Year: 1868

EXecutlVe departments TOT any Caust seeming to him sufficient; and this respondent also determined that if, from any cause over which he could exert no control, it should become absolutely necessary to raise and have in some way either, or both, of the last named questions. it was in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, and required the President thereby, that questions of so much importance, on which the legislative and executive departments of the Government have disagreed, and which involved powers considered by all branches of the Government, during it's entire history down to the year 1867, to have been contided by the Con- stitution of the United States to the President, and to be necessary for the complete and proper execution of his duties. and should be in the same pro- per, was submitted to that department of the Government intrusted by the Constitution with the power, and sub iected by it to the duty of not only determining the final construction and effect of all acts of Congaess, but to compare them with the Constitution of the United States and pronounce them imperative when found in conflict with that fundamental law, which the peo- pie have enacted for the government of all their servants ;and to these ends :; First, that through the action of the Senate of the United States it is the absolute duty of the President to sub stitute a person in place of stanton, as one of his advisers and principal sub- ordinate officers, whose official conduct he was responsible for and had lawful right to control and might be accom- plished without the necessity of raising any one of the questions aforesaid. Second, that if this duty could not be so performed, then the questions, or such of them as might possibly arise, should be judicially determined in the manner aforesaid ; and that to no other end or purpose this respondent, as President of the United states, on the 18th day of August, 1867, seven days after the reception of the letter of said stanton. herein before stated, did issue to said stanton the order following, viz: Here comes the Presidents order removing stanton and appointing Grant secretary of War ad interim, and stan tons reply.] And this respondent, an swering, says it is provided in and by the section of an act to regulate the tenure of certain civil offices that the President may suspend an officer from the performance of duties of the office held by him for certain causes desig- mated until the next meeting of the senate, and until the cause shall be ac- ted on by the .te; and this respon- deut, as President of the United states, was advised, he verify believed, and still believes that the executive power of removal from office, confided to Aim by the Constitution aforesaid, includes the power of suspension from office, at the pleasure of the President. This respondent, by order aforesaid, did suspend said stanton from office, not until the next meeting of the senate, or until the senate should have acted upon the case, but by force of the power and authority vested in him by the Con- stitution and laws of the United states indefinitely, and at the pleasure ofthe President. The order aforesaid was made known to the senate of the United States on the l2th day of December, 1867, as will be most fully hereinafter stated.

 nt | CSlttu' iiiS iNsPohoS to the first article by denying that any and all substaniiative matters in said first article, contained in the manner and form as therein stated and set forth, do by law constitute high misde- meanor in office. within the true mean ing of lhe Constitution of the United staies.

 The reading of the Presidents an- swer occupied an hour and half.

 Boutwell,, on behalf of the managers, requested copy Of the answer, and said it was their expectation to present their reply tomorrow at one o'clock.

 Mr. Evarts then addressed the Court in relation to the period of time to be allowed the respondent after the appli- cation is filed and before the trial is to proceed. He said the Presidents coun- sel had been too fully occupied with the preparation of his answer to make any preparation whatever for the trial, aud they therefore request that the Court allow the President and his counsel thirty days from the date of the application to prepare for the trial, and motion in writing to that effect was presented and read by the Secre- tary.

 MT. Howard moved that it lie on the table until after the application is filed, but withdrew it on Mir. Bingham's an- nouncement that the managers were ready to express their opinion on the application.

 Mir Logan, in behalf of the managers, said they would oppose it, because there was no reason offered for the delay, except that the Presidents counsel needed time. He said they had had as much time as the managers, and some other reasons should be given, as there had been an application for delay made in former trials of impeach- ment, when it was always stated on oath that time was needed to produce distant witnesses, etc. No such cause was alleg- ed or shown in this case, and the rule adopted by the Senate required the trial to proceed, unless cause for delay was shown, and the managers insisted that no more time should be allowed to the Pres ident than to the meanest man. At the expiration of the thirty days an applica- ton might be made for further delay, to send for witnesses. perhaps to Sitka, and material reasons for delay should be assign ed now.

 Mir. Evarts called the attention of Court to the fact that the Presidents counsel had only been allowed eight working days in which to prepare their answer, and said it was not an answer to their present appli- cation; that equal haste would be ncces- sary on the part of the managers as on the part of themselves. Their positions were not similar, Ire managers had enjoyed peculiar facilities for examining and sum- moning witnesses. The President had public duties which employed much ofhis time, and the counsel asked no more in this case for the President than they would for the poorest criminal. If unforeseen