A draft for militia had been ordered (March 3rd, 1863), and passed with little trouble, save in New York, where an immense number of the dangerous classes and foreigners of the lowest order, headed by such demagogues as Fernando Wood, sympathised with the South, and controlled the elections. There was a wise and benevolent clause in this draft, which exempted from conscription any one who would pay to Government 300 dollars. The practical result of this clause was that plenty of volunteers were always ready to go for this sum, which fixed the price of a substitute and prevented fraud; and in all the wards, the inhabitants, by making up a joint fund, were able to exempt any dweller in the ward from service, as there were always poor men enough glad to go for so much money. But in New York the mob was stirred up to believe that this was simply an exemption for the rich, and a terrible riot ensued, which was the one effort made by the Copperheads during the war to assist their Confederate friends by violence. During the four days that it lasted, the most horrible outrages were committed, chiefly upon the helpless blacks of the city, though many houses belonging to prominent Union-men were burned or sacked. As all the troops had been sent away to defend the Border and repel the rebels, there was no organised force to defend the city. After the first day the draft was forgotten, and thousands of the vilest wretches of both sexes gave themselves up simply to plunder, outrage, and murder. The mob attacked the coloured half-orphan asylum, in which nearly 800 black children were sheltered, and set fire to it, burning thirty of the children alive, and sadly abusing the rest. Insane with cruelty, they caught and killed every negro they could find. In one case, they hung a negro, and then kindled a fire under him. This riot was stirred up by rebel agents, who hoped to make a diversion in the free states in favour of their armies, and influence the elections. It did cause the weakening of the army of Meade, since many troops were promptly sent back to New York. There was also a riot in Boston, which was soon repressed. The rebels, while following out the recommendation of Jefferson Davis, had gone too far, even for his interest. He had urged pillage and incendiarism; but the Copperheads of New York found out that a mob once in motion plunders friend and foe indiscriminately. The Governor of New York, Seymour, was in a great degree responsible for all these outrages by his vigorous opposition to the draft, and by the feeble tone of his remonstrances, which suggested sympathy and encouragement for the rioters. The arrival of troops at once put a stop to the riots.