ewspaper files--those chronicles of current events--will show
that evils now complained of were quite as prevalent under Fremont,
Hunter, Halleck, and Curtis as under Schofield.

"If the former had greater force opposed to them, they had also
greater forces with which to meet it. When the organized rebel
army left the State, the main Federal force had to go also, leaving
the department commander at home relatively no stronger than before.

"Without disparaging any, I affirm with confidence that no commander
of that department has, in proportion to his means, done better
than General Schofield.

"The first specific charge against General Schofield is that the
enrolled militia was placed under his command, when it had not been
placed under the command of General Curtis.

"That, I believe, is true; but you do not point out, nor can I
conceive, how that did or could injure loyal men or the Union cause.

"You charge that upon General Curtis being superseded by General
Schofield, Franklin A. Dick was superseded by James O. Broadhead
as provost-marshal-general. No very specific showing is made as
to how this did or could injure the Union cause. It recalls,
however, the condition of things, as presented to me, which led to
a change of commanders for the department.

"To restrain contraband intelligence and trade, a system of searches
seizures, permits, and passes had been introduced by General Fremont.
When General Halleck came, he found and continued the system, and
added an order, applicable to some parts of the State, to levy and
collect contributions from noted rebels to compensate losses and
relieve destitution caused by the rebellion. The action of General
Fremont and General Halleck, as stated, constituted a sort of system
which General Curtis found in full operation when he took command
of the department. That there was a necessity for something of
the sort was clear; but that it could only by justified by stern
necessity, and that it was liable to great abuse in administration,
was equally clear. Agents to execute it, contrary to the great prayer,
were led into temptation. Some might, while others would not, resist
that temptation. It was not possible to hold any to a very strict
accountability; and those yielding to the temptation would sell
permits and passes to those who would pay most, and most readily,
for them, and would seize property and collect levies in the aptest
way to fill their own pockets;