The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-02-24
WASHINGTON.
arrest of General Thomas.
INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT.
HES EXPOSITION ON THE STANTON
MATTER.
HE WILL RESIST SUSPEN-
SION.

| WASHINGTON, Feb. 22-The resoiutio
adopted by the Senate by a vote OF ~ ayes to
| nays, Judge Edmunds being the only Repul
lican who voted nav, was transmitted to IL
| War Department, and Mr.. Stanton emphat
| cally declared that he was impregnable Sun
| moning the officer in command of the militar
guard at the Department he ordered him
see that every door was locked except the on
| at the west end OF the building, and to- brin
| the KEYS to his room. No one was to be ne,
| mitted 10 enter the west door exceDt by hi
] order. The officer, one armed veteran, prom
| Used obedience
Among the members of Congress who wer
at the Department after midnight were Gems
farnsworth and Pile, and Hon. Samuel loop
or. zen. Schenck and Hon. Norman B. judi
| remained with Mr.. Stanton until in tn
morning, and Gen. Thayer, Senator from Ne
1 braska. passed the night there ...
AT o'clock this morning Hon. David X
Cartier, Chief Justice Of the Supreme Cour
OF the District of Columbia. prominep
| trend OF MIR. Stanton, visited the Department
Mr.. Stanton made an affidavit that Gen
Thomas had given him document in which
ne had signed himself Secretary of War az
interim, in violation of the sixth section of the
tenure of office act of Congress, and Judge
cartier issued bench warrant for the Gener.
ais arrest. This warrant was placed in the
hands of Marshal Gooding. 1t was understood
that Gen. Thomas was at q masked ball with
ladies of his family, and it was decided not to
have the arrest made until this morning
About o'clock this morning Mr. Stanton and
Senator Thayer ensconsed themselves on two
lounges to obtain, if possible, a little sleep
Not long after the tramp of soldiers was heard
approaching from the direction eff the White
House, but it proved to be the relief guard.
BY o'clock Gen. Farnsworth, Mr.. Judd and
other Congressman arrived, and Mr. Stanton
had quite a levee as he discussed the break
fast Which had been sent to him from his
house. Meanwhile U. S. Marshal Gooding,
accompanied by Deputy Marshal Phillips aud
MI. Morgan Chandler. went at an early hour
to the house OF Adjutant General Thomas, at
the corner of 10th and III streets. The Gener-
al came into the hall and the Marshal formal
ly arrested him, but told him that he would
not hurry his departure. The General finished
ms breakfast, put on his best uniform coat and
the party left on foot for the Marshal's office
at the City Hall. AS they passed telegraph
ofhce dispatch was sent to Mr.. Stanton in
forming him that the arrest had been made,
Judge Cartier was waiting at the Marshaps
office, and he informed Gen. Thomas that he
should require bail to the amount of $4,000 for
his appearance at Court on Monday, Feb oath,
at 10 o'clock A. M. The General Immediately
dispatched messenger to the Attorney Gen
eral. In about an hour bail to the amount of
$4,000 was furnished by Geor !e r. Hall, of this
city, and Elias A Eliason, of Georgetown,
personal friends of Gen. Thomas. 1t is under
stood that Matthew M. Carpenter, of Wiscon-
sin, will be the Generals legal adviser.
New YORK, Feb. 22.-The Herald's Washing.
ton correspondent had an interview with Pres
ident johnson last night. The correspondent
remarked that his action in the removal of
stanton and appointment of I omas had
taken che country by surprise The President
smiled and inquired, 1"Well, what do the peo-
pie say? supposed they are surprised, but 1
have only done whatI had determined upon
long ago." af .ssr
Correspondent-The removal, then, is not in
pursuance OF recent determination on your
part, Mr.. President? 20
The President-Not at all, sir. The people
seem to have mistaken my course altogether
in this matter. L never had but one deter
mination on the subject, but 1 have acted care
fnlly, prudently and moderately. Perhaps I
have been too slow about removing Mr. Stan
ton, but not because feared the bugbear of
impeachment or that dreaded anything that
Congress might do. Nothing that body could
attempt or carry out would intimidale or sur
prise me- know they are capable of doing
anything. delayed formal action SOLELY to
let the country see and understand the Dosi-
tlon OF Mr.. Stanton. We first intimated to
him that we would like him to withdraw from
our privy councils. He did not take the hint
We then requested him to resign. He refused.
