And this respondent, further answering, says that this hope not having
been realized, the President was compelled either to allow the said
Stanton to resume the said office and remain therein contrary to the
settled convictions of the President, formed as aforesaid, respecting
the powers confided to him and the duties required of him by the
Constitution of the United States, and contrary to the opinion formed
as aforesaid that the first section of the last-mentioned act did not
affect the case of the said Stanton, and contrary to the fixed belief
of the President that he could no longer advise with or trust or be
responsible for the said Stanton in the said office of Secretary for the
Department of War, or else he was compelled to take such steps as might
in the judgment of the President be lawful and necessary to raise for a
judicial decision the questions affecting the lawful right of the said
Stanton to resume the said office or the power of the said Stanton to
persist in refusing to quit the said office if he should persist in
actually refusing to quit the same; and to this end, and to this end
only, this respondent did, on the 21st day of February, 1868, issue the
order for the removal of the said Stanton, in the said first article
mentioned and set forth, and the order authorizing the said Lorenzo
Thomas to act as Secretary of War _ad interim_, in the said second
article set forth.
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