“And then, if I heard correctly, we are threatened with disaster if we now vote against permitting this seceding synod to depart in peace. But shall we by threats be deterred from our duty? Having already cut off the seven hydra heads of secession, shall we now be frightened with the wriggle of its tail?” This was the climax. There was long continued laughter and applause, which the moderator was unable to check. Peaceable secession found no more favor in this Presbyterian Convention than it had found under the general government of the United States. Secession was dead. At last the end of strife in Missouri had come. It came in fact even before the surrender of Lee. Three days after the second inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, Governor Fletcher declared by proclamation that no organized armed force against the general government any longer existed in the State. He called upon all civil officers to resume their duties. And on the 17th of March, Major-General Pope, then in command of the Department of Missouri, issued orders to aid in carrying out the proclamation of the Governor. He withdrew the military forces from all districts where the people were ready to return in good faith to civil rule, and by August there remained less than a dozen military posts in the State; and these were kept up chiefly for the protection of the property of the Federal government. And now rejoicing in peace which was based upon righteousness, St. Louis entered upon an era of great prosperity. She grew apace in commerce, wealth and population. No longer, as Carl Schurz characterized her before the war, “a free city on slave soil,” but a great free city on free soil. THE END. INDEX Abolitionists, denounced, 48; alleged atrocious conduct of, 54; hated, 161; two extraordinary, 170–176; as viewed by Southerners, 252. Alabama, Governor of, urges secession, 23, 33. Alton, Illinois, arms landed at, 79; murder of Lovejoy at, 80; fugitives from panic in Saint Louis flee to, 111.