662 



ST. LOUIS. 



STAB OF THE WEST. 



ized in the interests of the secessionists the 

 men openly wearing the dress and badge dis- 

 tinguishing the army of the so-called Southern 

 Confederacy. It is also a notorious fact that a 

 quantity of arms had been received into the 

 camp, which were unlawfully taken from the 

 United States arsenal at Baton Kouge, and 

 surreptitiously passed up the river in boxes 

 marked marble." 



The city was in a short time surrounded by 

 a line of military posts, extending from the 

 river below the arsenal round the western out- 

 skirts to the river again on the north. The 

 object of these posts was to prevent hostile 

 troops and munitions of war from entering the 

 city, and to protect the public peace and give 

 security to the citizens. 



On the 17th of June, another street affair 

 occurred, by which four citizens lost their 

 lives, and three or four soldiers were wounded. 

 The selection of St. Louis as the head-quarters 

 of the Western Department gave it a military 

 position, from whence the troops were fitted 

 out, who were destined either for Missouri or 

 Kentucky. Gen. Harney was succeeded here 

 by Gen. Fremont, and he again by Gen. Halleck, 

 and under their management St. Louis was 

 identified with all the movements of the great 

 Western army. No event apart from such as 

 naturally arise out of this combination of cir- 

 cumstances, therefore, occurred during the year. 

 When martial law was declared by Gen. Fre- 

 mont, it was enforced throughout the city, and 

 when the Union people were forced to flee 

 from the Western villages on the approach of 

 the Confederate forces, and resorted to St. 

 Louis, Gen. Halleck came to their relief, by 

 imposing fines upon such citizens of St. Louis, 

 as were known to sympathize with secessionists. 



His order, directing a levy upon the friends 

 of the enemy for charitable purposes, caused a 

 number of the citizens of St. Louis to prepare 

 and lay before him a protest, in which they thus 

 speak of the order and the proceedings un- 

 der it : 



They violate the provisions of a fundamental law of 

 the land a law to yon as well as to us prescribing 

 the duties of the citizen, and clearly defining and lim- 

 iting the powers of the Government. That law pro- 

 vides that no person shall " be deprived of life, 

 liberty, or property, without due process of law ;" 

 that the " accused shall enjoy a speedy and public 

 trial, by an impartial jury, and to be informed of the 

 nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted 

 with the witness against him ; to have compulsory 

 process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to 

 have the assistance of counsel for his defence." 



And yet, in disregard of all these great and dearly 

 cherished principles of constitutional freedom, at a 

 time when the Federal Congress is in session to enact 

 laws, if new ones be deemed necessary ; the courts in 

 full operation to enforce them ; civil officers with all 

 the power of the army and navy at hand to aid them 

 in the execution of process, and all branches of the 

 Government in full and harmonious operation, we 

 have been tried before a secret inquisitorial tribunal, 

 on what charge we know not, and condemned to pay 

 a forced contribution, arbitrarily levied upon us for 

 alleged charitable purposes. In case of failure to 

 liquidate the amount adjudged against us within the 



number of days allowed for that purpose, our property 

 is threatened to be seized and sacrificed by sale at auc- 

 tion, to satisfy such demand, and twenty-five per cent, 

 additional. And what is the remedy prescribed for 

 those considering themselves aggrieved by the secret 

 edicts and decrees of this tribunal ? They are allowed 

 one week within which " to furnish evidence to the 

 Board to vindicate their character," and if at the end 

 of that time they fail to satisfy those judges, who have 

 already prejudged their cases, of their loyalty, they 

 shall be adjudged to pay the further sum of ten per 

 cent, on the sum assessed. 



If we have in any manner transgressed the law, we 

 are ready to make all the atonement which the vio- 

 lated law demands. Its avenging ministers are near 

 to try, condemn, and punish us conformably to the es- 

 tablished forms and usages of law. There exists no 

 necessity in our opinion for overriding, in the way pro- 

 posed, the great principles of the fundamental law, 

 setting aside all the restraints and limitations it so 

 guardedly places upon power, and thus inaugurating 

 new tests and arbitrary modes for ascertaining guilt. 

 There exists no necessity for such summary proceed- 

 ings. Within this jurisdiction the ordinary course of 

 justice, except so far as it has been interfered with by 

 the military authority, has been, and is now, entirely 

 free and unobstructed. 



Vouchsafe us a speedy and public trial by an impar- 

 tial jury ; make known to us the nature and cause of 

 the accusations against us ; let us be confronted with 

 our accusers, that we may see the hand that would 

 smite us, and do not leave us and all we own to the 

 mercy of a Star Chamber Court of Inquiry, where 

 malice may be the lurking motive that determines the 

 question of guilt, and pronounces the judgment that 

 may doom us and ours to want and beggary. If two 

 or three military officers of the United States, or other 

 persons designated for such purpose, may meet in 

 secret, and, without notice, single out such citizens as 

 they may choose, upon whom to levy forced contribu- 

 tions, and arbitrarily fix the amount of the same, 

 what man, who may perchance hold political opinions 

 not altogether acceptable to the tribunal thus consti- 

 tuted, can consider himself secure in his right of lib- 

 erty or property ? 



The fines, however, were enforced much to 

 the chagrin of those compelled to pay them. 

 (See MARTIAL LAW.) 



STAR OF THE WEST. The merchant steam- 

 er Star of the West, of 1,172 tons burthen, was 

 built to run to Aspinwall, on the route to Cali- 

 fornia. She was chartered by the United States 

 Government to take a small force and supplies 

 for Major Anderson at Fort Sumter. She left 

 New York at five o'clock in the afternoon of the 

 5th of January, 1861, and proceeded down the 

 bay, hove to and received on board four offi- 

 cers and two hundred and fifty soldiers, with 

 their arms and ammunition, and proceeded to 

 sea, crossing the bar at Sandy Hook at nine 

 o'clock the same night. She arrived off Charles- 

 ton bar at half-past one in the morning of the 

 9th, and as the lights were all out and no guid- 

 ing marks to be found, she proceeded slowly 

 until 4 A. M., and then, being in four and a 

 half fathoms of water, lay to until daylight. 

 As the day began to break a small steamer was 

 discovered in-shore, which, as soon as she dis- 

 covered the Star of the West, burned a blue 

 light and two red lights as signals, and shortly 

 after steamed over the bar into the ship chan- 

 nel. The soldiers were now all put below, and 

 no one allowed on deck except those belonging 

 to the vessel. As soon as there was light 



