THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 23 than in November; that a splendid success on the part of the North, following close upon Bull Run, miglr. finish the war at one blow, by permitting a great effort at conciliation before either side became too much embittered. Others said “ no.” According to them the great work of reducing the insurrection should be performed on the coast and on the Mississippi. The Richmond campaign, undertaken in the spring, with the Army of the Potomac, made hardier by a winter passed in tents, and recovered from the fatal impressions of Bull Run, would be the coup de grace to Secession. The latter course was chosen, either as the result of real deliberation, or of necessity from not having decided in time to act during the fine weather of the autumn of 1861. And here I may point out, in passing, a characteristic trait of the American people—that is, as well in regard to the people as to an agglomeration of individuals—delay. This delay in resolving and acting, so opposed to the promptitude, the decision, the audacity to which the American, considered as an individual, had accustomed us, is an inexplicable phenomenon which always causes me the greatest astonishment. Is it the abuse of the individual initiative that kills the collective energy ? Is it the habit of calculating only on one’s self and of acting only for one’s self that renders them hesitating and distrustful when they must act with the assistance of others? Is it the never having learned to obey that makes it so difficult to command ? Doubtless something of all these causes, and other causes still that escape us, must combine in producing this result, as strange as it is unaccountable ; but this delay in action which, besides, appears to belong to the Anglo-Saxon race, is atoned for by a tenacity and a perseverance which failure does not discourage. Let us, then, leave the federal fleets occupied in blockading the rebel coast, in recapturing Now Orleans, in aiding General Halleck to reconquer the course of the Mississippi, and let us
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