88 POLITICAL LIFE-III 



necessary to raise an army of fifty thousand men; that 

 they will send troops immediately to Richmond and finish 

 the whole thing at once, so that the country can go on 

 quietly about its business. " 



There was, of course, something reassuring in so fa- 

 vorable a statement made by a sensible man fresh from 

 the most accredited sources, and yet I could not resist 

 grave doubts. Such historical knowledge as I possessed 

 taught me that a struggle like that just beginning between 

 two great principles, both of which had been gathering 

 force for nearly a century, and each of which had drawn 

 to its support millions of devoted men, was not to be ended 

 so easily ; but I held my peace. 



Next day I took Mr. Sumner on an excursion up the 

 beautiful Onondaga Valley. As we drove through the 

 streets of Syracuse, noticing knots of men gathered here 

 and there in discussion, and especially at the doors of the 

 news offices, we secured an afternoon newspaper and drove 

 on, engaged in earnest conversation. It was a charming 

 day, and as we came to the shade of some large trees about 

 two miles from the city we rested and I took out the paper. 

 It struck me like death. There, displayed in all its hor- 

 rors, was the first account of the Battle of Bull Run, 

 which had been fought the previous afternoon, exactly 

 at the time when my uncle was assuring us that the United 

 States Army was to march at once to Richmond and end 

 the war. The catastrophe seemed fatal. The plans of 

 General McDowell had come utterly to nought ; our army 

 had been scattered to the four winds; large numbers of 

 persons, including sundry members of Congress who had 

 airily gone out with the army to "see the fun," among 

 them one from our own neighborhood, Mr. Alfred Ely, 

 of Rochester, had been captured and sent to Richmond, 

 and the rebels were said to be in full march on the National 

 Capital. 



Sumner was jubilant. "This," he said, "will make the 

 American people understand what they have to do ; this 

 will stop talk such as your uncle gave us yesterday after- 



