intellects, dried up by the formulas, +and who in the Constitution see only the latter, and not the +expanding, all-embracing principle and spirit. O, Rabbis! O, +Talmudists! + +Lincoln is very unhappy in his phraseology. He invites the +sympathies of humanity on a measure decided by him to favor the war. +It is a contradiction; humanity and war are antipodic. + +The papers in the confidence of Seward, such as the _Intelligencer_ +(without intelligence,) the border-state friends of Lincoln, and all +that is muddy and rotten, even the supposed to be well-informed +diplomats unanimously assert that Mr. Lincoln has no confidence in +his proclamation. As for Seward--this Lincoln's evil genius--no +doubt exists concerning his contempt for the proclamation. Ask the +diplomats. But these highest pilots in this administration are +bound--as by a terrible oath--to violate all the laws of psychology, +of human nature, of sense, of logic and of honor, to make the people +bleed and suffer in its honor. + +Well, pompous Chase; how do you feel for having sided with Seward? + +Gen. Butler's farewell proclamation to New Orleans rings the purest +and most patriotic harmony. Compare Butler's with Lincoln's +writings. All the hearts in the country resounded with Butler; and +because he acted as he did, Lincoln-Seward-Blair-Halleck's policy +shelved Butler. + +_Jan. 3._--By the united efforts of Lincoln-Seward-Blair, of the +_Herald_, and of that cesspool of infamies, the _World_, of +McClellan, and of his tail, by the stupifying influence of Halleck, +the Potomac army, notwithstanding its matchless heroism, and +equipped as well as any army in Europe; up to this day the Potomac +army serves to--establish--the military superiority of the rebels, +to morally strengthen, nay, even to nurse the rebellion. +Lincoln-Halleck dare not entrust the army into the hands of a true +soldier,--Stanton is outvoted. The next commander inherits all the +faults generated by Lincoln, McClellan, Halleck, Burnside, and it +would otherwise tax a Napoleon's brains to reorganize the army but +for the patriotic spirit of the rank and file and most of the +officers. + +_Jan. 3._--What a pity that petty, quibbling constitutionalism +alone is understood by Lincoln and by his followers. To +emancipate in virtue of a war power is scarcely to perform half the +work, and is a full logical incongruity. Like all kind of war power, +that of the president has for its geographical limits the pickets of +his army--has no executive authority beyond, besides being +obligatory only as long as bayonets back it. Such a power cannot +change social and municipal conditions, laws or relations (see Vol. +I.) + +The civil power of the president penetrates beyond the pickets, and +in virtue of that civil power, and of the sacred duty to save the +fatherland, the President of the United States, and not the +Commander-in-Chief, can say to the slaves: "Arise, you are free, you +have no servitude, no duties towards a rebel and traitor to the +Union. I, the president, dissolve your bonds in the name of the +American people." + +_Jan. 4._--How the tempest of events changes or modifies principles. +The South rebelled in the name of State rights, and now Jeff Davis +absorbs all States and all parliamentary rights for the sake of +_salus populi_ or rather of _salus_ of slavocracy. Jeff Davis +nominates officers in the regiments whatever be the opposition of +the respective Governors. In the North, the Governors, all of them, +(Seymour?) true patriots, insist upon power and the right to +organize new regiments, and resist the centralization by the United +States Government. Perhaps--as the satraps and martinets +assert--thereby the organisation of the army is thrown on a false +track. Whether so or not, one thing is certain, but for the States +and Governors, Lincoln, Scott, Seward, McClellan, Halleck, or the +Union, would be nowhere. + +_Jan. 4._--They fight battles in the West. Generals, to be +victorious, must be in spiritual and in electric communion with the +heroic soldiers. So it was at Murfreesborough. Rosecrans, at the +head of his cavalry or body guard, dashes in the thickest, and turns +the dame fortune, who smiles on heroes, but never smiled on +McClellan nor on his tail. Rosecrans sticks not to regulations, and +keeps not a few miles in the rear. Franklin, at Fredericksburgh +mounted not even his horse but stood in front of his tent. Similar +to Rosecrans here was Kearney, the bravest of the brave, more of a +captain than any of the West-Point high-nosed nurslings; so is +Heintzelman, Hooker, Reno, Sigel and many, many others, whom +McClellanism, Halleckism, Lincolnism kept or keeps down. + +I positively learned that in the last days of the summer of 1862, a +list without heading circulated in the Potomac army, and all who +signed it bound themselves to obey only McClellan. The McClellan +clique originated this conspiracy, which extended throughout all the +grades. + +What confusion prevails about the rights of existence of slavery. +How they discuss it. How they pettifog. Why not establish the +rights of existence of syphilis, of _plica_ in the human body. O, +casuists. O, _Intelligencers_. O, _Worlds_! + +Well, to me, slavery seems to legally (cursed legality) exist in +virtue of the special State rights, and not in virtue of the +Constitution. But for the State rights, the Africo-American is a man +and citizen of the United States--and this under the Constitution +which is paramount to State rights. The rebellion annihilates the +State rights, and all special constitutions guaranteed by the Union, +and at the same time annihilates the relation of the Africo-American +to the specific States or constitutions. It restores to him the +rights of man guaranteed to him as man by the Union and the +Constitution of the United States. The Africo-American recovers his +rights, lost and annihilated by specific State rights and municipal, +local laws. The president had to issue his proclamation as guardian +and executor of the Constitution, and then Africo-Americans +recovered their citizenship on firmer and broader grounds than +under, or by the war power. Calhoun, the father of the rebellion--as +Milton's Satan--and all the rebels now curse or cursed the preamble +of the Constitution as Satan cursed the light. I suppose Calhoun's +and the rebels' reasons are similar to me. _Inde irae._ + +The commanders in the West bear evidence of the devotion, the +heroism and the endurance of the Africo-Americans, sacrificing their +lives without hope; martyrs by the rebels as well as by Hallecks and +the like. + +I met a farmer from Maine. He was rather old and poor. Had two +sons--lost them both--they were all his hope. He spoke simply of it, +but to break one's heart. _He grudged not_, (his own words,) his +hopes and blood for the cause, and considered it good luck to have +recovered the body of one of his boys, and brought it back home to +the "old woman," (wife, mother.) I shook hands with him. I ought to +have kissed him. Unknown, unnamed hero-patriot! and similar are +hundreds of thousands, and such is the true people. And so +sacrilegiously dealt with by insane helplessness. + +_Jan. 5._--The _Doctors Constitutionis_ break their formula brains +concerning the constitutionality of the proclamation, and foretell +endless complications. If so, if complications arise, the reasons +thereof are moral, logical and practical. 1st.--The emancipation was +neither conceived nor executed in love; but it was for Lincoln as +Vulcan for Jupiter. The proclamation is generated neither by +Lincoln's brains, heart or soul, and what is born in such a way is +always monstrous. 2d.--Legally and logically, the proclamation has +the smallest and the most narrow basis that could have been +selected. When one has the free choice between two bases, it is more +logical to select the broader one. The written Constitution had +neither slavery nor emancipation in view, but it is in the preamble, +and the emancipation ought to be deduced from the preamble. Many +other reasons can be enumerated pregnant with complications and +above all when Lincoln-Seward are the _accoucheurs_. My hope and +confidence is in the logic of events always stronger than man's +helplessness and imbecility. + +_Jan. 5._--European rulers, wiseacres, meddlers, humbugs, traitors, +demons, diplomats, assert that they must interfere here because +European interests suffer by the war. Indeed! You have the whole old +continent and Australia to boot, and about nine hundreds millions of +population; can you not organise yourself so as not to depend from +us? And if by your misrules, etc., our interests were to suffer, you +would find very strange any complaint made on our part. Keep aloof +with your good wishes, and with your advices, and with your +interference. You may burn your noses, and even lose your little +scalps. You robbers, murderers, hypocrites, surrounded by your +liveried lackeys, you presumptuous, arrogant curses of the human +race, stand off, and let these people whose worst criminal is a +saint when compared to a Decembriseur--let this people work out its +destinies, be it for good or for evil. + +_Jan. 5._--Early in December, 1860, therefore soon after Mr. +Lincoln's election, a shrewd and clear-sighted politician, Gen. +Walsh, from New York, visited Springfield, and made his bow to the +rising sun. On his return from the Illinois Medira, I asked the +general what was his opinion concerning the new President. "Well, +sir," was the general's answer, "in parting, I advised Mr. Lincoln +to get a very eminent man for his private secretary."--_Sapienti +sat._ + +_Jan. 6._--Oh for a voice of thousand storms to render justice to +the patriots in Congress, to make the masses of the people know and +appreciate them, and to show up the littleness and the ignorance of +the pillars of the Republican press. Never and in no country has the +so-called good press shown itself so below the great emergencies of +the day as are the old hacks semperliving in the press. + +_Jan. 7._--The great military qualities shown by Gen. Rosecrans, +thrilled with joy all the best men in the Potomac Army. The war +horse Hooker is the loudest to admire Rosecrans. Happy the Western +heroes to be beyond the immediate influence of Washington--of the +White House--and above all, of such as Halleck! + +Rosecrans has revealed all the higher qualities of a captain; +coolness, resolution, stubbornness and inspiration. His army began +to break,--he ordered the attack on the whole line, and thus +transformed defeat into victory. Not of McClellan's school, is +Rosecrans. + +_Jan. 7._--Senator Sumner who, during the ministerial crisis, ought +to have exposed to the country the mischievous direction given by +Mr. Seward to our foreign relations, and who ought to have done it +nobly, boldly, authoritatively, patriotically, and from his +Senatorial chair, Senator Sumner's preferred to keep stoically +quiet, notwithstanding that his personal friends and the country +expected it from him. Yet next to Chase, Senator Sumner, more than +any body, attacks Seward in private conversation! I read in the +papers that Senator Sumner's influence on Mr. Lincoln is +considerable (nevertheless Seward remained as the greatest curse to +the country,) and that he, Sumner, is a _power behind the throne_. +Has Sumner insinuated this himself to some newspaper reporter in +_extremis_ for news? _Power behind the throne_, what a tableau: +Sumner and Lincoln! O, Hogarth, O, Callot! Oh, for your crayon! and +now--of course--the country is safe, having such _Power behind the +throne_. + +_Mr. Lincoln's good intentions_ I hear talked about right and left. +Oh, for one sensible, good, energetic action, and all his intentions +may go where the French proverb puts them. + +_Jan. 7._--The city crowded with Major Generals and +Brigadier-Generals not in activity. When Mr. Lincoln is cornered, +then he makes a Brigadier or a Major General, according to +circumstances and in obedience to political or to backstairs +influence. From the beginning of the war, no sound notions directed +the nominations, either under Cameron, Scott, or McClellan, or now; +at the beginning of the war they had Generals without troops, then +troops without Generals, and now they have Generals who have not +commanded, or cannot command, troops. If, during the war in Poland +in 1831, Warsaw, the Capital, had been overrun in such a way by +do-nothing Generals, the chambermaids in the city would have taken +the affair into their fair hands, and armed with certain night +effluvia made short work with the military drones. + +_Jan. 8._--A poor negro woman with her child was refused entrance +into the cars. It snowed and stormed, and she was allowed to shiver +on the platform. A so-called abolitionist Congress and President +gave the charter to the constructors of the city railroad and the +members of Congress have free tickets, and the Africo-American is +treated as a dog. Human honesty and justice! + +_Jan. 8._--Horse contracts the word. Never in my life saw I the +horse so maltreated and the cavalry so poorly, badly, brainlessly +organised, drilled and used. Some few exceptions change not the +truth of my assertions, and McClellan is considered a great +organiser. They ruin more horses here in this war than did Napoleon +I. in Russia, (I speak not of the cold which killed thousands at +once.) + +How ignorant and conceited! Halleck solicits Rarey, the horse-tamer, +for instructions. O, Halleck, you are unique! Officers who have +served in armies with large, good, well-organised and well-drilled +cavalry--such officers will teach you more than Rarey. But such +officers are from Europe, and it would be a shame for a West-Point +incarnation of ignorance and conceit to learn anything from an +officer of European experience. Bayard, however, thought not so. +Justice to his name. + +The rebels are not so conceited as the simon pure West-Pointers. +Above all the rebels wish success, and have no objections to learn; +they imported good European cavalry officers, and have now under +Stuart (his chief of staff is a Prussian officer) a cavalry which +has made a mark in this war. + +_Jan. 8._--O rhetors! O, rhetors! malediction upon you and upon the +politicians! You have no heart, no sensibilities. Not one, not one +has yet uttered a single word for the fallen, for the suffering, the +dying and nameless heroes of our armies. It seems, O rhetors and +politicians! that the people ought to bleed that you may prosper. +Corpses are needed for your stepping stones! The fallen are not +mentioned now in Congress, as you never mentioned them in your poor +stump speeches. O, you whitened sepulchres! + +O rhetors and politicians! O, powers on, before, and "behind the +throne!" In your selfish, heartless conceit, you imagine that the +Emancipation is and will be your work, and will be credited to you. +Oh yes, but by old women. + +The people's blood, the fallen heroes, tore the divine work of +emancipation, from the hands of jealously watching demons. To the +shadows of the fallen the glory, and not to your round, polished or +unpolished phrases. Not the pen with which the proclamation was +written is a trophy and a relic, but the blood steaming to heaven, +the corpses of the fallen, corpses mouldering scattered on all the +fields of the Union. + +_Jan. 8._--As a rapid spring tide, so higher and higher, and with +all parties--even, with the decided Copperheads--rises the haughty +contempt toward the crowned, the official, the aristocratic, and the +flatfooted (livery stable) part of Europe. Good and just! Marshy, +rotten rulers and aristocrats who scarcely can keep your various +shaky and undermined seats, you and your lackeys, you take on airs +of advisors, of guardians, of initiators of civilization! Forsooth! +I except Russia. In Russia the sovereign, his ministers and +nine-tenths of the aristocracy are in _uni sono_ with the whole +nation; and all are against slavery, against the rebels, against +traitors. The Russian government and the Russian nation often are +misrepresented by their official or diplomatic agents. + +Any well organized American village in the free States contains more +genuine, moral and intellectual civilization than prevails among +European higher circles, those gilded pasteboards. This is all that +you, you conceited advisors, represent in that splendid, +all-embracing edifice of civilization! At the best you are +ornaments, or--with Wilhelm von Humboldt--you are culture, but not +the higher, man-inspiring civilization. A John S. Mill, a Godwin +Smith, and those many outside of the _would-be-something_ strata in +England, in France, almost the whole Germany, those are the +representatives of the genuine civilized Europe. + +The freemen of the North, on whom you European exquisites look +superciliously down with your albino eyes, the freemen of the North, +bleeding in this deadly struggle, are the confessors for the general +civilization, and stand on the level with any martyrs, with any +progressive people on record on history. + +_Jan. 9._--Quo, quo scelesti ruitis......... + +It is maddening to witness for so many months the reckless waste of +men, of time, of money, and of material means, and all this +squandered by governmental and administrative helplessness and +conceit. In the military part, notwithstanding Stanton's devotion +and efforts, that Halleck, _excrementum Scotti_, as by appointment, +carries out everything contrary to common sense, to well established +and experienced (Halleck and experience, ah!... military practice, +and Mr. Lincoln is as perfectly) charmed by it, as is the innocent +bird by the snake. + +And thus the sacrifices and the blood of the people run out as does +the mighty Rhine--they run out in sand. O, Lincoln-Seward's domestic +policy. O, Lincoln-Halleck's war power! You make one shudder as with +a death pang. + +_January 9._--The worshippers of slavery, that is, the Democrats, of +the Seymour's, Wood's, and the _World's_ church, call the war waged +for the defence of human rights, for civilization and for +maintaining the genuine rational self-government, they call it an +unholy war. In some respects the Copperheads are right. The holy war +loses its holiness in the hands of Lincoln, Seward, Halleck, and +their disciples and followers, because those leaders violate all the +laws of logic and of reason, this holy of holies. At times I would +prefer peace than see devoted men so recklessly murdered by such.... + +A critique of the first volume of the "Diary" asserts that all my +statements are made after the events occurred, _ex post_. To a very +respectable General I showed a part of the original manuscript which +squared with the printed book. Often I am ashamed to find that the +bit of study and experience acquired by me goes so far when compared +with many around me, and in action. I foresee, because I have no +earthly personal views, no cares, nothing in the world to think of +or to aim at, no charms, no ties--only my heart, my ideas, my +convictions, and civilization is my worship. Nothing prevents me, +day and night, from concentrating whatever powers and reading I can +have in one single focus. This cause, this people, this war, its +conduct, are the events amidst which I breathe. Uninterruptedly I +turn and return all that is in my mind--that is all. And I am proud +to have my heart in harmony with my head. + +Almost every event has its undercurrent, and of ten the little +undercurrents pre-eminently shape the events themselves. The truth +of this axiom is illustrated principally in the recall of the +resolute, indefatigable, far and clear-sighted patriot and +statesman, General Butler. To jump to a conclusion without much ado, +the recall of Butler from New Orleans is due principally, if not +even exclusively, to the united efforts--or conspiracy--of Mr. +Seward and Mr. Reverdy Johnson. Thirteen months ago Mr. Seward +expected, as he still expects for the future, an uprising of a Union +Party in the hottest hot-bed of Secessia. That such are the +Secretary of State's expectations, I emphatically assert, and as +proof, it may be stated that only yesterday, January 9th, Mr. Seward +most authoritatively tried to impress upon foreign diplomats the +speedy reunion and _restoration_ of the Union as it was, +notwithstanding the Proclamation, _still considered by the Secretary +of State_ as being _a waste of paper_. How far the foreign diplomats +believe the like oracular decisions, is another question; certain it +is that they shrug their shoulders. + +But to return to Butler and New Orleans. The patriotic activity by +which General Butler won, conquered and maintained the rebel city +for the Union, was emphatically considered by Mr. Seward, as +crushing out every spark of any latent Union feeling among the +rebels. Thurlow Weed, then abroad, urged Mr. Seward to find out the +said Union feeling, to blow it into almighty fire and to rely +exclusively upon it. Here Reverdy Johnson was and is, the principal +Union crony of the Secretary of State, and Seaton of the +_Intelligencer_; but above all, since the murder of Massachusetts +men at Baltimore in 1861, Reverdy Johnson was the devoted advocate +of all rich traitors, as the Winans and others, who were called by +him "misled Union men." When Gen. Butler dealt deserved justice to +rich traitors in New Orleans, the Washington Unionists surrounding +Mr. Chase and Mr. Seward--some of them from New Orleans--urged an +investigation. The Secretary of State eagerly seized the occasion to +dispatch to the Crescent City Mr. Reverdy Johnson with the principal +secret mission to gather together the elements of the scattered +Union feeling in Louisiana and in the South, and to make them +blaze--in honor of the Secretary of State. It was a rich harvest in +every way for Reverdy Johnson; he harvested it, and on his return +fully convinced the Secretary of State, that the Union could not be +saved if Gen. Butler remained in his command in the Department of +the Gulf. + +This surreptitious undermining of General Butler by the Secretary of +State, is one more evidence of how truly patriotic was the effort of +the Republican Senators and Congressmen to liberate the President +and the country from the all-choking and all-poisoning influence of +Mr. Seward, and how cursed must remain forever the conduct of Mr. +Chase, who, after having during two years cried against Seward, +accusing him almost of treason, when the hour struck, preferred to +embarrass the patriots and the President rather that to let Mr. +Seward retire and deprive the people of his _patriotic_ services. It +was moreover expected that, thus warned by the patriots, the +President would seize the first occasion to infuse energy into his +Cabinet. But there is a Mr. Usher, a docile nonentity, made +Secretary of the Interior; of course the Secretary of State will be +strengthened thereby. + +_January 10._--Senator Wright of Indiana, in an ardent and lofty--of +course, not rhetorical, speech, hit the nail on the head, when, +rendering due homage to Rosecrans, he called him "the first general +who fights for the people and not for the White House." The greatest +praise for the man, and the most saddening picture of our internal +sores. + +_January 10._--As the pure _populus Romanus_ had an inborn aversion +to Kings and diadems, and could not patiently bear their +neighborhood, so the genuine American Democrat, one by principles +and not by a party name or by a party organization, such a Democrat +feels it to be death for his institutions to have slavocracy in his +country or in its neighborhood. + +_Jan. 10._--O how is to be pitied the future historian of this +bloody tragedy! Through what a loathsome cesspool of documentary +evidence, preserved in the various State Archives, the unhappy +historian will have to wade, and wade deep to his chin. Original +works of Lincoln, Seward, etc. + +It is easy to play a game at chess with a far superior player, then +at least one learns something; but impossible to sit at a chess +board with a child who throws all into confusion. The national +chessboard is very confused in the White House. Cunning is good for, +and only succeeds in dealing with, mean and petty facts. + +_Jan. 10._--Halleck's congratulatory order to Rosecrans and to the +Western heroes. How cold and pedantic. How differently, how +enthusiastically and fiery rang Stanton's words on the capture of +forts Henry and Donelson and to Lander's (now dead) troops. Why is +Stanton silent? Is it the Constitution, the Statute, is it the +incarnate four years formula which seals Stanton's heart and brains? +or is Stanton eaten up by the rats in the Cabinet? + +_January 10._--The messages of the loyal Governors, not copperheads, +(as is Seymour of N. Y.) above all, the message of Andrew of +Massachusetts, throw a ray of hope and promise over this dark, cold, +unpatriotic confusion so eminent here in Washington. This confusion, +this groping, double-dealing and helplessness can be only cured by a +wonder, or else all will be lost. The wonder is daily perpetrated by +the all enduring, all-sacrificing people. + +Those criminals who ought to have been shot, or, at the mildest, +cashiered for the slaughter at Fredericksburgh, the engineers, +mock-Jominis, the sham soldiers: all these Washington engineers of +that recent butchery, assert now, that, after all, the possession of +Fredericksburgh was immaterial; that Lee would have then selected a +better position. All this is thrown to the public to palliate the +crime of the Washington military conclave, and to weaken and +invalidate Hooker's evidence before the War Committee. It must be +admitted that if Hooker--having fifty thousand in hand, and one +hundred thousand in his rear, had seized the Fredericksburgh +heights, he would not have allowed Lee to so easily select a +position and to fortify it. Nay, I suppose, that not only Hooker, +but even a Halleck, a Cullum or a Meigs would have prevented Lee +from settling in any comfortable position. However, I might be +mistaken. Corinth, Corinth, for Halleck. Those great nightcaps here +have so original and so new military conceptions, their general +comprehension of warfare so widely differs from science, experience, +and from common sense, that, holding Fredericksburgh they might have +invited Lee to select whatever he wanted as a strong position. + +I learn that Halleck is at work to translate some French military +book. What an inimitable narrow-minded pedant. If Halleck had +brains, he could not have an hour leisure for translation. But in +such way he humbugs Mr. Lincoln, who looks on Halleck as the +quintessence of military knowledge and genius. A man who can +translate a French book must be a genius. Is it not so, Lincoln? And +thus Halleck translates a book instead of taking care that the +pontoons be sent in time; and Halleck prepared sheets for the press, +and our soldiers to be massacred. + +Burnside prepares a movement; Franklin, to undermine Burnside, to +appear great, or to get hold of the army, denounces Burnside +secretly to the President: the President forbids the movement. What +a confusion! Mr. Lincoln, either accept Burnside's resignation, +which he has repeatedly offered, or kick down the denouncers. +Accident made me discover almost next day, the names of the two +generals sent by Franklin on this denunciatory errand--John Cochran +and Newton. I instantly told all to Stanton, who was almost ignorant +of Franklin's surreptitiousness. I also told it to several Senators. + +The Army of the Potomac is altogether demoralized--above all, in the +higher grades. It could not be otherwise if they were angels. +McClellanism was and is propitious to general disorder, and how Mr. +Lincoln improves is exemplified above. Independent men, independent +Senators and Representatives who approach Mr. Lincoln, find him +peevish, irritable, intractable to all patriots. _All these are +criteria of a lofty mind and character._ Weed, Seward, Harris, +Blair, and such ones alone, are agreeable in the White House. + +So much is spoken of the war powers of the President; I study, and +study, and cannot find them as absolute as the Lincolnites construe +them. All that I read in the Constitution are the real _war powers_ +in the Congress, and the President is only the executor of those +powers. The President must have permission for every thing, almost +at every step--and has no right to issue decrees. He has no war +powers over those of Congress, and can act very little on his own +hook. It seems to me that Congress, misled, confused by casuists, +expounders, and by small intellects worshipping routine, that +Congress rather abdicated their powers, and that the bunglers around +Lincoln, in his name greedily seized the above powers. + +Poor Lincoln! As the devil dreads holy water, so Mr. Lincoln dreads +to be surrounded with stern, earnest, ardent, patriotic advisers. +Such men would not listen to stories! + +_January 11._--The thus-called metropolitan press is in the hands of +old politicians, old hacks--and no new forces or intellects pierce +through. It is a phenomenon. In any whatever country in Europe, at +every convulsion the press bristles with new, fresh intellects. +Here, the old nightcaps have the monopoly. Farther: those +respectable fossils reside at a distance from the focus of affairs, +are not directly in contact with events and men, and are in no +communion with them. The Grand Lamas of the press depend for +information upon the correspondents, who catch news and ideas at +random, and nourish with them their employers and the public. + +_January 11._--Senator Sumner has made a motion to give homesteads +to the liberated Africo-Americans. That is a better and a nobler +action than all his declamations put together. + +_January 12._--Sentinels in double line surrounding the White House. +Odious, ridiculous, unnecessary, and an aspect unwonted in this +country--giving the aspect to the White House of an abode of a +tyrant, when it is only that of a shifting politician. It is +Halleck, who, with the like futilities and absurdities, amuses +Lincoln and gets the better of him. + +Mr. Lincoln is very depressed at the condition of the Army of the +Potomac, and decides--nothing for its reorganization. But for +Halleck, Stanton would reorganize and give a new and healthy life to +the army. I mean the upper grades, and not the rank and file, who +are patriotic and healthy. + +After Corinth, Halleck-Buell disorganized the Western, now Halleck +is at work to do the same with the Potomac Army. I know that in the +presence of a diplomat, Halleck complained that he is paid only five +thousand dollars, and earned by far more in California. He had +better return to California and to his pettifogging. + +Since the beginning of this Administration, Mr. Seward wrote, I am +sure, more dispatches than France, England, Prussia, Russia, +Austria, Spain, and Italy put together during the Crimean war, and +up to this day. Great is ink, and paper is patient! + +_January 13._--It is more than probable that Mr. Mercier stirred up, +or at least heartily supported the mediation scheme. The Frenchmen +in New York maintain that Mr. Mercier derives his knowledge of +America and his political inspirations from that foul sheet, the +_Courrier des Etats Unis_. There is some truth in this assertion, as +the reasons enumerated to justify mediation can be found in various +numbers of that sheet. I am sorry that Mr. Mercier has fallen so +low; as for his master, he is a fit associate for the _Courrier_. + +_January 13._--Ralph Waldo Emerson, inspired and not silenced by the +storm. He alone stands up from among the Athenian school. He alone +is undaunted. So would be Longfellow, but for the terrible domestic +calamity whose crushing blow no man's heart could resist. I never +was a great admirer of Emerson, but now I bow, and burn to him my +humble incense. + +_January 15._--The patriotic, and at times inspired orator--not +rhetor--Kelly, from Pennsylvania, told me that all is at sixes and +sevens in the Administration, and in the army. I believe it. How +could it be otherwise, with Lincoln, Seward and Halleck at the head? + +Mr. Seward did his utmost to defeat the re-election of Judge Potter +from Wisconsin, one among the best and noblest patriots in the +country. For this object Mr. Seward used the influence of the +pro-Catholic Bonzes. Then Mr. Seward wrote a letter denying all +this--a letter which not in the least convinced the brave Judge, as +I have it from himself. + +If all the lies could only be ferreted out with which Seward +bamboozles Lincoln, even the God of Lies himself would shudder. + +_January 15._--The noble and lofty voice of the genuine English +people, the voice of the working classes, begins to be heard. The +people re-echo the key-note struck by a J. S. Mills, by a Bright, a +Cobden, and others of like pure mind and noble heart. The voice of +the genuine English people resounds altogether differently from the +shrill _falsetto_ with which turf hunters, rent-roll devourers, +lords, lordlings, and all the like shams and whelps try to +intimidate the patriotic North, and comfort the traitors, the +rebels. + +_January 16._--But for the truly enlightened and patriotic efforts +of the Senators Wade, Lane, (of Kansas) and Trumbull, the debate of +yesterday, Thursday, on the appropriation for the West Point +Military Academy would have gone to the country, absolutely +misleading and stultifying the noble and enlightened people. It was +most sorrowful, nay, wholly disgusting to witness how Senators who, +until then, had stood firmly against small influences and narrow +prejudices, blended together in an unholy alliance to sustain the +accursed clique of West Point engineers. Much allowance is to be +made for the allied Senators' ignorance of the matter, and for the +natural wish to appear wise. The country, the people, ought to +treasure the names of the ten patriotic Senators whose voices +protested against further sustaining that cursed nursery of +arrogance, of pro-slavery, or of something worse. + +Whatever might have been the efforts of the Senatorial patrons and +the allies of the engineers, the following facts remained for ever +unalterable: 1st. That the spirit of close educational corporation +which have exclusive monopoly and patronage, is perfectly similar to +the spirit which prevailed and still prevails in monasteries, and +permeates the pupils during their whole after life; 2d. That the +prevailing spirit in West Point was and is rather monarchical and +altogether Pro-Slavery; 3d, that of course some noble exceptions +are to be found and made,--but they are exceptions; 4th, that such +educational monasteries nurse conceit and arrogance; and this the +mass of West Pointers have prominently shown during this war in +their relations with the noble and devoted volunteers, and that this +arrogant spirit of clique and of caste works mischievously in the +army; 5th, that exceptions, noble and patriotic, as a Reno, a Lyons, +a Bayard, a Stevens, and other such heroes and patriots, do not +disprove the general rule; 6th, that Lyons, Grant, Rosecrans, +Hooker, Heintzelman, etc., have shown glorious qualities not on +account of what they learnt in West Point, but by what they did not +learn there; 7th, that these heroes rose above the dry and narrow +school wisdom, and are what they are, not because educated in West +Point, but notwithstanding their education there. And here I +interrupt the further enumeration to give an extract from a private +letter directed to me by one of the most eminent pupils from West +Point, and the ablest _true_, not _mock_, engineer in our army: + + "In regard to your views of West Point's influence I am at a loss + to make any answer," (the writer is a great defender of West + Point,) "but would suggest that it may be after all not West + Point, but the want of _a supreme hand_ to our military affairs + to _combine_ and _use_ the materials West Point furnishes, that + is in fault. * * * _West Point cannot make a general_--no + military school can--but it can and does furnish good soldiers. + All the distinguished Confederate generals are West Pointers, and + yet we know the men, and know that neither Lee, nor Johnson nor + Jackson, nor Beauregard, nor the Hills are men of any very + extraordinary ability," etc., etc., etc. + +To this I answer: the rebels are with their heart and soul in their +cause, and thus their capacities are expanded, they are inspired on +the field of battle. (Similar answer I gave to General McDowell +about six months ago.) So was our Lyon, so are Rosecrans, Hooker, +Grant, and a few others; and for such generals, Senators Trumbull, +Wade and Lane ardently called in the above debate. + +I continue the enumeration: 8th. The military direction of the war is +exclusively in the hands of a West Point clique, and of West Point +engineers,--not _very much_ with their hearts in the people's cause; +9th, that that clique of West Point engineers from McClellan down to +Halleck prevents any truly higher military capacity getting a free +untrammelled scope, (General Halleck with all his might opposes giving +the command of the army to Hooker,) and this Halleck, an engineer from +West Point, who never saw a cartridge burnt or a file of soldiers +fighting, to-day decides the military fate of our country on the +authority of a book said to be on military science, but if such a book +had been written by any officer in the armies of France, Prussia or +Russia, the ignorant author would have had the friendly advice from +his superiors to resign and select some pursuit in life more congenial +to his intellectual capacities; further, this Halleck complains in +following words: "that they (the Administration) made him leave a +profitable business in San Francisco, and pay him only 5,000 dollars +to fight THEIR (not his) battles." So much for a Halleck. 10th. That +the West Point clique of engineers, the McClellans, the Hallecks, the +Franklins, etc., have brought the country to the verge of the grave, +as stated by Senator Lane. + +Such were the facts established by the patriotic and not +would-be-wise Senators; and there is an illustration recorded in +history as proof that the above not engineering Senators were right +in their assertions. Frederick II. was in no military school; the +captains second to Napoleon in the French wars were Hoche, Moreau, +and Massena, all of them from private life. + +--The clique of engineers has the Potomac Army altogether in its +grasp, and has reduced and perverted the spirit of the noble +children of the people. Oh, the sooner this army shall be torn from +the hands of the clique the nearer and surer will be the salvation +of the country. + +The clique accuses the volunteers; but the clique, the engineers in +power have disorganized, morally and materially, and disgraced the +Army of the Potomac. They did this from the day of the encampments +around Washington, in the fall of 1861, down to the day of +Fredericksburgh. Fredericksburgh was altogether prepared by +engineers; at Fredericksburgh the engineer Franklin did not even +mount his horse when his soldiers were misled and miscommanded--by +himself. + +--Stragglers are generated by generals. Besides, to explain +straggling, I quote from a _genuine_ book on genuine military +science, published in Berlin in 1862, by Captain Boehn, the most +eminent professor at the military school in Potsdam: "The greatest +losses, during a war, inflicted on an army are by maladies and by +straggling. Such losses are five times greater than those of killed +and wounded; and an _intelligent administration_ takes preparatory +measures to meet the losses and to compensate them. Such measures of +foresight consist in organizing depots for battalions, which depots +ought to equal one sixth of the number of the active army." O, +Halleck, where are the depots? + +--"In any ordinary campaign, excepting a winter campaign, the losses +amount (as established by experience) to one half in infantry, one +fourth in cavalry, and to one third in artillery." (Do you know any +thing about it, O, Halleck?) + +Let the people be warned, and they may understand the location of +the cause generating further disasters. If the Army of the Potomac +shall win glory, it will win it notwithstanding the West Point +clique of engineers. The disasters have root in the White House, +where the advice of such a Halleck prevails. + +--I know very well that the formation of the volunteers in +respective States and by the Governors of such States raises a great +difficulty in organizing and preparing reserves. But talent and +genius reveal themselves by overpowering difficulties considered to +be insurmountable. And Halleck is a man both of genius and talent. + +Taking into account the patriotism, the devotion of the governors of +the respective states, [not _a la_ Copperhead Seymour], it would +have been possible, nay, even easy to organize some kind of +reserves. O, Halleck, O, fogies! + +_January 17._--Mr. Lincoln loads on his shoulders all kinds of +responsibilities, more so than even Jackson would have dared to +take. Admirable if generated by the boldness of self-consciousness, +of faith, and of convictions. True men measure the danger--and the +means in their grasp to meet the emergency; others play +unconsciously with events, as do children with explosive and +death-dealing matters. + +_January 17._--General and astronomer Mitchel's death may be credited +to Halleck. Halleck and Buell's envy--if not worse--paralysed Mitchel +and Turtschin's activity in the West. Mitchel and Turtschin were too +quick, that is, too patriotic. In early summer, 1862, they were sure +to take Chattanooga, a genuine strategic point, one of those principal +knots and nurseries in the life of the secesh. How imprudent! +Chattanooga is still in the hands of the rebels, and if we ever take +it, it will cost streams of blood and millions of money. Down with +Mitchel and Turtschin. Mitchel's _excrementa_ were more valuable than +are Halleck's heavy, but not expanding, brains. Mitchel revealed at +once all the qualities of an eminent, if not of a great general. +Quickness of mind, fertility of resources. An astronomer, a +mathematician, Mitchel's mind was familiar with broad combinations. +Such a mind penetrated space, calculated means and chances, balanced +forces and probabilities. Not to compare, however, is it to be borne +in mind that Napoleon was a mathematician in the fullest sense, and +not an engineer, not a translator. + +_January 18._--Mr. Lincoln's letter to McClellan when the hero of +the Copperheads was in search of mud in the Peninsula. The letter +rings as sound common sense; it shows, however, that common sense +debarred of strong will remains unproductive of good. Mr. Lincoln +commonly shows strong will, in the wrong place. + + ----ein Theil von jener Krafft, + Die stehts das Guthe will, und stehts das Boese schaff. + +_January 18._--The emancipation proclamation is out. Very well. But +until yet not the slightest signs of any measures to execute the +proclamation, at once, and in its broadest sense. Now days, even +hours, are equal to years in common times. Had Lincoln his heart in +the proclamation, on January 2d he would begin to work out its +expansion, realization, execution. I wish Lincoln may lift himself, +or be lifted by angels to the grandeur of the work. But it is +impossible. Surrounded as he is, and led in the strings by Seward, +Blair, Halleck, and by border-state politicians, the best that can +be expected are belated half measures. + +Stanton comprehends broadly and thoroughly the question of +emancipation and of arming the Africo-Americans. As I intend to +realize my plans of last year and organise Africo-American +regiments, I had conversations with Stanton, and find him more +thorough about the matter than is any body whom I met. He agreed +with me, that the cursed land of Secessia ought to be surrounded by +camps to enlist and organise the enslaved, as a scorpion surrounded +with burning coals. Such organizations introduced rapidly and +simultaneously on all points, would shake Secessia to its +foundations, and put an end to guerillas, _alias_ murderers and +robbers. We will again think and talk it over. But as is wont with +Lincoln, he will hesitate, hesitate, until much of precious time +will be lost. + +_January 18._--A surgeon in one of the hospitals in Alexandria +writes in a private note: + + "Our wounded bear their sufferings nobly; I have hardly heard a + word of complaint from one of them. A soldier from the 'stern and + rock bound coast' of Maine--a victim of the slaughter at + Fredericksburgh--lay in this hospital, his life ebbing away from + a fatal wound. He had a father, brothers and sisters, a wife, and + one little boy of two or three years old, on whom his heart + seemed set. Half an hour before he ceased to breathe, I stood by + his side, holding his hand. He was in the full exercise of his + intellectual faculties, and knew he had but a brief time to live. + He was asked if he had any message to leave for his dear ones + whom he loved so well. "_Tell them_," said he, "_how I died--they + know how I lived!_" + +_January 19._--Senator Wright, of Indiana, stirred the hearts of the +Senate and of the people. It was not the oration of a rhetor--it was +the confession of an ardent, pure patriot. I never heard or +witnessed anything so inspiring and so kindling to soul and heart. + +_January 20._--General Butler palsied and shelved, Halleck all +powerful and with full steam running the country and the army to +destruction--such is the truest photograph of the situation. But as +an adamantine rock among storms, so Mr. Lincoln remains unmoved. +Unmoved by the yawning, bleeding wounds of the devoted, noble +people--unmoved by the prayers and supplication of patriots--of +his--once--best friends. Mr. Lincoln answers, with dignity not +Roman, and with obstinacy unparallelled even by Jackson, that he +will stand or fall with his present advisers, and that he takes the +responsibility for all the cursed misdeeds of Seward, Halleck, +Chase, and others. So children are ready to set a match to a powder +magazine unconscious of the terrible results--unconscious of the +awful responsibility for its destructive action. + +A death pang runs through one's body to see how rapidly the dial +marks the disappearing hours, and how unrelentingly approaches March +4th, and the death-knell of this present patriotic, devoted +Congress. For this terrible storm and clash of events, the people, +perhaps, feel not the immensity of the loss. Paralyzed as Congress +has been and now is, by the infernal machinations of Seward, Chase, +and others, and by Mr. Lincoln's stubborn helplessness, the patriots +in both Houses nevertheless, succeeded in redeeming the pledge which +the name of America gives to the expansive progress of humanity. The +patriots of both Houses, as the exponents of the noble and loftiest +aspirations of the American people, whipped in--and this literally, +not figuratively--whipped Mr. Lincoln into the glory of having +issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The laws promulgated by this +dying Congress initiated the Emancipation--generated the +Proclamation of the 22d September, and of January 1st. History will +not allow one to wear borrowed plumage. + +--Congress ought not to have so easily abdicated its well established +rights of more absolute and direct control of the deeds of the +Administration and of its clerks, _alias_ Secretaries of Departments. +It is to be eternally regretted that Congress has shown such +unnecessary leniency; but in justice it must be said that the +patriotic and high-minded members of Congress wished to avoid the +degrading necessity of showing the nation the prurient administrative +sores. Advised, directed, tutored and pushed by Seward, Blair and +Chase, Mr. Lincoln is--innocently--as grasping for power, as are any +of those despots not over respectfully recorded by history. + +With all this, the presence of Congress keeps in awe the reckless +and unscrupulous Administration, as, according to the pious belief +of medieval times, holy water awed the devil. But Congress once out +of the way, without having succeeded in rescuing Mr. Lincoln from +the hands of those mean, ignorant, egotistic bunglers, all the time +squinting towards the succession to the White House, and unable to +surround the President with men and patriots, then all the plagues +of Egypt may easily overrun this fated country. Such conjurors of +evil as the Sewards, Hallecks, and others, will have no dread of any +holy water before them, and they will be sure that the great party +of the "Copperheads" in the future Congress will applaud them for +all the mischief done, and lift them sky high, if they succeed in +treading down in the gutter, or in any way palsying emancipation, +tarnishing the people's noble creed, and endangering the country's +holiest cause. + +General Fitz-John Porter's trial before court-martial ended in his +dismissal, but ought punishment to fall on him alone, when the +butchers of Fredericksburgh and when the pontoon men are in high +command? when a Franklin is still sustained, when a Seward and a +Halleck remain firm in their high places as the gates of hell? + +_January 20._--Wrote a respectful letter to the President on +Halleck's military science, his book, and capacity. Told +respectfully to Mr. Lincoln that not even the Sultan would dare to +palm such a Halleck on his army and on his people. + +Mr. Lincoln in his greatness says that "he will stand and fall with +his Cabinet." O, Mr. Lincoln! O, Mr. Lincoln! purple-born sovereigns +can no more speak so! + +Mr. Lincoln! with the gang of politicians, your advisers and +friends, _you all desire immensely, and will feebly_. You desire the +reconstruction of the Union, and you almost shun the ways and means +to do it. And thus this noble people is dragged to a slaughter +house. + + Parumne campis atque Neptuno super + Fusum est--[Yankee] sanguinis? + +_January 21._--Deep, irreconcilable as is my hatred of slavocrats +and rebels, nevertheless I am forced to admire the high intellectual +qualities of their chiefs, when compared with that of ours. Of +Lincoln _versus_ Jeff Davis I spoke in the first volume. But now +Lee, Jackson, Hill, Ewall, _versus_ Halleck, McClellan, McDowell, +Franklin, etc. + +_January 22._--Wendell Phillips's _Amen_ oration to the Proclamation +is noble and torrent-like oratory. Greeley is the better Greeley of +former times. I heartily wish to admire and speak well of Greeley, +as of every body else. Is it my fault that they give me no occasion? + +_January 23._--General Fitz-John Porter, McClellan's pet, told me +to-day, that after the battle at Hanover Court House, he supplicated +McClellan to attack Richmond at once--which in Porter's opinion +could have been taken without much ado,--and not to change his base +to James River; and even Fitz-John could not prevail on this demigod +of imbeciles, traitors and intriguers. + +_January 24._--Here is one of the thousand flagrant lies with which +Seward entangles Lincoln, as with a net of steel. Lincoln assured +General Ashley that the public is unjust toward Seward in accusing +him of having worked for the defeat of Wadsworth. That they have +been the best friends for long years; that, when Military Governor +of Washington, Wadsworth was a daily visitor in Seward's house; and +that, during the canvass, Wadsworth consulted with Seward concerning +his (Wadsworth's) actions. + +Mr. Seward knows that every one of those assertions which he or +Thurlow Weed pushed down the throat of Mr. Lincoln is a flagrant +lie. Every one knows that for many, many years the high-toned +Wadsworth had in utter detestation Mr. Seward's character as a +lawyer or as a public man, and that he never spoke to him, and never +was his political or private friend. + +I am sorry to bring such details before the public, but how +otherwise convict a liar? As for Thurlow Weed's secret and open +machinations against the election of Wadsworth, only an idiot or a +s.... doubts them. Ask the New York politicians, provided they have +manhood to tell the truth. + +_January 24th._--_Caveant Senators and Representatives!