_Washington, D.C., February 6, 1868_.
The PRESIDENT.
SIR: I am in receipt of yours of yesterday, calling my attention to
a correspondance between yourself and General Grant published in the
Chronicle newspaper, and especially to that part of said correspondence
"which refers to the conversation between the President and General
Grant at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the 14th of January," and
requesting me "to state what was said in that conversation."
In reply I submit the following statement: At the Cabinet meeting on
Tuesday, the 14th of January, 1868, General Grant appeared and took his
accustomed seat at the board. When he had been reached in the order of
business, the President asked him, as usual, if he had anything to
present.
In reply the General, after referring to a note which he had that
morning addressed to the President, inclosing a copy of the resolution
of the Senate refusing to concur in the reasons for the suspension of
Mr. Stanton, proceeded to say that he regarded his duties as Secretary
of War _ad interim_ terminated by that resolution, and that he could not
lawfully exercise such duties for a moment after the adoption of the
resolution by the Senate; that the resolution reached him last night,
and that this morning he had gone to the War Department, entered the
Secretary's room, bolted one door on the inside, locked the other on the
outside, delivered the key to the Adjutant-General, and proceeded to the
Headquarters of the Army and addressed the note above mentioned to the
President, informing him that he (General Grant) was no longer Secretary
of War _ad interim_.
The President expressed great surprise at the course which General
Grant had thought proper to pursue, and, addressing himself to the
General, proceeded to say, in substance, that he had anticipated such
action on the part of the Senate, and, being very desirous to have the
constitutionality of the tenure-of-office bill tested and his right
to suspend or remove a member of the Cabinet decided by the judicial
tribunals of the country, he had some time ago, and shortly after
General Grant's appointment as Secretary of War _ad interim_, asked the
General what his action would be in the event that the Senate should
refuse to concur in the suspension of Mr. Stanton, and that the General
had then agreed either to remain at the head of the War Department till
a decision could be obtained from the court or resign the office into
the hands of the President before the case was acted upon by the Senate,
so as to place the President in the same situation he occupied at the
time of his (Grant's) appointment.
The President further said that the conversation was renewed on the
preceding Saturday, at which time he asked the General what he intended
to do if the Senate should undertake to reinstate Mr. Stanton, in reply
to which the General referred to their former conversation upon the same
subject and said: "You understand my position, and my conduct will be
conformable to that understanding;" that he (the General) then expressed
a repugnance to being made a party to a judicial proceeding, saying that
he would expose himself to fine and imprisonment by doing so, as his
continuing to discharge the duties of Secretary of War _ad interim_
after the Senate should have refused to concur in the suspension of Mr.
Stanton would be a violation of the tenure-of-office bill; that in reply
to this he (the President) informed General Grant he had not suspended
Mr. Stanton under the tenure-of-office bill, but by virtue of the powers
conferred on him by the Constitution; and that, as to the fine and
imprisonment, he (the President) would pay whatever fine was imposed
and submit to whatever imprisonment might be adjudged against him (the
General); that they continued the conversation for some time, discussing
the law at length, and that they finally separated without having
reached a definite conclusion, and with the understanding that the
General would see the President again on Monday.
In reply General Grant admitted that the conversations had occurred, and
said that at the first conversation he had given it as his opinion to
the President that in the event of nonconcurrence by the Senate in the
action of the President in respect to the Secretary of War the question
would have to be decided by the court--that Mr. Stanton would have to
appeal to the court to reinstate him in office; that the _ins_ would
remain in till they could be displaced and the _outs_ put in by legal
proceedings; and that he _then_ thought so, and had agreed that if he
should change his mind he would notify the President in time to enable
him to make another appointment, but that at the time of the first
conversation he had not looked very closely into the law; that it had
recently been discussed by the newspapers, and that this had induced him
to examine it more carefully, and that he had come to the conclusion
that if the Senate should refuse to concur in the suspension Mr. Stanton
would thereby be reinstated, and that he (Grant) could not continue
thereafter to act as Secretary of War _ad interim_ without subjecting
himself to fine and imprisonment, and that he came over on Saturday to
inform the President of this change in his views, and did so inform him;
that the President replied that he had not suspended Mr. Stanton under
the tenure-of-office bill, but under the Constitution, and had appointed
him (Grant) by virtue of the authority derived from the Constitution,
etc.; that they continued to discuss the matter some time, and finally
he left, without any conclusion having been reached, expecting to see
the President again on Monday.
He then proceeded to explain why he had not called on the President on
Monday, saying that he had had a long interview with General Sherman,
that various little matters had occupied his time till it was late, and
that he did not think the Senate would act so soon, and asked: "Did not
General Sherman call on you on Monday?"
I do not know what passed between the President and General Grant on
Saturday, except as I learned it from the conversation between them at
the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, and the foregoing is substantially what
then occurred. The precise words used on the occasion are not, of
course, given exactly in the order in which they were spoken, but the
ideas expressed and the facts stated are faithfully preserved and
presented.