_Washington, D.C., February 3, 1868_.
His Excellency A. JOHNSON,
_President of the United States_.
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication
of the 31st ultimo,[52] in answer to mine of the 28th ultimo[53]. After
a careful reading and comparison of it with the article in the National
Intelligencer of the 15th ultimo and the article over the initials
J.B.S. in the New York World of the 27th ultimo, purporting to be based
upon your statement and that of the members of your Cabinet therein
named, I find it to be but a reiteration, only somewhat more in detail,
of the "many and gross misrepresentations" contained in these articles,
and which my statement of the facts set forth in my letter of the 28th
ultimo[53] was intended to correct; and I here reassert the correctness
of my statements in that letter, anything in yours in reply to it to the
contrary notwithstanding.
I confess my surprise that the Cabinet officers referred to should so
greatly misapprehend the facts in the matter of admissions alleged to
have been made by me at the Cabinet meeting of the 14th ultimo as to
suffer their names to be made the basis of the charges in the newspaper
article referred to, or agree in the accuracy, as you affirm they do,
of your account of what occurred at that meeting.
You know that we parted on Saturday, the 11th ultimo, without any
promise on my part, either express or implied, to the effect that I
would hold on to the office of Secretary of War _ad interim_ against the
action of the Senate, or, declining to do so myself, would surrender it
to you before such action was had, or that I would see you again at any
fixed time on the subject.
The performance of the promises alleged by you to have been made by me
would have involved a resistance to law and an inconsistency with the
whole history of my connection with the suspension of Mr. Stanton.
From our conversations and my written protest of August 1, 1867,
against the removal of Mr. Stanton, you must have known that my greatest
objection to his removal or suspension was the fear that someone would
be appointed in his stead who would, by opposition to the laws relating
to the restoration of the Southern States to their proper relations
to the Government, embarrass the Army in the performance of duties
especially imposed upon it by these laws; and it was to prevent such an
appointment that I accepted the office of Secretary of War _ad interim_,
and not for the purpose of enabling you to get rid of Mr. Stanton by my
withholding it from him in opposition to law, or, not doing so myself,
surrendering it to one who would, as the statement and assumptions in
your communication plainly indicate was sought. And it was to avoid this
same danger, as well as to relieve you from the personal embarrassment
in which Mr. Stanton's reinstatement would place you, that I urged the
appointment of Governor Cox, believing that it would be agreeable to you
and also to Mr. Stanton, satisfied as I was that it was the good of the
country, and not the office, the latter desired.
On the 15th ultimo, in presence of General Sherman, I stated to you that
I thought Mr. Stanton would resign, but did not say that I would advise
him to do so. On the 18th I did agree with General Sherman to go and
advise him to that course, and on the 19th I had an interview alone with
Mr. Stanton, which led me to the conclusion that any advice to him of
the kind would be useless, and I so informed General Sherman.
Before I consented to advise Mr. Stanton to resign, I understood
from him, in a conversation on the subject immediately after his
reinstatement, that it was his opinion that the act of Congress entitled
"An act temporarily to supply vacancies in the Executive Departments in
certain cases," approved February 20, 1863, was repealed by subsequent
legislation, which materially influenced my action. Previous to this
time I had had no doubt that the law of 1863 was still in force, and,
notwithstanding my action, a fuller examination of the law leaves a
question in my mind whether it is or is not repealed. This being the
case, I could not now advise his resignation, lest the same danger
I apprehended on his first removal might follow.
The course you would have it understood I agreed to pursue was in
violation of law and without orders from you, while the course I did
pursue, and which I never doubted you fully understood, was in
accordance with law and not in disobedience of any orders of my
superior.
And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier and integrity as a
man have been so violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I can but
regard this whole matter, from the beginning to the end, as an attempt
to involve me in the resistance of law, for which you hesitated to
assume the responsibility in orders, and thus to destroy my character
before the country. I am in a measure confirmed in this conclusion by
your recent orders directing me to disobey orders from the Secretary of
War, my superior and your subordinate, without having countermanded his
authority to issue the orders I am to disobey.
With the assurance, Mr. President, that nothing less than a vindication
of my personal honor and character could have induced this
correspondence on my part,