_ cannot be +too often hurled into the ears of the people and of the Congressmen. +The time runs lightning like--the 4th of March approaches with +comet-like velocity. If the tempest is not roaring, its signs are +visible, and most of the helmsmen are blind or unsteady. Oh! could +every move of the pendulums of the clocks of the Senate Chamber and +the Representatives' Hall, thunder-like repeat that _caveant_, +transmitted by the purest and best days of Rome! The Republicans and +many of the war Democrats are faithful and true to the people and to +its sacred cause; but the names of the "filibustering" traitors in +both houses ought to be nailed to the gallows! + +European winds bring Louis Napoleon's opening speech, and the +confession, that although once rebuked, he, the dissolute, the +profligate, with his corrosive breath still intends to pollute the +virginity of our country; for such is the indelible stain to any +nation, to any people which accepts or submits to any, even the most +friendly, foreign mediation or arbitration. Never, never any great +nation or any self-respecting government, accepted or submitted to +any similar foreign interference. Of the peoples, nations and +governments, which allowed such interference, some collapsed into +degradation for a long time, only slowly recovering, like Spain; +others, like Poland, disappeared. Those who advocate such mediation +unveil their weakness, their thorough ignorance of the world's +history and of the historic and political bearings of the words, +_mediation_, and _arbitration_; and to crown all, these advocates +bring to market their imbecility. + +The Africo-Americans ought to receive military organization and be +armed. But it ought to be done instantly and without loss of time; +it ought to be done earnestly, boldly, broadly; it ought to be done +at once on all points and on the largest scale; it ought to be done +here in Washington, under the eyes of the chief of the people; here +in the heart of the country; here, so to speak, in the face of +slave-breeding Virginia, this most intense focus of treason; it +ought to be done here, that the loyal freemen of Virginia's soil be +enabled to fight and crush the F. F. V's, the progeny of hell; it +ought to be done here on every inch of soil covered with shattered +shackles; and not partially on the outskirts, in the Carolinas and +Louisiana. Stanton, alone, and Welles among the helmsmen, are so +inspired; but alas, for the rest of the crew. + +On the flags of the Africo-Americans under my command, I shall +inscribe: _Hic niger est! hunc tu (rebel) caveto!_ I shall inculcate +upon my men that they had better not make prisoners in the battle, +and not allow themselves to be taken alive. + +_January 25th._--So Gen. McClellan's services to the rebellion are +acknowledged by the gift of a splendid mansion situated in New York, +in the social sewer of American society. The donors, are the shavers +from Wall Street, individuals who coin money from the blood and from +the misfortunes of the people, and who by high rents mercilessly +crush the poor; who sacrifice nothing for the sacred cause; who, if +they put their names as voluntary contributors of a trifle for the +war, thousand and thousand times recover that trifle which they +ostentatiously throw to gull the good-natured public opinion; not to +speak of those so numerous among the McClellanites, who openly or +secretly are in mental communion with treason and rebellion. +Naturally, all this gang honors its hero. + +McClellan's pedestal is already built of the corpses of hundreds of +thousands butchered by his generalship, poisoned in the +Chickahominy, and decimated by diseases. His trophies are the wooden +guns from Centreville and Manassas. + +_January 25th._--What from the beginning of this war, I witness as +administrative acts and dispositions, and further the debates in +Congress on the various bills for military organizations and for the +organization of the various branches of the military medical, +surgical, and quartermaster's service; all this fully convinces me +that the military and administrative routine, as transmitted by Gen. +Scott, or by his school, and as continued by his pets and remnants, +is almost the paramount cause of all mischief and evils. In the +medical, surgical, and in the quartermasters' offices, ought have +been appointed young civilians and business men as chiefs, having +under them some old routinists for the sake of technicalities of the +service. Such men would have done by far better than those old +intellectual drones. A merchant accustomed to carry on an extensive +and complicated business would have been by far a better +quartermaster-general--_Intendant des armees_--than the wholly +inexperienced Gen. Meigs. This last would serve as an aid to the +merchant. At the beginning of the war, I suggested to Senator Wilson +to import such quartermasters from France or Russia, men experienced +and accustomed to provide for armies of 100,000 men each. By paying +well, such men could have been easily found, and the military +medical and surgical bureau, as organized by Scott, was about sixty +years behind real science. These senile representatives of +non-science snubbed off Professor Van Buren of the New York +academy, to whom they compare as the light of a common match to that +of calcium. If men like Dr. Van Buren, Dr. Barker, and others of +real science from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, etc., had been +listened to, thousands and thousands of limbs and lives would have +been saved and preserved. + +_January 25th._--Mr. Lincoln relishes the idea that if the cause of +the North is victorious, no one can claim much credit for it. I put +this on record for some future assumptions. Mr. Lincoln is the best +judge of the merits of his clerks and lieutenants. But Mr. Lincoln +forgets that the success will be due exclusively to the people--and, +_per contra_, he alone will be arrayed for the failure. His friends +and advisers, as the Sewards, the Weeds, the Blairs, the Hallecks, +will very cleverly wash their gored hands from any complicity with +him--Lincoln. + +The army to be formed from Africo-Americans is to be entrusted to +converted conservatives. It is feared that sincere abolitionists if +entrusted with the command, may use the forces for some awful, +untold aims. It is feared that abolitionists once possessed of arms +and troops, may use them indiscriminately, and emancipate right and +left, by friend and foe, paying no attention to the shrieks of +border-States, of old women, of politicians, of cowards, of +Sewardites; nay, it is feared that genuine abolitionists may carry +too far their notions of absolute equality of races, and without +hesitation treat the white rebels with even more severity than they +threaten to treat loyal armed Africo-Americans. And why not?... + +The history of England, the history of any free country has not on +record a position thus anomalous, even humiliating, as is that of +the patriots in Congress, thanks to Mr. Lincoln's helpless +stubbornness. The patriots forcibly must consider Mr. Lincoln, even +Sewardised, Blairised, Halleckised as he is, as being the only legal +power for the salvation of the country. The patriots must support +him, and instead of exposing the wretched faults, mistakes, often +ill-will of his administration, must defend the administration +against the attacks of the Copperheads, who try to destroy or +disorganize the administration on account of that atom of good that +it accidentally carries out on its own hook. And thus the patriots +must suffer and bear patiently abuses heaped on them by the +treasonable or by the stupid press, by intriguers and traitors; and +patriots cannot make even the slightest attempt to vindicate their +names. + +_January 26th._--The visits to the White House and the "_I had a +talk with the President_," are among the prominent causes of the +distracted condition of affairs. With comparatively few exceptions, +almost everybody expands a few inches in his own estimation, when he +says to his listeners, nay, to his friends: "I had a talk with the +President." Of course it is no harm in private individuals to have +such _a talk_, but I have frequently observed and experienced that +public men had better refrain from having any talk with him. Very +often he is not a jot improved by their talk, and they come out from +the interview worsted in some sort or other. + +Sumner, the Roman, the Cicero, was to-day urged by several +abolitionists from Boston to expose the mischief of both the foreign +and the domestic policy of Seward. The Senator replied that he is +more certain to succeed against that public nuisance and public +enemy by not attacking him openly. I vainly ransack my recollection +of my classic reading for the name of any Roman who ever made such a +reply. + +_January 26th: Two o'clock P. M._--Hooker is in command! And +patriotic hearts thrill with joy! Mud, bad season, mortality, loss +of time, demoralization, such is the inheritance left by McClellan, +Halleck and Burnside--such are the results prepared by the infamous +West Point and other muddy intriguers in Washington, and in the +army,--such is the inheritance transmitted to Hooker, by the cursed +Administration procrastinations. In all military history there is +seldom, if ever, a record of a commander receiving an army under +such ominous circumstances. If Hooker succeeds, then his genius will +astonish even his warmest friends. + +When Hooker was wounded, and in the hospital, he repeatedly +complained to me of the deficiency of the staffs. I reminded him of +it, and he promised to do his best to organize a staff without a +flaw. + +I immediately wrote to Stanton, sending him several pages translated +from the German works of Boehn (before spoken of) to give to the +Secretary a general idea of what are the qualities, the science, the +knowledge and the duties of a good chief of staff. I explained that +the staff and the chief of the staff of an army are to it what the +brains and the nervous system are to the human body. + +_9 o'clock, P. M._--I am told that Hooker wished to have for his +chief of staff General Stone, (white-washed) who is considered to be +one of the most brilliant capacities of the army. If so, it was a +good choice, and the opposition made by Stanton is for me--at the +best--unintelligible. + +Hooker selected Butterfield. What a fall from Stone to Butterfield. +Between the two extend hundreds, nay, thousands, of various +gradations. Gen. Butterfield is brave, can well organize a regiment +or a brigade, but he has not and can not have the first atom of +knowledge required in a chief of staff of such a large army. Staff +duties require special studies, they are the highest military +science; and where, in the name of all, could Butterfield have +acquired it? I am certain Butterfield is not even aware that staff +duties are a special science. All this is a very bad omen, very bad, +very bad. Literally they laugh at me; now they hurrah for Hooker. +May they not cry very soon on account of Hooker's staff. When I +warn, Senators and Representatives tell me that I am very difficult +to be satisfied. We will see. + +_January 27._--It is said that Franklin, Sumner, and even +Heintzelman declared they would not serve under Hooker. Let them go. +Bow them out, the hole in the army will be invisible. I am sorry +that Heintzelman plays such pranks, as he is a very good general and +a very good man. Well, a new galaxy of generals and commanders is +the inevitable gestation of every war. Seldom if ever the same men +end a war who began it. New men will prove better than the present +sickly reputations consecrated by Scott, West Point and Washington. + +_January 27._--Governor Andrew--the man always to the point, or as the +French would say _toujours a la hauteur de la question_--insists on +forming African or black regiments in Boston from free blacks. Such +formations interfere not with my project, as I principally, nay +exclusively, look to contrabands, to actual slaves. Governor Andrew +wishes to give the start, to stir up the Government and other +Governors and to drag them in his footsteps. He is the representative +man of the new and better generation which ought to have the affairs +of the country in hand, and not these old worn-out hacks who are at it +now. If such new men were at the helm in both civil and military +affairs, Secesh would have been already crushed and Emancipation +accomplished. To such a new generation belongs Coffey, one of the +Assistant Attorney Generals, Austin Stevens, Jr., Charles Dana, +Woodman, etc., etc. The country bristles with such men, and only +prejudices, stupidity, and routine prevents them from becoming really +active and from saving the country. + +_January 27._--The patriotic majorities of both Houses of Congress +pass laws after laws concerning the finances, arming the +Africo-Americans, increasing the powers of the President, etc., each +of which taken alone, would not only save the cause but raise it +triumphant over the ruins of crime and of slavery, if used by +patriotic, firm, devoted, unegotistic hands and brains. But alas! +alas! very little of such, except in one or two individuals, is +located in the various edifices in and around the presidential +quarters. + +The military organization of Africo-Americans is a powerful social +and military engine by which slavery, secession, rebellion, and all +other dark and criminal Northern and Southern excrescences can be +crushed and pulverized to atoms, and this in a trice. But as is the +case with all other powerful and explosive gases, elements, forces, +etc. this mighty element put in the hands of the Administration must +be handled resolutely, and with unquivering hands and intellect; +otherwise the explosion may turn out useless for the country and for +humanity. + +At present the indications are very small that the administration +has a decided, clear comprehension how to use this accession of +loyal forces on a large scale; how to bring them boldly into action +in Virginia, as the heart of the rebellion. Nothing yet indicates +that the administration intends to arm and equip Africo-Americans +here under the eyes of the government. Nothing indicates that it +intends to do this avowedly and openly, and thereby terrify and +strike the proud slave-breeders, the F. F. V's. of Virginia, in the +heart of treason, and do it by their own once chattels, now their +betters. + +_January 28._--The Congress almost expires; and will or can the +incarnated constitutional formula save the country? It is a chilling +thought to doubt, yet how can we have confidence! All in the +people! the people alone and its true men will not and cannot +fail, and they alone are up to the mission. + +The dying Congress can no more reconquer its abdicated power. This +noble and patriotic majority--many of them, are not re-elected, +thanks to Lincoln-Seward--provide the incarnate formula with all +imaginable legal, constitutional powers, more than twice sufficient +to save the country. Could only the brains and hands entrusted with +laws, be able to execute them! Oh for a legal, constitutional, +statute Cromwell, ready to behead treason, rebellion, slavocracy and +slavo-sympathy, as the great Oliver beheaded and crushed the +poisonous weeds of his time. If the democratic-copperhead vermin +had the possibility, they would make a McClellan-Seymour +dictatorship, and extinguish for a century at least, light, right, +justice, and freedom. Not yet! Oh, Copperheads! not yet. + +_January 29._--They dance to madness in New York, they dance here +and give dancing parties! O what a heartlessness, recklessness, +flippancy, and crime, of those mothers, wives and young crinolines, +when one half of the population is already in mourning, when they +have fathers, brothers, husbands in the army. I hope that Boston and +New England as well as the towns and villages of the country all +over, spit on this example given by New York and Washington. My +friend N----, progressive, enlightened and therefore a true Russian, +is amazed and displeased with such an intolerable flippancy. During +the Crimean war, no one danced in Russia from the Imperial palace +down to the remotest village; the people's indignation would have +prevented any body--even the Czar, from such a sacrilegious display +of recklessness when the country's integrity and honor were at +stake, when the nation's blood was pouring in torrents. + +Unspeakably worse, is the cold indifference with which many +generals, many men in power, the rhetors and the politicians, speak +of what is more than a sacrifice in a sacred cause, is an unholy and +demoniac waste of human life. But some one--some avenging angel, +will call them all to a terrible account. + +_January 30._--I would have ex-Governor Boutwell, of Massachusetts, +Secretary of State. The conduct of European affairs requires pure +patriotism--that is, conscientiousness of being an American by +principle, in the noblest philosophical sense, sound common sense, +discretion, simplicity, sobriety of mind, firmness, clear-sightedness. +Boutwell would be a Secretary of State similar to Marcy. + +_January 30._--Wrote a letter to Stanton with the following +suggestions for the organization of a large and efficacious force, +nay, army, from the Africo-Americans. + +Some of the points submitted to this genuine patriot have been +already variously mentioned above; here are some others. + +1. It may be possible--even probable--on account of inveterate +prejudices and stupidity, that an Africo-American regiment may be +left unsupported during a battle. + +2. It would be therefore more available to organize such a force at +once on a large scale, so as to be able to have strong brigades, and +even divisions. At the head of six to eight thousand men, resistance +is possible for several hours if the enemy outnumbers not in too +great proportions--four or five to one, and if the terrain is not +altogether against the smaller force. + +3. The Africo-Americans ought to be formed, drilled and armed +principally with the view to constitute light infantry--and, if +possible, light cavalry--but above all, for a _set fight_. + +4. Their dress must be adapted to such a light service--as ought to +be the dress of our whole infantry, facilitating to the utmost the +quick and easy movements of the body and of the feet; both +impossible or at least difficult in the present equipment of the +American infantry. On account of the modern improvements in fire +arms, the fights begin at longer distances, and it is important that +the soldier be trained to march as quickly as possible, so as to +force the enemy from their positions at the point of the bayonet. In +this country of clay, bad roads, forests and underbrush, even more +than care must be bestowed upon the feet and legs of the infantry. I +suggested an imitation of the equipment of the French infantry. + +5. In the case of the arsenals not having the requisite number of +fire-arms, I would have the third line armed with scythes. As a +Pole, I am familiar with that really terrible weapon. + +6. To adapt the drill to the object in view--to free it as far as +possible from needless technicalities, and to reduce it to the most +urgently needed and the most readily comprehended particulars. + +7. In view of the above-mentioned reasons, I would have the Tactics +now in use very carefully revised, or have an entirely new book of +Tactics and Regulations. + +8. Suggested that General Casey should be entrusted with the matters +treated of in suggestions 6 and 7. + +_January 31._--The Copperheads in Congress are shedding crocodile +tears over the doom that awaits those Africo-Americans who may +unfortunately be taken prisoners by the rebels. Now, in the first +place enlisted Africo-Americans are under the protection of the +United States Government, and that Government will not be guilty of +the infamy of seeing its captured soldiers murdered in cold +blood--and in the next place the Africo-American will prove anything +rather than an easily-made captive to Southern murderers. The +Africo-Americans will sell their lives so dearly as to disgust the +rebels with the task of attempting to capture them. + +_January 31._--Few people can understand the intensity of the +disgust with which I find myself often obliged to mention Thurlow +Weed--that darkest incarnation of all that is evil in black mail, +lobbyism, and all hideous corruptions. It is not my fault that such +a man is allowed to exert a malign influence on the country's fate, +and I am obliged to give the dark as well as the bright parts of the +great social picture. How deeply I regret my inability to collect +and record, in part at least, if not as a whole, all the deeds of +heroism and devotion, of generous and brave self-abnegation, which +have been done by thousands, even by millions of those who are both +falsely and foolishly called the lower classes. + + + + +FEBRUARY, 1863. + + The Problems before the People -- the Circassian -- Department of + State and International Laws -- Foresight -- Patriot Stanton and + the Rats -- Honest Conventions -- Sanitary Commission -- Harper's + Ferry -- John Brown -- the Yellow Book -- the Republican Party -- + Epitaph -- Prize Courts -- Suum cuique -- Academy of Sciences -- + Democratic Rank and File, etc. etc. etc. + + +_February 1._--The task which this great American people has on its +hands is one utterly unexampled in the history of the world. While +in the midst of a great civil war, and struggling as it were in very +death-throes, to emancipate and organize four millions of men, most +of whom, up to this very day, have by deliberate legislation been +kept in ignorance and savagery. Thoroughly to comprehend the +immensity of such a task, we must also reflect that the men to whom +that task is intrusted are anything rather than intellectual +giants. Yet the true solution of the problem will be given by the +principle of self-government and by the self-governing People. And +it is therein that consists the genuine American originality which +Europe finds it so impossible to understand. And it is just as +little understood by most of the diplomatists here, and what +is still worse, it is not even studied by them. It is wretched +work to be obliged to witness the low, the actually ignoble parts +which many men play in the great farce of political life. I could +easily mention a full score of would-be-eminent men, who are +unsurpassed by the meanest of the vulgar herd in flippancy and an +utter want of self-respect. + +The diary published in London by Bull Run Russell deserves to be read +by every American. Russell deals blows to slavery which will tell in +England. However annoying may be to many the disclosures made by this +indiscreet confidant of their vanity, Russell's revelations establish +firmly the broad historical--not gossipping--fact, that before and +after Sumter, the most absolute want of earnestness, of statesmanlike +foresight, and the most childish but fathomless vanity inspired all +the actions of the American Secretary of State. I am one of the few +who, having often met Russell here, never fawned to him, nay who not +even took any notice of him; but I am grateful to him for his +falsely-called indiscreetness--for his having done the utmost to bring +out truth--in his own way. It is the best that I have seen, or heard, +or read of him. Flatterers, Secretaries, Senators, and Generals +crowded to Russell and to his table, and he exposes them. Among +others, General McDowell was Russell's guest, very likely to show his +gratitude to the slanderer of the volunteers, whom McDowell did not +understand how to lead to victory. + +Seward showed to Russell his dispatches to Lord John Russell. Mr. +Sumner, at Bull Run Russell's table, asked Russell's aid to keep +peace with England. Good! Unspeakably good! + +Not only the Emancipation problem must be solved, so to speak, +amidst the storm of battle--but other and very mighty problems, +social, constitutional, jurisprudential, and financial, must be +similarly and promptly dealt with. And these great questions must be +debated to the accompaniment of the music of musketry and cannon. In +some respects the situation of America at present may be said to +resemble that of France in the days of her great Revolution. But +affairs here and now are still more complicated than they were in +France from 1789 to 1793. + +Formerly I took a more active part than I now take in revolutionary +and reformatory struggles, and was seldom daunted by their difficult +problems, or by their most violent tempests. But now I have a +chilling sense of weariness and disgust as I note the strange things +that are done under my very eyes. + +The burden of taxes laid upon a people who have an inborn hatred of +taxation, a debt created in a few months surpassing that which +England and France contracted in half a century; and that debt +contracted as if by magic, and in the very crisis of a civil +war such as any foreign war would be mere baby's play to. + +The people at large see the precipice, and hear the roaring of the +breakers ahead, but despair not! Sublime phenomena for the future +historian to dwell upon! All this is genuine American originality. +In its sublime presence, down, down upon your knees in the dust, all +you European wiseacres! + +The capture of the _Circassian_, an English blockade runner, gave +birth to some very delicate international complications. The +decision of the Prize Court shows up the absolute destitution of +statesmanship in the Department of State, generally coruscated with +ignorance of international principles, rules of judicial +international decisions, and of belligerent rights and observances. +Every day shows what a masterly stroke it was of the Secretary of +State to have proclaimed the blockade in April, 1861, and to have +been the first to recognize the rebels in the character of +independent belligerents. The more blockade runners will be captured +by our cruisers, the more the complications will grow. A false first +step generates false conditions _ad infinitum_. The question of the +_Circassian_ is only the beginning, and not even the worst. The +worst will come by and by. But Seward is great before Allah! The +truth is, that Mr. Seward and the Department are as innocent of +any familiarity with international laws, as can be. The people, +the intelligent people would be horror-stricken could they suddenly +be made acquainted with all the shameful ignorance which is +corrosively fermenting in the State Department. + +To every intelligent and well regulated Government in Europe, the +Department of Foreign Affairs--which in America is called the State +Department--has attached to it a board of advisers for the solution +of all international questions. + +In England, for instance, all such questions are referred to the +Crown Lawyers, i.e. the Attorney and Solicitor General, and, in +specially important cases, to the Lord High Chancellor, and one or +two of the Judges. And in order to obtain the advice he obviously +stands so much in need of, Mr. Seward ought to have consulted two or +three American juriconsults of eminence. Mr. Seward ought to have +foreseen that the war would necessarily give rise to international, +commercial, and maritime complications. Such men as Charles Eames, +Upton, etc. would have been excellent advisers on all international +and statutory questions. Presumptuous that I am--to venture upon +the mere supposition that Seward the Great can possibly need advice! +Not he, of course--not he. Mr. Seward is the Alpha and Omega--knows +everything, and can do every thing himself. Happily, the people at +large is the genuine statesman, and can correct the mistakes--and +worse--of its blundering, bungling servants. + +American pilots and statesmen! Forget not that foresight is the germ +of action. Foresight reveals to the mind the opportuneness of the +needed measure by which a solution is to be given, a question +decided, and the hoped-for results obtained. + +American people! How much foresight have your--dearly-paid--servants +shown? You, the people alone, you have been far-seeing and +prophetic; but not they. + +_February 2._--All the efforts of the worshippers of treason, of +darkness, of barbarism, of cruelty, and of infamy--all their +manoeuvres and menaces could not prevail. The majority of the +Congress has decided that the powerful element of Africo-Americans +is to be used on behalf of justice, of freedom, and of human rights. +The bill passed both the Houses. It is to be observed that the "big" +diplomats swallowed _col gusto_ all the pro-slavery speeches, and +snubbed off the patriotic ones. The noblest eulogy of the patriots! + +The patriots may throb with joy! The President intends great changes +in his policy, and has telegraphed for----Thurlow Weed, that prince +of dregs, to get from him light about the condition of the country. + +The conservative "Copperheads" of Boston and of other places in New +England press as a baby to their bosom, and lift to worship +McClellan, the conservative, and all this out of deepest hatred +towards all that is noble, humane, and lofty in the genuine American +people. Well they may! If by his generalship McClellan butchered +hundreds of thousands in the field, he was always very conservative +of his precious little self. + +Biting snow storm all over Virginia! Our soldiers! our soldiers in +the camp! It is heart-rending to think of them. Conservative +McClellan so conservatively campaigned until last November as to +preserve--the rebel armies, and make a terrible winter campaign an +inevitable necessity. O, Copperheads and Boston conservatives! When +you bend your knees before McClellan, you dip them in the best and +purest blood of the people! + +_February 3._--The Secretary of War appointed General Casey to +shorten the general tactics for the use of Africo-American regiments +to use them as light infantry. + +The devotion of American women to the sick and wounded soldiers, +makes them be envied by the angels in Heaven (provided there are +any). This devotion of these genuine gentlewomen atones for the +ignoble flippancy of dancing crinolines. + +Down, down goes slavery notwithstanding the _gates of hell_, and +their guard, the McClellans, the Sewards, amorously embracing the +Copperheads and all that is dark and criminal. Humanity is avenged +and Eternal Justice is satisfied. + +_February 4._--Sumner is re-elected to the Senate. His re-election +vindicates a sound principle, because his opponents were all the +Copperheads and slavery-saviours in Massachusetts. Sumner's +influence in the Senate is rather limited. Politically he is on all +points most honest; but his conduct towards Seward is not calculated +to impress one with any very high esteem for his manhood. + +It is not force, or decision, or power, that is cruel in +revolutionary times--but, weakness. All societies have had their +epochs of progress and of retrogression. Sylla was a conservative, +and so too was Phocion. The Pharisees were reactionists and +conservatives. Europe has millions of them, of various hues, shapes, +tendencies and convictions. But the reactionists and conservatives +in the past of Europe all have been and are of a purer metal than +the conservatives here, and their impure organs, as the National +Intelligencer, the World, the Boston Courier, and the rest of that +fetish creed. + +_February 4._--The French Yellow Book, or State Correspondence, +justifies my forebodings of November last. Mr. Mercier's diplomatic +sentimentalism, and his associations, germinated the _Decembriseur's_ +scheme for mediation and humiliation. + +Further is to be found in the Yellow Book the evidence how, from the +start of this dark rebellion, Mr. Seward, the master spirit of the +Administration, dealt death blows to all energetic, unyielding +prosecution of the war for crushing the rebellion, and that he was +double-dealing in all his public actions. The published state papers +of the French government disclose the fact that nine months ago Mr. +Seward sent the French minister to Richmond with a mission to invite +the Jeff. Davises, Hunters, Wigfalls, Benjamins and others to come +back to their seats in the Senate, and in the name of the cruelly +outraged North, Mr. Seward proffered to the traitors a hearty +welcome. So says the French diplomat in his official dispatch to the +French Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Such underhanded dealings +should not be allowed, and most assuredly would be stringently +punished, if perpetrated under similar circumstances by the minister +of any European government dealing with treason in arms. But here, +Mr. Seward's impudence--if not worse--displays its flying colors. +The Republican press will swallow all this, and Senator Sumner as +Chairman of the Committee will--keep quiet. + +That confidential mission entrusted to the French diplomat by Mr. +Seward, was more than sufficient to evoke the subsequent attempt at +mediation, because it revealed to the piercing eye of European +statesmanship, how the Administration, and above all how its master +spirit had little confidence in the cause; it revealed the want of +earnestness in official quarters. I hate and denounce all attempts, +even by the most friendly foreign power, to meddle with the internal +affairs of our country. But I have some little knowledge of European +statecraft, of European diplomacy, of European rulers, and of +European diplomats; and I assert, emphatically, that they are +emboldened to offer their meddlesome services because they have very +little if any respect for our official leaders; and because the want +of energy and of good faith to the principles of the North as +displayed by Seward, he nevertheless remaining at the helm, has +firmly settled the conviction in European minds, that the rebels +cannot be crushed by such traffickers and used up politicians as +have in their hands the destinies of the Union. + +_February 5._--The new Copperhead Senators--in their appearance +resembling bushwhackers; the pillars of Copperheadism in the House, +take umbrage at the sight and the name of New England, and abuse the +New England spirit with all their coppery might. Well they may. So +did Satan hate and abuse light. + +Patriot Stanton is earnestly at work concerning the organization of +Africo-Americans on a mighty scale; busy against him, likewise, are +the intriguers, the traitors, the cavillers, the Sewardites and the +McClellanites, all being of the same kidney. Seward sighs for +McClellan. But Stanton will override the muddy storm. He has at his +side men as pure, energetic and devoted as Watson, a patriot without +a flaw. + +Stanton surrounds himself and selects young men--as far as he can, +he crowds out the remains of Scott, so tenderly protected by +Lincoln. Could he only have swept out the rest of the old fogies! +Undoubtedly these young men in the War Department would give new +life to it. + +_February 6._--The people at large are at a loss to find the cause +of the recent disasters. The general axiom is, "we are not a +military nation." Neither is the South. But here they forget that +every great or small effect has its--not only--cause, but several +causes. Many such causes have been repeatedly pointed out. Old +routine in military organization stands foremost. Few, if any, +understand wherein consists the proper organization of an army, and +most have notions reaching back sixty years. The medical and +surgical bureaus are obsolete. Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, who +is always on the right side, and with him many young men, insisted +upon organizing the above services as they are organized in the +Continental armies of Europe. But even in the Senate prevailed the +respect for dusty, rusty, domestic tradition. The few changes forced +by the outcry of the people cure not the evil. Skeletons and not +men are at work, and if they are not skeletons they are leeches of +the government and of the people's blood. + +Thus likewise, when the organizations of the staffs was discussed, +no one had the first notion of the nature and duties of a staff; and +the military authorities were as ignorant as the civilians. Of +course a McClellan, then a Halleck, Meigs, Hitchcock, etc., could +not disperse the fog. Many Congressmen were thunderstruck by the +display of words which, as they were purely technical terms, the +Congressmen in question could not understand. Others sought for +guidance in the Staff of Wellington, and thus oddly but unmistakably +proved themselves completely in the dark as to the difference +between the personal staff of the commander of an army, and the +Staff of that Army itself. And all this in a country of the most +rapid movement and progress, and amongst a people which +unhesitatingly adopts and adapts to its own needs and welfare almost +every novelty from almost every part of the world. The great fault +committed by the People is its too great respect for false +authorities and false prophets. + +The so-called honest Conservatives have exercised and still continue +to exercise a most fatal influence on public affairs, and especially +on what is called the domestic policy. These same "honest +Conservatives" are more dangerous than the out-spoken Copperheads; +more dangerous, perhaps, than all the friends of slavery and foes +of the Union combined. These "honest Conservatives" have contrived +to surround themselves with a halo of honesty and respectability. +But they as cordially hate and dread every vivid light and vigorous +progress as the traitors themselves do. Those Conservatives opposed +every vigorous measure. They spoke tenderly of the "misguided +brethren" in the South, and took their own servile and blundering, +though quite possibly sincere fancies, for actual and tangible +facts. The honest Conservatives will support whatever is slow, +double-dealing, and, therefore, conservative. The honest +Conservatives took McClellan to their honest hearts, and not one of +them has any clear notion of military affairs, and still less can +any of them fathom the awful depth of McClellan's military +criminality. I repeat what I said in the first volume of my Diary: +McClellan and his tail fell, not on account of their Democratism, or +their pro-slavery creed, but because McClellan repeatedly displayed +all the worst qualities of a thoroughly unsoldierly commander. No +one would have uttered a word of censure if McClellan with his +hundred and eighty thousand men had surrounded the thirty to forty +thousand rebels in Centreville and Manassas in the winter of 1861-2, +and taken some nobler trophies than camp manure and maple guns! The +honest Conservatives attack and hate Stanton, yet not one of them +has any notion whatever of Stanton's action towards McClellan. +Stanton would have been the first to raise McClellan sky-high if +McClellan had preferred to fight instead of reposing in his bed in +Washington, and then in various muds. Such is your knowledge of this +and of all other public affairs, O respectable soul and spiritless +body of honest Conservatives! Historians of this country! collect +the names of the _honest_ Conservatives, but expose them not to the +abomination of coming generations. + +_February 7._--The Sanitary Commission, with all its branches and +subdivisions, is among the noblest manifestations of what can be +done by a free people, and how private enterprise of intelligent, +patriotic and unselfish men can confer benefit. Nor must the praise +of that great work be limited to men. Warm-hearted gentlewomen also +have done their share in it. The Sanitary Commission is one of the +best out-croppings of self-government, and does honor to the people, +and softens and ameliorates the warlike roughness of the times. + +The Sanitary Commission marks a new era in the history of genuine +and not bogus and merely verbal philanthropy, and its spontaneity +and expansion were only possible in free, and therefore humane and +enlightened America. + +_February 8._--Mr. Seward is busily at work endeavoring to crush the +radicals, and to make the Emancipation Proclamation a mere sheet of +waste paper. All that is mean and nasty, all that is reeking and +foul with all kinds of corruptions, takes Seward for its +standard-bearer. The so-called radical press aids Seward with all +its might. + +_February 9._--Gen. Casey adopts some of my ideas and suggestions, +which I discussed with him. Gen. Casey is honestly at work, and the +new tactics will be in print. + +Stanton would wish to establish a thorough military camp on a large +scale, for organizing Africo-Americans. But the higher powers are +against it. Virginia, the most populous slave state, the nursery of +slaves, must, scorpion-like, be surrounded with glowing contraband +camps. What a splendid position for such a camp is Harper's Ferry +under the shadow of immortal John Brown! + +A few days ago, Mr. Lincoln was full of joy because the defences of +Washington are in excellent condition. Thus the country will learn +with joy that the----spade is still at work, that the military curse +hurled by Scott and McClellan is still influencing the operation of +the war, that Halleck is the worthy continuator of his predecessors, +that Mr. Lincoln's fears and uneasiness about the fate of the city +of Washington are slowly, slowly assuaged, that the President's +fancy is nursed, that the construction of the extensive +fortifications around the capital is still continued, that new forts +are continually erected, that the fear of an attack on Washington is +still paramount, and that to-day--sixty to seventy thousand troops +are kept idle in these old and new forts--when Rosecrans has no +succor, when Texas is lost, and when the whole rebel region +trembles under the tread of savage hordes. + +Through one of its clerks, the State Department intends to sue me +for libel, contained, as they say, in the first volume of my +_Diary_. Well, great masters, if you swallow me, you may not digest +me. Let us try.