The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-02-06


any order from the War Department
assumed to be issued by order of the
! President, unless such order is known
by me asEsauthoriZed by the i xeeu-
tive; aud IN reply thereto, TO say that
am Informed by the. Secretary of
War that he has netreceived from the
Executive any order or Instructions
! limiting or impairing his authority to
issue orders to the army, as has here
to ore been his practice under. the law
and customs of the department.
! While this auth OritE to the War De-
partment is not countermanded it
will be satisfactory evidence to me
that any orders issued from the War
apartment by direction Of the Pres
iaentgare authorized by the Execu-
tive. L have the honor to be, very
respectfully, your obedient servant.
u. 5. GRANT, General"
! z EE-5 1E5 1InEfs uwlNe art
THE PRESTDENT'S RESPONSE.
Executive MANSION,
January 81, 1868 !
-. .GENERAL-I have received your
communication Of the 23th instant,
renewing your request of the 9th,
| that | should repeat in q written
form mysyerbal Instructions of tae
| 10Th inst, viz: that you obey no
| order from the Hon K. VI Stanton,
as Secretary Of War, unless YOU
have information that twas issued
I-by the Presidents direction. In
| submitting this request, with which
| complied on the 18th. instant, you
| take the occasion to aIiude to re-
cent publications in reference to
| circumstances connected with the
vacation by yourself of the Office of
| Secretary of War dd iaterins With
view to correcting the statements,
which you term gross misrepresenta-
tions, you give at length your own
| recollection of the facts under
which, without the sanction of the
| President, from whom you had re
ceived and accepted the appoint
ments you yielded the Department
of War to the present incumbent
| As stated IN your communication,
some time after you had assumed the
| duties OF Secretary of War dd IN
term, we interchanged views respect
| ing the course that should be pursued
in the event of the Inconvenience
! by the Senate, in the suspension Of
Mr.. Stanton. sought that interview,
calling myself at the War, Depart
-ment. My sole object in.Snen BRING
hing the subject to your atfent ton was,
to ascertain what would be your OWE
action Should such an atfempt be
made for his restoration to the War
Department. That object accom-
plished, for the interview terminated
with the distinct. understanding that
if, upon reflection, you should prefer
not to become a party to the contrO-
versy, or should conclude it-wOdld be
| your duty to, surrender the Depart
mentte Mr.. .StRntons upon action in
! hissfavoF By the Senate, You were to
return -the ofiiieezto, me griag to gsdea.
+eision by the Senates-i nsSlrder. thdf.sM
desired TODD $50, Fnligflf sdesfgnate
some Aones to succeed you. 1t must
I haRe-beef- -appaReRt---te-y -yeu that had
not d II understa nding been reaehed,
1 it was my purpose to relieve you from
further discharge of duties as Secre-
tary Of War ad interim, and to ap
point some other person in that ca
pacity.
l. "Other conversations upon the sub
i ject ensued, all having. on my spart,
the same object and leading to the
same conclusion as the first. 1t is
not necessary, however, to refer to
any eff them excepting that of
the 11th inst, mentioned in your COM
munication. As it was then known
the Senate had proceeded in the case
Lof Dir. Stanton, / was anxious to learn
byouf determination. After q apretract-
ed interview, during which the pro
visions of the Tenure of-office Bill
we're fully discussed, you said that as
| it had been agreed upon in our first
| conference, you would either return
the office to my possession, Ia time to
enable me to appoint successor be
d fore final eaetions ihysthe Senate Upon
Mr.. Stanton's suspension, or would
remain at It's head, awaiting a decision
by judicial proceedings.
1t was then understood there
would be a further conference on
bMe6day,0 by which tln1g Il supposed
YOU would be prepared sto inform me
of YOUR final decision. You failed,
however, to fulfill the engagement,
and. on Tuesday, notified me In writ
ing, of the receipt of an official mott .
fcation of the action of the Senate
3bini reference to Mr. Stanton, and at
the same time, Informed me that, ac-
cording to the act regulating the ten
; ure of certain civil offices, your func-
tions ef Secretary of War ad interim
ceased from the moment of the re-
ceipt of the notice. afy
You thus, ln disregard of the un-
derstanding between us. vacated the
office, without having given notice ol
your intent to do so. It is but just to
say, however. that in your communi
cation you claim you did inform me
of your purpose, ard thus fulfilled
! the prouise made in our last preced.