I have this day removed Mr. Stanton from office and designated the Adjutant-General of the Army to act as Secretary of War ad interim.

I transmit herewith a report from the Attorney-General

In reply to the resolution adopted by the House of Representatives on the 19th of December last, calling for correspondence and information in relation to Russian America, I transmit reports and accompanying documents from the Secretary of…

Until further orders from the President, you will assign no officer to the permanent command of the Military Division of the Missouri.

You here admit that from the very beginning of what you term 'the whole history' of your connection with Mr. Stanton's suspension you intended to circumvent the President.

The extraordinary character of your letter of the 3d instant would seem to preclude any reply on my part.

The excuse you make in a subsequent paragraph of that letter of the 28th ultimo, that afterwards you changed your views as to what would be a proper course, has nothing to do with the point now under consideration.

I will only notice one more statement in your letter of the 3d instant—that the performance of the promises which it is alleged were made by you would have involved you in the resistance of law.

In reply to your communication, I have deemed it proper, in order to prevent further misunderstanding, to make this simple recital of facts.

My order to you had only reference to orders 'assumed to be issued by the direction of the President.'

You speak of my letter of the 31st ultimo as a reiteration of the 'many and gross misrepresentations' contained in certain newspaper articles.

As requested in this communication, General Grant is instructed 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…

You knew it was the President's purpose to prevent Mr. Stanton from resuming the office of Secretary of War, and you intended to defeat that purpose.

You say that a performance of the promises alleged to have been made by you to the President 'would have involved a resistance to law and an inconsistency with the whole history of my connection with the suspension of Mr. Stanton.'

Copies of the letters which they have addressed to me upon the subject are accordingly herewith inclosed.

It was to prevent such an appointment that I accepted the office of Secretary of War ad interim.

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 25th of November, 1867, calling for information in relation to the trial and conviction of American citizens in Great Britain and Ireland for the two years last past, I…

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with the accompanying papers on the subject of a transfer of the Peninsula and Bay of Samana to the United States.