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This transcription has not been verified by Special Collections Research Center Staff. Please also consult images of the document.

Confidential                      Washington City, August 29 1867

Mr. President:
                   You will not, I trust, regard me as
presumptious in addressing you this letter.  Two years ago,
not long after the surrender at Appomattox Court House,
at the request of Robert W. Hughes, Esqr and after an
interview on the subject with Govr Pierpoint, of Virginia, endeavoring to
rise to the Weight of the new status of the nation, I set
myself to the task of addressing you in relation to the
terrible & tremendous nature & character of the issues
you would be called upon to meet as the Executive of
the Government.  But fearing, under the circumstances
then attendant upon me, that the self-imposed task
might possibly be misconstrued and attributed to motives
beneath the sincerity & dignity of my intentions, I laid down my pen
in the middle of the labour.
Nevertheless, from that day to this I have not
been able to repress the deep-abiding concern
I have unceasingly felt towards you in your
noble efforts to save the Republic & to preserve
Constitutional liberty to the People; and my
constant regret has been that it was so little in
my power to render you effective aid.  By
recurring to my notes I find I did not then overes-
timate the appalling circumstances that fettered your
position in the beginning, and I believe that I rightly divine
now the imperative necessities imposed upon you at this time.
          You have been defrauded of all sincere, manly
and right support, by some of those by your side whose
honour was bound to a different course, and cannot
afford to close your eyes to the exact reality of the
situation into which you have been shamelessly betrayed
however abhorrent & distasteful may be this aspect presented.
          Between this and the reassembling of Congress
the Peace of the Nation, the happiness of the People, and
your own personal safety, together with that of your
friends, demand that the Executive power of the Government
under the Constitution shall be firmly secured against
all illegal efforts at its subversion and every possiblity
of its overthrow; and how can this be done is the
only question, it seems to me, that should be considered.
          The War and the Navy Departments constitute the
Right arm of the executive, and the Treasury and Post Office
Departments may be regarded as it's Left arm.  In view of
the situation the remaining Departments associated with the
Executive Office are as nothing in comparison with these. You
cannot, it seems to me, leave these Departments in the
hands of either weak, doubtful, or faithless men, without
serious calamities to the Country, as well as to yourself,
in every sense.
                 The War Department must be the
bulwark of the Executive in the pending emergency against
the usurpations of the Congress in the line of the destruction
of the Executive and the overthrow of the Government; and
the Army and its officers should be reduced again, as it
aforetime was, and as is required of them by the Constitution,
to the position of obedient instruments of the Executive and
faithful agents of the War Department in the assertion of
the fundamental Laws of the Land against all aggression.
Without this, in six months there will be an end of
Republican Government, and American Freedom will have
past into history as a thing of the Past.  If disposed to
question the truth of this prognostication, turn your eyes
upon my political Essays of 1857-'8-'9-'60, on the "Political
Status,: the "Moral & Social Status," the "Territorial Status," and
"the issues of 1860," and you will be convinced it is
never either my policy, or my habit, to consider important
matters affecting the public save in their actual relations,
real significance, and unavoidable results where the currents of events are
suffered to continue unbroken.
         What, if the War Department shall be left by you in
the hands of an Army officer with no ideas of Government
than those associated with Military Rule & Martial Law, and who has been
thrown to the surface of affairs from abject obscurity & want by
the events of a Revolution in itself the expression & assertion of disrupting [?]?
-- he, himself a successful General and sought already to be
created by the Congress a Cromwell against the Executive power in the
lead of Radicalism? -- and he, himself, it is so probable that
it would not be reasonable were it otherwise - aiming
at the Chief Magistracy merely as a stepping stone
to Dictatorial Powers & Dynastical Sway disguised under
cheating forms, through the influence of the Congress, his own
control over the army, and a million of bayonets from
among the Negroes of the South, and the Loyal Leaguers of the
North, combined & directed by his Military brethren, themselves
formed into an affiliated Corps and operated upon in the line of
his imperial purposes by the same crude ideas of Government with those
entertained by himself, and aiming at the chief honours of
the state under him, as well as chief positions in social life
that, under these circumstances, would be necessarily accorded to them?
It is plain, too plain for argument, that such a Military Chieftain
would stand ready to cooperate with those who had been, and
were, thus inviting him to the possession of absolute power,
and that the very sword with which you had entrusted
him to strike down the enemies of the Law and all usurpers
against the Law, would be wielded by him adversely to
yourself, in behalf of the Conspirators against the Law, and
in support of Usurpation. That which is most germain to
