THE truth about Bull Run will, perhaps, only reach the people
when it becomes reduced to an historical use. I gather what I am sure is true.
About three weeks ago General McDowell took upon himself the
responsibility to attack the enemy concentrated at Manassas. Deciding upon this
step, McDowell showed the determination of a true soldier, and a cool,
intelligent courage. According to rumors permeating the whole North; rumors
originated by secessionists in and around Washington, and in various parts of
the free States; rumors gulped by a part of the press, and never contradicted,
but rather nursed, at headquarters, Manassas was a terrible, unknown,
mysterious something; a bugbear, between a fortress made by art and a natural
fastness, whose approaches were defended for miles by numberless masked
batteries, and which was filled by countless thousands of the most
ferocious warriors. Such was Manassas in public opinion when McDowell undertook
to attack this formidable American Torres Vedras, and this with the scanty and
almost unorganized means in men and artillery allotted to him by the senile
wisdom of General Scott. General McDowell obtained the promise that Beauregard
alone was to be before him. To fulfil this promise, General Scott was to order
Patterson to keep Johnston, and a movement was to be made on the James River,
so as to prevent troops coming from Richmond to Manassas. As it was already
said, Patterson, a special favorite of General Scott, kindly allowed Johnston
to save Beauregard, and Jeff. Davis with troops from Richmond likewise was on
the spot. McDowell planned his plan very skilfully; no European general would
have done better, and I am sure that such will be the verdict hereafter. Some
second-rate mistakes in the execution did not virtually endanger its success;
but, to say the truth, McDowell and his army were defeated by the imbecility of
the supreme military authority. Imbecility stabbed them in the back.
One part of the press, stultified and stupefied, staggered
under the blow; the other part showed its utter degradation by fawning on Scott
and attacking the Congress, or its best part. The Evening Post staggered not;
its editors are genuine, laborious students, and, above all, students of
history. The editors of the other papers are politicians; some of them are
little, others are big villains. All, intellectually, belong to the class
called in America more or less well-read men; information acquired by reading,
but which in itself is not much.
The brothers Blair, almost alone, receded not, and put the
defeat where it belonged—at the feet of General Scott.
The rudis indigestaque moles,
torn away from Scott's hands, already begins to acquire the shape of an army.
Thanks to the youth, the vigor, and the activity of McClellan.
General Scott throws the whole disaster on politicians, and
abuses them. How ungrateful. His too lofty pedestal is almost exclusively the
work of politicians. I heard very, very few military men in America consider
Scott a man of transcendent military capacity. Years ago, during the Crimean
campaign, I spent some time at West Point in the society of Cols. Robert Lee,
Walker, Hardee, then in the service of the United States, and now traitors; not
one of them classed Scott much higher above what would be called a respectable
capacity; and of which, as they said, there are many, many in every European
army.
If one analyzes the Mexican campaign, it will be found that
General Scott had, comparatively, more officers than soldiers; the officers
young men, full of vigor, and in the first gush of youth, who therefore
mightily facilitated the task of the commander. Their names resound to-day in
both the camps.
Further, generals from the campaign in Mexico assert that
three of the won battles were fought against orders, which signifies that in
Mexico youth had the best of cautious senility. It was according to the law of
nature, and for it was crowned with success.
Mr. Seward has a very active intellect, an excellent man for
current business, easy and clear-headed for solving any second-rate
complications; but as for his initiative, that is another question. Hitherto
his initiative does not tell, but rather confuses. Then he sustains Scott, some
say, for future political capital. If so it is bad; worse still if Mr. Seward
sustains Scott on the ground of high military fitness, as it is impossible to
admit that Mr. Seward knows anything about military affairs, or that he
ever studied the description of any battle.
At least, I so judge from his conversation.
Mr. Lincoln has already the fumes of greatness, and looks
down on the press, reads no paper, that dirty traitor the New York Herald
excepted. So, at least, it is generally stated.
The enemies of Seward maintain that he, Seward, drilled
Lincoln into it, to make himself more necessary.
Early, even before the inauguration, McDowell suggested to
General Scott to concentrate in Washington the small army, the depots scattered
in Texas and New Mexico. Scott refused, and this is called a general! God
preserve any cause, any people who have for a savior a Scott, together
with his civil and military partisans.
