Year: 1867

either 10 remove the eontumacious Secretary
outright, under the somewhat ambiguous Lam
act, or to suspend him under the explicit au-
tbority conferred by another section of the same
act An absolute removal would have been
bolder; but the course adopted is perhaps more
prudent and wise. AS to the power of removal,
the law is susceptible of two interpretations.


Had Mr.. Stanton been notified that he WAS
removed, he would have contested the inter
probation of the President, and have held on in
spirit OF sullen defiance until tardy decision
could be had in the courts. By merely suspend
ing him, the authority OF the President ls not
open 10 that kind of resistance, and he gets rid
OF Stanton at once. But in this case, the Presi-
dent is obliged to communicate his reasons TO
the Senate and IL that body should Judge them
Insufficient, Mr. stanton will be reinstated in
his place with sort of triumph. The chances
of reasonable action by the Senate are probably
greater on q suspension than they would be on
q removal. Had the President removed STAN
ton, the Senate might have decided that he
acted without authority, and have felt 1T neces-
s9ry to vindicate its own Interpretation OF the
law. No preiudic1al complication OF That kind
6aR now o tSe seretop wo @
the President in respect TO his Cabinet, will
doubtless accept the reasons given for suspen-
sion.


II this expectation be we'll founded, suspen-
sion is better than removal, since it will ulti-
mately accomplish all that could be done by
removal without obstruction in any stage of
the proceedings. This expectation is not gra-
tuitous con lecture, but an opinion resting upon
a solid reason, which we will state The Tenure
of Office bill originated in the Senate, and, as IL
passed that body, 1t expressly excepted all the
members of the Cabinet from it's operation. The
House amended the bill by striking out the eX-
ception The Senate refused to concur In this
tossing of the bill back and forth from one wing
OF the Capitol TO the other, the House, when 1t
received the bill the second time, adhered to its
amendment. The consequence was committee
of conference, which, in a crude and clumsy
attempt to split the difference between the two
Houses, adopted the ambiguous, i'll worded
proviso which forms part OF the law. 1t having
been, then, the deliberate, persistent judgment
of the Senate, at the time of the passage of the
law, that the President ought not to be deprived
of the power of removing his Cabinet officers.
the Senate will probably act in that sense when
they come to pass upon Mr.. Johnsons reasons
Tor the removal of Stanton. In fact, the House
gained nothing when it extorted from the Sc
nate Committee of Conference and the ambi
guous proviso, since the Senate alone judges of
the sutfictency of the Presidents reasons for
suspension, by endorsing which ii can gain the
same end IL proposed in the bill.


Being thus satisfied that stanton is not merely
out till Congress meets, but out for good, we
congratulate the President and the country
that this Infamous man is no longer In posi-
tion 10 do mischief. In reviewing his career
we will not go back of the accession of Mr.
johnson, for IL is only since that date that Pre-
sident Johnson has been responsible for him.
The first conspicuous thing that stanton did
after Mr. Johnson became President, was his
attempt to ruin General Sherman and to lower
and disparage General Grant. kilograms were
sent to our gene rails in the South to disregard
cused by the Secretary of War of disloyalty
and pertidy. A most elaborate and persistent
attempt was made by Stanton and his satel-
lltes to poison the public mind against
that illustrious soldier, who showed his indig-
manu- resentment, on MS return TO w aSnlnSJOn,
by refusing the hand and repelling the advances
of Stanton. Had this attempt against Sherman
succeeded. Grant was to have been INVOLVED In
the same ruin The generosity of the terms
granted to Lee was spurned by stanton, whose
Ingenuity suggested method of circumventing
General Grants promise of immunity to the
surrendered Rebels. Stanton sought 10 ruin
those ilustrious soldiers in the very hour of
their triumph, as he had previously ruined
General Mcclellan; because he hoped that if the
prestige of military success made anybody Pre-
sident, it would be himself whose servile fiat





the war;" and "the organizer of victories"


After this ignoble attempt to ruin the reputa-
petrated by Stanton was packing Military
Commission to try Mrs. Surratt and the other
alleged copSpirators, in time of peace, and in
violation of law. At first he had this Military
Commission, which was packed with his crea-
tures sit as secret Star Chamber with closed
doors; but after few days, the public indigna-
tion compelled him to throw open the proceed
ings to publicity.


likely to adopt healing and conciliatorY feel
ing towards the South, he SUNK out of public
view, like asnake in the grass, and plotted the
political destruction of the President aud
General Grant. 1t seemed to Stanton in the
autumn OF 1865, that # Mr. Johnson's reconsIruc-
sident again, If any civilian; while If a military
man was preferred, no claims could compare
Stanton would not be President himself He
therefore used his influence with leading Re-
pu6licans& & to sour them against MI - Johnson IN
the same time he conducted a counter plot to
get General Grant committed to the policy of
the President, in the hope of thus removing
two supposed rivals at once General Grant
was sent South on a tour of observation, that he
might report favorably on the fitness of the
South for Immediate readmissIon while
Stevens, Sumner, and the radical cabal In Con-
gress were fed with reports OF malignant
Southern disloyalty.


All this time Stanton kept out of view, pre-
tending to devote himself to merely adminis-
trative duties, and to stand aloof from politics.
He did not wish TO commit himseltN until The
near approach Of the Presidential election dis
closed the final temper of the public mind.
against his expectation, and all his aspirations
have miscarried. Even in the recent transac-
wish to head off the pretensions of every popu-
lar General. He feared that If Sheridan were
removed, the removal would make him the
radical candidate Stanton therefore angrily
demonstrated, hoisted the radical colors, and
made himself as insolent and offensive as pos
sible to the President, for the purpose of dlvid-
ing and weakening the radical sympathy for
sheridan by drawing large part of IL to him
self.


The War Department is for the present, in
the discreet and able hands of General Grant,
AS Congress is to meet in November, we wish
that General Grant might superintend the De-
partment during the short intervening period,
and until the Senate shall have decided on the
sufficiency of the Presidents reasons for re-
moving Stanton.


The Plot Against the PresIdent-Im-


pOrtant Letter from the Secretary of


Buffers Assassination Committee.


From the National Iptelligencer, AugtstI2.


The development of the conspiracy against
the President of the United States is growing
hourly, A large portion OF the evidences of the
criminality of the conspirators we do not at
present deem necessary or eXpedient to pub
fish There has evidently been somehow a
proVidential break in the great conspiracy, and
each one of the subordinates Is trying TO save
himself by an early confession. The testimony
already accumulated is fearful The pal ties