ties, 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