The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-01-25

q LN l-tAN Is FROM THE REVELATIONS {
! THE VAN WICK COMMITTEE
In our last We gave, in con desed form
a few Of the revelations OF the Van Wye
Committee, promising to give another il
stalment this week. BY way Of redeemin
this promise we avail ourselves of tn
iabors OF a cotemporary, who thus forcibl
groups together the main facts of the Va
Wyck repors as far as refers 10 the Depart
ment of the West, under command O
Maj. General Fremont:
We begin with the Notifications of st
Louis. According to the committee, 'tht
circumstances surrounding this work are
OF the most extraordinary character auo
are marked by extravaganza, cklessness
Insu bOrdlnatiOn and fraud In the frs
place, 1t appears, from the statement o.
General Curtis, that no fortiEcations at St
Louis were required and the government
appear to have been of the same opinion
Tor the Secretary of War, in an order dated
on the Iith Of October, declared them
unnecessary, and ordered them 10 be dis
continued. Had they been necessary they
might have been built, as the committee
suggest, by the soldiers, without material
cost 10 the goverumant, the same as at
Washington, Cincinnati, Cape Girardeau,
Birds Point, Cairo, Fort Holt, Paducah,
and other places. They were not autho-
rized 10y the government not planned by
any engineer officers of the United States
Army, nor were any such officers consulted
IN any way. The work was designed and
executed under the supervision of Major
! Franz knapper and +. Hassendeubel both
foreigners. The former played the part of
Chief Engineer, and the latter OF Col
enel Commanding Engineer Corps" These
( appointments were made by Gen. Fremont,
and not by the government. The other
engineers, according to the testimony of
Gen. Curtis were generally Hungarians,
Austrians and IrussIaus.
In all there were ten forts the first FIVE
OF which were built 10y the day work (the
most costly nIada) alta cost OF SGO,0UO-
The other five Were OF similar size, and,
according 10 the testimony of hnapper,
could not az the very utmost, cost aboyo
$4,000 more.
The last five were commenced, all of
them together under tie supervision OF
/ Major huupper, on the last day OF August
or lat of September. On the 18th oil Sep
tem0,r Bligadier General Nckinstry, un-
der the special order Of Major General
Fremont, entered into a contract on the
part OF Fremont with L. l.. Beard = Cali
tornian ~ho had followed the magnificent
Pathfinder to s. Louis. What is the
. nature Of this contract TO construct al
the Notifications required by the engineer.
IL charge of the work for the defence of
the city OF II. Louis Thus "a contract
was made for constructing FIVE forts a.
ready built and FIVE others on which
twenty FIVE days work had been expended.
BY the days work the whole ten forts
would have not more than size eco What
did the same work cost 10y the contra CT
be:%ccn emont and his friend Beard ?
IsC0 hsfa1fea and rgrty s.c thousand doiidrs
. tS2iG,uJ0) more than double the amount
was ordered To be paid on account
One L.adref and sereh1-0A- thousand d0tLuS
{ (l1l, 900 ,0GS aeiutIy paid On fremsnf S
order. The remaining $4,000 would been
( also paid bct for the fsct tba. The Qgar.
ternaster Of 81 Louis, Major Allen, mad
declined TO pay, in consequence OF the
/ Secretary Ci " ~ II discontinue the work,
I and not pay any more money on account
I of it. In the face of that order, dated
October Il, which General Fremont sup
pressed. he issued an order on the l9,h
October TO Major Allen TO turn over to
/ Mr. Beard, out OF the first funds received
dollars ($5J,UGU), for work done On the
forts 1T st. Louis. Major Allen very
properly submitted the question of pay
ment 10 the tuartermastcr' Department
at Washington. and received IN Tep!y az.
order to disregard ali orders Inconsistent
with the order o! thc Secretary OF War
The fact = that every dollar taken tiCni
the cuart,Tma>ter at ST Louis Tor the
building Of the forts wa. nI;ssapprop.iated,
being an arbitrary and Illegal diversion Of
the funds intended by the government for
otLer purposes. Well 10 the committee
observe.
: In tho whole range of their inycstiga-
tions your committee have found nothing
80 alarming as the defiance of law and
the disregard Of superior authority, a.
manifested by the Commanding General
of the Western Department, not only in
this connection, but i'll connection with
the arbitrary and illegal diversion Of funds
from the Paymaster's Department and the
Sub Treasury at St Louis, which Is here
after referred to. Whenever the action
OF a general in the field, disregarding alike
law, army regulations and the authority
Of his government, shall lie permitted TO
pass without challenge and without re
buke, then indeed may ii be we'll censd
cred that constitutional liberty is at an
end, and the will of a military commander
Is substituted foI law.
Let Us go little into detail 10 show
how Boards bill would have been swelled
up to more than thrice the amount the
work might have been dono if proposals
ioI contract had been advertised for
Hon. Mr.. Winner, former Mayor of St
Louis, testities, from actual knowle ledge oi
the cost of such work, that Wteen cents pc.
yard would have been good price for the
excavations cmbankments and sodding on
the Notifications. The price agreed to be
paid by the Fremont Beard contract is
500 per yard, or nearly Serenteen times o
good price What would have been paid
in the end on this fat job, had not Ere
monts hand been arrested by Secretary
Cameron, it is impossible to calculate t
The payments actually made were in ad
vance an on account, and without any Sc
curity for the fulflment Of the contract
and what ii still more extraordinary, Sl5l /,
600 were paid to Beard before the date Of til,
contract which is 25th September. The
payments were made as follows:
First payment August 90, 1861. ..... 5 10, ,O0t
Second payment, September = 1861. l5,0et
Third paomeui September s. 1861. l........ G0,uC(
Fourth payment September &. 1861, ,...... C6.o0,
Fifth payment October }, lSdl.. ......... 2G,oGt
Total OF payments. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Tl,O4t
THUS" say the committee, 'the mondy
appropriated 10y congress to subsist ando
ciothe and transport our armies was lil
utter contempt o! @ll law aid Of the arm y
regulations, Us well as OF superior autho
rity, ordered to be diverted from It's Lawful
purposes and turned over to the cormorap
Beard" But, while he had received $l1l
600 he only paid the poor German labor
. cls who had been employed OH the wo1h
$1,000; and with the balance in Iii.
nocket he is found following up the army