ld be vastly
increased by his escape from punishment. General Grant said he
would not believe any pledge or promise Mr. Johnson might make in
regard to his future conduct. In his opinion, the only safe course,
and the most popular one, would be to remove the President. He
could understand the grounds of apprehension in the minds of some
leading Republicans, but he did not agree with them. He believed
the safest and wisest course was the bold and direct one. In this
General Grant was very emphatic; he said he would not advise me to
enter into any project to compromise the impeachment question, but
if the facts were as represented that I could not well do otherwise
than to acquiesce in the nomination.

INTERVIEWS WITH EVARTS AND GRANT

"The next morning (April 22), about ten o'clock, I called upon Mr.
Evarts at Willard's Hotel, and informed him that I had considered
the matter as carefully as I was able to do, and that there was
only one difficulty in my mind. That was as to what would be the
policy of the President during the remainder of his term, in the
event of his being acquitted. I mentioned some of the President's
recent acts, such as the creation of the Military Division of the
Atlantic, disregard of military usage in sending orders to army
officers out of the regular channels, etc.--acts for which no good
reason could be given, and which at least tended to create discord
and trouble. Mr. Evarts replied that he could not tell anything
about those matters, but presumed that such annoying irregularities
would disappear with the removal of their cause, namely, hostility
between the President and the Secretary of War. Mr. Evarts said
he did not see how I could satisfy myself of that subject without
a personal interview with the President, which would not be advisable
in the circumstances. I then said I did not expect any pledge from
the President, and did not expect to receive any communication from
him on the subject, either directly or indirectly; and that I was
not willing to converse with the President, nor with any other
person except Mr. Evarts, on the subject; but that I wished the
President to understand distinctly the conditions upon which I was
willing to accept the appointment, and desired Mr. Evarts to inform
the President of these conditions. If the nomination was then
made, I would take it for granted that the conditions were
satisfactory. I then