Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1868-02-13

with the distinct understanding, that II
under reflection you should prefer not to
become a party TO the controversy, or
should conclude IL would be your duty
to surrender the Department to Mr..
Stanton upon action In his favor lby the
Senate, you were to return the office to
me prior to a dicision by the Senate, in
order that If desired 10 do so, / might
designate some one to succeed you. 1t
must have been apparent to you that had
not this understanding been reached, it
was my purpose to relieve you from
further discharge of duty as Secretary of
War ud interim, and to appoint some
other person in that capacity. Other
conversations upon the subject ensued,
all having, on my part the same object,
and leading tn the same conclusion as
the first. 1t is not necessary, however,
TO refer to any Of them, excepting that
of the 11th inst, mentioned in your COM
munication. AS il was then known that
the Senate had proceeded In the case of
Mr.. Stanton, 1 was anxious to learn your
determination. After q protracted in
terview, during which the provisions of
the Tenure of Office bill were fully dis
cussed, you said that, as it had been
agreed upon in our first conference, you
would either return the office to my pos
session in time to enable me TO appoint a
successor before the final action by the
Senate upon Stantons suspension, or
would remain at its head awaiting de-
cision by judicial proceedings. 1t was
then understood there would be further
conference on Monday, by which time l
supposed you would be prepared TO in
form me of your final decision. You
failed, however, to fulfill the engagement,
and on Thursday notified me in writing
of the receipt of your official notification
of the action of the Senate in reference
to Mr.. Stanton, and at the same time in
formed me that according to the act reg.
ulating the tenure of certain civil offices
your functions of Secretary of War ao
interim ceased from the moment. Al
receipt of notice, you thus, in disregard
of the understanding between US, va.
Gated the office without having given
notice of your intent to do SO.
1t is but just to say, however, that In
your communication you claim you die
inform me of your purpose, and thus full
filled the promise made in oilr last pre-
ceding conversation on the subject. The
fact that such promise existed is evi
dence of an arrangement of the kind
have mentioned. You had found in oul
|, rstsconference that the President We:
, desirous of keeping Mr.. Stanton out O
office, whether sustained in the suspen
sioE or not. You knew what reasons
had induced the President to ask froR
you promise. You also knew that il
case your views of duty did not accorC
with his conviction, it was his purpos,
to fill your place by another appoint
ment. Even ignoring the existence 0
positive understanding between us
the conclusions were plainly deducibl
from our various conversations. 1t i
certain, however, that even under thes
circumstances you did not offer to return
the place to my possession, but, accord
ing to your own statement, placedsyour
self in position where, could 1 hsy
anticipated your action, l would hav
: been compelled to ask Of you, as / wa
compelled to ask Of your predecessor i
: the War Department, a letter of resigna
e ton, or resort to the more disagreeabi
: expedient of suspending you by the aE
: pointment of u successor.
= Asstated in your letter, the nomination
v of Governor Cox, OF Ohio, for Secretar
' of War, was suggested to me. His az
pointment as Mr.. Stanton's suceessc
= was urged in your name, and it was sal
his selection would save further embal
rassment. L did not think that in tn
selection of Cabinet officer should
, trammeled by such considerations.
was prepared TO take the responsibilit
of deciding the question in accordanc
with my ideas of constitutional du5iet
and having determined upon a cours
: which deemed right and proper, Wa
r anxious to learn the steps you woul
= take, should the possession Of the Wa
3 Department be demanded by Mr.. stan
ton. Had your action been In conform
ity with the understanding between US
L do not believe that the embarrassment
would have attained its present propoI
tions, or that the probability of its reps
tition would have been so great. L know
that, with view TO any early termina
tion OF State affairs so detrimental to tn
public interests, you voluntarily Offered
both on Monday, the 10Th inst, and o.
l. i the succeeding sunday, to cali upon NJ
!, Stanton, and urge upon him that the goo
!, of the service required his resignation.
l confess that | considered your pro
:, posal as sort of reparation for the TAI
y ure, on your part, to act in accordanc
u with an understanding, more than ono
{ repeated, which thought received yol
: full assent, and under which you coul
: have returned To mo the Office which
= had conferred upon you, thus saviI
yourself from embarrassments, lcaviI
the responsibility where it properly b
I, longed, with the President, VINO is a
:, countable for the faithful execution
J. the laws. / have not yet been informs
" by you whether, as twice proposed [
yourself, you had called upon Mr.. Stal
ton and made ali effort to induce hi
voluntarily to resign from the War ID
partment.
You conclude your communicate
T. with q reference TO our conversation
3. the meeting of the Cabinet, held on Il
= 4th inst. In your account of what uccu
= red, you say that after the President hf
7 given his version of our previous cOnve
v sation, you stated that substantially
given in your letter, and that you in /
a wise admitted the correctness of his stat
If ment, though to soften the evident co
Il tradietion ofmy statement made, =" l sal
= afluding to our first conversation, on Il
/, subject the President might have unde
I stood it in the way he said, viz: That
Il had promised to resign if l did not resi-
l. the reinstatement. 4 made no SUE
r PROMISE"
r. My recollection of what then tran
q pired is Numerically the reverse of yo
!. narrative. In the presence OF the Cal
~ net, | asked you
, Fiast. If in a conversation which too
# place shortly after your appointment
= Secretary of War 0d interim, you d
q agree to remain at the head of the w
= Department and abide any judicial pr
ceedings that might follow the non-co
n currence of the Senate iii Mr.. Stanton
e suspension, or, should you not wish
= become in volved in such controversy, D