The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-04-03

TIE StIidlG.
That the respondent was also aware
that this act was understood and in
tended to be an expression of the o.
piniOn of Congress that the power to
remove executive officers for cause
might by law be taken from the Pres
ident and vested in him and the Sen
ate Jointly, and although this respOn-
dent had arrived at and still retained
the opinion above expressed, and verify
believed, as he still believes, that the
said first section of the last mentioned
act was and is wholly imperative and
void by reason of its conflict with the
constitution of the United States, yet,
inasmuch as the same had been en-
acted by the constitutional majority in
each of the two houses of that Con-
gress, this respondent considered it to
be proper to examine and decide
whether the perticular case Of the said
Stanton on which it was this respon-
dents duty to act, was within or with
out the terms of that first section of the
act or, ifuntrue, whether the Presi-
dent had not the power, according to
the terms of the act, to remove the said
Stanton from the office of Secretary
for the Department OF War; and hav-
ing in his capacity of President of the
United States so examined and cOnSid-
cred, did form the opinion that the
case Of the said Stanton and his tenure
of Office were not affected by the first
section of the last named act.
That although case thus existed
calling for the exercise of the executive
power of removal, under the cOnstitu-
ton, and believing that Mr.. StantOn's
case was not effected by the first sec
ton Of the tenure-Of-Office act, the re-
spondent desired, if possible, to avoid
any question of the construction and
effect of that law, and also the broader
question of the executive power confer
red on the President by the cOnstitu-
ton to remove the principal officer of
one of the executive and legislative de-
partments of the government, he de-
sired that they should be in some prop
per way submitted to the judicial de-
partment, entrusted by the constitu-
ZION with the duty of determining fl
nally the construction and effect of all
acts of Congress, and comparing them
with the constitution itself, with
view Cf prOnOuncing them imperative
when found in conflict with that fun
damental law which the people have
CtlSlSiNNA lOI itIC XIV vi f'ii tJNiA
servants-and to these ends,
First, that through the action Of the
senate of the United States, the absO-
lutte duty Of the President to substitute
some fit person in place Of Mr.. Stan
ton, as one Of his advisers, and as
principal subordinate officer whose Off
cial conduct he was responsible for, and
had lawful right to control, might, if
possible, be accomplished without the
necessity Of raising any one of the ques-
tiOns aforesaid and, second, if this du-
ty could not be so performed, these
questions, or such of them as might ne
cessarily arise, should be judicially de-
termined; and for no other end or pur-
pose this respondent, as President of
the United States, on the 18th day of
August, 1867, seven days after the re-
ceptiOn Of the letter of the said STAN
ton of the.5th of August, hereinbefOIe
ton the order requiring him to turn
over the War Department to General
Grant, as Secretary of War dd interim,
to which Mr.. Stanton yielded "under-
protest to superior force" Further,
that the respondent believes that the
executive power of removal cOnfided
y
power of the suspension from office at
the llelsure the Pr, sident, and tl&
this respondent by the order aforesaid
didsuspend the said Stanton from office,
not until the next meeting of the Sen
ate, or until the Senate shall have ac-
ted upon the case, but by force Of the
power and authority vested in him by
the constitution and laws of the Uni
ted States, indefinitely and at the pleas
ure of the President; and the order, in
form aforesaid, was made known to the
to the Senate Of the United States on
That by his order of August, 18th, 1867,
the respondent auth OriZed General
Grant to perform the duty of Secreta-
ry Of War I'D interim according to law
not until the senate should act on the
case, but at the pleasure Of the Presi-
dent, subject only 10 the Limitation of
six months, and copy of the last named
order was made known to the Senate
Of the United States on the 18th day OF
December, \. D.. 1867 ; and in pursu-
ance Of the design and intention afOre-
said, if it should become necessary to
submit the said question to judicial
determination, this respondent, at Or
near the date of the last mentioned Or
der, did make known such his purpose
to obtain a judicial decision.
That after the Presidents message
to Congress of December 18th, 1867,
making known the order above cited,
the President was compelled either to
allow the said Stanton to resume the
said office and remain therein, contra
ry to the settled convictions of the
President respecting the powers con-
tided to him and the duties required of
him by the constitution of the United
States; and contrary to heOpiniOn that
the first section OF the tenure-Of-office
act did not affect the case Of the said
Stanton, and contrary to the fixed be-
lief of the President that he could no
longer advise with or trust, or be re-
spOnsible for the said Stanton in the
office of the said Secretary for the De-
partment Of War, or else he was COM
PEELED to take such steps as might, in
the Judgment of the President, be law
full and necessary to raise for a Judicial
decision the question affecting the law
fuI right of the said Stanton to resume
the said office, or the power of the said
Stanton to persist in refusing to quit
the said Office if he should persist in
actually refusing Oquit the same; and
to this end, and to this end only, this
respondent did, on 2lst day of Februa
ry, 1868, issue the order for the remo-
val of said Stanton in the said first ar
ticle mentioned and set forth, and the
order authorizing the said Lorenzo
Thomas TO act as Secretary of War 0d
interim in the said second article set
forth.
And this respondent, proceeding to an
hct ollO