"friends," and pleading with
them to desist. He also issued two proclamations, declaring the city
in a state of insurrection, and commanding all people to obey the laws
and the legal authorities. Finally, the militia regiments from
Pennsylvania began to arrive, and cannon and howitzers raked the
streets. These quieting influences, coupled with the publication of an
official notice that the draft had been suspended, put an end to the
most exciting experience of any Northern community during the war.

After the excitement the _Tribune_ asserted that the riot resulted
from a widespread treasonable conspiracy,[900] and a letter, addressed
to the President, related the alleged confession of a well-known
politician, who, overcome with remorse, had revealed to the editors of
the _Tribune_ the complicity of Seymour. Lincoln placed no reliance in
the story, "for which," says Hay, "there was no foundation in
fact;"[901] but Seymour's speech "intimated," says the Lincoln
historian, "that the draft justified the riot, and that if the rioters
would cease their violence the draft should be stopped."[902] James B.
Fry, provost-marshal general, substantially endorsed this view. "While
the riot was going on," he says, "Governor Seymour insisted on Colonel
Nugent announcing a suspension of the draft. The draft had already
been stopped by violence. The announcement was urged by the Governor,
no doubt, because he thought it would allay the excitement; but it
was, under the circumstances, making a concession to the mob, and
endangering the successful enforcement of the law of the land."[903]

[Footnote 900: New York _Tribune_, July 15, 1863.]

[Footnote 901: Nicolay-Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, Vol. 7, p. 26.]

[Footnote 902: _Ibid._, p. 23.]

[Footnote 903: James B. Fry, _New York and the Conscription_, p. 33.]

Of the four reports of Seymour's speech, published the morning after
its delivery, no two are alike.[904] Three, however, concur in his use
of the word "friends,"[905] and all agree that he spoke of trying to
secure a postponement of the draft that justice might be done. It was
a delicate position in which he placed himself, and one that ever
after gave him and his supporters much embarrassment and cause for
many apologies. Nevertheless, his action in nowise impugned his
patriotism. Assuming the riot had its inception in the belief which he
himself entertained, that the draft was illegal and unjust, he sought
by personal appeal t