While He Had Received L70,000 Dollars
(24,200l.) From The Government, It Will Be Seen From The Testimony
Of
Major Kappner that there had only been paid to the honest German
laborers, who did the work on the first
Five forts built under his
directions, the sum of 15,500 dollars, (3100l.,) leaving from 40,000
to 50,000 dollars (8000l. to 10,000l.) still due; and while these
laborers, whose families were clamoring for bread, were besieging
the quartermaster's department for their pay, this infamous
contractor Beard is found following up the army and in the
confidence of the major-general, who gives him orders for large
purchases, which could only have been legally made through the
quartermaster's department." After that, who will believe that all
the money went into Beard's pocket? Why should General Fremont have
committed every conceivable breach of order against his government,
merely with the view of favoring such a man as Beard?
The collusion of the Quartermaster M'Instry with fraudulent knaves
in the purchase of horses is then proved. M'Instry was at this time
Fremont's quartermaster at St. Louis. I cannot go through all
these. A man of the name of Jim Neil comes out in beautiful pre-
eminence. No dealer in horses could get to the quartermaster except
through Jim Neil, or some such go-between. The quartermaster
contracted with Neil and Neil with the owners of horses; Neil at the
time being also military inspector of horses for the quartermaster.
He bought horses as cavalry horses for 24l. or less, and passed them
himself as artillery horses for 30l. In other cases the military
inspectors were paid by the sellers to pass horses. All this was
done under Quartermaster M'Instry, who would himself deal with none
but such as Neil. In one instance, one Elliard got a contract from
M'instry, the profit of which was 8000l. But there was a man named
Brady. Now Brady was a friend of M'Instry, who, scenting the
carrion afar off, had come from Detroit, in Michigan, to St. Louis.
M'instry himself had also come from Detroit. In this case Elliard
was simply directed by M'Instry to share his profits with Brady, and
consequently paid to Brady 4000l., although Brady gave to the
business neither capital nor labor. He simply took the 4000l. as
the quartermaster's friend. This Elliard, it seems, also gave a
carriage and horses to Mrs. Fremont. Indeed, Elliard seems to have
been a civil and generous fellow. Then there is a man named
Thompson, whose case is very amusing. Of him the committee thus
speaks: "It must be said that Thompson was not forgetful of the
obligations of gratitude, for, after he got through with the
contract, he presented the son of Major M'instry with a riding pony.
That was the only mark of respect," to use his own words, "that he
showed to the family of Major M'instry."
General Fremont himself desired that a contract should be made with
one Augustus Sacchi for a thousand Canadian horses. It turned out
that Sacchi was "nobody: a man of straw living in a garret in New
York, whom nobody knew, a man who was brought out there" - to St.
Louis - "as a good person through whom to work." "It will hardly be
believed," says the report, "that the name of this same man Sacchi
appears in the newspapers as being on the staff of General Fremont,
at Springfield, with the rank of captain."
I do not know that any good would result from my pursuing further
the details of this wonderful report. The remaining portion of it
refers solely to the command held by General Fremont in Missouri,
and adds proof upon proof of the gross robberies inflicted upon the
government of the States by the very persons set in high authority
to protect the government. 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.
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