to know how you can relieve yourself from the orders of the President, who is made by the Constitution, the Commander-inChief of the Army and Navy, and is, therefore, the official superior as well of the General of the Army as of the Secretary of War. Respectfully yours, GENERAL U. S. GRANT, ANDREW JOHNSON. Commanding Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C. VIII. LETTERS FROM CABINET OFFICERS. THE following is a copy of a letter addressed to each of the members of the Cabinet present at the conversation between the President and General Grant on the 14th of January, 1868: EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., February 5, 1868. SIR: The Chronicle of this morning contains a correspondence between the President and General Grant, reported from the War Department in answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives. I beg to call your attention to that correspondence, and especially to that part of it which refers to the conversation between the President and General Grant at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the 14th of January, and to request you to state what was said in that conversation. Very respectfully, yours, ANDREW JOHNSON. REPLY OF SECRETARY WELLES. WASHINGTON, February 5, 1868. SIR: Your note of this date was handed to me this evening. My recollection of the conversation of the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the 14th of January, corresponds with your statement of it in the letter of the 31st ultimo, in the published correspond ence. The three points specified in that letter giving your recollection of the conversation are correctly stated. Very respectfully, GIDEON WElles. REPLY OF SECRETARY MCCULLOCH. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, February 6, 1868. SIR: I have received your note of the 5th instant, calling my attention to the correspondence between yourself and General Grant, as published in the Chronicle of yesterday, especially to that part of it which relates to what occurred in the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the 14th ultimo, and requesting me to state what was said in the conversation referred to. I cannot undertake to state the precise language used, but I have no hesitation in saying that your account of that conversation, as given in your letter to General Grant, under date of the 31st ultimo, substantially, in all important particulars, accords with my recollection of it. With great respect, your obedient servant, TO THE PRESIDENT. HUGH MCCULLOCH. REPLY OF Postmaster-GENERAL RANDALL. POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, } SIR: I am in receipt of your letter of the 5th February, calling my attention to the correspondence published in the Chronicle between the President and General Grant, and especially to that part of it which refers to the conversation between the President and General Grant at the Cabinet meeting on the 14th of January, with a request that I state what was said in that conversation. In reply, I have the honor to state that I have read carefully the correspondence in question, and particularly the letter of the President to General Grant, dated January 31, 1868. The following extract from your letter of the 31st of January to General Grant is according to my recollection of the conversation that took place between the President and General Grant at the Cabinet meeting on the 14th of January last: In the presence of the Cabinet the President asked General Grant whether, in the conversation which took place after his appointment as Secretary of War ad interim, he did not agree either to remain at the head of the War Department and abide any judicial proceedings that might follow the non-concurrence by the Senate in Mr. Stanton's suspension, or, should he not wish to become involved in such a controversy, to put the President in the same position with respect to the office as he occupied previous to General Grant's appointment, by returning it to the President in time to anticipate such action by the Senate. This General Grant admitted. The President then asked General Grant if, at the conference on the preceding Saturday, he had not, to avoid misunderstanding, requested General Grant to state what he intended to do. And further, if in reply to that inquiry, he (General Grant) had not referred to their former conversations, saying that from them the President understood his position, and that his (General Grant's) action would be consistent with the understanding which had been reached. To these questions General Grant replied in the affirmative. The President asked General Grant if, at the conclusion of their interview on Saturday, it was not understood that they were to have another conference on Monday before final action by the Senate in the case of Mr. Stanton? General Grant replied that such was the understanding, but that he did not suppose the Senate would act so soon; that on Monday he had been engaged in a conference with General Sherman, and was occupied with many little matters, and asked if General Sherman had not called on that day. I take this mode of complying with the request contained in the President's letter to me, because my attention had been called to the subject before, when the conversation between the President and General Grant was under consideration. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, ALEXANDER W. RANDALL, TO THE PRESIDENT. Postmaster-General. REPLY OF SECRETARY BROWNING. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, I am in receipt of yours of yesterday, calling my attention to a correspondence 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, enclosing 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 by 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 tribunal 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 non-concurrence 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 |