feel, unless you do indeed think that I have neglected my duty in some way which I at present fail to comprehend, I am justly entitled to some reparation before the public. It is exceedingly annoying to me to be preceded wherever I go, by a public announcement that the President does not approve of my conduct; and when I go home, to find the opinion spread abroad that I was recalled for violating my trust. If it was indeed deemed improper for me to write letters to newspapers, the Secretary of War might have told me so at the start, for I informed him of my being obliged to resort to it. He probably has my letter still in his possession.
I repeat, the paragraph has the appearance of coming from an authoritative source, and I leave it to you to decide whether I am not entitled to some manifestation on the part of the Government that will clear me of these damaging imputations and set me right before the public. There is no selfish motive in the world that would have induced me to accept this mission; there was neither pleasure, nor gain nor advancement in it. If I do not claim any praise for having accepted it under such circumstances, I certainly ought not to be left under the cloud of unjust censure. This mission will terminate my official connection with the Government; I should be sorry if the parting were darkened by any unpleasant incidents. I feel confident, however, if I leave it to your sense of justice to give me that reparation which I consider to be honestly due me, you will not permit me to suffer in standing and reputation.
TO EDWIN M. STANTON
Bethlehem, Pa., Oct. 17, 1865.
At the close of our interview last Saturday you told me not to leave town without having seen the President, and
