I much
fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the
army, of criticising their commander and withholding confidence
from him, will now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I
can, to put it down. Neither you nor Napoleon, if he were alive
again, could get any good out of an army while such a spirit
prevails in it. And now, beware of rashness. Beware of rashness,
but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us
victories."
Perhaps no other piece of his writing shows as this does how
completely the genius of the President rose to the full height of
his duties and responsibilities. From beginning to end it speaks
the language and breathes the spirit of the great ruler, secure
in popular confidence and in official authority.
Though so many of the great battles during the first half of the
war were won by the Confederates, military successes came to the
North of course from time to time. With such fine armies and such
earnest generals the tide of battle could not be all one way; and
even when the generals made mistakes, the heroic fighting and
endurance of the soldiers and under-officers gathered honor out
of defeat, and shed the luster of renown over results of barren
failure. But it was a weary time, and the outlook was very dark.
The President never despaired. On the most dismal day of the
whole dismal summer of 1862 he sent Secretary Seward to New York
with a confidential letter full of courage, to be shown such of
the governors of free States as could be hastily summoned to meet
him there.
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