[2] + + [Footnote 2: I must here record that Mr. Carlisle, the + eminent lawyer in Washington, although in every respect + opposed to my political and social views, behaved, in this + affair, as a thorough man of honor. I am sorry that on a + similar former occasion, not in Washington, my political + friends showed themselves not Carlisles.] + +_February 10._--... mens agitat molem ... oh, could I only believe +that such is the case with Mr. Lincoln, how devoted I could become, +and loyal to him, according to the new theory of the lickspittles +and politicians! + +_February 10._--Resolute Senator Grimes did what was the duty of +Sumner to have done long ago. Grimes presented resolutions relative +to the mission of Mercier to Richmond, a mission allowed, almost +authorized by Mr. Seward. Mercier cannot be blamed, and his veracity +is supported by the fact that Lord Lyons was at once informed of the +whole transaction, and Lord Lyons is to be believed. Seward will +play the innocent, and take his refuge in the god of--lies. + +_February 12._--In his answer to the Senate, Mr. Seward gives to +Mercier the lie direct. It will be rich if Mercier stands square. + +_February 12._--Congress draws to its close. Lincoln accumulates +powers, responsibilities, and hereafter perhaps curses, sufficient +to break the turtle on which stands the elephant that sustains the +Sanscrit world. + +_February 13._--The almost imperceptible ripple on the diplomatic pool +of Washington has disappeared. Simple people might have believed that +there was an issue of veracity between Mr. Seward and the French +Minister. But since a long, a very long time, Seward and veracity have +run in different orbits, and diplomats, Talleyrand-like, ought to be +the incarnation of equanimity even if any one--diplomatically--treads +on their toes. Besides, the answer given to the Senate before it +reached its destination _might have been arranged_ at any such +confidential chat as was that one where the little innocent, +nobody-hurting (no, not even the people's honour) trip to Richmond was +concocted. The French Minister's name _appears not_ in the document +sent to the Senate; so the lie direct is after all only a constructive +lie; nobody is hurt. A general shaking of hands and all is well. But +strange things may come out yet, and others may not be so blazened +out. + +The soap bubble of mediation exploded under the nose of the French +schemers. The soap used by them was of the finest and most aromatic +quality, but the democratic nerves of the American people resisted +the Franco-diplomatic cunningly mixed aroma. The applause gained by +Mr. Seward's very indifferent document, wherein the great initiator +of the Latin race on this free continent was rebuked, the +satisfaction shown by the public, ought to open the eyes of the +sentimental French trio. They ought to understand, by this time, +that Seward's argumentative dispatch, incomplete and below mark as +it is, won applause, although it expresses only the hundredth of the +patriotic ire bursting from the people's bosom. Otherwise the people +would have at once found out all skillfully, cunningly, +chameleon-like Seward dodges, which ignore before Europe the sublime +character of the struggle forced by treason upon the loyal free +States; and in which how he avoids to hurt the slavocracy. + +The Imperial mediator and bottle-holder to slavocracy belies not his +bloody origin and his bloody appetites. The events in Egypt, the +negro kidnapping in Alexandria, have torn the mask from his astute +policy. If, for his filibustering raid into Mexico, Louis Napoleon +wanted colored soldiers accustomed to the climate, he could raise +them among the free colored population of the French possessions in +Martinique, Guadaloupe, etc. But to use the freemen from the +Antilles would have set a bad example to the Africo-Americans in the +revolted States; Louis Napoleon wished not to hurt or offend his +slaveocratic pets and traitors; by kidnapping slaves in Egypt the +French ruler showed how highly he values the stealing qualities of +the Southern chivalry--and he paid a tribute to the principle of +slavery. + +But while treating with all possible horror and disrespect the +French officiousness, the American people ought not to forget the +innermost interconnection of events. If the French diplomacy, if the +French Cabinet became sentimental at the sight of our deadly +struggle with the demon of treason, it was because they witnessed +our helplessness, and witnessed the uninterrupted chain of faults +and of bad policy; it was because they and the whole world saw the +want of earnestness in our official leaders; and from all this these +_Messieurs_ concluded that the patriots of the North never will be +able to crush the traitors in the South. So speak the French +diplomatic documents, so speaks Mercier, Drouyn de l'Huys and Louis +Napoleon; and has not the Seward-Weed influence, paramount in the +policy of the Government, brought about all these bad results, +palsied the war, and thus almost justified the officiousness of the +_Messieurs_? + +_February 13._--Many forebode the downfall, the dissolution, and the +disappearance of the Republican party. That may be, and if so then +one of the cardinal laws of human progress, development and +ascension, will be fullfilled. _The initiator either perishes by the +initiated, or the initiator perishes, disappears because his +special mission, his task is done._ + +The progress of humanity is marked by the sacrifice and death of its +initiators. Such was the end of the founders of religions, of +societies; such of political bodies. Osiris, Lycurgus, Romulus, +Christ, the martyrs, the apostles, are a few from numberless +illustrations that might be cited. The Long Parliament, the French +Convention, disappeared after having fullfilled the work of +destruction pointed out to them by the genius of progress and of our +race. As an organized political party the Republican may disappear +with the war, for slavery is finally destroyed. This is the noble +initiation and solution fulfilled by the Republican party. To +destroy slavery and the political defenders and props of slavery, +was the mission that was fatally thrown or entrusted by inexorable +destiny to the Republican party. With the destruction of slavery, +disappears from the political life of America the _Northern man with +Southern principles_; those very dregs of dregs of all times and of +all political bodies and societies. Slavery is destroyed both +virtually and _de facto_, new issues are looming, new solutions will +be given, and new men will bear the new word. + +All in creation, and in every party, has its light and its shadow, +its pure principle, its pure men and its dregs. Every party has its +faults and its shortcomings. The dregs fall, and the work of the +party is done. Some of the chiefs and leaders of the Republican +party became faithless, (Seward,) went over to darkness, but thereby +the onward march to the sacred aim was not arrested. The +irresistible current of events and of human affairs carried onwards +the Republican party. Perhaps unconsciously, but nevertheless +emphatically, the Republican party in its _ensemble_ was a +providential agency; it became the incarnation of the loftiest +aspirations of the best among the American people. Against its wish +and will, contrary to expectations, the Republican party was +challenged to action; the sword of law, of justice and of right, was +forcibly thrust into the party's hand, and slavocracy, the +challenger, is already bleeding its life-blood, and its death-knell +resounds from pole to pole. To speak the language of politicians; +abolition, emancipation by the sword, was forced upon the Republican +party. + +And the Republican party carried out the principle of the preamble +of the bill of rights; a principle eternal as right, but +nevertheless hitherto only partially realized. The Republican party +has borne the brunt, and accomplished the appointed evolutions of +progress; and the Republican party has deserved well of the American +people, of history and of humanity. And the children and +grandchildren of those who to-day cavil, defile and stone the party, +they hereafter will bless the Republican party, who, with noble +consciousness can say to the spirit of light and of duty: _Nunc +dimitte in pacem servum tuum Domine._ + +One of the best evidences of purity and of the elevation of the +Republican party in its noblest representative men is that the +obtusest among the great diplomats shunned the Republicans as little +monsters shun the daylight. I mention this as a collateral +illustration without intending to raise a diplomat or the poor +diplomacy of the world to an undeserved significance, for I bear in +mind the behest, _ne misceantur sacra prophanis_. + +The nobleness of the accomplished mission, the glorious Sunset +wherein will disappear the Republican party, frees, not from +reproaches nor from maledictions, those Republicans who, by their +selfishness and faithlessness, obstructed its progress, and polluted +the party. Their names remain nailed to the pillory. + +I may here observe that I never belonged and never claimed to belong +to the Republican party. For nearly half a century my creed has +been--Onward! onward! struggle, fight, sacrifice for light, for +progress, for human rights; for that cause fight and struggle under +every banner, under every name, and in rank and file with every +body. + +_February 13._--Seward seizes by the hair the occasion proffered to +him by the _Decembriseur's_ offer of mediation, and tries to +reconquer the confidence of the public. This shows to Drouyn de +l'Huys and to his master, that they are misinformed concerning the +condition of America, (also M. Mercier misinformed them; how could +he do otherwise?) The despatch to Dayton, February 7, will lead +astray public opinion. The majority will forget and lose sight of +the intercatenation of events and actions perpetrated by Mr. +Seward. O Chase! O Sumner! Seward rises with his patient pen and +paper in the inky glory of a patriot, and you----cave in. + +Speaking of Mr. Seward's answer to France, a diplomat observed to +me: "The European Cabinets are so accustomed to Mr. Seward's +duplicity and want of veracity, that now that Seward refuses to +accept mediation, in Europe they will conclude that Seward's +acceptation of mediation is at hand." + +_February 14._--The struggle is for the rights of man, for the +Christian idea, purified of all dogma and worship. Those who see it +not, are similar to a fish from the Kentucky Cave. + +_February 14._--Could Mr. Lincoln only be inspired, be warmed by the +sacred fire of enthusiasm, then his natural and selected affinities +would be other minds than those of a Seward, a Weed, a Halleck, +etc.; then what is night could become light; and where he painfully +gropes along his path, Mr. Lincoln would march with a firm, almost +with a godlike step, at the head of such a peerless people as those +of whom he is the Chief Magistrate. + +But as it is now, I may turn the mind in any direction whatever, all +the causes of mishaps and disasters converge on Mr. Lincoln. +According to his partisans, Mr. Lincoln's intentions are the best, +and he is always trying to conciliate--and to shift. It is useless +to discuss Mr. Lincoln's peculiar ways. In most cases, Mr. Lincoln +uses old, rotten tools for a new and heavy work. I have it from the +most truthful and positive authority, that Mr. Lincoln is fully +acquainted with the opinions of the so called _dissatisfied_, of +those with Southern propensities, proclivities and affinities, of +whom many are in the superior civil and military service. Contrary +to the advice of patriots in the Cabinet and out of it, Mr. Lincoln +insists upon keeping such at their post--doubtless always expecting +that they will _turn round_. Such a heavy difficulty and task as is +the present, must be worked out, with absolute devotion and +sincerity; and can this logically be expected from men whose hearts +and minds are not in their actions? Mr. Lincoln forgets that +thousands of lives and millions of money are sacrificed to the +experiment as to whether the insincere officials will _turn round_. + +The cause will not fail, light will not be extinguish, even if the +leaders break down or betray, even if the Copperheads frighten some +of the pilots, or if some of the faithless pilots shake hands with +the Copperheads, as was the case in the elections of November last +in New York and elsewhere. The people will save light, dissipate +darkness, save the cause, save the leaders, the pilots and the +politicians. + +_February 15._--Some days ago in compliance with summons, that +pedler of all corruptions, Thurlow Weed, came to Washington, and +with Mr. Seward, his _fidus Achates_, was for days or nights +closeted with Mr. Lincoln, pouring into the president's soul as much +poison and darkness as was possible. That such was the case can, +besides, easily be concluded from what that incarnation of all +perversions predicated to all who came within his nauseous +preachings here. According to Mr. T. Weed's revelations, "_The +proclamation is an absurdity, and the Union will soon--as it +ought--be ruled by the rebels._" So it was told me. Perhaps it is +already done through Thurlow Weed's mediation and instrumentality. + +Continually inspired by Weed, Mr. Seward is therefore untiring in +his over-patriotic efforts to preserve the former Union and +Slavery--to save the matricide slave-holders. + +In what clutches is Mr. Lincoln! Even I pity him. Even I am forced +to give him credit for being what he is--considering his intimacies +and his surroundings. Few men entrusted with power over nations have +resisted such fatal influences,--not even Cromwell and Napoleon. +History has not yet settled how it was with Caesar, and so far as I +know, Frederick the Great of Prussia is of the very few who have +been unimpressionable. Pericles coruscates over ruins and the night +of the ancient world; Pericles's intimacy was with the best and the +manliest Athenians. + +But has Mr. Lincoln an unlimited confidence in the few men with +large brains and with big hearts, brains and hearts burning with the +sacred and purest patriotic fire? Or are not rather all his +favorites--not even whitened--sepulchres of manhood, of mind and of +sacred intellect? + +_February 16._--It is asserted, and some day or other it will be +verified, that the Committee on the Conduct of the War have +investigated how far certain generals from the army on the +Rappahannock used their influence with the President to paralyze a +movement against the enemy ordered by Burnside. That facts +discovered may be published or not, for the Administration shuns +publicity. _The Committee discovered that Mr. Seward was implicated +in that conspiracy of generals against Burnside._ Any qualification +of such conduct is impossible, and the vocabulary of crimes has no +name for it; let it, therefore, be _Sewardism_. The editors of the +New York _Tribune_ did their utmost to prevent _Sewardism_ being +exposed. + +_February 16._--Often, so to speak, the hand refuses to record what the +head hears and sees, what the reason must judge. To witness how one of +the greatest events in the development of mankind, how the deadly +struggle between right and crime, between good and evil, how the blood +and sweat of _such a people_ are dealt with by--counterfeits! + +_February 17._--Poor Banks! He is ruined by having been last year +pressed to Seward's bosom, and having been thus initiated into the +Seward-Weed Union and slavery-restoring policy. Banks and Louis +Napoleon in Mexico and in his mediation scheme; both Banks and +Napoleon were ruined by yielding to bad advice--Banks to that of +Seward, and Louis Napoleon to that of his diplomats. I hope that +Banks will shake off the nightmare that is throttling him now; that +he will no more write senseless proclamations, will give up the +attempt to save slave-holders, and will march straight to the great +task of crushing the rebellion and rebels. He will blot slavery, +that Cain's mark on the brow of the Union; blot it and throw it into +the marshes of the parishes of Louisiana. I rely upon Banks's sound +common sense. He will come out from among the evil ones. + +_February 18._--Under no other transcendent leadership than that of +its patriotism and convictions, the majority of this expiring Congress +boldly and squarely faced the emergencies and all the necessities +daily, hourly evoked by the Rebellion, and unhesitatingly met them. If +the majority was at times confused, the confusion was generated by +many acts of the administration, and not by any shrinking before the +mighty and crushing task, or by the attempt to evade the +responsibility. The impartial historian will find in the Statutes an +undisputable confirmation of my assertions. The majority met all the +prejudices against taxation, indebtedness, paper currency, draft, and +other similar cases. + +And all the time the majority of Congress was stormed by traitors, +by intriguers, by falsifiers and prisoners of public opinion; the +minority in Congress taking the lead therein. Many who ought to +have supported the majority either fainted or played false. The +so-called good press, neither resolute nor clear-sighted, nor +far-seeing, more than once confused, and as a whole seldom +thoroughly supported the majority. + +If the good press had the indomitable courage in behalf of good and +truth, that the _Herald_ has in behalf of untruth and of mischief, +how differently would the affairs look and stand! + +_February 19._--Jackson first formed, attracted and led on the +people's opinion. Has not Mr. Lincoln thrown confusion around? + +_February 19._--The Supreme Court of the United States has before it +the prize cases resulting from captures made by our navy. The +counsel for the English and rebel blockade-runners and pilferers +find the best point of legal defence in the unstatesmanlike and +unlegal wording of the proclamation of the blockade, as concocted +and issued by Mr. Seward, and in the repeated declarations contained +in the voluminous diplomatic correspondence of our Secretary of +State,--declarations asserting that _no war whatever is going on in +the Federal Republic_. No war, therefore no lawful prizes on the +ocean. So ignorance, and humbug mark every step of this foremost +among the pilots of a noble, high-minded, but too confiding people. + +The facts, the rules, and the principles in these prize cases are +almost unprecedented and new; new in the international laws, and +new in the history of governments of nations. Seldom, if ever, were +so complicated the powers of government, its rights, and the duties +of neutrals, the rights and the duties of the captors, and the +condition of the captured. This rebellion is, so to speak, _sui +generis_, almost unprecedented on land and sea. The difficulties and +complications thus arising, became more complicated by the either +reckless or unscientific (or both) turn given by the State +Department in conceding to the rebels the condition of belligerents. +Thus the great statutory power of the sovereign, (that is, of the +Union through its president) for the suppression of the rebellion +was palsied at the start. The insurrection of the Netherlands alone +has some very small similarity with our civil war; however, that +insurrection took place at a time when very few, if any, principles +of international laws were generally laid down and generally +recognized. Here the municipal laws, the right of the sovereign and +his duty to save itself and the people, the rights and the laws of +war, wrongly applied to such virtual outlaws as the rebels, the +maritime code of prize laws and rules, play into and intertwine each +other. When Mr. Seward penned his doleful proclamation of the +blockade, etc., he never had before his mind what a mess he +generated; what complications might arise therefrom. I am sure he +never knew that such proclamation was _a priori_ pregnant with +complications, and that at least its wording ought to have been very +careful. Mr. Seward was not at all cognizant of the fact that the +wording of a proclamation of a blockade, for the time being, lays +down a rule for the judges in the prize courts. For him it was +rather a declamation than a proclamation; he who believed the +rebellion would end in July, 1861, and that no occasion would arise +to apply the rules of the blockade. + +Thus Mr. Seward, with his thorough knowledge of international law +rendered difficult the position of the captors; he equally increased +the difficulty for the judge to administer justice. By this +proclamation and the commentaries put on it, Mr. Seward curtailed +the rights of the government of which he is a part, conceded undue +conditions to the rebels, and facilitated to the neutrals the means +of violating his blockade. So much is clear and palpable to-day, and +I am sure more complications and imbecilities are in store. If Mr. +Seward had had good advisors for these nice and difficult questions, +he would not have blundered in this way. Thus Charles Eames, who in +the pleadings before the Superior United States Court has shown a +consummate mastery in prize questions--Eames could teach Mr. Seward +a great deal about the constitutional powers of the president to +suppress the rebellion, and about the meaning and the bearing of +international maritime laws, rights, duties and rules. + +_February 20._--A Mr. Funk, a member of the Illinois Senate, a +farmer, and a man of sixty-five years, on February 13, made a speech +in that body which sounds better than all the rhetories and +oratories. It was the sound and genuine utterance of a man from the +people, and I hope some future historian will record the speech and +the name of the old, indomitable patriot. + +_February 20._--Stimulated by a pure Athenian breeze, the Congress +passed a law organizing an Academy of Sciences. What a gigantic +folly; the only one committed by this Congress. The pressure was +very great, and exercised by the bottomless vanity of certain +scientific, self-styled magnates, and by the Athenians. Up to this +day, the American scientific development and progress consisted in +its freedom and independence. No legal corporation impeded and +trammeled the limitless scope of the intellectual and scientific +development. That was the soul and secret of our rapid and luminous +onward march. Now fifty patented, incorporated respectabilities will +put the curb on, will hamper the expansion. Academies turn to +fossils. My hope is that the true American spirit will soar above +the vanity and pettiness of corporated wisdom, and that this +scientific Academy bubble will end in inanity and in ridicule. I am +sorry that Congress was taken in, and committed such a blunder. It +was caught napping. + +Mr. Chase's bank bill, prospective of money, and as many say, +prospective of presidency, passed the house. What fools are they +already begin to direct their steps and their ardent wishes toward +the White House. + +_February 22._--The, at any price, supporters of the Administration, +point with satisfaction to the various successes, and to the space +of land already redeemed from rebellion. I protest against such +explanation given to events, and call to it the attention of every +future historian. Never had the _suum cuique_ required a more +stringent, philosophical application. With the various inexhaustible +means at its disposal, with the unextinguishable enthusiasm of the +people, far different and more conclusive results, _could_ and ought +to have been obtained. The ship makes headway if even, by the +negligence of the officers and of the crew, she drags a cable or an +anchor. The ship is the people dragging its administrators. + +A western Democrat, but patriot, said to me that Lincoln compares to +Jeff Davis, as a wheel-barrow does to a steam engine! + +The Democrats claim to be the genuine fighting element, and to be +possessed of the civic courage, and of governmental capacity. How, +then, can the Democrats rave for McClellan, the most unfighting +soldier ever known? + +The future historian must be warned not to look to the newspapers +for information concerning facts and concerning the spirit of the +people. The _Tribune's_ senile clamor for peace, for arbitration, +for meditation, its Jewitt, Mercier, Napoleon, and Switzerland +combinations, fell dead and in ridicule before the sound judgment of +ninety-nine hundredths of the people. + +_February 24._--In Europe I had experience of political prisons and +of their horror. But I would prefer to rot, to be eaten up by rats, +rather than be defended by such arch-copperheads as are the Coxes, +the Biddles, the Powells, etc., etc. + +In the discussion concerning the issue of the letters of marque, +Sumner was dwelling in sentimentalities and generalities, altogether +losing sight of the means of defense of the country, and the genuine +national resources. With all respect for high and sentimental +principles and patriotism, with due reverence of the opinion, the +applause or the condemnatory verdict to be issued by philanthropists, +by doctors, and other Tommities, my heart and my brains prefer the +resolute, patriotic, manly Grimes, Wades, etc., the various _skippers_ +and masters, all of whom look not over the ocean for applause, but +above all have in view to save or to defend the country, whatever be +the rules or expectations of the self-constituted Doctors of +International laws. + +_February 25._--The Union-Slavery saviours, led on by the _Herald_, +by Seward, by Weed, etc., all are busily at work. + +_Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from +us._ + +I hear that great disorder prevails in the Quartermaster's Department. +It is no wonder. In all armies, countries, government and wars, the +Quartermaster's Department is always disorderly. Why shall it not be +so here, when want of energy is the word? At times Napoleon hung or +shot such infamous thieves, as by their thefts skinned and destroyed +the soldiers and the army; at times in Russia, such curses are sent to +Siberia. But as yet, I have not heard that any body was hurt here, +with the exception of the treasury of the country, and of the +soldiers. The chain-gang of those quartermaster's thieves, +contractors, jobbers and lobbyists must be strong, very long, and +composed of all kind of influential and not-influential vampyres. +Somebody told me, perhaps in joke, that all of them constitute a kind +of free-masonry, and have signs of recognition. After all, that may be +true. Impudence, brazen brow, and blank conscience may be among such +signs of recognition. + +_February 26._--O, could I only win confidence in Mr. Lincoln, it +would be one of the most cheerful days and events in my life. +Perhaps, elephant-like, Mr. Lincoln slowly, cautiously but surely +feels his way across a bridge leading over a precipice. Perhaps so; +only his slowness is marked with blood and disasters. But the most +discouraging and distressing is his _cortege_, his official and +unofficial friends. Mars Stanton, Neptune Welles, are good and +reliable, but have no decided preponderance. Astrea-Themis-Bates is +mostly right when disinfected from border-State's policy, and from +fear of direct, unconditional emancipation. But neither in Olympus +nor in Tartarus, neither in heaven nor in hell, can I find names of +prototypes for the official and unofficial body-guard which, +commanded by Seward, surrounds and watches Mr. Lincoln, so that no +ray of light, no breath of spirit and energy may reach him. + +_February 26._--This civil war with its _cortege_ of losses and +disasters, which after all fall most bloodily and crushingly on the +laborious, and rather comparatively, poorer part of the whole +people; perhaps all this will form the education of the rank and +file of the political Democratic party. The like Democratic masses +are intellectually by far inferior to the Republican masses. +Experience will perhaps teach those unwashed Democrats how degrading +was their submission to slavocracy, which reduced them to the +condition of political helots. This rank and file may find out how +they were blindfolded by slave breeders and their northern abettors. +A part of the Democratic masses were, and still are kept in as +brutal political ignorance and depravity as are the poor whites in +the South, under whatever name one may record them. Now, or never, +is the time for the _unwashed_ to find out that during their +alliance with the Southern traitors, all genuine manhood, all that +ennobles, elevates the man and warms his heart, was poisoned or +violently torn from them--that brutality is not liberty, and +finally, that the Northern leaders have been or are more abject than +abjectness itself. If the rank and file finds out all this, the +blood and disasters are, in part at least, atoned for. + +_February 27._--O! could I from every word, from every page of this +Diary, for eternities, make coruscate the nobleness, the simple +faith with which the people sacrifices all to the cause. To be +biblical, the sacrifice of the people is as pure as was that made +by Abel; that made by the people's captains, leaders, pilots is +Cain-like. + +_February 27._--All the Copperheads fused together have done less +mischief, have less distorted and less thrown out of the track the +holy cause, they have exercised a less fatal and sacrilegious +influence, they are responsible for less blood and lives, than is +Mr. Seward, with all his arguments and spread-eagleism. Even +McClellan and McClellanism recede before Seward and Sewardism, the +latter having generated the former. In times of political +convulsions, perverse minds and intellects at the helm, more fatally +influence the fate of a nation than do lost battles. Lost battles +often harden the temper of a people; a perverse mind vitiates it. + +_February 27._--Gold rises, and no panic, a phenomenon upsetting the +old theories of political economy. This rise will not affect the +public credit, will not even ruin the poor. I am sure it will be so, +and political economy, as every thing else in this country, will +receive new and more true solutions for its old, absolute problems. +The genuine credit, the prosperity of this country, is wholly +independent of this or that financial or governmental would-be +capacity; is independent of European exchanges, and of the +appreciation by the Rothschilds, the Barings, and whatever be the +names of the European appraisers. The American credit is based on +the consciousness of the people, and on the faith in its own +vitality, in its inexhaustible intellectual and material resources. +The people credits to itself, it asks not the foreigners to open +for it any credit. The foreign capitalists will come and beg. The +nation is not composed here as it is composed all over Europe, of a +large body of oppressed, who are cheated, taxed by the upper-strata +and by a Government. Thus credit and discredit in America have other +causes and foundations, their fluctuations differ from all that +decides such eventualities in Europe. + +I am sure that subsequent events will justify these my assertions. + +_February 28._--Inveterate West Pointers got hold of the dizzy +brains of some Senators and of other Congressmen, and Congress +wasted its precious time in regulating the military position of +engineers. This action of Congress is a _pendant_ to the Academy of +Sciences. The leaders in this discussion proved to _nausea_; 1st. +Their utter ignorance of the whole military science, of its +subdivisions, branches and classifications; 2d. Their ignorance of +the nature of intellectual hierarchy in sciences; 3d. Those +Congressional wiseacres proved how easily the West Point Engineers +humbugged them. Congress consecrates the engineer as number one. +Congress had better send a trustful man to Europe, to the continent, +and find out what is considered as number one in the science of +warfare. But every luminous body throws a shadow; the Academy of +Sciences, and this number one, are the shadows thrown by that +political body. + +_February 28._--Seldom, if ever, in history was the vital principle +of a society, of a nation, of a Government, so bitterly assailed, +and its destruction attempted by combined elements and forces of the +most hellish origin and nature, as the vital principle of American +institutions is now assailed. The enemies, the sappers, the miners, +are the Union-Slavery-Saviours of all kinds and hues. But darkness +cannot destroy light, nor cold overpower heat:--so the united +conspiracy will not prevail against light and right and justice. + +_February 28._--The last batch of various generals sent for +confirmation to the Senate, reflects and illustrates the manner in +which promotion is managed, and military powers and capacity +estimated at the White House. + +Hooker and Heintzelman are made major generals because they +brilliantly fought at Williamsburgh, and Sumner is likewise promoted +for Williamsburgh, where, in pursuance of McClellan's orders, Sumner +looked on when Heintzelman and Hooker were almost cut to pieces. The +dignitaries of Halleck's pacific staff are promoted, and colonels +who fight, and who, by their bravery and blood correct or neutralize +the awful deadly blunders of Halleck and of his staff, such colonels +are _not_ promoted! + +_February 28._--Congress outlawed all foreign intervention, +mediation! Catch it, foreign meddlers. Catch it, _Decembriseur_ and +your lackeys. + +_February 28._--Congress by its boldness, saved the immaculate +Republican idea, saved the principle of self-government, and +deserves the gratitude of all those from pole to pole, who have at +heart the triumph of freedom, the triumph of light! To its last +hours, this Congress had to overcome all the mean, petty appetites +and cravings, which so often palsy, defile, or at the best, +neutralize the noblest activity; Congress had to overcome +prejudices, narrow-mindedness and bad faith. Many of the so called +political friends--_vide_, the great Republican press--are as +troublesome, as much nuisances, as are the Sewardites and the +Copperheads. Others accuse the Congress for not having done enough. +Copperheads and Sewardites accuse Congress of having done too much. +And thus, the majority of Congress marches on across impediments and +abuses thrown in its way both by friends and by enemies. + +The _Tribune_ bitterly and boldly attacks Dahlgren, and trembling +caves in before Seward. Of course! Dahlgren can only send 11 and 15 +inch shells to crush the enemy; brother politician Seward can be +useful for some scheme. + + + + +MARCH, 1863. + + Press -- Ethics -- President's Powers -- Seward's Manifestoes -- + Cavalry -- Letters of Marque -- Halleck -- Siegel -- Fighting -- + McDowell -- Schalk -- Hooker -- Etat Major-General -- Gold -- + Cloaca Maxima -- Alliance -- Burnside -- Halleckiana -- Had we + but Generals, how often Lee could have been destroyed, etc. + + +_March 1._--Unprecedented is the fact in the history of +constitutionally-governed nations, that the patriots of a political +party in power, that its most devoted and ardent men, as a question +of life or death, are forced to support and defend an Administration +which they placed at the helm, and whose many, many acts they +disapprove. + +The soldiers in the hospitals die the death of confessors to the +great cause. And the hair turns not white on the heads of those +whose policy, helplessness, and ignorance, crowd the hospitals with +the people's best children. + +_March 2._--The New-York _Times_--one among the great beacons and +authorities in the country--the New York _Times_ belies its title as +the "little villain." Gigantically, Atlas-like, that sheet upholds +Seward and Weed. The _Times_ makes one admire the senile, +compromising, mediating, arbitrating, and, at times, stumbling +_Tribune_, and the cautious but often ardent _Evening Post_. + +The _Times_ joins in the outcry against the radicals. It is +Seward-Weed's watchword. It is the watchword of the _Herald_. It is +the watchword of the most thickly coppered Copperheads. Genuine, pure +convictions and principles are always radical. Christianity could not +have been established were not the first Christians most absolute +radicals. They compromised not with heathenism, compromised not with +Judaism, which in every way was their father. Radicals--true +ones--look to the great aim, forget their persons, and are not moved +by mean interests and vanities. + +The press in Europe, above all, on the Continent, is different. Its +editors and contributors risk their liberty, their persons, their +pockets, and sacrifice all to their convictions. They are not afraid +to speak out their convictions, even if under the penalty to +lose--subscribers; and that is all the risk run by an American +newspaper. The _Herald_, the _World_, the _Express_, all organs of +the evil spirit, through thick and thin, stand to their fetish, that +McClellan; the Republican papers neither pitilessly attack the +enemies, nor boldly and manfully support the friends, of the cause. + +I nurse no personal likings or dislikings; the times are too mighty, +too earnest for such pettiness. For me, men are agencies of +principles: bad agencies of an intrinsically good principle are +often more mischievous than are bad principles and their confessors. +The eternal tendency of human elevation and purification is to +eliminate, to dissolve, to uproot social evils, to neutralize or +push aside bad men, in whatever skin they may go about. It is a slow +and difficult, but nevertheless incessant work of our race. It is +consecrated by all founders of religions, by legislators, by +philosophers, by moralists; it is an article of human, social and +political ethics. As far as I experienced, the European radical +press more strictly observes that rule of political ethics than the +American press is wont to do. And the press, bad or good, is the +high pontifex of our times; more than any other social agency +whatever, the press ought, at least, to be manly, elevated, +indomitable, vigilant and straight-forward. I mean the respectable +press. + +_March 3._--Senator Wilson's kind of farewell speech to the +Copperheads was ringing with fiery and elevated patriotism. It +re-echoed the sentiments, the notions, the aspirations of the +people. The cobbler of Natick rose above the rhetors, above the +deliverers of prosy, classical, polished, elaborated orations, above +young and above gray-haired Athenians, high as our fiery and stormy +epoch towers over the epochs of quiet, self-satisfied, smooth, cold, +elaborate and soulless civilities. + +_March 4._--Mr. Lincoln hesitates--and, as many assert, is +altogether opposed to use all the severity of the laws against the +rebels. And shall not our butchered soldiers be avenged? It is +sacrilegious to put in the same scales the Union soldier and the +rebels; it is the same as to put on equal terms before justice the +incendiary and the man who stops or kills the criminal in _flagrante +delicto_. + +_March 3._--After a tedious labor I waded through the State papers. +O, what an accumulation of ignorance! Almost every historical and +chronological fact misplaced, misunderstood, perverted, distorted, +wrongly applied. And how many, many contradictions! Only when Mr. +Seward can simply--(very, very seldom) point out to England that by +_this_ and _that fact_ and _act_ England violates the international +laws and rules of neutrality and of good comity between two +_friendly_ governments and nations: then, _only_, Mr. Seward's +papers acquire historical and political signification. But not his +spread eagleism, not his argumentation; and, still less his broad +and inexhaustible and variegated information. Diplomatic and +statesmanlike character can not be conceded to his State papers. +Few, very few, will read them, although foreign Courts, ministers, +statesmen, princes, and the so-called celebrated women are +complimented and deluged with them. The most pitiless critics of +these productions would be the smaller clerks in the Departments of +Foreign Affairs in London and Paris. Only they are not fools to +waste their time on such specimens of literature. + +_March 4._--Congress adjourned. This Thirty-Seventh Congress marks a +new era in the American and in the world's history. It inaugurated +and directed a new evolution in the onward progress of mankind. The +task of this Congress was by far more difficult and heavier than was +the task of the revolutionary and of the constitutional Congresses. +The revolutionary Congress had to fight an external enemy. The +tories of that epoch were comparatively less dangerous than are now +all kinds of Copperheads; it had to overcome material wants and +impediments, and not moral, nor social ones. That Congress was +omnipotent, governed the country, and was backed by its virgin +enthusiasm, by unity of purpose, and was not hampered by any +formulas and precedents. The Thirty-Seventh Congress had to fight a +powerful enemy, spread almost over two-thirds of the territory of +the Union; it had to fight and stand, so to speak, at home against +inveterate prejudices, against such bitter and dangerous domestic +enemies as are the Northern men with Southern principles. This +Congress was manacled by constitutional formulas, and had to carry +various other deadweights already pointed out. In the first part of +the session, Pike, Member of Congress from Maine, laid down as the +task for the Congress, _Fight, Tax, Emancipate_--and the Congress +fulfilled the task. In a certain aspect the Thirty-Seventh Congress +showed itself almost superior to the great immortal French +Convention, which ruled, governed, administered, and legislated, +while this Congress dragged a Lincoln, a Seward, etc. This Congress +accomplished noble and great things without containing the so-called +"great" or "representative" men, and thus Congress thoroughly +vindicated the great social truth of genuine, democratic +self-government. + +_March 5._--The _good_ press reduces the activity of the Thirty +Seventh Congress to its own rather pigmy-like proportions. + +Congress was powerless to purify the corrosive air prevailing in +Washington, above all in the various official strata. Congress +ardently wished to purify, but the third side of the Congressional +triangle, the executive and administrative power, preferred to nurse +the foul elements. Such doubtful, and some worse than doubtful +officials, undoubtedly will become more bold, expecting the +near-at-hand advent of the Copperhead Democratic Millennium. + +_March 6._--The Copperhead members of both the Houses have been very +prolific and _scientific_ about the inferiority of race. Pretty +specimens of superiority are they, with their sham, superficial, at +hap-hazard gathered, unvaluable small information, with their +inveterate prejudices, with their opaque, heavy, unlofty minds! Give +to any Africo-American equal chances with these props of darkness, +and he very speedily will assert over them an unquestionable +superiority. Are not the humble, suffering, orderly contrabands +infinitely superior to the rowdy, unruly, ignorant, savage and +bloody whites? + +Southern papers are filled with accounts of the savage persecutions +to which the Union men are exposed in the rebel region. It is the +result of what Mr. Seward likes to call his forbearing policy and of +the McClellan and Halleck warfare of 1861-62. + +_March 7._--For the first time in the world's history, for the first +time in the history of nations governed and administered by +positive, well established, well organised, well defined +laws--powers, such as those conferred by Congress on Mr. Lincoln, +have been so conferred. Never have such powers been in advance, +coolly, legally deliberated, and in advance granted, to any +sovereign, as are forced upon Mr. Lincoln by Congress, and forced +upon him with the assent of a considerable majority of the people. + +Never has a nation or an honest political body whatever, shown to +any mortal a confidence similar to that shown to Mr. Lincoln. Never +in antiquity, in the days of Athens' and Rome's purest patriotism +and civic virtue, has the people invested its best men with a trust +so boundless as did the last Congress give to Mr. Lincoln. + +The powers granted to a Roman dictator were granted for a short +time, and they were extra legal in their nature and character; in +their action and execution the dictatorial powers were rather taken +than granted in detail. The powers forced on Mr. Lincoln are most +minutely specified; they have been most carefully framed and +surrounded by all the sacred rites of law, according to justice and +the written Constitution. These powers are sanctioned by all +formulas constituting the legal cement of a social structure +erected by the freest people that ever existed. These powers deliver +into Mr. Lincoln's hand all that is dear and sacred to man--his +liberty, his domestic hearth, his family, life and fortune. A well +and deliberately discussed and matured statute puts all such earthly +goods at Mr. Lincoln's disposal and free use. + +The sublime axiom, _salus populi suprema lex esto_ again becomes +blood and life, and becomes so by the free, deliberate will and +decision of the foremost standard-bearer of light and civilization, +the first born in the spirit of Christian ethics and of the rights +of man.-- + +The Cromwells, the Napoleons, the absolute kings, the autocrats, and +all those whose rule was unlimited and not defined--all such grasped +at such powers. They seized them under the pressure of the direst +necessity, or to satisfy their personal ambition and exaltation. The +French Convention itself exercised unlimited dictatorial powers. But +the Convention allowed not these powers to be carried out of the +legislative sanctuary. The Committee of Robespierre was a board +belonging to and emanating from the Convention; the Commissaries +sent to the provinces and to the armies were members of the +Convention and represented its unlimited powers. When the Committee +of Public Safety wanted a new power to meet a new emergency, the +Convention, so to speak, daily adjusted the law and its might to +such emergencies. + +Will Mr. Lincoln realize the grandeur of this unparallelled trust? +Has he a clear comprehension of the sacrifice thus perpetrated by +the people? I shudder to think about it and to doubt. + +The men of the people's heart--a Fremont, a Butler, are still +shelved, and the Sewards, the Hallecks, are in positions wherein no +true patriot wishes them to be. The Republican press had better +learn tenacity from the Copperhead press, which never has given up +that fetish, McClellan, and never misses the slightest occasion to +bring his name in a wreath of lies before the public. + +_March 8._--A great Union meeting in New York. War Democrats, +Republicans, etc., etc., etc. War to the knife with the rebels is +the watchword. Of course, Mr. Seward writes a letter to the meeting. +The letter bristles with stereotyped generalities and Unionism. The +substance of the Seward manifesto is: "Look at me; I, Seward, I am +the man to lead the Union party. I am not a Republican nor a +Democrat, but Union, Union, Union." + +The _I_, the No. 1, looks out from every word of that manifesto. +With a certain skill, Mr. Seward packs together high-sounding words, +but these his phrases, are cold and hollow. Mr. Seward begins by +saying that the people are to confer upon him the highest honors. +Mr. Seward enlightens, and, so to speak, _pedagogues_ the people +concerning what everybody ought to sacrifice. The twenty-two +millions of people have already sacrificed every thing, and +sacrificed it without being doctrined by you, O, great patriot! and +you, great patriot, you have hitherto sacrificed NOTHING! + +Let Mr. Seward show his patriotic record! To his ambition, +selfishness, ignorance and innate insincerity he has sacrificed as +much of the people's honor, of the people's interests, and of the +people's blood as was feasible. History cannot be cheated. History +will compare Mr. Seward's manifestoes and phrases with his actions! + +_March 8._--The cavalry horses look as if they came from Egypt +during the seven years' famine. I inquired the reason from different +soldiers and officers of various regiments. Nine-tenths of them +agreed that the horses scarcely receive half the ration of oats and +hay allotted to them by the government. Somebody steals the other +half, but every body is satisfied. All this could very easily be +ferreted out, but it seems that no will exists any where to bring +the thieves to punishment. + +_March 8._--During weeks and weeks I watched McDowell's inquiry. +What an honest and straight-forward man is Sigel. McDowell would +make an excellent criminal lawyer. McDowell is the most cunning to +cross-examine; he would shine among all criminal catchers. The +Know-Nothing West Point hatred is stirred up against Sigel. I was +most positively assured that at Pea Ridge a West Point drunkard and +general expressly fired his batteries in Sigel's rear, to throw +Sigel's troops into disorder and disgrace. But in the fire Sigel +cannot be disgraced nor confused; so say his soldiers and +companions. Sigel would do a great deal of good, but the +Know-Nothing-West Point-Halleck envy, ignorance and selfishness are +combined and bitter against Sigel. + +In this inquiry Sigel proved that he always fought his whole corps +himself. So do all good commanders; so did Reno, Kearney, so do +Hooker, Heintzelman, Rosecrans, and very likely all generals in the +West. + +The McClellan-Franklin school, and very probably the Simon-pure West +Pointers, fight differently. In their opinion, the commander of a +corps relies on his generals of divisions; these on the generals of +brigades, who, in their turn rely on colonels, and thus any kind of +_ensemble_ disappears. Of course exceptions exist, but in general +our battles seem to be fought by regiments and by colonels. O West +Point! At the last Bull Run two days' battles, McDowell fought his +corps in the West Point-McClellan fashion. His own statements show +that his corps was scattered, that he had it not in hand, that he +even knew not where the divisions of his corps were located; and +during the night of 29-30, he, McDowell, after wandering about +the field in search of his corps, spent that night bivouacking +amidst Sigel's corps! + +_March 9._--New York politicians behaved as meanly towards +Wadsworth as if they were all from Seward's school. + +_March 9._--Hooker is at the Herculean work of reorganizing the +army. Those who visited it assert that Hooker is very active, very +just; and that he has already accomplished the magician's work in +introducing order and changing the spirit of the army. Only some few +inveterate McClellanites and envious, genuine West Pointers are +slandering Hooker. + +_March 12._--Since the adjournment of Congress, everything looks +sluggish and in suspense. The Administration, that is, Mr. Lincoln, +is at work preparing measures, etc., to carry out the laws of +Congress; Mr. Seward is at work to baffle them; Blair is going over +to border-State policy; Stanton, firm, as of old; so is Welles; +Bates recognises good principles, but is afraid to see such +principles at once brought to light; Chase makes bonds and notes. We +shall see what will come from all these preparations. But for +Congress, Lincoln or the executive, would have been disabled from +executing the laws. Congress, by its laws or statutes, aided the +Executive branch in its _sworn duty_. + +_March 13._--The various Chambers of Commerce petition and ask that +the president may issue letters of marque. It is to be supposed, or +rather to be admitted, that the Chambers of Commerce know what is +the best for them, how our commerce is to be protected, how the +rebel pirates swept from the oceans, and how England, treacherous +England, perfidious Albion, be punished. But Sumner--of +course--knows better than our Chambers of Commerce, and our +commercial marine; with all his little might, Sumner opposes what +the country's interests demand, and demand urgently. I am sure that +already this general demonstration of the national wish and will, +the demonstrations made by our Chambers of Commerce, etc., will +impress England, or at least the English supporters of piracy. + +Sumner will believe that his letters to English old women will +change the minds of the English semi-pirates. Sumner is a little +afraid of losing ground with the English guardians of civilization. +Sumner is full of good wishes, of generous conceptions, and is the +man for the millennium. Sumner lacks the keen, sharp, piercing +appreciation of common events. And thus Sumner cannot detect that +England makes war on our commerce, under the piratic flag of the +rebels. + +_March 14._--The primitive Christians scarcely had more terrible +enemies, scarcely had to overcome greater impediments, than are +opposed to the principle of human rights, and of emancipation. All +that is the meanest, the most degraded, the most dastardly and the +most treacherous, is combined against us. Many of the former +confessors, many of our friends, many, unconscious of it--_Sewardise_ +and _Blairise_. + +Mud is stirred up, flows, rises and penetrates in all directions. +The _Cloaca Maxima_ in Rome, during thirty centuries scarcely +carried more filth than is here besieging, storming the +departments, all the administrative issues, and all the so-called +political issues. + +I am sure that the enemies of emancipation, that Seward, Weed, etc., +wait for some great victory, for the fall of Vicksburgh or of +Charleston, to renew their efforts to pacify, to unite, to kiss the +hands of traitors, and to save slavery. I see positive indications +of it. Seward expects in 1864 to ride into the White House on such +reconciliation. What a good time then for the Weeds, and for all the +Sewardites! + +_March 15._--Persons who seemed well informed, assured me that Weed +got hold of Stanton, and secretly presides over the contracts in the +War Department. If so, it is very secretly done; as I investigated, +traced it, and found out nothing. At any rate, Weed would never get +at a Watson, a man altogether independent of any political +influences. Watson is the incarnation of honest and intelligent +duty. + +Wilkes' _Spirit of the Times_ is unrelenting in its haughty +independence. It is the only public organ in this country of like +character; at least I know not another. + +_March 15._--It is so saddening to witness how all kinds of +incapacities, stupidities, how meanness, hollowness, heartlessness, +all incarnated in politicians, in trimmers, in narrow brained; how +all of them ride on the shoulders of the masses, and use them for +their sordid, mean, selfish and ambitious ends. And the masses are +superior to those riders in everything constituting manhood, honesty +and intellect! + +_March 16._--Halleck wrote a letter to Rosecrans, explaining how to +deal with all kinds of treason, and with all kinds of traitors. It +looks as if Halleck improved, and tried to become energetic. What is +in the wind? Is Mr. Lincoln becoming seriously serious? + +_March 16._--Genuine, social and practical freedom, is generated by +individual rational freedom. If a man cannot, or even worse, if a +man understands not to act as a free rational being in every daily +circumstance of life during the week, then he cannot understand to +behave on Sunday as a free man; and act as a free man in all his +political and social relations and duties. The North upholds that +law of freedom against the slavocracy, and fights to carry and +establish a genuine social organism where at present barbarity, +oppression, lawlessness and recklessness, prevail and preside. + +_March 18._--I sent Hooker Schalk's _Summary of the Science of War_. +It is the best, the clearest handbook ever published. About six +months ago, when Banks commanded the defenses of Washington, I +suggested to him to try and get Schalk into head-quarters, or into +the staff. The ruling powers proffered to Schalk to make him captain +at large, and this was proffered at a time when altogether +unmilitary men became colonels, etc., at the head-quarters. I never +myself saw Schalk, but he refused the offer, as years ago he was a +captain in the Austrian army, is independent, and knows his own +value. Any European government, above all when having on hand a +great war, with both hands with military grades, would seize upon a +capacity such as Schalk's. Here they know better. My hobby is that +the president be surrounded by a genuine staff composed either of +General Butler or any other capable American general, of Sigel, of +Schalk, and of a few more American officers, who easily could +organise a staff, _un etat Major general_, such as all European +governments have. But West Point wisdom, engineers and routine, +kill, murder, throttle, everything beyond their reach, and thus +murder the people. + +_March 20._--Every week Mr. Seward pours over the fated country his +cold, shallow Union rhetoric. But whoever reads it feels that all +this combined phraseology gushes not from a patriotic heart; every +one detects therein bids for the next Presidency. + +Gold is at fifty-five per cent here; in Richmond, gold is four to +six hundred per cent. The money bags, and all those who adjust the +affairs of the world to the rise and to the fall of all kind of +exchanges, they may base their calculations on the above figures, +and find out who has more chances of success, the rebels or we! + +Mud, stench on the increase, and because I see, smell and feel it, +"_My friends scorn me, but my eye poureth =tears= into_" [Psalm] the +noble American people. + +_March 21._--The _honest_ Conservatives and the small church of +abolitionists are equally narrow-minded, and abuse the last +Congress. The one and the other comprehend not, and cannot +comprehend the immense social and historical signification of the +last Congress. It made me almost sick to find Edward Everett joining +in the chorus. But he, too, is growing very old. + +_March 22._--What are generally called excellent authorities assert +that an offensive and defensive alliance is concluded between Seward +and Stanton. Further, I am told, that Senator Morgan, Thurlow Weed, +and a certain Whiting, a new star on the politician's horizon, have +been the attorneys of the two contracting powers. I cannot yet +detect any signs of such an alliance, and disbelieve the story. A +short time will be necessary to see its fruits. Until I see I +wait!... But were it true? Who will be taken in? I am sure it will +not be Seward. Is Stanton dragged down by the infuriated fates? + +_March 23._--Burnside is to save Kentucky, almost lost by Halleck +and Buell. Congress adjourned, and no investigation was made into +Halleck's conduct after Corinth in 1862. The Western army +disappeared; Buell commanded in Kentucky, and rebels, guerillas, +cut-throats, murderers and thieves overflow the west, menaced +Cincinnati. And all this when the Secretary of War in his report +speaks about eight hundred thousand men in the field. But the +Secretary of War provides men and means; great Lincoln, the still +greater Halleck distribute and use them. This explains all. Burnside +is honest and loyal, only give him no army to command. I deeply +regret that Burnside's honesty squares not at all with his military +capacity. + +The Government is at a loss what to do with honest, ignorant, +useless military big men, who in some way or other rose above their +congenial but very low level. Already last year I suggested (in +writing) to Stanton to gather together such intellectual military +invalids and to establish an honorary military council, to counsel +nothing. Occasionally such a council could direct various +investigations, give its advice about shoes, pants, horses and +horse-shoes. Something like such council really exists in Russia, +and I pointed it out to Stanton for imitation. + +_March 25._--Stanton scorns the slander concerning his alliance with +Seward and Weed. It is an invention of Blair, and based on the fact +that Stanton sides with Seward in the question _of letters of +marque_, opposed by Blair under the influence of Sumner the +civiliser. I believe Stanton, and not my former informer. + +_Halleckiana._ This great, unequalled great man declared that "it +were better even to send McClellan to Kentucky, or to the West, than +to send there Fremont, as Fremont would at once free the niggers." + +The admirers of poor argument, of spread-eagleism, and of ignorant +quotations stolen from history, make a fuss about Mr. Seward's State +papers. The good in these papers is where Mr. Seward, in his +confused phraseology, re-echoes the will, the decision of the +people, no longer to be humbugged by England's perversion of +international laws and of the rights and duties of neutrals; the +will of the people sooner or later to take England to account. (I +hope it will be done, and no English goods will ever pollute the +American soil. It will be the best vengeance.) The repudiation of +any mediation is in the marrow of the people, and Seward's muddy +arguments only perverted and weakened it. In Europe, the substance +of Seward's dispatch, is considered the passage where Seward's +highfalutin logomachy offers to the rebels their vacant seats in the +Congress. + +_March 26._--Had we generals, the rebel army in Virginia ought to +have been dispersed and destroyed after the first Bull Run: + +A. McCLELLAN.