Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-03-10

reasoning from analogy, it was assume,
in the army that no order could be givel
to any one under my command withou
coming through me; that if, by any
possibility, an order had beer
} given. without coming through me, il
J was the duty of the officer receiving
it Immediately to notify me. He ther
asked me, "WhatN order do you refer
y" l stated that referred to order
No. Is or II, I could not recollect which
that had been published to the army
some time in May last, He said, II
wish to see the order" Ireplied to him
that I would send forit. He said, "No,
l have all the orders about the house."
and messenger was sent for it. Atthat
time Colonel Cooper came in, and occu-
pied the Presidents attention for some
time upon another subject, as I suppos-
ed for l withdrew to the other end OF
the room. While there, the messenger
came and brought the order. After Col
onel Cooper had gone out, returned to
the President, with this order in my
hand, and said, "Mr. President, 1 will
take it asa great favor if you will per-
NIT me to call your attention to this or
der or act. 1t passed in an appropria-
tion bill, and it is possible you may new
er have seen it. .''a He took the order and
read it and observed: "This is not in
accordance with the Constitution of the
United States, which makes me Com
mander-in-Chief of the. Army and Navy,
or, with the language Of the commission
which you hold" 1 stated to him that
was not matter for officers to determine:
there was the order sent to us, approved
by him, and we were all governed by
that order.
Question-Do you mean that the or
der or the act was approved by the
President ?
Answer mean the act but as far
as that was concerned, the order and the
act approved by him are the same thing;
for the order contained nothing but the
act. He said, cam to understand that
the President of the United States can
not give an order but through the Cen
eral-in-Chief or General Grant?' I re-
piled, "Mr. President, that is the order
which you approved and which has been
issued for the government of the army,
and think it due to you to say that
when this order first came out it was
very much discussed in the army, and
some of the leading lawyers of the coun-
try were consulted as to what the duty.
of an officer was under that law and Or
der" and observed, cone of them whom
| consulted, and I consider him, per-
haps, one of the greatest constitutional
lawyers in the country, gave it as his
very decided opinion that we were bound
by it. And think it right to tell you
that on this subject the army is a unit"
He asked me who the lawyers were. 1
told him the one 1 consulted was kins-
folk Of mine, Robert J. Walker, and that
1 had understood, though 1 did not know
of my own knowledge, that others had
consulted Mr.. Reverdy johnson, who, it
was reported, held the same opinion.
The President replied, "the object of the
law is very evident" After short
pause, seeing there was nothing more to
say, I thanked him for the courtesy
with which he had permitted me to ex-
press my own opinion, and left the
house.
Question-Did the President, in any
form, inquire whether you would obey
an order if it was sent to you without
going through the headquarters of the
General2
Answer-As nearly as can recollect,
there was not word said that have not
put down, though could, of course, not
swear that had put down every word
uttered. You may see by my testimony
that myself introduced the subject of
order No. II, which involves this ques-
ton. There We're a variety of rumors
running about town that General Thom-
as had given orders, or that he had de-
clared he was going to give orders, and
| thought it my duty to state the situa-
tion fairly and squarely to the President.
Testimony Of Colonel Geo. W. Wallace.
WASHINGTON, D. @, Feb. 26, 1868.
George W. Wallace sworn and exam
ined: a.4 i;
By the Chairman
Question-You are connected with the
Army
Answer-I am Lieutenant Colonel in
the army. commanding the garrison of
Washington.
Question-How long have you been
in command of the garrison of Wash
ington?
Answer-Since the latter part of Au-
gust last.
Question-Have you, at any time,
had any conversation or correspondence
with the President of the United States |
in regard to military affairs, movements,
or operations
Answer-I had a brief conversation
with him on Sunday morning last.
Question-Had you the conversation
at his request2 .......
Answer-The circumstance occurred
in this way: 1 was called to the Ex-
ecutive Mansion to see one of his secre-
taries, Colonel Moore and while in con-
with him I asked how the
President was. He replied that he was
very well, and then asked if 1 would
like to see him and pay my respects to
him. I said certainly, and in few mo-
ments was invited into his room.
Question-Did you have a conversa-
ton with him in regard to military mat
ters ?
Answer-Yes, sir; a brief conversa-
ton.