If it is not direct, naked treason which prevails among the
nurses, and the various advisers of the people, imbecility, narrow-mindedness,
do the same work. Further, the way in which many leech, phlebotomize, cheat and
steal the people's treasury, is even worse than rampant treason. I heard a
Boston shipbuilder complain to Sumner that the ubiquitous lobbyist, Thurlow
Weed, was in his, the builder's, way concerning some contracts to be made in
the Navy Department, etc., etc. Will it turn out that the same men who are
to-day at the head of affairs will be the men who shall bring to an end this
revolt or revolution? It ought not to be, as it is contrary to logic, and to
human events.
Lincoln alone must forcibly remain, he being one of the
incarnated formulas of the Constitution, endowed with a specific, four years'
lasting existence.
The Americans are nervous about foreign intervention. It is
difficult to make them understand that no intervention is to be, and none can
be made. Therein the press is as silly as the public at large. Certainly France
does not intend any meddling or intervention; of this I am sure. Neither does
England seriously.
Next, if these two powers should even thirst for such an
injustice, they have no means to do it. If they break our blockades, we make
war, and exclude them from the Northern ports, whose commerce is more valuable
to them than that of the South. I do not believe the foreign powers to be
forgetful of their interest; they know better their interests than the
Americans.
The Congress adjourned, abandoning, with a confidence
unparalleled in history, the affairs of the country in the hands of the not
over far-sighted administration. The majority of the Congress are good, and
fully and nobly represent the pure, clear and sure aspirations, instincts, nay,
the clear-sightedness of the people. In the Senate, as in the House, are many,
very many true men, and men of pure devotion, and of clear insight into the
events; men superior to the administration; such are, above all, those senators
and representatives who do not attempt or aim to sit on a pedestal before the
public, before the people, but wish the thing to be done for the thing itself.
But for the formula which chains their hands, feet, and
intellect, the Congress contained several men who, if they could act, would
finish the secession in a double-quick time. But the whole people move in the
treadmill of formulas. It is a pity that they are not inspired by the axiom of
the Roman legist, scire leges non est hoc
verba earum tenere, sed vim ac potestatem. Congress had positive
notions of what ought to be done; the administration, Micawber—like, looks for
that something which may turn up, and by expedients patches all from day to
day.
What may turn up nobody can foresee; matter alone without
mind cannot carry the day. The people have the mind, but the official legal
leaders a very small portion of it. Come what will, I shall not break
down; I shall not give up the holy principle. If crime, rebellion, sauvagerie,
triumph, it will be, not because the people failed, but it will be because
mediocrities were at the helm. Concessions, compromises, any patched-up peace,
will for a century degrade the name of America. Of course, I cannot prevent it;
but events have often broken but not bent me. I may be burned, but I cannot be
melted; so if secesh succeeds, I throw in a cesspool my document of
naturalization, and shall return to Europe, even if working my passage.
It is maddening to read all this ignoble clap-trap, written
by European wiseacres concerning this country. Not one knows the people, not
one knows the accidental agencies which neutralize what is grand and devoted in
the people.
Some are praised here as statesmen and leaders. A statesman,
a leader of such a people as are the Americans, and in such emergencies, must
be a man in the fullest and loftiest comprehension. All the
noblest criteria of moral and intellectual manhood ought to be vigorously and
harmoniously developed in him. He ought to have a deep and lively moral sense,
and the moral perception of events and of men around him. He ought to have large
brains and a big heart,—an almost all-embracing comprehension of the inside and
outside of events,—and when he has those qualities, then only the genius of
foresight will dwell on his brow. He ought to forget himself wholly and
unconditionally; his reason, his heart, his soul ought to merge in the
principles which lifted him to the elevated station. Who around me approaches
this ideal? So far as I know, perhaps Senator Wade.
I wait and wait for the eagle which may break out from the
White House. Even the burning fire of the national disaster at Bull Run left
the egg unhatched. Utinam sim falsus, but it looks as if the
slowest brains were to deal with the greatest events of our epoch. Mr. Lincoln
is a pure-souled, well-intentioned patriot, and this nobody doubts or contests.