--Any day in November and December, 1861. + +B. McCLELLAN.--Any day in January and February, 1862, at +Centerville, Manassas. + +C. McCLELLAN.--At Yorktown, and when the rebels retreated to +Richmond. + +D. McCLELLAN.--After the battle of Fair Oaks, Richmond easily could +and ought to have been taken. (See Hurlbut, Hooker, Kearney and +Heintzelman.) + +E. McCLELLAN.--Richmond could have been taken before the fatal +change of base. (See January, Fitz John Porter.) + +F. But for the wailings of McClellan and his stick-in-the-mud +do-nothing strategy, McDowell, Banks and Fremont would have marched +to Richmond from north, north-west, and west, when we already +reached Stanton, and could take Gordonsville. + +G. General Pope and General McDowell, the McClellan pretorians, at +the August 1862, fights between the Rappahannock and the Potomac. + +H. McCLELLAN.--Invasion of Maryland, 1862. Go in the rear of Lee, +cut him from his basis, and then Lee would be lost, even having a +McClellan for an antagonist. + +I. McCLELLAN.--After Antietam battle, won by Hooker, and above all +by the indomitable bravery of the soldiers and officers, and not by +McClellan's generalship, Lee ought to have been followed and thrown +into the Potomac. + +K. McCLELLAN.--Lay for weeks idle at Harper's Ferry, gave Lee time +to reorganize his army and to take positions. Elections. +Copperheads, French mediation. + +L. McCLELLAN.--By not cutting Lee in two when he was near +Gordonsville, Jackson at Winchester, and our army around Warrenton. + +M. BURNSIDE.--By continuing the above mentioned fault of McClellan. + +N. BURNSIDE.--By his sluggish march to Fredericksburgh, (see Diary, +December.) + +O. HALLECK, MEIGS, etc. The affair of the pontoons. + +P. BURNSIDE, _Franklin_.--The attack of the Fredericksburg Heights. + +_March 28._--From the day of Sumter, and when the Massachusetts men +hurrying to the defence of the Union, were murdered by the Southern +_gentlemen_ in Baltimore, this struggle in reality is carried on +between the Southern gentlemen, backed by abettors in the North, +(abettors existing even in our army,) all of them united against the +YANKEE, who incarnates civilization, right, liberty, intellectual +superior development, and therefore is hated by the _gentleman_--this +genuine Southern growth embodying darkness, violence, and all the +virtues highly prized in hell. The Yankee, that is, the intelligent, +laborious inhabitant of New England and of the Northern villages and +towns, represents the highest civilization: the best _Southern +gentleman_, that lord of plantations, that cotton, tobacco and +slavemonger, at the best is somewhat polished, varnished; the varnish +covers all kinds of barbarity and of rottenness. It is to be regretted +that our army contains officers modelled on the Southern +pattern, to whom human rights and civilization are as distasteful as +they are to any high-toned slave-whipper in the South. + +_March 29._--The destruction of slavery, the triumph of self +government ought not to be the only fruit of this war. The +politician ought to be buried in the offal of the war. The crushing +of politicians is a question as vital as the crushing of the +rebellion and of treason. All the politicians are a nuisance, a +curse, a plague worse than was any in Egypt. All of them are equal, +be they Thurlow Weeds or Forneys, or etc. etc. etc. A better and +purer race of leaders of the people will, I hope, be born from this +terrible struggle. Were I a stump speaker I should day and night +campaign against the politician, that luxuriant and poisonous weed +in the American Eden. + +_March 30._--Glorious news from Hooker's army. Even the most +inveterate McClellanites admire his activity and indeed are +astonished to what degree Hooker has recast, reinvigorated, purified +the spirit of the army. To reorganise a demoralised army requires +more nerve than to win a battle. Hooker takes care of the soldiers. +And now I hope that Hooker, having reorganised the army, will not +keep it idly in camp, but move, and strike and crush the traitors. +Hooker! _En avant! marchons!_ + +_March 31._--Some newspapers in New York and the National +Intelligencer here in Washington, the paid organ of Seward and +likewise organ of treason gilded by Unionism--all of them begin to +discuss the necessity of a staff. All of them reveal a West Point +knowledge of the subject; and the staff which they demand or which +they would organise, would be not a bit better than the existing +ones. + + + + +APRIL, 1863. + + Lord Lyons -- Blue book -- Diplomats -- Butler -- Franklin -- + Bancroft -- Homunculi -- Fetishism -- Committee on the Conduct of + the War -- Non-intercourse -- Peterhoff -- Sultan's Firman -- + Seward -- Halleck -- Race -- Capua -- Feint -- Letter writing -- + England -- Russia -- American Revolution -- Renovation -- Women + -- Monroe doctrine, etc., etc., etc. + + +_April 1._--The English Blue Book reveals the fact that Lord Lyons +held meetings and semi-official, or if one will, unofficial _talks_ +with what he calls "the leaders of the Conservatives in New York;" +that is, with the leaders of the Copperheads, and of the slavery and +rebellion saviours. The Despatches of Lord Lyons prove how difficult +it is to become familiar with the public spirit in this country, +even for a cautious, discreet diplomat and an Englishman. But +perhaps we should say, _because_ an Englishman, Lord Lyons became +confused. Lord Lyons took for reality a bubble emanating from a +putrescent fermentation. I am at a loss to understand why Earl +Russell divulged the above mentioned correspondence, thus putting +Lord Lyons into a false and unpleasant position with the party in +power. + +As for the fact itself, it is neither new nor unwonted. Diplomacy +and diplomats meddle with all parties; they do it openly or +secretly, according to circumstances. English diplomacy was always +foremost in meddling, and above all it has been so during this whole +century. The English diplomat is not yet born, who will not meddle +or intrigue with all kinds of parties, either in a nation, in a body +politic, in a cabinet or at court. + +When a nation, a dynasty, a government becomes entangled in domestic +troubles, the first thing they have to do is to politely bow out of +the country all the foreign diplomacy and diplomats, be these +diplomats hostile, indifferent, or even friendly. And the longer a +diplomat has resided in a country, the more absolutely he ought to +be bowed out with his other colleagues; to bow them all in or back, +when the domestic struggle is finished. + +History bristles with evidences of the meddling of diplomats with +political parties, and bears evidence of the mischief done, and of +the fatal misfortunes accruing to a country that is victimised by +foreign diplomacy and by diplomats. Without ransacking history so +far back as to the treaty of Vienna, (1815) look to Spain, above +all, during Isabella I.'s minority, to Greece, to Turkey, etc. And +under my eyes, Mexico is killed by diplomacy and by diplomats. + +Diplomatic meddlings become the more dangerous when no court exists +that might more or less control them, to impress on them a certain +curb in their semi-official and non-official conduct. But at times +it is difficult, even to a sovereign, to a court, to keep in order +the intriguing diplomats, above all to keep them at bay in their +semi-official social relations. + +In principle, and _de facto_, a diplomat, and principally a diplomat +representing a powerful sovereign or nation, has no, or very few, +private, inoffensive, social, worldly, parlor relations in the +country, or in the place to which he is appointed, and where he +resides. Every action, step, relation, intimacy of a diplomat has a +signification, and is watched by very argus-like eyes; alike by the +government to which he is accredited, and by his colleagues, most of +whom are also his rivals. Not even the Jesuits watch each other more +vigilantly, and denounce each other more pitilessly, than do the +diplomats--officially, semi-officially and privately. + +It requires great tact in a diplomat to bring into harmony his +official and his social, and non-official conduct. Lord Lyons +generally showed this tact and adroitly avoided the breakers. At +times such want of harmony is apparent and is the result of the +will, or of the principles of the court and of the sovereign +represented by a diplomat. Thus, after the revolution of July, 1830, +the sovereign and the diplomats in the Holy Alliance, of Russia, +Austria, and Prussia recognised Louis Phillipe's royalty as a fact +but not as a principle. Therefore, in their social relations the +Ambassadors of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, most emphatically sided +with the Carlists, the most bitter and unrelenting enemies of the +Orleans and of the order of things inaugurated by the revolution of +July, and Carlists always crowded the saloons of the Holy Alliance's +diplomats. The Duke d'Orleans, Louis Phillipe's son, scarcely dared +to enter the brilliant, highly aristocratic, and purely legitimist +saloon of the Countess Appony, wife of the Austrian Ambassador. Of +course the conduct of the Count and Countess was approved, and +applauded, in Vienna. But at times, for some reason or other, a +diplomat puts in contradiction his official and non-official +conduct, and does it not only without instructions or approval of +his sovereign and government, but in contradiction to the intentions +of his master and in contradiction to the prevailing opinion of his +country. And thus it happens, that a diplomat presents to a +government in trouble the most sincere and the most cheering +official expressions of sympathy from his master; and with the same +hand the diplomat gives the heartiest shakes to the most unrelenting +enemies of the same government. + +The Russian, skillful, shrewd and proud diplomacy, generally holds +an independent, almost an isolated position from England and from +France. The Russian diplomacy goes its own way, at times joined or +joining according to circumstances, but never, never following in +the wake of the two rival powers. During this our war, and doubtless +for the first time since Russian diplomacy has existed, a Russian +diplomat semi and non-officially, seemingly, limped after the +diplomats of England and of France. But such a diplomatic _mistake_ +can not last long. + +_April 2._--Official, lordish, Toryish England, plays treason and +infamy right and left. The English money lenders to rebels, the +genuine owners of rebel piratical ships, are anxious to destroy the +American commerce and to establish over the South an English +monopoly. All this because _odiunt dum metuant_ the Yankee. You +tories, you enemies of freedom, your time of reckoning will come, +and it will come at the hands of your own people. You fear the +example of America for your oppressions, for your rent-rolls. + +_April 3._--The country ought to have had already about one hundred +thousand Africo-Americans, either under arms, in the field, or +drilling in camps. But to-day Lincoln has not yet brought together +more than ten to fifteen thousand in the field; and what is done, is +done rather, so to speak, by private enterprise than by the +Government. Mr. Lincoln hesitates, meditates, and shifts, instead of +going to work manfully, boldly, and decidedly. Every time an +Africo-American regiment is armed or created, Mr. Lincoln seems as +though making an effort, or making a gracious concession in +permitting the increase of our forces. It seems as if Mr. Lincoln +were ready to exhaust all the resources of the country before he +boldly strikes the Africo American vein. How differently the whole +affair should have been conducted! + +_April 4._--Almost every day I hear very intelligent and patriotic +men wonder why every thing is going on so undecidedly, so +sluggishly; and all of them, in their despondency, dare not or will +not ascend to the cause. And when they finally see where the fault +lies, they are still more desponding. + +Europe, that is, European statesmen, judge the country, the people, +by its leaders and governors. European statesmen judge the events by +the turn given to them by a Lincoln, a Seward; this furnishes an +explanation of many of the misdeeds committed by English and French +statesmen. + +_April 4._--The people at large, with indomitable activity, mends, +repairs the disasters resulting from the inability and the +selfishness of its official chiefs. One day, however, the people +will turn its eyes and exclaim: + +"_But thou, O God! shalt bring them down into the pit of +destruction; bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their +days._" + +_April 4._--General Butler's speech in New York, at the Academy of +Music, is the best, nay, is the paramount exposition of the whole +rebellion in its social, governmental and military aspects. No +President's Message, no letter, no one of the emanations of Seward's +letter and dispatch-writing, corrosive disease, not an article in any +press compares with Butler's speech for lucidity, logic, conciseness +and strong reasoning. Butler laid down a law, a doctrine--and what he +lays down as such, contains more cardinal truth and reason than all +that was ever uttered by the Administration. And Butler is shelved and +bartered to France by Seward as long since as 1862; and the people +bear it, and the great clear-sighted press subsides, instead of day +and night battering the Administration for pushing aside the _only +man_, emphatically the ONLY MAN who was always and everywhere equal to +every emergency--who never was found amiss, and who never forgot that +an abyss separates the condition of a rebel, be he armed or unarmed, +(the second even more dangerous,) from a loyal citizen and from the +loyal Government. + +_April 4._--The annals of the Navy during this war will constitute a +cheering and consoling page for any future historian. If the Navy at +times is unsuccessful, the want of success can be traced to +altogether different reasons than many of the disasters on land. +Nothing similar to McClellanism pollutes the Navy--and want of +vigilance and other mistakes become virtues when compared with want +of convictions, with selfishness, and with intrigue. I have not yet +heard any justified complaint against the honesty of the Navy +Department; I feel so happy not to be disappointed in the tars of +all grades, and that Neptune Welles, with his Fox, (but not a +red-haired, thieving fox,) keep steady, clean, and as active as +possible. + +_April 5._--Senator Sumner pines and laments, Jeremiah-like, on the +ruins of our foreign policy, and accuses Seward of it--behind his +back. Why has not _pater conscriptus_ uttered a single word of +condemnation from his Senatorial _fauteuil_, and kept mute during +three sessions? _Sunt nobis homunculi sed non homines._ + +_April 5._--A letter in the papers, in all probability written under +the eye of General Franklin, tries to exculpate the General from all +the blood spilt at Fredericksburgh. It will not do, although the +writer has in his hands documents, as orders, etc. Franklin orders +General Meade to attack the enemy's lines at the head of 4500 men, +(he ought to have given to Meade at least double that number); brave +and undaunted Meade breaks through the enemy; and Franklin's excuse +for not supporting Meade is, that he had no orders from +head-quarters to do it. By God! Those geniuses, West Point No. Ones, +suppose that any dust can be thrown to cover their nameless--at the +best--helplessness. Franklin commanded a whole wing, sixty thousand +men; his part in the battle was the key to the whole attack. +Franklin's eventual success must decide the day. Meade was in +Franklin's command, and to support Meade, Franklin wants an order +from head-quarters. Such an excuse made by a general at the head of +a large part of the army--or rather such a crime not to support a +part of his own command engaged with the enemy, because no special +orders from head-quarters prescribed his doing so--such a case or +excuse is almost unexampled in the history of warfare. And when such +cases happened, then the guilty was not long kept in command. Three +bloody groans for Franklin! + +_April 6._--George Bancroft has the insight of a genuine historian. +Few men, if any, can be compared to him for the clearness, breadth, +and justness with which in this war Bancroft comprehends and +embraces events and men. Bancroft's judgment is almost faultless, +and it is to be regretted that Bancroft, so to speak, is outside of +the circle instead of being inside, and in some way among the +pilots. + +_April 6._--The Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War +will make the coming generation and the future historian shudder. No +one will be able to comprehend how such a McClellan could have been +thus long kept in the command of an army, and still less how there +could have existed men claiming to have sound reason and heart, and +constitute a McClellan party. McClellan is the most disgusting +psychological anomaly. It is an evidence how a mental poison rapidly +spreads and permeates all. As was repeatedly pointed out in this +DIARY, individuals who started the McClellan fetishism, were +admirers of the _Southern gentlemen_, were worshippers of slavery, +were secret or open partisans of rebellion. Many such subsequently +appear as Copperheads, peace men, as Union men, as Conservatives. +The other stratum of McClellanism is composed of intriguers. These +combined forces, supported by would-be wise ignorance, spread the +worship, and poisoned thousands and tens of thousands of honest but +not clear-sighted minds. The Report, or rather the investigation was +conducted with the utmost fairness; of course Ben Wade could not act +otherwise than fairly and nobly. Some critics say that McClellan's +case could have been yet more strongly brought out, and the fetish +could have been shown to the people in his most disgustingly true +nakedness. + +_April 6._--The people feel how the treason of the English +evilwishers slowly extends through its organs. By Butler, Wade, +Grimes and others, the people ask for non-intercourse with the +English assassin, who surreptitiously, stealthily under cover of +darkness, of legal formality, deals, or attempts to deal, a deadly +blow. The American sentimentalists strain to the utmost their soft +brains, to find excuses for English treason. + +English lordlings, scholars, moralists of the Carlyleian mental +perversion comment Homer, instead of being clear sighted +commentators of what passes under their noses. The English +phrase-mongering philanthropists all with joy smacked their bloody +lips at the, by them ardently wished and expected downfall of a +noble, free and self-governing people. Tigers, hyenas and jackals! +clatter your teeth, smack your lips! but you shall not get at the +prey. + +_April 7._--The President visits the Potomac army at Falmouth. +Seward wished to be of the party, offering to make a stirring speech +to the soldiers--that is, to impress the heroes with the notion that +in Seward they beheld a still greater hero, a patriot reeking with +Unionism and sacrifices, and eventually prepare their votes for the +next presidential election. Certain influences took the wind out of +Seward's sails, and as a naughty, arrogant boy, he was left behind +to bite his nails, and to pour out a logomachy. + +_April 7._--I am very uneasy about Charleston. It seems that +something works foul. Either they have not men enough, or brains +enough. A good artillerist, having confidence in the guns, and +having the needed insight how and where to use them, ought to +command our forces. Will the iron-clads resist the concentric fire +from so numerous batteries? + +The diplomats of the _prospective mediation_ and their tails are +scared by the elections in Connecticut. Others, however, of that +illustrious European body are out-spoken friends of Union and of +freedom. The representatives of the American republics are to be +relied upon. St. Domingo, Mexico sufficiently teaches all races, +_latin_ (_?_) as well as non-latin, that honey-mouthed governmental +Europe is an all-devouring wolf under a sheep's skin. + +Non-intercourse! no intercourse with England and with France as +long as France chooses to be ridden by the _Decembriseur_! Such +ought to be the watchword for a long, long time to come. + +_April 8._--The New York _Times_ is now boiling with patriotic wrath +against McClellan. Very well. But when McClellan captured maple guns +at Centerville and Manassas, when he digged mud and graves for our +soldiers before Yorktown, and in the Chickahominy, the _Times_ was +extatic beyond measure and description, extatic over the matured +plans, the gigantic strategy of McClellan--and at that epoch the +_Times_ powerfully contributed to confuse the public opinion. + +_April 8._--A Mr. Ockford, (or of similar name,) who for many years, +was a ship broker in England, advised our government and above all, +Mr. Seward, to institute proceedings before the English courts +against the building and arming of the iron-clads for the rebels. +Seward, of course, snubbed him off with the Sewardian verdict that +the jury in England will give or pronounce no verdict of guilty, in +our favor, as our jury would not find any one guilty of treason. +Good for a Seward. + +Patriots from various States, among them Boutwell, now member of +Congress from Massachusetts, urged the Cabinet; 1st, to declare +peremptorily to the English Government that if the rebel iron-clads +are allowed to go out from English ports, our government will +consider it as being a deliberate and willful act of hostility; 2d, +to publish at once the above declaration, that the English people +at large may judge of the affair. Seward opposed such a bold +step--Sumner ditto. + +_April 9._--I am at a loss to find in history, any government +whatever that so little took or takes into account the intrinsic and +intellectual fitness of an individual for the office entrusted to +him, as does the government of Mr. Lincoln. I cannot imagine that it +could have been always so, under previous administrations. It seems +that in the opinion of the Executive, not only geniuses, but men of +studies, and of special and specific preparation and knowledge run +in the streets, crowd the villages and states, and the Executive has +only to stretch his hand from the window, to take hold of an +unmistakable capacity, etc. The Executive ought to have some +experience by this time; but alas, _experientia non docet_ in the +White House. + +_April 10._--Agitated as my existence has been, I never fell among +so much littleness, meanness, servility as here. To avoid it, and +not to despair, or rage, or despond, several times a day, it is +necessary to avoid contact with politicians, and reduce to few, very +few, all intercourse with them. I cannot complain, as I find +compensation--but nevertheless, I am afraid that the study and the +analysis of so much mud and offal may tell upon me. Physical +monstrosities are attractive to physiologists or rather to +pathologists. But an anthropologist prefers normal nobleness of +mind, and shudders at sight and contact with intellectual and moral +crookedness. + +_April 11._--Sumter day. Two years elapsed, and treason not yet +crushed; Charleston not yet ploughed over and sown with salt; +Beauregard still in command, and the snake still keeping at bay the +eagle. And all this because in December, 1861, and in January, 1862, +McClellan wished not, Seward wished not, and Mr. Lincoln could not +decide whether to wish that Charleston and Savannah--defenceless at +that time--be taken after the fall of Port Royal. Two years! and the +people still bleed, and the exterminating angel strikes not the +malefactors, and the earth bursts not, and they are not yet in +Gehenna's embrace. + +Old patriot Everett made an uncompromising speech. That is by far +better than to make a hero out of a McClellan. But the misdeeds of +the Administration easily confused such impressionable receptive +minds as is Edward Everett's. + +_April 11._--The Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, +discloses how McClellan deliberately ruined General Stone, and I +have little doubt that McClellan ruined Fitz-John Porter. + +_April 12._--Our navy makes brilliant prizes of Anglo-rebel flags +and ships. But Mr. Seward does his utmost to render the labor of our +cruisers as difficult and as dangerous as possible. Of course he +does it not intentionally, only because he so _masterly masters_ the +international laws, the laws and rules of search, the rights and +duties of neutrals, etc., and as a genuine incarnation of _fiat +justitia_, he is indifferent to national interests and to the +national flag. + +I am curious to learn whether the truth will ever be generally known +concerning the seizure of the Anglo-rebel steamer Peterhoff. Then +the people would learn how old Welles bravely defended what _turpe_ +Seward had decided to drag in the mire. The people would learn what +an utterly ignorant impudence presided over the restoring to England +of the Peterhoff's mail bag of a vessel a contrabandist, a blockade +runner, and a forger. The people would know how Mr. Seward, aided by +Mr. Lincoln, has done all in his power to make impossible the +condemnation of the Anglo-rebel property. The people would know how +_turpe_ Seward tried to urge and to persuade Neptune Welles to +violate the statutes of the country; how the great Secretary of +State declared that he cared very little for law, and how he and +Lincoln, by a Sultan's firman, directed the decision of the Judge on +his bench. + +_April 14._--My gloomy forebodings about the attack on Charleston +are already partly realized. Beaten off! that is the short solution +of a long story. But of course nobody will be at fault. This attack +on Charleston to some extent justifies: _parturiunt montes_, etc. + +_De profundis clamavi_ for light and some inklings of sense and +energy. But to search for sense and energy among counterfeits!... +The condition here vividly brings to mind Ovid's + + ...... ...... quem dixere chaos! + +_April 14._--In a letter to the Loyal League of New York, Mr. Seward +is out with his--at least--one hundred and fiftieth prophecy. As +fate finds a particular pleasure in quickly giving the lie to the +inspired prophet, so we have the affair of Charleston, and some +other small disasters. Oh, why has Congress forgotten to pass a law +forbidding Seward, for decency's sake, to make himself ridiculous? +Among others, hear the following query: _Whether this unconquerable +and irresistible nation shall suddenly perish through imbecility?_ +etc. O Mr. Seward! how can you thus pointedly and mercilessly +criticise your own deeds and policy? Seward squints toward the +presidency that he may complete that masterly production. + +Oh! how the old hacks turn their dizzy heads towards the White +House. It would be ludicrous, and the lowest comedy of life, were +not the track running through blood and among corpses. I am told +that even Halleck squints that way. And why not? All is possible; +and Halleck's nag has as long ears as have the nags and hacks of the +other race-runners. + +_April 14._--Halleck consolidates the regiments and incidentally +deprives the army of the best and most experienced officers. The +numerically smaller regiment is dissolved in the larger one. But +most generally the smaller regiment was the bravest and has seen +more fire which melted it. Thus good officers are mustered out and +thrown on the pavement, and the enthusiasm for the flag of the +regiment destroyed, for its victorious memories, for the +recollections of common hardships and all the like noble cements of +a military life. Certainly, great difficulty exists to remount or to +restore a regiment. But O, Hallecks! O, Thomases! O, McDowells! all +of you, genii, or genuises, surmount difficulties. + +_April 14._--In a public speech in New York, General Fremont has +explained the duty and the obligations of a soldier in a republic. +Few, very few, of our striped and starred citizens, and still less +those educated at West Point have a comprehension of what a +Republican citizen soldier is. + +_April 14._--Halleck directly and indirectly exercises a fatal +influence on our army. I learn that his book on military not-science +largely circulates; above all, in the Potomac Army. + +_April 14._--It is the mission of the American people to make all +the trials and experiences by which all other nations will hereafter +profit. So the social experiment of self-government; the same with +various mechanical and commercial inventions. The Americans +experiment in political and domestic economy, in the art provided +for man's well-being and in the art of killing him. New fire-arms, +guns, etc., are now first used. + +The until now undecided question between batteries on land and +floating ones will be decided in Charleston harbor. Who will have +the best, the Monitors or the batteries? + +_April 15._--I wrote to Hooker imploring him for the sake of the +country, and for the sake of his good name, to put an end to the +carousings in his camp, and to sweep out all kind of women, be they +wives, sisters, sweethearts or the promiscuous rest of crinolines. + +_April 15._--Certain Republican newspapers perform now the same +capers to please and puff Seward and Halleck, as they did before to +puff McClellan when in power. + +_April 16._--Night after night the White House is serenaded. And why +not?... From all sides news of brilliant victories on land and on +sea; news that Seward's foreign policy is successful; everywhere +Halleck's military science carries before it everything, and +lickspittles are numberless. + + Wild jauchtzend schleudert selbst der Gott der Freude, + Den Pechkrantz in das brenene Gebauede! + +My veins and brains almost bursting to witness all this. But for ... +it would be all over. + + ... tibi desinet. + +_April 17._--I met one of the best and of the most radical +ex-members of Congress. He was very desponding, almost despairing at +the condition of affairs. He returned from the White House, and +notwithstanding his despair, tried to explain to me how Mr. +Lincoln's eminent and matchless civil and military capacities +finally will save the country. _Et tu, Brute_, exclaimed I, without +the classical accent and meaning. The ex-honorable had in his pocket +a nomination for an influential office. + +_April 17._--Immense inexhaustible means in men, money, beasts, +equipment, war material devoured and disappearing in the bottomless +abyss of helplessness. The counterfeits ask for more, always for +more, and more of the high-minded people grudge not its blood. + + _Labitur ex oculis ... gutta meis._ + +A Forney puffs Cameron over Napoleon! A true American gentlewoman as +patriotic as patriotism itself, quivering under the disastrous +condition of affairs at home and abroad, exclaimed: "that at least +the Southern leaders redeem the honor of the American name by their +indomitable bravery, their iron will and their fertility of +resources." What was to be answered? + +_April 18._--As long as England is ruled by her aristocracy, +whether Tories or Whigs, a Hannibalian hate ought to be the creed of +every American. Let the government of England pass into the hands of +JOHN S. MILL, and into those of the Lancashire working classes, and +then the two peoples may be friends. + +_April 18._--Hooker is to move. If Hooker brings out the army +victorious from the bad strategic position wherein the army was put +by Halleck-Burnside, then the people can never sufficiently admire +Hooker's genius. Such a manoeuvre will be a revelation. + +_April 18._--I learn that General Hunter has about seven thousand +disposable men in his whole department, for the attack of +Charleston. If he is to storm the batteries by land, then Hunter has +not men enough to do it; it is therefore folly and crime to order, +or to allow, the attack of the defenses of Charleston. + +_April 18._--Mr. Seward has not at all given up his firm decision to +violate the national statutes and the international rules, by +insisting upon the restoration to England of the mails of that +Anglo-Piratic vessel, the Peterhoff. A mail on a blockade-runner +enjoys no immunity, since regular mail steamers, or at least mail +agents and carriers are established by England. Even previously, +neutral private vessels could not always claim the immunity for the +mail, when they are caught in an unlawful trade. But, of course, the +State Department knows better. + +In the case of the ship Labuan, an English blockade-runner, Mr. +Seward, backed by Mr. Lincoln, ordered the judge how to decide, +ordered the judge to give up the prize, and Mr. Seward urged the +English agents not to lose time in prosecuting American captors for +costs and damages. The Labuan was a good prize, but Mr. Seward is +the incarnation of wisdom and of justice! + +_April 20._--The not quite heavenly trio--Lincoln, Seward and +Halleck--maintain, and find imbeciles and lickspittles enough to +believe them, that they, the trio, could not as yet, act decidedly +in the Emancipation question, they being in this, as in other +questions, too far in advance of the people. What blasphemy! Those +_lumina mundi_ believe that the people will forget their records. To +be sure, the Americans, good-natured as they are, easily forget the +misdeeds of _yesterday_, but this _yesterday_ shall be somehow +recalled to their memory. + +If all the West Pointers were like Grant, Rosecrans, Hooker, Barnard +and thousands of them throughout all grades, then West Point would +be a blessing for the country. Unhappily, hitherto, the small, bad +clique of West Point engineers No. one, exercised a preponderating +influence on the conduct of the war, and thus West Point became in +disrespect, nay, in horror. I believe that the good West Pointers +are more numerous than the altogether bad ones, but they often mar +their best qualities by a certain, not altogether admirable, _esprit +du corps_. + +_April 20._--The generation crowding on this fogyish one will sit in +court of justice over the evil-doers, over the helpless, over the +egotists who are to-day at work. That generation will begin the +assizes during the lifetime of these great leaders in Administration, +in politics, in war. + + _Discite justitiam moniti nec temere divos!_ + +_April 20._--Yesterday, April 19th, Mr. Lincoln and his Aide, +Halleck, went to Acquia Creek to visit Hooker, to have a peep into +his plans, and, of course to babble about them. I hope Hooker will +most politely keep his own secrets. + +_April 21._--The American people never will and never can know and +realize the whole immensity of McClellan's treasonable incapacity, +and to what extent all subsequent disasters have their roots in the +inactivity of McClellan during 1861-62. Whatever may be the official +reports, or private investigations, chronicles, confessions, +memoirs, all the facts will never be known. Never will it be known +how almost from the day when he was intrusted with the command, +McClellan was without any settled plans, always hesitating, +irresolute; how almost hourly he (deliberately or not, I will not +decide) stuffed Mr. Lincoln with lies, and did the same to others +members of the Cabinet. The evidences thereof are scattered in all +directions, and it is impossible to gather them all. Mr Lincoln +could testify--if he would. Almost every day I learn some such fact, +but I could not gather and record them all. Seward mostly sided with +McClellan, and so did Blair, _par nobile fratrum_. + +Few, if any, detailed reports of the campaigns and battles fought +by McClellan have been sent by him to the President or to the War +Department. Such reports ought to be made immediately; so it is done +in every well regulated government. It is the duty of the staff of +the army to prepare the like reports. But McClellan did in his own +way, and his reports, if ever he sends them, would only be +disquisitions elaborated _ex post_, and even apart from their +truthfulness--null. + +All kinds of lies against Stanton have been elaborated by McClellan +and his partisans, and circulated in the public. The truth is, that +when Stanton became McClellan's superior, Stanton tried in every +friendly and devoted way to awake McClellan to the sense of honor +and duty, to make him fight the enemy, and not dodge the fight under +false pretenses. Stanton implored McClellan to get ready, and not to +evade from day to day; and only when utterly disappointed by +McClellan's hesitation and untruthfulness, Stanton, so to say, in +despair, forced McClellan to action. Stanton was a friend of +McClellan, but sacrificed friendship to the sacred duty of a +patriot. + +_April 21._--England plays as false in Europe as she does here. +England makes a noise about Poland, and after a few speeches will +give up Poland. More than forty years of experience satisfied me +about England's political honesty. In 1831, Englishmen made +speeches, the Russian fought and finally overpowered us. England +hates Russia as it hates this country, and fears them both. I hope a +time will come when America and Russia joining hands will throttle +that perfidious England. Were only Russia represented here in her +tendencies, convictions and aspirations! What a brilliant, elevated, +dominating position could have been that of a Russian diplomat here, +during this civil war. England and France would have been always in +his _ante-chambre_. + +_April 21._--Letter-writing is the fashion of the day. Halleck +treads into Seward's footsteps or shoes. Halleck thunders to Union +leagues; to meetings; it reads splendidly, had only Halleck not +contributed to increase the "perils" of the country. Letter-writing +is to atone for deadly blunders. The same with Seward as with +Halleck. If Halleck would not have been fooled by Beauregard, if +Halleck had taken Corinth instead of approaching the city by +parallels distant _five miles_; the "peril" would no longer exist. + +_April 21._--Foreign and domestic papers herald that the honorable +Sanford, United States Minister to Belgium, and residing in +Brussels, has given a great and highly admired diplomatic dinner, +etc., etc. I hope the Sewing machine was in honor and exposed as a +_surtout_ on the banquet's table, and that only the guano-claim +successfully recovered from Venezuela, and other equally innocent +pickings paid the piper. _Vive la bagatelle_, and Seward's _alter +ego_ at the European courts. + +_April 22._--I so often meet men pushed into the background of +affairs; men young, intelligent, active, clear-sighted, in one word, +fitted out with all mental and intellectual requisites for +commanders, leaders, pilots and helmsmen of every kind; and +nevertheless twenty times a day I hear repeated the question: "Whom +shall we put? we have no men."