wer; and resistance to
the Conscription may be only the beginning of a struggle that will
terminate in a second solution of political continuity, not less earnest
than the first. Listen to _The World_, of the 19th May, speaking of
Vallandigham's arrest:

"The blood that already makes crimson Virginian and Kentucky hill-sides,
is but a drop to that which will flow on northern soil, when the
American people discover that the battle has begun to save the
Constitution from tyrants."

Brave words, these! Yet, making allowance for editorial blatancy, they
may contain a germ of bitter truth. When New York, the Empress City, has
been threatened with martial law, it is fair to conclude that Federaldom
may soon have other enemies to deal with than those who are vexing her
borders.

No Government can hope successfully to carry out the principle of
arbitrary and irresponsible power, unless its standing ground be as
unassailable, and its resolves as unanimous as those of any individual
autocrat.

Yet, no administration--civil, political, or military--can be otherwise
than unsound to the core where no mutual confidence or reliance subsists
among its constituent members. Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet do not even keep up
the appearances of a Happy Family; in all the subordinate departments,
scarcely a week elapses without the promulgation of some disgraceful
scandal. For instance, last spring, before men had had time to discuss
the gigantic Custom-house frauds, there appeared a quiet paragraph to
the effect that one hundred and forty thousand dollars had disappeared
mysteriously from the Navy Office on the eve of pay-day; a huge reward
was offered for the discovery of the criminal, or recovery of the money;
but even Unionists laughed openly at such an advertisement, which
probably did not cause the real robber, whoever he was, to turn once
uneasily in his gorgeous bed. Even in the Commissariat, which, in all
ages and in all armies, has been the presumed headquarters of the
Autolyci, no one has yet emulated the evil renown of the Butlers at New
Orleans (it was openly stated in Congress, and scarcely contradicted,
that the profits and plunder carried off by that noble pair of brothers,
exceeded seven millions of dollars); but many of the contractors appear
to have used their opportunities much as if they were scrambling for
eagles, or robbing "against time." The corruption that has long
prevailed in Congress, whenever a "private bill" is in