Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3.

[91] put in practice, would be destructive of the sovereignty of the people, so clearly declared in the Preamble to the National Constitution. It would so subordinate the Legislative to the Judicial branch of the Government, that Congress, which is the direct representative of the people, would have its powers confined to the duty of simply suggesting laws for the Supreme Court to create by a judicial fiat. The theory was inconsistent with the principles of representative Government.

After proper investigation, the Draft went peaceably on; the armies were filled; the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was suspended

August 19, 1863.

throughout the entire Republic, and the war was prosecuted with vigor, in spite of formidable and organized opposition, which prolonged it. The Peace Faction, as essentially disloyal in theory and practice as were the armed Confederates, never represented the great mass of the Democratic or Opposition party in the Free-labor States. Its words and deeds were libels upon the genuine patriotism of the vast majority of the members of that party. Yet the influence of that active faction was such as to control the political action of the party, and to hold back thousands from the duty to their country which their patriotic instincts would have led them to perform. But in times of real, imminent danger to the sacred cause, they broke away from the thralls of the scheming demagogues who sought to make them instruments of mischief to their beloved country, and went nobly to battle. By that Peace Faction the war was prolonged at least two years, and, as a consequence, tens of thousands of precious lives, and tens of millions of treasure, were wasted. Its aims appeared no higher than the control of the powers and emoluments of public officers, and its loudest and most popular war-cry was, “Down with the Abolitionists! Down with the negro!” That is to say, “Cursed be all Christian Philanthropists! Away with Justice and Humanity. Crucify them! Crucify them!” But the “common people” said “No ;” and six months after the terrible “three days of July” in the City of New York, when no colored person's life was considered safe there, a regiment of Negro soldiers (Twenty-sixth United States Colored Troops), raised and equipped in the space of twenty days by the Loyal League of that city, marched down Broadway for the field, escorted by many of the leading citizens of the metropolis, and cheered by thousands who covered the sidewalks and filled windows and balconies. Everywhere the recruiting of this class of citizens was then going vigorously on. In that business Massachusetts had taken the lead, and Pennsylvania was a worthy imitator in zeal and success. When, late in 1864, the writer visited General Weitzel's (Twenty-fifth) corps, in front of Richmond, composed of colored troops, he found a large proportion of them from those States.¹

We have alluded to Morgan's raid across the Ohio River, at about the time of Lee's invasion. The leader of it was the famous guerrilla chief, John