--It is wonderful that such men cannot +cut their way through the apathy of public opinion, which seems to +prefer old hacks for dragging a steam engine instead of putting to +it good, energetic engineers, and let the steam work. Young men! +young men, it is likewise your fault; you ought to assert +yourselves; you ought to act, and push the fogies aside, instead of +subsiding into useless criticism, and useless consideration for +_experienced_ narrow-mindedness, for ignorance or for helplessness. +In times as trying as ours are, men and not counterfeits are needed. + +_April 22._--In Europe, they wonder at our manner of carrying on the +war, at our General-in-Chief, who, in the eyes and the judgment of +European generals, acts without a plan and without _an ensemble_; +they wonder at the groping and shy general policy, and nevertheless +a policy full of contradictions. The Europeans thus astonished are +true friends of the North, of the emancipation, and are competent +judges. + +_April 22._--I hear that Hooker intends to make a kind of feint +against Lee. Feints are old, silly tricks, almost impossible with +large armies, and therefore very seldom feints are successful. Lee +is not to be caught in this way, and the less so as he has as many +spies as inhabitants, in, and around Hooker's camp. To cross the +river on a well selected point, and, Hooker-like, attack the +surprised enemy is the thing. + +_April 22._--"Loyalty, loyalty," resounds in speeches, is re-echoed +in letters, in newspapers. Well, Loyalty, but to whom? I hope not to +the person of any president, but to the ever-living principle of +human liberty. Next eureka is, "the administration must be +sustained." Of course, but not because it intrinsically deserves it, +but because no better one can be had, and no radical change can be +effected. + +_April 22._--The English Cabinet takes in sails, and begins to show +less impudence in the violation of neutral duties. Lord John +Russell's letter to the constructors of the piratical ships. +Certainly Mr. Seward will claim the credit of having brought England +to terms by his eloquent dispatches. Sumner may dispute with Seward +the influence on English fogies. In reality, the bitter and +exasperated feeling of the people frightened England. + +_April 24._--It is repulsive to read how the press exults that the +famine in the South is our best ally. Well! I hate the rebels, but I +would rather that the superiority of brains may crush them, and not +famine. The rebels manfully supporting famine, give evidence of +heroism; and why is it in such disgusting cause! + +_April 23._--Senator Sumner emphatically receives and admits into +church and communion, the freshly to emancipation converted General +Thomas, Adjutant General, now organizing Africo-American regiments +in the Mississippi valley. Better _late than never_, for such +Thomases, Hallecks, etc., only I doubt if a Thomas will ever become +a Paul. + +_April 24._--Our State Department does not enjoy a high +consideration abroad. I see this from public diplomatic acts, and +from private letters. I am sure that Mr. Dayton has found this out +long ago, and I suppose so did Mr. Adams. Of course not a Sanford. +If the State Department had not at its back twenty-two millions of +Americans, foreign Cabinets would treat us--God, alone, knows how. + +_April 24._--I hope to live long enough to see the end of this war, +and then to disentangle my brains from the pursuits which now fill +them. Then goodbye, O, international laws, with your customs and +rules. England handled them for centuries, as the wolf with the lamb +at the spring. When I witness the confusion and worse, here, I seem +to see--_en miniature_--reproduced some parts of the Byzantine +times. All cracks but not the people, and to ---- I am indebted that +my brains hold out. + +_April 24._--What a confusion Burnside's order No. 8 reveals; the +president willing, unwilling, shifting, and time rapidly running on. + +_April 24._--Senator Sumner, without being called as he ought to +have been--to give advice, discovered the Peterhoff case. The +Senator laid before the President, all the authorities bearing on +the case, showed by them to the President, that the mail was not to +be returned to the English Consul, but lawfully ought to be opened +by the Prize Court. The Senator so far convinced the President, that +Mr. Lincoln, next morning at once violated the statutes, and through +Mr. Seward, instructed the District Attorney to instruct the Court +to give up the mail unopened to England. + +Brave and good Sumner exercises influence on Mr. Lincoln. + +_April 24._--Every one has his word to say about civilized warfare, +about international warfare, laws of war, etc. In principle, no laws +of public war are applicable to rebels, and if they are, it is only +on the grounds of expediency or of humanity. Laws of international +warfare are applicable to independent nations, and not to rebels. +Has England ever treated the Irish according to the laws of +international warfare? Has England considered Napper Tandy and his +aids as belligerents? The word _war_ in its legal or international +sense ought to have been suppressed at the start from the official, +national vocabulary; to suppress a rebellion is not to _wage a war_. + +_April 25._--When the bloody tornado shall pass over, and the normal +condition be restored, then only will begin to germinate the seeds +of good and of evil, seeds so broadcast sown by this rebellion. All +will become either recast or renovated, the plough of war having +penetrated to the core of the people. Customs, habits, notions, +modes of thinking and of appreciating events and men, political, +social, domestic morals will be changed or modified. The men +baptized in blood and fire will shake all. Many of them endowed with +all the rays of manhood, others lawless and reckless. Many domestic +hearths will be upturned, extinct, destroyed; the women likewise +passing through the terrible probation. Many women remained true to +the loftiest womanhood, others became carried away by the impure +turmoil. All this will tell and shape out the next generations. + +I ardently hope that this war will breed and educate a population +strong, clear-sighted, manly, decided in ideas and in action; and +such a population will be scattered all over this extensive country. +Men who stood the test of battles, will not submit to the village, +township, or to politicians at large, but will judge for themselves, +and will take the lead. These men went into the field a common iron +ore, they will return steel. The shock will tear the scales from the +people's eyes, and the people easily will discern between pure grain +and chaff. I am sure that a man who fought for the great cause, who +brought home honorable wounds and scars, whose limbs are rotting on +fields of battle; such a man will become an authority; and +death-knell to the abject race of politicians; the days of shallow, +cold, rhetors are numbered, and vanity and selfishness will be +doomed. _Non vobis, non vobis--sed populo...._ + +_April 25._--Mr. Seward is elated, triumphant, grand. Emigration +from Europe, evoked, beckoned by him is to replace the population +lost in the war. + +What is to be more scorned? Seward's heartless cruelty or his +reckless ignorance, to believe that such a numerous emigration will +pour in, as to at once make up for those of whom at least one third +were butchered by flippancy of Mr. Seward's policy to which Lincoln +became committed. + +_April 26._--The people are bound onwards _per aspera ad astra_: the +giddy brained helmsmen, military and civil chiefs and commanders may +hurl the people in an opposite direction. + +_April 26._--Whoever will dispassionately read the various statutes +published by the 37th Congress; will speak of its labors as I do, +and the future historian will find in those statutes the best light +by which to comprehend and to appreciate the prevailing temper of +the people. + +_April 27._--Rhetors and some abolitionists of the small church--not +Wendell Phillips--still are satisfied with mistakes and disasters, +because _otherwise slavery would not have been destroyed_. If they +have a heart, it is a clump of ice, and their brains are common +jelly. With men at the head who would have had faith and a lofty +consciousness of their task, the rebellion and slavery could have +been both crushed in the year 1861, or any time in 1862. Any one but +an idiot ought to have seen at the start, that as the rebels fight +to maintain slavery, in striking slavery you strike at the rebels. +The blood spilt because of the narrow-mindedness of the leaders, +that blood will cry to heaven, whatever be the absolution granted by +the rhetors and by the small church. + +_April 27._--Mr. Seward went on a visit to the army, dragging with +him some diplomats. The army was not to forget the existence of the +Secretary of State, this foremost Union-saviour, and the candidate +for the next Presidency. Others say that Seward ran away to dodge +the Peterhoff case. + +_April 27._--How the politicians of the _Times_ and of the +_Chronicle_ lustily attack--NOW--McClellan. If I am well informed, +it was the editor of the _Chronicle_, himself a leading politician, +and influential in both Houses, who instigated Lovejoy, Member of +Congress, to move resolutions in favor of McClellan for the battle +at Williamsburgh, where McClellan did what he could to have his own +army destroyed. + +_April 28._--Mr. Seward elaborated for the President a paper in the +Peterhoff case--and, _horribile dictu_, as I am told--even the +President found the argument, or whatever else it was, very, very +light. The President sent for the chief clerk to explain to him the +unintelligible document--and more darkness prevailed. Bravo, Mr. +Seward! your name and your place in the history of the times are +firmly nailed! + +_April 28._--The time will come, and even I may yet witness it, when +these deep wounds struck by the rebellion will be healed; when even +the scars of blows dealt to the people by such Lincolns, Sewards, +McClellans, Hallecks, the other _minor gens_, will be invisible--and +this great people, steeled by events, will be more powerful than it +ever was. Then the Monroe doctrine will be applied in all its +sternness and rigor, and from pole to pole no European power will +defile this continent. The so-called Americo-Hispano-Latin races +humbugged by Europe, will have found how cursed is _any whatever_ +European influence. The main land and the Isles must be purified +therefrom. Will any European government, power, or statesman permit +the United States to acquire even the most barren rock on the +European continent? The American continent is equal, if not more to +Europe, and the degrading stigma of European colonies and +possessions must be blotted from this American soil. + +_April 29._--The President appoints a day of fasting and prayer. +Well! it is not for the people to fast and to pray, but for the +evil-doers. Lead on, Mr. Lincoln, attended by Seward and +Halleck--all in sackcloth and ashes. + +_April 29._--The President's and General Martindale's proclamations +officially recognize the existence of God. It is consoling, and +knocks down the far-famed _Deo erexit Voltaire_. + +_April 29._--To the right and to the left I hear praise of Mr. Chase +as the great financier. Well he may be praised, having in his hand +thousands and thousands of cows to be milked. The _financier_ is the +people, and prevents Chase from ruining the country. + +_April 29._--A Richmond paper calls McClellan a compound of lies and +of cowardice. McClellan, the fetish of Copperheads and of +peace-makers. The Richmond paper must have some special reasons +which justify this stern appreciation. + +_April 30._--The _World_, a paper born in barter, in mud and in +shamelessness, condemns General Wadsworth's name to eternal infamy. +What a court of honor the _World's_ scribblers! The one a hireling +of the brothers Woods, and sold by them in the lump to some other +Copperhead financier; the other a pants and overcoats stealing beau. +The rest must be similar. + +_April 30._--The abomination of slavery makes such a splendid field +to any rhetor attacking that curse. Were it not so, how many rhetors +would be abolitionists? + + + + +MAY, 1863. + + Advance -- Crossing -- Chancellorsville -- Hooker -- Staff -- Lee + -- Jackson -- Stunned -- Suggestions -- Meade -- Swinton -- La + Fayette -- Intrigues -- Happy Grant -- Rosecrans -- Halleck -- + Foote -- Elections -- Re-elections -- Tracks -- Seward -- 413 -- + etc., etc., etc. + + +_May 1._--General anxiety about Hooker. If he successfully crosses +the river, this alone will count among the most brilliant actions in +military history. To cross a river with a large army under the eyes, +almost under the guns of an enemy, concentrated, strong, vigilant, +and supported by the population, would honor the name of any +world-renowned captain. + +_May 2._--Mr. Seward forces upon the Department of the Navy, +instructions for our cruizers that are so obviously favorable to +blockade-runners, that our officers may rather give up capturing. +Mr. Seward's instructions concede more to England, than was ever +asked by England, or by any neutral from a belligerent of a third +class power. + +_May 2._--How could Mr. Adams to that extent violate all the +international proprieties, and deliver a kind of pass to a vessel +loaded in England with arms and ammunition for Matamoras. It is an +offence against England, and a flagrant violation of neutrality to +France. Not yet time to show our teeth to them. And all this in +favor of that adventurer and almost pickpocket Zermann, this +mock-admiral, mock-general, whom twice here they put up for a +general in our army. But for me they would have made him one, and +disgraced the American uniform. This police malefactor was +patronised by some New Yorkers, by Senator Harris and from Mr. +Seward may have got strong letters for Mr. Adams. It is probable +that Zermann sold Mr. Adams to secessionists who may have wished to +stir up trouble by this passport business. I am sure the affair will +be hushed up and entirely forgotten. + +_May 2._--Glorious! glorious. Hooker crossed--and successfully. The +rebels, caught napping, disturbed him not. Now at them, at them, +without loss of an hour! The soldiers will perform wonders when in +the hands of true soldiers for commanders, when led on by a true +soldier. + +O heaven! Why does Hooker publish such a proclamation? It is the +merest nonsense. To thank the soldiers, few words were needed. But +to say that the enemy must come and fight us on our own ground. O +heaven! Hooker ought not to have had time to write a proclamation, +but ought to pitch into the rebels, surprise and confuse them, and +not wait for them. What is the matter? I tremble. + +_May 3._--Rumors, anxiety. The patriots feverish. One might easily +become delirious.... Copperheads, Washington secessionists, spread +all kinds of disastrous rumors. The secessionists here in +Washington, are always invisible when any success attends our arms; +but when we are worsted, they are forth coming on all corners, as +toads are after a shower of rain. + +_May 4._--Confused news, but it seems that Hooker is successful. +Still not so complete as was expected. Hooker's manoeuvring seems +heavy, slow. + +The Copperheads more dangerous and more envenomed than the +secessionists. And very natural. The secesh risks all for a bad +cause and a bad creed. But the _World_ has no conviction, only envy +and mischief, and risks nothing. + +_May 5._--Nothing decided; nothing certain. From what I can gather, +the new generation or stratum of generals fights differently from +the style of the Simon-pure McClellan tribe. They are in front, and +not in the rear according to regulations. + +Halleck digs, digs entrenchments around Washington. I meet +battalions with spades. Engineers show their poor skill! and Mr. +Lincoln is comforted to be strongly defended! + +_May 5._--Night, storm, rain. News rather doubtful. Stanton said to +me that he believes in Hooker, even if Hooker be unsuccessful. +Bravo! Not want of success condemns a general, but the way and +manner in which he acted; and how he dealt with events. + +_May 6._--Seward is bitterly attacked by the _World_, and by other +Copperheads. I could not unite with a _World_ and with Copperheads +to attack even a Seward. They are too filthy.--_Arcades ambo._ + +_May 6._--Hooker retreats and recrosses the river. Say now what you +will to make it swallow, at the best it is an unsuccessful affair, +if not an actual disaster. I believe not in the swelling of the +river. Bosh! in three days these rivers fell. Have any generals +Franklinized? I dare not ask; I most wish not to know anything. + +_May 7._--_Nocte pluit tota (not) redeunt spectacula mane_; grim, +dark, cold, rainy night. Are the Gods against us? Or has imbecility +exasperated even the merciful but rational Christian God to that +extent, that God turns his back upon us? + +_May 7._--Hiob's news come in, confused to sure, but still one finds +something like a foothold. I am thunderstruck, annihilated. I +listened to Hooker's best friends but can hardly help crying. Hooker +is a failure as a commander of a large army. Hooker is good for a +corps or two, but not for the whole command and responsibility. From +all that I can learn, Hooker fights well, courageously, but he, like +the others, _has not the greatest and truest gift_ in a commander: +_Hooker cannot manoeuvre his army._ All that I hear up to this +moment strengthened my conclusion, and I am sure that the more the +details come in, the stronger the truth will come out. Hooker can +not manoeuvre an army. Hooker may attack vigorously, stand as a +rock, but cannot manoeuvre. + +Hooker seems to have committed the same faults and mistake as his +predecessors did. He kept more men out of the fire than in the fire. +And this from Hooker who accused his former chiefs of that very +fault. But poor Hooker was unsupported by a good staff. This check +may turn out to be a great disaster. At any rate, a whole campaign +is lost, and one more commander may go overboard. Hooker will raise +against him a terrible storm. God grant that Hooker could be +honestly defended. + +--_La critique est aisee, mais l'art est difficile_ is perhaps again +illustrated by Hooker. If Hooker is in fault, then he ought not to +survive this disaster. After all that he said, after all that we +said and repeated in his favor, to turn out an awful mistake! + +_May 8._--Worse and worse. I do not learn one single fact +exculpating Hooker. I scarcely dare to look in the people's faces. +The rain is no justification. Hooker showed no vigor before the +rain. After he crossed, and had his army in hand, instead of +attacking, he subsided, seemingly trying to find out the plans of +the rebels instead of acting so as not to give them time to make +plans or to execute them. + +_Tel brille au second rang qui s'eclipse au premier_, is almost all +to be said in Hooker's defense. I tremble to know all the minute +details. A paroled prisoner returned from Richmond said to me that +terror was terrible in Richmond--that Lee and his army had no +supplies. No troops in Richmond--Stoneman cut the bridges. The +rebels were on the brink of a precipice, and extricated themselves. + +_May 8._--Boutwell, Member of Congress, told me that the district of +St. Louis paid more new taxes to January than any other district in +the United States. Bravo, Missourians. That is loyalty. + +_May 8: Evening_--More details about this unhappy Chancellorsville. +Lee and the rebel generals have been decidedly surprised--in the +military sense--by the crossing of the river, and by Hooker coming +thus in part in their rear. But we lost time, they retrieved and +_manoeuvred_ splendidly; better than they ever have done before. Lee +showed that he has learned something. Lee showed that, by a year's +practice, he has at length acquired skill in handling a large army. +The apprenticeship on our side is not so successful; our generals +have no experience therein, and McClellan was worse at Harper's +Ferry in November than at Williamsburg in the spring. McClellan +learned nothing. Will it be possible to find among our Potomac +generals one in whom revelation will supply experience? + +The more I learn about that affair the more thoroughly I am +convinced that Hooker's misfortune had the same cause and source as +the misfortunes of those before him. No military scientific staff +and chief-of-staff. Butterfield was not even with Hooker, but at +Falmouth at the telegraph. If it is so, then no words can +sufficiently condemn them all. + +If Kepler, or Herschel, or Fulton, or Ericcson had violated axioms +and laws of mathematics and dynamics, their labors would have been +as so much chaff and dust. War is mechanism and science, inspiration +and rule; a genuine staff for an army is a scientific law, and if +this law is not recognized and is violated, then the disasters +become a mathematically certain result. + +_May 8._--The defenders of Hooker call the result a drawn battle. +Mr. Lincoln calls it a lost battle. I call it a miscarried, if not +altogether lost, campaign. + +_May 9._--The poorest defence of Hooker is that the terrain was +such that he could not manoeuvre. If the terrain was so bad, Hooker +ought to have known it beforehand, and not brought his army there. +The rebels have not been prevented from marching and manoeuvring on +the same ground, and not prevented from attacking Hooker, all of +which ought to have been done by our army. + +_May 9._--All is again in unspeakable confusion. All seems to crack. +This time, more than ever, a powerful mind is necessary to +disentangle the country. If all is confirmed concerning Hooker's +incapacity, then it is a crime to keep him in command; but who after +him? It becomes now only a guess, a lottery. + +The acting Chief-of Staff on the battle-field was General Van Alen. +Brave and devoted; but Van Alen saw the fire for the first time, and +makes no claims to be a scientific soldier. + +_May 10._--I wrote to Stanton to call his attention to, and explain +the reasons of Hooker's so-called miscarriage. The insufficiency, +the inadequacy of his staff and of chief-of-staff. Hooker attempted +what not even Napoleon would have dared to attempt, to fight an army +of more than one hundred thousand men, literally without a staff, or +without a thorough, scientific and experienced chief-of-staff. I +directed Stanton's attention to evidences from military history. +Persons interested in such questions read Battle of Ligny and +Waterloo, by Thiers. + +Cobden, Cobden the friend of the Union, can no more stand Mr. +Seward's confused logomachy, and in a speech sneers at Mr. Seward's +dispatches. The New York _Times_ _dutifully_ perverts Cobden's +speech; other papers _dutifully_ keep silent. + +_May 10._--To extenuate Hooker's misconduct, his supporters assert +that he was struck, stunned, and his brains affected. Hooker was +stunned on Friday, and his campaign was already lost on Tuesday +before, when he wrote his silly proclamation, when he subsided with +the army in a _semi-lunar_ (the worst form of all) camp, and +challenged Lee to come and fight him. Lee did it. Hooker was +intellectually stunned on Tuesday. Further: the results of the +material stunning on Friday could never have been so fatal if the +army had been organized on the basis of common sense, as are all the +armies of intelligent governments in Europe. The chief-of-staff +elaborates with the commander the plan of the action; he is +therefore familiar with the intentions of the commander. When the +commander is disabled, the chief-of-staff continues the action. At +the storming of Warsaw, in 1831, Prince Paschkewitsch, the +commander, was disabled or stunned, and his chief-of-staff, Count +Toll, directed the storm for two days, and Warsaw fell into Russian +hands. + +No more effective is the defence of the defeat, by throwing the +fault on the Eleventh Army Corps. The Eleventh Corps was put so much +in advance of a very foggishly--if not worse--laid out camp, that +it was temptingly exposed to any attack of the enemy. The Eleventh +Corps was separated from the rest of the army, as was Casey's +division in the Chickahominy. The laying of a camp, the distribution +of the corps, in a well organized army, is the work of the staff and +of its chief; but Butterfield was not even then in Chancellorsville. +Lee, who if caught napping, quickly awoke, wheeled his army as if it +were a child's toy, cut his way through woods which amazed Hooker, +and arrived before Hooker's semi-lunar camp. We, all the time, as it +seems, were ignorant of Lee's movements. A good staff, and what Lee +did, we would have accomplished. Lee quietly found out our +vulnerable point; and struck the blow. That, if you please, _was_ a +stunner. Finally: the Eleventh Corps was eleven or twelve thousand +strong. The weakest in the army, equal to a strong division in a +European army of one hundred thousand men. The breaking of a +division or of twelve thousand men posted at the extreme flank, +ought not and could not have been so fatal to the whole campaign. A +true captain would have been prepared for such eventuality. Battles +are recorded in history when a whole wing broke down and retreated, +and nevertheless the true captain restored order and fortunes, and +won the battle. + +I am told that the rebels attacked in columns, and not in lines. The +rebels learn and learned, and are not conceited. The terrain here in +Virginia is specially fit for attacks in columns, according to +continental European tactics. We will not learn, we know all, we +have graduated--at West Point. + +_May 11._--I have it from a very reliable source, that Mr. Lincoln +considers Sumner to be not very entertaining. + +_May 11._--The confusion is on the increase. Statesmen, politicians, +honest, dishonest, stupid and intelligent, all huddled together. +Their name is legion--and what a stench. It is abominable! And many +think, and many may think, that I find pleasure in dwelling on such +events, on such men as are here. When I was a child, my tutor +ingrained into my memory the _Cum stercore dum certo_, etc. But at +any cost, I shall try to preserve the true reflection of events, of +times, and of the actors. + +_May 12._--Jackson dead. Dead invincible! and therefore fell in time +for his heroic name. Jackson took a sham, a falsehood, for faith and +for truth--but he stood up faithfully, earnestly, devotedly to his +convictions. Whatever have been his political errors, Jackson will +pass to posterity, the hero of history, of poetry, and of the +legend. His name was a terror, it was an army for friend and for +enemy. For Jackson + + _O selig der, dem er in Siegesglantze, + Die blutigen Lorbeer'n um die Schlaefe windet._ + +_May 12._--_Sewardiana._ Lord Lyons, or rather the English +government, objects and protests against the instructions given to +our cruisers, which instructions are intrinsically faultless. Mr. +Lincoln jumps up and writes a clap-trap dispatch, wholly contrary to +our statutes. Mr. Seward promises what he cannot perform, and this +time the upshot is that his dispatch came before the Cabinet and was +quashed, or, at least, recast. + +The Morning _Chronicle_, of Washington--_magnum_ Administration's +_excrementum_--attacks SCHALK and his military reasonings. Oh! great +politician. + + _Sus Minervam docet._ + +_May 13._--The defenders of Hooker affirm that Sedgwick was in +fault, and disobeyed orders. + +1st. I have good reasons firmly to believe that Sedgwick heroically +obeyed and executed orders sent to him. No doubt can exist about it. + +2d. The orders written by _such_ a staff as Hooker's might have been +written in _such_ a way as to confuse the God Mars himself. Marshal +Soult could fight, but as a chief of Napoleon's staff at Waterloo, +could not write intelligible orders. + +3d. Setting aside Sedgwick's disobedience of orders, it does not in +the least justify Hooker in hearing the roar of cannon, and knowing +what was going on, and at the head of eighty thousand men allowing +Sedgwick to be crushed; and all this within a few miles. Fitz-John +Porter was cashiered for a similar offense. Hooker's action is by +far worse, and thus Hooker deserves to be shot. + +_May 13._--Rumors that Halleck is to take the command of the army, +together with Hooker. I almost believe it, because it is nameless, +and here all that is illogical is, eventually, probable. + +Poor Hooker. Undoubtedly, he had a soldier's spark in him. But +adulation, flunkeyism, concert, covered the spark with dirt and mud. +I pity him, but for all that, down with Hooker! + +If Hooker or Halleck commands the army, Lee will have the _knack_ to +always whip them. + +_May 14._--Wrote a paper for Senators Wade and Chandler, to point +out the reasons of Hooker's failure. Did my utmost to explain to +them that warfare to-day is not empiricism, but science, and that +empiricism is only better when sham-science has the upper hand. +Hooker's staff was worse than sham-science, and was not even +empiricism. + +I explained that such evils, although very deeply rooted, can, +nevertheless, be remedied. An energetic government can, and ought to +look for and find, the remedy. The army, as it is, contains good +materials for every branch of organization; it is the duty of the +government to discover them and give them adequate functions. + +Further: I suggested to these patriotic Senators that as in the +present emergency, it is difficult to put the hand on any general +inspiring confidence, the President, the Secretary of War and the +Senators, ought immediately to go to the army, and call together +all the commanders of corps and of divisions. The President ought +to explain to the difficulty, nay, the impossibility of making a new +choice. But as the generals are well aware that there must be a +commander, and that they know each other in the fire, the President +appeals to their patriotism, and asks them to elect, by secret +ballot on the spot, one from among themselves. + +_May 14: One o'clock, P. M._--The President, Halleck and Hooker in +secret conclave. Stanton, it seems, is excluded. If so, I am glad on +his account. God have mercy on this wronged and slaughtered people. +No holy spirit will inspire the Conclave. + +_May 15._--The English Government shelters behind the Enlistment +Act. The Act is a municipal law, and a foreign nation has nothing to +do with it. We are with England on friendly terms, and England has +towards us duties of friendly comity, whatever be the municipal law. +To invoke the Enlistment Act against us, is a mean pettifogger's +trick. + +A good-natured imbecile, C----, everybody's friend, and friend of +Lincoln, Seward and the Administration in the lump, C---- asked me +what I want by thus bitterly attacking everybody. + +"I want the rebellion crushed, the slaves emancipated; but above all +I want human life not to be sacrilegiously wasted; I want men, not +counterfeits." + +"Well, my dear, point out where to find them?" answered everybody's +friend. + +_May 15._--On their return from Falmouth, the patriotic Senators +told me that they felt the ground for my proposed election of a +commander by his colleagues, and that General Meade would have the +greatest chance of being elected. _Va pour Meade._ Some say that +Meade is a Copperhead at heart. Nonsense. Let him be a Copperhead at +heart, and fight as he fought under Franklin, or fight as he would +have fought at Chancellorsville if Hooker had not been trebly +_stunned_. + +_May 15._--Much that I see here reminds me of the debauched times in +France; on a microscopic scale, however; as well as of the times of +the _Directoire_. The jobbers, contractors, lobbyists, etc., here +could perhaps carry the prize even over the supereminently infamous +jobbers, etc., during the _Directoire_. + +_May 15._--"Peel of Halleck, Seward and Sumner," exclaims Wendell +Philips, the apostle. Wendell Samson shakes the pillars, and the +roof may crush the Philistines, and those who lack the needed pluck. + +_May 16._--The President visited Falmouth, consoled Hooker and +Butterfield, shook hands with the generals, told them a story, and +returned as wise as he went concerning the miscarriage at +Chancellorsville. The repulse of our army does not frighten Mr. +Lincoln, and this I must applaud from my whole heart. It is however +another thing to admire the cool philosophy with which are swallowed +the causes of a Fredericksburgh and a Chancellorsville--causes +which devoured about twenty thousand men, if not more. + +_May 16._--Strange stories, and incredible, if any thing now-a-days +is incredible. Mr. Lincoln, inspired by Hitchcock and Owen, turns +spiritualist and rapper. Poor spirits, to be obliged to answer such +calls! + +_May 17._--A high-minded, devoted, ardent patriot, a general of the +army, had a long conversation with the President, who was sad, and +very earnest. The patriot observed that Mr. Lincoln wanted only +encouragement to take himself the command of the Army of the +Potomac. As it stands now, this would be even better than any other +choice. I am sure that once with the army, separated from Seward & +Co., Mr. Lincoln will show great courage. If only Mr. Lincoln could +then give the _walking papers_ to General Halleck! + +On the authority of the above conversation, I respectfully wrote to +the President, and urged him to take the army's command, but to +create a genuine staff for the army around his person. + +I submitted to the President that the question relating to a staff +for the Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy [the President] and +for the commander-in-chief of the Army, Major-General Halleck, has +been often discussed by some New York, Boston and Washington +dailies, and the wonted amount of confusion is thereby thrown +broadcast among the public. The names of several generals have been +mentioned by the press as a staff of the President. I doubt if any +of them are properly qualified for such an important position. They +are rather fitted for a military council _ad latus_ to the +President. Such a council exists in Russia near the person of the +emperor; but it has nothing in common with a staff, with staff +duties, or with the intellectual qualification for such duties. The +project of such a council here was many months ago submitted to the +Secretary of War. A Commander-in-chief, as mentioned above--one +fighting and manoeuvring on paper--making plans in his office, +unfamiliar with every thing constituting a genuine military, +scientific or practical soldier--to whom field and battle are +uncongenial or improper--to whom grand and even small tactics are a +_terra incognita_--such a chief is at best but an imitation of the +English military organization, and certainly it is only in this +country that obsolete English routine is almost uniformly imitated. +Such a Commander-in-chief might have been of some small usefulness +when our Army was but thirteen thousand to sixteen thousand strong, +was scattered over the country, or warred only with Indians on the +frontier. But all the great and highly perfected military powers on +the continent of Europe consider such a commander a wholly +unnecessary luxury, and not even Austria indulges in it now. + +During the campaign against Napoleon in 1813-14 the allies were +commanded by a generalissimo, the Prince Schwartzenberg; but he +moved with the army, actively directed that great campaign. + +The Continental sovereigns of Europe are born Commanders-in-chief of +their respective land and naval forces. As such, each of them has a +personal staff; but such a personal staff must not be confused with +a general, central staff, the paramount necessity of which for any +military organization is similar to the nervous system and the brain +for the human body. Special extensive studies as well as practical +familiarity with the use of the drill and the tactics of infantry, +cavalry and artillery, constitute absolutely essential requirements +for an officer of such a staff. The necessary military special +information also, as well as the duties, are very varied and +complicated (see "_Logistics_" by Jomini and others.) This country +has no such school of staff. West Point neither instructs nor +provides the Army with officers for staff duties; and of course the +difficulty now to obtain efficient officers for a staff, if not +insurmountable, is appalling, and is only to be mastered by a great +deal of good will, by insight and by discernment. + +Many months ago, I pointed out, in the press, this paramount +deficiency in the organization of the Federal Army. The Prince de +Joinville ascribes General McClellan's military failures to the +paramount inefficiency of that General's staff. Any one in the least +familiar with military organization and military science is +thunderstruck to find how the Federal military organization deal +with staffs, and what is their comprehension of the qualification +for staff duties. + +It deserves a mention that engineers and engineering constitute what +is rather a secondary element in the organization of a special or of +a general central staff. + +Plans of wide comprehensive campaigns are generally elaborated by +such general staffs. In the campaigns of 1813-14, the sovereigns of +Russia and Prussia were surrounded by their respective general, and +not only personal staffs. With the Colonels Dybitsch and Toll, of +the Russian general staff, originated that bold, direct march on +Paris, whose results changed the destinies of Europe. Other similar, +although not so mighty facts are easily found in general military +history. + +Finally, I pointed out to the President, the names of Generals +Sedgewick, Meade, Warren, Humphries, and Colonel J. Fry as fit for, +and understanding, the duties of the staff. + +_May 17._--I record a rumor, which I supposed, and found out to be, +without much foundation; it is nevertheless worth recording. + +The rumor in question says that the President wished to dismiss +Stanton and to take General Butler; that Mr. Seward was to decide +between the two, and that he declined the responsibility. Seward and +Butler in the same sack! Butler would have swallowed Seward, hat, +international laws and all--and of course Seward declined the +responsibility. + +But now a story comes, which is a sad truth. William Swinton, +military reporter for the _Times_, a young man of uncommon ability +and truthfulness, prepared for his paper a detailed article about +the whole of Hooker's Chancellorsville expedition. Before being +published, the article was shown to Mr. Lincoln; and it was +telegraphed to New York that if the article comes out, the author +may accidentally find himself a boarder in Fort Lafayette. Almost +the same day the President telegraphed to a patriot to whom Mr. +Lincoln unbuttoned himself, not to reveal to anybody the +conversation. Both these occurrences had in view only one object--it +was to keep truth out of the people's knowledge. Truth is a +dangerous weapon in the hands of a people. + +_May 19._--The President repeatedly refuses to make General Butler +useful to the country's cause, notwithstanding the best men in the +country ask Butler's appointment. I am only astonished that the best +men can hope and expect anything of the sort; for, when a Butler will +come up, then Sewards and Hallecks easily may go down--but--_pia +desideria_. + +_May 20._--From many, many and various quarters, continually unholy +efforts are made to excuse Hooker and Butterfield; the President +seemingly listens and excuses. Well, I know what a Napoleon, or any +other even unmilitary sovereign, would do with both. + +_May 21._--O, for light! for light! O, to find a man! one to prize, +to trust, to have faith in him! It is so sickening to almost hourly +dip the pen in--mud! I regret now to have started this _Diary_. I go +on because it is started, and because I wish to contribute, even in +the smallest manner, towards rendering justice to a great people, +besides being always on the watch, always expecting to have to +record a chain of brilliant actions, accomplished by noble and +eminent men. But day after day passes by, page heaps on page, and I +must criticise, when I would be so happy to prize. + +As a watchdog faithful to the people's cause, I try to stir up the +shepherds--but alas! alas.... + +_May 22._--Wrote a letter to Senator Wade explaining to him how +incapable is Hooker of commanding a large army, how his habits and +associations are contaminating and ruinous to the spirit of the +army, and that Hooker is to return to the command of a corps or two. + +_May 23._--Vainly! vainly in all directions, among the helmsmen, +leaders and commanders I search for a man inspired, or, at least, an +enthusiast wholly forgetting himself for the holiness of the aim. +Enthusiasm is eliminated from higher regions; is outlawed, is almost +spit upon. Enthusiasm! that most powerful stimulus for heart and +reason, and which alone expands, purifies, elevates man's +intellectual faculties. Here the people, the unnamed, have +enthusiasm, and to the people belong those noble patriots so often +mentioned. But the men in power are cold, and extinguished as ashes. +Jackson the President, Jackson the general, was an enthusiast. +Enthusiasts have been the founders of this Republic. + +Whatever was done great and noble in this world, was done by +enthusiasts. The whole scientific progress of the human mind is the +work of enthusiasm! + +_May 24._--Grant and the Western army before Vicksburgh unfold +endurance, and fertility of resources, which, if shown by a +McClellan and his successors, having in their hands such a powerful +engine as was and is the Potomac Army, would have made an end to the +rebellion. Happy Grant, Rosecrans and their armies! to be far off +from the deleterious Washington influences and adulations. +Influences and adulations ruined the commanders and many among the +generals of the Potomac army. Adulations, intrigue, and helplessness +fill, nay constitute the generals atmosphere. In various ways every +body contributes to that atmosphere--participates in it. Every body +influences or intrigues in the army. The President, the various +Secretaries, Senators, Congressmen, newspapers, contractors, +sutlers, jobbers, politicians, mothers, wives, sisters, sweethearts +and loose crinolines. Jews, publicans, etc., and the rest of social +leprosy. All this cannot thus immediately and directly reach the +Western armies, the Western commanders, when it reaches, it is +already--to some extent--weakened, oxygenated, purified. Add to it +here the direct influence and meddling of the head-quarters. I pity +this fated army here, and at times I even pity the commanders and +the generals. + +_May 25._--Grant is an eminent man as to character and as to +capacity. To Admiral Foote and to him are due the victories at Fort +Henry, of Donelson, and the bold stroke to enter into the interior +of Secessia. Had Halleck not intervened, had Halleck and Buell not +taken the affairs in their hands, _Foote_ and _Grant_ would have +taken Nashville early in the spring of 1862, and cleared perhaps +half of the Mississippi. After the capture of Fort Donelson, Foote +demanded to be allowed at once to go with his gunboats to Nashville, +to clear the Tennessee; but Halleck caved in, or rather comprehended +not. Grant and Rosecrans restored what Halleck and Buell brought to +the brink of ruin. + +_May 28._--Mr. Seward, omnipotent in the White House, tries to +conciliate the public, and in letters, etc., whitewashes himself +from arrests of persons, etc. Mr. Seward is therefore innocent, +thereof, as a lamb. But who inaugurated and directed them in 1861? I +know the necessities of certain times, and am far from accusing; but +how can Seward attempt to throw upon others the first steps made in +the direction of arrests? + +_May 28._--Hooker still in command, and not even his staff changed. +I am certain that Stanton is for the change in the staff. + +_May 28._--I am assured that the Blairs (I am not sure if General +Blair is counted in) are the pedlars for Mr. Lincoln's re-election, +as stated by the New York _Herald_. If Mr. Lincoln is re-elected, +then the self-government is not yet founded on reason, intellect, +and on sound judgment. + +_May 31._--I am assured by a diplomat that four hundred and thirteen +is the last number of the correspondence between the Department of +State and Lord Lyons. Oh, how much ink and paper wasted, and what a +writing dysentery on both sides. The diplomat in question added that +it was only from January first--of course it was a joke. + + + + +JUNE, 1863. + + Banks -- "The Enemy Crippled" -- Count Zeppelin -- + Hooker-Stanton -- "Give Him a Chance" -- Mr. Lincoln's Looks -- + Rappahannock -- Slaughter -- North Invaded -- "To be Stirred up" + -- Blasphemous Curtin -- Banquetting -- Desperate -- Groping -- + Retaliation -- Foote -- Hooker -- Seward -- Panama -- Chase -- + Relieved -- Meade -- Nobody's fault -- Staffs, etc., etc., etc. + + +_June 1._--For some time Banks seems to move in the right direction. +Banks no more intends to destroy slavery, and not thereby to hurt +the slave-holders. So Banks has become himself again, and the +Sewardean creed is evaporated. Banks has under him very good +officers, and intelligent, fighting generals; some of them left by +Butler, others, as for instance, Generals Augur, Stone, etc., who +embarked with Banks. + +_June 2._--I hear it reported that Hooker maintains that he has +worsted and crippled the enemy more than if he had taken Richmond. + +If the enemy in reality was worsted to that extent, it was not in +the least done by Hooker, Butterfield & Co.'s generalship, but this +time, as always, it was done by the bravery of the troops, +notwithstanding the bad generalship, not by, but _in spite of_, that +bad generalship. + +_June 3._--Count Zeppelin, an officer of the staff and aide to the +King of Wurtemberg, came here to observe and to learn how _not_ to +do it! The Count visited the army at Falmouth. He was horror-struck +at the prevailing disorder, and at the general and special +miscomprehension of the needed knowledge and of the duties +prevailing in the staff of the army. The Count says that if this +confusion continues, the rebels may dare almost every thing. Count +Zeppelin is what would be called here, a thorough Union man. He +revolted greatly at witnessing the _nonchalance_ with which human +life is dealt with in the army, and the carelessness of commanders +about the condition of soldiers; the latter he most heartily +admires, and therefore the more pities their fate. He assured me +that rebel agents scattered in Germany tried their utmost to secure +for the rebel army officers of the various arms. This explains the +organization and the brilliant manoeuvrings of the celebrated +Stuart's cavalry, the novel rebel tactics in the use of artillery, +and the attack by columns at Chancellorsville. + +_June 3._--Hooker, they say, waits to see what Lee will do. In other +words, we are on the defensive, after such efforts and so much blood +wasted. O, Ezekiel! O, Deuteronomy! help me to bless the leaders and +the chiefs of this people. + +I am told by a very good authority, that Mr. Lincoln takes a special +care of his fellow-townsmen in Springfield. What a good, honest, +neighborly sentiment, provided always that the public good is not +suffering by it! + +_June 3._--A senator, who urged Mr. Lincoln to dismiss Halleck, was +answered, that "as Halleck has not a single friend in the country, +Mr. Lincoln feels himself in duty bound to stand by him." Admirable, +but costly stubbornness. + +_June 3._--Poor Hooker! He is now the laughingstock of Europe. I +wish he may recover what he has lost or squandered. But alas! even +now Hooker makes no attempt to surround himself with a genuine +staff. + +I wrote to Stanton, imploring him for the country's and for his own +sake, to compel Hooker to reform his staff, and not to allow science +to be any longer trodden under foot. I implored Stanton that either +the President or he would select and nominate a chief-of-staff for +Hooker, or rather for the Potomac army, as it is done in Europe. +Stanton understands well the disastrous deficiency, and if he could, +he would immediately go at it and change. But, first, the statutes +or regulations, obligatory here, leave it with the commander to +appoint his own staff and its chief. Stupid, rusty, foggyish and +fogyish regulations, so perfectly in harmony with the general +ignorance of what ought to be the staff of an army! Second, Stanton +must yield to another will, and to what is believed here to be the +higher knowledge of military affairs. + +_June 3._--"Give to Hooker one chance more," says Mr. Lincoln, and +so say several members of the Cabinet; "McClellan had so +many."