their homes, and, in the
event of refusal, blowing them there by powder and ball,--he first went
to the point where was collected the chiefest mob, and proceeded to
address them. Before him stood incendiaries, thieves, and murderers, who
even then were sacking dwelling-houses, and butchering powerless and
inoffensive beings. These wretches he apostrophized as "My friends,"
repeating the title again and again in the course of his harangue,
assuring them that he was there as a proof of his friendship,--which he
had demonstrated by "sending his adjutant-general to Washington, to have
the draft stopped"; begging them to "wait for his return"; "to separate
now as good citizens"; with the promise that they "might assemble again
whenever they wished to so do"; meanwhile, he would "take care of their
rights." This model speech was incessantly interrupted by tremendous
cheering and frantic demonstrations of delight,--one great fellow almost
crushing the Governor in his enthusiastic embrace. This ended, he
entered a carriage, and was driven through the blackened, smoking scenes
of Monday's devastations; through fresh vistas of outrage, of the day's
execution; bland, gracious, smiling. Wherever he appeared, cheer upon
cheer rent the air from these crowds of drunken blasphemers; and in one
place the carriage in which he sat was actually lifted from the ground,
and carried some rods, by hands yet red with deeds of arson and murder;
while from all sides voices cried out, "Will ye stop the draft,
Gov'nur?" "Bully boy!" "Ye're the man for us!" "Hooray for Gov'nur
Saymoor!" Thus, through the midst of this admiring and applauding crowd,
this high officer of the law, sworn to maintain public peace, moved to
his hotel, where he was met by a despatch from Washington, informing him
that five regiments were under arms and on their way to put an end to
this bloody assistance to the Southern war.

His allies in newspaper offices attempted to throw the blame upon the
loyal press and portion of the community. This was but a repetition of
the cry, raised by traitors in arms, that the government, struggling for
life in their deadly hold, was responsible for the war: "If thou wouldst
but consent to be murdered peaceably, there could be no strife."

These editors outraged common sense, truth, and decency, by speaking of
the riots as an "uprising of the people to defend their liberties,"--"an
opposition on the part of the workingmen to an unjust and