THE RECORD OF A QUAKER CONSCIENCE

At Burlington, Vt., on the 13th of the seventh month, 1863, I was drafted.  Pleasant are my recollections of the 14th.  Much of that rainy day I spent in my chamber, as yet unaware of my fate; in writing and reading and in reflecting to compose my mind for any event.  The day and the exercise, by the blessing of the Father, brought me precious reconciliation to the will of Providence.

With ardent zeal for our Faith and the cause of our peaceable principles; and almost disgusted at the lukewarmness and unfaithfulness of very many who profess these; and considering how heavily slight crosses bore upon their shoulders, I felt to say, “Here am I, Father, for thy service.  As thou will.”  May I trust it was He who called me and sent me forth with the consolation:  “My grace is sufficient for thee.”  Deeply have I felt many times since that I am nothing without the companionship of the Spirit.

I was to report on the 27th.  Then, loyal to our country, Wm. Lindley Dean and I appeared before the Provost Marshal with a statement of our cases.  We were ordered for a hearing on the 29th.  On the afternoon of that day W.L.D. was rejected upon examination of the Surgeon, but my case not coming up, he remained with me,—­much to my strength and comfort.  Sweet was his converse and long to be remembered, as we lay together that warm summer night on the straw of the barracks.  By his encouragement much was my mind strengthened; my desires for a pure life, and my resolutions for good.  In him and those of whom he spoke I saw the abstract beauty of Quakerism.  On the next morning came Joshua M. Dean to support me and plead my case before the Board of Enrollment.  On the day after, the 31st, I came before the Board.  Respectfully those men listened to the exposition of our principles; and, on our representing that we looked for some relief from the President, the marshal released me for twenty days.  Meanwhile appeared Lindley M. Macomber and was likewise, by the kindness of the marshal, though they had received instructions from the Provost Marshal General to show such claims no partiality, released to appear on the 20th day of the eighth month.

All these days we were urged by our acquaintances to pay our commutation money; by some through well-meant kindness and sympathy; by others through interest in the war; and by others still through a belief they entertained it was our duty.  But we confess a higher duty than that to country; and, asking no military protection of our Government and grateful for none, deny any obligation to support so unlawful a system, as we hold a war to be even when waged in opposition to an evil and oppressive power and ostensibly in defence of liberty, virtue, and free institutions; and, though touched by the kind interest of friends, we could not relieve their distress by a means we held even more sinful than that of serving ourselves,