August 5th,
1862.
Old Abe has called out 300,000 men by draft, and has
informed us that if the 300,000 volunteers do not appear by the 15th he will
draft for them. This is as it should be — if he had put his figure higher it
would have been better. The act giving him power was run through just in the
heel of the session. The old theories of war are exploded, which spoke of
people's staying at home and sending a few wretches to do the fighting. For if
everybody goes on both sides, universal service justifies itself by the great
appeal in fact, which I have so often lectured about in theory; viz. the appeal
to physical force. The result of universal suffrage may be right or may be
wrong, but it is the result which will be carried through.
SOURCE: Edward Everett Hale Jr., The Life and Letters of
Edward Everett Hale, Volume 1, p. 330
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