to court, but did hold it then and had accepted
it to prevent that course from being carried out. In other words, you
said to the President, "That is the proper course," and you said to
yourself, "I have accepted this office, and now hold it to defeat that
course." The excuse you make in a subsequent paragraph of that letter
of the 28th ultimo,[38] that afterwards you changed your views as to
what would be a proper course, has nothing to do with the point now
under consideration. The point is that _before_ you changed your views
you had secretly determined to do the very thing which at last you
did--surrender the office to Mr. Stanton. You may have changed your
views as to the law, but you certainly did not change your views as
to the course you had marked out for yourself from the beginning.

I will only notice one more statement in your letter of the 3d
instant[39]--that the performance of the promises which it is alleged
were made by you would have involved you in the resistance of law. I
know of no statute that would have been violated had you, carrying out
your promises in good faith, tendered your resignation when you
concluded not to be made a party in any legal proceedings. You add:

"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."

On the 24th[39] ultimo you addressed a note to the President requesting
in writing an order given to you verbally five days before to disregard
orders from Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War until you "knew from the
President himself that they were his orders."

On the 29th,[40] in compliance with your request, I did give you
instructions in writing "not to obey any order from the War Department
assumed to be issued by the direction of the President unless such order
is known by the General Commanding the armies of the United States to
have been authorized by the Executive."

There are some orders which a Secretary of War may issue without the
authority of the President; there are others which he issues simply as
the agent of the President, and which purport to be "by direction" of
the President. For such orders the President is responsible, and he
should therefore know and understand what they are before giving such
"direction." Mr. Stanton states in his letter of the 4th instant,[41]
whi