Evening star., 1915-11-21
British Timidity Confined to
Those Unfamiliar With
Other Wars.
CAMPAIGN IN GALLIP0LI
LIKE PENINSULA FiASC0
United States Begged Vainly for
Men to Fill Up Gaps
in Ranks.
BY WINGRoVE BATHoN.

The cry against conscription in Eng
land, which has been going on for some
time, and some features of the allies
conduct of the war in Europe have
afforded to Washington students of his
tory recently a striking inlilarity for
comparison, so far as conditions in the
United States at the time of the civil
war and those existing in England at
this time are concerned.
In an interview yesterday with Col.
Thomas S. Hopkins, Washington
lawyer and a civil war veteran, some
of these similarities were pointed out.
Conscription was fought in the United
States, Col. Hopkins said. at the time
of the civil war perhaps even more
bitterly than it has far been fought
in England. New York city was for
several days, in July, 1869. in the hands
of an angry anti-draft mob that burned
and pillaged and hung negroes to lamp
posts almost without hindrance. There
was practically no control by the au-
thorities until there marched into the
city one morning a few regiments OF
veterans from the battlefelds. Then
and there ended resistance in New
York to the enforcement of the con-
had passed, law similar to which it
is widely believed Great Britain is
about to pass
English Calamity Howlers.
"If one were to believe all he reads
from the inspired sources Of military
censorship which has appeared in this
newspapers" Col. Hopkins said. there
are plenty of croakers and calamity
howlers in England. They do not ap-
pear to be confined to the common peo-
pie: they are in the house of lords in
the commons and among high govern
ment officials.
But the situations of which they are
said to be complaining were worse in
the United States during the civil war
than they are at present in England
There were members of Congress here
who fought inch by inch and step by
step every piece of war legislation that
was proposed. Clement L. Vallandigham m.
a representative in Congress from Ohio.
was one of them. Fernando Wood,
mayor of New York city; Horatio Sey-
mour, Governor of New York, and many
other men of marked ability were open
in their opposition to all war measures
VaIlandigham was finally tried by a
military commission and sent out of the
country, although he afterward returned.
Organization Of "copperheads."
"A disloyal organization was formed.
1t embraced large numbers. particu-
larly> in the west. Many of their
branches were armed and drilled in se-
cret In almost every town and hamlet
there were some who were openly dis
loyal. They were known as copper
heads They were hated by the soldiers
and frequently beaten up by the re-
turned veterans"
Col Hopkins was asked If he could re-
call in detail periods of depression and
encouragement during the civil war that
might seem to be analogous to condi-
tions now prevailing in England.
There were" he replied You will
north. for was in the Union army. and
I do not profess to know what went on
in the SOUTH
Col. Hopkins enlisted in July, 1852. in
the 18th Maine Volunteers. He was
badly wounded in the battle of Freder-
lost s6 per cent N killed and wounded in
ten minutes. In the battle of Gettys-
burg his regiment covered the northern
retreat on the first day of the battle
while the troops were in process Of
forming. Only thirty-eight men Of the
regiment answered the roll call at the
end of the first day. The following day
shell burst in the midst of the thirty
eight ana only sixteen were uninjured.
Col. Hopkins was discharged in July
1865. having toward the end of his sery-
ice been detailed as military secretary to
Gen. Augur, the military commander OF
Washington.
Timidity of Allies Friends.
There are many of my friends" Col
Hopkins said, whose sympathies are
with the allies, who have frequently
expressed to me their fears that the
Germans, who have exhibited such re-
markable courage, fortitude and unity,
would win out in the end. | have no
ticed that these expressions have usu-
ally followed some disaster to the allies
on land or sea think the great drive
northward into Russia, the bulldog
tenacity with which the Germans have
held their positions In France and Bel
2iun1, the failure of the allies In the
Gallipoli peninsula and now the steam
roller campaign of the Austro- German
bulgarian forces down over unhappy
Serbia have undermined the faith Of a
good many of the friends of the allies.
But such tinidity and apprehension
not familiar with the history Of the
wars of the past. and whose field of
vision as II relates to the present is
rather limited
ut does sometimes happen, but rare
ly, that a nation in time of invasion
will rise up. and every man, woman and
child. with absolute unanimity. act his
or her part. But such sinkleness of
Il