The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-08-30
,.s RemovaI-Thc Order rs
.ucd nj Lasf-Generai GRANTS Pro-
cost Ignored.


tcst Ignored.
- rorn.y's Chronicle of yesterday.
last protest from General Grant to
prnsidcp,. mentioned in yesterdays
iSc n;cle against the assignment Of Gene
CT,gT5ancock to the relief of General She
r., i''~ rcsnlted in an interview between
T,'" T,-ns;dcnt and the General yesterday
morning. ,os .h,. co,oro,
c'r,,s General Order No. II, directing
','@" n-a, Thomas to relieve General Sheri-
zen, ,,mrsuant TO the Presidents instruc-
c"s, contained the following paragraph
",.1T Major. General George II. Thomas
-, ,n,,;nne TO execute all orders he may
wa wa n force in the Fifth Military District
.'' mo time he may assume command of it,
~ ,.' VS., ordered by the General of the army
",,nI, alter, or modify them"
1Io Presidents order on that occasion
-,lv directed the assignment Of Gene
~ thomas 10 the command, leaving all
",.,Icr Instructions to be communicated
~, General Grant; but his order assign
-, hancock contains the following:
.Oo being relieved from the command
.,,te Department of Missouri by Major
E.,cral i. IL. Sheridan, Major General
Ii,ocock will proceed directly to New Or
lam. La, and, assuming the command to
.,Tsrh NE is hereby assigned, will, when
,,ar,ssarv 10 faithful execution of the
i,ys exercise any and all powers con-
,,,rrrd by acts of Congress upon district
,,o,anicrs, and any and all authority
,.~,,;niug 10 officers in command Of mill
-
:. < also said that the President will
80, conScn, to the transmission of an or
ir- directing Hancock "to execute all
,-3rr, he may find in force" at the time
= assuming command, "unleSS ordered
rs The General of the army TO annui,
tier, or modify them" 1t is understood
,f3, General Grants protest has especial
rrf,rrncc to this, the understood object Of
,ac President in his opposition to it being
- leave Hancock at liberty to reInstate
the civil officers deposed by Sheridan.
The last reconstruction act, after empow-
rripg the district commanders to remove
civil. officers in the unreconStructed States,
subject to the disapproval of the General
commanding the army, provides as follows ::
"SECTIoN 3. And be 1t further enacted,
That the General Of the armies of the
United States shall be invested with all
tie powers Of suspension, removal, APP
ointment, and detail, granted in the pre-
csding section to district commanders"
Under this provision, or under the power
o; disapprovul vested in him by the act,
General Grant has the undoubtcd autho-
r;tv 10 forbid the revocation Of any OF
General Shcridan's orders removing civil
officers in Louisiana and Texas, and it is
understood that the difference between
him aud the President in reference to the
uromulga,ion Of the order in question
arises ont of the denial of this authority
Is the latter, although the precise extent
Of the authority claimed by either is not
positively known. The interview lasted
FIR some time, during which, it is said, the
President requested General Grant to
withdraw his letter of protest, because it
Contains an intimation that the writer is
unwilling to surrender the power dele
gated to him by the reconstruction acts to
the President, and that he felt inclined,
Oh that account, to refuse point-blank to
issue the order. General Grant refused
towithdraw the letter, when the PreSi-
dent stated that it contained expressions
which might be construed as insubordinate.
Finally, the President made an eS 3sicit
demand for the immediate issue of the
order, stating that he was sorry that he
felt compelled to ignore the protests, and
that he did not consider the arguments
contained in them against his assumption
Of power as convincing. General Grant
accordingly sent the order to the War
Department printer yesterday afternoon.