The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-02-06

interim, and to appoint some other person in
Iother Conversations upon the subject eusu-
ed, all of them having, on my part, the same
object, and leading TO the same conclusion as /
the first. 1t Is not necessary, however, to re-
Ter TO any of them excepting that of Saturday, |
the 11th inst. mentioned in your commnnica- |
ton. AS 1t was then known that the Senate |
had proceeded on the case OF Mr. stanton, 1 |
was anxious to learn your determination, At |
ter prot acted interview, during which the |
pr DIVISIONS of the tenure of Office bill were fully
discussed, you said that as it had been agreed |
upon in our first conference, you would either |
return the office to my possession in time TO |
enable me to appoint a successor before maj
action by the Senate on Mr. Stanton's suspen-
slon or would remain as its head awaiting !"
decision of the question by judicial proeeeo ed
ings. 1t was then understood thar theIe VIZ u
be q further conference on Monday " ~
me Of your final decision. You iaiIe5 a, noMeF-
er to fulfil the engagement, ana on tuesday
notified me in writing OF the recetpt oi your
official notification ofthe aetion OF the Senate
i n the case of Mr.. Stanton, and at that time
informeJ me that according to the act regulat-
mo tba tenure OF certain civil offices, your
functions as Secretary Of War dd interim ceas-
ed from the momen; OF the receipt of the no.
tiee.
between US, vacated the office without having
given me notice Of yonr intention to do 80. 1t
Is but just however TO say that in YOUR com
mnnicatiOn you claim that you did inform ne
of your purpose and thus fulfilled the promise
made IN our last preceding conversation ON
the subject. The fact that such a promise ex-
listed is evidence Of an arrangement of the
kind have mentioned You had found in
our first conference that the President was de-
sirous of keeping Mr.. Stanton out of Office
whether sustained in the suspension or not;
you knew what reasons had induced the Pres
ident to ASK from you promises you also
knew that IN case your views of duty did not
accord with his own convictions, it was his
purpose to fill your place by another appoint
ment Even ignoring the existence of posi-
tive understanding between US, the conclu-
sonS were plainly deducible from our various
conversations. IL is certain, however, that
even under the circumstances YOU did not Of
Ter 10 return che place to my possession, but,
according to your own statement placed your
self III position where, could have antici-
pated your action, l would have been compl-
led to ask of yoL, as was compelled to ask of
your predecessor in the War Department, a
letter of resignation, or else to resort to the
more diSagreeable expedent of suspending you
by II mnating successor.
As stated in your Letter. the nomination of
Governor Cox OF Ohio, for the Office of Secre-
tary OF War was suggested to me. This APP
pointment, as Mi. Stanton's successor, was
urged in your name, and it was said that his
selection would save further embarrassment
l did not thi, k that in the selection of cabi-
net officer / should be trammelled by such
considerations. j was prepared to take the
responsibility of deciding the question in ac-
cordance with my ideas of constitutional duty,
and having determined upon course which i
deemed right and proper was anxious to learn
the steps you would take should the possess
sion OF the War Department be demanded by
Mr.. Star ton Had your action been in con-
iormity with the understanding between u.s. L
do not believe that the embarrassment would
have attained its present proportions or the
PROBABILITY OF lts repetition have been So great.
L know that with view to an early termina-
ton of a state of affairs so detrimental to the
public interest, you voluntarily offered, both
on Monday the 18th inst and on the sue
ceeding Sunday, to call upon Mr.. Stanton and
urge upon him that the good of the service re-
quired his resignation. confess that / con-
sidered your proposal as sort of reparation
Tor the failure on your part to act in accord
ance with an understanding more than once
repeated, which I thought had received your
full assent, and under which you could have
returned to me the Office which had conferred
upon you, thus saving Yourself from embar-
rassment and leaving the responsibility where
it properly belonged-with the President, who
is accountable for the faithful execution Of the
law.
have not been informed by you whether.
