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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.


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