The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1868-02-26

ton by my holding il from him, in opro.i.
tion to law, or, mt doing so myself. ,urr. n.
| dering 1t 10 one Who wonid. as statements
and assumptions in your communication
won'd plsiniy indicate, sought, firs', nll you
here admit from the very beginning of what
you term the whole history Of your counec,
tion with Mr.. S,autop's suspension. You
Intended to circumvent the President, II
was to carry out that in,e.t that you &C
'-Pied the appointment. md this was in
your mind At the time Of yonr acceptance
IL Was not, then in obe.jeuc. to orders from
your superior, as has heretofore been snp.
posed, and that when you assumed the du
ties.of the Office you knew IL was the Pre,i
dents purpose TO prevent Mr.. Stanton from
assuming the duties of the Office a. Secre-
tsry OF War. and you intended to d-fsat the
purpose when you accepted the office, no.
In the interest Of the President, but Of Mr
Stanton; and If this purpose, so entert aimed
hy yon, had been conknedto yourself; Il
when accepting the "fiioe. you had done SO
with the mental reservation to- frus. rate the
President It would have been deception IN
some persons. Either course would have
been allowable. but you c.unot stand, even
upon that questionable ground. Your.con.
,n"eiion with this transaction. as written. by
yourself, places you Ia sufficient predica>
ment ~ show that you not only concealed
your designs from the P,e-i,lent, but in.
duced him to suppose thht you would carry
out hi' purpose and keep Mr.. Stanton out
Of Office bv retaining it your~rlG now
give that part oft story as It was written
by yourself in your letter of the 2sth nit,
which was sometime after assnsnctl the iu
tisa of Secretary OF War ad interim The
Precedent ask.d my views as TO the course
Mr. Stanton would have pursued in cass
the Senate should not concur IN his suspcn
sion. My reply was in substance that Mr..
stanton would have TO appeal TO the courts
Ia r"in.tate him, illus, rating my position by
citing The ground had taken Ia the case
in the Bslt'm~-e commissioners policy
Now, at that time, ms you admit IN your
letter Of the Sd. you held the ofics for the
very Object Of defeating the appeal 10 Oh.
courts; you say in accepting the Office one
motive was to prevent the President frrn,
appointing some other person who would
rc,ain the poes ssion, and thus make Judi
cial proceedings necs sssry. You knewthai
the President was unwilling Co trust the of
fee with any one who could moi by holding
it compel Mr. Stanton to resort tn the
courts I"u perfectly understood in this
interview, some time after you ace -pt-Sl the
office, that the President, not content with
Your silence, desired an expression of your.
yisws. and yon answered him. Mr.. Stan.
;on would have appealed to the courts. IL
the President had repos~d corfidence be-
lore he knew your views. and that conf.
denee had been violated It might have been
said that lac made mistake, but in viola.
tion Of the confidence reposed after that
conversation, there wac no n.i-take of his
nor yours. This fact only needs to be
stated. At the date Of this conversation
you did not intend To hold office. with
purpose OF forcing Mr.. stanton into court
but yon did hold it then, md had aecepte ed
II to prevent that course from being carried
out. In other words. you said 10 the Pres
ident, that is a proper course and you said
TO yourself. I have accepted this Office aud
| now hold IL to defrat that course. You
changed your views as to what would be
proper course. That had nothing to do
! with the point now under confederation
The point is before you. You changed the
views you had seerAlly dete, mined to do
fy the surrender Of the Office 10 Mr.. Stan.
ton, You may not have charged your
views ns TO the law, but you did change
your views rs To the course yoL marked out
for yourself from the beginning. will
only notice one more statement In your
letter OF the 3d instant, the performance Of
the promise which. IL is alleged, ves made
hy ycu, that woull have involved You in
resistance to the law. know of no statute
that would have been violated had you ear
risd out your promise in good faith, and
rendered your resignation when you con-
cluded not to be made party in any OF ,hS
legal proceedings You add, hat am. Ia
a measure, confirmed in the conclusion tia,
| by yonr recent orders 10 disobey The orders
from the Secretary Of Warmly superior
\ aud your without having
eountermanded his authority. that the same
orders lam 10 disoheY On che 24th uIt.,
you addressed a note TO the President, re.
/ qaesting. la writing, an order given to you
veibslly FIVE days before, 70 di4rsgard or.
dets from Mr. stan,ou as Secretary Of Wa.
! until you kasw. from. the President himself
that they weSSAis erd.rs On the 2sth
ult. In compliance VIII your request, J did
give instraetions 10 wri,ihg not TO obey any
orders from the Wsf Department, assamed
20 be issued hy the President. unless such
lAofdes wss known by the General commsad