Thurlow Weed, who is now in
Washington, writes the following letter to the
Albany Evening Journal, under date of the 26th ult.:
Since it cannot be concealed or denied that
General Fremont's conduct in
Missouri has been the subject of official inquiry, and is now the occasion of Executive vituperation and of popular solicitude, I have made it my business to obtain, from various but reliable sources, information from which the people, as jurors, may safely render a verdict.
On coming, as I have, to a conclusion unfavorable to
General Fremont, it is scarcely needful to say that I had, in doing so, to "conquer" many "prejudices" My relations with
General Fremont have been intimate and pleasant.
I believed him eminently upright and patriotic.
I thought him well fitted for the high command with which he was invested; and he went forth with my heart left aspirations that he would render good service to our country and win glory to himself.
Passing much that might be said, impairing the sense and taste of
General Fremont, and confining myself to accusations undeniably true, I submit to readers of the Journal some facts which will show them how lamentably a favored General disappoints the popular expectation:
When
General Fremont reached
St. Louis he took as his headquarters a house for which the
Government is paying $6,000 a year.
He surrounded himself with a numerous staff, none of whom were residents of
Missouri; organizing, simultaneously, a body guard, consisting of nearly three hundred horsemen, through which access to the chief is as difficult as the approach to a monarch in the darkest ages of despotism.
He has appointed and commissioned, without the shadow of authority, more than fifty officers, with the rank of
Colonel,
Major,
Captain, &c.
Col. Andrews, the
United States Paymaster, was required to pay these officers, and upon his refusal to do so was threatened with imprisonment.
He was also directed to make an illegal transfer of $100,000.
The officers belonging to
Gen. Fremont's staff are interested in army contracts.
Capt. Haskall, an aid, is a partner of
Col. Degral in mule, hay, and other contracts.
Captain Turnly, a
United States Commissary, was ordered to receive and pay exorbitant prices for inferior mules, from
Captain Haskall, and upon protesting against this wrong was ordered away from the post by
Gen. Fremont.
Captain E. M. Davis, of
General Fremont's staff, received a contract for blankets, which on delivery proved rotten and worthless, and though condemned, were paid for and sent to the hospitals.
The muskets purchased by
General Fremont in
France are worthless.
After
General Meigs limits the price to be paid for oats at 30, corn at 28, and hay at $17- 50, a contract was made with
Baird &
Palmer (
Palmer, Cock & Co., of
California notoriety) at 33c for oats, 30 for corn, and $29 for hay, amounting in the aggregate to $100,000.
General Fremont, on his arrival in
Saint Louis, was met by the aid of
Gen. Lyon, accompanied by
Maj. Phelps, M. C., asking for reinforcements, which were not sent.
The Indebtedness of the Quartermaster's Department for
Gen. Fremont's command is over four millions and a half.
The disastrous condition of things is attributed to the "malign influences" of Californians, with whom
Gen. Fremont became unfortunately connected in mining operations, and who hurried from the
Pacific on learning that he was entrusted with a high military command.
These ill-omened men, some or all of whom left a dark record in
California, seem to have obtained either a voluntary or constrained control of the
Quartermaster and Commissary Departments of
Gen. Fremont's military district.
The results and consequences are fatal alike to the interests of the country, and usefulness and reputation of the
commanding General.
They impeach either his head or his heart, and, so far as he is practically concerned, it is not material which; for whether a wicked or a weak General, he is unfitted for so great a trust.
Nor are these faults, grave as they are, the only ones to which he is obnoxious.
The war is being prosecuted by the army under his command in a way which recalls and deepens the horrors of vandalism.
Without conquering traitors, he is converting Union men into enemies.
His line of march is marked and memorized by spoliations and ravages which disgrace the age of civilization.
Here Thurlow cites some of the outrages committed by
Fremont's troops while on their march from
Tipton to
Warsaw, allusions to which have already been published in the
Dispatch. The letter winds up with the following paragraph.
Such license adds horrors to the legitimate and unavoidable evils of war. An army that leaves such remembrances along its line of march will be forever execrated.
It is sad to record these things of a youthful General from whose career the country looked for heroism tempered with humanity.
But high as our hopes were of
General Fremont, we cannot afford when — whether from fault or misfortune — so much depends on the wisdom and integrity of
Generals to be deceived.
I am, by the force of evidence which cannot be resisted, constrained to admit that he has signally failed to discharge, with usefulness to the country, or credit to himself, the duties of his station.