We then suspended him under the constitu-
tional power which we have to suspend or re-
move member of our Cabinet The act of
suspension was also not in conflict with tha
tenure of office bill, though we did not, there
fore recognize its constitutionality. Asamat-
ter OF courtesy we sent 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
propriety of resigning himself Gen. Sherman
a I'd Gen: Grant offered to go to Mr.. Stanton
reasonable time we thought proper to-day to
order the removal of Mr.. Stanton and to an
point Gen. Thomas Secretary of War dd in
erin. This is the whole story.
Correspondent-Was this step discussed in
ihe Cabinet council, Mr.. President?
The President-No, sir, not precisely. A
general policy was agreed upon some time ago,
and the removal to-day is in accordance there
with. have just received copy OF the reso-
luton adopted by the Senate tonight in exc
cutive session.
Mr.: President, under that resolution if you
still insist upon having Gen. Thomas act as
Secretary Gd Interim
The President-I don't see that they can do
anything. The resolution itself is the end of
Ihe matter, so far as the Senate is concerned,
lnless the House presents articles of impeach-
nent and the Senate undertakes to try the
Executive, and resolves itself into high court
# impeachment
Correspondent-Do you think Congress
eally will attempt impeachment, Mr.. Presi-
lent?
The President-I don't know, indeed, MOI do
care. 1t would make very little difference to
me. l.
The correspondent here asked what the
President would do in the event of the passage
Of Mr. Edmunds' bill of suspension, to which
the President answered, substantially: :" Sir,
would not obey the law if they attempted to
suspend me. The law is clearly unconstitu-
tional. There is point against it which you
gentlemen of the press seem to have astogeth-
er overlooked. The bill of Senator E1munds
n SI1SD trio +adI vr
be an er post Jdcto law SO far as my case would
be concerned. Such law is declared uncon-
by the very language of the Con-
stitution itself. My offence, we will suppose,
is the removal of Mr.. Stanton; that is an ac-
fact; any law presenting penalty
for that act would be ex post facto, and there
fore unconstitutional. How, therefore, can
Congress legally pass bill of such charac-
ter?"
The correspondent remarked that certain
radicals might argue that persistence in
keeping Mr.. Stanton out of office after the
Senate declared his removal contrary to law,
and after the proposed passage of Mr.. Ed
munds' suspension bill, would be bringing the
question out of the operation of an ez post
fdcto law.
The President replied that that could not
alter the case as the offence charged would
still be the removal of Mr.. Stanton, an act
performed before the passage of the proposed
law.
LII Tepiy u an inquiry as 10 Wu0bueF Tue
President had seen Gen. Thomas since the in
terview of the latter with Mr.. Stanton, the
President said yes, and proceeded to state
what, according to his information, had oc-
CURED at that interview. "Gen. Thomas" he
said, "waited upon Mr.. Stanton and showed
to him the Presidents order removing Mr..
Stanton and appointed him (Gen. Thomas) as
Secretary of War ad interim. Mr. Stanton
read the order and asked Thomas whether he
would be obliged to vacate the Office forthwith.
Thomas said his instructions were to assume
control Immediately. Stanton then said he
would like to have time to arrange and take
away his papers aud documents, to which
Thomas replied that considerable time would
be allowed for such purpose. No time, how
ever, was fixed for Mr.. Stanton to finish his
arran gements.
THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE.
The National Democratic Committee adj
journed after naming New York city as the
place, and July 4th as the time, for the meet
ing of the Democratic National Convention.
IMPEACHMENT.
There seems no question from what can be
ascertained of the views of Republicans, that
the House will pass the impeachment resoiu'
ton by large majority. ..
NEW YORK, Feb. 23.-The Times's Wash
ington special says that Mr.. Stanton has re
tanned Hon. Matthew II. Carpenter of Wis
consin to appear in the case against General
Thomas, and it is probable Attorney Genera
Stanberry will be directed by the Presden
to appear for Gen. Thomas, in addition tt
n rinl-