arshals, or by the French chief staff, or by the
military authorities and chief staffs of Prussia, Russia, and even of
Austria, McClellan would be condemned as unfit to have any military
command whatever. I would stake my right hand on such a verdict; and
here the would-be strategians, the traitors, the intriguers, and the
imbeciles prize him sky-high.

Only by personal and close observation of the inner working of the
administrative machinery is it possible to appreciate and to
understand what an immense power the Constitution locates in the
hands of a President. Far more power has he than any constitutional
sovereign--more than is the power of the English sovereign and of her
Cabinet put together. In the present emergencies, such a power in the
hands of a Wade or of a Stanton would have long ago saved the country.

Mr. Seward looks to all sides of the compass for a Union party in the
South, which may rise politically against the rebels. That is the
advice of Weed, Mr. Seward's Egeria. I doubt that he will find many,
or even any. First kill the secesh, destroy the rebel power, that is,
the army, and then look for the Union men in the South. Mr. Seward, in
his generalizations, in his ardent expectations, etc., etc., forgets
to consider--at least a little--human nature, and, not to speak of
history, this _terra incognita_. Blood shed for the nationality makes
it grow and prosper; a protracted struggle deepens its roots, carries
away the indifferent, and even those who at the start opposed the
move. All such, perhaps, may again fall off from the current of
rebellion, but that current must first be reduced to an imperceptible
rivulet; and Mr. Seward, sustaining the do-nothing strategian, acts
against himself.

Mr. Seward's last programme is, after the capture of Richmond and of
New Orleans, to issue a proclamation--to offer terms to the rebels, to
restore the old Union in full, to protect slavery and all. For this
reason he supports McClellan, as both have the same plan. Of such a
character are the assurances given by Mr. Seward to foreign diplomats
and governments. He tries to make them sure that a large Union party
will soon be forthcoming in the South, and again sounds his
vaticinations of the sacramental ninety days. I am sorry for this his
incurable passion to play the Pythoness. It is impossible that such
repeated prophecies shall raise him high in the estimation of the
European statesmen. Impossible! Impossible!