CHASE, SALMON P. 



reckoned one of the really eminent jurists of 

 the West. Yet men had learned to know that 

 Salmon P. Chase was one of those rarely-en- 

 dowed men who adorn and dignify any emi- 

 nence to which they may be raised, irrespec- 

 tive of their previous training ; and there was 

 a general confidence that Mr. Lincoln's choice 

 would prove a wise one. It cannot, indeed, 

 be said that Mr. Chase's rank as a judge will 

 equal his fame as a financier ; but he showed 

 himself not unworthy to preside over a bench 

 which had once been made eminent by John 

 Marshall. His decisions invariably command- 

 ed respect, and on many occasions displayed 

 traces of transcendent abilities. What he 

 might have done in this position, had the er- 

 mine fallen upon him at an earlier period of 

 his life, wo can easily conjecture. He came to 

 the bench with mental powers unimpaired 

 us they were indeed to the very last day of his 

 life and a mind enriched by much and varied 

 experience ; but with a physical system utterly 

 broken down by the stupendous labors of the 

 previous three years. Like Mr. Lincoln and 

 Mr. Stanton, he was killed by the war. By 

 great care, constant bodily exercise, and strict 

 habits of life, he exacted from his enfeebled 

 frame the last exertion of which it was capa- 

 ble ; but it never was able, after his retirement 

 from the cabinet, to perform the full measure 

 of work which his intellect would have im- 

 posed upon it. 



He was called, in the exercise of his office, to 

 some duties for which there were no precedents 

 in the past. No other Chief-Justice had ever 

 been called to preside over a High Court of 

 Impeachment, in which the accused was the 

 President of the United States; yet, though 

 party spirit ran high at that time, no serious 

 fault was found with the course of the Chief- 

 Jnstice as a presiding officer. 



The name of the Chief-Justice was brought 

 into singular prominence at the time of the 

 Democratic National Convention in 1868. For 

 some months before the meeting of that con- 

 vention, there was more or less mention and 

 discussion of his fitness as a possible candi- 

 date who could unite the progressive Demo- 

 crats and the reasonable Republicans upon a 

 platform which should save the rights of the 

 States without periling any of the results of 

 the war. This style of remark grew so gen- 

 eral that it seemed proper for the chairman 

 of the National Democratic Committee to ad- 

 dress a letter to Judge Chase, asking his views 

 upon pending political questions. To this the 

 ju<lge responded on the 30th of May, in the 

 following language, which was taken as indi- 

 cating a willingness to serve as the Democratic 

 candidate : 



For more than a quarter of a century I have been, 

 in my political views and sentiments, a Democrat, 

 and I still think that upon questions of finance, com- 

 merce, and administration generally, the old Demo- 

 cratic principles afford the best guidance. Whnt 

 separated me in former times from both parties was 

 the depth and positiveness of my convictions on the 

 VOL. xin. 7 A 



slavery question. On that question I thought the 

 Democratic party failed to make a just application of 

 Democratic principles, and regarded myself as more 

 Democratic than the Democrats. In 1849 I was 

 elected to the Senate by the united votes of the old- 

 line Democrats and independent Democrats, and sub- 

 sequently made earnest efforts to bring about a union 

 of all Democrats on the ground of the limitation of 

 slavery to the States in which it then existed, and 

 non-intervention in these States by Congress. Had 

 that union been effected, it is my firm belief that the 

 country would have escaped the late civil war and 

 all its evils. I never favored interference by Con- 

 gress with slavery, but as a war measure Mr. Lin- 

 coln's proclamation of emancipation had my hearty 

 assent, and I united, as a memher of his Adminstra- 

 tion, in the pledge made to maintain the freedom of 

 the enfranchised people. I have been, and am, in 

 favor of so much of the reconstruction policy of Con- 

 gress as based the reorganization of the State gov- 

 ernments of the South upon universal suffrage. I 

 think that President Johnson was right in regarding 

 the Southern States, except Virginia and Tennessee, 

 as being, at the close of the war, without govern- 

 ments which the United States Government could 

 properly recognize without governors, judges, legis- 

 lators, or other State functionaries but wrong in 

 limiting, by his reconstruction proclamations, the 

 right of suffrage to whites, and only such whites as 

 had the qualification ho required. On the other 

 hand, it seemed to me, Congress was right in not 

 limiting, by its reconstruction acts, the right of suf- 

 t'ra.'c to the whites; but wrong in the exclusion, 

 from suffrage of certain classes of citizens, and of 

 all unable to take a prescribed retrospective oath, 

 and wrong also in the establishment of arbitrary 

 military governments for the States, and in authoriz- 

 ing military commissions for the tnal of civilians in 

 time of peace. There should have been as little 

 military government as possible; no military com- 

 missions, no classes excluded from suffrage, and no 

 oath except one of faithful obedience and support to 

 the Constitution and laws, and sincere attachment 

 to the constitutional Government of the United 

 States. I am glad to know that many intelligent 

 Southern Democrats agree with me in these views, and 

 are willing to accept universal suffrage and universal 

 amnesty as the basis of reconstruction and restora- 

 tion. They see that the shortest way to revive pros- 

 perity, possible only with contented industry, is 

 universal suffrage now. and universal amnesty, with 

 removal of all disabilities as speedily as possible 

 through the action of the State and national Gov- 

 ernments. I have long been a believer in the wis- 

 dom and justice of securing the right of suffrage to 

 all citizens by State constitutions and legislation. 

 It is the best guarantee of the stability of institu- 

 tions, and the prosperity of communities. My views 

 on this subject were well known when the Demo- 

 crats elected mo to the Senate in 1849. I have now 

 answered your letter as I think I ought to answer It. 

 I beg you to believe me for I say it in all sincerity 

 that I do not desire the office of President, nor a 

 nomination for it. Nor do I know that, with my 

 views and convictions, I am a suitable candidate for 

 any party. Of that my countrymen must judge. 



Judge Chase snbseqoently prepared an elab- 

 orate declaration of principles, embodying the 

 main ideas of his letter, and submitted it to 

 those prominent Democrats who desired his 

 nomination, as a practicable platform in that 

 event. This was not adopted by the conven- 

 tion. While the nomination of the Chief- 

 Justice was thus earnestly desired and urged 

 by many influential Democrats, it was not 

 taken up by the press or indorsed in any pre- 

 liminary convention. When the convention 



