e
unlettered masses of the people, but also the wisdom of the President in
ordering the prompt concentration of regular troops in the heart of the
threatened city. Silently, in disciplined order, the various detachments
had marched to their stations. Silently, in disciplined order, puny in
points of numbers as compared with the vast mob of their howling
antagonists, they faced the throng, grimly peering from under their
slouched hat-brims, gripping with their brown, sinewy hands the muzzles
of the old trusty rifles, listening with utter amaze, with tingling
nerves, to the furious yells of "Down with the government!" "To hell
with the United States!" and wondering how long their fathers would have
stood such treason thirty years ago. Calm, grim, and silent, conscious
of their power, merciful in their strength, superb in their disdain of
insult, their contempt of danger, their indifference to absolute
outrage,--for maddened men showered the ranks with mud and gravel, and
foul-mouthed, slatternly women--vile, unclean harpies of the
slums--dipped their brooms in the reeking gutters and slashed their
filth into the stern, soldierly faces,--for hours, for days, they coolly
held that misguided, drink-crazed, demagogue-excited mob at bay,
reopening railways, protecting trains, escorting Federal officials,
forcing passage after passage through the turbulent districts, until the
fury of the populace wore itself out against the rock of their iron
discipline, and one after another the last of the rioters slunk to their
holes, unharmed by even one avenging shot. Fire and flame had wrought
their havoc, miles of railway lines and cars had been wrecked and
ruined, but otherwise the mad-brained effort had utterly failed of its
purpose, and for the third time had the regulars stood almost the sole
bulwark between the great city and absolute anarchy. True, the
regiments of the National Guard were at last ordered into service, but
not until after the presence of the Federal force had given assurance
that, whether the State officials liked it or not, the general
government would tolerate such insurrection no longer. True, the State
troops stood ready, eager to do their work, and some of them, at least,
so capable, so drilled and disciplined, that, left to the orders of
their own officers, they could and would have suppressed the riots. But,
there was the difference, even when called into action the most reliable
and experienced of the regime