THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
band them again because they indulged in the gratification of private vengeance and worked generally against the policy of the Government. Sheridan has issued an order in Texas embracing the identical points contained in General Slocum's order.”
Thereupon I received on the 6th of September a telegram
simply announcing the receipt of my “dispatch of the 30th ultimo,”
probably meaning my letter from Vicksburg. And then
nothing more; not a word indicating the President's policy,
or his wishes or his approval or disapproval of my conduct.
But meanwhile I had found a short paragraph in a New
Orleans paper telegraphed from Washington, only a few lines,
stating that the President was dissatisfied with me, and that I
was especially blamed for having written to the newspapers
instead of informing him. I believed I saw in this news
paragraph an inspiration from the White House. Acting upon
that supposition I at once wrote to the President reminding
him that I had not sought this mission to the South, but had
accepted it thinking that I might do the country some service;
that the charge that I had reported to the newspapers instead
of to the President, was simply absurd; that I had written to
the President a series of elaborate reports; that I had, indeed,
written a few letters to a newspaper, but that this was well
understood by the Secretary of War when he made the arrangements
for my journey; that the compensation set out for me—a
mere War-Department-clerk's salary—was utterly insufficient
to cover the expenses incidental to my travels, aside from
transportation and subsistence, among which incidentals was a
considerable extra premium on my life insurance on account of
my travels so far South during the summer; that, as the
Secretary of War understood and appreciated, I had to earn some-
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