ion to resign, I addressed him the following note on
the 5th of August:

SIR: Public considerations of a high character constrain me to say
that your resignation as Secretary of War will be accepted.

To this note I received the following reply:

WAR DEPARTMENT,
_Washington, August 5, 1867_.

SIR: Your note of this day has been received, stating that public
considerations of a high character constrain you to say that my
resignation as Secretary of War will be accepted.

In reply I have the honor to say that public considerations of a high
character, which alone have induced me to continue at the head of this
Department, constrain me not to resign the office of Secretary of War
before the next meeting of Congress.

This reply of Mr. Stanton was not merely a disinclination of compliance
with the request for his resignation; it was a defiance, and something
more. Mr. Stanton does not content himself with assuming that public
considerations bearing upon his continuance in office form as fully
a rule of action for himself as for the President, and that upon so
delicate a question as the fitness of an officer for continuance in his
office the officer is as competent and as impartial to decide as his
superior, who is responsible for his conduct. But he goes further, and
plainly intimates what he means by "public considerations of a high
character," and this is nothing else than his loss of confidence in his
superior. He says that these public considerations have "alone induced
me to continue at the head of this Department," and that they "constrain
me not to resign the office of Secretary of War before the next meeting
of Congress."

This language is very significant. Mr. Stanton holds the position
unwillingly. He continues in office only under a sense of high public
duty. He is ready to leave when it is safe to leave, and as the danger
he apprehends from his removal then will not exist when Congress is
here, he is constrained to remain during the interim. What, then, is
that danger which can only be averted by the presence of Mr. Stanton or
of Congress? Mr. Stanton does not say that "public considerations of a
high character" constrain him to hold on to the office indefinitely. He
does not say that no one other than himself can at any time be found to
take his place and perform its duties. On the contrary, he expresses a
desire to leave the office at the earliest moment consistent with