"That was about the idea I formed of them, and I say they ought to be put down if this war is going to be conducted on civilized principles. Where were you when Lyon captured that camp at St. Louis?"
"I was getting ready to go to Booneville. I was in that scrimmage and have smelled powder on half-a-dozen occasions."
"Was that a Secession camp or not?"
"Not as anybody knows of," replied Dick. "It was composed of the State militia which the Governor had ordered out for drill. Under the law he had a right to call them out."
"Now what's the use of your trying any of your jokes on me?" demanded Rodney. "You don't believe a word you have said, and I know it. Be honest now, and have done with your nonsense."
"Well, General Frost, who commanded the camp, assured Captain Lyon that he was not hostile to the government," answered Dick. "But when Lyon got hold of it, he found that the two main streets were named Davis and Beauregard; that a good portion of the men were in rebel uniform; and that they were mostly armed with government muskets which you Louisiana fellows stole out of the Baton Rouge arsenal. Lyon's action in that matter was what caused the riots. I'll say one thing in your private ear: The old flag floats over St. Louis and it's going to stay there."
"I'm not going to get into any argument with you, but you will see that you are wrong. We must have that city in order to command the Mississippi to the Gulf. Wasn't Jackson's proposition and Price's, that the State should remain neutral, a fair one?"
"That's a question that will be settled when this war is over, and not before."
"How do you make that out?"
"If there is such a thing as State Rights, it was a fair proposition; if there isn't, it wasn't. It implies the right of a State to make terms with the government; and that is the very point we are wrangling over. There's but one way to decide it, and that is by force of arms."