City. Here,
however, a special and much more legitimate ground of protest was
involved. The Confederacy had long before imposed Conscription upon the
youth of the South. It was imperative that the North should do the same,
and, though the constitutional power of the Federal Government to make
such a call was questioned, its moral right to do so seems to me
unquestionable, for if the common Government has not the right in the
last resort to call upon all citizens to defend its own existence, it is
difficult to see what rights it can possess. Unfortunately, Congress
associated with this just claim a provision for which there was plenty
of historical precedent but no justification in that democratic theory
upon which the American Commonwealth was built. It provided that a man
whose name had been drawn could, if he chose, pay a substitute to serve
in his stead. This was obviously a privilege accorded to mere wealth,
odious to the morals of the Republic and especially odious to the very
democratic populace of New York. The drawing of the names was there
interrupted by violence, and for some days the city was virtually in the
hands of the insurgents. The popular anger was complicated by a
long-standing racial feud between the Irish and the Negroes, and a good
many lynchings took place. At last order was restored by the police, who
used to restore it a violence as savage as that of the crowd they were
suppressing.

We must now turn back to the military operations. Lee had once more
broken through, and was able to choose the point where a _sortie_ might
most effectually be made. He resolved this time to strike directly at
the North itself, and crossing a strip of Maryland he invaded
Pennsylvania, his ultimate objective being probably the great bridge
over the Susquehanna at Harrisburg, the destruction of which would
seriously hamper communication between North and West. At first he met
with no opposition, but a Federal army under Meade started in pursuit of
him and caught him up at Gettysburg. In the battle which followed, as at
Valmy, each side had its back to its own territory. The invader, though
inferior in numbers, was obliged by the conditions of the struggle to
take the offensive. The main feature of the fighting was the charge and
repulse of Pickett's Brigade. Both sides stood appalling losses with
magnificent steadiness. The Union troops maintained their ground in
spite of all that Southern valour could do to dislodge