all the money they could by every safe means. They simply asked no questions, but took their cash, and shipped according to order. Others were blockade-runners, pure and simple, and their only anxiety was to keep their operations concealed from the government detectives.
Millions of dollars' worth of goods, however, were sold for the Southern market by men who were loud in their protestations of loyalty to the Federal government, who bitterly denounced the South, in public and in private, who contributed largely to aid in carrying on the war, and who enjoyed, in the fullest manner, the confidence of the government, and of those of their fellow-citizens who honestly believed that the war was a just one.
I will not say that all of these men were hypocrites and traitors, for I am confident that very many of them were not. Some, however, and those not the least influential and wealthy, had different opinions about things in general, and the war, in particular, in public and in the social circles which they frequented, and in their counting-rooms, when certain people called on them for the purpose of buying goods. They were more than anxious to sell to any one who would buy, but in case the buyer was known to be, or was suspected of being, a Confederate agent, the question of the moment was, to sell without being found out. Of course, some of them were detected occasionally, but there was generally a way to be found for dealing with these gentlemen with tender consciences and highly loyal reputations, by which their goods could be purchased for cash, and their reputations spared, at the same time.
The Conscription.
Another element in the situation was, the intense opposition to the conscription which was going on for the purpose of recruiting the armies the supply of volunteers having long since failed. This opposition, before my arrival at the North, had culminated in bloody riots in New York and several other places, which caused the greatest alarm, because they indicated, in a very positive manner, that there was a very large disaffected class in the population, which, if excited to take up arms, might be able to start a new and formidable rebellion within the Federal lines. Many of those, too, who professed to favor the war were opposed to the conscription; that is,
