The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-01-23
Pennsylvania and the Draft.


The acquicsccnce Of the people of Penn
sylvania in the demands Of the Federal Gov
ernment for support in carrying on the war,
has been fully attested, in various ways,
but in no instance so signally as in that Of
the popular submission to the execution of
the draft. Whilst majority of the voters
of the state, as was proved at the late eicc-
ton, are opposed to the policy of the Ad-
ministration at Washington, and whilst the
great mass of the people disapprove of the
war as it has been conducted, the draft made
upon the state militia, by the President,
has been quietly submitted to, without any
attempt at resistance, nay, without even a
murmur of dissatisfaction. When the hour
of this bitter trial came, we bethought us
that our Commonwealth is the keystone of
that Arch whose crumbling span was to be
re-cementcd with blood. Our eyes were
dimmed with tears, as we took the parting
hand of friends and relatives torn from the
dear circles of home by the chances of the
conscription, but even binding sorrow could
not shut from our sight the prosperity and
glory which surrounded, like halo, the u
Mon of our fathers. We were willing TO
make one more sacrifice to test the policy,
adopted against our will, by which we were
assured the Constitution was to be vndica-
ted and the Union restored. Hence, we
Pennsylvanians, suffered ourselves to be
conscripted and compelled into the army, in
meek compliance with the mandate of the
Federal Executive. But let not Congress
and the Administration build false hopes
upon this patriotic submission. Let it not
be expected that Pennsylvania will again
uncomplainingly respond to similar call for
conscripts. Since the proclamation issued
by the President on the first instant, the
objcctof the war has been entirely changed.
Our armies are no longer fighting for the re-
establishment Of the authority Of the Con-
stitution and the restoration of the broken
and sundered Union, but for the liberation
of negro slaves held by rebel masters and
for the purpose OF reducing sovereign states
TO the condition Of colonies or territorial de-
tendencies. The people of this state have
given their last man to this bloody, though
Utopian crusade, and until the President
and Congress revoke their Abolition pro-
gram, demand from them for more troops
from this state, will be worse than useless.
Besides, we have seen how other states
have been permitted to get clear of the draft.
We have learned how Connecticut, out of
some five thousand men drafted, has but a.
bout one hundred and fifty conscripts in the
service; how Massachusetts has enhanced
the splendor of her Puritan virtue by the
desertion of her drafted heroes: and how
The great Empire state, New York, evadcd
the draft altogether. And, now, Pennsyl-
yanla asks for exemption from the bloody
burden which New England Abolitionism
would place upon her shoulder. Pennsyl-
vania demands and will have justice. Stand
ing ready to contribute her all to the resto-
. ration OF the Union under the Constitution
willing to pour out her blood and her trea-
sure for the good Of the republic--she will
give not another man, nor another dollar.
TO carry out the purposes of Abolition fl-
natics.
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