Evening star., 1918-01-20
G|FIFTY YEARS AGO IN THE. STAR

which touches upon this peculiar reIa-s.
tion Of the commander OF the army
with the executive:
1T is believed that Gen. Grant. bye
surrendering the War Department tai
Mr. Stanton. has incurred the disappro-
oatfon OF the executive. Gen. Grant, .it
VIII be remembered, was ordered by the
War Department when Mr.. Stanton was
renewed. and It Is contended by tho
friends of the President that he (Gen.
9rant) had no right to surrender tho
hspaItment 1s ns,tnna to any one until he should
President. and should have refused to
turn over the department to Mr. STAN
Ton 1.. until he received orders from tho
Yesterday must be certined to OF the . Pres.
ident: ana Gen. Grant. they hold. had
no authority to turn over the departs
ment to Mr. Stanton, as all official busi-
must pass through the President. Hence,
Gen. Grant. In surrendering the depart
ment to Mr.. Stanton, they alleRe- has
violated tie articles OF war or regula4
tions Of the army, by disobeyinr. the
orders of his superior, and thus SUBJ.
jects himself to court-martiai."
Notw1thstandtng expectations of ex-
citing proceedings. the Stanton-Jotn,
son situation SUBJ
Secretary Stanton sided shortly after
paoo,~:1 the restoration OF
the Secretary. Ac-
cording to The Star of January 16,
1868. tho Treasury Department honored
warrants signed by Mr.. Stanton as Sec
retary Of War without question. A
canard was in circulation that Secre-
tary McCulloch had ordered Treasury
hnYaan rhfafQ 20
with Mr.. Stanton. but was promptly
denied.
As the week waned and nothing sen.
sational happened the rumor mongers
grew busy and some re-
A OaY of markable tales were in
r. circulation. Some of these
S"e' are outlined in The Star
Of January II. 1858. as follows:
Yesterday was rich in sensation
stories. 1t was reported early in tho
day that the President was going to
close up the War Department, establish
Gen. Townsend in an ONCE at the White
House and transact all Army business
through him. The knowing gentlemen
who have the latest information clung
to this story for an hour or two and It
gained credence enough to be tele-
graphed away in various directions.
Later In the day this canard was sup
plemented and completely cast in the
shade by a story that Gen. Grant had
been put under arrest and imprisoned
by the President. This story went
around like wfldfire. and was bolstered
up by so many particulars that 1t got
an air of verisimilitude equal to one
Of De Foes yarns. There were plenty
Of people who could describe to you ,
just how Grant took the arrest: how
he proceeded under guard to quod, pun
ing equally at his inevitable cigar.
etc, etc About o'clock this story
got its quietus by the ascertained fact
that Gen. Grant was on the House door.
as tranquil as q summer morning. The
|newsmongers thereupon changed their
base and in about thirty seconds had
the story afoat that Gen. Grant had
come up to the Capitol post-haste to
avert a revolution by urging the re-
|construction committee vehemently not
to pass the new reconstruction bill As
the conversation of the general with
the members seemed anything but ye-
|hement, this story soon got materially
reduced in proportion, and by the time
the House adjourned the sensationists
were rather depressed by the scarcity
of material for q fresh canard."