Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1868-02-19
JOHNSON TO GRANT.


GENERAL Il have read your com
munlcatIon of the 28th instant, renew
ing your request OF the oath, that !
should repeat in written form. my
verbal Instructions of the 18th inst.
viz: That you obey no order from
the Hon. E. NJ. Stanton, as Secretary
OF " ar, unless yOu have informat tior
that 1t was issued by direction OF
the President" Submitting this re.
quest with which / complied on the
29th instant, you take occasion to al
lude to the publication in reference
to the circumstances connected with
the vacation by yourself of the Office
Of Secretary of War al interim. and
with view of correcting the state.
ments which you term gross misrep-
resentations, and give at length vour
! recollection Of the facts under which.
without the sanction of the President.
from whom you had received and ac-
cepted the appointment, you Welded
the Department of War to the pres
ent incumbent. AS stated in vour
letter, sometime after you had assum-
ed the duties Of Secretary of War.
we interchanged views res specting the
course that should be pursued in the
event OF the on-conCurrence by the
! Senate IN the suspension of Mr.. Stan
ton. | sought that interview, call
ing myself at the War Department.
My sole object in then bringing the
subject to your attention was to ascer-
tain what would be your action
should such an attempt be made for
his restoration to the War Depart
ment. That object was accomplished,
for the interview terminated with the
distinct understanding, that under re-
lection you should prefer not to be-
come party to the controversy, or
should conclude that it would be your
| duty to surrender the Department to
Mr.. Stanton. Upon action in his ia
vor by the Senate, you were to return
the office to me prior to decision, in
! order If | desired so to do. ! might des-
! lgnate some one to succeed YOU. 1t
was apparent to you that had not
this understanding been reached. it
was my purpose to relieve YOU from
| the further discharge of the duties as
Secretary of War al interim. and to
| appoint some other person in that ca
pacity. Other conversations upon
| the subject ensued, all having been on
my part on the same subject. leading
TO the same conclusion as the first.
ttJ6I neh3lf9 s7f,3J- J.o vrff1~l IN ,Ts tam
mentioned in your letter. As it was
then known that the Senate had pro
ceeded IN the case of Mr.. Stanton I
was anxious to learn your dctermina-
/ tion. After a protracted interview,
/ during which the provisions Of the Ten
ure oEOGice bill were fully dis,
cuSsed, YOU said, as it had been agreed
upon in our first conference, vou
would either return the Office to my
/ possession in time to enable me to
appoint a successor before final action
! by the Senate upon Mr.. Stanton's
suspension, or would remain at its
| head awaiting decision by judicial
proceedings. 1t was then understood
! that there would be further confer
ence on Monday, by which time sup
posed you would be prepared to IN
/ form me ofyour decision. You failed
! to fulfill your engagement, and on
/ Tuesday notified me in writing Of the
/ receipt OF your official notice of the ac-
ton of the Senate in reference to Mr.
/ Stanton, and at the same time inform
ed me that according to the act reg
/ ulating the tenure of certain civil
offices, your functions as Secretary of
! War dd interim ceased from the mo-
ment of the receipt Of the notice
You thus in disregard Of the under
standing between us, vacated the
Office without having given notice Of
your intent to do so. 1t is but Just
to say that in your communication
you claim YOU did inform me Of your
purpose. and thus fulfilled the prom
ise made in our last proceeding cor
yersation on the subject. The fact
that such promise existed IS evidence
of an arrangement Of the kind ! have
mentioned. You had found in our
first conference that ''the President
was desirous Of keeping Mr.. Stanton
out of office, whether sustained in the
suspension or not" You knew what
reasons had induced the President TO
ask from you promise. You also
knew, in case your views Of duty did
not accord with his own convictions.
that it was his purpose to fill your
place by another appointment. Even
ignoring the existence of a positive
understanding between us. the conclu-
, sions were plainly deducible from our
various conversations. 1t is certain
however, that even under these cir
curnstances YOU did not offer to return