Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-02-23
BlY'FBLRGRAPH.
NOON DIsPATCHEa
NEw IYORK DIsPATCHEs.
The Johnson. and Stanton Affair
Interview with the President.


EntervieW with the President.
New YORK, Feb. 22.-The Herald's
Washington correspondent had an inter
view with President johnson late last
night relative to the removal OF Secretary
Stanton. The correspondent remarked
that the country was surprised at his &C
tion, to which the President smiled and
inquired: Well, what do the people say ?
suppose they are surprised, but / have
only done what l had determined upon
long ago.
Correspondent-The removal, then, is
not, in pursuance of the recent determine
ton on your part? -sAt
The President Not at ail, sir. The
people seem to have mistaken my course,
although in this matter | never had but
one determination on the snbiect, but |
have acted carefully, prudently and mod
erately; perhaps / have been too slow
abont removing Mr.. Stanton, but not be-
cause feared the bugbear of impeaeh-
ment, or that dreaded anything that Con-
gress might do. Nothing that body could
attempt or carry out would iutimidate or
surprise me. I know they are capable OF
doing anything. delayed final action solely
TO let the country see and understand
the position of Mr.. Stanton. We first in
timated to him that We would like him to
withdraw ffom our priYy esaneil eHe
did not take the hint. We then requested
him to resign he refused. We then sHs-
pended him, under the constitutional pow
er which we have to suspend or remove q
member of the Cabinet. The act Of sus-
pension was also not in conflict with the
tennre Of Office bill, though we did not
therefore, recognize its cOnstitutipnality.
As matter of courtesy We sent the reasons
for our action to the Senate. That body
pretended not to consider those reasons
sufficient and assumed TO reinstate Mr..
Stanton in office. Well, we still waited,
hoping Mr.. Stanton would see the propri.
ely of resigning himself. Generals Sher-
man aud Grant offered to go to Stanton
and advise him to resign. Here is letter
which indicates what they proposed:
WASHINGTON, Saturday, Jan. Isl
neglected this morning to say that had
agreed to go down to Annapolis TO spend
Sunday with Admiral Porter. Gen. Grant
has to leave for Richmond OF Mon
day morning at o'clock. | had a
conversation with the General after
our interview, wherein offered to
go with him on Monday morning
to Mr.. Stanton, and say it was our joint
opinion that he should reign; it was found
impossible by reason of his going to Rich
mond and my going to Annapolis. The
General says he will call on you tomorrow
aud offer to go to Mr.. Stanton 10 say that
for the good of the service and of the
country he ought to resign. This was on
Sunday, and on Monday / will call on you,
and if You think it necessary | will also
call on Mr.. Stanton aud tell him he should
resign. If he will not, then it will be time
to contrive Interior measures, if in the
meantime it should happen that no neces-
sity exist for precipitating the matter.
Yours truly, W. t. SHERMAN.
The President then continued: After
waiting a reasonable time we thought pro-
per to-day to order the removal of Mr..
Stanton and appoint Gen. Thomas Secre-
tary of War ad interim. This ia the whole
story.
Cerrespondent-"Was this step discussed
in Cabinet counsel, Mr.. PresidentY'
President-"No, sir, not precisely. A
general policy was agreed upon some time
ago, and the removal to-day is in accordance
Herewith. l have Just received copies of
the resolutions adopted by the Senate to-
night in executive session" THE Presi-
dent here produced the order printed yes
terday
Correspondent-"What will the Senate
do, Mr.. President, under that resolution if
| you still insist on having Gen. Thomas act
as Secretary ad interim Y .-.s-.
The President-"I don't see that they
can do anything. The resolution itself is
| the end of the matter so far as the Senate
is concerned, unless the House presents ar
ticles of impeachment, and the Senate I'M
| dertakes to try the Executive. and resolve
itself into high court of impeachment.
Correspondent-"Do you think Congress
will really attempt impeachment
The President-"I don't know, indeed,
nor do care; it would make very little
difference to me-" ....... ......
The correspondent here asked what the
| President would do in the event of the
| passage of Mr.. Edmunds' bill of suspen-
sion, 10 which the President answered sub
stantially:
"Sir, | would not obey the law, if they
attempted to suspend me. The law is
clearly unconstitutional. There is point
against it which you gentlemen of the
| press seem to have altogether overlooked.
The bill Of Senator Edmunds to Gus
pend during trial would undoubtedly be
an ex post facto law as far as my Office
was concerned. Such law is declared
unconstitutional by the very language oi
the constitution itself. Ny offense, we will
suppose, is the removal of Mr.. Stanton
that is an accomplished fact. Any law
prescribing penalty for that act would be
ex post facto, and therefore unconstitu.
tional How, therefore, can Congress le
gally pass bill of such character ?D The
correspondent remarked that certain Radi
Gals might argue that persistence in keep
ing Mr.. Stanton out of office after the Sen
ate declaring his removal contrary to law
and after the proposed passage OF Mr.. Ed
mund's suspension bill, would be bringing
the question out of the operation of an e,
post facto law. The President replied tina
that could not alter the case, as the 0hens'
charged would still be the removal Of Mr.
Stanton, before an act performed the pas
sage of the proposed bill. In reply to al
inquiry as to whether the President haC
seen Gen. Thomas since the interview o
the latter with Mr.. Stanton, the Presiden
said yes, and proceeded to state what haC
occurred at that interview. Gen. Thomas
he said, waited upon Mr.. Stanton anC
showed to him the Presidents order re
lieying Mr.. Stanton, and appointing hin
General Thomas) as Secretary of Wa
ad interim. Mr.. Stanton read the or
der and asked General Thomas wheth
er he would be obliged to vacate the otfic
forthwith. Thomas said his instruction
we're to assume control Immediately. Stan
ton then said he would like to have tim
to arrange aud take away his papers an'
documents, to which Thomas replied tina
considerable time would be allowed 70
such purpose. No time, however, was fiKe'
for Mr.. Stanton to finish these arrange
ments. The President repeatedly expresses
his utter indifference to what course Con
gress might adopt on the imPeachmen
question, and in answer to the parting re
marx of your correspondent that the Presi
dent might sleep soundly in spite Of Ia
threatened impeachment, he said, laugh
| inV 1 dOn't think nv siunnbprp EIIl b