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 ADDRKSS 
 
 :^^ OF 
 
 HON. J. B. forake:r 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LIFE, CHARACTER AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 SAIvIVEON P. CHASE, 
 
 Late CKief Justice of tKe United States, 
 
 DEI,IVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATERS 
 
 AT SPRINGFIELD, IIvLINOIS, 
 
 OCTOBER 7, 1905. 
 
 May it Please the Court : 
 
 The career of Chief Justice Chase was too eventful 
 and too intimately connected with the great duties of a 
 great period in our country's history to be justly por- 
 trayed in a brief address such as is called for on an occa- 
 sion of this character. 
 
 Mere glimpses are all that can be taken of even the 
 most important features of his life, while many minor 
 events must be entirely ignored, which, under other cir- 
 cumstances, might be dwelt upon with both interest and 
 propriety. 
 
 Fortunately in that respect, what we are most con- 
 cerned about here to-day is not his childhood, or his pri- 
 vate life, domestic or professional, but his public life, 
 and particularly that part of it which led up to and in- 
 cluded the Chief Justiceship. 
 
He came of good stock, and had the good fortune to 
 be born poor, and to be blessed with a powerful 
 physique, an attractive personality, a dignified presence, 
 a strong intellectual endowment, and such a predisposi- 
 tion to seriousness as to make frivolities of all kinds im- 
 possible. 
 
 He was also fortunate in being identified with both_ 
 New England and the West, for thus he acquired T^m 
 culture and refinement of the one section, and the vigo- 
 rous and independent thought and progressive activity 
 of the other. 
 
 He spent several years of his boyhood in the family of 
 his uncle. Bishop Chase, of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, who was stationed during this period at Worth- 
 ington and Cincinnati, Ohio. After this he became a stu- 
 dent at Dartmouth College, where he was graduated in 
 the classical course with that mental power of analysis 
 and logical thought and expression which nothing can 
 develop quite so well as a thorough study of the Latin 
 and Greek languages. 
 
 He next spent three years in Washington, during 
 which period he read law under William Wirt, then At- 
 torney General of the United States. 
 
 The relation of student and preceptor seems, however, 
 to have been little more than nominal, since it was re- 
 lated by Mr. Chase that Mr. Wirt never asked him but 
 one question about his studies. He also states that when 
 he came to be examined for admission to the bar he 
 found himself so illy prepared that he passed with dif- 
 ficulty, and chiefly, as he always thought, because he in- 
 formed Mr. Justice Cranch, who admitted him, that he 
 intended to locate in the West. 
 
 During his stay in Washington he had many advan- 
 tages that compensated in some degree for this lack of 
 preparation for the practice of his profession. 
 
 Gift 
 Author 
 (Person) 
 
He was on terms of social intimacy with Mr. Wirt's 
 family, whose position was such that he was not only 
 brought in contact with all the prominent men then in 
 control of public affairs, but also with all the great ques- 
 tions with which they were at the time concerned. 
 
 Being of a studious and serious turn of mind, with such 
 experiences, and amid such surroundings, he naturally 
 drifted into the study of the political problems of the 
 day, so that when in 1830, at the age of 22 years, he 
 opened a law office in Cincinnati, he was already almost 
 as much occupied with affairs of State as about legal 
 principles. 
 
 He chose Cincinnati for his future home because at 
 that time it was the largest and most flourishing city of 
 the West, and on that account gave the most promise of 
 opportunity to a young lawyer ambitious to achieve suc- 
 cess and distinction. 
 
 He did not foresee that the slavery question was soon 
 to become acute, and that he was to entertain views and 
 take a position with respect to that institution of such 
 ultra character that a less hospitable community for him 
 could scarcely have been found in any Northern State 
 than that border city, situated on the line that divided 
 the free from the slave States, was to become. 
 
 If he had foreseen all this it probably would not have 
 changed his course, for he was so constituted by nature 
 that he might have felt that duty required him to station 
 himself at that outpost as a sort of advance guard of the 
 anti-slavery movement. 
 
 For several years he labored industriously to gain a 
 foothold in his profession without making any more than 
 ordinary progress. 
 
 His biographers record that during this period he had 
 time for social functions, magazine articles, some news- 
 paper work, and, most important of all, for a revision 
 
and editing of the statutes of Ohio which he published 
 with a very able introduction in the nature of an histori- 
 cal sketch of the State and its developments. Still, how- 
 ever, he forged ahead, not rapidly, nor brilliantly, but 
 surely, constantly and substantially. 
 
 His clients gradually increased in numbers and the 
 work they brought him improved in quality until he had 
 a very fair business, almost altogether of a commercial 
 character, but his practice was still modest, involving 
 neither large amounts nor complicated questions, and 
 his position at the bar, although respectable, was yet 
 comparatively humble and uninfluential, when, sud- 
 denly, unexpectedly and unintentionally, he was drawn 
 into the controversy about Slavery and was started on a 
 public career in the course of which he quickly became a 
 political leader and achieved much fame as a lawyer. 
 
 ANTI-SLAVERY LEADER. 
 
 The mobbing in 1836 of the Philanthropist, an Anti- 
 Slavery Newspaper, published in Cincinnati by James G. 
 Bimey, aroused him, as it did thousands of others, to the 
 intolerance of the slave spirit and the necessity of resist- 
 ing its encroachments by protecting Free Speech and a 
 Free Press if the rights of the white man, as well as the 
 rights of the free colored man, were to be preserved. He 
 at once took a pronounced stand as an anti-slavery man 
 although he was always careful, then, and afterwards, 
 until the Civil War, to declare and explain that he was 
 not an abolitionist, and that he had no desire to change 
 the Constitution or interfere with slavery in any way m 
 the States where it was already established. 
 
 Although most of the time "out of line" he claimed to 
 be a Whig until 1841, but professed to believe in the 
 States Rights, Strict Construction doctrine of the Jeffer- 
 
son School of Democracy, and thus reconciled his atti- 
 tude with respect to slavery in the States and his oppo- 
 sition to its extension beyond the States by the conten- 
 tion that the States in their sovereign capacity had a right 
 to authorize and protect the institution, although a great 
 evil, if they saw fit to do so ; and that the States had this 
 power because it belonged to sovereignty and had not 
 been delegated by the Constitution to the Federal Gov- 
 ernment; and that because such power was not dele- 
 gated to the General Governmient, it had no power to 
 authorize, protect, or even continue the institution in 
 any district, territory or jurisdiction over which it di- 
 rectly governed. 
 
 Both his politics and his law were severely criticised 
 for they made it impossible for him to fully satisfy any 
 party or faction of that time. 
 
 He did not go far enough for the Abolitionists, and 
 went too far for both the Whigs and Democrats. One 
 repudiated him because he was pro-slavery as to slavery 
 in the States, and the other because he not only opposed 
 the extension of slavery into the Territories but advo- 
 cated its abolition in the District of Columbia, for which 
 he is credited with drafting one of the earliest petitions 
 presented to Congress. It naturally followed that he 
 soon had trouble to know to what political party he be- 
 longed ; a trouble that continued to plague him all his life 
 and apparently led him to try in turn to belong to all of 
 them, but without finding satisfaction in any, not except- 
 ing those practically of his own creation. 
 
