The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1868-02-14


the purpose for which youwere to have ssn,
called, am at a losstd porceiyei aa be lo0
! certainly did not inform me Whether you
had dctermined to retain the office, or to
afford me an opportunity to .appointa sucs
ee'sor in advance Of any attempted REIN REIN
! The account Of what passed between Nd 4, .
at the Cabinet meeting on tho. nth inst.
| widely differs from that contained IN ropr
communications for il shows that insfedu
Of having stated our conversations "a given
in the letter which has made this reply
necessary, you admitted that my recitafof
them wag entirely accurate. Sincerely aDx'
ious, however, 10 be correct in my state
ments, have to-day read this narration, Of
what occurred on the l4th Inst, to. .titeSv
members of the Cabinet who were. then
present. They, without exception, agrsS
| IN its accuracy. eat 7A
II is only necessary 10 add that, on We'd.
nesday morning, the 18th, you called on
me, in company with Lieut.. Gen. Sherman.
After some preliminary conversation; you
remarked that an article in tho National fatr
teiiigsneer of that date did you much injuss
tice replied had not read the IRfsih-
Qencer Of that morning. You FIRST told mo
II was your intention TO urge Mr.. Stantou'
to tesign his Office. After you had with s''
drawn, I carefully read the article Of whiclT
you spokei and found it's statement of the s
TALLY correct. On the 18th caused 1t TO
he read TO four OF the Ave mehbefs Of athe %
Cabinet.who were present at our conference
| on tho l4th, and they coucurred in. the gem
eral accuracy of the statements respecting
our conversation on that OCCASION
In reply TO your communication. havs
deemed it proper, to prevent farther mis-. Il
| understanding, to make this simple recital d
of facts. Very respectfully you're, .et..
! ANDREW JOHNSON.
Gen. O. S Grant, Commanding the United
States Army. '.ti F .HriiFl
IIEADoUARTERs ARMIES OF rne U. g., lase
! WAsHIHGToN, ID. c., Feb. 3, 1868, syf7
| To His Excellency, Andrew Johnson, PTesi.
dent of the United States.
+ SIR have the honor to acknowledge
the ecept of your communications of the ti
/ 3ist ult,, in answer to mine OF the 2Slh ult,
| After u careful reading aud comparison of
the article in the InteHigeactr. of the 18th
ult., and the article over the initials ~.
b. S. in the New York World Of the 9th
ult,, purpOrting 10 be based upon your
statement and that of the members Of the
Cabinet therein named, | find it only to be
q reteration, only somewhat more in de-
tail, of the many and gross misrepreseRtss'
lions contained in these articles and whieM
my statement Of facts, as set forth in my
letter of the oath ult., was intended TO cor
rect. Herein, re assert the correctness of
my statement in that letter, anything in
reply, 10 the contrary, Notwithstanding 1,.f b.
confess my surprise that tho Cabinet
officers referred TO should so greatly miss
apprehend the facts, in the matter OF adj
missions alleged to have been made by mo ''
ut the Cabinet meeting on the l4th nit. as
to suilor their names to be made the basis
Of the charges in the newspaper article re-
ferred to, or to agree to the accuracy, ns
you affirm they do, of your account Of what
occurred at that meeting. Y on know that
we parted on the llth ult, without any
promise on my part, Expressed or implied,
to the effect that l wonid hold on to the
Office of Secretary oi War nd iAterim,
against the action sf the Senalc or, declin-
ing to do so, woald surrender it to You be-
fore such action was had, or that would
see you again at any Fixed tirpc on the SUBJ
Ject. the performance OF tho promises alE o
ged to have been made by me, would
have involved u resistance of the law and
AN inconsistency with the whole history Of
my connection with the suspension Of Mr..
! Stanton. From our conversation and my
} written protest OF August lst, 1861, against
the removal of -Mr, Stanton. you must have
' known that my greatest objection to his re.
I moVal was the fear that some one would
be appointed in his stead who would By
opposition to The laws relating To the res.
toration Of The Southern States, 10. Il cir
proper relations to the government, eHr--
: barrass the army in the performance OF the
duties especially imposed upon il by the
laws, and thatt was to prevent suciI an
appointment that l accepted the appoint
rhent of Secretary of War al interim, and
not for the purpose of enabling you to'get
I rid OF MIR. Stanton, by Withdrawing ii from
him in opposition to law, or, not doing so Il
i myself, surrender to one who, as the state.
ment and assumptions in your commnhca+
: tion plainly indicate, was sought, and II
was to avoid this danger as well as to re-. s
keve you from the personal embarrasa- d
= tneLt in which Mr., Shnlon's reinstatement
would place you, that urged the appoint
ment OF Governor Cox, believing it would
b be agreeable to You aud also to Mr.. STAN
ton satisfied as was that itwos the good Of .
the country, and not the Office, that the latter
desired. On The p3tl uis, III the presence
Of Gen. Sherman stated to YOU that T "
, thought Mr.. Stanton wonld resign, but
idnot say that would advise him to do
so On the 18Th ! did agree with Gen. -
Sherman to go and advise him TO that course /,
: and, on the l9th had an interview alone
: with Mr.. Stanton, which led me to the con.
} cusiou that any advice would be useless.
: and SO informed General Sherman, hi ag,r
+. 10 Before consented to advise Mr.. Stanton
to resign, understood from him in a con.
. Versaton on flie subject Immediately on
his reinstatement that il was his opinion
| that tho act Of Congress entitled An Act ~
temporarily to supply vacancies in the Ex-
ecutive Department in certain cases. ap-
proved Feb. 90 1868, was repealed by sub. o.
; sequent legislation " hieh materially infnsll
enced my action. Previous 10 -fi,is time, T.
had no doubt that the law of 1868 was still
in force and, notwithstanding my action, a
fuller examination Of the laws leaves a.
question in my mind whether il is OF -is not b
repealed, This being tho case. could not sr
now advise bis. resignation, lest the same
danger appEeheuIed on his first reHoVat
might follow. dVfit.I leg % ii1IsI snala9
The course you would have 1t tmaer-
stood that agreed to pursue Was in, Yiela-
tion OF the law aud without orders from
you, while the course did pursue, aud Z
wbichI never doubted S6T FULLY under
stood was in accordance with law and Aot hr d
disobedience to any orders of my suRerior.-
3 Aud now, Mr., President, when my uonor
ass soldier and my Integrity as man have
been so violently assailed, pardon ule tfor'io
saying that can but regard this whole
matter, from beginning 10 end, an an at
tempt to involve me in the resistance of
the law for which you besitaied to ASSUME
the responsibiiiyi and thus destroy my q