as twice proposed by yourself, yop have called
upon MIR. Stanton and made an effort to induce
him voluntarily to retire from the War De-
partment You conclude your communica-
ton with a reference to our conversation at
the meeting of the cabinet, held on Tuesday
the .i4th instant. In your account of what
then occurred, you say that after the Presi-
dent had given his version of our previous
conversations, you stated them substantially
as given in your letter, and that you in nowise
admitted the correctness of his statement of
them, though to soften the evident contra
diction my statement gave, | said, alluding to
our first communication on the subject the
President might have understood in the way
he said, viz: that I had promised TO resign if
did not resist the reinstatement. / made no
such promise"
My recollection of what then transpired is
dlameIrically the reverse of your marathon
II the presence Of the cabinet / asked YOU
hrst, If IN conversation which took place
shortly after your appointment as Secretary of
W ar al interim, you did not agree either to re-
main at the head of the War Department and
abide any judicial proceedings that might fol-
low the non-concurrence by the Senate in Mr.
Stanton's suspension; Or should you wish not
10 become involved In such controversy, to
put me in the same position with respect to the
office as L occupied previous to your appoint
ment, by returning it to me in time to anticj-
pate such action by the Senate; this you adj
mitted.
Second. L then asked you if at the confer
ences On the preceding Saturanys 7 hsd not, to
avoid misunderstanding, requested YOU to
state what you intended to do, further, if
IN reply to that inquiry, you had not referred
to my former conversations, saying that from
them understood your position and that your
action would be consistent with the under
standing that had been reached? To these
questions You also replied in the affirmative.
Third. / next asked if at the conclusion of
our interview on Saturday it was not under
stood that We were to have another confer
ence on Monday, before final action by the
Senate on the case OF Mr.. Stanton. You re-
piled that snch was the understanding but
that you did not supposed the Senate would act
so soon; that on Monday you had been en-
gagged in conference with General Sherman
and were occupied with many little matters
and asked if General Sherman had not called
OH that day. " nat relevancy Gen. Shermans
visit to me on Monday had with the purpoSe
for which you were to have called, am at a
loss to perceive, as he certainly did not inform
me whether you had determined 10 retain nos
session OF the office, Or 10 afford me an oppor-
tunlty to appoint a successor in advance OF
any attempted reinstatement of Mr. Stanton,
This account of what passed between us at
the cabinet meeting on the 18th inst widely
differs from that contained in your communi-
cation, for it shows that instead of having stat
eq our conversations as given in the letter
which has made this reply necessary, you adj
mitted that my recital of them was entirely ac-
CITRATE. Sincerely ANXIOUS, however to be
correct ia my statements I have to-day read
this narrative of what occurred on the 1Ath in
slant to the members of the cabinet who we've
then present; they without exception agree in
it's accuracy.
1t is only necessary TO add that en- Wednas-
day morning The 10Th inst. you called on me in
company with Lieut.-General Sherman A t,r
some preliminary conversation YOU remarked
that an article in the National Inteliicencer of
that date did you much injustice; i repled
that had not read the Intelligeneer of that
morning. You first told me that it was YOUR
intention to urge Mr.. Stanton to resign his Ct
ice. After you had withdrawn l carefully
read the article Of which you had spoken and
found that its statement Of the understanding
between US was substantially correct. GA the
l7tb inst. caused it to be read to four or five
of the members of the cabiIset who were pres.
ent at our conference on the 14th instant. and
they concurred in the general accuracy ofits
statements respecting cur conversation upon
that occasion.
In reply TO your communications / have
deemed it proper, in order to prevent further
misunderstanding, 20 make this simple recital
OF facts. Very respectfully yours,
ANDREW JOHNSON.
GENERAL GRANTS REJoINDER.
WASHINGTON, d. c.. Feb. s. 1863.
10 His EGceiteacy ARdlep Johnson, President
Of tee United StGteS
Sir, have the honor to ACKNOWLEDGE the
receipt OF your communication of the 3lst uIt.
in answer TO mine of the 28th ult. After a
careful reading and comparison of it with the
article in the National Intelligencer of the
18th ut, and the article over the initials of
y. b. s." in the New York World of the Goth
ult., purporting to be based upon your state