ore the French Cabinet his famous Dayton letter. I was
sure it was to come to this; Mr. Thouvenel politely protested, and Mr.
Seward confessed that it was written for the American market (alias,
for _bunkum_). All this will make a very unfavorable impression upon
European diplomats concerning Mr. Seward's diplomacy and
statesmanship, as undoubtedly Mr. Thouvenel will semi-officially
confidentially communicate Mr. Seward's _faux pas_ to his colleagues.

Mr. Seward emphatically instructs Mr. Adams to exclude the question of
slavery from all his sayings and doings as Minister to England. Just
to England! That Mr. Adams, once the leader of the constitutional
anti-slavery party, submits to this obeisance of a corporal, I am not
astonished, as everything can be expected from the man who, in support
of the compromise, made a speech _de lana caprina_; but Senator
Sumner, Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, meekly swallowed
it.

JULY, 1861.

The Evening Post -- The message -- The administration caught
napping -- McDowell -- Congress slowly feels its way -- Seward's
great facility of labor -- Not a Know-Nothing -- Prophesies a
speedy end -- Carried away by his imagination -- Says "secession
is over" -- Hopeful views -- Politeness of the State department
-- Scott carries on the campaign from his sleeping room -- Bull
Run -- Rout -- Panic -- "Malediction! Malediction!" -- Not a
manly word in Congress! -- Abuse of the soldiers -- McClellan
sent for -- Young blood -- Gen. Wadsworth -- Poor McDowell! --
Scott responsible -- Plan of reorganization -- Let McClellan
beware of routine.

It seems to me that the destinies of this admirable people are in
strange hands. Mr. Lincoln, honest man of nature, perhaps an empiric,
doctoring with innocent juices from herbs; but some others around him
seem to be quacks of the first order. I wish I may be mistaken.

The press, the thus called good one, is vacillating. Best of all, and
almost not vacillating, is the New York Evening Post. I do not speak
of principles; but the papers vacillate, speaking of the measures and
the slowness of the administration.

The President's message; plenty of good, honest intentions; simple,
unaffected wording, but a confession that by the attack on Sumpter,
and the uprising of Virginia, the administration was, so to speak,
caught napping. Further, up to that day the administration did not