Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1861-11-09

| -" pv bOulS' mat Snc1 Is the fact
IL IS not well that even here we should sus.
pend our judgment We have been as.
sured OH most respectable authority "that
u Is the expressed belief OF many intelligent
men 10 st. Louis" that the charge in oues.
ton IS lsaltogelher unfounded. 1t is, therefore.
to be regretted that Gen. Thomas did not
give us few more facts to instify the be.
hall OF the gentlemen on his side. 1t seems
10 us not impossible that there NAV be a.
! explanation Of some Of those he has givan
For instance in the hurried movement TO.
ward Lexington in hot pursuit of Price. il
seems high price was paid for hay, corn.
and oats, and that these were forwarded in
hnste, where It was to be presumed-but
! presumed only, mol knOton--they were to be
had 10 abundance. Now, armies cannot 20
upon presumption, and when fornge must be
had in u hurry, it will not do to hhggle up.
on the price, even though several cents
more per bushel is paid than wonld be ne
cessary under ordinary circumstances. In
moments of great exigencies it will not do
TO stop army supplies on question Of prices
There is complaint here about mules. by
which it seems that somebody wished TO
hurry these animals forward very rapidly
IL may have been an instance of fraudulent
dealing and forcing of contract but when
we turn to another part of the report,
and read Gen Hunters bitter com
plant that he could not obey orders for
want OF mules, there seems to be an i'm econ.
cilabllity about the two charges that might
lead 10 satisfactory explanation. In
providing beasts of burden for our army. it
sometimes happens, as it has elsewhere in
this war, that animals have been bought
which were fit only for carrion But it does
not always happen that such cases are cases
of fraud. q ...rI .
81 Capt. Davis, it seems, has supplied war
blankets, and he too an aid of Gen. Ere.
monts. But we cannot help remembering
that so scarce are blankets the Government
has been compelled to appeal to private
charity TO supply our Eastern soldiers we
remember also that all cheap blankets are
partly cotton, aud it occurs to us whether
it is not just possible that Gen. Fremont
ordered Mr.. Davis, who has been all his life
merchant, and is Assistant Quartermasler,
to send or go to the East and get the best
blankets be could to meet an emergency.
And we oil know very well that the best
were bad enough, for the article is very
scarce one, aud the Government did not
think it worth awhile, when urged to do
so. three months, by fur-seeing and thought
full merchants, to enter into contracts for
the supply of the blankets which patriotic
citizens are now stripping from heir own
beds for the use Of the army Even bad
blankets, il must be confessed, are better
than none at all. ...
That pontoon bridge was erected
across the Ohio, where Il !erry-6oot would
have doue Just as well, is another charge.
But isn't it, otter all better TO have such
means of transportation sometimes provid-
ed, even by all excess of caution, rather
than to suffer such consequences of bving
without them, as we did the other day on
the Potomac? But heavier charge still
is that which impules TO Gen. Fremont pc
culation or carelessness in the purchase of
arms in Europe. Is not the eyeidence,
however Il little defective? A gentleman
recently arrived from San Francisco tells
| Gen. Thomas that another gentleman IN
that city has lately received letter from
still another gentleman in Europe, whose
assertion is that be Lmade large sum OF
money as his share OF the pluuder in the
purchase of the Fremont arms In this
transmission of hearsay evidence, through
three or four channels, even on SO import
ant point, where men are least likely
to forget. mistake is not impossible Then
also the guns themselves are defective,
and men set ITO file the nipples" III that
will remedy them, VIC may not have made
very bad bargain after all, as guns 60 in
these times aud even if We had, it its qnte
possible that the fault may not be Gen.
Fremont'S, who bought guns in Europe
when arms of any sort that could be hfed
at all we're very welcome to us-welcome
if only for grand parade" But we be-
lieve that many of these gnDs are in use
else where. Have they proved equally bad
leyeryw here else The fact, if we recollect
right, n regard 20 this purchase was, that
! it was sanctioned by Mr.. Adams, our MIN
isler to England, aud Mr. Dayton our Min
lister to France aud while the price for
them was considered exceedingly low, the
arms themselves were supposed TO be OF IN
usual value 1t is not possible, not only
that there may be mistake about this story
from Europe by way Of San Francisco,
bat that Gen. Thomas, in his hurried visit
NAV have mistaken some Of the poor arms
with which Fremont has been supplied for
those imported from France ? We hope SO
for the credit of all the parties concerned IN
that purchase.
But, after all, the more serious charges
are those of mismanagement in the com
mand of the army. The loss of Lyon was
a griyeous loss, and we do not at all know
what reply Gen. Fremont will make to the
accusation that he might have reinforced
him and did not. Our own impression Is
that as he could not defend all points for
want Of troops, and as he supposed the
enemy we're approaching Cairo as well as
Springfield, and meant to take Birds I ONT,
which commands both Cairo and the mouth
of the Ohio, he had to choose between them.
He chose Cairo and Birds Point not be-
cause he underated the strageIic position
of Gen. Lyon at Springfield, ,abut because
they were of more importance than Spring
field. and because Lyon could retreat and
Cairo couldn't. 1t seems from Gen, Thom
ass report that the largest force Fremont
had 10 draw upon at that time was Gen
| = tharf, ri