The age-herald., 1897-11-06

evident fairness of the president. We all fslt that he meant to do what was right and squage in th= matter. While he was not the man to promote factlous quaIcels and difficulties within his party, he did not intend to Isave in the Iurch the special friends through whose exer- tions his nomination and election had finally been brought about At the same time he understood perfectly that we of New York and our associates in the re- publican body had not gone to Chicago fer the purpose of nominating him, or of nominating any ons in particular, but only to beat Mr. Seward, and thereupon to do the best that could be done regard ing the selection Of the candidate.
 Acquaintance With stanton
 My acquaintance with MT. Stanton had come about through an editorial which I had wsfttsn for the Tribune on his entrance to the war department, and which I had sent to him with a letter calling his attention to csr-tain facts with which, it seemed to me, the war depart ment ought to deal.
 A fsw days after this wrcte Mir Stan ten a second letter, in which I asked him to give Gen. Fremont a chance. At the breaking out of the war Fremont had besn made Q, nfajor-general in the regular army and the command of the western depar' tmlent had been given him. His campaign in Missouri in the summer of 1861 gave great dissatisfaction, and in November. 1861, h. was relieved after an investigation by the secretary of war. Since that time he had been without a command. I believed, as did many oth- CTS that political intrigue was Ike ping Fremont back, and I was anxious that he should have fair play, in order that the great mass of the people who had supported him for tine presidency in 1856, and who still wera his warm friends, might rot be dissatisfied.
 Very soon after MT. Stanton went into office military affairs were ensrgized, and a forward movement of tine armies was apparent. It was followed by sev- eral victories, notably thcSe of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. On different occasions the Tribune credited to the hdad of fine war department this nv sririt which seemed to inspire officers and men.
 Thus when the newspapers announced my unexpected retirement from the Tribune I was not unknown to either the president or the secretary of war.
 To MT. Stanton's letter asking me to go into the service of tha war depart ment, I replied that would take any thing he wanted me to, and in May he wrote me that was to be appointed on a commission to audit unSettled claims against ths quartermaster's department al Cairo T u3 Cairo on June F.
 His First Assignment
 On reaching Cairo on the appointed day, I found my associates, Judge Lo- gan, of Springfield, H., one of Mir. Lin coins friends and MT. Boutwell,, of Mas saichuxetts-afterward governor of that state, secretary of tlhe treasury and sen ator-both present. We organized on the 18th, as directed. Two days after we met Judge Logan was compelled by ill., ness to resign from the commission, and Sh=lby M. Cullom, now United States senator from Illinois, was appointed in his place.
 The main union armies had by now advanced far to the front, but Cairo was still an important military depot in command of Gen. William K Strong, whom I had known well in New York as @ republican politician There was large number of troops stationed in the town, and from there the armies on the Mississippi, in Missouri, and Kentucky got all their supplies and munitions of war. The quartermasters -Aepartmenl. there had been organized hastily and the demands upon it had increased rapidly. Much of the business had besn done by green volunteer officers, who did not un- derstand the technical duties of making out military acquisitions and returns; the result was that the accounts were in great confusion, and hyster;cal news papers were charging the department with fraud and corruption. The matter could not be settled by any ordinary means, and the commission went there as kind of supreme authority, accepting or rejecting claims, and paying them as he saw fit. after examining the evidence.
 Sixteen hundred and ninety-six cams, to $599, ,219.36, were examined by us. Of those approved and certified for payment the amount was $4o1 ,105.S0
 Of the claims rejected a considerable portion were for losses suffered in the active operations of the army, either through departure from discipline on khe part of soldiers, or from acquisitions made by officers who failed to give re- ceipts and certificates to the partils, who were thus unable to support their claims by sufficient evidance. Many claims of this description were also prosecuted by persons whose loyalty to the government was impeached by credible witnesses. In rejecting these the commission set forth the disloyalty of the claimants in the certificates, written on the face of their