human nature is logically consistent & most probable. If
in this I am correct, then the War Department should not
be hazarded in such keeping, but should be secured in
the hands of some man of Counteracting influences and,
if possible, of superior will, who will proceed at once
resolutely to subordinate fully & perfectly these dangerous
illiterate military aspirants after forbidden honours,
reducing them to their true position as creatures of orders
and assuring the impossibility, without delay, of their
becoming constituted by Radicalism the source of orders.
Upon the fidelity, nerve-power, military & popular influences
in counteraction to those possessed by the pets of Radicalism &
the favourites of the Congress, & the force & energy of your Minister
of War, will depend mainly your fortunes, the integrity of the
Republic, the Peace of the Nation and the security of the People, in the fearful issue about to be forced upon you. He should be, moreover,
a man of correct political antecedents & Constitutional Principle
and not altogether ignorant of social requirements & Civil Service.
I know of but one man in the Nation in whom these requisites
unite at this time, and that man is William T. Sherman, if
he will assume the attitude.
       The Navy Department it is only necessary to consider as
an important adjunct to the War Office. Just now, and, conse-
-quently, to be filled by a true friend to yourself possessing
harmonious political sentiments and similar views of policy.
But the Treasury Department is worthy of more serious
attention, and, next to the Treasury, the Post Office Department
stands most consequentially in view of the necessities of
the situation.
                  Shall the Treasury & Post Office Departments
through their ministers, be delivered up to a competing
candidate for the Presidency, whose policy it may or
may not be to conciliate the Radical faction by delivering
you up to the mercy of the Congress? These two Departments
most wield the popular agencies of the Country apart
from the Military, the one through its direct contact
with Capitalists & property holders, and the other through
direct contact with the Masses of the People.  Together
they leave no popular avenue unexplored and few persons
unapproached.  It is only less important that these Departments
shall be filled by resolute supporters of Constitutional Law &
Liberty, as well as faithful friends of yourself as the Executive
of the Nation, than the War Department should be so adjusted.
If the Executive authority of the Republic lodged in you by the
fundamental Law shall be shorn in the one direction of
its military power, and in the other direction of the power
of the Purse, while at the same time your enemies through
the Post Office shall command and hold to themselves all
mail facilities for communication with the People, your
Proclamations, Messages, and orders, however right & just &
noble they may be, will be as impotent as the paper on
which they are written. Of what avail will your more
personal exertions prove in behalf of the Liberties of the
People and the peace & happiness of the Country, if your
own Ministers, truckling to the Congress & a Congressional
Candidate for the Presidency, shall grasp from your right
hand the Sword and from your left hand the purse of
the Nation, while the mails shall be used only in the line
of the usurpation thus assured?  It is essentially necessary
that these Departments, as well as the War office, shall be severed
from the possibility of being directed to Radical ends, and
the only way of doing this is by placing them, as in the case
of the War office, in the hands of men who can & will act
independently of the usurpers in the Congress. In regard to the Treasury
Department Thomas Ewing of Ohio would doubtless stand side by side
with Sherman in the War Office, combining influences between
them which the Senate would be compelled to respect in
considering their Confirmation, which Radicalism could
not successfully resist in the Congress, and which, with
the Post Office in the control
of [Ex Marshal Lamou?], or of General Denver would
assert such Military & popular elements of strength as
to secure the result & save the future. The great West would
be brought up to the support of your noble & patriotic
policy, and the East would stand rebuked in the presence
of the Majesty of the Law, upheld and wielded by vigorous hands,
and the will of the Nation be re-
deemed from the curse of infidelity & puritanism, the
brutal & debased nurses of the Radical Monster of the age.
    So far as the remaining Departments of the Executive
power are concerned, all can be made to contribute valuable
aid toward the rescue of the Constitution, if each new
appointee shall be with equal care selected in view of
the suggestions that have been made.  But take good care
that no adverse, or discordant or feeble element be now admitted in
your Cabinet, and expunge from it all who are doubtfull or timid.
Your Enemies in furtherance of their usurping schemes & designs
have sought to destroy the unity of the Executive
in various modes knowing well its constitutional potentiality.
Make the Executive power through your Cabinet a unit &
you cannot be overthrown, and draw around you your
friends and you may defy your enemies.
     Respect all of you Executive Powers, secure all of your
Executive resources, and organise your admistrative energies,
Mr. President, for the conflict that is speeding upon you. It is idle for
me to seek to disguise my convictions & speak in bated
breath.  You will not be permitted to escape the issue of
the Sword, or that of the halter. For this dreadful alterna-
-tive you are called upon to prepare, or otherwise to yield
