eral arm resented insult and robbery with a blow.
This had not been the fault of the government that was inaugurated on
the fourth of March. It was the fruit of the official treason of the
preceding administration, that had completely disarmed the government,
and filled the new executive councils with confusion, by the numberless
knaves it had placed in all departments of the public service, whose
daily desertions of duty rendered the prompt and honest execution of the
laws impossible. But the fact was indisputable; and how could St. Louis
hope for protection that had nowhere else been afforded? The national
government had an arsenal within the city limits. It comprised a
considerable area of ground, was surrounded by a high and heavy stone
wall, and supplied with valuable arms. But so far from this
establishment being a protection to the loyal population, it seemed more
likely, judging by what had occurred in other States, that it would
serve as a temptation to the secession mob that was evidently gathering
head for mischief, and that the desire to take it would precipitate the
outbreak. The Unionists felt their danger; the rebels saw their
opportunity. Already the latter were boasting that they would in a short
time occupy this post, and not a few of the prominent Union citizens of
the town were warned by secession leaders that they would soon be set
across the Mississippi river, exiles from their homes forever. As an
instance of the audacity of the rebel element at this time, and for
weeks later, the fact is mentioned that the United States soldiers, who
paced before the gates of the arsenal as sentinels on duty, had their
beats defined for them by the new secession police, and were forbidden
to invade the sacred precincts of the city's highway. The arsenal was
unquestionably devoted to capture, and it would have been a prize to the
rebels second in value to the Gosport navy-yard. It contained at this
time sixty-six thousand stand of small arms, several batteries of light
artillery and heavy ordnance, and at least one million dollars' worth of
ammunition. It was besides supplied with extensive and valuable
machinery for repairing guns, rifling barrels, mounting artillery, and
preparing shot and shell. The future, to the Union men of St. Louis,
looked gloomy enough; persecution, and, if they resisted, death, seemed
imminent; and no voice from abroad reached them, giving them good cheer.
But deliverance was nigh at hand.