uncomfortable novices. It was constant food for wonderment to
thoughtful men, that the South had, in most cases, chosen party hacks
to legislate for and to lead her in this great crisis, rather than
transfused younger blood and steadier nerves into her councils; rather
than grafted new minds upon the as yet healthy body. The revolution was
popularly accepted as the result of corruptions and aggressions which
these very men had been utterly helpless to correct, or to prevent;
even had they not been able actors in them. Yet, worn-out
politicians--who had years before been "promoted from servants to
sovereigns and had taken back seats"--floated high upon the present
surge. Men hot from Washington, reeking with the wiles of the old House
and with their unblushing buncombe fresh upon them, took the lead in
every movement; and the rank old Washington leaven threatened to
permeate every pore of the new government.

It is small wonder that the measures of such a congress, when not
vacillating, were weak. If the time demanded anything, that demand was
the promptest organization of an army, with an immediate basis of
foreign credit, to arm, equip and clothe it. Next to this was the
urgent need for a simple and readily managed machinery in the different
departments of the government.

Neither of these desiderata could be secured by their few earnest and
capable advocates, who thrust them forward over and over again, only to
be pushed aside by the sensation element with which the popular will of
the new nation--or the want of it--had diluted her councils. There were
windy dissertations on the color of the flag, or on the establishment
of a patent office; and members made long speeches, bearing on no
special point, but that most special one of their own re-election.
There were bitter denunciations of "the old wreck;" violent diatribes
on the "gridiron" flag; with many an eloquent and manly declaration of
the feelings and the attitude of the South. But these were not the
bitter need. Declarations sufficient had already been made; and the
masses--having made them, and being ready and willing to maintain
them--stood with their hands in their pockets, open-mouthed, eager, but
inactive. They were waiting for some organization, for some
systematized preparation for the struggle even they felt to be surely
coming. Not one in three of the congressmen dared look the real issue
directly in the face; and these were powerless to accomplish an