up your office without further delay, discarding the responsibilities
upon you and tacitly surrendering the fortunes of mankind
entrusted to your keeping to the mad passions of an illegal
mob resolved upon the destruction of Free Government. It is
already boldly confessed by one of the Chief Actors in the
recent measures passed by the Congress over your Vetos
that, these measures have no warrant in the Constitution
or fundamental Law of the land, but are measures purely of
"Legislative Usurpation." This being true, {?] it be
questioned that you will be required to surrender your
Executive functions to the Legislative faction in control of the
Congress through the force of further Usurpations if tamely
suffered? Rely upon it there is not only a purpose before them of sufficient
import in their estimation to seduce to Conspiracy & Treason
but now that they have defiantly assumed the guilty
responsibility they will be driven by the fearless restrictive justice
to greater atrocity, and they will not halt until they have
achieved safety and the full measure
of ambitious desire. The independence of the Supreme Judiciary
is no less endangered than that of the Executive, and it is
well worthy of consideration whether it is not equally incumbent
upon the Judiciary Department as upon the Executive to prepare
for a vindication of its Constitutional prerogatives & powers.
Indeed, it appears to me that there should be a close political
alliance formed between the two as equally necessary to the
maintenance of either and to the protection of the liberties
of the People and the Peace of the Nation. With such an
understanding between the Executive & Judiciary Establish-
ments, and with a Cabinet rearranged as suggested,
the power of an usurping Congress would be broken,
the Laws would resume peaceful sway, citizens
would cease to live in dread of armed assassination
& public robbery under a Reign of Terror, and your own
Glory would become immortal & [?] eternally with Praise & blessing.
        I cannot be deceived in pronouncing the issue
before you, Mr. President, not only as a Collision between
the Executive & Legislative branches of the Government, the first
seeking to uphold and the other to overthrow the Constitution &
Laws, but as an issue over & above this mere political aspect
of it, involving anarchy & bloodshed, unless the Executive
shall successfully resist further Legislative efforts at
usurpation, and the Supreme Judiciary shall assert
the integrity of the [Ermine?] and the full force of rightful authority.
You may no longer tamper with the hastening emergency.
Mere measures of expediency & skilfull diplomacy will no longer
ward off the danger. If there be any meaning in the past the
Congress is resolved to prostrate the Executive & Judiciary &
to grasp the powers of the Government and the forces &
resources of the Nation. Without immediate & stern resistance
by the Executive & Judiciary it requires no Prophets ken
to foresee the result. The Usurpers will quickly come to
be sustained by five hundred thousand Negroe bayonets
at the South, and by five hundred thousand Loyal-League
bayonets at the North, the armed representatives of the
agrarian elements of Society
in both directions embraced in Secret-oath-
-bound political fraternities, outside of & apart from
the Regular forces & resources of the Usurped Government,
and all Conservative elements & influences will be
subjected, not only to general [despoliation?], but will also be
made to quaff the cup of blood that the hand of
robbery never yet failed to administer. With your
impeachment, and banishment, if not Execution which is the most
probable, would inevitably
follow a similar doom to Jefferson Davis, and the
leading supporters of yourself throughout the North, together
with those implicated with Davis at the South, will be
pursued with the same inexorable fate. Every thing will
be regarded as a Crime that is not Criminal. Neither
Life, nor Property, will be held sacred & the Land will
groan with agony until Jacobinism shall cease its [?]
with the inauguration of Caesar-
ism. Shall such atrocity & woe be permitted
through a failure to recognise the full presence
of the impending danger and consequent neglect of
fitting preparation for the issue? Throughout all the
life of Man his sins of omission have been no less
fatal to his happiness than those of Commission,
and too late are the saddest words that
misery utters from the depths of misfortune.
        I again implore you, Mr. President, to excuse
the language of deep Concern and sympathetic
anxiety with which I address you, and again
subscribe myself,
                  Sincerely your friend

                        John Tyler, Jr.

To His Excellency
      Andrew Johnson
         President United States



P.S.    In respect to what is said as to Mr Thomas Ewing
in connection with the Treasury Department, the idea I wish
to convey is this. Let Genl Sherman be [induced?] by
family considerations, as well as the public policy & personal
ambition, to the position firmly by your side as
Secretary of War, holding, as I think he would do,
Genl Grant aloof from Radical Influences. If
the Treasury Department should require an
appointee of greater financial ability to satisfy
the business world, and one of younger & more acive
energies than Mr Ewing, the object in view
might possibly be reached by tendering the
State Dept to the latter.  But by all means,
strike for the Military & popular influences
of Genl Sherman as a counterpoise of
force to Grant, and in order to diminish
& scatter the forces of the Usurpers
in the Northwest where the power
of the Nation is already lodged.
Divide & Conquer! Play Sylla against Marius!