Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1868-02-20


have to pursue, in case the Senat
, should not concur in his suspen
sion, to obtain possession Of thu
office. Ny reply was in substance
? that Mr.. Stanton would have to ap
peal to the courts to reirstate him
illustrating position by citing the
ground ! had taken in the case oi
the Baltimore Police Commission
ers."
Now, at that time, as you admit
in your letter Of the 3D. inst, yon
held the office for the very object OF
] defeating an appeal to the courts.
, In that letter YOU say that in ac-
cepting the office one motive was to
prevent the President from appoint
ing some other person who would
retain possession, and thus make
judicial proceedings necessary. You
knew the President was unwilling
to trust the Office with any one wuo
could not, by holding it, compel
Mr. Stanton to resort to the courts.
| You perfectly understood that. In
this interview, some time after You
accepted the office, the President,
not content with your silence, de-
sired an expression of your views,
and you answered him that Mr..
Stanton would have to appeal to
the courts.
If the President had reposed con-
fdence before he knew your views,
and that confidence had been viola
ted, it might have been said he made
a mistake; but a violation of con
fidence reposed after that converse
ton was no mistake ofhis ryours.
1t is the fact only that needs to
be stated, that at the date of his
conversation you did not intend to
hold the office with the purpose of
forcing Mr. Stanton into court; but
bid hold it then, and accepted it, to
prevent that course from being car
ried out. In other words you said
to the President, "that is the prop
er course" and you said to your
self, II have accepted this office,
and now hold it to defeat that
course"
The excuse you make in subse
quent paragraph of that letter Of the
2Sth ult., that afterward you chang
ed your views as to what would be
a proper course, has nothing to do
with the point now under consider
alton. The point is, that before
you had changed your views you
had secretly determined to do the
very thing which you at last did.
surrender the Office to Mr.. Stanton.
You may have changed your views
as to the law, but You certainly did
not change your views as to the
course you had marked out for
yourself from the beginning.
l will only notice one more state
ment in your letter of the I'd inst.
: that the making good Of the
promises which it is alleged were
made by you, involved you in the
resistance of the law. l know of
no statute that would have been vi
olated had you carried out yonr
promise in good faith, and tender
ed your resignation when you con
cluded to be made party in any
legal proceedings.
You add: Il am confirmed in
this conclusion, by your recent Or
der directing me to disObey orders
from the Secretary of War, my su-
perior and your subordinate, with
out having countermandcd his au-
thority to issue the orders l am to
disoI ey.
On the 24th ult., you addressed a
note to the President requesting
in writing an order given to you.
verbally five days before to disre-
gard orders from Mr. Stanton, as
Secretary of War, until you knew
from the President himself that
these wereshis orders,e On the 29th
in compliance with your request. u
Ibid give you instructions in writing
I"'6dt to obey any order from the
War department, to befssued BY the
direction of the President, unless
such order is known by the General
commanding the armies of the Uni
ted States to have been authorized
by the Executive.
There are some orders which a.
Secretary of War may issue without
the authority of the President
There are others which he issues
simply as the agent of the Presi-
dent, and which purport to be "by
direction of the President" ForI
such order the President is respon-
sible, and he should therefore know
and understand that they are before
giving such direction. Mr. STAN
ton, in his letter Of the 4th inst,
which accompanies the published
correspondence with the President
since the 18th of August last, and
he further says that since he resum-
ed the duties of the Office he has
continued to discharge them with
out any personal or written com
munication with the President, inl
he adds: mo orders have been
issued from this Department in the
name of the President wit my
knowledge, and l have received no
orders from him." 1t thus seems
that Mr.. Stsnton now discharges the
duties of the War Department with
ont anv reference to the President,