Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-02-20
THE RUTLAND HER AID
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY H. lsG,,
John.an aud GTant,


ago, the correspondent t'Wssn fre'i- |
dent johnson mi'Gsu Grant, relative 70
tue latter turning 0N,5 The Nar Depart
ment a. Sr,repry stanton Tho frc-i-
dent IA, puhli,hel rciomlcr 10 Cen,
Grant. given heluw, which presents no
new points, but re-asserts shat Grant in
tended to deceive him; but the eorrcs-
pondence does not prove this, The letter
is accompanied hy communications from
Secretaries MoCulloah, Wellc,, browning
Seward and Randall, u which Grant r.
plies. We hayc space only thi, morning
for President Johnsan's letter, tut ,hall
publish the accompanying documents in
our next succeeding issues;
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Feb, 10, ISIS,
GENERAL. Tho extraordinary char
aeter Of your letter OF the III inst, would
seem 10 preclude any reply On my part
bu, the manner in which publicity has
been given Ia the correspondence, Of Whoh
that letter forms u part and the grave
questions which are involved, induce M
IN take this m6tg 0f giving, - proper
sequel 10 the communications which have
passed between rs, the statements Of the
five members Of the Cabinet who wurr
present on the occasion Of our CONVERSE
ton on the iith ult Copies Of the let
iers which they have addressed IT, the oft
the subject are accordingly herewith in.
closed You speak of my lettcr on the
Dist ult AS reiteration Of the many and
gross misrepresentation contained in GER
tain newspaper articles. and reassert the
correctness Of the statements contained
in your communication of the 18th ult,,
adding-and here give your own words
Anything in yours in reply TO II TO the
contrary Notwithstanding When con-
troversy upon matters of fact reaches the
point 10 which this has been brought, fur,
ther assertion or denial between the i'm
mediate parties should cease, especially
when. upon either side il loses the char
acter Of the respectful discussion which
is required by the relation in which the
parties stand 10 each other, and degen-
crates in tone and temper. In such a
case, il there is nothing to rely upon but
the opposing statements, conclusions must
he drawn from those statements alone, and
from whatever intrinsic probabilities they
afford in favor of or against either of the
parties, should not shrink from this con-
troversy. But fortunately it is not left 10
this test alone There were five Cabinet
officers present at the conversation, the
details of which. in my letter of the 2eth
ult., you allow yourself to say contains
"many and gross Misrepresentation"
These gentlemen heard that conversation,
and have read my statement They speak
for themselves, and | leave the proof
without word of comment.
/ deem it proper, before concluding this
communication, TO notice some of the
statements contained in your letter. You
say that performance of the promises
alleged to have been made by you 10 the
President would have involved a resist
ance to law, and an inconsistency with
the whole history of my connection with
the suspension of Mr. Stanton You
then state that you had fears the Presi-
dent would, on the removal of Mr. Stan
ton, appoint some one in his place who
would embarrass the army in carrying out
the reconstruction acts, and add, 1T was
to prevent such an appointment that ac-
interin,, and not for the purpose of en-
aiding you TO get rid of Mr. Stanton by
my upholding it from him, in opposition
to the law, or, not doing so myself, sur
rendering il to one who would, as the state
ments and assumptions in your communi-
cation indicate, was sought first of all
You here admit that from the beginning
Of what you term the whole history" of
your connection with Mr.. Stantons sus,
pension, you intended TO circumvent the
President. 1t was to carry out that in
tent that you accepted the appointment.
This was in your mind at the time of
your acceptance. 1t was not then in
obedience to the order of your superior,
as has heretofore been supposed, that you
assumed the duties of the office You
knew it was the Presidents purpose to
prevent Mr.. Stanton from resuming the
Office of Secretary Of War, and you in
tended to defeat that purpose. You ac-
cepted the office, not in the interest of the
President, hut of Mr. Stanton II
this purpose, so entertained by you, had
been confined TO yourself, if, when accept
ing the Office, you had done so with
mental reservation to Illustrate the Presi-
dent, it would have been tacit dccep-
ton. In the ethics of some persons such
course is allowable, but you cannot
stand even upon that questionable ground
The history OF your connection with this
transaction, as written by yourself, places
you in different predicamcnt and shows
that you not only concealed your design
from the President, but induced him to
hat
pose to keep Mr. Stanton out of office by
retaining it yourself after an attempted
restois on by the Senate, SO as to require
Mr. 81 anton to establish his right bv
Judicial decision now give that part OF
this history as written by yourself in your
letter of the 2Sth ult
"Some time after assumed the duties
of Secretary of War al interim, the prcsi-
dent asked me my views as to the course
Mr.. Stanton would have to pursue in case
the Senate should not concur i'll his suS-
pension, to obtain possession Of the Office
Ny reply was, in substance, that Mr..
Stanton would have to appeal to the
courts to reinstate him, illustrating my
position by citing the ground had taken
in the case Of the Baltimore Police Com
missioners."
Now, at that time, as you admit in
your letter of the 3D. inst, you held the
Office for the very object Of defeating an
appeal to the courts. In that letter you
say that in accepting the Office, one motive
was to prevent the President from APP
pointing 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 who would not, by holding
it. compel Mr.. Stanton to resort to the
courts. You perfectly understood that in
this interview. Some time after Won ac-
cepted the Office, the President. not con-
tent with your silence, desired an ex-