But is that all which is needed in these terrible emergencies?
Lyon is killed,—the only man of initiative hitherto
generated by events. We have bad luck. I shall put on mourning for at least six
weeks. They ought to weep all over the land for the loss of such a man; and he
would not have been lost if the administration had put him long ago in command
of the West. O General Scott! Lyon's death can be credited to you. Lyon was
obnoxious to General Scott, but the General's influence maintains in the
service all the doubtful capacities and characters. The War Department, as says
Potter, bristles with secessionists, and with them the old, rotten, respectable
relics, preserved by General Scott, depress and nip in the bud all the young,
patriotic, and genuine capacities.
As the sea corrodes the rocks against which it impinges, so
egotism, narrow-mindedness, and immorality corrode the best human institutions.
For humanity's sake, Americans, beware!
Always the clouds of harpies around the White House and the
Departments,—such a generous ferment in the people, and such impurities coming
to the surface!
Patronage is the stumbling stone here to true political
action. By patronage the Cabinet keeps in check Congressmen, Senators, etc.
I learn from very good authority that when Russell, with his
shadow, Sam. Ward, went South, Mr. Seward told Ward that he, Seward, intends
not to force the Union on the Southern people, if it should be
positively ascertained that that people does not wish to live in the Union! I
am sorry for Seward. Such is not the feeling of the Northern people, and such
notions must necessarily confuse and make vacillating Mr. Seward's—that is, Mr.
Lincoln's policy. Seward's patriotism and patriotic wishes and expectations
prevent him from seeing things as they are.
The money men of Boston decided the conclusion of the first
national loan. Bravo, my beloved Yankees! In finances as in war, as in all, not
the financiering capacity of this or that individual, not any special masterly
measures, etc., but the stern will of the people to succeed, provides funds and
means, prevents bankruptcy, etc. The men who give money send an agent here to
ascertain how many traitors are still kept in offices, and what are the
prospects of energetic action by the administration.
McClellan is organizing, working hard. It is a pleasure to
see him, so devoted and so young. After all, youth is promise. But already
adulation begins, and may spoil him. It would be very, very saddening.
Prince Napoleon's visit stirs up all the stupidity of
politicians in Europe and here. What a mass of absurdities are written on it in
Europe, and even by Americans residing there. All this is more than equalled by
the solemn and wise speculations of the
Americans at home. Bar-room and coffee-house politicians are the same all over
the world, the same, I am sure, in China and Japan. To suppose Prince Napoleon
has any appetite whatever for any kind of American crown! Bah! He is brilliant
and intelligent, and to suppose him to have such absurd plans is to offend him.
But human and American gullibility are bottomless.
The Prince is a noble friend of the American cause, and
freely speaks out his predilection. His sentiments are those of a true
Frenchman, and not the sickly free-trade pro-slaveryism of Baroche with which
he poisoned here the diplomatic atmosphere. Prince Napoleon's example will
purify it.
As I was sure of it, the great Manassas fortifications are a
humbug. It is scarcely a half-way fortified camp. So say the companions of the
Prince, who, with him, visited Beauregard's army.
So much for the great Gen. Scott, whom the companions of the
Prince call a magnificent ruin.
The Prince spoke with Beauregard, and the Prince's and his
companions' opinion is, that McDowell planned well his attack, but failed in
the execution; and Beauregard thought the same. The Prince saw McClellan, and
does not prize him so high as we do. These foreign officers say that most
probably, on both sides, the officers will make most correct plans, as do
pupils in military schools, but the execution will depend upon accident.
Mr. Seward shows every day more and more capacity in
dispatching the regular, current, diplomatical business affairs. In all such
matters he is now at home, as if he had done it for years and years. He is no
more spread-eagle in his diplomatic relations; is easy and prompt in all
secondary questions relating to secondary interests, and daily emerging from
international complications.
