We Learn How All Utensils For The Camp,
Kettles, Blankets, Shoes, Mess Pans, Etc., Were Supplied By One
Firm, Without A Contract, At An Enormous Price, And Of A Quality So
Bad As To Be Almost Useless, Because The Quartermaster Was Under
Obligations To The Partners.
We learn that one partner in that firm
gave 40l. toward a service of plate for the quartermaster, and 60l.
toward a carriage for Mrs. Fremont.
We learn how futile were the
efforts of any honest tradesman to supply good shoes to soldiers who
were shoeless, and the history of one special pair of shoes which
was thrust under the nose of the quartermaster is very amusing. We
learn that a certain paymaster properly refused to settle an account
for matters with which he had no concern, and that General Fremont
at once sent down soldiers to arrest him unless he made the illegal
payment. In October 1000l. was expended in ice, all which ice was
wasted. Regiments were sent hither and thither with no military
purpose, merely because certain officers, calling themselves
generals, desired to make up brigades for themselves. Indeed, every
description of fraud was perpetrated, and this was done not through
the negligence of those in high command, but by their connivance and
often with their express authority.
It will be said that the conduct of General Fremont during the days
of his command in Missouri is not a matter of much moment to us in
England; that it has been properly handled by the committee of
Representatives appointed by the American Congress to inquire into
the matter; and that after the publication of such a report by them,
it is ungenerous in a writer from another nation to speak upon the
subject. This would be so if the inquiries made by that committee
and their report had resulted in any general condemnation of the men
whose misdeeds and peculations have been exposed. This, however, is
by no means the case. Those who were heretofore opposed to General
Fremont on political principles are opposed to him still; but those
who heretofore supported him are ready to support him again. He has
not been placed beyond the pale of public favor by the record which
has been made of his public misdeeds. He is decried by the
Democrats because he is a Republican, and by the anti-abolitionists
because he is an Abolitionist; but he is not decried because he has
shown himself to be dishonest in the service of his government. He
was dismissed from his command in the West, but men on his side of
the question declare that he was so dismissed because his political
opponents had prevailed. Now, at the moment that I am writing this,
men are saying that the President must give him another command. He
is still a major-general in the army of the States, and is as
probable a candidate as any other that I could name for the next
Presidency.*
* Since this was written, General Fremont has been restored to high
military command, and now holds rank and equal authority with
McClellan and Halleck.
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