--Because they allowed McClellan to waste human life and time, +it surely is no reason to repeat the sacrilegious condescension. A +general may be unfortunate, lose a battle, or even lose a campaign; +all this without being damnable when he has shown capacity, when he +did his utmost, but could not conciliate _fatum_ on his side. But +such is not the case with Hooker, and such _emphatically_ was _not_ +the case with McClellan and with Burnside. + +_June 3._--During these last fourteen days, the _big men_ have been +expecting a raid on Washington. More fortifications are constructed, +and rifle pits dug. This time the Administration is perfectly right. +All is probable and possible when capacity, decision, and +lightning-like execution are on the one side, and on the other +sham-science, want of earnestness, slowness and indecision. + +_June 5._--A very reliable and honorable patriot tells me that +_grandissimo_ Chase _looks down_ upon any advice, suggestion, or +warning. O, the great man! A time must come when all these great men +will be held to a terrible account, will shed tears of blood, and +their names will be scorned by coming generations, and the track to +the White House may become also the track to the Tarpeian rock. + +_June 5._--I often meet Mr. Lincoln in the streets. Poor man! He +looks exhausted, care-worn, spiritless, extinct. I pity him! Mr. +Lincoln's looks are those of a man whose nights are sleepless, and +whose days are comfortless. That is the price for a greatness to +which he is not equal. Yet Mr. Lincoln, they say, wishes to be +re-elected! + +_June 5._--Mr. Seward makes a speech to the volunteers of Auburn. +All the same logomachy, all the same cold patriotism, all the same +_I_, and all the same squint towards the next presidential election. + +_June 6._--Lincoln cannot realize to what extent Seward is and has +been his evil spirit. Even the nearest in blood and heart to Lincoln +know it, feel it, are awe-struck by it, warn him, and he is +insensible. + +_June 7._--How I sympathize with Stanton, and admire his +rude--others call it coarse--contempt of all that is said about him. +That impure, lying, McClellan-Copperhead motley crew, accuse Stanton +of all the numberless criminal mistakes committed in the conduct of +the war--committed by the generals, etc. Stanton never interferes +with Mr. Lincoln nor with Halleck in matters that exclusively relate +to pure warfare, as where and how to march the respective armies, +how and in what way to attack the enemy, etc. + +Reliable patriots coincide with me, that Stanton as clearly sees +every thing to-day, as he saw it when entering on his thorny duty. I +only wonder that he holds out in such an atmosphere. Stanton's +energy is indomitable. Blair's party says that "Stanton goes off at +half-cock." It is not true; but even if true, better to go off at +half-cock than not at all. Many say that Stanton ought to retire, if +he is hampered by others in the exercise of his duties. But if he +were to retire, he could not at this moment reveal to the people the +causes of such a step, and by remaining at his post, Stanton +prevents still greater disasters and disgraces. He never asks any of +his friends to say or to write a word in his defence, or rather to +dispel the lies with which McClellanites and copperheads poison the +atmosphere all around them. + +_June 8._--Alexandria fortified, rifle-pits dug, etc. The third +year of the war is the third terror upon Washington, and upon those +counterfeit penates. + +_June 8._--What for--for heaven's or devil's sake--Hooker throws a +division of cavalry across the Rappahannock, right in the dragon's +jaw! All the rebel army is on the other side, and this, our +division, can never be decidedly supported. It cannot be a +_reconnaissance_--of what? It cannot be a stratagem to surprise Lee. +If Lee wants to march anywhere north or west, this demonstration of +Hooker's will not for a minute arrest Lee. + +_June 9._--The great Henry Ward Beecher emigrates for a time to +Europe. His parish richly supports him for the trip, and the +preacher sells his choice, and as it is said, beloved picture +gallery. It is not for want of money. Strange! What a curious +manifestation of patriotism! + +_June 10._--The demonstration over the Rappahannock turned out to be +a slaughter of the cavalry. What! Was Hooker again stunned, to make +such a deliberate mistake--nay, crime? Such a demonstration never +could prevent Stuart from moving, even if our troops had defeated or +worried him--even if victorious, our cavalry would have been forced +to recross the Rappahannock, and Stuart, having behind him Lee's +whole army, which could easily reinforce him, would then move again. +Our force of nine thousand men, distant from support, attack a +superior force of fifteen thousand, who besides have within +supporting distance a whole army! This demonstration prevents +nothing, decides nothing, beyond the worst, the most damnable +generalship. General Hooker and his chief-of-staff are personally +responsible for every soldier lost there. + +_June 11._--Again visitings to the army. Senators, ladies, magnifico +Chase leading on. O, if the guerrillas could sweep them! + +_June 12._--Crippled men are to be met in all directions, on all the +streets. One-third of the amputated limbs undoubtedly could have +been saved by the Medical Department, were it in better hands, and +above all, if surgeons had been called in from Europe--the domestic +surgeons not being sufficient for the demand. + +_June 13._--The principle of election, the only true one, a principle +recognized and asserted as well by antiquity as by the primitive +Church, recognized by rationalists, by Fourier, by radical, or any +democracy whatever--that principle must undergo an immense improvement +before it shall act in all its perfection. The elector must be +altogether self-governing, and not governed or influenced by anybody +in his choice and vote. The elector himself must stand on an elevated +level before by his vote he raises one or several above that level. +When the people's vote confers the highest trust to one rather below +than in the level, and still less one above the level, then even the +most intelligent people in the world, being thus misdirected, +misconducted, confused, in a very short time become almost enervated, +and, so to speak, loses its self-possession, and its sense of duty and +of right becomes shaken, its intellectual light dimmed. _Exempla sunt +odiosa._ + +_June 14._--The cavalry expedition over the Rappahannock was to +arrest any further offensive movements of the rebels. But lo! the +rebel army, so to speak, spreads in all directions, and takes the +offensive. We do not even know positively where Lee is going, where +he will appear and strike. We are shaking in, and for, Washington. + + "Weh, Messina! wehe, wehe, wehe!" + +Mr. Lincoln is unshaken in his confidence in Hooker and Butterfield. + +_June 15._--By a bold and rapid manoeuvre Lee has thrown his troops +over the valley, over the Potomac, into Maryland, and God alone +knows where Lee will stop. Lee's advance must have been already on +the Potomac when the slaughter of our cavalry over the Rappahannock +was planned at the various head-quarters. How splendidly Lee's +movements have been arrested by that demonstration! Lee is on the +Potomac, and it seems that his movements have been ignored. His +armies, to be sure, have not been surrounded by a cloud, as the +Jews were in their exodus from the land of bondage, but the cloud +was hanging over the head-quarters in the army and in Washington. + +_June 16._--The North invaded--threatened, shaken to the marrow! The +audacity of the rebels is stimulated by our sluggishness. If the +accounts in the War Department are true, then from Fortress Monroe +to the Potomac, including Baltimore and Maryland, we have about two +hundred thousand men, and the rebels dare! O, the rebels! what a +desperate conception, what a lightning-like execution! Dutifully +re-echoing the words uttered by their masters, the partisans of the +Administration console themselves by saying that "this invasion of +the North will have the effect of stirring up the North from its +lethargy." O, you blasphemers! worse blasphemers than ever have been +stoned or burned alive! Is the North not pouring forth its blood and +its treasures, and are they not all squandered by counterfeits? + +_June 16._--The draft is not put in motion, because for weeks and +months Mr. Lincoln adjusts the appointments to be made under this +law, adjusts them to the exigencies of politicians. Jeff Davis +executes the draft with an iron hand. Mr. Lincoln thus gives time to +the Copperheads, to the disciples of the Seymours, of the Woods, of +the _World_, to organize a resistance. Bloodshed may come! + +_June 16._--This invasion of Pennsylvania ought to be investigated. +Light must be brought into this dark, muddy, stinking labyrinth. +Weeks ago, honest, clear-sighted, patriotic Governor Curtin asked +authority to arm the militia of his State, and was snubbed in +Washington. Will this new disgrace serve to strengthen the +Administration? Quite possible. + +_June 16._--Pennsylvania invaded, the country disgraced, and our +helmsmen, our Secretaries of State and of the Treasury, give +banquets! O, what a stoicism! a stoicism _sui generis_. The homes of +the farmers whose sons bleed on fields of battle, are invaded, their +hearths threatened with desolation, and the helmsmen sip Champagne, +paid for by the people! + +_June 17._--_Halleckiana._ Rosecrans telegraphed to head-quarters +that he cannot send any troops to Grant, and that if he, Rosecrans, +is to attack Bragg, he must have reinforcements. Answer: "Do what +you like, on your own responsibility." + +_June 17._--Hooker seems to have lost his former _dash_. He must +have known that the rebels extended from Gordonsville to +Pennsylvania, and he, moving in almost a parallel direction to that +line, ought to have cut it, or at least its tail. + +General Ewell at Winchester. Hooker seems to doubt what he can do. +The soldiers of his army can do anything ever done by any soldiers +in the world--but lead them on, O Generals! Hooker has ninety-four +thousand men, and, McClellan-like, waits for more; laments that he +is outnumbered. A good general, having such a number, and of such +troops, would never hesitate to attack an enemy numbering one +hundred and twenty thousand, and the more so, as Hooker's command +is massed, while Lee's is not. And I'll risk my head that Lee's +whole army, all over the valley, and over Pennsylvania, and over +Maryland, is smaller than Hooker's. It is the same old trick of the +rebels and of their friends, to throw dust in our eyes by magnifying +their numbers. The trick is always successful, because on our side +it is wished to extenuate incapacity by the supposed large numbers +of the rebel armies. + +_June 18._--The North rises. New York sends its militia. The people +fails not, but how about the helmsmen? + +The Democrats--the Copperheads roar for McClellan. Well! the like +Democrats glorifying McClellan, show their patriotism, their metal +and their judgment. These Copperhead-Democrats may insist upon +calling McClellan a captain and a hero, but history will give +another verdict, and history will credit to the Democrats the fact +that they have adroitly poisoned and perverted the good faith of the +honest but credulous Democratic rank and file. + +_June 18._--The Administration's _simon pure_ echoes, politicians, +etc., try to persuade everybody that the invasion of Pennsylvania is +nothing, a mere tempest in a tea-pot. Whom do they hope to humbug in +this way? The disgrace is nameless, only they are callous enough not +to feel it. Their cheeks can no more redden.... However, Stanton is +not so optimist. It would look so farcical if it were not so deadly +to witness. Hooker groping his way after Lee; Lincoln and the +all-knowing head-quarters in the utmost darkness about Lee, his +army, his movements, and his plans. And all this while the country, +the people, is kept officially ignorant of its honor, of its fate. +All publicity and communication is suppressed--not to inform thereby +the enemy of our movements. How idiotic, how silly! As if the march +and the movements of an army of one hundred thousand men could be +kept secret from a vigilant and desperate enemy, and the enemy +wanted to read the papers for it. Good for us! + +I cannot hope against hope, and expect that Hooker, Butterfield, +Lincoln, Halleck will out-manoeuvre Lee, bold, quick, and desperate +as he is. + +_June 19._--The jobbers, the contractors, the gold, stock, and +exchange speculators wish for the prolongation of the war. For this +reason, disasters are rather welcome to them. Oh! to crush those +ignoble and demoniac monsters. + +_June 20._--I cannot comprehend how Lee could have dared such a +desperate movement, even if relying on the confusion and +senselessness prevailing in _our_ military movements. Lee must have +had some kind of encouragement from the Copperheads before he risked +a step, which ought to end in his utter destruction, even with a +Halleck, Hooker and Butterfield as our commanders. + +_June 20._--Hooker has more than ninety thousand men in hand--his +rear, his supplies, his _depots_ covered by Heintzelman, and by the +defences of Washington. This alone is equal to fifty thousand more. +And with all this, the treble head-quarters, in the White House in +G street, and in the army cannot find Lee, and therefore the rebels +are not attacked, and lay Pennsylvania waste. O, staffs, O, staffs! + +_June 20._--More than any other army in the world, the American army +requires to have a thoroughly organized staff, with very intelligent +staff officers. Such staff officers carry orders to generals and to +colonels who, although brave and devoted, may often not altogether +comprehend certain sacramental technicalities of an order delivered +by mouth, or written briefly in the saddle. + +The officer ought to be able to explain the order. Think of it, you +wiseacres and organisers of American armies. + +_June 21._--Small cavalry skirmishes without signification. The +curtain is not rended, and the enemy rolls towards the heart of +Pennsylvania. How will it end? + +_June 22._--Nobody of the various upper and lower Chiefs can find +Lee. Give twenty thousand men to a bold man even not a general, and +in twenty-four hours he will bring you positive news about Lee's +army. + +_June 23._--It seems that Lee waits, if we divide our army, to +strike a blow on Washington. Thus he will be baffled; there is a +limit even to our military blunders. + +_June 24._--Incorrigible Seward. France invites our Government to +participate in the diplomatic coercion against Russia. Of course, +Americans refuse. Mr. Seward, in harmony with the feeling of the +people politely snuff off France. But O, Mr. Seward, why pervert +history or show your ignorance, even of the national events and of +Congressional records. The United States, Adams II., President, sent +commissioners to the Congress of Panama, and the United States +Congress did it after a discussion of several days. What is the use +to deny it now? Then Mr. Seward is insincere to both parties. +Speaking of "_a temporary transient revolt here_" he seemingly +insinuates, that but for this _transient revolt_ he would perhaps +try his hand at the European game. It would look so grand to be in +company with the _Decembriseur_. Then the only impediment would be +the people's will different from yours, oh, Seward! _The refusal_ in +the dispatch re-echoes the convictions of the American people; its +shilly-shally conditionality is exclusively Sewardism and only fit +to catch a Russian diplomat in Washington. + +_June 25._--Hooker crosses to Maryland with nearly one hundred +thousand men. Lee is still on both sides of the Potomac. By a blow +Hooker could cut Lee's army, break it, and retrieve what he lost at +Chancellorsville. Oh, how I wish he may do it. But since Hooker has +refused to mend his staff, all hope is lost. Stanton sees the +condition very clearly, but Butterfield is in good odor in the White +House. + +_June 26._--Lee's movements and invasion puzzle me more and more. +The raid into Pennsylvania is the move of a desperate commander, +almost of a madman, playing his whole fortune on one card. If Lee +comes safe out of it, then doubtless he is the best general of our +times, and we the best nincompoops that ever the sun looked upon and +blushed for. + +_June 26._--The reports give to Lee an army of two hundred thousand +men. Impossible! Where could the rebels scrabble together such a +number? The old trick to frighten us. If, however, Lee should have +even only from one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand, then +relying on the high capacity of our various head-quarters, the rebel +chiefs may have gathered what they could take from Charleston and +from Bragg, and massed it to try a decided blow on Washington. But +this cloud, this dust cannot last long; whatever be our +head-quarters, light must come, and the cloud burst with blood and +thunder. + +One meets in Washington individuals praising sky-high Mr. Lincoln's +military capacity, and saying that he alone embraces all the +extensive line of military operations, combines, directs them, etc. +Pretty well has all this succeeded, and why cannot the younger +generation seize the helm in this terrible crisis? How I ardently +wish to see there an Andrew, Boutwell, Coffey, and more, more of +those new men. + +_June 27._--From a very reliable, honest, and _not conspiring_ +secessionist in Washington, I learn that a Northern Copperhead +visited Jeff Davis in Richmond, and stimulated the rebel chief to +carry into the north a war of retaliation by fire and sword, but +that Jeff Davis refused to instruct Lee for devastation. I instantly +told Stanton my news; and now I doubt not in the least that the +invasion is concerted with Northern Copperheads. + +_June 28._--The following is this morning the military condition of +the city with the forts and defences: Hooker took all he could and +all he met on his way. To defend the works around Washington +Heintzelman has six thousand infantry, and not two hundred cavalry. +The rebels have cavalry all around, within six or eight miles. A +dash of twenty thousand infantry, and Washington is done! + +_June 28._--Admiral Foote dead. Irreparable loss. Foote was of the +stamp of Lyon, of the stamp of patriot-heroes. He died of +exhaustion, that is, of devotion to the country. Foote was an honor +to the navy and to the American people. + +_June 28._--Yesterday, Friday, the candidate for presidency, +splendid Chase, stood up mightily for Hooker. Oh, Mr. Chase! you may +be a great or a doubtful financier, but keep rather mute on military +matters. You know as much about them as this d---- mosquito that is +just now biting my nose. + +_June 28._--At last, Hooker relieved. I pity Meade to receive a +command at such a critical moment. But now or never, to show his +mettle, his capacity! The army thinks very highly of Meade. Will +Halleck soon be sent to California? Then the country's cause will be +safe. + +_June 29._--Yesterday a rebel cavalry raid captured an immense +train of provisions, cattle, etc., worth about five hundred thousand +dollars, and within eight or twelve miles of Washington! Of course, +it is nobody's fault. In other armies and countries, such a large +train would have a very strong convoy--here it had scarcely a small +squadron of cavalry. The original fault is, first, with Hooker's +chief-of-staff, who is responsible for providing the army, and for +the security of the provision trains. So at least it is in European +armies. Second, with the head-quarters at Washington, who ought to +have known that the enemy, ant-like, spreads in the rear of Hooker. +The head-quarters ought to have informed the quartermaster thereof, +and provided a strong convoy. This train affair is the younger +brother of the Fredericksburg pontoons. + +Third, the head-quarters of the army and the quartermasters ought to +have inquired at the head-quarters of the defenses of Washington, if +the roads are safe. But of course it was not done, as the _big men_ +here possess all the prescience, and need no valuable information. +All of them appear to me as ostriches, who hide their heads and +eyes, not to see the danger. + +_June 29._--General Heintzelman is as thorough a soldier as any +to-day in Washington--a soldier superior to head-quarters of the +army. Heintzelman commands the military district which south, west +and north touches on the theatre of the present campaign. In similar +conditions and circumstances, any other government, sovereign, +commander-in-chief, etc., would consult with the commander of the +defences of the capital and of the military district around the +city; here Heintzelman is not noticed. + +_June 30._--How will Meade compose his staff? All depends on that. +In the present positions of Meade's and Lee's armies, even a +Napoleon could not do much without a very good staff. + +Were the staffs of the American armies organized as they are in +Europe, no difficulty would exist. In Europe the staffs of the +armies are independent from the persons of their commanders. When a +commander is changed, the staff and its chief remains, and thus the +new commander at a glance and in a few hours can become thoroughly +familiar with the position and condition of the army, and with the +plans of his predecessor, etc., etc. Often such commanders are +changed and sent from one end of the country to the other. In 1831, +PASCHKEWITSCH was ordered from the Caucasus to Poland, to supersede +DIESBITSCH. + +_June 30._--Since Calhoun, the creed of the _simon pure_ Democratic +party intrinsically marked a degradation of man and of humanity. Its +logical, unavoidable and final outlets must have been secession, +treason, and copperheadism; its apotheosis, South, the rebels; +North, the Woods, the Seymours, the Vallandighams and the _World_. +The creed of the Republican party is humane. The _simon pure_ +democratic rank and file, North and South, intellectually and +morally constitute the lowest stratum of American society. Progress, +civilization, intellectual, healthy activity principally are +embodied in the Republican rank and file. True men, as a Marcy, a +Guthrie, and some few similar, throw a pure and bright light on the +Democratic party; many from among the official and political +Republican notabilities throw a dismal and dark shadow on the +intrinsically elevated and pure principles of the party. + + + + +JULY, 1863. + + Eneas -- Anchises -- General Warren -- Aldie -- General + Pleasanton -- Superior mettle -- Gettysburgh -- Cholera morbus -- + Vicksburgh -- Army of heroes -- Apotheosis -- "Not name the + Generals" -- Indian warfare -- Politicians -- Spittoons -- Riots + -- Council of War -- Lords and Lordlings -- Williamsport -- Shame + -- Wadsworth -- "To meet the Empress Eugenie," etc., etc., etc. + + +_July 1._--It is worth while to ascertain if the Administration is +prepared to run. During last year's invasion of Maryland, at the +foot of C street a swift vessel was, day and night, kept under +steam--(in the greatest secrecy)--to carry away the American gods. +_Eneas-Seward_ was to carry on his shoulders ANCHISES-LINCOLN. I was +told that certain gallant secretaries promised to certain gallant +_ladies_ to take them into the ark. + +_July 1._--Meade makes General Warren his chief-of-staff. For the +first time in this war, in-doors and out-doors, a man for the place. +I never saw Warren, but have heard much in his favor. Then he is +young. Then he is not conceited. Then he is no intriguer. Then he +is fighting always and everywhere. Then he speaks not of strategy. A +brighter promise. Genuine science and intelligence dawn on our +muddy, dark, ignorant horizon. + +Four weeks ago Meade might have been already in the command of the +army. (See after Chancellorsville.) Perhaps Lee would have been +to-day shut up in Richmond instead of laying waste Pennsylvania. + +_July 1._--The people will never know to what extent Mr. +Lincoln-Halleck are stumbling-blocks in all military affairs. If +Lincoln had even a _Carnot_ for Secretary of War, the affairs would +not go better than they go now. + +_July 1._--General Meade is the pure, simple result of military +necessity. His choice is not adulterated by any party spirit. +Success may be probable, if Meade is in reality what his colleagues +suppose or assert him to be. + +_July 2._--The property of the great patriot THADDEUS STEVENS +destroyed by the rebels. I am as sure as of my existence, that the +rebel hordes were urged by the Copperheads and by Northern traitors, +by the disciples of the _World_, etc. + +_July 2._--Copperheads and their organs scream to have McClellan at +the head of the armies. This enthusiasm for McClellan soon will be a +burning shame. For many it is a mental disease, and almost +unparallelled in the history of our race. A man of defeats and of +incapacity to be thus worshipped as a hero! To what extent sound +intellects can become poisoned by lies! O, Democrats! what a kin and +kith you are! The stubborn, undaunted bravery of the people keeps +the country above water, when McClellan and his medley of believers +dragged and drags her down into the abyss. Soon infamy will cover +the names of those who wail for McClellan's glory, the names of +these deliberate betrayers of the people's good faith. + +_July 2._--Count Zeppelin was at the cavalry fight at Aldie. In his +appreciation, General Pleasanton is almost the ideal of a general of +cavalry, in the manner in which he fought his forces. The Count says +that our soldiers are by far superior to the rebels, that our +regiments, squadrons, showed the utmost bravery, that in +single-handed _meles_ our soldiers showed a superior mettle, and +that during the whole fight he did not see a single soldier back out +or retire. + +Count Zeppelin spent three weeks with Hooker. The Count _never_ saw +Hooker intoxicated, but nevertheless, he does not believe Hooker to +be the man for the command of a large army. The Count, an educated +officer of staff, deplores the utter absence of that special science +in the heads of the staff. + +The Count was with the army during its march from Falmouth to +Frederick. He admires the endurance, the good spirit, and the +cohesion shown by the army marching under great difficulties, such +as bad roads, heat, &c. + +_July 2._--News of fight at Gettysburgh. It seems that this time a +plan was boldly conceived, and carried out with rapidity and +bravery. It seems that _now a general_ commands, and has at his side +_a chief-of-staff_. + +_July 2._--A crystalized section of abolitionists has, it seems, +dispatched to England a Rev. Dr. _Conway_, who put on airs, began a +silly correspondence with Mason the traitor, and has thrown ridicule +on the cause and on the men whom he is supposed to represent. + +_July 3._--Some details from Gettysburgh. Most sanguinary and +stubborn fighting. General Reynolds, the flower of our army, killed. +The unblemished patriot, General Wadsworth, fought most splendidly, +and is reported to be wounded. His son was beside Reynolds. Mark +this, you world's offals in the WORLD. Nothing like you can be found +in the purlieus of the most stinking social sewers. + +_July 3._--Whoever wishes to know how, in Mr. Seward's mind, right +and law are equipoised, should read the correspondence between the +State Department and the Attorney-General in the case of a criminal +runaway from Saxony. _Astraea-Themis_-BATES is always bold and manly +when right, justice, when individual or general human rights are +questioned. BATES' official, legal opinions will remain as a noble +record of his official activity during this bloody tornado. + +_July 3._--Most contradictory news and rumors. To a great extent, +the fortunes of the Union may be decided at Gettysburgh. Copperheads +alias Peace-Democrats more dangerous than the rebels in arms. The +Copperheads poisoned and paralyzed the spirit of the people; the +Pennsylvanians look on, and rise not as a man in the defence of +their invaded state. + +_July 4._--General Wallbridge the orator of the day. _O tempora +Lincolniana!_ + +It is fortunate for the country and for General Meade that no +telegraphic communication exists between Washington and his camp. + +_July 8._--July 4th, in the evening, I was struck with _cholera +morbus_. In two hours I was delirious, and the end of the DIARY and +of myself was at hand. Those who may be interested in the DIARY, be +thankful to _fatum_ and to my friend in whose house I was taken +sick. I am up and again on the watch. + +_July 8._--However, I have lost the run of events. I have lost the +_piquant_ of observation how the events of Gettysburgh affected the +_big men_ here. I may have lost the echo of some stories told on the +occasion at the White House. + +Vicksburgh taken! No words to glorify GRANT, FARRAGUT, PORTER, _and +the army of heroes on land and on the waters_. + +I wake up and open a paper. Apotheosis! Yesterday evening Mr. Seward +made a speech and glorified himself into CHRIST. Why not? At the +beginning of this internecine war, Mr. Seward repeatedly played the +inspired, the prophet, and even the SPIRIT, having the polyglotic +gift. _In illo tempore_ Mr. Seward advised the foreign diplomats to +bring to him their respective dispatches received from their +respective governments, and he, Seward, would explain to each +diplomat the meanings of what the dispatches contain. Perhaps the +spirit was an after-dinner spirit! + +In the above-mentioned speech Mr. Seward exclaimed, "If I fall!" O, +you will fall, and you will be covered with ... I shall not stain +the paper. Plenty of lickspittles glorifying Lincoln-Seward. + +_July 8._--The battles at Gettysburgh will stand almost unparalleled +in history for the courage, tenacity, and martial rage shown on both +sides, by the soldiers, the officers and the generals. This +four-days' struggle may be put above Attila's fight in the plains of +Chalons; it stands above the celebrated battle of giants at Marignan +between the French and the Swiss. No legions, no troops ever did +more, nay, ever did the same. At Waterloo one-third of the French +infantry was not engaged in the previous days of Ligny and of +Quatres-bras, and three-fourths of the Anglo-allied army were fresh, +and not fatigued even by forced marches. I am sure that no other +troops in the world could fight with such a stubborn bravery four +consecutive days; not the English, not even the _iron-muscled_ +Russians. + +I learn that during the invasion of Pennsylvania, and above all, +during the last days, all the country expected something +extraordinary from the army at Fortress Monroe, under General Dix's +command. But the affair ended in expectations. + +A few days ago the President declared in a speech that he dares not +introduce the names of the generals. Not to name the victor at +Gettysburgh, the undaunted captor of Vicksburgh! The people repeat +your names, O heroes! even if the President remains dumb. + +Already a back-fire against Meade. I cannot believe that his heart +fainted, and that other generals kept him from breaking before the +enemy. But Meade is the man of their own kith and kin, and they +ought to have known him. + +It is now so difficult to disentangle truth from lies, from stories +and from intrigue. It will not do, however, to uphold Hooker--it +will not do. Hooker is a brilliant fighter, but was and always will +be _stunned_ when in command of an army. It is a crime to put up +Hooker as a captain. + +Somebody put in the head of the patriotic but mercurial Senator +Wilson that the terrible onslaught of the rebel columns is not the +result of their having adopted European, continental tactics, but +that the rebels are formidable because they have adopted the Indian +mode of warfare. God forgive him who thus confused my friend's +understanding! Indian tactics or warfare for masses of forty, fifty, +or one hundred thousand men! + +I learn that Christ-Seward wishes to force the hoary, but brave, +steady, and not at all fogyish Neptune WELLES, to recognize to Spain +or Cuba, or to somebody else and to all the world, an extension of +the maritime league. It is excellent. Such extension is _altogether_ +advantageous to the maritime neutrals--all of them, Russia excepted, +our covert or open ill-wishers. + +Mr. Seward, as a good, scriptural Christian, minds not an offense, +and is not rancorous. The Imperial _Decembriseur_, and all the +imperialist liveried lackeys, look with contempt on the cause of the +people, side with secessionists, with copperheads, etc., etc., and +Mr. Seward insists on giving a license for the exportation of +tobacco bought in Richmond for French accounts. Again Neptune +defends the country's honor and interests. + +In proportion as the presidential electioneering season approaches, +Mr. Seward repeatedly and repeatedly attempts to impress upon the +people's mind that he will not accept from the nation any high +reward for his services. Well, it is not cunning--as by this time +Mr. Seward ought to have found in what estimation he is held by +nine-tenths of the people. + +This is all that I caught in one day, after several days' +interruption. + +_July 9._--Lee retreats towards the Potomac. If they let him recross +there, our shame is nameless. Will Meade be after Lee _l'epee dans +les reins_. + +_Halleckiana, minus._ Nobody in Washington, not even the +head-quarters, has any notion or idea what means Lee has to recross +the Potomac. + +_Halleckiana, plus._ I am told that Halleck refused to telegraph to +Meade Mr. Lincoln's strategical conceptions. + +_July 9._--Chewing and spitting paramount here, require incalculable +numbers of spittoons. The lickspittles outnumber the spittoons. + +_July 10._--The politicians already begin to broadly _play their +game_. I use the sacramental expressions. What a disgusting +monstrosity is a thorough politician! Not even a eunuch! There is +nothing in a politician to be emasculated: no mind, no heart, no +manhood. In what a _galere_ I got--not by personal contact--but by +intellectually observing the worms on the body politic of my--at any +rate heartily adopted--country. + +_July 11._--Repeatedly and repeatedly certain newspaper +correspondents announce to the world that Senator Sumner exercises +considerable influence on the supreme power. All things considered, +I wish it may be so, but I see it is not. Sumner's influence ought +to have produced some palpable results. I see none. + +The international maritime complications are watched and defeated +by Welles. + +_Drapez vous, messieurs, drapez vous_--in the statesman toga, +history and truth will take it off from your shoulders. + +_July 12._--Mr. Seward is very ardently at work--Weed marshaling +Seward--to reconstruct slavery and Union, to give a very large if +not a general amnesty to the rebels, to shake hands with them, in +pursuance of the Mercier-Richmond programme, and to be carried into +the White House on the shoulders of the grateful Union-saviours, +Copperheads, and blood-stained traitors. The _Herald_, the _World_, +the _National Intelligencer_ and others of that creed will sing +_gloria in excelsis_ to Seward. + +_July 13._--What is _Meade_ doing? It is exciting to know why a blow +is not yet dealt on the head of retreating rebels. Or is it that +though West Point generals--on both sides--tolerably understand how +to fight a battle, they subside when the finishing stroke is to be +dealt. Oh for a general who understands how to manoeuvre against the +enemy!!! + +I hear from a very reliable source, that during the excitement +brewing before the day of Gettysburgh, the honorable Post Master +General by a special biped message insinuated to the honorable +governor of New York that the governor may ask the removal of +Stanton for the safety of the country and of patriots of the +Postmaster's and the governor's species. + +_July 13._--Besides what _Meade_ has in hand, there must be a +considerable number of troops in Baltimore, in Fortress Monroe and +the volunteer militia. Why not, Lincoln-Halleck! mass them on the +south side of the Potomac under such generals as Heintzelman, Sigel, +etc., and take the enemy between two fires? + +_July 14._--Bloody riots in New York. The teaching of the Woods, of +their former hireling, the _World_, and of those who pay that offal +now. Seymour's democracy; mob, pillage, massacre. + +_July 14._--Lincoln has nominated so many Major-Generals who are +relieved from duty, so many of them, that the Major-Generals ought +to be formed into a squadron, and, Halleck at the head, McClellan at +the tail, make them charge on Lee's centre. In such a way the +major-generals would be some use. + +_July 14._--I meet many who attempt to exculpate Mr. Seward from +_this_ or _that_ untruth which he is accused having told to the +President. Such _Seward's_ men often contradict not the fact, but +attempt to insinuate that somebody else might have told it. To all +this I answer with the Roman Praetor: + + _Ille fecit cui prodest_ + +_July 14._--GRANT has overpowered men, soil--and elements. GRANT, +PORTER, FARRAGUT, and their men overpowered land and waters. They +overpowered _the Mississippi_, hear: the Mississippi's and its +mighty affluents as the Yazoo, the Red River, and others. McClellan +caved in before a brook, as the Chickahominy. McClellan had the +most gigantic resources in men and material ever put in the hands of +a commander, and caved in. O, worshippers of heavy incapacity, take +and digest it if you can. + +_July 16._--Lee re-crossed the Potomac! Thundering storms, rising +waters and about one hundred and fifty thousand at his heels! What a +general! And our brave soldiers again baffled, almost dishonored by +domestic, know-nothing generalship. We have lost the occasion to crush +three-fourths of the rebellion. But where is the responsibility? Foul +work somewhere, but, as always, it will be nobody's fault. + +_July 15._--Stanton in rage and despair. Riots everywhere. All these +riots must be the result of a skillfully laid mine. They coincide +with the invasion by the rebels. At the best, these riots are +generated by Fourth of July Seymourite speeches and by the long +uninterrupted series of incendiary articles in New York papers, like +World, etc., and in Boston, where emasculated parasites as Hilliard, +a Cain Curtis etc., soothingly tried their hands to disgrace their +city and to mislead the people. All the Lincoln-Seward-Halleck +actions cannot excuse these riots and their matricidal, secret +inciters. + +_July 15._--The Administration ought to recall Wool and put Butler +in New York. Butler understands how to deal with riotous traitors. + +_July 15._--Good news from Banks. Now he comes out and will recover +the confidence of all good men. + +_July 15._--If it is true that _Meade_ convoked a council of war, +and that the generals decided not to attack Lee, then whoever voted +and decided so, ought, at the best, to be sent to the hospital of +mental invalids, and the army put in the hands of fighting men. +Lee's escape will henceforth occupy the cardinal place in the annals +of disgraceful generalships of the Potomac army. + +_July 16._--One of the truest men and citizens in this country, +George Forbes, of Milton Hill, returned from England. Forbes says +that aristocracy and the commercial classes (with few exceptions) +are generally against us. But the people at large are on our side. + +Oh! that some method may be found to separate the interests of the +good and noble English people, from the interests of the other +classes; then to have intercourse only with the people; and towards +the other English fulfil: + + _Vos autem o Tyrii prolem gentemque futuram,_ + +and that not one of those lords, lordlings, of inborn snobs and +flunkeys, that not one of that English social sham may ever be +allowed to tread the sacred American soil. And if such an Englishman +ever touches these shores, then be he treated as leprous, and as +carrying in him the most contagious plague, and let the house of any +American that shall be opened to such an Englishman, be torn down +and burned, and its ashes scattered to the winds; and the curse of +the people upon any American harboring those snobbish upstarts of +liberty. + +_July 16._--The incendiaries and murderers in New York cheered +McClellan and came to his house. Bravo! Can, now, any honest man who +is not an idiot, doubt where are the main springs and the animus of +those New York blood-thirsty miscreants, and who are those of whose +hearts McClellan got hold? What a nice Copperhead combination for +saving the Union. Very likely Seymour, Dictator or President, +McClellan Commander-in-chief, or Secretary of War, some of the Woods +or Duncans or Barlows in the Treasury, their hireling any Marble for +Foreign Affairs, and with them some others from among the favorites +of the New York blood-thirsty incendiaries. + +I read in one of the New York poison-dealers, _alias_ Copperhead +newspapers, that McClellanites was ruined by politicians. So-called +honest, but idiotic conservatives sanctimoniously repeat that lie. +It was McClellan, who, inspired by _Barlow_, by the _Herald_ and by +his aristocratic West Point pro-slavery friends, introduced +democratic politics into the army at a time when the army was yet in +an embryo state, already in September and October, 1861. O, impudent +liars! history will nail your names to the gallows, together with +the name of your fetish and of his military tail. + +_July 16._--In that fated, cursed council of war which allowed Lee +to escape, my patriot WADSWORTH was the most decided, the most +out-spoken in favor of attacking Lee. Wadsworth never fails where +honor and patriotism are to be sustained. Warren with Wadsworth. So +Humphries, Pleasanton and Howard. Those names ought to coruscate as +the purest light of patriotism for future generations. Meade's vote +is of no account. He, the commander, ought to have acted up to his +vote. If only Meade had imitated _Radetzky_. In 1849 after the +denunciation of the Armistice of Milan, _Radetzky_ called a council +of war to decide whether the _Po_ was to be crossed and Piedmont +invaded. All the best Austrian generals--_Hesse_ with them, voted +against the proposition. Radetzky quietly listened, then rose and +give orders to cross immediately. + +The result was the battle of Novara and the temporary humiliation of +the house of Savoy. That was a model for _Meade_. And this General +_French_ who advised to entrench! To entrench in pursuit of a +retreating enemy! This French honors West Point and engineering. The +generals who voted to entrench and not to attack Lee, and Meade with +them, they can never, never retrieve. Whatever be their future or +eventual success it will not heal the wound given to the country by +thus allowing Lee to escape. O, God! O, God! + +Such _Frenches_ and others asserted that "Lee will attack before he +crosses." Oh what _Marses!_ _Lee's position at Williamsport was on +heights_, etc., etc., assert those braves. + +When a country is hilly and undulating there will always be found +one point or hill commanding the others. I shall risk my head on the +fact, that around Lee's entrenchments at Williamsport, there exist +other elevations which command Williamsport, and are within +artillery distance. _Natura semper sibi consona._ I am sure that +better positions than that selected by Lee could easily have been +occupied by our troops or artillery. The same must have been the +case at Hagerstown. And if the generals were afraid to fight Lee's +whole army they ought to have more vigilantly watched his crossing. +There was a time when a part only of the rebel army was facing us, +and at least this part ought to have been attacked and crippled, if +not destroyed. Sound common sense teaches it. But it seems that no +will to fight Lee, or to impede his safe recrossing, no such will +animated the majority of the council of war. It seems that some of +the West Point nurslings are still awe-struck at the sight of their +slavocratic former companions, as they were at the time of their +studies at West Point. + +I was told by an officer coming from the army that the soldiers are +exasperated. The soldiers say that the generals did not wish to +destroy Lee's army and finish the rebellion, because their "stars +were to set down." Who knows how far the soldiers are right? + +_July 17._--In New York the _unterrified_ democracy went to arson +and murder, hand in hand with the immense majority of Irishry. +Meagher, Nugent, Corcoran and thousands like you, are exceptions. +The O'Connors, O'Gormans, etc., are the unterrified. For these +bloody saturnalia the wedding was consecrated by the Iro-Roman +priesthood. As the _unterrified_ Democrats pollute the sacred name +of genuine Democracy, so the Irishry stain even the Catholic +confession. The Iro-Roman Church in this country is not even a +Roman-Catholic end. This Iro-Romanism here is a mixture of cunning, +ignorance, brutality and extortion. A European Roman-Catholic at +once finds out the difference in the spirit, and even to a certain +extent, in the form. The incendiaries and murderers in the New York +riots are the nurslings and disciples of the Iro-Roman clergy and +the Iro-hierarchy. + +_July 17._--Mr. Lincoln ought to dismiss every general who voted +against fighting; dismiss _Meade_ for not understanding his power as +commander of an army, and give the places to such Howards, Warrens, +Pleasantons, Humphreys, Wadsworths, and all others, generals, +colonels, etc. who clamorously asked an order for attack. If the +army shall depend upon such generals who let Lee escape, then lay +down arms, and drag not the people's children to a slaughter house. + +To excuse the generals, it is asserted that at Chancellorsville Lee +has allowed to Hooker to recross the river without annoying us, +which Lee could easily do, and damage us considerably. Well! are our +Generals to carry on a mere war of civilities? If Lee committed a +fault, are you, gentlemen, in duty bound to imitate his mistakes? +Imitation for imitation, then rather imitate Lee's several splendid +manoeuvring and tactics. + +_July 17._--I learn that the deep-dyed Copperheads and +slavery-saviours do not consider Seymour of New York safe enough. +They turn now to a certain Seymour in Connecticut. It seems that the +Connecticut Seymour still more hates human rights, self-government, +light and progress, and is a still more ardent lickspittle of +slavocracy, of barbarism, and of the slave-driving whip. + +_July 18._--Splendid Chase urged Wadsworth to go to Florida and +organize that country--very likely to prepare votes for Chase's +presidency. It is not such high-toned men as Wadsworth who become +tools of schemers. + +Again rumors say that Stanton joined the scheme of Lincoln's +re-election. As far as I can judge, Stanton's cardinal aim is to +crush the rebellion. + +_July 18._--The greatest glory for Wadsworth is that the majority +against him in the last November elections is now murdering and +_arsoning_ New York. All of them are unterrified, hard shell +democrats, and cheer McClellan. These murderers are the "friends" of +Seymour--they are the pets of that _World_, itself below the offal +of hell--they are the "gentlemen" incendiaries of H. E. the +Archbishop Hughes. On your head, most eminent Archbishop, is the +whole responsibility. These "gentlemen" are brought up, +Christianized and moralized under your care and direction, and under +that of your tonsured crew. The "gentlemen" murderers are your herd, +O most eminent shepherd! You ought to have and you could have +stopped the rioters. And now your _stola_ is a halter and your +_pallium_ gored with blood, otherwise innocent as is the blood of +the lamb incensed on the altar of Saint Agnes in Rome. + +Mr. Seward strongly opposed the appointment of General Butler to New +York. Mr. Seward wished no harm to the "gentlemen" of his dear +friend the Most Eminent Archbishop, and to the select ones who +helped him to defeat Wadsworth. + +_July 19._--Difficult will be the task of the historian of these +episodes of riots, as well as of the whole civil war. If gifted with +the sacred spark, the future historian must carefully disentangle +the various agencies and forces in this convulsion. Some such +agencies are-- + +_a_ The righteousness of the cause of the North, defending +civilization, justice, humanity. + +_b_ The devotion, the self-sacrifice of the people. + +_c_ The littleness, helplessness, selfishness, cunning, +heartlessness, empty-headedness, narrow-mindedness of the various +leaders. + +_d_ The plague of politicians. + +_e_ The untiring efforts of the heathen, that is, of the Northern +worshippers of the slavocrat and of his whip, efforts to uphold and +save their idol. + +_f_ The fatal influence of the press. The republican or patriot +press neither sufficiently vigilant, nor clear-sighted, nor +intelligent, nor undaunted; not reinvigorated by new, young +agencies; the bad press reckless, unprincipled, without honor and +conscience, but bold, ferocious in its lies, and sacrificing all +that is noble, human and pure to the idol of slavery. + +_July 19._--The more details about the shame of Hagerstown and of +Williamsport, the more it rends heart and mind. I saw many soldiers +and officers, sick, wounded and healthy. Their accounts agree, and +cut to the quick. Our army was flushed with victory, craving for +fight, and in a state of enthusiastic exaltation. But our generals +were not therein in communion with the officers, with the rank and +file. Enthusiasm! this highest and most powerful element to secure +victory, and on which rely all the true captains; enthusiasm, that +made invincible the phalanx of Alexander; invincible Caesar's legions +and Napoleon's columns; enthusiasm was of no account for the +generals in council. O _Meade_! better were it for you if your +council was held among, or with the soldiers. + +The Rebel army was demoralized, as a retreating army always is; no +doubt exists concerning a partial, at least, disorganization of the +rebels. But Lee and his generals understood how to make a bold show, +and a bold, menacing front, with what was not yet disorganized, and +our generals caved in, in the council. + +This July 19th is heavy, dark and gloomy.... I wish it were all +over. + +_July 19._--Thurlow Weed puffs Stanton and patronises him. O, God! +It is a terrible blow to Stanton. How, now, can one have confidence +in Stanton's manhood. Are contracts at the bottom of the puff, or is +it only one of _Weed's_ tricks to defile and to ruin _Stanton_? + +_July 20._--It is almost humiliating to witness how mongrels and +pigmies attempt to rob the people of their due glory, how they +attempt to absorb to their own credit what the pitiless pressure of +events forced upon them. All of them limped after events as lame +ducks in mud; not one foresaw any thing, not one understood the +_to-day_. Neither emancipation nor the transformation of slave into +free states, are of your special, individual work, O, great men; but +you strut now. + + _Mirmidons, race feconde, enfin nous commandons._ + +Some say that the generals who let Lee off, intended not to +humiliate their former chief and pet McClellan. + +_July 20._--Cavalry wanted. Stables and corrals filled with horses, +but no saddles. No saddles in this most industrious country! No +brains in the Quartermasters or in those to whom it belongs. And +perhaps no will, and perhaps no honesty. No saddles! Oh! I am sure +it is nobody's fault; no workmen are to be found, and no leather, +and no men to look after the country's good. That is the rub. + +_July 20._--Captain Collins, commanding a United States man-of-war, +captures an English blockade-runner near an isolated shoal somewhere +in the vicinity of Bermuda. England asserts that the shoal is a +shore, and that the maritime league is violated. Mr. Seward at once +yields, Neptune defends as he always does, the rights of the +national _Tritons_, and of the national flag. The supreme power +sides with Seward, and an order is given to reprimand Collins or +something like it: it is done, and the prize-court decides that +Captain Collins has made a lawful capture. I hope Collins will be +consoled, and light his segar with the reprimand. + +The future historian will duly ponder and establish Mr. Seward's +claims to the _salvage_ of the country. + +_July 20._--From all that I learn, _Meade_ has a better and larger +army than Lee; oh, may only Meade establish that he has the biggest +brains of the two. + +_July 20._--From time to time, I read the various statutes issued by +the last Congress, and am strengthened in my opinion that Congress +served the people well. The various statutes are the triumph of +legislation. They are clear, precise, well-worded results of +patriotic, devoted, far-seeing and undaunted minds and brains. All +glory to the majority of the Thirty-seventh Congress! + +_July 21._--A manly and patriotic letter from James T. Brady is +published in the papers. Such Democrats, Irishmen and lawyers, like +Brady, honor the party, the nationality, and the profession. + +_July 21._--A mystery surrounds the appointment of _Grant_ to the +command of the fated Potomac army. _Yes_ and _no_ say the helmsmen. +The truth seems to be, it was offered to Grant, and he respectfully +refused to accept it. If so, it is an evidence in favor of Grant. To +give up glory and devoted companions in arms, to give all this up +for the sake of running into the unknown, and into the jaws of the +still breathing McClellanism, and into the vicinity of the central +telegraphic station! Grant believes in volunteers; and for this +reason it is to be regretted that he refused to correct the West +Point notions. + +_July 21._--The draft occasions much bad blood, and evokes violent +dissatisfaction. The