The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-02-19

/ president and General Dran[ at ne
Jabinet meeting on Tuesday'Sthe Nth
Of January.
We pass over the general endorse
ment of the President By messrs.
WelIes, McCulloch and Randall, only
abiding to the significant reference
of Mr.. MeCulloeL that substa ntial-
ly, in all Important particulars, his
recollection accords with the Presi-
dents statement, and which indicates
that he felt there were some omissions.
And Secretary Browning, in his letter,
supplies these omissions. 1T is for
tunate that the President called on
these Cabinet officers for statements.
as, otherwise, the most important part
of that Saturday discussion would
have rested only on the Generate
statement Mr. johnson deliberately
ignoring and Onsitting II.
Secretary Browning first gives the
substance of the Presidents charges
against the General, as follows:
The President further said that the con-
versati0n was renewed on the preceding
Saturday, sc which time he asked the
General what ne intended 10 do If the
Senate should undertake to reinstate Mr..
Stanton: in reply to which the General
referred TO their former con versatiOn upon
stand my position and my conduct viii
be confoI mable to that understandings -
that ne (the Generall then expressed q re-
puORGnee 20 being made a party 20 a judicial
proceeding. saying that he would expose
himself 70 q fne and imprisonment by
doing so, as his continuing 20 d. charge The
CilGtteS Of Secretary Of War al interim, after
the Senate should have refused 10 concur
in the suspension Of Mt; Stanton,
nee bill. That in reply to this, he (Lhe
President) informed General Grant he had
not suspended MT. stanton under the
tenure-of-office bill, but by virtue OF the
powers conferred on him by the Constitu-
ton and as to the fine and i'm pri comment.
he, the President. would pay whatever
ine was inflicted and submit TO whatever
imprisonment was Rdtudged against MIN
(the GENERALLY That they continued the con-
at length, and th0t hey finally separated
WITHOUT having reached q de1JBtte conclusion,
aud with the Understanding that General
Grant would see the President again on
Monday.
1t will be seen that, taking the
Presidents statement at this Cabinet
meeting of that talk alone, be and
General Grant did not agree, the Gen
eral clearly stating TO him that he did
not want to be party to
any judicial proceeding, nor
to suffer fine and imprisonment
for violation of law; and that they
separated, after a long controversial
argument, loithOHt any agreement, the
President having failed to induce the
General to consent to what he de-
sired.
Mr.. Browning then gives the Gen
erals reply at this Cabinet meeting. to
the Presidents version of this con-
versation, as follows III
In reply. General Grant admitted that
the conversation had occurred, and said
that at the first conversation he had given
IL as his opinion to the President that in
the event Of non-coneurrenee " the Sem
spect TO the Secretary of War, the question
would have to be decided by the court:
That AR. stanton would have TO appeal TO
the court 10 sreinstate him In ONCE; that
the ms would remain In till they could De
displaced and the outs put in by legal pro-
ceedings; and that he then thought so,
and had agreed that II be should change
his mind he would notify the President Ia
time to enable him to make another
appointment; but at the time Of the con-
versattOn, ne had not looked very cIONely
snto the law that IL had recently been dis
cusSSd 0y the newspapers, aud that this had
induced him to examine Il more carefully.
and that he had GENE to TIE Conclusion
that II the Senate should refuse to concur
in the suspension Mr.. Stanton would
thereby be reinstated, and that he General
Grant could NOT therefore continue TO ace as
fine and tnIE1s Gsoa41e1lt and That ne c1y5ss 55,e
on Saturday 20 fTsfOTT1 the President Of this
change On hts vsei5s, and did 90 fysfoyRa him;
that the President replied that he had not
suspended Mr.. Stanton under the tenure-of-s
office bill, but under the Constitution and
had appointed him (Grant) by virtue or
the authority derived from the COnSfffn-
ton, &c, that they continued to discuss
the matter some time, and finally he left
expecting to see the President again on
Monday,
Let the attentive reader notice how
exactly this confirms General Grants
version Of the conversation before the
Cabinet, and how materially this full
statement differs from what the Presi-
dent gives as has version of that con-
versatlon ia the 6rst extract quoted
above, under the head of Second 4"
and " Third, In which he deliberate
ly omits all the important points given
in Secretary Browning's carefully de-
tailed statement Was there ever a
more striking illustration of the old
law maxim, suppreSsiO Teri suqges-
to .ftttsi? The Generals friends
can well afford to let the cues
ton of veracity rest upon this |
full statement of Mr.. Browning.
Failing to trap General Grant into /
resistance to the law, even by his /
kind offer to accept the fine and i'm |
prisOnment vicariously in his stead. /
the President, after receiving the |
Generals notice that the Senate's ac-
ton had ended in his incumbency of |
the War Department, sends for him |
to attend a Cabinet meeting; and
as Mr. Browning says, in this |
same letter, when he (Gen. Grant, T
had been reached in the order /
of business, the President asked him,
as usual, If he had anything to pre-
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