 Thus we find him calling himself a Henry Clay Na- 
 tional Republican in 1832, a Harrison Whig in 1836, an 
 out and out Whig in 1840, a Liberty man in 1844, a Free 
 Soiler in 1848, a Democrat in 1851, so enrolling himself 
 in the Senate, a Liberty man again in 1852, a Republican 
 in 1856, and afterward until it was foreseen that he had 
 
no chance against Grant to be nominated by the Repub- 
 lican Party for the Presidency in 1868, then suddenly 
 becoming a Democrat again, seeking the nomination 
 by that party, and in that connection claiming that aside 
 from slavery questions, so far as basic principles were 
 concerned, he had been a Democrat all his life. 
 
 On top of all this we find him writing to a friend 
 shortly prior to the m.eeting of the Liberal Convention 
 that nominated Horace Greeley at Cincinnati in 1872, 
 that if it should be thought that his nomination would 
 promote the interests of the country he would not refuse 
 the use of his name, thus showing a willingness to 
 change parties once more on the condition expressed. 
 
 It is probably safe to say that he had membership in 
 more political parties, with less enjoyment in any of 
 them and with less mutual obligation arising therefrom 
 than any other public man America has produced. 
 
 At any rate it was with this kind of zig-zag party affil- 
 iations he laid the foundations and built on them the 
 claims on which he was elected to the Senate in January, 
 1840, by a fusion of the Democrats, Anti-Slavery Dem- 
 ocrats, Democratic Free Soilers and Independent Free 
 Soilers, and felt that he had a right to complain, as he 
 did, because the Whigs, Anti-Slavery Whigs, and Free 
 Soil Whigs would not also vote for him. In making that 
 com.plaint, he ignored the fact that it was charged and 
 believed by the Whigs that his election was brought 
 about by a bargain, which, among other things, provided 
 that tv/o contesting Democrats, enough to give that 
 party a majority, were to be admitted to seats in the 
 House. There was undoubtedly a clear understanding 
 arrived at but like some other men, of more modern 
 times, such deals appear not to have been offensive to 
 him, when made in his own behalf, since thereby the 
 praiseworthy result was reached of securing his services 
 
to the public. They were bad and to be execrated only 
 when made by others, and in the interests of somebody 
 else, whose services were not, in his opinion, so im- 
 portant. 
 
 His complaint was not, however, without plausibility, 
 for he at least had equal claims on all the parties and fac- 
 tions named, except the two Independent Free Soilers, 
 to whom he really owed his election, since he had be- 
 longed to all, had repudiated all, and had been repu- 
 diated by all. 
 
 And yet, most of these party changes, perhaps all ex- 
 cept that of 1868, came about naturally, and, from his 
 standpoint, strange as it may appear, consistently also. 
 His opposition to slavery being paramount, and the 
 Whig Party failing and refusing to become an anti-slav- 
 ery party, he was lukewarm and irregular in its support 
 until the death of Harrison and the accession of Tyler, 
 when he lost all hope of it ever meeting his views. He 
 then openly deserted it and joined the Liberty party 
 and at once devoted himself to its reorganization and 
 upbuilding, which party, however, he in turn, aban- 
 doned, and helped to disorganize to make way for the 
 Free Soil Party of 1848, which he actively helped to 
 form by bringing about a fusion of Liberal Party men. 
 Barnburners, Anti-Slavery Whigs, Anti-Slavery Demo- 
 crats, and all other dissatisfied classes who could be 
 gathered into the fold ; a combination of elements incon- 
 gruous as to all questions except that of hostility to slav- 
 ery, about which they had the most fiery zeal. This 
 party, so constituted, nominated Martin Van Buren as 
 their candidate for the Presidency, in a Convention over 
 which Mr. Chase presided, and of which he was the dom- 
 inating spirit, but they largely strengthened themselves 
 and their cause by the ringing declarations of their plat- 
 form, of which he was the chief author, for "Free Soil, 
 Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Men." 
 
8 
 
 What Chase evidently most wanted in connection with 
 that Convention was the substance and not the shadow 
 — the platform in preference to the candidate, for it was 
 well known that the candidate had no chance of an elec- 
 tion, and would therefore pass away with the campaign, 
 while the principles enunciated would be educational, 
 and would live to do service in the future. 
 
 Thus it was that while manifesting instability, if not 
 contempt, as to party ties and associations, by flitting 
 out and in from one party to another, he was yet stead- 
 fastly, zealously and efficiently making continuous war 
 on slavery, and all the while coming into ever closer affil- 
 iation and co-operation with the out-and-out Abolition- 
 ists; for while nominally working only as an anti-slav- 
 ery man, he was largely aiding in the development of a 
 radical Abolition sentiment. His progress in this respect 
 was inevitable, for as the discussion proceeded he was 
 necessarily more and more drawn into it — explaining, 
 defending and advocating his views. 
 
 All the while his horizon was widening, and he was 
 becoming acquainted by correspondence and otherwise, 
 with the leading anti-slavery men of all the other States, 
 both East and West. This multiplied the demands upon 
 him for an expression of his sentiments, and so during 
 this period he wrote many articles for the newspapers 
 and magazines, attended political conventions, wrote 
 platforms, and addresses to the public, and made numer- 
 ous speeches on all kinds of public occasions. Being a 
 forcible and ready writer, and a logical and convincing 
 speaker, although too deliberate to be magnetic, he was 
 constantly in demand, and as constantly making valuable 
 contributions to the general literature that was used 
 against slavery by its enemies of all shades and degrees. 
 
 Along with this growth of political prominence and 
 
influence before the public, there came to him, as a law- 
 yer, a series of cases, all arising, in one form and another, 
 under the Fugitive Slave Law, by which he was given 
 repeated opportunities, which he well improved, of de- 
 veloping and presenting to the country the legal aspects 
 of the controversy in a way that attracted universal at- 
 tention to his cause and to himself as one of its ablest 
 and most powerful exponents. 
 
 He was not successful except on some technical 
 points in any of these cases, and probably did not expect 
 to be ; and in most if not all of them, he was paid inade- 
 quate fees, if any at all; but he labored and strove in 
 them with all the energy that confidence of success and 
 the most ample compensation could inspire. He thor- 
 oughly and exhaustively briefed them, and raised and in- 
 sisted upon every point that could be made, both techni- 
 cal and substantial. In one of these cases that went to 
 the Supreme Court of the United States, he artfully 
 placed before the whole country, as well ^he Court, all 
 his constitutional and other arguments not only against 
 Slavery but also against a Fugitive Slave Law, and par- 
 ticularly against its application to any but the original 
 thirteen States, and therefore against its application to 
 
 Ohio. 
 
