Year: 1868

functions as Secretary OF War ad interim
ceased ifom the moment of the receipt ol
the notice. You thus, in disregard of the


understanding between US, vacated the
office without having given me notice Of
your intention TO do SO. It is but just


however, to say that in your communica-
tion you claim that you did inform me oil
your purpose, and thus "ful6lled the pro.
mise made in Our last preceding converse.
tion on this subject" The fact that such
a promise existed is evidence of an ar.
rangement Of the kind I have men
toned. You had found in our first con-
ference "that the President was desrous


Of keeping Mr.. Stanton out of office, whe-
ther sustained in the suspension or not"


You knew what reasons had induced the


President to ask from you promise.


You also knew that in case your views OF
duty did not accord with his own convc-
tions it was his purpose to fill your place
by another appointment. Even ignoring
the existence of positive understanding
between us, these conclusions were plainly
deducible from our various conversations.
1t is certain, however, that, even under
these circumstances, you did not offer to
return the place to my possession, but, ac-
cording to your own statement, placed
| yourselfin position where, could have
anticipated your action, I would have been
compelled % ask Of YOU, as was com
PEELED to ask of your predecessor iu the
War Department, letter of resignation,
or else to resort to the more disagreeable
expedient of suspending you by sue
cesSor.


AS stated in your letter, the nomination
Of Governor Cox, of Ohio, for the office of
Secretary of War was suggested to me.
His appointment as Mr.. Stanton's success
sor was urged in your name, and it was
said that his selection would save further
embarrassment. did not think that in
the selection of Cabinet officer I should
be trammelled by such considerations. I
was prepared to take the responsibility of
deciding the question in accordance with
my ideas of constitutional duty; and,
having determined upon course which
I deemed right and proper, was anxious to
learn the steps you would take should the
possession of the War Department be de-
manded by Mr.. Stanton. Had your action
been in conformity to the understanding
between US, do not believe that the en-
barrassment would have attained its pre-
sent proportions, or that the probability Of
its repetition would have been so great.
l know that with view to an early
termination of state of affairs so detri-
mental to the public interests you volun-
tarily offered, both on Wednesday the 18th
instant, and on the succeeding Sunday, to
call upon Mr.. Stanton and urge upon him
| fhot Ea rrnnI nf tho carUipa rpnnirpH hlS
resignation. l confess that l considered
your proposal as sort of reparation for
the failure, on your part, to act IN accord
ance with an understanding more than
once repeated, which | thought had re-
ceived your full assent, and under which
you could have returned to me the Office
which l had conferred upon you, thus
saving yourself from embarrassment, and
leaving the responsibility where it properly
belonged, with the President, who is ac-
countable for the faithful execution of the
! laws.


| have not yet been informed by you
whether, as twice proposed by yourself,
you had called upon MIR. Stanton and
made an effort to induce him voluntarily
to retire from the War Department. You
conclude your communication with refer
ence to our conversation at the meeting of
the Cabinet held on Tuesday the l4th in
slant. In your account of what then oc-.
CURED you say that after the President
had given his version of your previous
conversations you stated them substantially
as given in your letter, that you in no wise
admitted the correctness Of his statement
of them, L" though to soften the evident
M cfatnnant cal0
(alludipg to our first conversation on the
suhject) the President might have under
stood me in the way he said-viz., that l
had promised to resign if l did not resist
the reinstatement. made no such pro-
MISE"


NV recollection of what then transpired
is Numerically the reverse of your narra-
ton. In the presence of the Cabinet l
asked you:
First. If, in conversation which took
place shortly after your appointment as
Secretary of War ad interim, you did not
agree either to remain at the head Of the
War Department, and abide any judicial
proceedings that might follow non concur
renee by the Senate in Mr.. Stanton's sus-
pension, or, should you wish not to be-
| come involved in such q controversy, to
put me in the same position with respect
to the Office as I occupied previous to your
appointment, by returning it to me in time
to anticipate such action by the Senate.
This you admitted.


Second. then asked you if, at our con-
ference on the preceding Saturday, had
not, to avoid misunderstanding, requested
you to state what you intended to do and,
further, if, in reply to that inquiry, you had
not referred to our former conversations,
saving that from them I understood your
position, and that your action would be
consistent with the understanding which
had been reached.


To these questions you also replied in
| the affirmative.


Third. l next asked if, at the conclu-
sion of our interview on Saturday, it was
not understood that we were to have
another conference on Monday before final
action by the Senate in the case OF Mr'
| Stanton.


You replied that such was the under
standing, but that you did not suppose the
Senate would act so soon that on Mon
day you had been engaged in conference
| with General Sherman, and were occupied
with "mapy little matters" and asked ii
General Sherman had not called on that
day. What relevancy General Sher-
mans visit to me on Monday had with the


purpose for which you were to have called
I am at loss to perceive, as he certainly
did not inform me whether you had deter
mined to retain possession Of the Office or
to afford me an opportunity to appoint o
successor in advance of any attempted re-
instatement of Mr.. Stanton.


mL;saaonnnt of what nassad between Ills