The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1861-10-29

EDITOR GATE CITY

| Sri see that some correspondent
of your valuable paper, writing from
Washington City, after eulogizing every
body in po,oer, pitches into Frank Blair.
believe that somebody said, long time
ago, that "favor follows fawning,' and /
believe that ever since, men who lack
sense or honesty and wanted favor have
acted upon this maxim.
Mr.. Editor, you know that no man was
more proud of John c. Fremont, or bet
ter pleased with his appointment to the
army of the West, than | was | have
had no quarrel with him since his appoint
ment; | have not asked place or contract
of him or his friends; ] have wanted none;
| have no personal cause of quarrel With
him now; yet | think that he ought to be
superseded, and every days delay is that
much injury to the cause. But did not
sit down to make charges against Fremont,
further than incidental to the defense of
Frank Blair, who, in point of purity of pur-
pose, is as far above those army followers
and place hunters as Heaven is above
Hades.
What are the facts of this Fremont and
Blair difhcultp2 will answer, and to do
so, it is necessary to go back to last win
ter, when the rebels were taking possession
of all the forts and arsenals in the southern
states-St Louis almost alone escaping.
Arrangements were made to take the arms
at ST. Louis, but the noble Lyon was in
command, and he could not be taken with
out being overpowered by superior force
To get that force, Gov. jackson establish
ed Camp Jackson The X. g. c. had
their organization, and over their head
quarters foated the secession flag. They
were recruiting and organizing under the
| name of Southern Rights, and against, as
they said, Frank Blair and his id
Hessians" They readily enlisted all the
thieves and blacklegs-a formidable and
dangerous class in any community. The
blockade was declared, which threw out of
employment thousands of steamboatmen,
and cut off more than two-thirds of the
trade of the city. All of this was charged
to ''Old Lincolns Government and the
id Black Republicans Almost the
entire mercantile and steamboat popula-
ton was enlisted in favor of the rebellion,
headed by that infamous sheet, the State
Journal and aided and abetted by the
more Infamous, because more influential,
| Republican Under this state of things,
but few men in St. Louis had the nerve to
stand by the Government, and even in this
city the boast was made by mora than one
citizen Of St. L mis- that Frank Blair was
afraid to 60 to the post Office to get bis
mail. In those dark days Frank Blair
did stand by the Government, and so did
his present friends-they licktd them al
and they sared the city to the onion
They organized; they met secret organi
zation with secret organization They sp
pointed committee of safety, composed
of such men as Sam Glover, O. ID. Filley
J ohm Henderson, j. Lavender, Geo, Part
rige, Brodhead and others, men who's,
characters are above reproaeh, above sus
picion men who only desired their coun
thys welfare. This committee posfes
themselves fully on the condition Of tn
: whole State, and especially the objects an
3 intentions of the leaders of the so-calle
States Right party. Frank Blair got a
0 order from the War Department, for Ly
, on to arm the home guard, that had bee
2 secretly organized, and before the traitor
: Jackson, could get force enough at Cam
r Jackson to take the arsenal, Lyon ha
$ men enough and did take Camp jackson
/ and saved st. Louis Frank Blair WA
n Col of the LIST Missouri regiment. and tn
II regiments were entitled to a Brigade
|. General. The whole 9f the regiment VA
# raised and armed, under the auspices {
+ Blair. He was the senior Col. and emit
r tied to be General. The men..were all f
d him but he knew Lyon; he knew him |
r be ,r"e, hrore and eaoi.6ed, and he he
q him elected General Now, Mr.. Edito
i what man in all this broad land, who h,
il been praising Fremont and abusing Blai
.r that has ever refused to take any positie
lie Of honor or profit, that was in his reacl
lr hncausn II cnnld be niynn To snn,a .,