 He was overruled, as he must have expected he would 
 be, but he was purposely addressing himself to the 
 country as well as the Court, and had a confidence, that 
 subsequent events vindicated, that he would eventually 
 secure a verdict at the hands of his fellowmen that would 
 right the whole system of wrong that he was combating. 
 
 IN THE SENATE. 
 
 t 
 
 In the Senate he was out of harmony from first to last 
 with both the Democrats and the Whigs. He at first in- 
 
lO 
 
 sisted upon calling himself a Democrat, although the 
 Democrats who were in the majority practically dis- 
 owned him, and in the Committee assignments refused 
 him any substantial recognition. This did not seem to 
 either embarrass or handicap him. He had, in conse- 
 quence of being practically relieved from Committee 
 work, all the more time for the consideration of the slav- 
 ery question, which was then rapidly becoming more and 
 more the all absorbing question of the hour. 
 
 He had not been long in his seat until he found oppor- 
 tunity to speak on that subject. From that time until the 
 end of his term he was the real leader of the anti-slavery 
 forces of both the Senate and the House. They were 
 few in number, but they were able and forceful men, who 
 stood up manfully and inspiringly for a sentiment which 
 was then unpopular but which was soon to control the 
 nation. 
 
 His most notable efforts were made in opposition to 
 the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. He was overwhelmingly 
 beaten when the vote was taken, but he had so crippled 
 and weakened the measure in the popular mind, that 
 Douglass soon realized that while he had won the day in 
 Congress, he had lost it before the people, who had be- 
 come so aroused that he quickly saw that the long pre- 
 dicted dissolution of the Whig Party and the revolt of 
 the Free Democrats were at hand, and that a new party 
 was forming that was destined to change the entire com- 
 plexion of the political situation and bring to naught all 
 he had gained. 
 
 The debate was one of the most acrimonious and, 
 measured by its far-reaching consequences, one of the 
 most important that ever occurred in the American 
 Congress. 
 
 Chase was the target for all the shafts of malice and 
 ridicule, but through it all he bore himself with dignity 
 
II 
 
 and serenity, and showed such sincerity, zeal and ability, 
 that, notwithstanding his obnoxious views, he gained the 
 friendship of most of his colleagues and the respect of 
 the whole country. Flis personal character was always 
 upright, and now as he came to the end of a turbulent 
 term in the Senate, where he had been disowned and in 
 many ways slighted and mistreated by both parties, he 
 saw, what he had probably long foreseen, a new party 
 forming, of giant strength and high purpose, which he 
 had done as much as any other man, if not more, to cre- 
 ate, and of which he was an acknowledged leader. 
 
 The Democrats being in control of the Ohio Legis- 
 lature, took his place in the Senate away from him, and 
 gave it to George E. Pugh. But instead of punishing 
 and retiring him, as they designed, they only made the 
 way open and easy for him to become, after a most spir- 
 ited campaign that attracted the attention of the whole 
 country, the first Republican Governor of Ohio, and as 
 such a prominent candidate for the Presidency, 
 
 THE PRESIDENCY IN 1856. 
 
 He was conscious of the work he had done in organiz- 
 ing the new party, and realized that he had greatly 
 strengthened it by leading it to its first great victory in 
 the third State of the Union, as Ohio then was, while in 
 New York and Pennsylvania his party associates had 
 failed. With his strong mental powers, long experience 
 in public life, and familiarity with all the public affairs 
 and questions to be dealt with, it was but natural that 
 under the circumstances, he should expect the honor of 
 leading his party, as its candidate for the Presidency, in 
 its first great national contest, and that he should experi- 
 ence keen disappointment when he saw his claims re- 
 jected, and the honor conferred on a younger man, who 
 
12 
 
 had no special claims, except the popularity of an idol 
 of the hour, who had won his prominence and the public 
 favor not by participation in the fierce struggles and edu- 
 cational experiences through which the country had 
 been passing, but by the success of a number of daring 
 and spectacular explorations. He was solaced, however, 
 by the thought that he was yet a young man, who could 
 wait and grow with his party, and become its candidate 
 later when the chances of success were more certain. 
 He was in a good position for such a program. 
 
 GOVERNOR OF OHIO. 
 
 But aside from all such considerations he was natu- 
 rally ambitious to make a good Governor, and such he 
 was. His administration was conducted on a high plane, 
 and in all respects he showed himself a capable and effi- 
 cient Executive. Throughout his two terms the slavery 
 question, through repeated Fugitive Slave Law cases, 
 was almost constantly occupying public attention. As 
 Chief Executive of the State he now had an official re- 
 sponsibility for the due execution of the laws and the 
 process of the Courts, and had great difficulty to meet 
 the requirements of public sentiment and avoid a con- 
 flict with national authority. While in some instances 
 severely criticised he appears with respect to all these 
 delicate and troublesome controversies to have fairly 
 and faithfully performed his duty. At any rate when he 
 retired from his office in January i860, his party was 
 greatly strengthened, and he had gained in general esti- 
 mation as a man of pronounced convictions, honorable 
 purposes and high qualifications for the public service. 
 This was emphasized by a re-election to the Senate for 
 the term commencing March 4th, 1861. 
 
13 
 
 Thus it came to pass that in i860 he ranked oificially 
 and personally, and deservedly so, with the foremost 
 men of the nation. He seemed to have just and superior 
 claims upon his party for its highest honor, and with a 
 frankness amounting almost to immodesty — he set 
 about securing it. 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE i860. 
 
 He had friends in all sections of the country, and he 
 called upon them to advocate and advance his cause. 
 He appeared to think only Seward and Bates formidable 
 rivals, and easily satisfied himself that his claims were 
 superior to theirs, but his friends in different parts of the 
 country, especially in his own State, which seems to 
 have had factional divisions and differences then as well 
 as in later years, soon found that while all acknowledged 
 his abilities, general qualifications and high personal 
 character, yet there was a strong feeling in many quar- 
 ters of distrust as to his views on the tariff and other 
 questions that Republicans deemed of vital importance. 
 This was due not so much to any statements he had 
 made on these subjects, for he had never talked or 
 written very much except about slavery, as to his oft 
 repeated insistence and reiterated declarations from time 
 to time preceding the organization of the Republican 
 party, that he was a Democrat, and that he adhered to 
 all the principles of that party, except those with respect 
 to slavery. 
 
 In Ohio there was added a lingering resentment 
 among m.any of the old Whig leaders for his apparently 
 vacillating course as a party man, and especially for his 
 combination with the Democrats to secure his election to 
 the Senate in 1849. 
 
14 
 
 Some of his friends were frank enough to tell him that 
 his chances were not promising, but he listened more to 
 those who told him what he wanted to hear, and, not- 
 withstanding a divided delegation from his own State, 
 and but few delegates from other States who favored 
 him as their first choice, he industriously and optimisti- 
 cally continued his canvass until the Convention met, 
 and, giving him only forty-nine votes, dashed his hopes 
 to the ground by the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Much fault has been found with him for the manner 
 in which he personally conducted his campaign for this 
 nomination : He seems to have proceeded on the theory 
 that "If he wanted the office he should ask for it," and to 
 have not only asked but also in many instances to have 
 insisted upon his right to support. 
 
