Senate was in session, and why not then have asked for his removal, if desired? It certainly was the intention of the legislative branch of the Government to place the Cabinet Ministers beyond the power of executive removal, and it is pretty well understood that so far as Cabinet Ministers are affected by the 'Tenure-of-Office Bill,' it was intended especially to protect the Secretary of War, whom the country felt great confidence in. The meaning of the law may be explained away by an astute lawyer, but common sense and the views of loyal people will give it the effect intended by its framers."

This delayed the President's action for a few days, when he requested Mr. Stanton to resign, and, on his refusal to do so, suspended him, in accordance with the Tenure-of-Office Act, and appointed General Grant Secretary of War ad interim. He accepted the position at Mr. Stanton's request, but soon represented to the President that as he was only temporarily acting as Secretary of War, against his wishes, and as his legitimate position was that of General of the Army, who might be compelled to serve under successive Administrations, he should be excused from participation in the purely partisan duties of a Cabinet officer. The President first paid no attention to his request, but subsequently Grant renewed it repeatedly, and at last was accustomed to remain at Cabinet meetings only long enough to present his budget of papers as Secretary of War and transact the purely official business of his department; he was then in the habit of retiring. This indicated very plainly to the President that Grant was determined not to be considered a supporter of his "policy."

Soon after he became Secretary of War, General Grant was directed by the President to issue an order removing General Sheridan from the command of the

Department of Louisiana and substituting General George H. Thomas in his stead. General Thomas declined to serve, and General Hancock was then appointed. In announcing to General Grant his determination to have this order issued, President Johnson requested him to make any comments on it that he might deem proper, and the General, in an eloquent reply, said: "I am pleased to avail myself of this opportunity to urge, earnestly urge, urge in the name of a patriotic people, who have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of loyal lives and thousands of millions of treasure to preserve the integrity and union of this country, that this order be not insisted on. It is unmistakably the expressed wish of the country that General Sheridan should not be removed from his present command. This is a Republic, where the will of the people is the law of the land. I beg that their voice may be heard. General Sheridan has performed his civil duties faithfully and intelligently. His removal will only be regarded as an effort to defeat the laws of Congress. It will be interpreted by the unreconstructed element in the South-those who did all they could to break up the Government by arms, and now wish to be the only element consulted as to the method of restoring order-as a triumph. It will embolden them to renewed opposition to the will of the loyal masses, believing that they have the Executive with them."

Ignoring the political imbroglio in which the President and Congress had become involved, General Grant energetically commenced the reconstruction of the War Department. "Retrenchment," said he in his report, "was the first subject to attract my attention." There were many expensive abuses which had crept into the administration of the army during the protracted Civil War,

which only an experienced army officer would be likely to recognize, and which a civilian might naturally suppose had existed as a part of the unwritten constitution of the service. These, and all other mismanagements, whether proceeding from neglect or downright misdoing on the part of subordinates or outsiders, General Grant immediately set himself to work to correct. The Freedmen's Bureau was placed under the direction of officers of the regular army, thus curtailing its expenses by the discharge of a great number of officers and clerks; the Bureaus of Rebel Archives and of Exchange of Prisoners were transferred to the War Department. Superfluous animals and vehicles were sold, including the headquarters ambulances, which general officers were using as carriages, commencing with his own; over one thousand buildings rented by quartermasters were given up; large quantities of accumulated stores were sold; volunteer officers who had been retained in the service were mustered out; the number of mechanics and laborers was reduced, and the reform broom was vigorously used. The various retrenchments were so important, that in his annual message to Congress the President, no partial witness, declared that "salutary reforms have been introduced by the Secretary ad interim, and great reductions of expenses have been effected under his administration of the War Department, to the saving of millions to the Treasury." The annual report of General Grant, then acting in a double capacity, embraced his acts as Secretary of War and as General of the Army.

When Congress reassembled in December, the President was obliged, by the Tenure-of-office Act, to report to the Senate within twenty days after its meeting the reasons for which he had suspended Secretary Stanton. This he did, and the Senate on the 13th of Janu

ary, 1868, decided that the reasons were insufficient General Grant, who had previously notified the Presi dent what he should do, immediately vacated the War Department, and Mr. Stanton resumed his duties as Secretary.

There was a regular meeting of the Cabinet that day, and the President sent General Grant à note inviting him to be present. The General obeyed the summons, and when the meeting was opened the President, addressing him as "Mr. Secretary of War," asked him to open his Department Budget. General Grant at once reminded Mr. Johnson of the notification he had given him, whereupon the President stated that Grant had promised to hold the position of Secretary of War until displaced by the courts, or at least to resign, so as to place the President where he would have been had Grant never accepted the office. Amazed at this remarkable and unlooked-for assertion, Grant repeated what had actually taken place between himself and the President; though, to soften the evident contradiction his statement gave to the President's declaration, he said, alluding to an anterior conversation of himself and the President, the President might have understood him as he declared, namely, that Grant had promised to resign if he did not resist the reinstatement. Grant, however, had not only never made such a promise, but had expressly told the President to the contrary three days before. His anxiety, however, not to contradict the President before his Cabinet led to subsequent misstatements in the newspapers, made by the President's request. These gross misrepresentations General Grant denied, and a bitter newspaper war ensued.

General Grant finally reasserted the correctness of his original statement, "anything in the President's reply

to it to the contrary notwithstanding," remarking in conciusion: "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 hesitate 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 countermanding his authority to issue the orders I am to disobey. Mr. President, nothing less than a vindication of my personal honor and character could have induced this correspondence on my part."

President Johnson, enraged because he could not use Grant against Secretary Stanton, conferred the brevet of General on Sherman, that he might be equal in rank to the General of the Army when ordered to supersede him. General Sherman at once telegraphed and wrote to Senators with whom he was acquainted that he did not desire the brevet, and as his own brother vigorously opposed its confirmation, the Senate refused its "consent." The President then, as if anxious to provoke a rivalry between the two greatest soldiers in the land, created a new military division, with headquarters at Washington, and ordered General Sherman to its command. This, also, Sherman opposed with all his might, and the President was obliged to abandon the idea, lest he might make another enemy, for Sherman was determined not to be brought into conflict with Grant. Thereupon General Thomas was to be brought to Washington; but when he declined the brevet in such uncompromising terms, he, too, was found unavailable.