ILLINOIS. 



399 



verbal communications to any one of you, you 

 will inform the court, that the offenders may be 

 dealt with for contempt. Neither will you 

 permit yourselves to be affected by any com- 

 munications printed, or to be printed in, nor 

 any editorials written, or to be written, for any 

 paper published here or elsewhere. More 

 particularly ought I to warn you against being 

 influenced by certain letters published in some, 

 if not all, our city papers, purporting to have 

 been written by the Executive of this State to 

 the Attorney-General and District Attorney 

 of this circuit, advising the indictment of cer- 

 tain persons named therein. Purporting to 

 be letters of the Governor, and having been 

 extensively circulated, your respect for our 

 honored Chief Magistrate personally, and for 

 his official position, might lead you to attach 

 to them great weight, but they should not 

 exert any influence upon you whatever. The 

 prosecuting attorney of this court informs 

 me that he knew nothing of the letter said to 

 be addressed to him until he saw it published 

 in the city papers. If it was written by the 

 Governor, it was only a private letter to the 

 District Attorney, and should have been in his 

 hand before it was given to the papers. It 

 would be inconsistent with the high reputation 

 of our Chief Magistrate for integrity and legal 

 learning to suppose that he designed those let- 

 ters to be published in order to influence your 

 action as a grand-jury. The possibility that 

 such would be their effect would be enough to 

 deter him from giving them to the public. 

 You ought not to assume that the respected 

 Chief Magistrate of this State would do an act 

 highly indecorous and improper in any indi- 

 vidual above all, in one whose duties are 

 judicial." 



The grand-jury found no indictment against 

 any one for the killing of Colonel Grosvenor, 

 but thanked Mayor Mason and General Sheri- 

 dan for the measures which they took to pre- 

 serve order and protect property in Chicago 

 after the fire. 



In submitting the whole matter of military 

 interference at Chicago to the Legislature at 

 the beginning of the adjourned session in No- 

 vember, the Governor said: "It seems to 

 me to be so clear that the conduct complained 

 of is contrary to the constitution and the 

 laws, that it is impossible, by any process 

 of reasoning, to make it more so. The mayor, 

 the mere executive officer of a city cre- 

 ated by the laws of this State, without con- 

 trol over the police, and with only the gen- 

 eral powers of a conservator of the peace, 

 abdicated some of the most important func- 

 tions and duties of his office, and, in connec- 

 tion with this refusal to discharge his own du- 

 ties, attempted to place the laws of the State 

 under the feet of a citizen, who, forgetful of 

 his own duty to respect, obey and enforce the 

 laws, in the capacity of an officer of the United 

 States Army, availing himself of the color of 

 authority conferred upon him by the mayor, 



subjected his fellow-citizens to military rule 

 No officer of the United States, or of the State 

 of Illinois, has the constitutional or legal au- 

 thority to exercise such transcendent powers ; 

 for Lieutenant-General Sheridan employed the 

 troops of the United States in a manner not 

 authorized by Federal laws. He raised troops 

 without the consent of Congress, and imposed 

 upon them an unlawful oath. He disregarded 

 the provision of the constitution of the State 

 which provides that ' the military shall be in 

 strict subordination to the civil power,' and by 

 posting his guards and sentinels upon the 

 streets of a populous city, with instructions to 

 arrest persons passing upon them, and to fire 

 upon them in case of a refusal to obey their 

 authority, the life of a citizen, who was under 

 the protection of the laws, was destroyed." 



The Governor had already had occasion to 

 remonstrate a second time against the inter- 

 ference of General Sheridan. On the 28th of 

 October a communication was sent to the 

 general, signed by the chairman of the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee of the Relief and Aid So- 

 ciety, several presidents of banks, and other 

 prominent citizens, requesting that he would 

 "cause four companies of United States in- 

 fantry to be stationed at or near this city, 

 until it shall appear that there is no danger 

 of attack by disorderly persons upon the de- 

 pots of the Relief and Aid Society, or other 

 riotous proceedings, for which the recent ap- 

 palling calamity may have paved the way. We 

 believe that the presence of a small military 

 force in this vicinity would, at the same time, 

 deter any evil-disposed persons from organiz- 

 ing a breach of the peace, and reassure the 

 public mind in an extraordinary degree." 



General Sheridan immediately asked author- 

 ity of the Secretary of War to obtain four com- 

 panies of infantry, and they were ordered to 

 Chicago accordingly by General Sherman from 

 the command of General Meade. On hearing 

 of this movement, Governor Palmer wrote to 

 the President of the United States, inquiring 

 whether these troops were to " obey the call 

 of any authorities of the State of Illinois or 

 the city of Chicago, or in any way whatever 

 to assume the protection either of property or 

 the preservation of order in that city," and 

 declaring that, in his opinion, the authorities 

 of the State were "abundantly able to protect 

 every interest of the people that depends upon 

 its internal peace and good order." The Pres- 

 ident replied, under date of November 15th, 

 enclosing the appeal to General Sheridan, and 

 that officer's application for troops, and adding : 

 " No thought here ever contemplated distrust 

 of the State authorities of the State of Illinois, 

 or lack of ability on their part to do all that 

 was necessary, or expected of them, for the 

 maintenance of law and order within the limits 

 of the State. The only thing thought of was, 

 how to benefit a people stricken by a calamity 

 greater than had ever befallen a community of 

 the same number before in this country. The 