 His correspondence teems with an array of his claims, 
 and with arguments in support of them, and with advan- 
 tageous comparisons of them with the claims of others, 
 and vv/^ith directions and suggestions to his friends how 
 to advance his interests. 
 
 It is to be regretted that a man of such lofty character, 
 such high ability, and such long experience with men 
 and public affairs, could have shown so little regard for 
 propriety with respect to such a matter. 
 
 The small vote he received in the Convention was 
 probably due in some degree at least to the offense he 
 gave in this way, for the sturdy, hard-headed m.en of that 
 heroic time naturally disliked such self-seeking with re- 
 spect to an office the duties and responsibilities of which 
 were so grave that any man might well hesitate to as- 
 sume them even when invited to do so. 
 
 In all other respects his canvass was free from citi- 
 cism. It was honest; there was no trickery attempted 
 in connection with it — no promises were given, no bar- 
 gains were made, no money was used. When it was 
 
15 
 
 over he had nothing to regret except defeat, and he took 
 that gracefully. He gave Mr, Lincoln hearty support, 
 and was undoubtedly truly rejoiced by his election, for 
 he saw in it the triumph of the principles for which he 
 had been all his life contending, and the beginning of the 
 end of slavery in the States as well as elsewhere. 
 
 IN THE CABINET. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln at the time of his election was underesti- 
 mated by almost everybody, except those whom he was 
 wont to call the plain, common people. They seemed 
 to know him and his greatness by intuition, as it were. 
 They had confidence in his sound common sense, and 
 loved him for his homely manners, and simple straight- 
 forward methods. They felt from the day of his nomina- 
 tion that he would be elected ; and when he was elected, 
 and the clouds began to gather, and one State after 
 another seceded, there never came an hour when they 
 did not implicitly rely on him to safely pilot them 
 through whatever storms might come. He had their 
 confidence from the first and he held it to the last. They 
 never wavered either in their devotion to his leadership, 
 or in their faith that he would eventually save the Union. 
 
 From the very beginning they gave him also his right- 
 ful place as the real leader, who outranked all his asso- 
 ciates in public life, not only because he was President, 
 but also, and more particularly, because of his natural 
 endowments and qualities of mind and heart. 
 
 But it was different with some of the leaders. Many of 
 them were slow to acquire a just conception of his char- 
 acter and abilities. They never thought of him seriously 
 in connection with the Presidency until he was practi- 
 cally nominated, and they did not think of him then, ex- 
 cept as a sort of accidental compromise, who was not 
 
i6 
 
 well qualified for the position. They regarded him as 
 lacking not only the culture and refinement, but also 
 the practical experience with public affairs that was es- 
 sential to their successful administration. 
 
 He came to the front so suddenly and unexpectedly 
 that he had gone ahead of them and had been named by 
 his party for its leader before they realized that they 
 were being supplanted. His administration was organ- 
 ized and fairly under way before they began to recognize 
 their true relation to him. 
 
 This was particularly true of Seward and Chase, who 
 had been the chief, and as they long thought, almost the 
 exclusive rivals, for the honors of party leadership. 
 
 Both were invited to take seats in the Cabinet, and 
 each accepted with the idea that, in addition to his own 
 Department, he would be expected to bear, in large de- 
 gree, the burdens of all the other Departments. Each 
 semed to think the country would look to him rather 
 than to Mr. Lincoln for the shaping of the policies to 
 be pursued. There was some excuse for this in the fact 
 that each had his ardent friends and admirers who en- 
 couraged the idea, and because some of the leading 
 newspapers seemed to think that Lincoln had called 
 them into his counsels from consciousness of his defi- 
 ciencies, and in recognition of their superior fitness for 
 the work he had been called to perform. 
 
 This thought — of the broader and more important 
 duty of supervising the whole administration, seems for 
 a time to have so occupied Chase's mind, that he did not 
 at first realize, and perhaps never, fully, that his legiti- 
 mate field at the head of the Treasury Department was 
 full of duties of the highest importance and the amplest 
 opportunities for conspicuous service. 
 
 During all the time he was a member of the Cabinet, 
 but particularly during the first months, he gave much 
 
17 
 
 volunteer attention to duties outside his Department, 
 particularly to those relating to the War Department; 
 the organization of the army and the planning and con- 
 ducting of campaigns ; he was an inveterate letter writer, 
 and was constantly giving advice and making sugges- 
 tions to apparently every one who would listen, includ- 
 ing commanding officers in the field. 
 
 Gradually, however, he came to more clearly under- 
 stand that his own duties were enough, if properly 
 looked after, to tax him to the utmost, and in time he 
 came also to realize that Mr. Lincoln was the head of his 
 own Administration, and the final arbiter of all contro- 
 verted questions. 
 
 By reason of this disposition and habit his work in the 
 Cabinet was not so good as it might have been if he had 
 concentrated his efforts in his own Department and had 
 been properly alive from the outset to the seriousness of 
 the situation he was called upon to meet. His fault in 
 this latter respect was, however, common to all, for the 
 war in its magnitude and duration exceeded all expecta- 
 tions, and its demands multiplied with such frightful 
 rapidity as to upset all calculations, thus making it well 
 nigh impossible for him to keep pace with its growing 
 requirements, and secure from Congress the authority 
 and help necessary to enable him to carry out such plans 
 as he formulated; and yet, notwithstanding all this, it 
 would be difficult to exaggerate what he accomplished. 
 
 He found his Department disorganized, but in the 
 midst of the excitements of the hour and the exacting 
 duties of a more important nature that fell upon him, 
 he thoroughly re-organized it, introducing many reforms 
 that greatly increased its efficiency. He found the Gov- 
 ernment without funds or credit, and without adequate 
 revenues to meet ordinary expenditures in time of peace, 
 
but he surmounted all such obstacles and made it suc- 
 cessfully respond to the exigencies of war. 
 
 With the necessity suddenly precipitated of providing 
 for great armies and navies, and equipping and maintain- 
 ing them, he would have had a hard task under the most 
 favorable circumstances, but it was increased almost be- 
 yond the power of description by an empty Treasury, 
 a startling deficit, an impaired credit, an inadequate rev- 
 enue, and eleven States in rebellion, with tens of thou- 
 sands of copperhead sympathizers in every loyal State 
 criticising and actively opposing in every way, short of 
 overt acts of treason, every step he took or tried to take. 
 
 He had all the help that able men in Congress and 
 outside could give him by advice, and the suggestion of 
 plans and methods, and ways and means, but after all 
 he was the responsible official, whose duty it was to 
 hear all, weigh all, and decide which plan of all the many 
 suggested should be adopted, and then take upon himself 
 the responsibility of recommending it and advocating it 
 before the country and before the Congress, and if the 
 necessary authority could be secured, executing it. 
 
