Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-11-08
ADJ. THoaAs' REPORT.

The report Of Adjutant General Thomas
on the conduct of afIlirs urider General
Fremont, attra t. much attenH0n. Its
character and the propriefy Of making IT
public are criticised sharply. Many who
think it furnishes good ground for distruS-
ting the competency and discretion Of Ge2.
Fremont, condemn the loose, hearsly, and
gossiping character Of many things in It.
We think The impression must be strong that
the publication OF such a document is unfair
to Gen. Fremont, aud more OF less injurious
to the public service. The n. Y. Commercial,
a paper which certainly has never shown
any intense admiration t3r that officer, re-
marks as follows
\ considerable portion Of the report Is
taken up with matters on which We are not
competent to form Il Judgment, VIZ the
military conduct of the cdmpal IN. We
pass over that portion of 1t with the remark
that we do not like the spirit in which the
movements and orders Of Gen. Fremont are
canvassed, any more than We admire the
by which this ca pGrie document, this bill Of
charges, has been given to the press Tor
publication, when no one could better know
than General Thomas himself that the rules
Of the service would preclude General Ere
mont from replying to these accusations
through the same channel We think this
deserves the severcst censure and condemn
alton. The document was in the custody OF
- ,t-1l pVr
to Mr.. Secretary Cameron. Either he re-
served a copy for publication or permitted
one to BIZ taken, before be sent II in, or the
Secretary Of War has done so. Ii l. dated
Oct p, and cannot have lain above five
DAYS in Secretary Cameron office, If SO long
50 that it is not probable that copy was
obtained surrepuu0usly. And without rcler-
ence to the merits or dcmerits OF General
Fremont we deliberately pronounce the fur
uishtng Of the press with this report Tor
publication, by Whoms0cycr done, to be
conduct UNIV rthy Of an officer and gen
tleman' II this be treason let those con-
cerned make The most Of it
The y. !. Times speaks vl,h great sever
ity Of the yuiAcahon OF the report; not SO
much from the way in which 1t is made up,
or the substance Of its statements and corr
illusions (Which we unIcTstand the Im-s TO
consider just and proper cnough) bat be-
cause all these matters aremade known to the
enemy Considering the u fuse Ial'ica-
ton in the city journals Of greatest crcuIa-
tion-;he Times among the resJ-ot cv.ry
Ting which they have been able to get hold
Of, and the ten thousand ways by watch hot
only the newspapers, buJ other sources Of
information, are ayaiMbl. to the enemies of
the Government, we think the 1mss goes
of into higher frenzy or this point than the
case demands I'VE reIeat, it says, "that
their Publication I.'tbe nam facts revealed la
Adj Gen. Thomas report IS He most DIS
aQrous Jl0te hq, The National cause Lg' gH
rccarcd." That is more ruly, as we look
upon it. But to make sure that hc"b,ow -
shall be as ..d,sasiyous' as possible, tie
inns not only publishes tae report, 5ut
dIat,s upon "tLc facts, aa it calls them,
and paints in the lro4lc-, coIors bow tie
rebels Will gather advantage and strength
from its reyclations,-ilr-t'tiotes s1ey can
be called, having, most Of them, l-.u l,u-
died about in the newspapers tr many
weeks.
"Itisrropor to n.y." says the Tins,
"that the IlEme of this ciy enjoys the
bad cmiucnco Of having betrayed to the
world the temoraIized and heIf less condition
of cur armies in Missouri and Kentucky"
rs to that, We oTine that the Times would
have had that bad cmiucnca If it could have
got hold Of the document before the Tr'me
did. We have never seen any scrulles in
either Of those papers about publishing any
thing which it coull Set hold Of, by which
tAeIublie ea2crness to ing NE raPTs could
be stimulated. II there Is any difference
n that respect. between them and the Her.
aid. it is too small to be worth noticing