The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-12-21
COLUMBIA.
Saturday Morning. Dec. 81. 1857.
Another Able yindication,

AnOther Anso t1nutc1tL0Es-.s q
The New York Times, Of Tuesday,
publishes in full the message of Pre-
sidept Johnson, in reply to resolu-
tion of Congress, asking his reasons
for suspending Secretary Stanton.
AS the Times says. it is o document
of decided acuteness and force. In
it, the President does not -confine
himself to the technical requirements
of the tenure of Office law, in obe-
dience to which the message is sent;
he gives general statement of his
reasons for not wanting Mr.. Stanton
in his Cabinet any longer; avails
himself himself of The opportunity, also, to
transfer to Stanton some OF ..e re-
sponsibility, which he thinks has
rested upon him long enough.
We give an abstract of the strong
est points the President has made,
and which the facts Of the case fully
sustain. He refers to the Act of
Congress creating the War Depart
ment, which distinctly recognizes the
Secretary as the subordinate of the
President, saying that he shall per-
form such duties as the President
may preseribe, and that he may be
removed at the Presidents discre-
~tion. He then refers to the tenure
of Office law passed by last Congress,
under which Mr.. Stanton declined to
resign; but, strange to say, as the
President afirms, that when that
bill was before him for his signature,
he was officially advised by Mr.. Stan
ton that it was unconstitutional, and
that it was his "duty to defend the
power of the President from usurp-
alton and veto the bill" "After all
this" says the President, "I was not
prepared to find him assuming the
vindication of law which he had
advised me was unconstitutional"
The President next refers to what
has been known as his plan of recon-
struction, for which he has been
moro denounced than for any other
part of his official duties. But, 10
and behold! he did not originate it
he found it awaiting his action when
he succeeded to the Presidency, and
took it up as part of the unfinished
business of his predecessor. It was
prepared for Mr.. Lincoln by Mr..
Stanton, who has since testified that
he had no doubt of the Presidents
right and power to carry it out. Yet,
in spite of this, Mr.. Stanton was the
only member of the Cabinet who
differed with him on that policy, and
refused to withdraw after that differ
ence was found to be irreconcilable.
Consistent Mr.. Stanton!
The President then comes to spe-
cific charges of dereliction of duty
on the part of the ex-Secretary, and
cites the New Orleans riot; for which,
he says, he has been widely held re-
sponsible. He states that on the
2Sth August, he was advised by tele-
graph that the Convention was to
assemble, and that civil process would
be issued against the members of it
by the civil courts, which were then
in full operation; and he. was asked
whether the military should interfere
to precem execution of the process.
He answered that the military was
expected to ';sustain, not interfere
with, the proceedings of the courts. {"
On the same day, Gen. Baird sent q
despatch to Mr.. Stanton, asking for
orders. Mr.. Stanton received it on
Sunday, the Goth, but neither re-
piled to it nor informed the President
OF it; and on the 30th (Monday) the
riot occurred. Gen. Baird after
wards complained that he received no
instructions; and, for this delinquen-
cy-which is alleged to have caused
the riot-the President has been held
responsible, and Mr.. Stanton has
allowed this impression to prevail