 His difficulties were further increased by the fact that 
 the Republican Party was then new to power, and its 
 members in public life had not yet learned to work in 
 harmony. Many of them were strong and aggressive 
 men who were slow to adopt the views of others with 
 which they did not fully coincide. 
 
 In consequence his recommendations were subjected 
 to the keenest scrutiny and criticism from party asso- 
 ciates, as well as opponents, and not infrequently they 
 were materially modified or changed before they re- 
 ceived statutory sanction, and in some instances entirely 
 rejected. 
 
 In all these experiences his high personal character 
 and well recognized ability were of incalculable value 
 
19 
 
 to him and his country. Whatever else might be said, 
 nobody ever questioned the integrity of his purpose, the 
 probity of his action, or the sincerity of his arguments. 
 
 While in the light of subsequent events it is seen that 
 much that he did might have been done better, yet when 
 the circumstances and the lack of light and precedent 
 under which he acted are fairly measured it is almost in- 
 credible that he did so well. 
 
 When we recall that great conflict we are apt to think 
 only of its "pomp and circumstance" — of the deeds of 
 heromism and daring — of the army and the navy — of the 
 flying flags and the marching columns — of the services 
 and sacrifices of those who fought and died — -forgetting 
 that less fascinating but indispensable service, and the 
 noble men who rendered it, of supplying "the sinews of 
 war," without which all else would have been in vain. 
 
 His labors in this behalf were incessant and herculean. 
 On this occasion details are impossible. Suffice it to say 
 that by every kind of taxation that could be lawfully de- 
 vised he swelled the revenues to the full limit at which it 
 was thought such burdens could be borne, and by every 
 kind of security, certificates, notes and obligations that 
 he could issue and sell or in any way use, he drew ad- 
 vance drafts upon the Nation's resources. 
 
 He met with many disappointments and discourage- 
 ments, but he unflaggingly persevered, and finally suc- 
 ceeded, approximately, to the full measure that success 
 was possible. 
 
 There were numerous transactions that might well be 
 mentioned, because of the illustration they afford of the 
 services he rendered, the difficulties he encountered, and 
 of the kind of labor and effort he was constantly putting 
 forth with members of Congress, bankers, editors and 
 others to advance and uphold his views, develop and edu- 
 cate public sentiment, and secure needed legislation and 
 
20 
 
 support; but all are necessarily passed over, that some 
 mention may be made of two subjects, with which he 
 was so identified that even the briefest sketch of his 
 public services should include some special reference to 
 them. 
 
 They were the issue of legal tender notes, hereinafter 
 discussed in connection with the legal tender cases, and 
 the establishment of the National Banking System, in- 
 volving, as it did, the extinction of State Banks of issue. 
 
 THE NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM. 
 
 The establishment of a uniform National Banking 
 System was, like most great measures, of gradual de- 
 velopment. 
 
 It was much discussed and many minds contributed to 
 the working out of the details, but Chase seems to have 
 a pretty clear claim to its general authorship. 
 
 Upon him more directly than anybody else was im- 
 pressed the necessity for some kind of reform in that re- 
 spect, for while each citizen was experiencing difficulty 
 in his dealings with individual banks he was compelled 
 to deal with practically all of them, and, therefore, felt, 
 in a consolidated form, the combined disadvantages that 
 others suffered in detail. 
 
 In view of what we now enjoy, and the ease with 
 which, looking backward, it appears that it should have 
 been brought about it seems incredible that an intelli- 
 gent people should have so long suffered the inconveni- 
 ences of the old System. 
 
 It can be accounted for only from the fact that for the 
 Government in a general way, and for the people in a 
 commercial and general business sense, that was the day 
 of small things, and it was tolerated because they were 
 accustomed to it, and because there was a natural aver- 
 
21 
 
 sion, especially on the part of the banks, to making radi- 
 cal changes that were necessarily in some degree of an 
 experimental character. 
 
 But finally there came a precipitating cause, and the 
 contest was inaugurated to substitute something better. 
 The case was a plain one but the resistance was stub- 
 bom. 
 
 Aside from the universal and almost unbearable in- 
 conveniences of doing business with a currency that had 
 no uniformity of issue, appearance, or value ; and which 
 had no proper safeguards against counterfeits and for- 
 geries, was the fact that it was not possible for such a 
 discredited and unsatisfactory System to render the Gov- 
 ernment much substantial help in placing its loans or in 
 conducting any of its important fiscal transactions. 
 
 Chase saw clearly, and from the first, that such a Sys- 
 tem could not co-exist with a uniform national system 
 such as he contemplated, and that the existing State In- 
 stitutions would not surrender their charters, and take 
 new ones under an Act of Congress, unless they were 
 offered more substantial advantages than the Govern- 
 ment should be required to give, or instead were de- 
 prived of the privilege of issuing their own notes, and 
 that the best way to solve the problem was to tax their 
 issues out of existence. 
 
 It was a hard matter to bring others to agree with 
 him. The opposing banks commanded in the aggregate 
 a tremendous influence, and with the aid of doubting 
 Congressmen and newspapers they long delayed, and 
 finally so crippled the first Act that was passed, that it 
 failed to provide an acceptable and successful plan 
 largely because it left the State issues untouched. 
 
 It continued so until the law was so amended as to em- 
 brace practically all the recommendations Chase had 
 made and insisted upon, including a tax of ten per cent. 
 
22 
 
 on the issues of State Banks. This did not happen until 
 he had quit the Treasury Department, but it was his 
 plan and his work, consummated, that gave us freedom 
 from the worst banking system that could be well im- 
 agined, and substituted therefor one of the best any 
 country has ever enjoyed. It was a work of high charac- 
 ter and of enduring benefit to the whole country. It was 
 the crowning act of his administration of the Treasury 
 Department, if not of his whole life, and, coupled with 
 his other successes, efititles him to rank, after Hamilton, 
 who has had no equal, with Gallatin and Sherman, and 
 the other great Secretaries who have held that high 
 office. 
 
 RELATIONS TO MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 It was unfortunate for his influence then and his repu- 
 tation now that at times he showed less satisfaction with 
 his position and exhibited less cordial good-will in his re- 
 lations to Mr. Lincoln than he should. Personal dis- 
 appointment was probably the chief cause. From his 
 first appearance in public life he was talked about for 
 the Presidency, and almost from the beginning he talked 
 about and for himself in that connection. Barring the 
 indelicacy manifested, there was no impropriety in such 
 talk until after he accepted a seat in the Cabinet. It was 
 different after that, for while there was all the time more 
 or less opposition cropping out to the renomination of 
 Mr. Lincoln, yet there was never at any time enough to 
 justify a member of his political household, who had been 
 part of his administration and policies, in the encourage- 
 ment of that opposition, particularly for his own benefit. 
 That Chase was a passive candidate during all the time 
 he was in the Cabinet and a good part of the time an 
 active candidate, cannot be doubted. His many letters 
 
23 
 
 and diary entries show this; not so much by his open 
 advocacy of his claims as by criticisms of Mr. Lincoln 
 and his manner of conducting the public business and the 
 general encouragement he was giving and evidently in- 
 tending to give to the opposition sentiment. 
 
