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._--