nd on this authority the most
extravagant orders are given by the War Department. All this ought to
be investigated. Somebody back of McClellan may be found as being the
real patron of these leeches.

If the genius or capacity of a commander consists not only in closely
observing the movements of the enemy, but likewise in penetrating the
enemy's plans and in modifying his own in proportion as they are
deranged by an unexpected movement or a rapid march, then the
generalship is altogether on the other side, and on ours not a sign,
not a breath of it.

A civil war is mostly the purifying fire in a nation's existence. It
is to be hoped that this great convulsion will purify the free States
by sounding the death-knell of these small intriguing politicians. The
American people at large will acquire earnestness, knowledge of men,
and clear insight into its own affairs. Tricky politicians will be
discarded, and true men backed by majorities.

The South has for its leaders the chiefs who for years organized the
secession, who waged everything on its success, as life, honor,
fortune, and who incite and carry with them the ignorant masses.

The reverse is in the North. Mr. Lincoln was not elected for
suppressing the rebellion, nor did he make his Cabinet in view of a
terrible national struggle for death or life. Neither Lincoln nor his
Cabinet are the inciters or the inspiring leaders of the people, but
only expressions--not _ad hoc_--of the national will. This is one
reason why the administration is slower than the people, and why the
rebel administration is quicker than ours.

The second reason, and generated by the first, is, that every rebel
devotes his whole soul and energy to the success of the rebellion,
forcibly forgetting his individuality. Our thus called leaders think
first of their little selves, whose aggrandizement the public events
are to secure, and the public cause is to square itself with their
individual schemes.

Such is the policy of almost all those at the helm here. Not one among
them is to be found deserving the name of a statesman, endowed with a
great devotion, and with a great power, for the service of a great and
noble aim. From the solemn hour that the fatherland honorably chains
him to its service, the genuine statesman exists no more for himself,
but for his country alone. If necessary, he ought to consider himself
a victim to the public good, even were the public unjust towards him.
He is