The New Orleans crescent., 1868-02-15

y
war department by direction OF the president are
autt orized by the executive" The president is
sued al order TO you 10 hey no order from the
war department, purpsrting TO be made by the d.
rection of the president, until you have referred
It TO him for his approval You reply you Rave
received the presid snt's order and will not obey
il, but will obey an order purpOrting to be given
by his direction, If it comes from the war de-
psrtme1t. You will obey no direct order Of the
president, but will obey his indirect order
IT. as you say, there has been a practice
IL the war department to Issue orders 10 the name
o the president without his direction, does not
the precise order you have requested aud have re-
ceived change the practice as TO the general #
the amy? Could not the President cOuntermaud
ary such order, issued in the name OF the presi-
dent to do q special act. by an order directly
from the president himself not to do the act? l.
there any doubt what yo1 are TO obey? You an.
swer tue question when you say 10 the president,
l. your letter of the Sd inst, "the secretary of
war il my superior anoIyour subordinate" }" and yet
you refuse obedience to tie superior out of defer
cree TO the subordinate.
Without fnIther comment on the insubordinate
attitude which you have assumed, am at loss
to know how you can relieve yourself from the
ORDERS OF the president, who is made, oy the Con-
stitutOn. the commander in-chlef OF the army
a is therefore, the official superior as well OF
the geT eral Of the army as Of the secretary OF
war. Respectfully, yours,
Central U. $. Grant Commanding Armies Of the United
States, Washington, d. :.
GEN. GRANTS REPLY.
The accompanying letter from Gen. Grant, re-
ceived since the Transmission 20 the House of
f to e Haass as part % of the the
correspondence referred to in the resolution of
the 10th inst. ANDREW JOHNSON.
Wat-in. ton FEB. IL, 1868.
"HEADQUARTERs ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,
Washington, d. c., Feb. IL, lS6S. (
ITO his Excslsney Andrew Johnson, President Of ths
United ststes:
"SH-I have the honor to acknowledge the re.
ceipt Of your communication of the 10Th instant,
accompanied by the statements of five cabinet
MINIS OF their recollection of what occurred
the cabinet meeting on the l4h of January.
Without admitting anything contained in these
statements, where they diiI-r from anything here
toto e stated by me, propose to notice only the
portion Of your communication wherein | am
charged with insubOrdlnatl0n. l think il will be
plain to the reader of my letter of the 30-h of
January that l did not propose to disobey any
legal order Of the president, distinctly given, bat
only gave 8n Interpretation OF what would be re-
gsrded satisfactory evidence Of the presid an's
sanction TO orders communicated by the secretary
Of war.
II will cay here that your letter of tie 10th in
stant contains the first intimatiOn have had that
you did not accept that Interpretation. Now for
my reason fer giving that Interpretation: 1t was
clesT TO ne before my letter Cf January 80 was
written, that |, the person having more public
business to transact with the secretary of war
thsn any officer of the presidents subordnates
was the only one who had been instructed to dis
regard the authority Of Mr. Stanton, where his
authority was derived as agent of the president.
"Un the 9th of January I received 6 letter
from The secretary OF war, (cOpy herewith d.
rtetDg NE to furnish an escort TO the public
treasure from the Rio Grande to New Orleans,
ETC., at the request of the secretary of the
treasury to him. also send two other Enclosures,
showing the recognition Of Mr. Stanton as secre-
tiIy of war by both the secretary of the treasury
and the postmaster general in all Of which cases
the secretary of war had to call upon me to make
the order requested. or give the information de-
sired and where his authority to do 50 is derived,
in my view, agent of the president.
" With sn order so clearly ambiguous as that Of
the pres dent here referred TO. it was my duty 10
infOIm the PRESIDENT Of my Interpretation OF it,
and 10 abide by that Interpretation until received
other orders. Disclaming any intention now. or
heretofore, OF disObeying any legal order of the
president, distinctly cOmmunic ated, / remain
very respectfully, your obedient servant,
~. GRANT, General"
PROM SECRETARY SEWARD.
The following is the letter Of Secretary Seward,
accompanying that Of the president:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington. Feb. 6 1868. (
Sir-The meeting TO which you refer in your
letter was a regular cabinet meeting. While the
members were assembling and before the prasi-
dent had entered the council chamber, Gen.
Grant, on coming in, told me that he was not in
attendance a member of the cabinet but uOOa
invitation, and | replied by the inquiry whether
there was a change in the war departmeut
After the president had taken bis seat, business
went On in the usual way Of hearing matters sub.
mttCd by the several secretaries. When the
tine came for the secretary of war. Gen. Grant
said that he was there, not as secretary of war,
hut upoD the presidents invitation; that he had
retired from the war department. A slight DIFF
ference then appeared about the supposed invita-.
ZION, Gen. Grant saying that the officer who had
bone his letter to the president, announcing his
retirement from the war department, had told
him that the president desired to see him at the
cabinet meeting, to which the president
answered that, when General Grants
Communication delivered to him, the
president simply replied he supposed Gen
e.al Grant would be very soon at the cabinet
meeting. | regarded the conversation thus begun
as an incidental one, quite informal IL consisted
Of a statement on your part Of your vie vs. ia re.
gard 20 your understanding of the tenure up)n
which General Grant had assented t. hold the war
department dd interim, and of his replies, byw4y
Of answer aud explanation. It was respectful
AID courteous on both sides. Being in this COZ
yeTsatOnal form, its details could only have been
preserved bv rerJdtiW report. So Tar a. | know,
such report was made at the time. | eau give
only the general tone Of the cOnvers alton. You
stated tLat although you had reported the
reason OF Mr. StantoG's suspension . the Senate,
you, nevertheless, held that he would not be
entitled 10 resume the Office of secretary Of war
even if the Senate should dislpprpve Of his sus-
pension, ard that yOu had proposed 10 have the
question tested by Judicial process, to be applied
t0 The person who she uld be the incumbent Of the
dep rtment under your designation OF secretary
OF war al interim, in the place Of Mr. Stanton.
YOu cOutendrd that this was well md rstOOd be.
tween you end General Grant; that whea be en-
{ re Tie department. as secretary Of war al in
trim, he expressed lis concurrence in the belief
tHat the que itiun Of Mr. Stant0n's restoration
would be a question for the courts; thai, in sub
sequent conversation with the general, you had
sdverted 70 me understanding thus had aud that
General Grant expressed his concurrence in It !;
that ~ some couyer~ation which had been prev-
olsy held, General Grant said he still adhered 10
toe same construction of the law, but said if he
g uld change his opinion ne would give season.
alb notice Of Il, so that you could, in any case
BE- placed in the same position in regard TO he
Y ar department that you were before General
Gfaut held it.
I'did not understand General Grant as deny
ing. nor as eN, l'citly admitting, these statements
be form AMI to the full extent to which You
made them. His admission of them was rather
indirect and circumstantial, though I did not IN
deIstsDd it 70 be an evasive one. He said that
reasoning from what occurred in the case Of the
noliph in MARYLAND which he rauardad % q