Whether  the  loyal  hearts  of  Missouri  shall  be  crushed  is  for  you
to  say.  If  you  refuse  our  requests,  we  return  to  our  homes  only  to
witness,  in  consequence  of  that  refusal,  a  more  active  and  relentless
persecution  of  Union  men,  and  to  feel  that  while  Maryland  can
rejoice  in  the  protection  of  the  government  of  the  Union,  Missouri
is  still  to  be  a  victim  of  proslavery  conservatism,  which  blasts
wherever  it  reigns.  Does  Missouri  deserve  such  a  fate?  What
border  slave  State  confronted  the  rebellion  in  its  first  spring  as  she
did?  Remember,  we  pray  you,  who  it  was  that  in  May,  1861,
captured  Camp  Jackson  and  saved  the  arsenal  at  St.  Louis  from  the
hands  of  traitors,  and  the  Union  cause  in  the  Valley  of  the  Missis-
sippi from  incalculable  disaster.  Remember  the  Home  Guards,
who  sprung  to  arms  in  Missouri  when  the  government  was  without
troops  or  means  to  defend  itself  there.  Remember  the  more  than
50,000  volunteers  that  Missouri  has  sent  forth  to  battle  for  the
Union.  Remember  that,  although  always  a  slave  State,  her  un-
conditional loyalty  to  the  Union  shines  lustrously  before  the  whole
nation.  Recall  to  memory  these  things,  Mr.  President,  and  let
them  exert  their  just  influence  upon  your  mind.  We  ask  only
justice  and  protection  to  our  suffering  people.  If  they  are  to  suffer
hereafter,  as  now,  and  in  time  past,  the  world  will  remember  that
they  are  not  responsible  for  the  gloomy  page  in  Missouri's  history,
which  may  have  to  record  the  independent  efforts  of  her  harassed
but  still  loyal  men  to  defend  themselves,  their  families  and  their
homes  against  their  disloyal  and  murderous  assailants.