Hitherto the war policy of the administration, as inspired
and directed by Scott, was rather to receive blows, and then to try to ward
them off. I expect young McClellan to deal blows, and thus to
upturn the Micawber policy. Perhaps Gen. Scott believed that his name and
example would awe the rebels, and that they would come back after having made a
little fuss and done some little mischief. But Scott's greatness was
principally built up by the Whigs, and his hold on Democrats was not very
great. Witness the events of Polk's and Pierce's administrations. His
Mississippi-Atlantic strategy is a delirium of a softening brain. Seward's
enemies say that he puts up and sustains Scott, because in the case of success
Scott will not be in Seward's way for the future Presidency. Mr. Lincoln, an
old Whig, has the Whig-worship for Scott; and as Mr. Lincoln, in 1851, stumped
for Scott, the candidate for the Presidency, the many eulogies showered by
Lincoln upon Scott still more strengthened the worship which, of course, Seward
lively entertains in Lincoln's bosom. Thus the relics of Whigism direct now the
destinies of the North. Mr. Lincoln, Gen. Scott, Mr. Seward, form a triad, with
satellites like Bates and Smith in the Cabinet. But the Whigs have not the
reputation of governmental vigor, decision, and promptitude.
The vitiated impulse and direction given by Gen. Scott at
the start, still prevails, and it will be very difficult to bring it on the
right track—to change the general as well as the war policy from the defensive,
as it is now, to the offensive, as it ought to have been from the beginning.
The North is five to one in men, and one hundred to one in material resources.
Any one with brains and energy could suppress the rebellion in eight weeks from
to-day.
Mr. Lincoln in some way has a slender historical resemblance
to Louis XVI.—similar goodness, honesty, good intentions; but the size of
events seems to be too much for him.
And so now Mr. Lincoln is wholly overshadowed by Seward. If
by miracle the revolt may end in a short time, Mr. Seward will have most of the
credit for it. In the long run the blame for eventual disasters will be put at
Mr. Lincoln's door.
Thank heaven! the area for action and the powers of McClellan
are extended and increased. The administration seems to understand the
exigencies of the day.
I am told that the patriotic and brave Senator Wade,
disgusted with the slowness and inanity of the administration, exclaimed,
"I do not wonder that people desert to Jeff. Davis, as he shows brains; I
may desert myself." And truly, Jeff. Davis and his gang make history.
Young McClellan seems to falter before the Medusa—ruin Scott,
who is again at his tricks, and refuses officers to volunteers. To carry
through in Washington any sensible scheme, more boldness is needed than on the
bloodiest battle-field.
If Gen. Scott could have disappeared from the stage of
events on the sixth of March, his name would have remained surrounded with that
halo to which the people was accustomed; but now, when the smoke will blow
over, it may turn differently. I am afraid that at some future time will be
applied to Scott * * * quia turpe ducunt parere minoribus, et quæ
imberbi didicere, sense perdenda fateri.
Not self-government is on trial, and not the genuine
principle of democracy. It is not the genuine, virtual democracy which
conspired against the republic, and which rebels, but an unprincipled, infamous
oligarchy, risen in arms to destroy democracy. From Athens down to to-day, true
democracies never betrayed any country, never leagued themselves with
enemies. From the time of Hellas down to to-day, all over the world, and in all
epochs, royalties, oligarchies, aristocracies, conspired against, betrayed, and
sold their respective father-lands. (I said this years ago in America and
Europe.)
Fremont as initiator; he emancipates the slaves of the
disloyal Missourians. Takes the advance, but is justified in it by the
slowness, nay, by the stagnancy of the administration.
Gen. Scott opposed to the expedition to Hatteras!
If it be true that Seward and Chase already lay the tracks for
the Presidential succession, then I can only admire their short-sightedness,
nay, utter and darkest blindness. The terrible events will be a schooling for
the people; the future President will not be a schemer already shuffling the
cards; most probably it will be a man who serves the country, forgetting
himself.
Only two members in the Cabinet drive together, Blair and
Welles, and both on the right side, both true men, impatient for action,
action. Every day shows on what false principle this Cabinet was constructed,
not for the emergency, not in view to suppress the rebellion, but to satisfy
various party wranglings. Now the people's cause sticks in the mud.
SOURCE: Adam Gurowski, Diary from March 4, 1861, to
November 12, 1862, p. 78-91