 He may not have realized fully the character of record 
 he was making in this respect, for he was no doubt some- 
 what blinded by the fact that he never could quite out- 
 grow the idea that Lincoln did not deserve to be put 
 ahead of him in i860, and that the country would surely 
 sometime learn its mistake and right the wrong. In 
 addition he had a conceit that he was of greater import- 
 ance than he was getting credit for at the hands of the 
 President, and that when he and the President differed 
 about anything in his department the President should 
 yield, as he always did, except in a few instances when 
 his sense of duty and responsibility prevented. At such 
 times he was especially liable to say and do peevish and 
 annoying things. On a number of such occasions he 
 went so far as to tender his resignation, accompanied 
 each time with a letter expressing a deep sense of humil- 
 ity but with an air of injured innocence that he no doubt 
 keenly felt. Notwithstanding the trial it must have 
 been for Mr. Lincoln to do so, he, each time, with singu- 
 lar patience, that only the good of his country could have 
 prompted, not only refused acceptance, but apparently 
 placed himself under renewed obligations by insisting 
 that he should remain at his post. 
 
 Naturally this was calculated to cause Chase to more 
 and more regard himself as indispensable, until finally, 
 June 30th, 1864, on acaount of new differences connected 
 with the appointment of an Assistant United States 
 Treasurer at New York, he made the mistake of tender- 
 ing his resignation once too often. This time Mr. Lin- 
 coln promptly, and to Mr. Chase's great surprise and 
 
24 
 
 chagrin, accepted it and clinched the matter by immedi- 
 ately appointing his successor. 
 
 He was thus suddenly left in a pitiable plight so far as 
 his personal political fortunes were concerned, and but 
 for the uncommon generosity of Mr. Lincoln, he would 
 have so remained. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln had been renominated and the victories 
 of Grant and Sherman were every day strengthening his 
 Party and his chances of election. 
 
 All thoughtful men could see that the end of the war 
 could not be much longer deferred and that, with vic- 
 tory assured and Mr. Lincoln re-elected, there was re- 
 newed strength with continuance in power ahead for 
 the Republican party. It was a bad time for a man who 
 had sustained the relations he had to the Party, and the 
 war, and the administration, to drop out of the ranks 
 and get out of touch with events ; but there he was, "out- 
 side the breastworks," and nobody to blame but himself. 
 
 It was a hard fate that seemed to have befallen him ; 
 and such it would have been if almost anybody but 
 Mr. Lincoln had been President, for most men would 
 have left him helpless in his self-imposed humiliation. 
 But Mr. Lincoln was a most remarkable man. He was 
 enough like other men to enjoy, no doubt, the discom- 
 fiture Chase had brought on himself, but enough unlike 
 other men to magnanimously overlook his weaknesses 
 and offenses when public duty so required. 
 
 APPOINTED CHIEF JUSTICE. 
 
 Accordingly, remembering only his long and faithful 
 services and his high general and special qualifications 
 for the place, he made him Chief Justice. 
 
 From the date of his resignation until December when 
 he was appointed, were probably his bitterest days. 
 
25 
 
 He had nothing to do and no prospect. He made an 
 effort, or at least his friends did, to secure his nomination 
 for Congress from his old Cincinnati District, but so 
 signally failed as to give painful evidence that he was 
 not only out of office and out of power, but also out of 
 favor. He was almost out of hope also when Chief 
 Justice Taney died. He was conscious that he had no 
 claim on Mr. Lincoln for that or any other place, not 
 alone because he had petulantly deserted him at a critical 
 moment, but also and more particularly because in his 
 vexation of spirit he had said some very unkind things 
 of him, but he did not hesitate to allow his friends to 
 urge him for that high honor, and, notwithstanding 
 many protests, Mr. Lincoln gave it to him. 
 
 It would be hard to recall an instance of greater mag- 
 nanimity than was thus shown by Mr. Lincoln. It was 
 magnanimous because, while in most respects Mr. 
 Chase's qualifications for the position were high, they 
 were not of such exceptional character as to single him 
 out above all other men for the place ; certainly not if we 
 consider only his experience at the bar, for while the 
 first six years of his life in Cincinnati were devoted to 
 the practice of his profession, yet, like the same period 
 with other beginners, they were not very busy years. 
 He had no exceptional successes. His progress was 
 satisfactory and probably all that should have been ex- 
 pected, but there was nothing extraordinary to forecast 
 for him the great honor of the Chief Justiceship. 
 
 During the following thirteen years, until he was 
 elected to the Senate, his time was so occupied with 
 political demands that he did not have much opportunity 
 for professional work, and what time he did devote to 
 his law practice was taken up very largely with Fugitive 
 Slave Law cases, aside from which there is no record of 
 any case or employment that he had during all those 
 
26 
 
 nineteen years, from 1830, when he located in Cincinnati, 
 until 1849, when he was elected to the Senate, that was 
 of anything more than passing importance. During all 
 that time, he probably never had any single employment 
 of sufficient importance to bring him a fee of so much 
 as $1,000. 
 
 It is probable that in all that time he never had a 
 patent case, or an admiralty case, or any occasion to 
 make any study whatever of international law, and yet 
 at that point virtually ended not only his career as a 
 practicing lawyer, but also his study of the science of 
 the law except as an incident of his public services. 
 
 During the next six years — until 1855 — he was a mem- 
 ber of the Senate, and devoted all his time to his public 
 duties and to public questions and affairs. He was next, 
 for four years, Governor of Ohio, and then came the 
 national campaign of i860, the election of Mr. Lincoln 
 and the Secretaryship in his Cabinet, which continued 
 until his resignation shortly before he was appointed 
 Chief Justice. 
 
 And yet he was, all things considered, probably the 
 best qualified of all who were mentioned for the place. 
 His limited experience at the bar was not without prece- 
 dents. Neither Jay nor Marshall had any very consider- 
 able experience of that character. 
 
 Both of them, like Chase, were prepared for their great 
 work more by their public services and studies as states- 
 men, than by the general study of the law and the trial 
 of cases in the courts. It was much the same with 
 Taney. He had a larger experience as a practitioner, 
 and was Attorney-General, but his appointment was due 
 more to his general public services than his professional 
 achievements, although they were highly creditable and 
 his standing as a lawyer was good. 
 
27 
 
 Jay was intimately identified with the formative stages 
 of our GovernmenUi^institutions, and in that way was 
 familiar from their very origin with the public questions 
 it was thought might arise for decision ; and Marshall, a 
 soldier of the Revolution and a careful student of the 
 great purposes and results of that struggle was thereby 
 equipped for not only his distinguished political career, 
 but also for the great work for which the American 
 people owe him a debt of everlasting gratitude, of so 
 interpreting the Constitution as to breathe into it, with 
 the docrine of implied powers, that life, flexibility and 
 adaptability to all our exigencies and requirements, that 
 have made it, not only a veritable sheet anchor of safety 
 for us, but also the marvel of the statesmen of the world. 
 