draft is a dire necessity; but it could have +been avoided if time, men, and the people's enthusiasm had not been +so sacrilegiously wasted. The three hundred dollar clause is not a +happy invention, and its omission would have given a better +character to that law. + +_July 21._--If the New York traitors succeed in preventing the +draft, then they will riot against taxes; after breaking down the +taxes, they will riot against the greenbacks, against the +emancipation, and finally force the reconstruction of the Union with +the murderous rebel chiefs in the senatorial chairs, according to +the Seward-Mercier-Richmond programme. Any one can see in the +Cain-Copperhead newspapers of New York, of Boston, of Philadelphia, +and in the letters and speeches of those matricides, what are their +aims, and how their plans are laid out. + +_July 21._--Again I am most positively assured that some time ago a +friendly offensive and defensive alliance was concluded between W. +H. Seward and Edwin Stanton. The high powers were represented by +Thurlow Weed and Morgan for Seward, and the virtuous, lachrymose, +white-cravated Whiting acted for Stanton. I was told that this +alliance drove Watson, (Assistant Secretary,) from the War Department. +This would be infernal, if true. I know that no _Weed_ whatever could +approach such a man as Watson; but Watson assured me that he returns +back, and I cannot believe that Stanton could consent to be thus sold. + +_July 22._--Honorable, virtuous, tear-shedding, jockey-dressing +Whiting wanted to make a trip to Europe. Sharp and acute, the great +expounder found out at once that Mr. Seward is one of the greatest +and noblest patriots of all times. Reward followed. Whiting goes to +Europe on a special mission--to dine, if he is invited, with all the +great and small men to whom Mr. Adams or Mr. Dayton may introduce +him, and to convince everybody in Europe that the Sewards, the +Whitings, &c., are the _creme de la creme_ of the American people. +_Vive la bagatelle._ + +_July 22._--How putrescent is all around! But it is not the nation, +not the people. And as the sun raises above the darkest and heaviest +vapors, so in America the spirit of mankind, incarnated in and +animating the people, towers above the filth of politicians, of +cabinet-makers, of presidential-peddlers, etc. Look to the masses to +find consolation. How splendidly acts Massachusetts and New +England's sons! And what free State is not New England's son? The +youth of Massachusetts are almost all in the field--the rich and the +poor, those of the best social standing, and of the genuine good +blood and standing; scholars and mechanics, all of them shouldered +the musket. + +_July 23._--How strangely and how slowly Meade manoeuvres! It looks +McClellan-like. O, God of battles, warm and inspire Meade! + +_July 23._--Only boys in the corps of invalids. It has its good. For +scores of years to come, these invalids will be the living legend of +this treasonable, matricidal rebellion, and of the atrocious +misconduct of our helmsmen. I hope that when returned home, these +invalids will be as many extirpators of all kinds of _Weeds_ in +their respective townships and villages. They will become the lights +of the new era. + +_July 23._--Were it not for the murdered, these New York riots could +be considered welcome. The rioting cannibals, and their prompters +and defenders showed their hands. No one in his senses can now doubt +how heartily and devotedly Jeff Davis was served by his hirelings +among the Copperhead leaders and among the New York Copperhead +press. The cannibals cheered for McClellan, and the Administration +has neither enough courage nor self respect to put that fetish on +the retired list. + +In the old, flourishing times of Romanism and papacy, such a Most +Eminent Hughes would long ago have been suspended by the Holy See. +The Most Eminent's standing among the continental European +Episcopacy is not eminent at all, whatever be Mr. Seward's opinion. +The Most Eminent is a curious observer of the canons, of the papal +bulls, and of other clerical and episcopal paraphernalia. The spirit +animating the Most Eminent is not the spirit of the Roman Sapienzia. +I well recollect what I heard lectured in that Roman papal +university. + +_July 24._--As a dark and ominous cloud, Lee with his army hovers +around Washington, keeps the Shenandoah valley, and may again cross +over to the Cumberland valley. It seems that the generals whose +council-of-war allowed Lee to recross the river unhurt, believed +that Lee with all speed would run to Richmond; and now they hang to +his brow and eye. + +The crime of Williamsport bears fruit. Never, never in this or in +the other life, can the perpetrators of the Williamsport crime atone +for it. + +It may come that the western armies and generals will bring the +civil war to an end, the Potomac army all the time marching and +countermarching between the Potomac and the Rappahannock. And such a +splendid army, such heroic soldiers and officers, to be sacrificed +to the ignorant stubbornness of sham military science! + +_July 25._--I positively learn that Gilmore has scarcely ten +thousand men, infantry, and is to storm the various forts and +defenses around the Charleston harbor. If Gilmore succeeds, then it +is a wonder. But in sound valuation, Gilmore has not men enough to +organize columns of attack so that the one shall follow the other +within a short, very short supporting distance. And the losses will +almost hourly reduce Gilmore's small force. I dread repulse and +heavy losses. Some one at the head-quarters deserves to be quartered +for such a distribution of troops. With the immense resources and +means of transportation, it is so easy to send twenty thousand +troops to Gilmore, attack, make short work of it, and then carry the +troops back to where they belonged. But to concentrate and act in +masses is not the _credo_ of the--not yet quartered--head-quarters. + +_July 26._--Old--but not slow--Welles again gives to Seward a lesson +of good-behavior, of sound sense, and of mastery of international +laws. The prize courts side with Welles. Because Neptune has a white +wig and beard, he is considered slow, when in reality he is active, +unflinching, and progressive. + +_July 26._--O, could I only exclaim, _Exegi monumentum aere +perennius_, to the noble, the patriotic, and the good, as well as to +the helpless, the selfish, and the counterfeits. + +_July 27._--_Philadelphia._ Flags in all the streets, volunteers +parading and drilling. Prosperity, activity and devotion permeate +the country. So at least I am led to believe. All this is so +refreshing, after witnessing in Washington such strenuous efforts +how not to do it. + +Bad news. I learn that Gilmore is repulsed. When the _forlorn hope_ +entered Fort Wagner, no support promptly came, and the heroes, black +and white, were massacred or expelled. Gilmore ought to have been +more cautious, and not to have undertaken an operation which was on +its outside stamped with impossibility. Perhaps Gilmore obeyed +peremptory orders. Who gave them? + +Lee's army escapes through Chester Gap, and thus we have not cut the +rebels from Richmond, and now they are ahead of us. Again +out-manoeuvred! and _nobody's fault_, only the campaign prolonged +_ad infinitum_. Perhaps it is in the programme! + +_July 28._--_Philadelphia._ The petty, narrow, school conceit +imbibed in the West Point nursery, is the stumbling-block barring +everywhere the expansion of a healthy and vigorous activity. I +listened to the heaviest absurdities and fogyism on military affairs +_oracularly_ preached by one of the great West Pointers on duty +here. + +_July 31._--_Long Branch._ Away from personal contact, even from the +view of politicians, of plotters, of lickspittles. How refreshing, +how invigorating, how soothing! + +Mr. Seward, with a due tail, visits Fortress Monroe. What for? +Is it to organize some underground road to reunion on the +Mercier-Seward-Richmond programme? + +One well-informed writes me that the last programme of Lincoln, +Halleck and Meade is, that the army of the Potomac is to keep Lee at +bay, but not to attack. If true, how well designed to give time to +Lee to do what he likes, to reorganize, to send away his troops +where he may please, to call them back--in one word to be fully at +his ease on our account. Will this country ever escape the tutorship +of sham science? + +_July 31._--_Long Branch._ Seward's concession policy towards France +bears fruit in Mexico. Of course the _Decembriseur_ outwitted the +Weed-Albany-Auburn politician statesman. But it is not the ignorant +foreign policy which strengthened and strengthens the French policy +in Mexico. It is the blunders, the tergiversations, the gropings, +and the crimes of our internal domestic policy, which, protracting +the war, allows the French conspirator to murder the Mexicans. + +_July 31. L. B._--So the _Decembriseur_ amuses himself in creating +an Imperial throne in Mexico for some European princely idiot or +intriguer. All right. I have confidence in the Mexicans. The future +Emperor, even if established for some time on the cushion of treason +propped by French bayonets, that manikin before short or long will +be _Iturbidised_. Further: I have confidence in the French people. +The upper crust is pestilential. Bonapartists, lickspittles, lackeys +and incarnations of all imaginary corruptions compose that upper +crust. But I would bet a fortune, had I one, that in the course of +the next five years, the _Decembriseur_ and his _Prince Imperial_ +will be visible at Barnum's, and that some shoddy grandee from 5th +Avenue, will issue cards inviting _to meet the Empress Eugenie_. + + + + +AUGUST, 1863. + + Stanton -- Twenty Thousand -- Canadians -- Peterhoff -- Coffey -- + Initiation -- Electioneering -- Reports -- Grant -- McClellan -- + Belligerent Rights -- Menagerie -- Watson -- Jury -- Democrats -- + Bristles -- "Where is Stanton?" -- "Fight the monster" -- + Chasiana -- Luminaries -- Ballistic -- Political Economy, etc., + etc., etc. + + +_August 2. Long Branch._--The organs of all shades and of all +gradations of ill-wishers to the cause of the North, and to that of +Emancipation, the secret friends of Jeff Davis, and the open +supporters of McClellan are untiring in their open, slanderous, +treacherous accusations of _Stanton_; others spread sanctimoniously +perfidious suggestions against the Secretary of War, and so does the +_National Intelligencer_, this foremost Whig-Conservative, double or +treble-faced organ. _Stanton_ is called to account for all mishaps, +mismanagement, disasters and disgraces which befall our armies +between the Rio Grande and the Potomac. Such accusations, to a +certain degree, could be justified if the Secretary of War were +clothed with the same powers, and therefore with the same +responsibilities as is the case in European governments. + +But every one knows that here the war machinery is very complicated, +because wheels turn within wheels. The Secretary of War is not alone +to answer and he is not exclusively responsible for the appointment +of good, middling, or wholly bad generals and commanders. Every one +knows it. _Stanton_ may have all the possible shortcomings and +faults with which his enemies so richly clothe him; one thing is +certain, that _Stanton_ advocated and always advocates fighting, and +Stanton furnishes the generals and commanders with all means and +resources at the country's and the department's disposition. If many +respectable men are to be trusted, _Stanton_ never interferes with +intrinsic military operations, never orders or insinuates, or +dictates to the commanders of our armies where and in what way they +are to get at the enemy and to fight him. As far as I know Stanton +keeps aloof from strategy. + +Stanton _is insincere and untruthful_, say his enemies. Granted. I +never found a man in power to be otherwise in personal questions or +relations. It is almost impossible for the power-holders to be +sincere and truthful. + + Trust in thy sword, + Rather than prince's (president's) word; + Trust in fortuna's sinister, + Rather than prince's minister. + +But _Stanton_ is truthful and sincere to the cause, and that is all +that I want from him. Stanton's alleged _malice_ against McClellan +had the noblest and the most patriotic sources, which, of course, +could not be understood or appreciated by Stanton's revilers. + +The organs of treason and of infamy refer always to McClellan. _O +race, knitted of the devils excrements mixed with his saliva_, [see +Talleyrand about Thiers] your treason is only equal to your +impudence and ignorance. If in February, 1862, Stanton had not urged +McClellan to move, probably the Potomac Army would have spent all +the year in its tents before Washington. McClellan's henchmen and +minions thrusted and still thrust the grossest lies down the throat +of a certain public, eager to gulp slander as sugar plums. +McClellan's stupidity at Yorktown and in the Chickahominy is +vindicated by his crew with the following counter accusation: that +all disasters have been generated because McDowell with his twenty +thousand men did not join McClellan. If McClellan had in him the +soldiership of a non-commissioned officer, on his knees he ought to +implore his crew not to expose him in this way. When a general has +in hand about one hundred and ten thousand men, as McClellan had on +entering the peninsula, and accomplishes nothing, then it is a proof +that he, the general, is wholly unable and ignorant how to handle +large masses. If McClellan could not manage one hundred thousand +men, still less would he have been able to manage the twenty +thousand more of McDowell's corps. + +The stupidity of attempting to invest Richmond is beyond words, and +for such an operation several hundred thousand men would have been +necessary. [Spoke of it in Vol. I.] If twenty thousand men arrive +not at a certain day or hour when a battle is raging, most surely +this failure may occasion a defeat--Grouchy at Waterloo--but in +McClellan's Chickahominy operations, twenty thousand men more would +have served only still more plainly to expose his incapacity, and to +be a prey to fevers and diseases. + +The bulk of the rebel army in Richmond was always less numerous than +McClellan's; the rebels always understood to have more troops than +had McClellan when they attacked him. During that whole cursed and +ignominious (for McClellan) Chickahominy campaign, McClellan never +fought at once more of his men than about thirty thousand. It was +not the absence of twenty thousand men that prevented a commander +of one hundred thousand from engaging more of his troops, and for +quickly supporting such corps as were attacked by the enemy. + +_August 3: L. B._--The Colonists, that is, the appendixes of +England, as the Canadians, the Nova Scotians, and of any other +colonial dignity and name, together with their great statesmen, +certain Howes and Johnsons, etc. etc. etc. agitate; they are in +trances like little fish out of water. They find it so pleasant to +seize an occasion to look like something great. Poor frogs! trying +to blow themselves into leviathans. Their whelpish snarling at the +North reminds one of little curs snarling at a mastiff. How can +these colonists imagine that a royal prince of England could reside +among something which is as indefinite as are colonists--something +neither fish nor flesh. + +_August 3._--The _Evening Post_ contains a letter on the difference +between the behavior of Union men in Missouri during the treasonable +riots in St. Louis in the Spring of 1861, and the conduct of the +Union men in New York during the recent riots. But the Saint Louis +patriot is silent--has forgotten the immortal Lyons who saved that +city and its patriots, who saved Missouri. (General Scott insisted +upon courtmartialing Lyons.) + +Also, have you already forgotten the foremost among heroes and +patriots, and whose loss is more telling now than it was in 1861. +Forgotten one of the purest and noblest victims of Washington +blindness, of General Scott's unmilitary policy and conduct. +Forgotten the true son of the people? But O Lyons! thy name will be +venerated by coming generations. + +_August 4: L. B._--_The Cliques._ + +_a_ The worst, and the womb of all evils is the Weed-Seward clique. +Around it group contractors, jobbers, shoddy, and all kinds of other +social impurities. + +_b_ The ambitious, intriguing, selfish, narrow-minded West Point +clique. + +_c_ The not brave, not patriotic, and freedom-hating, unintelligent +McClellan clique. + +_d_ Copperheads of various hues and gradations. + +Cliques _a_, _b_, and _c_, generated and fostered Copperheads, and +facilitated their expansion. + +_e_ Imbeciles, lickspittles, politicians, etc. + +_f_ The Lincolnites, closely intertwined with the _genus e_; the +Blair men, etc. + +_g_ The partisans of Chase. This clique is the most variously and +most curiously composed. Honest imbeciles, makers of phrases, +rhetors, heavy and narrow-minded, office-hunters, office expectants, +politicians, contractors, admirers of pompousness and of would-be +radicalism, all who turn round and round, and see not beyond their +noses, etc. + +Several minor cliques exist, but deserve not to be mentioned. Behind +these mud-hills rises the true people, as the Himalayas rise above +the plains of Asia. + +_August 4._--Why could not Everett, that good and true patriot, +preside over our relations with Europe; or why is that thorough +American statesman, Governor Marcy, dead! How different, how +respected, how truly American would have been the character of our +relations with Europe! No prophecies, no lies would have been told, +no gross ignorance displayed! + +_August 4. L. B._--In the columns of the _Times_ a friend of Halleck +tries to make a great man of the General-in-chief. Halleck +repudiates Burnside and Hooker, but claims the victory at +Gettysburgh, because Meade, being a good disciplinarian, executed +Halleck's orders. So from his room in G street Washington, Halleck +directed the repulse of the furiously attacking columns. Bravo! more +bravo as no telegraph connects Washington with Gettysburgh! + +Meade being a good disciplinarian, the crime of Williamsport falls +upon Halleck; the commander-in-chief is the more responsible, as the +crime was perpetrated under his nose; about four hours' drive could +have brought him to our army, and then Halleck in person could have +directed the attack upon the enemy. + +From all that transpires about Williamsport one must conclude that +Lee must have known that he would not be seriously attacked, and +that he was not much afraid of the combined disciplinarian +generalship. + +Further: Halleck claims for himself Grant's success, because Grant +obeyed orders, and Rosecrans did the same. How astonishing, +therefore, that their campaigns ended in victories and not in such +shame as Halleck at Corinth, in 1862. Rosecrans was inspired by +telegraph to change defeat into victory; the indomitable Grant +received by telegraph the fertility of resources shown by him at +Vicksburgh. Oh! Halleck! you cannot succeed in thus belittling the +two heroes, and you may tell your little story to the marines. + +_August 4._--The Proclamation on retaliation is a well-written +document; but like all Mr. Lincoln's acts it is done almost too +late, only when the poor President was so cornered by events, that +shifting and escape became impossible. If I am well informed Stanton +long ago demanded such a Proclamation, but Lincoln's familiar demons +prevented it. Nevertheless Lincoln will be credited for what +intrinsically is not his. + +_August 5: L. B._--Thomas--not Paul--Lincoln's pet, returns to the +Mississippi to organise Africo-American regiments. For six months +they organize, organize and have not yet fifteen thousand in field. +If Stanton had been left alone, we would have to-day in battle order +at least fifty thousand Africo-Americans. + +_August 5: L. B._--All computed together, among all Western +Continental European nations, the Germans, both here and in Germany, +behave the best towards the North. I mean the genuine German people. +Thinkers and rationalists are seldom, if ever, found on the wrong +side. I rejoice to see the Germans behave so nobly. + +_August 5._--The Peterhoff condemned, notwithstanding all the +efforts to the contrary of our brilliant, versatile and highly +erudite in international laws Secretary of state. But Mr. Seward +will not understand the lesson. How could he? + +_August 5: L. B._--At least for the fiftieth time, Seward insinuates +to the public that we are on the eve of a breach with England--but +Seward will prevent it. Oh, Oh! Yes, O Seward! when backed by the +iron clads and by twenty-two millions of a brave and stubborn +people! + +_August 5: L. B._--Poor Stanton, I pity him! After Weed comes the +"little villain," with his puffs. Happily, the _World_ abuses +Stanton, and this alone makes up even for the applause of Weed and +his consorts. + +_August 7: L. B._--COFFEY, Assistant Attorney-General, published a +legal, official opinion on maritime, commercial _copperheadism_; +that is, when an American vessel, from an American port, is sent in +ballast to a neutral port to load there, afterwards to run the +blockade, Coffey proves it to be treason and criminality. The +document is clear, logical, precise and not wordy: not in the style +of the State Department logomachy. Why, O why cannot such younger +men be at the head! Emancipation would have been carried out, +slavery destroyed, the Union restored, rebels crushed, and the +French murderers and imperial lackeys would cut very respectful +capers to please a great people. + +_August 8: L. B._--I shudder as I pass in review what little is done +at such an enormous expenditure of human limbs and of human life, +not to speak of squandered time, labor and money. + +It seems that the prevailing rule is to reach the smallest results +at the greatest possible cost. General Scott, Seward and Lincoln +early laid down that rule. McClellan, that quintessence of all +unsoldierlike capacities, faithfully continued what was already +inaugurated. Halleck almost perfected it; and so it became a chronic +disease of the leading spirits in the Administration, Stanton and +Welles excepted. That sacrilegious, murderous method and rule, at +times was forcibly violated by Grant, by Rosecrans, by Banks, by the +glorious Farragut, by Admiral Porter. The would-be statesmen either +see nothing or do not wish to see what ill-disposed minds could +consider to be an almost premeditated slaughter. + +I know too well that every initiation is with sacrifice or blood. It +is a law of progress, absolute, not made by man, but cut out for him +by fate or providence. In a stream of his mother's life-blood man +enters this world; by the blood of the Redeemer the Christian +becomes initiated to another, called a better world. Sacrifice and +blood prevail throughout the eons of the initiation of human +societies and religions. Through sacrifice and blood the Reformation +became a redeemer. Great results are reached at great cost. I am an +atom in a generation which, to assert her deep, earnest +convictions, never caved in before blood and sacrifice; a generation +that has labored and still labors, spreads seed and begins to +harvest; a generation which regrets nothing, and cheerfully takes +the responsibility of its actions. And with all this, the men of +convictions and of undaunted revolutionary courage in Europe, +bestowed and bestow more care upon any unnecessary sacrifice of +human life than I witness here. By heavens! Marat, Saint Just, +Robespierre, could be considered lambs when compared with the +_faiseurs_ here. And Marat, Saint Just, and Robespierre were +fanatics of ideas: here they are _fanaticised_ by selfishness, +intrigue, helplessness and imbecility. + +_August 9: L. B._--For the last few months men of sound and +dispassionate judgment tried to convince me that there is somewhere, +in high regions, a settled purpose to prolong the war until the next +presidential election. I always disbelieved such assertions; but +now, considering all this criminal sluggishness, I begin to believe +in the existence of such a criminal purpose. + +_August 9: L. B._--All the open and secret Copperhead organs raise a +shrill cry on account of what they pervert into McClellan's general +Report of his unmilitary campaigns. When a commander is in the +field, he is in duty bound, as soon as possible, that is, in the +next few weeks, to send to his superior or to the Government, a +Report of each of his military movements and operations. McClellan +ought to have immediately made a Report to the Government after his +_bloodless victory_ at Centreville and Manassas; a victory crowned +with maple trophies! Then McClellan ought to have sent another +Report after the great success at Yorktown, and so on. Every period +of his campaign ought to have been separately reported. It is done +in all well organized governments and armies, and it is the duty of +the staff of the army to prepare such periodical, successive +Reports. Even if the sovereign himself takes the field, the staff of +the army sends such Reports to the Secretary of War. Nobody stood in +the way of McClellan's doing what it was his imperative duty to do, +and to do immediately. + +But it is unheard of that a commander during a year at the head of +an army, should take another year to prepare his Report. No +self-respecting government would allow such an insubordination, or +accept such a tardy Report. If a government should act upon such a +Report, it would be rather by dismissing from service, etc., the +sluggish--if not worse--commander. + +The so-called "McClellan's Report," concocted by a board of choice +Copperheads in New York, and of which the _World's_ hireling was an +amanuensis, that production is certainly an elaborate essay on +McClellan's campaigns, is certainly bristling with afterthoughts and +_post facta_, as pedestals for the fetish's altar. It must have on +its face the mark of combination, but not of truth. Such a +Report--not written on the spot, in the atmosphere of activity, not +written by officers of the staff, not by the Chief-of-staff--such a +Report cannot command or inspire any confidence; it has not, and +ought not to have any worth in the Government's archives. McClellan +may publish his memoirs, or essays, or anything else, and therein +may shine this labor of a _dasippus_ assisted by vipers. + +_August 11: L. B._--In Washington they seem to insist that Grant +shall take the command of the Potomac Army. If Grant accepts, he +will be a ruined man. Grant ought to have Pope in memory. Grant soon +will see stained his glorious and matchless military record. He will +not withstand the cliques and the underground intrigues of craving, +selfish and unsatisfied ambitions. + +If Halleck could only know what in a European army any tyro knows, +Halleck would make Mr. Lincoln understand that such an appointment +must produce confusion, as no regular staffs exist in our army. (I +spoke somewhere about it.) + +_August 13: L. B._--Can it be possible that several from among the +Republicans, honest leaders, gravitate towards Lincoln, and already +begin to agitate for Lincoln's re-election? If it is so--if the +people submit to such an imposition--O, then, genius of history, go +in mourning! + +_August 13: L. B._--The Board appointed by Stanton to investigate +into the condition of the Africo-Americans, has published its +dissertation--very poor--in the shape of a Report. Stanton intended +to do a good thing by appointing that Board. It did not turn out so +well as Stanton expected. What is the use of expatiating--as do the +three wise men in their Report--on certain psychological qualities +and _non-qualities_ of the Africo-American? The paramount question +is how to organize the emancipated in their condition of freedom. +When Stanton appointed that Board he wished to have elucidated, if +not settled, the way and manner in which to deal with the new +citizens or semi-citizens; but Stanton was the last man to look for +an old psychological re-hash, without any social or moral +signification whatever; a re-hash whose axioms and apothegms are, at +least, a quarter of a century _behind_ the scientific elucidations +on races, on Africans, even on Anglo-Saxons. + +_August 15: L. B._--Weeks ago Grant sent his Report, embracing the +various operations connected with the fall of Vicksburgh. Grant did +not want a year to make a school-boy like composition, as did +McClellan with his quill-holders. Every word of Grant's Report +resounds with military spirit and simplicity. Grant has not to put +truth on the rack and throw dust into people's eyes. Three cheers +for McClellan! Grant has confidence in the volunteers; not so +McClellan, who had only confidence in shams. Grant and his army, at +the best, were the second sons of the Administration--not of the +people; to the last day McClellan was the pet, the spoiled child, +and as such he disgraced his parents, tutors, etc., and ruined his +parent's house. + +_August 15._--A letter published by the Honorable W. Whiting, (who +is now traveling,) occasions much noise. The letter is pointed and +keen, but the writer knows mighty little about international laws. +Almost _a priori_ he recognizes in the rebels, as he says, "only the +rights of belligerents." Only the rights of belligerents! Such +rights are very ample, and for this reason they belong in their +plenitude exclusively to absolutely independent nations. To +recognize _a priori_ such rights in the rebels, is equivalent to +recognizing them as an independent nation. In pure and absolute +principle of modern (not Roman) _jus gentium_, rebels have not only +no belligerent rights, but not any rights at all. Rebels are _ipso +facto_ outlaws in full. Writers like Abbe Galiano, Vatel, etc., for +the sake of humanity and expediency, recommend to the lawful +sovereign to use mercy, to treat rebels _in parte_ as belligerents, +and not as _a priori_ condemned criminals. + +_August 16: L. B._--Seward is to promenade the diplomats over the +country. He is Barnum, the diplomats are the menagerie. Poor Lord +Lyons. Very probably it is Seward's last rocket to draw upon himself +the attention of the people. + +_August 16. L. B._--The probabilities of a rupture with France are +upon the public mind. I still misbelieve it. I have not the +slightest doubt that the _Decembriseur_ is full of treachery towards +the North, and that his Imperialist lackeys blow brimstone against +the Northern principles. But are the French people so debased as to +submit? We shall see. Let that crowned conspirator begin a war of +treason against the North. Before long the French people will put an +end to the war and to the Decembriseur. + +_August 16. L. B._--I learn that Watson has very gravely injured his +health by labor, that is, by being the most faithful servant of the +country and of its cause. I never, anywhere in my life, met a public +officer so undaunted at his duties, so unassuming, so quiet as +Watson, in his duties of Assistant Secretary of War, which are as +thorny as can be imagined. Watson was, and I hope will be for the +future, the terror of lobbyists, of bad contractors, of jobbers--in +one word, the terror of all the leeches of the people's pocket. And +it honors Stanton to have brought into his Department such a man as +Watson. I heard and hear, and read a great many accusations against +Stanton; but I never found any proofs which could virtually diminish +my confidence. To use a classical, stupid, rhetorical figure: +Stanton is not of antique mould. And who is now? But he is a +sincere, devoted and ardent patriot; he broadly comprehends the task +and the duty to save the country, and he sees clearly and distinctly +the ways and means to reach the sacred aim. Stanton may have, and +very many assert that he has, numerous bristles in his character, in +his deportment. Let it be so. It is the worse for him, but not for +the cause he serves. + +_August 16. L. B._--Are the people again to receive a President from +the hand of intriguers, from politicians, or from honest imbeciles? +If the people will stand it, then they deserve to be kept in leading +strings by all that medley. + +_August 16. L. B._--Rosecrans wants mounted infantry. The men of the +day, the men who understand and comprehend the exigencies, the +necessities of the war, they pierce through the rotten crust of +fogyism. That is promise and hope. The great organizers of the +army--the McClellans and the Hallecks--could never have found out +that mounted infantry is necessary, and will render good service. +Mounted infantry was not considered a necessity in the West Point +halls, and Jomini mentions it not. How should a Halleck do so? + +_August 17. L. B._--A defender of slavery, a Copperhead, and a +traitor, differ so little from each other, that a microscope +magnifying ten thousand times would not disclose the difference. A +proslaveryist, a Copperhead, and a traitor, are the most perfect +_tres in unum_. + +_August 18. L. B._--General Meade is absent from the army, and +Humphreys, his chief-of-staff, is temporarily in command. I notice +this fact as a proof that a more rational, intelligent comprehension +prevails in the military service. A chief-of-staff is the only man +to be the _locum-tenens_ of the commander. At Williamsport Humphreys +voted for fight. It would be well if Meade should not return to +again take the command. + +_August 18._--A patriotic gentlewoman asked me why I write a diary? +"To give conscientious evidence before the jury appointed by +history." + +_August 20._--On the first day of the draft, I had occasion to visit +New York. All was quiet. In Broadway and around the City Hall I saw +less soldiers than I expected. The people are quiet; the true +conspirators are thunderstruck. Before long, the names will be known +of the genuine instigators of arson and of murder in July last. The +tools are in the hands of justice, but the main spirits are hidden. +Smart and keen wretches as are the leading Copperheads, they +successfully screen their names; nevertheless before long their +names will be nailed to the gallows. The _World_--which, for weeks +and weeks, so devotedly, so ardently poisoned the minds, and thus +prepared the way for any riot--the _World_ was and is a tool in the +hands of the hidden traitors. The _World_ is a hireling, and does +the work by order. + +_August 21. L. B._--The final destiny of the Potomac Army seems to +be to keep Lee at bay but not to attack him. Oh! the disgraced +soldiers and officers! Chickahominy, Antietam, Fredericksburgh, +Gettysburgh, are the indestructible evidences of the mettle of the +army, and of the poverty or total eclipse of generalship. + +_August 21._--Impressionable, excitable, wave-like agitated as are +my dear American countrymen, they altogether forget _the yesterday_, +and shout the last success. Further: the people cannot see clearly +through the stultifying or the dirty dust blown in the peoples' +eyes; 1st, by the politicians of all hues, from the Woods, Weeds, +Forneys, to the Greeleys, by the simon-pures or the lobby-impures; +2d, by the press of all parties and shades of parties. The people +may again make a mistake. Is not Lincoln hailed as the new Moses? as +the man for the times, as the only one God sent to direct the +people, and to grapple with the stern, earnest emergencies and +perils? Emancipation is not Lincoln's, is not Sumner's, is not +anybody's personal special work. The necessities, the emergencies of +the times and of the hour did it. Their current drifted Mr. Lincoln +irresistibly along, and to a shore where he must land or perish. + +_August 23. L. B._--From the tone of certain papers, and from +private letters, I perceive that Weed-Seward are hard at work to +pacify, to reunite, to save slavery and to leave unnoticed humanity +and national honor. The unterrified Democrats become Weed's allies, +and the alliance is to carry Seward into the White House. _Nous +verrons._ + +Chase is to overturn Seward-Weed and to secure the prize. Oh, the +intriguers. + +On the authority of the published "DIARY," I am asked, even by +letters, "Where is Stanton?" "I do not know, and I do not care," is +my answer. I would however, like to be sure that Stanton is not in +that dirty path. I am Stanton's man, as they call it; but only as +long as I find him to be _a man_. + +_August 24. L. B._--The Democrats are arrogant in asserting their +superior capacity for government, for carrying on the war, and for +other great things. However, I am sure that the so-called Northern +Democrats would have managed the affairs even worse than do now +those sham representatives of the principles of the Republican +party. No faith in a fundamental human, broad principle ever +actuated the hard shell Democrats. McClellan and the immense +majority of generals, have been, or are full-blooded Democrats, and +their warlike prowess dragged the people into deep, deep mire. +Democrats have to thank God for not being in power; in this way +their incapacity to cope with such gigantic events is not exposed. +The other fortunate occurrence for the Democrats is that the +power-holders for the Republican party are--what everybody sees. + +_August 24. L. B._--I very strongly and urgently advised Gen. +Wadsworth to resign. No one in the country has fulfilled more nobly +his civic and patriotic duty. I urged upon his mind that when the +war is finished, the cause of right, of justice, the interests of a +genuine self-government will require true men to rescue the people +from the hands of the politicians. Vainly I remonstrated. Wadsworth +prefers to remain in the service, and to fight the monster. + +_August 24. L. B._--_Chasiana._ The New York leaders of the Chase +scheme make all possible efforts and platitudes to _conciliate_ Weed +and win him over. What dregs all around! + +The immaculate Chase! to look for support to a Weed! To Weed-Seward, +who for twenty-five years fanned the anti-slavery flame! Seward, +whom the anti-slavery wave elevated where he is, and who now kicks +and spits upon the men most ardent in the cause of emancipation! O +dregs! O dregs! + +_August 24: L. B._--The question of confiscation drags itself slowly +on, and soon it may resound in the courts of the whole country. If +confiscation is ever stringently executed, it will generate +law-suits _ad libitum_ and _ad infinitum_. From the first day when +the banner of rebellion was unfolded, _each State_ became an +_outlaw_ in its relations with the Union. Such a rebel State has not +a legal existence, and any legal act whatever between individual +members--or rather, politically, sovereigns in and of the +State--such acts are valueless in relation to the lawful sovereign, +as is the Union. + +The Confiscation Act is based on a wrong principle--the right to +confiscate the whole rebel property in America. This right is +derived from the public law. A conqueror of a country becomes _ipso +facto_ the proprietor of all that belonged to the conquered +sovereign and what is called public property, as domains, taxes, +revenues, public institutions, etc. The rebels claim to be +sovereigns--that is each freeman in each respective State is a +respective sovereign. The area of such revolted State, with all the +lands, cultivated or uncultivated, with the farms, and all +industrial, mercantile or mining establishments whatever, is the +property of the sovereign, or of the sovereigns. Property of a, or +of many sovereigns, is in its whole nature a public property, and as +such, _ipso facto_, is liable to be confiscated by the conqueror. + +_August 24: L. B._--The massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, must +exclusively be credited to those who appointed for that region a +pro-slavery military commander. But the power-holders are not +troubled by more or less blood, by more or less victims of their +incapacity and double-dealing! + +_August 25: L. B._--Any future historian must beware not to seek +light in the newspapers of this epoch. The so-called good press +throws no light on events; that press is not in the hands of +statesmen or of thinkers, or of ardent students of human events, or +of men having for their aim any pursuits of science or knowledge. +The luminaries of the press are no beacons for the people during +this bloody and deadly tempest! For the sake of what is called +political capital, the most simple fact often becomes distorted and +upturned by this political, short-sighted, and selfishly envious +press. + +_August 26: L. B._--All things considered, the inflation of the +currency and the rise in gold has proved to be beneficial to the +country. The agricultural interest, above all, in the West, was +particularly sustained thereby. Wheat and grain would have fallen to +prices ruinous for the farmers. When the gold fell, the farmer felt +it by the reduction of the price of his produce. The agriculturist, +the backbone and marrow of the country, spends less money for +manufactured products than he netted clear profits by the rise in +gold. If the farmer sold now his wheat for six shillings, without +inflation the price might have been four shillings, and then the +farmer would have been bankrupt, unable to pay the taxes. The +inflation saved the greatest interest in the country. And thus +agriculture and industry flourish, the country is not ruined, is not +bankrupt, as the European wiseacres took great pleasure in +foreboding that it would be. So much for _absolute_ laws of +political economy. + +_August 27: L. B._--The New York Republican papers insinuate that a +Mr. Evarts, who was sent to Europe by Mr. Seward, has given +assurances to European governments that slavery will be abolished. +If such declaration was needed, why not make it through the regular +representatives of the country, as are Mr. Adams and Mr. Dayton? Mr. +Seward is incorrigible. I am curious to know where he learned this +original mode of _diplomatizing_. Such unofficial, confidential, +semi-confidential agents confuse European governments. They inspire +very little, if any respect for our statesmanship, and are offensive +to our regularly appointed ministers. What must the crown lawyers in +England have thought of Mr. Evart's great mastery of international +laws? + +_August 30._--Our military powers in Washington, led on and inspired +by Halleck, cannot put an end to guerrillas, or rather to those +highwaymen who rob, so to speak, at the military gates of +Washington. Lieber-Halleck-Hitchcock's treatise frightened not the +guerrillas, but most assuredly the gallows will do it. Everywhere +else the like banditti would be summarily treated; and these +would-be guerrillas here are evidences of the uttermost social +dissolution. They are no soldiers, no guerrillas, and deserve no +mercy. + +_August 31: L. B._--According to the _Tribune_, Mr. Lincoln deserves +all the credit for General Gilmore's success before Charleston. +There we have it! Mr. Lincoln, outdoing Carnot for military sagacity +and capacity, Mr. Lincoln approved Gilmore's plans. Mr. +Lincoln-Halleck aiding--at once understood the laws of ballistics, +and other _et ceteras_ which underlay the plan of every siege. And +now to doubt that Lincoln, with his Halleck, are military geniuses! +O _Tribune_! + +_August 31: L. B._--I learned that Grant most positively refused to +accept the command of the Potomac Army. They cannot ruin Grant--they +will neutralize him. + + + + +SEPTEMBER, 1863. + + Jeff Davis -- Incubuerunt -- O, Youth! -- Lucubrations -- Genuine + Europe -- It is forgotten -- Fremont -- Prof. Draper -- New + Yorkers -- Senator Sumner's Gauntlet -- Prince Gortschakoff -- + Governor Andrew -- New Englanders -- Re-elections -- Loyalty -- + Cruizers -- Matamoras -- Hurrah for Lincoln -- Rosecrans -- + Strategy -- Sabine Pass, etc., etc., etc. + + +_September 1: L. B._--Jeff Davis is to emancipate eight hundred +thousand slaves--calls them to arms, and promises fifty acres of +land to each. Prodigious, marvellous, wonderful--if true. Jeff Davis +will become immortal! With eight hundred thousand Africo-Americans +in arms, Secession becomes consolidated--and Emancipation a fixed +fact, as the eight hundred thousand armed will emancipate themselves +and their kindred. Lincoln emancipates by tenths of an inch, Jeff +Davis by the wholesale. But it is impossible, as--after all--such a +step of the rebel chiefs is as much or even more, a death-warrant of +their political existence, as the eventual and definitive victory of +the Union armies would be. If the above news has any foundation in +truth, then the sacredness of the principle of right and of liberty +is victoriously asserted in such a way as never before was any great +principle. The most criminal and ignominious enterprise recorded in +history, the attempt to make human bondage the corner-stone of an +independent polity, this attempt ending in breaking the corner-stone +to atoms, and by the hands of the architects and builders +themselves. Satan's revolt was virtuous, when compared with that of +the Southern slavers, and Satan's revolt ended not in transforming +Hell into an Eden, as will be the South for the slaves when their +emancipation is accomplished. Emancipation, _n'importe par qui_, +must end in the reconstruction of the Union. + +_September 2: L. B._--Garibaldi to Lincoln. The letter, if genuine, is +well-intentioned trash. I am afraid that this prolific letter-writing +will use up Garibaldi. It seems that in letter-writing Garibaldi +intends to rival Lincoln or Seward. + +_September 3: L. B._--More and more manifestations in favor of +Lincoln's re-election. All the New York Republican papers begin to +be lined with Lincoln. And thus politicians in and out of the press +will-- + + _Incubuerunt mare (people) totumque a sedibus imis._ + +_September 3: L. B._--In the great Barnum diplomatic tour, Seward +killed under him nearly all the diplomats, and returned to Washington +in company with one. Poor Europe, and its representatives, to be used +up in such a way! But it is only the official Europe, the crowned +privileged stratum patched up with rotten relics of massacre (December +2d,) of official, regal heartlessness and of servile cunning. That +crust presses down the genuine Europe, the marrow of mankind. The +genuine Europe is ardent, noble, progressive and coruscant; and from +Cadiz to the White Sea, that genuine Europe is on the side of freedom, +on the side of the North. + +_September 3: L. B._--Lincoln to Grant, July 13. This letter shows +how the President dabbles in military operations. It clearly +establishes Mr. Lincoln's right to be considered at least a Carnot, +if not a Napoleon, _vide_ the Republican newspapers. + +_September 3: L. B._--State Conventions, and the old party-hacks +under arms. Will not the younger generation rise in its might, break +the chains of this intellectual subserviency, scatter the hacks to +the winds, take the lead, enlighten the masses, find out new, not +used-up men, brains and hearts, for the sacred duty of serving the +people. To witness so much intelligence, knowledge, ardor, +elasticity, clear-sightedness as animate the American youth, to +witness all this subdued, curbed by the hacks!--O, youth, awake! + +It is the most sacred duty of the younger generation, to rescue the +country from the hands of the old politicians of every kind; to call +to political paramount activity the better and purer agencies. It is +a task as emphatically, nay, even more, urgent and meritorious than +emancipation of the Africo-Americans. + +_September 4: L. B._--In their official or unofficial quality, +numerous Americans amorously dabble in International questions and +laws. How much the _rights of war_, etc., have been discussed; how +many letters, signed, anonymous, official and unofficial, have been +published--and very little, if any light thrown on these questions. +What a cruel fate of a future historian, who, if conscientious, will +be obliged to read all these darkness-spreading lucubrations! + +_September 5: L. B._--Mr. Lincoln's letter to the Illinois +Convention stirs up the whole country. It is a very, _very_ good +manifesto,--had it not a terrible YESTERDAY. It is a heavy bid for +re-election and may secure it. The Americans forget the _yesterday_, +and Mr. Lincoln's _yesterday!