ach of them could be separately attacked, and, I
firmly believe, destroyed. But, unfortunately, boldness and
manoeuvre, that highest gift, that supreme inspiration of the
consummate captain, have no abiding place in the bemuddled brains of
the West-Pointers, who are a dead weight and drag-chain upon the
victimised and humiliated Army of the Potomac.

_Nov. 25._--The Army is stuck fast in the mud, and the march towards
Fredericksburgh is not at all unlikely to end in smoke. There seems
to be an utter absence of executive energy. Why not mask our
movements before Gordonsville from the observation of Lee? Or, if
preferable, what is to hinder the interposition of _un rideau
vivant_, a _living curtain_, in the form of a false attack, a feint
in considerable force, behind which the whole army might be securely
thrown across the Rappahannock, by which at least two days' march
would be gained on Lee, and our troops would be on the direct line
for Fredericksburg, if Fredericksburg is really to be the base for
future operations. In this way, the army would have marched against
Fredericksburg on both sides of the river. Or, supposing those plans
to be rejected, why not throw a whole army corps at once, say 40,000
to 50,000 strong, across the Rappahannock. On either plan, I repeat
it, at least two days' march would have been stolen upon Lee; three
or four days of forced marches would have been healthy for our army,
and a bloodless victory would have been obtained by the taking of
the seemingly undefended Fredericksburg. A dense cloud enveloped
this whole enterprise, and it is not even improbable, that the
campaign may become a dead failure even before it has accomplished
the half of its projected and loudly vaunted course. But bold
conceptions, and energetic movements to match them, are just about
as possible to Halleck or Burnside as railroad speed to the tedious
tortoise.

_Nov. 25._--Oh! So Louis Napoleon could not keep quiet. He offers
his mediation, which, in plain English, means his moral support to
the South. Oh! that enemy to the whole human race. That
_Decembriseur_.[1] Our military slowness, if nothing else is the
matter, our administrative and governmental helplessness, and
Seward's lying and all-confusing foreign policy have encouraged
foreign impertinence and foreign meddling. I have all along
anticipated them as an at least very possible result of the above
mentioned causes. [See vol. I of the Diary.] Nevertheless,