Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-12-20


1t viii not escape attention, that in his
note Of Aug. 5, Mr.. Stanton stated that he
| had been constrained to continue in the of
| fee even before be was requested to resign,
by considerations Of high public charac-
| ter. In this note of Aug. II, a new and
different sense of public duty compels him
to deny the Presidents right to suspend
| him from Office without the consent Of the
Senate The Last the public duty of re-
sisting an act contrary to law, and he
charges the President with violation of the
law in ordering his suspension.
Mr. Stanton refers generally TO the Econ
stituiion and laws Of the United States"
and SAYS that sense of public dnty
under these compels him to deny the
right Of the President 10 suspend him from
Office. Asto his sense Of duty Under the
consultation, that viii be considered in The
| sequel. As TO his sense of duty under "the
laws of The United States" he certainly
caunot refer TO the law which creates the
War Department, for that expressly con-
fers upon the President the unlimited right
TO remove the head of the department. The
only other law bearing upon the question
is the tenure of Office act, passed by Con-
gress over the Presidential veto, March .,
1857. This is the law which, under
sense of public duty, Mr.. Stanton volrn-
| teers to defend.
There is no provision in this law which
compels any officer coming within its pro-
visions to remain in office. 1t forDids re-
m0vals, not designations Mr.. Stanton was
| perfectly free to resign at any moment,
either upon his own motion, or in compli~
anee with a request or an order. TWAS
matter of choice or taste. There was moth
ing compulsory in the nature of legal
obligation. Nor does he put his action
upon that imperative ground. He says he
acts under Sense of public duty" not of
legal obligation, compelling him to hold
on, and leaving him no choice. The pub
lie duty which is upon him arises from the
respect which he owes to the constitution
and the laws, violated in his own case.
| He is, therefore, compelled by this sense
of public duty to vindicate violated law
and to stand as its champion.
This was not the first occasion in which
Mr.. Stanton, in discharge Of public duty,
was called upon to consider the provisions
| of that law. That tenure of Office law did
not pass without notice. Like other acts,
il was sent to the President for approval.
As is my custom, | submitted its consider
alton TO my Cabinet for their advice upon
the question, whether | should approve it
or not. II was grave question of consti
tutional law, in which | would of course
rely most upon the opinion of the Attorney
General and of Mr.. Stanton who had once
been Attorney General.
Every member of my Cabinet advised
me that the proposed law was unconstitue
tionaL All spoke without doubt or-reser
walton; but Mr.. Stanton's condemnation
| of the law was the most elaborate and en-
phatic. He referred to the constitutional
provisions, the debates in Congress-es-
| pecially TO the speech of Mr. Buchanan,
when Senator-to the decisions of the
| Supreme Court, and to the usage from the
beginning fthe government through every
successive administration, all concurring
to establish the right of removal, as vested
| by the constitution in the President. To
all these he added the weight of his own
deliberate judgment, and advised me that
| it was my. duty to defend the power of
the President from usurpation and to veto
| the law. .I.-E- III
| i do not know when a sense of public
dnty is more imperative upon head of
department than upon such an occasion as
this. He acts then under the gravest obli-
cations of law for when he is called upon
by the President for advice, it is the con-
stitutiou which speaks to him. All his
other duties are left, by the constitution, to
be regulated by statute but this duty was
deemed so momentous that it is imposed
by the constitution itself.
After all this, / was not prepared for the
ground taken by Mr.. Stanton in his note Of
August II. | was not prepared to find him
| compelled, by new and indefinite sense
of public duty under ''the constitution" to
assume the vindication of a law which,
under the solemn obligations of public
duty, imposed by the constitution itself, he
advised me was a violation of that consti-
tntion. make great allowance for a change
Of opinion, but such change as this hardly
falls within the limits Of great indulgence.
| Where our opinions take the shape of adj
vice and influence the action of others the
utmost stretch of charity will scarcely
Justify us in repudiating them when they
come to be applied to ourselves.
But to proceed with the narrative: was
so much struck with the foil mastery ofthe
question manifested by Mr.. Stanton, and
| was at the time so fully occupied with the
! preparation of another veto on the pending
reconstruction act, that L requested him TO
| prepare the veto upon the tenure of Office
bill. This he declined to do on theground
of physical disability to undergo, at the
time, the labor of writing, but stated his
readiness to furnish what aid might be re-
| qured in the preparation of materials for
| the paper.
| AT the time this subject was before the
| Cabinet il seemed to be taken for granted
| that as 10 those members of the Cabinet
| who had been appointed by Mr. Lincoln,
| their tenure of Office was not fixed by the
provisions of the act. / do not remember
that the point was distinctly decided; but
j well recollect that it was suggested by one
member of the Cabinet who was appointed
by Mr.. Lincoln, and that no dissent was
expressed.
Whether the point was welitaken or not
did not seem to me Of any consequence, for
the unanimous expression of opinion
against the constitutionality and policy OF
| the act was 80 decided that felt no con
Germ, so far a. the act had reference to the
| gentlemen then present, that would bt
embarrassed in the future. The bill had
not then become law. The Limitation up
on che power of removal was not yet im
| posed, and there was yet time 10 make any
changes If any one of these gentlemen
had then said TO me that lac would avail
himself of the provisions of that bill in cast
it became law, should not have hesita
ted moment as 10 his removal. M
; pledge was thea expressly given or re
ouir4d. But there are circumstances wheI
: 10 give an express pledge is not necessary
and when to require il is an imputation o
possible bad faith. felt that If these gen
tlemen came within the purview Of the bill
it was as TO them, dead letter, and tina
none of them would ever take refuge unde
its provisions.
/ now pass TO another subject. When
|, ON the l5th of April, 1865, the duties of tn
Presidential Office devolved upon me,
found full Cabinet of seven members, al
! of them selected BY Mr., Lincoln. mad
/, no change. On the contrary, short,
/. aterward ratified change determined up
on bv Mr.. Lincoln, but not perfected at hi
{ death, and admitted his appointee, Dir
: Harlan, in the place Of Mr.. Usher, VIII
was in Office at the time.
The great duty of the time was to re
establish government law and order in Tn
| insurrectiouary States. Congress was thei
/ - -ooass and the eud,len overthrow OF tn