 With Chase, as with his illustrious predecessors, it 
 was his long, varied and important public services rather 
 than his professional labors that prepared him for the 
 Chief Justiceship and secured him the appointment. 
 They were of a character that broadened his views by 
 compelling a study of the Constitution and the founda- 
 tion principles of our Government in connection with 
 their practical application. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln not only understood and appreciated this, 
 but he foresaw, and no doubt had much anxious concern 
 on that account, that, after the restoration of peace, all 
 the great transactions and achievements of his Adminis- 
 tration would have to run the gauntlet of the Courts. 
 The abolition of slavery, the status of the freedmen, the 
 status of the seceding States, the status of their inhabi- 
 tants — the leaders who had brought about the war, and 
 the masses of the people who had simply followed them, 
 the confiscation of property, all the great war measures 
 that Congress had enacted, including the legal tender 
 acts, he knew must in the order of events sooner or later 
 come before the Supreme Court for final adjudication. 
 
28 
 
 It was natural to conclude that no man was so well 
 qualified to deal intelligently and satisfactorily with 
 these questions as he who, in addition to having good 
 general qualifications, had been a capable and respon- 
 sible participator in all that gave rise to those questions. 
 
 There were many other great lawyers, but there was 
 no other lawyer of equal ability who had sustained such 
 a relation to these subjects. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln had a right to expect that with Chase 
 Chief Justice the fruits of the war, in so far as he might 
 have occasion to deal with them, would be secure, and 
 this doubtless turned the scales in his favor. 
 
 In large m^easure he met every just and reasonable ex- 
 pectation. In so far as he failed to do so, it was generally 
 charged, whether rightfully or not, to his ambition to be 
 President, which he should have put away forever on 
 his accession to the Bench, but which he appears to have 
 indulged until his very last days. 
 
 This is particularly true of his failure to bring Jeffer- 
 son Davis to trial ; and with respect to his rulings in the 
 Impeachment of Andrew Johnson; and his opinions in 
 the Legal Tender cases. 
 
 Most men are now agreed that he acted wisely as to 
 Davis, and that he ruled honestly andv^ost cases cor- 
 rectly on the trial of Johnson. 
 
 THE LEGAL TENDER CLAUSE. 
 
 As to the Legal Tender cases he was at the time and 
 has been ever since much censured, aside from the 
 merits of the controvery, on the ground that he tried to 
 undo on the Bench what he did, or at least was largely 
 responsible for as Secretary. No complete defense 
 against this charge can be made, but the case against 
 him is not so bad as generally represented, for, while 
 
29 
 
 finally assenting to such legislation, and from time to 
 time as occasion required availing himself of its pro- 
 visions, he was at first opposed to the step on the 
 ground of policy and from doubt as to the power, and 
 at last reluctantly yielded his objections rather than his 
 opinions, only when the necessities of the Government 
 seemed to imperatively so demand, and when Congress 
 had fully determined to resort to the measure anyhow. 
 
 For him to have longer opposed would have been 
 futile to prevent it, and could not have had any other 
 effect than to discredit the notes when issued, breed dis- 
 cord, and put him at cross purposes with men, as com- 
 petent to judge as he, with whom it was his duty to 
 co-operate in every way he could to accomplish the great 
 purpose all alike had in view of preserving the Union. 
 
 The situation was so unlike anything with which we 
 are to-day familiar, that it is not easy to recall it. 
 
 Instead of the annual revenues of the Government 
 aggregating the abundant and almost incomprehensible 
 sum of seven hundred millions of dollars, as they do 
 to-day, they amounted then from all sources to less than 
 fifty millions of dollars. 
 
 Instead of two per cent, bonds selling readily in whole- 
 sale quantities, as they do to-day at a premium, six per 
 cent, bonds were sold only with difficulty, and in drib- 
 bling amounts at a ruinous discount. 
 
 In lieu of a national paper currency, good everywhere 
 as the gold itself, we had only an inadequate supply 
 of notes of uncertain and varying value, subject to no 
 regulation or provision for their redemption in gold, 
 except such as was imperfectly provided by the different 
 States. 
 
 Few saw and appreciated until the second year of the 
 war in what a gigantic struggle we were involved, and 
 how stupendous must be the financial operations and 
 provisions of the Government to meet its requirements. 
 
3C 
 
 For this reason no comprehensive or well considered 
 plans were adopted at the start, as foresight of what was 
 coming would have suggested, but on the contrary 
 mere temporary expedients, such as the sale of bonds 
 in comparatively small amounts, and to run for short 
 periods, demand loans, interest and non-interest bearing 
 Treasury certificates and notes, demand notes, and what- 
 ever form of obligation could be utilized for the time 
 being were resorted to, and relied upon to tide over what 
 it was hoped and believed would be, although a most 
 severe, yet only a temporary emergency. 
 
 As the war progressed and we met with reverses in 
 the field, that indicated it would be prolonged, specie 
 payments were suspended, and the national credit be- 
 came more and more strained and impaired. 
 
 In consequence it became practically impossible to 
 longer raise by such methods the necessary funds with 
 which to conduct the Government and prosecute the 
 war, or even to transact satisfactorily the private busi- 
 ness of the country. 
 
 The point was finally reached where the people must 
 come to the financial help of the Treasury, or the Union 
 must perish. 
 
 Chase saw as well as others that the law of the case 
 was Necessity, but he did not yield without an effort to 
 have attached as a condition, provision for a uniform 
 National Banking System. The condition was not ac- 
 cepted, but was provided for later, and long before the 
 legal tender cases arose. 
 
 Whatever else may be said about the legal tender 
 clause, it is a fact of history that the effect for good on 
 the Union cause was instantaneous and immeasureable. 
 If it was a forced loan from the people, they gladly made 
 it. If it was a hardship on anybody, it was not com- 
 
31 
 
 plained of by any friend of the Union. It gave confi- 
 dence and imparted courage, and from that moment suc- 
 cess was assured, not only for the Union cause, but for 
 everybody connected with it, and especially for Chase 
 himself, for without it his administration of the Treasury 
 Department would have been a dismal and mortifying 
 failure. 
 
 Such a mi.easure, arising from such a necessity, and 
 accomplishing such results, was as sacred as the cause 
 it subserved, and, aside from the wholesale disasters in- 
 volved, it never should have been called in question by 
 anybody, especially not by anyone who had the slightest 
 responsibility for its enactment, and least of all by a per- 
 sonal or official beneficiary. 
 
 It is both impossible and unnecessary, if not inappro- 
 priate, to here discuss the legal propositions involved in 
 the legal tender cases, but, on the other hand, it is both 
 appropriate and essential to the completeness of these 
 remarks to speak of Chief Justice Chase's attitude with 
 respect to them. 
 
