Southern gentlemen acted on the wise axiom, that it will not do to
make enemies in a direction where you may need friends and
assistance.

Now, my son, the eccentric French gentleman, of whom I have spoken
as capable of administering physic enough to settle the question
with the Yankees, soon became an object of great admiration with his
noisy people. And this so pleased him, that he came in time to
admire himself, and to firmly believe in his own mind that the world
had no greater warrior. Self-confidence, my son, is one of the most
necessary things in war. I have sometimes thought that this element
of an army's strength was not fully understood. It was at least not
understood by us when the war began. If it had been, a much less
number of our people would have shared Mr. Beauregard's opinion of
himself. As it was, our timid people so magnified his proportions as
to see danger in his very shadow. But then, my son, we were very
innocent of the practical part of war when the great rebellion
began; and this innocence led us into the very grave error of giving
our adversary more than his proper dimensions. It was this that led
the Northern mind to over-measure Mr. Beauregard.

I have always had a good deal of sympathy for Mr. Beauregard, and
never believed him anything but a pleasant, harmless gentleman, who
got into bad company by mere accident. Nor do I believe he ever had
any more serious design on the capital of the nation than to look at
it longingly from a distance, and perhaps a desire now and then to
enjoy the hospitality of some old friend. That he would have played
the ruthless invader, if he had got into the city, no reflecting
mind ever believed. But then there were people ready enough to
believe anything in those days--even to believe that there was truth