es 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 c