by Brigadier-General Schofield on the city and country of Saint Louis, and have submitted them to the Secretary of War for his decision. I am instructed to say in reply that, as there seems to be no present military necessity for the enforcement of this assessment, all proceedings under the order of General Schofield will be suspended.

Should new insurrection occur in Missouri, and the people of Saint Louis again afford aid and comfort to the enemy, they may expect to suffer the legitimate consequences of such acts of treason.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

HDQRS. 2nd AND 3rd DIVISION, ARMY OF THE FRONTIER,
December 15, 1862.

Major-General CURTIS, Saint Louis, Mo.:

All reports from spies and other sources go to show that Hindman has crossed the Arkansas River with his infantry and artillery, and that his cavalry, under Marmaduke, is still hovering around on this side. I will probably cross the mountains in a few days, with our united cavalry force, and give Marmaduke another turn. The trip can be made rapidly, and will carry out your idea of a few days since.

I still occupy the battle-field.

F. J. HERRON,

Brigadier-General.

HDQRS. NORTHEASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI,
Warrenton, Mo., December 15, 1862.

Lieutenant Colonel F. A. DICK,

Provost-Marshal-General, Department of the Missouri:

COLONEL: Your letter of the 3rd has been my serious attention. It is not necessary that I should again go over the ground, which was fully discussed between us while in Saint Louis. I apprehend that an examination of the status of the men who are pressing the matter will, in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred, show the following state of facts: First, that they are, and always have been, thoroughly disloyal, but from prudential motives have so trimmed their course as to have no very bad reputation as disloyal men; or, second, that they are Union men whose loyalty is extremely dubious and shaky, and who are now making that loyalty pay either pecuniarily, by directly asking fees for their services, or in courting favors with their secesh friends, by using their influence for this purpose, or weak enough to permit themselves to be used, through their correct and proper pity for a criminal, by the friends of those criminals, to secure their immunity from punishment; or, lastly, that they are men; like Judge Leonard, true and pure patriots, who have always been such pure patriots, who have always been such pure men themselves that they are willing always to believe the protestations of penitence, which these rascals never make until they have been caught and shut up, and which penitence the experience of eighteen months among them has thoroughly convinced me is always simulated, and never more than skin-deep. Among some 1,500 rebels whom I have arrested and released upon oath and bond in times past, and with whose after history I have had occasion to become familiar, I cannot point to one single instance in which they have faithfully kept their promises to behave in all respects as loyal citizens. A slight investigation of the

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