The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-12-14

SECRETARY STANToN's case has at length
received the attention of the President. he
has given his reasons, and given them ION
compuision, HAL" Moreover he has gwen
them in very good season, not even ven.ur,hs
to count his twenty days of grace IRON 'no Nc
ginning of the second regular seSSi'" VI '"e
10th Congress on the Cd of Decemoer' as many
even OF the Radical Senators thought ne inlght
safal1 do Thursday was the last of twenty
aavs from the 21st of November, and on the
aftersoon of that day Mr. johnson laid before
+be Senate the explanation demanded by the
Tcnure-of- Office act for suspepding his Secre-
tary of War from office. He didn't like to stir
~ the impeachers again, and he knew that
the omission OF this duty would be the very
thing to put them on their feet to some pur-
pose. SO il Mr.. Johnson's reasons were but
good reasons, all would be we'll. But unfor-
tunately it happens that those which are good
are not true, and those which are true are OF
no account. In the course of his thirty foois-
cap pages Mr.. johnson makes the ioilo"ins
points: In the first place he did nt IKE Mr.
Stanton and this led to quarrels III tne oao'n-
ct; it seems to have been one Oh those cases Oh
imperfect sympathies which are best illustrate
ed nv Charles Lambs anecdote Of two men,
who had never before seen each other,
meeting and instantly fighting. tn the Sec
opd place it is alleged that Mr. Stanton was
responsible for the New Orleans riot Of 1866.
This would be valid excuse for the removal
of Mr.. Stanton, if it were true, but the coun-
try is fortunately not without inform alton as TO
where the responsibility for that affair lay
Mr.. Stanton did not authorize a Rebel Attor-
ney-General to call United States troops to
the assistance of Rebels, nor did it rest with
him to bring the perpetrators to justice,
Third, he complains that Mr.. Stanton was
clearly of the opinion that the Tenure oi-cf-
flee act was unconstitutional at the time of its
passage and approved of its veto, while he does
rot scruple to take advantage of its provisions.
There is no new information here. Mr.. Stan
ton of course has independent views on mat
tiers oflaw and public policy but after a stat
ute is enacted by competent authority he
regards it as the law of the land and
obeys and respects it acc .rdingly. Not
so with Mr.. johnson. Having made up
his mind that a law is unconstitutional or
unwise, the sanction OF heaven itself would
give it no validity in his eyes. Furthermore
the Secretary "sauced" the President in his
reply to a note saying that his resignation
would be accepted, and managed the War De-
partment rather with view to the public
good than the promotion OF the Presidents
policy" -e;,.r4 ae
Nearly everything set forth by the Prssi.
dent is OF personal nature. He makes no
Pretence that the Secretary was guilty of any
Inalfeasance in office. 1t is said that several
Senators have expressed the opinion that none
of the reasons given are of suffi Client weight to
constitute valid excuse for the action of the
Executive. The President takes the ground
that he might have removed the Secretary alb
solutely, but says he is willing to leave the
matter with the Senate.