The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1868-03-05
T1EF1N, ONO .rHtRsDAY MoRNINe, MARcH 5. Ises. .

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the Court that Mr.. Stanton would
have 10 appeal to the Court 20 rein
state him 10 Office that the iss would
have to remain ia till they could be
displaced, aud the outs put in by the
legal proceedings, aud that he thcn
thought so, aud had agreed that IL he
should change his mind he would
notify tho President ia time to ena.
BILE him to mako another appoiutmont.
But at the time of the FIRST converse
tion he had not looked very closely
into the law; aud that il had recent
ly been discussed b. tho newspapers.
and that this had induced him to
examine IL more carefully, and that
he had come to the conclusion that
il the Ssnate should refuse TO concur
the suspension, Mr.. Stanton would
thereby be reinstated and that he
! (GranD could not continue thereafter
to aota Secretary Of War al iateriDt
without subiecting himself to fne aud
imprisonment, aud that no came over
on Saturday to inform the President
Of this change in his views, and did
so inform him. That the President
replied that he had not suspended
Mr.. Stanton under the Tenure of
Odioo bill, but uudor the Constitu
ton, aud had appointed him (Grant)
by virtue of authority derived from
the Constitution &c. That they con.
tinued to discuss the matter some
time, aud finally left without any con
cluSion having been reached, expect
ing to see the President again on
Monday. Tie then proceeded to ex.
plain why he bad not called ou the
President on Monday. saying that lie
had a long interview with Gen. Sher
man that various little matters had
occupied his timo till it was late, aud
did not think the Senate would act
so soon, aud asked, "Did not Gen.
Sherman call on you on Monday p
do not know what passed between
the President aud Gen. Grant on Sat.
urday, except as learned it from the
conversation between them at tho
Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and the
foregoing is substantially what then
occprred. The prccised words used
on the occasion are not, Of course
given exactly in the order in which
they we're spoken, but the ideas ex
pressed and the facts stated are faith
fully preserved aud presented. l
have the honor to be, Sir, with great
respect, your o5ed't servant,
D. II. BROWNING.
To the President.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
Washington, Feb. 9. 1868.
Sir: the meeting TO which you re.
fer in your letters was regular Cabi
net meeting. While the members
were assembling, and before the Pres
idci' had entered the Council cham
Der, Gen. Grant, on coming in said to
me that he was in attendance there,
not as a member of the Cabinet, but
upon invitation; aud / replied by the
inquiry, Whether there was a change
,iB the War Department? After the
President had taken his seat, business
went on in the usual way Of hearing
matters submitted by the several Sec
taries, when the time came for the
Secretary of War, Gen. Grant said
that he was now there, not as Secre-
tary of War, but upon the President s
invitation that he had retired from
the War Department. A slight diff
ference then appeared by the supposed
invitation, Gen. Grant saying that
the officers who had borne his letter
to the President that morning, an
nouncing his retirement from the
War Department, had told him that
the President had de ired TO sec him
at the Cabinet, to which tho Presiden
answered that when Gen, Grant's
communication was delivered to him
the President simply replied that he
supposed General Grant would bo
very soon at the Cabinet meeting.
| regarded the conversation thus
being as accidental. 1t went on
quite informally, aud consisted Of a
statement on your part of your views
in regard to the understanding of the
Tenure, upon which Gen. Grant had
assented to hold the War Depart.
ment dd interim, and Of his replies,
by way of answer and explanation
1t was respectful aud courteous on
both sides, being in this conversation
al form, as details could only have
been presented by verbatim report
SO far as | knew, no such report was
made at the time. | can give only
the general effect Of the conversation
Certainly you stated although you
had reported the reasons for Mr.
StantoEs suspension to. tho Senate
you nevertheless held that he would
not be entitled to resume the office
of Secretary Of War even if the Sen
ate should disapprove of his suspen
sion, and that you had purposed Ia
have tho question tested by judicial
process to be applied to the person
who shoulu be the incumbent of the
Department Under your desgna
tion Of Secretary Of War ad interim
in the place of Mr.. Stanton, you con.
tended that this was we'll understood
between Yourself and Gen Grant
that when he entered the War De
partGeut as Secretary dd interim, he
expressed his concurrence in belief
that the question Of Mr. Stanton
restoration would be a question foI
the courts thatina subsequent con
yersation you had with Gem Grant,
you had adverted 70 the understand
ing thus had. aud that Gen. Grant
expressed his concurrence in IL that
at some conversation which had been
previously held, Grant saidlho still
adhered to the Same constructions OF
tho law, but said il hc should change
his opinion, he would give you rea
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