Three ALSs signed "W. A. Field" as Acting Attorney General, totaling eleven pages on sets of adjoining sheets (two on official letterhead of the "Attorney General's Office"), 5 x 8, dated August 6-September 1, 1869. All to Attorney General Ebenezer A. Hoar (apparently on leave in Concord, MA) detailing conversations with and directions from President U. S. Grant at cabinet meetings attended by Field in Hoar’s absence, as well as legal affairs, military matters, diplomacy, appointments and internal Executive Branch deliberations.
The first, August 6, 1869, in part: "We are all well here and are doing as well as usual. The only urgent matter I have got on hand is a request by the Sec. of War for an opinion upon the lawfulness and propriety of putting U.S. soldiers under the control of Internal Revenue collectors to be used in making seizures of property alleged to be forfeitable under the new Internal Revenue laws. These seizures are made without a warrant as preliminary to the filing of an imprimatur of forfeiture. The Comr. of Int. Rev. says the Int. Rev. laws can’t be enforced in Brooklyn N.Y. without the army and the supervision under 500 soldiers for 4 days…The subject is full of all possible difficulties…I send enclosed a letter from Benj. F. Butler, Esq. in regard to suits pending against him in N.Y. City. It is desirable that some directions be given in regard to these claims. Five of these suits pretty soon and I await instructions, to put the defense in the hands of Mr. Pickford…and before Devlin Miller & Trull and make filings as he wants…In the Spanish gunboat war I simply do whatever the Department of State wants done, taking care to put the responsibility on that Department. Personally, I don’t like us [starting] up a war with [Spain’s Rear Admiral] Polo, for the sake of doing what may perhaps be thought as justice by Cuba."
The second, August 10, 1869, in part: "At the Cabinet meeting today all the members were present but you and Secy. Boutwell, nothing really important was done. The President has called my attention orally to the District Atty. for Northern Mississippi—Stewart—already suspended and desires to know whom you want designated to act in his place; also to Dist. Atty. for Southern Mississippi—Adams—to be suspended and desires to know whom you want designated in his place.
I understood him to say that Judge B ____ whose Christian name I have not yet learned but shall in a day or two and whose surname I can not now remember accurately enough…had been agreed upon by you and him. He also said that he was in favor of suspending the Marshal for California…unless you had decided objections to the contrary…The pardons you have recommended have been granted and I am promised the papers from the Department of State tomorrow before the President leaves.
I have been compelled to act upon two pardon cases…the Dave Ross case of murder in the Cherokee country, sentenced to be hung Sept 3d next. The President has commuted this sentence to five years imprisonment. This case has been considered by Sec'y of Interior and Comr. of Indian Affairs, and has been…lawfully disposed of. There was not time to wait for the President’s return from his absence and take the risks of him getting hung or reprieve or pardon after that in Western Arkansas." David Ross was a native Cherokee convicted of murder—as an accessory to a murder committed in his presence—in US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas; President Grant commuted sentence on August 11, 1869.
The third, September 1, 1869, in part: "At the cabinet meeting yesterday all the members were present but you and Secy. Boutwell. Your opinion in re test oath in Va. was read and the Pres't ordered Sec'y of War to send copy to Genl. Canby and order him to act accordingly. This is of course kept secret. In Cuba it was agreed to notify Spain that the negotiations cannot be kept open indefinitely and that unless something were concluded the offer of 'good offices' would be withdrawn in thirty days viz by Oct 1st next… The President has…this morning directed that Walter Q. Gresham be commissioned judge of District Court for Indiana in place of McDonald, deceased. I recently notified him that McDonald was dead and that sundry applications had been received, but it seems he knew Gresham and intended to appoint him and did. Gresham is said to be a good man for it but whether it is worth while to be in such a hurry to appoint even good men to office without consulting the Department which is in some sense responsible for the appointment is a question on which I really have an opinion."
Packed with intriguing content, Field opens with commentary on Grant's order to Gen. Canby concerning the 'Test Oath' controversy in Virginia. The New York Times reported: 'General Canby's persistence in insisting that the test oath must be taken by the members of the new Legislature of Virginia, has caused some consternation in the victorious party. Many of the Representatives elected by the Conservatives will be unable to take that oath; and some of the Radical members also will not be more fortunate.' The Attorney General’s opinion confirmed that the oath is not required of the officers of the state of Virginia, or members of the legislature elected under the new constitution, after Congress shall have approved the constitution and restored the State to its proper place in the Union. Before Congress has thus acted, the members of the legislature so elected may come together organize, and do whatever is required by the acts of Congress as preliminary to the reconstruction of that state, without taking the oath referred to; but they cannot, without violation of the law, be allowed to transact any business or assume any other function of a legislature, if the oath has not been taken by them.
Addressing United States diplomatic efforts concerning Spain and Cuba, President Grant noted in his State of the Union address of December 6, 1869, that the US offer of “good offices” was not accepted by Spain.
Walter Q. Gresham received a recess appointment from President Ulysses S. Grant on September 1, 1869—the same date of the letter from Field to Hoar—to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Indiana vacated by Judge David McDonald.
In overall fine condition.
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