Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-02-13


asSumF 10 lac issued ~ direction of the
President. unless such order is known by
me 10 haze been authorized 10y the EN'
ccutiye. And in reply thorcin, 10 say that
| am informed by the Secretary OF War
that hs has not received from the EN,Cu'
tive any order or Instruction limiting or
impairing his authority 10 issue orders "a
the army a. has heretofore been his proe'
tice under the law and Gust I'M, OF the
department While his authority Ia tn,
War Department is not count, rmandcd
it will be- satisfactory evidence to me that
any orders issued from the War Depart
mcnt, by direction OF the President, are
authorized by The Executive,
have the honor TO be
Respectfully, your ob't scry't,
Signed l. ). GRANT, General
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Jan, 81, '6s.
General | have received your COM
munication of the as,h inst, renewing
your request Of the cath, that I should
reduce 10 written form my verbal lnstrur-
tons of the 18th, viz. that You Obey no
orders Of the Hon r. NJ. Stanton, rs See
rotary Of War, unless yen have informa.
tion that il was issued by the President
direction. In submitting his request
with which | complied on the Goth inst,
YOU take occasion TO alludc to recent pub
4eatieH- It'll reference ~ the circumstance
connected with the vacation hv yourself
of the Office of Secretary Of War dd iHtrim
and with the view of correcting the state.
ment which you term gross miSreprc-
sensations" and give AZ length your own
recollections of the facts, undur which
without the sanction Of the President.
from whom you have received and ac-
repted the appointment, you yielded the
Department of War to the present incum-
bent, as stated in your communication
some time after YOU had assumed the
duties of Secretary of War, al interim,
We interchanged views respecting the
course that should be pursued in the event
of the inconvenience by the Senate in
the suspension OF Mr.. Stanton. | sought
that interview, calling myself at the Wan
Department. Ny sole object in thu,
bringing he subject TO your attention
was TO ascertain definitel, what would b,
Your own action should such an attempt
be made for his restoration TO the War
Department Th.t object was accom-
plished and the interview terminated
with the distinct understanding that if.
upon restoration, Won should prefer to
become n party to the controversy or
conclude that it should be your duty TO
surrender the department to Mr.. Stanton,
you were to return the office to me- prior
to decision by the Senate, in order that
Il J. desired to do so | might designate
some one to succeed Won. Ii must have
been apparent to you that had not this
understanding been reached, 1t was my
purpose to relieve you from the further
discharge of Gaty as Secretary of War,
nd interim, and to appoint some other per-
son in that capacity. Other CONVERSE
tions upon the same subject ensucd all
of them havin. on my part the same oh
jebt, and leading to the same conclusion
as the first 1t is not necessary, however
to refer to any of them, excepting that OF
Saturday, TIE llth inst, mentioned in
your communication. as ii was then
known that the Senate hao proceeded in
the case of Mr.. Stanton. | was anxious
VI lt'llH NbHI AlttE Il
protracted interview. during which IL,
provisions of the tenure of office bill
We're fully discussed, you said that as il
had been argued upon in our first confer.
cncc, You would either return the office
to my possession in time to enable me t.
appoint a successor before final action by
the Senate upon Mr., Stantons suspension
or would remain as its head. awaiting O
decision Of the question by judicial pro
ceedings. 1t was then understood that
there would be further conference
on Monday, by which time | supposed
you would be prepared to inform me OF
your final decision. loI failed however
to fulfill the engagement and ON Tuesday
notified me in writing Of che receipt o.
your official notification of the action OF
the Senate in the case Of Mr. Stanton. and
at the same time informed me that nc.
cording to the act regulating the tenure
of certain civil officers your functions as
Secretary of War, I'D interim. ceased
from the moment of the receipt of the
notice. You then, in disregard of the un.
Outstanding between us, Tacated the
office without having giving me notice OF
your intention to do SO. 1t is but just
however. to say that in your communi.
cation you claim that you did inform
me of your purpose and thus full.
filled the promise made me at oar last
preceding conversation ON the subject
The fact that such promise existed is
evidence Of an arrange ment Of the kind
! have mentioned. You have found in our
first conference that the President was de-
sirous Of keeping Mr.. Stanton out of of.
fee, whether sustained in the suspension
or not. You know what reasons had in.
duced the President to ask from YOU 4
promise You also knew that in case
your views of duty did not accord with
his own convictions, it was his purpose t.
fill your place by another appointment
Even ignoring the existence of positive
understanding between us, the conclu
sions were plainly deducible from orr VA
rious conversations. 1t is certain, how.
ever, that even under these circumstance,
you did not offer to retain the place il
my possession, but according to your owr
statements, placed yourself in opposition
when. could have anticipated your ac
ton, | would have been compelled to ASK
of you, as ] was compelled to ask of your
predecessor in the War Department, a let
ter OF resignation, or else to resort to the
more disagreeable expedient of suspend
ing you bya successor. As stated in youl
letter the nomination of Gov. Cox of Ohio
for the Office of Secretary of War wa.
suggested to me This appointment Al
Mr.. Stanton's successor was urged in your
name, and it was said that this selection
would save further embarrassment. Ibid
not think that in the selection of Cab.
met Of four should be trammeled by such
considerations. was prepared to take
the responsibility of deciding the CUES
ton in accordance with my ideas of Con-
stitutional duty, and having determined
upon course which / deemed right and
proper, was anxious to learn the steps you
would take, should the possession Of the
War Dapartment no Il emandad l,- NJ G..