New York has been the scene of serious and most
disgrace- ful rioting. On 13th July a mob attacked the drafting office, tore down the lottery-wheel, and fired the building, which, with the entire block, was consumed. The Prevost- Marshal's guard attacked the crowd, but were defeated, and the triumphant mob proceeded to attack every building owned by any one supposed to be friendly to the war, to beat every negro found to death, and to commence a running massacre of the police. This state of affairs lasted five days, during which a hundred and fifty coloured men and some dozens of • whites were murdered; the Coloured Orphan Asylum was burnt down, most negro lodgings were gutted, and some millions of dollars in property were destroyed. The authorities were powerless, the citizens did not arm, and the Governor, who arrived on the 14th, told the citizens that the legality of the Conscription Act must be tried in Court, and circulated a half official statement that the draft had been withdrawn. The Federal Government, however, repudiated that weakness, despatched a new General to the division, ordered four or five regiments to the city, and announced their intention to stand by the draft. On the 15th the mob seemed to pause, except from hunting negroes, but on the 16th and 17th the riots recommenced, this time only for blood and plunder, and the soldiers who had begun to arrive were obliged to clear plun- dered blocks with the bayonet. On the 18th peace was re- stored, but one more outbreak was fully expected, and the troops, 5,000 of whom were in New York, were resolved ta show no mercy. The rioters were most of them Irish.
