Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1868-02-19
THE WAR DEPARTMENT
Correspondence Between GEN.
eral Grant and the
President.
Exposure Of the Whole ImbrOgliO.
" AsHINGToN, February i

WASHINGTON, February i.
The speaker laid before the House
communication from the War De
partment, inclosing the following doe
ument
WARDEPARTMENT, February 4, 1868
SIR-Ir answer to the resolution
of the House of Representative O
the 8th ultimo, | transmit herewith
copies furnished me by General Grant
of the CORES pondence between hin
and the President relating to the Sec
retary of War, which he reports to be
all the pondence he had with
the President on the subject. | have
had no CORES spondence with the Pres
ident since the 18th Of August last
! Upon the action of the Senate on his
alleged reason for my suspension
from the office of Secretary of War.
resumed the duties Of that Office, as
required by the act Of Congress, and
have continued to discharge them
without any personal or written com.
munication with the President. No
orders have been issued from this De.
partment in the name of the Presi-
dent with my knowledge, and ! have
received no orders from him. The
correspondence sent herewith embra-
ces all the correspondence known to
me On the subject referred to in the
resolution of the House of Represen-
! tatives
[ have the honor to be, sir, with
great respect, your obedient servant,
EDWIN NJ. STANTON,
Secretary of War
Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker ofthe House
Of Representatives.
GENERAL GRANT To JOHNSON.
HEADoURTERs ARMY or TIE UNITED STATES,
WASHINGTON, January %.
HIS Excellency Andrew Johnson, President
of the United States:
Sir On the 18th instant I request
ed YOU to give me IN writing the in
structions which Won had previously
given me verbally, uot to obey any
order from Hon. +. NJ. Stanton, as
Secretary of War, unless | knew it
came from yourself. To this written
request / received message that has
left doubt in my mind Of your inten-
tion. To prevent any possible misun-
fe56ttasp9diiHHRFs tB6r&fQFGnt 5SnGYntbf
instructions. and until they are re
ceiyed viii suspend action on your
verbal ones. ] am compelled to ask
these instructions IN writing in conse-
qucncc Of the many gross misrepre-
sentations affecting my personal hon
or circulated through the press for
the last fortnight, purporting to come
| from the President, of conversations
which occurred either with the Pres
ident privately, in his Office, or IN
! Cabinet meeting. What is written
admits Of nc misunderst tanding. In
view of the Misrepresentation referred
| to. it Will be well to state the facts
/ in the case. Some time after / re-
snmed the duties of Secretary of " ar
ad interim. the President asked my
views as to the course Mr.. Stanton
would have to pursue, in case the Sen
ate would not concur in his suspen-
sion. to obtain possession of his office
| Nv replv was. in substance. that Mr.
Stanton would have to appeal to the
/ courts to reinstate him, illustrating
my position by citing the grounds /
/ have taken in the case of the Balti-
Imore Police Commissioners. In
! that case | did not doubt the techni-
4 cal right Of Governor Swami to re-
move the old Commissioners and APP
/ point their successors. AS the old
/ Commissioners refused to give up,
! however, | contended that no re
source was left but to appeal to the
courts. Finding that the President W as
/ desirous of keeping Mr. Stanton out
of office. whether sustained IN his sus-
pension or not, / stated that l had
not looked particularly into the
4 Tenure-of-O Office bin but what had
! to state was a general principle, and
Iif I should change nv mind in this
particuler case, l would inform him
of the fact, Subsequently, on reading
the Tenure of-Ofice bill closely. !
I found I could not. without a violation
of the law, refuse TO vacate the office
of the Secretary Of War the moment
. Mr.. Stanton was reinstated bv the
\ Senate. even though the President
ordered me to retain it. which he nev-
{ q Al4 dEiLl8 Glls view VI ltG SUI
lject, and learning on Saturday, the
! llth instant. that the Senate had ia
ken up the subject Of Mr.. Stanton
suspension, after some conversation
with Lieutenant General Sherman
and members Of nv staff, in which
stated that the law left me no discre
tion as 10 nv action should Mr.. Stan
ton be reinscated. .nd | intended tc
inform the President. l wrote to the
+ President forthe sole purpose of making
the decision known, and did make il
known. In this decision | fulfilled
/ the promise made in our last preced
ing conversation on the subject. The
President, however. instead of accept
ing nv view of the requirements or
the Tenure-oEOlice bill. contendec
that he had suspended Mr.. Stanton
under authority given by the Constl
tuition, and the same authority die
not preclude him from reporting, a:
and act of courtesy. his reasons fol
the suspension to the Senate that
having been appointed under author