 No one can make a better defense for him than he 
 made for himself. 
 
 In Hepburn vs, Griswold, anticipating the criticisms 
 he knew must follow his decision that the legal tender 
 clause was unconstitutional as to debts previously con- 
 tracted, he said, manifestly by way of attem.pted personal 
 justification : 
 
 "It is not surprising that amid the tumult of the 
 late Civil War, and under the influence of apprehen- 
 sions for the safety of the Republic almost universal, 
 different views, never before entertained by Amer- 
 ican statesmen or jurists, were adopted by many. 
 The time was not favorable to considerate reflection 
 upon the constitutional limits of legislative or execu- 
 tive authority. If power was assumed from patri- 
 otic motives, the assumption found ready justifica- 
 
32 
 
 tion in patriotic hearts. Many who doubted yielded 
 their doubts; many who did not doubt were silent. 
 Some who were strongly averse to making govern- 
 ment notes a legal tender felt themselves con- 
 strained to acquiesce in the views of the advocates 
 of the measure. Not a few who then insisted upon 
 its necessity, or acquiesced in that view, have, since 
 the return of peace, and under the influence of the 
 calmer time, reconsidered their conclusions, and 
 now concur in those which we have just announced. 
 These conclusions seem to us to be fully sanctioned 
 by the letter and spirit of the Constitution." 
 
 In the Legal Tender Cases he amplified this some- 
 what, but without addiag to its strength. 
 
 His opinions in these cases were in dignified style and, 
 from his point of view, very able ; but there was then 
 and still is, and perhaps always will be much difference 
 of opinion as to their merit. 
 
 In all other respects his work as Chief Justice is now 
 universally considered highly creditable — some of it par- 
 ticularly so — especially his opinion in Texas vs. White, 
 which he regarded with great pride and satisfaction as a 
 sort of culminating fruit of his life's labors. His opinions 
 were usually brief and always clear and strong. They 
 cover almost every phase of the litigation growing out 
 of the Civil War and the reconstruction acts that fol- 
 lowed, and all the decisions of the Court, while he pre- 
 sided, remain unquestioned, except, inferentially, the 
 constitutionality of the income tax. 
 
 He died May 7, 1873, in the sixty-sixth year of his 
 age, after only eight years of service on the Bench ; but 
 they were years of great anxiety to the American people, 
 for, during all that time, the country's destiny was in a 
 large measure in the hands of the Supreme Court. On 
 its decisions depended the issues of the war — whether 
 to be upheld and made secure or overthrown and brought 
 
33 
 
 .crhir The Court was equal to all requirements and 
 work of regeneration and preservation that Chase a^ 
 
 dates The one dealt with the construcfon of our gov- 
 ernment, the other with its reconstruction. The labors 
 
 °^'t hTd^tntntent to devote himself to his judicial 
 work exclusively, he would have ^e- spared much *a 
 was disagreeable and his fame would have been brighter 
 
 * AU hfs life, until his last two years, he had robust 
 health unlim ted energy, and an almost ^-^onMe 
 disposltL to participate in the general conduct of pubhc 
 
 ^'^itconsequence, while Chief Justice he was, in what 
 was regarded as a'sort of intermeddling way, constan^ y 
 giving attention to questions that belonged to Congre^ 
 Z other departments of government, arid was from 
 ttae to time freely offering advice and makmg sugg - 
 ti"ns as to legislative enactments and governmental 
 policies but, more unfortunately still, ^e was al the 
 while listening to the suggestions of unw.se friends and 
 :t e flatLer"; about the Presidency. Much work was 
 done for him with his knowledge and approval to secure 
 the Republican nomination in 1868, but early in tha 
 vear seeing there was an irresistible sentiment in favor 
 ^ C'enerafcrant, he withdrew himself from the rac. 
 If he had remained out there would have been but little 
 criticism, but he was scarcely out of the Repub -n -« 
 until he was entered for the Democratic. While the im 
 peachment trial of President Johnson was yet m prog- 
 ress he signified a willingness to become the Democratic 
 candidate and set forth in letters to his friends that mas- 
 
34 
 
 much as the slavery questions had all been settled there 
 was nothing in his political beliefs inconsistent with the 
 principles of Democracy in which he had always been 
 a believer. For a time there seemed strong probability 
 that he would be the Democratic nominee. But it is 
 familiar history that before his name could be presented 
 the Convention was stampeded to Governor Seymour. 
 Naturally there were charges that he was influenced, on 
 account of his Presidential candidacy, by political con- 
 siderations, and in this way he was shorn of much of the 
 dignity, confidence and influence that rightfully belonged 
 to him in his high office. He suffered in this way, not 
 only as Chief Justice, but also as a man. This is espe- 
 cially true of his candidacy in 1868 for the nomination 
 first by the one party and then by the other, for at that 
 time there was such a radical difference between the 
 parties, and so much bitterness of feeling, that it was 
 incomprehensible to the average mind how any honor- 
 able man could so lightly, and with such apparent equal 
 satisfaction to himself, belong to first the one and then 
 the other, and with like zeal seek, or at least be willing 
 to accept, the honors of both. 
 
 The explanation is in the fact that it was the weakness 
 of a strong man. He was so conscious of his mental 
 powers and of his qualifications by reason of his long 
 public service, to make a capable and efficient Chief Mag- 
 istrate, that it was easy for him to think his claims for 
 such recognition better than those of others ; especially 
 others who had been differently trained, as Grant had 
 been, and, therefore, to believe that his friends were 
 right in their judgment that he was, for just reasons, the 
 people's choice, and that it was his duty to his country, 
 as well as to them, to become their candidate. 
 
 With all his faculty for measures he had but little for 
 men. He was himself so simple-minded, truthful and 
 
35 
 
 straight-forward in his dealings with others that he 
 seemed incapable of understanding how untruthful and 
 deceitful others were capable of being in their dealings 
 with him, especially if their pretensions were in accord 
 with his own views and desires. 
 
 As time passes these features of his career will fade 
 out of sight and be forgotten. Already he has taken his 
 proper place in history, and in the appreciation of the 
 American people, as the great figure he really was — a 
 strong, massive, patriotic, fearless and controlling char- 
 acter in the settlement of the mighty questions that 
 shook to their foundations the institutions of our Gov- 
 ernment. He will be remembered also for the purity of 
 his life, for his domestic virtues, for his deeply religious 
 nature, ever depending on Divine help, and for that love 
 and zeal for humanity that made him brave social ostra- 
 cism and sacrifice, if necessary, all chance of personal 
 political preferment that he might champion the cause of 
 the slave and break the power that held him in fetters. 
 In the light of true history the consistency of his conduct 
 will not be determined by the record of his party affilia- 
 tions, but by the constancy of his devotion to the cause 
 that filled his heart and dominated all his political ac- 
 tions. Measured by that test, few men have run a 
 straighter course or done more to merit a high place in 
 the esteem of their countrymen. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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