NEWS OF 150 YEARS AGO
October 1862
From The Missouri Democrat, Friday, October 10, 1862.
RESISTING THE DRAFT.
The telegraph of this morning informs us of the outbreak of a small rebellion at Hartford, Blackford county, Indiana, by way of resistance to the draft. The account proceeds to state that the conspirators denounced the government and those attempting to sustain it. We are no way surprised at the fact that men who would be guilty of the high handed proceeding of resisting the laws should manifest their opposition to the government itself. We are not even surprised at the fact that there should be resistance to Federal authority in such localities as Blackford county. We have long believed there have been agencies busily at work in many parts of the North endeavoring to create dissatisfaction with the existing rule, for the ultimate purpose of aiding the rebellion of the South. Too much and too positive evidence has been furnished from time to time, of the existence and work of that treasonable organization, the Knights of the Golden Circle, to lead us to believe that all was safe.
The parties directly and personally participating in the proceedings of the organization of the Golden Circle, are not alone to blame for such manifestations of disloyalty as have appeared in Hartford. The feeling of discontent towards the Government has been fed from higher sources. The speeches of leading Democratic politicians, and the columns of prominent “conservative” journals, we have long claimed, have been filled with suggestions which might prove dangerous. We can see in this little demonstration in Indiana the legitimate working out the doctrines which have been given to the nation by such men as Vallandigham. We have no doubt he is very popular in Hartford, and that his speeches have been extensively read there. We have no doubt that of the papers which circulate at that point, such as the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Chicago Times, and some we might mention nearer home, are the favorites. By their fruits we may know them.