_ ... is full of shiftings, +hesitations, mistakes which draw out the people's life-blood. The +people will forget that a man of energy and of firm purpose in the +White House, such a man would have at once clearly seen his way, and +then a year ago rebellion and slavery would have been crushed. + +A man of energy would not have had for his familiar demons, the +Scotts, the Sewards, the Blairs, the border-state politicians, the +Weeds, etc. + +_September 5: L. B._--The siege of Charleston _tire en longueur_; it +has cost thousand of lives and millions upon millions, and will +still cost more. And it is already forgotten that when nearly two +years ago Sherman and Dupont took Port Royal, Charleston and +Savannah were defenceless; it is forgotten that Sherman asked for +orders to siege the two cities, _but such were not given_ from +Washington, because Mr. Lincoln-Seward (literally) was afraid to get +possession of the focuses of rebellion, and General McClellan, with +one hundred and fifty thousand men in Washington, could not bear the +idea that the rebels should be disturbed either in Centerville or in +their _chivalric_ homes in South Carolina. It is forgotten that +civil and military leaders and chiefs then and there refused to deal +a death blow to the rebellion. + +And as I am _en train_ to recall to memory what is already +forgotten, and what the Illinois letter intends to wholly erase from +the people's memory; I go on. + +In the first days and months after the explosion of the rebellion, +Mr. Lincoln was as innocent of any wish to emancipate the slaves, as +could be a Seward, or a Yancey, or McClellan, or a Magruder or a +Wise or a Halleck. All this is forgotten. It is forgotten that +General Butler is the earliest initiator of emancipation, and that +to him exclusively belongs the word and the fact of an emancipated +_contraband_. It is forgotten that when Butler began to emancipate +the contrabands, the _big men_ in the Administration, Lincoln, +General Scott, and Seward, became almost frantic against Butler for +thus introducing the "nigger" into the struggle. The fate of Fremont +is forgotten. Fremont was ahead of the times. Fremont emancipated +when Lincoln-Seward-Scott-Blair, etc., heartily wished to save and +preserve slavery. Down went Fremont. + +Early in the summer of 1861 General Fremont wished to do what was now +accomplished by the, until yet, _sans pareil_ Grant--that is, to clear +the Mississippi at a time when neither Island No. 10, nor Vicksburgh, +nor Port Hudson nor any other port was fortified. But the plan +displeased and frightened the powers in Washington. Fremont was never +to be pardoned for having shown farsightedness when _the great men_ +deliberately blindfolded themselves. Fremont might not be a Napoleon, +not a captain; Fremont committed military mistakes,--other generals +commit military crimes. + +The angel of justice very easily will white-wash Fremont from +military responsibility for the unnecessary waste of human life; and +with all his various faults Fremont's aspirations are patriotic and +lofty, and he is by far a better and nobler man than all his +revilers put together. But all this seems to be forgotten. + +It is, or will be forgotten, what a bloody trail over the North is +left, and has been imprinted by the half measures, the indecisions, +and the vascillations of the Administration. + +The medley composed of politicians, jobbers, contractors, and +newspapers, already scream "Hosanna," and attempt to spatter with +lies and dust the road to the White House, and thus to prepare the +way. And the medley already shakes hands, and enemies kiss each +other, because if their _elect_ succeeds, there will be peace over, +and pickings for all the world. But the justice of history will +overtake them all, and the better, younger generation will crush +them to atoms. + +_September 6. L. B._--Wilkes' _Spirit of the Times_ maintains its +paramount, independent position in the American press. I cannot +detect any shadow of a politician in its columns. It is all over +independent and patriotic. The _Spirit_ fights the miscreants. + +"_Principles not men_," is an axiom, but the axiom must be well +understood and applied, and it has its limitations. Are bad, +worthless, insincere, selfish men to be the agencies and the factors +of great and lofty principles? Is such a thing possible? Is the +example of Judas forgotten? O, you Bible-reading people, can Judases +and rotten consciences carry out good principles? The press that +teaches and preaches _principles not men_, that never dares to +attack bad men in its own ranks, such a press betrays the confidence +of the people, and degrades below expression the elevated and noble +position which the press ought to occupy in the development of the +progress of human society. + +_September 6._--Computing together and comparing the mental and +intellectual characteristics, the manifestations and utterances of +passions in the Africo American and in the Irish of the Iro-Roman +nursery, the anthropologist, the psychologist and the philosopher +must give the palm to the Africo-American. And nevertheless Doctors +of Divinity and many truly religious men plead in favor of slavery, +that is, of brute force. I ask all such to meditate the words of +Professor J. W. DRAPER, in his great and profound _History of the +Intellectual Development of Europe: That brute force must give way +to intellect, and that even the meanest human being has rights in +the sight of God._ + +_September 10: New York._--Head-quarters of all kinds of politicians, +of schemers, of perpetrators of treasonable attempts, of falsifiers, +of poisoners of the people's mind. The rendezvous of those who +devour the vitals of the country--who, as contractors, jobbers, +brokers, stock and gold speculators, _agioteurs_, etc. are the most +ardent patriots, and wish that the war may be indefinitely +continued. In the columns of the _Herald_ the future historian will +find the best information concerning all that--not-blessed race. The +race deserves to be recorded and _scavenged_ in the _Herald_. + +And nevertheless New York contains the most pure and the most +devoted patriots. New York and New Yorkers have been foremost in +coming to the rescue when the matricide rebels dealt their first +blow. From New York came the best and the most energetic urgings on +the gasping and vascillating Administration. + +The New Yorkers originated the Sanitary Commission, for which I can +find no words of sufficiently warm praise. New York contains many +young, fresh, elevated and noble minds and intellects. Why, O why do +some of them disappear in the muddy part of the great city, and +others are overawed and overleaped by the hacks and by the +politicians, or the so-called wire-pullers. + +_September 10. New York._--It is the place to ascertain the +manoeuvres of political schemers. Those who know, most emphatically +assure me of the existence of the following _Sewardiana_. + +1. Seward has given up in despair all dreams of finding people to +back him for the next Presidency. + +2. Seward hesitated between McClellan and Banks, + +3. And finally settled on Lincoln; + +4. And although afraid of being finally shelved by Lincoln, he +advocates Lincoln's re-election-- + +5. As being the paramount means to politically murder Chase. + +Oh American people! Oh American people! how those foul political +pilferers dice for thy blood and thy destinies! + +Years ago, I justified the existence and asserted the necessity of +politicians in the political public life of America. I considered +them an unavoidable and harmless result of free democratic +institutions. [See "America and Europe."] At that time I observed +the politician from a distance, and reasoned on him altogether +metaphysically, after the so-called German fashion. Since 1861 I +have come into personal contact with the genus politician--and oh! +what a monstrous breed they are! + +_September 10. New York._--Senator Sumner on our foreign relations. +The Senator enumerates all the violations of good comity, of +international duties, of the obligations of neutrals, violations so +deliberately and so maliciously perpetrated by England and by +France. But why has the Senator forgotten to ascend to one of the +paramount causes? Previous to England or France, the State +Department in Washington and Mr. Lincoln recognized in the rebels +_the condition of belligerents_. It was done by the Proclamation +instituting the blockade. The _Blue Book_ fully proves that already +months before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration the English Government had +a perfect knowledge of the vascillating policy which was to be +inaugurated after March 1, 1861. At the same time, the English +Government knew well that already previous to March 4, the rebel +conspirators were fully decided on carrying out their treacherous +aim across streams of blood. A long war was imminent, and a +recognition of the rebels as _in parte_ belligerents, could not have +been avoided. A part of the English nation, a part of the English +Cabinet, was and is overflowing with the most malicious ill will, +and such ones crave for an occasion to satisfy their hatred. But our +domestic and foreign policy singularly served our English +ill-wishers. + +I deeply regret that the Senator preferred the halls of the Cooper +Institute to the hall of the United States Senate; that he threw the +gauntlet to Europe as a lecturer, when for days and months he could +have done it so authoritatively as a Senator of the United States; +could have done it from his senatorial chair, and in the fulfilment +of the most sacred public and patriotic duty. How could the Senator +thus belittle one of the most elevated political positions in the +world, that of a Senator of the United States? + +Not so happy is the part of the lecture concerning _Intervention_. +It is rather sentimental than statesmanlike. _Intervention_ is, and +will remain, an act of physical, material force, and history largely +teaches that _Intervention_, even for higher moral purposes, was +always exercised by the strong against the weak, the strong always +invoking "higher motives." Thus did the Romans; and about a century +ago, the Powers which partitioned Poland began by an _Intervention_, +justified on "higher moral, etc. grounds." + +_September 11: New York._--Prince Gortschakoff's answer to the +demonstration of lying, hypocritical, official diplomatic sympathies +made in favor of the Poles by the cabinets of France, of England, +and of Austria. The Gortschakoff notes are masterpieces for their +clear, quiet, but bold and decided exposition and argument, and in +the records of diplomacy those notes will occupy the most prominent +place. O, why cannot Mr. Seward learn from Gortschakoff how not to +put gas in such weighty documents? Could Seward learn how to be +earnest, precise and clear, without spread-eagleism? The greater and +stronger a nation, the less empty phraseology is needed when one +speaks in the nation's name. + +_September 15._--Returned to Washington. From what I see and hear, +Mr. Lincoln is earnestly and hard at work to secure his re-election. +I hope that Mr. Lincoln is as earnest in his efforts to destroy +Lee's army and to put an end to the guerrillas who rob to the right +and to the left, and under the nose of the supreme military +authorities. + +Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, always the same--active, +intelligent, clear and far-sighted. Andrew is the man to act for, +and in the name of the most intelligent community on the globe, +which the State of Massachusetts undoubtedly is. As I have observed +several times, Andrew is among the leading (_Americanize_, tip-top,) +men of the younger generation, is no politician, and never was one. +If a civilian is to be elected to the Presidency, Andrew ought to be +the choice of the people, if the people will be emancipated from the +politicians. + +I learn that that monster, the politician, has almost wholly +disappeared from New England, above all from Massachusetts. The New +England people are too earnest and too intelligent to be the prey of +the monster. Sound reason throttled the politician. All hail to this +result of the bloody storm! I hope the other States will soon follow +the example of Massachusetts. + +The State of Massachusetts and the city of Boston noiselessly spend +millions for their coast and harbor defences. Governor Andrew has +the confidence of the people, and is untiring in procuring the best +war material. He sent an agent to England to buy heavy guns. + +If the English government take in sail, if it come to its senses and +cease to be the rebels' army and navy arsenal, then all this will be +due to such quiet and decisive active demonstrations as that above +mentioned in Boston, in Massachusetts, and the similar activity of +the New Yorkers, and not at all to any persuasive arguments of Mr. +Seward's dispatches. + +_September 16._--Mr. Seward is slightly mending his ways. His last +circular for the foreign market is considerably sobered, and almost +barren of prophecy. Almost no spread-eagleism, no perversion, +although geography and history, of course, are a little maltreated. + +And so, Mr. Prophet, you at least recognize the utility of arming +the Africo-Americans. And who is it that openly and by secret advice +and influence in the cabinet and out of it, who, during more than a +year, did his utmost to counteract all the efforts to emancipate and +to arm the oppressed? + +_September 16._--The draft is seriously complained of, and the +drafted desert in all directions. To tell the truth, drafting is +odious to every nation, whatever be its government. But it is a dire +necessity, and it is impossible to avoid or to turn it. The draft +became here imperatively necessary by the long uninterrupted chain +of helplessness and mismanagement of events, the sacrifice of blood +and of time. But for the advice of the Scotts, of the Sewards, of +the Blairs, but for the military prowess of McClellan and his +_minions_, but for the high military science of a Halleck, Mr. +Lincoln would not have been obliged to draft. + +In the West, everything is action, operation and victory. Grant, +Rosecrans, Banks, their officers and soldiers honor the American +name; even good Burnside acts and succeeds;--but here the Army of +the Potomac is observing and watching Lee's brow! McClellan's spirit +seems still to permeate these blessed generals, and then +Halleckiana, and then God knows what. The fear of losing won laurels +probably palsies the brains of the commanders; at any rate it is +certain that the inactivity of the Potomac army throws unsurpassed +splendor on the annals of this war. O, the brave, brave soldiers and +officers! how they are maltreated! + +_September 16._--Matamoras will fall into the hands of the +_Decembriseur's_ freebooters, and then Texas will be almost lost. +Matamoras ought long ago to have been seized by us, or at least very +closely blockaded and surrounded; then all the war-contraband to +Texas would have had an end. + +In 1861, when microscopical specks began to loom over Mexico's +destinies, when the _Decembriseur_ began to feel the pulse of Spain +and of England, I most respectfully suggested to Mr. Seward to +blockade Matamoras. No foreign country or government could call us +to account for such a step, if the Mexican government would not +protest. And it was so easy to satisfy and hush the Mexican +liberals. Besides, a paragraph in the treaty of Mexico expressly +stipulates that any violation of the respective territory will not +be considered as a _casus belli_, but the case will be peacefully +investigated, etc., etc. Surely the Mexican government would have +preferred to see Matamoras in our hands, than in those of that +bloody Forey's bands. + +_September 17._--"Loyalty," "loyalty," resounds from all sides. +Loyalty to principles? Why, no. Loyalty to Mr. Lincoln and to his +official crew. If such maxims mark not the downfall of manhood, then +I am at loss to find what does. Such a construction of loyalty +brings many otherwise honest and intelligent men to foster Mr. +Lincoln's re-election. + +_September 17._--At the beginning of the war, Lord John Russell +issued orders for the regulation of the English ports in cases of +belligerents. Our great Doctor of International Law in the State +Department mistook such municipal, English regulations; he considers +them to be absolute international rules and principles, and +concocts instructions for our cruisers, instructions which smell as +if written under Lord Lyons' dictation. As always, Neptune stands up +for the national interests and for the interests of his tars, +because the instructions concocted by the Doctor make it impossible +for our cruisers to fulfill their duties. As always, Mr. Lincoln +bends rather towards the Doctor, who in his world-embracing +_humanitarianism_ defends the interests of all the neutrals at the +cost of the interests of the country and of our brave navy. The +Doctor was right when, some time ago, he compared himself to Christ. + +_September 17._--The border-State politicians establish that the +revolted States are not out of the Union. The States are no +abstractions, no metaphysical notions, but geographical and +political entities. They are States because they are peopled with +individuals, free, intelligent, and who, to give a legality to their +rebellion, claim to be sovereigns. It is not the soil constituting a +State that represents a sovereignty, but the soil or State acquires +political signification through the population dwelling in or on it. +When the population revolted, the State revolted. From Jeff Davis to +the lowest "clay-eater," each rebel who took up arms claims to have +done this in the exercise of his sovereign will and choice. The +revolt quashed all privileges conceded by the Union to a State, and +the Union reconquers its property in reconquering the former States. + +_September 18._--Hurrah for Lincoln! He sends an expedition to +Texas, say his admirers. He forgets nothing. Well, why has Lincoln +forgotten Texas all this time? Notwithstanding all the prayers of +the Texans and of the northern patriots, I am not sure that at this +moment it is expedient to break up our armies into smaller +expeditions instead of concentrating them in Tennessee, Georgia, and +here. Strike on the head or at the heart if you wish to kill the +monster, but not at its extremities. But perhaps the Government and +Halleck have men enough to do the one and the other. But why not put +at the head of the Texan expedition a noble, high-minded, devoted +patriot, such as General Hamilton, instead of putting a Franklin, +unknown to the Texans, who can inspire no confidence, and of whom +the best that can be said is, that he never succeeded in anything, +and disorganized everything. See Pope in Virginia, Burnside at +Fredericksburgh. + +If Hamilton, the Texan, is to participate in this expedition, not +Lincoln and his advisers put Hamilton there--the pressure exercised +by the combined efforts of the governors of New England States did +the work. + +Hurrah for Lincoln and for his crew. + +_September 19._--Governor Andrew's activity and initiative are +admirable. More than any body in the country, Andrew has done to +clear up, and to firmly establish the condition of Africo-Americans +as soldiers, and to push them up to the level with other men. + +_September 19._--_Hurrah for Lincoln_, who hurries the organization +of Africo-American regiments! Oh yes! he hurries them; _festina +lente_. And how many regiments have been organized in Norfolk, which +ought to have been established as _the_ central point to attract +and to organize contrabands? Is not Virginia the first in the slave +States for the number of slaves? In the hands of a clear-sighted +man, Norfolk ought to have been used as a glue to which the slaves +would have wandered from all parts of Virginia, and even from North +Carolina. Norfolk ought to have to-day an army of fifty thousand +Africo-Americans born in Virginia, and not a few regiments of them +raised in the North. An Africo-American army in Norfolk doubtless +would have more impressed Jeff Davis and Lee, than they are +impressed by the marches of the commanders of the Potomac army. And +what is done? Oh, hurrah for Lincoln! A General Naglee, or of some +other name, appointed by Halleck, sustained by Lincoln, and by, who +knows whom--commands in Norfolk. This general so appointed, and so +sustained is the most devoted worshipper of slavery. This favored +general hob-nobs with the slave-making, slave-breeding and +slave-selling aristocracy of Norfolk and of the vicinity, looks down +upon the _nigger_ with all the haughtiness of a plantation whip, and +haughtily snubs off the not slave-breeding Union men in Norfolk, the +mechanics, and the small farmers. Mr. Lincoln knows this all and +keeps the general. Rhetors roar, Hurrah for Lincoln. + +_September 19._--Massachusetts and New England men and women! you +true apostles! your names are unknown but they are recorded by the +genius of humanity. These men and women feel what is the true +apostolate. They follow our armies, take care of the contrabands, +take care of poor whites, establish schools for the children and for +the grown up of both hues, and thus they reorganize society. O +sneer at them you fashionables, you flirts, you ...; but such men +and women, and not you, make one believe in the highest destinies of +our race. + +_September 20._--Grant is the only general who accomplished an +object, showed high, soldier-like qualities, organized and commanded +an excellent army. But scarcely had _Grant_ taken Vicksburgh, when +his army was broken up and scattered in all directions, he himself +was neutralized and reduced to inactivity. It could be considered a +crime against the people's cause--but--hurrah for Lincoln. + +After the shame of Corinth, 1862, the Western army disappeared in +the same way. But it was nobody's fault, oh no! So it is nobody's +fault that Grant is shelved. Will a man start up in the next +Congress and call the malefactors to account? + +_September 20._--This day, General Meade has about eighty thousand +men. General Meade himself estimates the enemy's forces in front of +him at no more than forty thousand men, and General Meade does +nothing beyond feeling his way. O, cunctator! + +_September 20._--The partisans of Mr. Lincoln admit that he came +slowly _to the mark_, but he came to it. Of course, better late than +never, but in Mr. Lincoln's case, the people's honor and the +people's blood paid for Mr. Lincoln's experimental ways. Mr. Lincoln +may now be serious in a great many matters, but if he could have +been serious a year ago--how much money would have been economized? + +Hurrah for Lincoln! + +_September 21._--Rosecrans worsted. Burnside joined him not. They +say that Burnside disobeyed orders. I doubt it, and would wish to +see what orders have been given. Meade or Halleck quietly allow a +third of Lee's army to go and help to crush Rosecrans. + +_September 21._--General Franklin was, in his own way, successful at +the Sabine Pass, as every where. But how could the government +entrust him with this expedition? He graduated _first_ at West +Point. Washingtonians and tip-top West Pointers speak highly of +Franklin. Enough!-- + +_September 22._--The rebels concentrated every available and +fighting man on Chattanooga; we scattered our forces to all winds. +The rebels march on concentrating lines, we select radii running out +in the infinite, or in opposite directions. That is the head +quarters paramount strategy. + +Rosecrans is worsted. Hurrah for Lincoln, who believes in Halleck! + +And to know, as I know, that our army and country has young men who +could carry on the war better in darkness than Lincoln-Halleck do in +broad daylight! + +_September 22._--By depleting the banks by means of loans, by +establishing the so-called National Bank, by creating an army of +officials, by taking into his hands the traffic in the great staple +of the rebel States, by providing the South with the various +Northern products, by holding all the money in his hand, Mr. Chase +concentrated into his hand a patronage never held by any secretary, +nay, scarcely if ever, held by a president. Mr. Chase has more +patronage than even any constitutional king. It is to be seen how +all this will end. + +_September 22._--On all sides I hear the question put, Who is +Gilmore? It seems to me that Gilmore is one of the men generated by +new events and not by Washington or West Point estimation. It seems +to me that Gilmore may be one of the representative men of the +better generation, so luxuriant here, and whose advent to power +would save the country; a generation who alone can give the last +solution, and whose advent I expect as the Jews expected the +Messiah, and I shall hail it as did Anna, Elizabeth, Simeon, etc. +put together. + +_September 23._--As a result of the Meade-Halleck combined military +wisdom, a part of Lee's army fought Rosecrans at Chattanooga, and +may in a very short time be again in Virginia, and it is nobody's +fault. O strategy! thy name is imbecility! + +_September 23._--Better news from Rosecrans. The stubbornness of the +troops, the stubbornness of General Thomas saved the day. +Reinforcements join Rosecrans now. But why not previous to the +battle? If Rosecrans had had men enough on the 19th and 20th, then +Bragg would have been broken, and the rebels almost on their last +legs. But perhaps such glory and victory are not needed! Hurrah for +Lincoln! + +_September 24._--Many of Mr. Lincoln's partisans admit that at the +most favorable calculation, the results obtained up to to-day by the +war and by emancipation, could easily have been obtained by a +smaller expenditure of life, blood, money and time, if any will, and +foresight, and energy presided at the helm. And, nevertheless, +hurrah for Lincoln! And the highest destinies of the principle of +self-government to again be trusted in such hands! + +_September 24._--How could Meade let Lee send troops to Bragg, and +why Meade attacked or attacks not? Those rebel generals show but +little consideration for our commanders, and it would be curious to +know what Lee and his companions think of our Marses. It seems that +a conception of a plan of campaign or of a military operation is +altogether beyond the reach of Meade's _cerebellum_. As commander of +a division, of a corps, Meade had _dash in him_--he lost all when +elevated above the level. + +I am sure that Stanton urges or urged Meade to do something, without +telling him how or where. Had Lincoln, had Halleck meddled? If so, +Meade ought to tell it. The best to do for a commander of the Army +of the Potomac is to keep his secrets to himself and have in his +confidence only his chief-of-staff--not to tell them to any one in +the camp, and still less to any one in Washington. But it seems that +Meade had no plan whatever in view, and had no secrets to keep or +to tell. + +_September 25._--It is to-day exactly a week since Rosecrans was +attacked. At the head-quarters they ought to have known Rosecrans' +force, and the imperative, the paramount necessity of reinforcing +him in time, as they _ought_ to have known that Lee sent to Bragg a +part of his army. But probably the precious head of the +head-quarters is confused by some translation, or by reading +proof-sheets instead of reports. By simply looking on the map, the +head-quarters--perhaps headless--ought to have found out that +Chattanooga and Atlanta are the keys of the black country, and that +the rebels--who neither write silly books nor translate--will +concentrate all available forces to stop Rosecrans's advance, and +eventually to crush him. Weeks ago the head-quarters ought to have +reinforced Rosecrans; it is done to-day, a week after the defeat. +Hurrah for Lincoln, who sustains a Halleck! + +One of the most cautious men that I met in life, and who is in a +position to be well informed, in the most cautious and distant +manner suggested to me that Rosecrans is obnoxious to the +head-quarters, and that in G street, Washington, they may have +wished to see Rosecrans worsted. + +Hurrah for Lincoln! Halleck is his true prophet! + +Shake an apple tree, and the foul fruit falls down; and so it is +with Halleck's western military combinations. All the army of Grant +running dispersed on centrifugal radii, Burnside sent in a direction +opposite to Rosecrans. Bravo, Halleck! You outdo McClellan! + +_September 25._--It seems that with a little, a very little dash, we +could go in the rear of Lee, who is weakened by sending troops to +crush Rosecrans. But we have given Lee time to fortify his position, +and of course we will wait until Lee is again strong, either by +position or by numbers. Then we march a few miles onwards, more +miles backwards, and what not? What splendid combinations coruscate +from the head-quarters here, or in the army! Caesar, Napoleon, +Frederick, bow your heads in dust before our great captains! + +_September 26._--It seems that at Chattanooga the rebels massed +their infantry in columns _per_ battalion, and Crittenden's and +McCook's troops could not withstand the attack. It was not at West +Point that the rebel generals learned the like continental tactics. +It seems that the rebels like to learn. + +_September 27._--In defence of the _Franklinade_ at the Sabine Pass, +it is alleged that the expedition had bad old vessels, and was +poorly fitted out. Then why make it? It is a crime in this country +to complain of any want of material and of bad vessels--provided no +one steals thereby. In America, not to have an adequate material? +What an infamous slander on the most industrious people! Not +material, but brains, or something else are not adequate. But, of +course, it is nobody's fault, and nobody will be taken to account. + +_September 29._--Hooker is to have a command, and to supersede +Burnside. Probably again a separate command. If generals refuse to +serve under each other, under the plea of seniority, at once expel +such _recalcitrant_ generals from the service; better and younger +men will be found. The French Convention beheaded such generals, not +on paper, but physiologically. The French Directory was not a master +of honesty or energy, but it had sufficient energy to select +Napoleon, twenty-six years old, over the heads of older generals, +and put him in command of the Army of the Alps, which in his hands +became the Army of Italy. And as long as the world shall stand, the +consequences of that violation of the rule of seniority will not be +forgotten. + +_September 29._--General Thomas ought to have the command, if +Rosecrans failed, but not Hooker or Butterfield. + +Halleck's _officina_ of military incongruities and to unmilitary +combinations ought to be shut up, and the occupants sent about the +world. The War Department and the President would get better advice +from the young Colonels in the Department, and around Stanton, than +it gets from all that concern in G street. + +_September 29._--The papers say that all over Europe and the rest of +the world Seward _ex officio_ scatters Sumner's Cooper Institute +oration. Well may Seward do it. Sumner suppressed true events, not +to hurt Seward. + +Now Sumner will find Seward an admirable statesman. + +_September 30._--The suspension of the _habeas corpus_ makes great +noise. It was emphatically necessary. But it would not have been +emphatically, indeed not in the least necessary, if the domestic and +war policy were different. Then the people would not have been +disheartened. If the people's holy enthusiasm--so dreaded in +Washington--were not so sacrilegiously misused and squandered, +volunteers would be forthcoming. + +_September 30._--If Lincoln-Halleck could create a military +department on the moon, they would instantly send thither some +troops and a major-general, so strong is their passion to break up +the armies into fragmentary bodies. + +_September 30._--If this war has already devoured or destroyed three +hundred thousand men in dead, crippled, and disabled in various +ways, then the responsibility is to be divided as follows: + +_a_ 100,000 lost by the policy initiated by Lincoln, Seward, Scott. + +_b_ 100,000 to be credited to McClellan and Halleck's military +combinations; Halleck by half with Lincoln. + +_c_ 100,000 to be credited to the war itself. + +_September 30._--England mends her ways, and stops the arming of +vessels for the rebels. The _Decembriseur_ more and more +treacherous--as a matter of course. + +_September 30._--I understand now, what I never could understand in +Europe. I understand how an all polluting power can force into +alliance men of strong convictions, but of the most deadly opposite +social and political extremes. Such extremes meet in the wish to put +an end to a power whom they hate and despise. + + + + +OCTOBER, 1863. + + Aghast -- Firing -- Supported -- Russian Fleet -- Opposition -- + Amor scelerated -- Cautious -- Mastiffs -- _Grande guerre_ -- + Manoeuvring -- Tambour battant -- Warning, etc., etc., etc. + + +_October 1._--Rosecrans, Bragg, Lee, Meade, Gilmore, Dahlgren and +the iron-clads keep the nation breathless aghast. A terrible and +painful lull. The politicians furiously continue their mole-like +work; election, re-election is inscribed on the mole hills. + +_October 2._--Chase men fire into Blair's men, and Blair's men are +supposed to be Lincoln's men. The skirmishing, the scouting before +the battle. But the day of battle is yet far off, and the proverb, +"many a slip," etc., may yet save the nation from becoming a prey of +politicians. + +_October 3._--News arrives that reinforcements sent from here +reached Rosecrans. For the first time the troops have been +forwarded with such rapidity. The War Department has brought almost +to perfection the system of transportation of large bodies. The +head-quarters, who combine, decide and direct the movements, the +distribution, and the scattering of troops all over the country +could have therefore ordered the troops to Rosecrans, and the War +Department would have rapidly forwarded them there. And if Grant's +army was not broken, and he himself virtually shelved or +neutralized--if he had marched towards Georgia, Secession would have +been compressed to two or three States; Bragg crushed, Alabama and +Georgia rescued! Hurrah for Lincoln-Halleck. + +_October 4._--The Russian fleet evokes an unparalleled enthusiasm in +New York, and all over the country. _Attrappez_ treacherous England +and France! The Russian Emperor, the Russian Statesman Gortschakoff, +and the whole Russian people held steadfast and nobly to the North, +to the cause of right and of freedom. Diplomatic bickerings here +could not destroy the genuine sympathy between the two nations. + +_October 4._--The probable majority in the next Congress is the +great object of present calculation and speculation. The +Administration seems to be of the opinion, that a small republican +majority will do as well, because it will be more compact and more +easily to be played upon. God save the country from a majority +_twistable_ by the Administration! If the majority is small, then it +may be unable to drag such dead-weight as was the Administration +directed by its master spirit. + +The Administration ought to be dusted and pruned. This +Administration especially needs to be shaken and kept always on the +_qui vive_ by an honest and a patriotic opposition. The opposition +made by Copperheads is neither honest nor patriotic. Opposition is a +vital element of parliamentary government; and as by a curse, the +opposition here is made not to acts of the Administration--the +Copperheads wish to throttle the principle which inspires the best +part of the people. If it was possible to have an opposition strong +enough to control the misdeeds of the Administration, to serve for +the Administration as a telescope to penetrate space, and as a +microscope to find out the vermin: if such an opposition could be +built up, it would have forced the Administration to act vigorously +and decidedly, it could have preserved the Administration from +repeated violations of the rules of common sense, and in certain +Administrative brains the opposition could have kindled sagacity and +farsightedness:--such counterpoise would have spared thousands and +thousands of lives, and thousands of millions of money. + +_October 6._--Meade will retreat or already retreats. The choice of +the army, Meade, has not yet greatly justified itself. And Meade, +too, builds up in the army a clique of generals, and therein Meade +begins to imitate McClellan. Likewise McClellan seems to have been +Meade's model at Williamsport, and, McClellan-like, Meade has wasted +precious time. + +And thus the month of October sees us on the defensive on the whole +line, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. After two and a half years +of military misdirection, of rivers of blood, of mines of +money--there we are. + +Hurrah for Lincoln and for his apostles! + +_October 6._--How the world's history is handled, twisted, and +_bungled_. Wiseacres put history on the rack to evidence their own +ignorance. The one invokes England's example during Wellington's +expedition to Spain, as if that war in the Peninsula had been a +civil war, and England's integrity, national independence, and +political institutions had been endangered. And another compares +this war to the civil wars of Rome, and censures the impatience of +those who wish for more energy in the Administration. Do the +wiseacres wish for an + + Altera jam teritur bellis civilibus aetas. + +Others point to Caesar, and forget that Caesar fought almost in person +everywhere, in Europe, Africa, and Asia. + +Great commanders-in-chief point out to their subordinates the +example of Napoleon and of Frederick visiting their pickets. Yes, +great military scholars! Frederick and Napoleon visited the pickets +when their armies faced--nay, when they almost touched the lines of +the enemy. But Frederick and Napoleon were with the armies--they +were in the tents, and directed not the movements of armies from a +well warmed and cosy room or office. + +_October 6._--Blair, a member of the Cabinet, in a public speech +delivered in Maryland, most bitterly attacks the emancipationists +and emancipation. Blair is perfectly true to himself. That speech +would honor a Yancey. Blair peddles for Mr. Lincoln's re-election. +Blair thus semi-officially spoke for the President, and for the +Cabinet. Such at least is the construction put in England on an +out-door speech made by a member of the Cabinet, or else another +member takes another occasion to refute the former. Mr. Splendid +Chase is a member of the Cabinet, and claims to represent there the +aspirations, the tendencies, and the aims of the radicals and of the +emancipationists. Such a conflict between two members of the Cabinet +shakes the shaky situation. What will Chase do? Nothing, or very +little. + +_October 7._--Months, weeks and days of the most splendid weather, +and Meade, the choice of the West Point clique in the army, Meade +did nothing. If Meade had not, or has not troops enough, why is not +Foster ordered here with all he has? Keep Fortress Monroe well +garrisoned, and for a time abandon the few points in North Carolina. +Destroy Lee, and then a squad of invalids will reconquer North +Carolina, or that State may then reconquer itself. This, or some +other combination ought to be made. I am told that more than seven +hundred thousand men are now on the Paymasters' rolls. Where are +they? Is it forgery or stealing? Where, oh where are the paid men? +On paper or in the grave? If the half, three hundred and fifty +thousand men, were well kept in hand, Lee and Bragg ought to be +annihilated. + +Hurrah for Lincoln and Halleck! + +_October 8._--From various sides I am assured that Stanton passed +into the camp of Lincoln, with horse, foot and artillery. I doubt +it, but--all is possible in this good-natured world. Stanton, like +others, may be stimulated by the _amor sceleratus_ of power. + +_October 8._--Lee's Report, containing the operations after the +battle of Chancellorsville, the invasion of Pennsylvania, and his +recrossing of the Potomac at Williamsport, is published now. But +Lee, a true soldier, made his report in the last days of July, +therefore almost instantly after the campaign was finished. +Sympathizers with McClellan's essays on military or on other +matters! there is another example for you, how and when such things +ought to be done. Meade has not yet made his Report. + +_October 9._--The cautiousness of Meade and his fidelity to +McClellan-like warfare are above admiration. General Buford, brave +and daring, weeks ago offered to make with his cavalry a raid in the +rear of Lee and destroy the railroads to the south-west--those main +arteries for Virginia. The offer was vetoed by the commander of the +Potomac army. Had Lee ever vetoed Stewart's raids? Lee rather +stimulated and directed them. + +_October 10._--And the power-holders let loose their mastiffs. And +the mastiffs ran at my heels and tried to tear my inexpressibles and +all. And they did not, because they could not. Because my friends +(J. H. Bradley,) stood by me. And the people's justice stepped in +between the mastiffs and me, and I exclaim with the miller of +Potsdam, "There are judges in Washington." + +_October 11._--I most positively learn that even Thurlow Weed urged +upon the President the immediate removal of Halleck, and even +Thurlow Weed could not prevail. Many and many sins be forgiven to +the Prince of the Lobby, to the man who understood how to fish out a +fortune in these national troubles. + +_October 12._--_Caesar morituri te salutant_, say our brave soldiers +to Lincoln. + +The Meades and the McClellans, like most of the greatnesses of the +West Point clique, have no impulse, no sense for attack, because +what is called _la grande guerre_, that is the offensive war, was +not among the special objects of the military education in West +Point. This is evident by the pre-eminence given to engineering, and +to the engineers who represent the defensive war; and therefore the +contrast to the _grande guerre_. Some of our generals, as Grant, +Rosecrans, Reno, Reynolds, and others, and as I hear likewise of +Warren, made and make up in enthusiasm for the deficiency of +the West Point education. But the majority of the _educated_ +Potomac commanders and generals were not, and are not much troubled +by enthusiasm. + +_October 12._--In his answer to the Missouri patriotic deputation, +Mr. Lincoln, with one eye at least to the re-election, proves to +the observer that he, Lincoln, has not yet found out which party +will be the stronger when the election shall be at the door. Mr. +Lincoln has not yet made his choice between the radical, immediate +emancipationists and those who wish a slow, do-nothing, successive, +_pro rata_ emancipation. Not having yet found it out, Mr. Lincoln +has not yet fully decided which direction finally he has to take; +and therefore he shifts a little to the right, a little to the left, +and tries to hush up both parties. Our so characteristic military +operations are closely connected with the vascillating policy and +with the hesitation to cut the knot. + +_October 13._--Unparalleled in the world's history is the manner in +which the war is conducted here, from May, 1861, to this day. The +annals of the Asiatic, ancient, and of modern Tartar warfare, the +annals of Greece, of Macedon, of Rome, the annals of all wars fought +in Europe since the overthrow of the Romans down to the day of +Solferino, all have nothing similar to what is done here. This new +method henceforth will constitute an epoch in military _un_-science. + +_October 13._--General Meade in full and quick retreat. The most +contradictory rumors and explications of this retreat; some of the +explications having even the flavor of official authority. One thing +is certain, that when a general who confronted an enemy at once +begins to manoeuvre backwards, without having fought or lost a +battle, such a general is out-manoeuvred by his enemy. O for a young +man with enthusiasm, and with inspiration! Suggested to Stanton to +shun the men of Williamsport, or to look for enthusiasts such as +Warren. + +Chaos everywhere; chaos in the direction of affairs, and a +disgraceful chaos in the military operations. But as always, so this +time, it is nobody's fault. + +Fetish McClellan finally and distinctly showed his hand, and joined +the Copperheads in the Pennsylvania election. McClellan is now ripe +for the dictatorship of the Copperheads. Will Mr. Lincoln have +courage to dismiss McClellan from the army? A self-respecting +Government ought to do it. Let McClellan be taken care of by the +_World_. _Par nobile fratrum._ + +_October 14._-- + + _Nox erat et coelo fulgebat luna sereno_, + +and the virtuous city of Washington enjoyed the sleep of innocence: +the genius of the country was watchful. Halleck slept not. +Orderlies, patrols, generals, officers, cavalry, infantry, all were +on their legs. Halleck took the command in person. What a running! +First in the rooms, then in the streets and on the roads, and on the +bridges whose planks were taken off. And thus about the cock's crow +the nightmare vanished, and Halleck, satisfied to have fulfilled his +duty towards the country and towards the innocent Washingtonians, +Halleck went to bed. + +_October 15._--Our head-quarters at Fairfax Court House. It is not +a retreat. O no! It is only splendid backward manoeuvring! + +As far as the Virginia campaign is concerned, the situation to-day +is below that previous to the first Bull Run. Lee menacing, going we +know not where; guerrillas in the rear of our army, at the +gates--literally and geographically at the gates of Alexandria and +of Washington. Previous to the first Bull Run, the country bled not; +to-day the people is minus thousands and thousands of its children, +and to see Lee twenty to thirty miles from Washington! What will be +the manoeuvring to-morrow? + +Warren fought well, but if Sykes was within supporting distance, why +did they not annihilate the rebel corps? Two corps ought not to have +been afraid to be cut off from the rest of the army distant only a +few miles. Or perhaps orders exist not to bring about a general +engagement? All is now possible and probable. _Our great plans may +not yet be ripe._ + +When the smoke and dust of the manoeuvring will be over, I heartily +wish that our losses in the retreat may prove innocent and as +insignificant as they are reported to be. + +On the outside, Lee's movement appears as brilliant as it is +desperate. Has not this time Lee overshot the mark? Cunctator Meade +may have some lucid moment, and punish Lee for his impertinence. And +every and any thing can be done with our brave boys, provided they +are commanded and generaled. + +In military sciences and history, it would be said that Lee has +_ramene tambour battant_ Meade under the defences of Washington. +Such a result obtained without a battle, counts among the most +splendid military accomplishments, and reveals true generalship. + +_October 17._--Meade was decided to retreat, even before Lee began +to move, say the knowing ones, say the military authorities. If +Meade wanted not to go to Culpepper Court-house, or to march towards +the enemy, or to occupy the head waters of those rivers, then why +was our army promenaded in that direction? To amuse the people? to +increase losses in men and in material? Was it done without any +plan? I supposed, and the country supposed, that Meade marched south +to fight Lee where he would have found him; but it turns out that it +was done in order to bring Lee towards Washington and towards the +Potomac. What a snare! + +_October 17._--The electoral victory in Pennsylvania marks a new +evolution in the internal _polity_ of the country. It is the victory +of the younger and better men as represented by Curtin, by Coffey, +etc., over the old hacks, old sepulchres, old tricposters and over +men who sucked the treasury and the people's pocket; they did it +scientifically, thoroughly, and with a coolness of masters. Oh! +could other States therein imitate Pennsylvania, then, the salvation +of the country is certain. + +_October 17: Evening._--The knowing ones promise a battle for +to-morrow. Yes, if Lee will. But if not, will Meade attack Lee? who +I am sure will continue his movement and operation whatever these +may be. We are at _guessing_. + +Repeatedly and repeatedly it is half-officially trumpeted to the +country, that this or that general selected his ground and awaits a +battle. It reminds one of the wars in Italy during the thirteenth +and fourteenth centuries. And if the general who forced backwards +his antagonist, if he prefers not to attack, but continues to +manoeuvre, what becomes of the select, own ground? Who ever read +that Alexander, or Cesar, or Frederic, or Napoleon, or even captains +of lesser fame, selected their ground? All of them fought the enemy +where they found him, or by skillful manoeuvring hemmed the enemy or +forced him to abandon his select position. Cases where a general can +really force the antagonist to attack _such a select, own ground_, +such cases are special, and very rare. + +And so for the second time in this year, Lee shakes and disturbs our +quiet in Washington. Oh why is Lee engaged on the bad and damnable +side? + +_October 18._--A new _whereas_ calling for three hundred thousand +volunteers. The people will volunteer. Oh this great people is ready +for every sacrifice. But you, O you! who so recklessly waste all the +people's sacrifices, will you volunteer more brains and less +selfishness? + +_October 18._--And when all the efforts of great men converged to +the re-election and election, Lee converged towards Washington. Be +the people on their guard and warned! + + NOTE.--The publication of this book has occurred at a culminating + period of annoyances and inconveniences which may possibly have + left traces in the volume now finished. The Author's residence in + Washington--unprecedented delays of the mails--scarcity of + compositors--and beyond all, the confusion from unavoidable + duplication of proofs, have so annoyed the Author, that it is but + just to make this brief explanation and apology. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Diary from November 12, 1862, to +October 18, 1863, by Adam Gurowski + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIARY *** + +***** This file should be named 29264.txt or 29264.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/2/6/29264/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Christine P. Travers and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |