USA > New Mexico > Men of our day; or, biographical sketches of patriots, orators, statemen, generals, reformers, financiers and merchants, now on the stage of action > Part 16
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Supreme Court of Ohio, for haboring a negro slave-forcibly arguing that slavery was a local institution, dependent for its existence upon State legislation ; and that the slave, having been brought into Ohio, by her master, was de facto et de jure, free. This was followed, in 1838, by a severe review from his pen, in the newspapers, of a recent report made by the Judiciary committee of the State Senate, in which they had advocated the refusal of trial by jury, to slaves. He also acted as counsel for Mr. Birney, in his trial for haboring the slave Matilda ; and, in 1842, defended one Van Zandt, in the United States Circuit Court, in a similar trial, in which the principle as stated by the opposing counsel, "Once a slave always a slave," was met by Mr. Chase with its nobler antithesis " Once free, ALWAYS FREE ;" and he followed it with a warning and eloquent denunciation of the atrocious claims of slavery. In these cases, Mr. Chase added materially to his previous honorable reputation, and took rank, thenceforward, with the oldest and ablest practitioners of Ohio. Up to this time, he had taken but little part or interest in politics, nor had he settled down into the trammels of any par- ticular party-voting sometimes with the Democrats, but more generally with the Whigs, because the latter seemed most favorable to the anti-slavery doctrines to which he had given his conscientious adherence. He supported Harrison for the Presidency, in 1840; but, becoming convinced from the tone of his inaugural address and the subsequent course of the Tyler administration that the anti-slavery cause had little or nothing to hope for from the Whig party, and that the cause could only attain its legitimate aims, which he considered of para- mount importance, through the instrumentality of a distinct party organization, he united with others, in 1841, in calling a State convention of the opponents of slavery and slavery- extension. The convention met in December, organized "the
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Liberty party" of Ohio, nominated a candidate for governor, and issued an address (from Mr Chase's pen) defining its principles and purposes, which was one of the earliest exposi- tions of the anti-slavery movement. In the "National Liberty convention," held at Buffalo, New York, in 1843, Mr. Chase was a prominent participant, and as a member of the committee on resolutions, so vigorously opposed a resolution which pro- posed "to regard and treat the third clause of the Constitution, whenever applied to the case of a fugitive slave, as utterly null and void, and consequently as forming no part of the Constitu- tion of the United States, whenever we are called upon or sworn to support it,"-that it was not adopted by the committee, although it was afterwards moved and adopted in the conven- tion. Years afterward, when Senator Butler, of South Caro- lina, charged Mr. Chase with having been the author and advocate of this resolution, and severely denounced the doctrine of mental reservation which it impliedly sanctioned, the latter replied, "I never proposed the resolution ; I never would pro- pose a vote for such a resolution. I hold no doctrine of mental reservation ; every man, in my judgment, should speak just as he thinks, keeping nothing back, here or elsewhere." During the same year Mr. Chase was selected to prepare an address on behalf of the friends of Liberty, of Ireland and of Repeal, in Cincinnati, in reply to the letter from Daniel O'Connell, in behalf of the Loyal National Repeal Association of Ireland. This address-which reviewed the relations of the Federal Gov- ernment to slavery at the period of its organization, set forth its original anti-slavery policy, and the subsequent growth of the political power of slavery, indicated the action of the Liberal party, and repelled the aspersions cast by a Repeal Association in Cincinnati, upon anti-slavery men-was a document worthy of Mr. Chase's talents. With Mr. Chase, also, originated the
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Southern and Western Liberty Convention, held at Cincinnati, in June, 1845, and designed, in the words of its founder, to embrace " all who, believing that whatever is worth preserving in Republicanism can be maintained only by uncompromising war against the usurpations of the slave power, are therefore, resolved to use all constitutional and honorable means to effect the extinction of slavery in their respective States, and its re- duction to its constitutional limits in the United States." He also drew up the address of the Convention, embracing a his- tory of the Whig and Democratic parties in their relations to the slavery question, and urging the political necessity of forming a party pledged to the overthrow of the institution.
Mr. Chase, who had now become a widely distinguished champion of anti-slavery, was associated with William H. Seward in the defence of John Van Zandt, who was arraigned before the United States Supreme Court, for aiding in the escape of certain slaves ; and subsequently he was retained for the defence in the case of Dieskell vs. Parish, before the United States Circuit Court, at Columbus, Ohio. In both of these cases he argued, in a most elaborate manner, that, "under the ordinance of 1787, no fugitives from service could be reclaimed from Ohio, unless there had been an escape from one of the original States; that it was the clear understanding of the framers of the Constitution, and of the people who adopted it, that slavery was to be left exclusively to the disposal of the several States, without sanction or support from the National Government; and that the clause of the Constitution relative to persons held to service was one of compact between the States, and conferred no power of legislation on Congress, having been transferred from the ordinance of 1787, in which it conferred no power on the Confederation and was never understood to con- fer any." In 1847, Mr. Chase attended a second "National
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Liberty Convention ;" where, in the hope that the agitation of the Wilmot Proviso would result in a more decided movement against slavery, he opposed the making of any national nomina- tions at that time. He anticipated, also, the Whig and Democratic Conventions of 1848, by calling a Free-Territory Convention, which resulted in the Buffalo Convention, in August of that year, and the nomination of Mr. Van Buren for the presidency.
On the 22d of February, 1849, Mr. Chase was elected to the United States Senate, by the entire vote of the Democrats, and a large number of the free-soil members of the Ohio Legislature. Supporting the State policy and the nominees of the Democracy of the State, he still declared that he would desert it if it de- serted the anti-slavery position which it then held. On the 26th and 27th of March, 1849, he delivered a cogent, eloquent and timely speech against the compromise resolutions ; following it up during the session, with others on the specialities embraced within these resolution, and moved three amendments-one, against the introduction of slavery, in the Territories to which Mr. Clay's bill applied; another, to the Fugitive Slave Bill, to secure trial by jury to alleged slave; and the third, to an amend- ment made by Senator Davis, relative to the reclamation of fugitives escaping from one State into another-all of which, however, were lost.
The nomination of Franklin Pierce for the presidency, and the approval of the compromise of 1850, by the Democratic Convention at Baltimore, in 1852, was the signal for Mr. Chase's withdrawal from the Ohio Democracy. He immediately took the initiative in the formation of an Independent Democratic party, which he continued to support, until the Nebraska-Kansas bill began to be agitated. To this bill he was a strenuous and prominent opponent, offering three important amendments,
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which were severally rejected, and closing his opposition by an earnest protest against it on its final passage. During his Sena- torial career, economy in the National Finances ; a Pacific Rail- road by the shortest and best route; the Homestead Bill; Cheap Postage, and the provision by the National Treasury for defray- ing the expense of procuring safe navigation of the Lakes as well as the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, all found in Mr. Chase an able and earnest champion. In 1855, he was elected Gover- nor of Ohio, by the opponents of the Pierce administration, and his inaugural address recommended single districts for legisla- tive representation, annual, instead of biennial sessions of the Legislature, and an extended educational system. At the next National Republican Convention, he declined the nomination for the Presidency, which was urged upon him by the delega- tions from his own, as well as other States. In the course of the same year, a deficiency was discovered in the State treasury, only a few days before the semi-annual interest on the State debt became due-but Governor Chase's energetic action com- pelled the resignation of the State Treasurer, who had concealed the deficiency, secured a thorough investigation, and effected such a judicious arrangement as protected the credit of the State, and averted what would otherwise have been a serious pecuniary loss.
At the close of his first gubernatorial term, the Republicans insisted upon his accepting a re-nomination, which was carried by acclamation, and he was re-elected after a spirited canvass. In his annual message for 1858, he made an elaborate exposition of the financial condition of Ohio, recommending, also, semi-annual taxation, a greater stringency in provisions for the security of the State treasury, and proper appropriations for the establish- ment of benevolent institutions, especially for the Reform School-all of which suggestions met with the approval of the
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Legislature, and laws were passed in accordance therewith. In the beginning of 1860, he was again chosen to the United States Senate, from Ohio.
Upon the secession of South Carolina, in December, 1860, Mr. Chase urged upon General Scott, by letter, the necessity of taking active measures to secure the public property, assuring him that the country would fully endorse such action. But timid counsels prevailed. Again, in February, 1861, Mr. Chase represented Ohio at the Conference of the States, held at Wash- ington, by invitation of Virginia, and there he stood boldly out as an uncompromising opponent of any purchase of peace by undue concessions to the South. Meanwhile, when threats were made that Mr. Lincoln should never be inaugurated, unless the South received the concessions it demanded from the North, Mr. Chase replied, "Inauguration first, adjustment afterwards," words which, caught up and used as a popular motto, had no small influence.
On the 4th of March, 1861, he took a seat in the Senate. Two days afterwards, however, he yielded to a very general and pressing demand, on the part of personal and political friends, (as well as some who, up to that time, had not been considered as either), and resigned his seat in the Senate to accept the Sec- retaryship of the Treasury, which had been tendered him by President Lincoln. Immediately after the organization of the Cabinet, and when the most important topic under discussion was, what should be the policy of the Government towards the seceded States, Mr. Chase's influence was strongly felt in the national councils. When hostilities commenced at Sumter, the Secretary urged upon General Scott the propriety of occupying Manassas, which, had it been done, would have compelled the evacuation of Harper's Ferry and the Shenandoah valley by the rebels, and would have materially altered the character of
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the opening campaign of the war. To Mr. Chase's suggestion, also, was due the call, promulgated in May, 1861, for 65,000 volunteers, to take the place of the 75,000 first called for ; and to him the President committed, with the consent of the Secretary of War, the preparation of the necessary orders- since known as Nos. 15 and 16-the one for the enlistment of volunteers and the other for regular regiments. The object which Mr. Chase had in view was the establishment of a regular system-which had not hitherto existed-in conformity with which all new enlistments should be made, and in this important work he was assisted by Colonel Thomas, Major McDowell and Captain Franklin. During the trying period, in the early part of the war, when great efforts were made to precipitate Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee into rebellion, Mr. Lincoln committed to his Secretary of the Treasury the principal charge of what- ever related to the conservation and protection of the interests of the Government in those States. He obtained for Rousseau, of Kentucky, his colonel's commission, and gave him his order for the raising of twenty companies. He also drew most of the orders under which Nelson acted, and furnished him with the means of defraying his expenses for the expedition into the interior of Kentucky, and the establishment of Camp Dick Robinson-movements which saved that State from secession. He was the honored confidant and adviser of General Cameron, while Secretary of War, especially in relation to western border- state matters, slavery, and the employment of colored troops; and it was at his suggestion that General Butler was directed by the Secretary of War to refrain from surrendering alleged fugi- tives from service to alleged masters, and to employ them under such organization and in such occupations as circumstances might suggest or require. It was, however, in the discharge of his legitimate duties, as Secretary of the Treasury, that Mr.
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Chase achieved his greatest success. The treasury, at the time when he assumed its charge, was nearly bankrupt. He, there- fore, immediately proceeded to negotiate a loan. On the 22d of March, 1861, he issued proposals for his first loan of $8,000,000 on six per cent. bonds, redeemable at the end of twenty years. The bids were opened April 2d, and amounted to $27,182,000, at rates varying from eighty-five for one hun d to par. All bids below ninety-four were promptly rejected by the Secretary, who determined to let the country know at the outset that bonds of the United States were not to be sacrificed in the market, and that the national credit was not so impaired as to be at the mercy of brokers and capitalists. The disappointed bidders winced at this decision, but its effect upon the country at large was certainly healthy.
Continuing to effect loans under existing laws, he borrowed, on the 11th of April, $4,901,000, on two years treasury notes, at a small premium; on 25th of May, $7,310,000, on twenty years bonds, at from eighty-five to ninety-eight, declining all bids below ninety-five; and on two years treasury notes, $1,684,000 at par, all of which loans, considering the situation of the coun- try, were remarkable successes. Congress, on its assembling in July, 1861, authorized a national loan, under which act, and the acts amending it, he took measures to secure the funds necded to carry on the war. The result of a full and frank conference with the representatives of the banks of Boston, Philadelphia and New York, at the latter city, was an agreement, on the part of the banks, to unite as associates in an advance to Government of $50,000,000; while he, on his part, agreed to appeal to the people for subscriptions to a national loan, on three years notes, bearing seven-thirty per cent. interest, and convertible into twenty years bonds bearing six per cent., the proceeds of which subscriptions should be paid over to the banks, in satisfaction
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of their advances, so far as they would go; the deficiency, if any, to be made good in seven-thirty notes. By this and a sub- sequent loan, made on nearly the same terms, the Government obtained $100,000,000 at a rate of interest only one and three- tenths of one per cent. higher than the ordinary rate of six per cent., and that for three years only. The banks now declining to advance another $50,000,000 for the seven-thirty notes, through the efforts of the Secretary, a seven per cent. loan was negotiated on the 16th of November, but trouble resulted from the oppo- sition of many of the banks to the further issue of United States notes as legal tender, in distinction to their own local issues, and the Secretary now applied the remedy to this state of affairs by uniting his whole influence to those who desired the United States notes made a legal tender, and by joining them, decided the success of that measure, which he had previously urged upon Congress.
It was, however, only by the most indomitable perseverance that he was enabled, after several defeats and long delay, to secure the passage of the National Banking Act, providing for a system of national banks, based upon government securities. This system, which embraces the best features of the New York Free Banking System, together with certain additions protec- tive of the rights both of the bill-holder and depositor, has proved most successful, and, although at first vehemently opposed by some of the State and local banks, has now fairly triumphed over all opposition. In the negotiation of these loans, Mr. Chase secured the services of Mr. Jay Cooke, an emi- nent financier of Philadelphia, as general agent, who by his numerous agencies, and a wholesale and ingenious system of advertising, gave the widest possible publicity to the loan, and secured for it the full favor of the community throughout the United States. By January 1st, 1864, five hundred millions of
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the loan (5-20 bonds) was taken up, and the subscriptions were in excess, by nearly fourteen millions, of the amount authorized. The full measure of the Secretary's comprehensive plans was insured by the enactment, in 1864, of tax laws, in accordance with his repeated suggestions since 1861, by which the revenue to the government was largely increased, and by the aid of which future secretaries of the treasury will be enabled to " weather" any financial pressure. This great work accom- plished, he resigned his secretaryship, June 30, 1864.
The great importance and beneficial results of Mr. Chase's financial measures, adopted as they were in the heat and pres- sure of the most stupendous war of modern times, and initiated with a bankrupt treasury, and notice in advance from the great financial powers of Europe, that we " need not expect any assist- ance from them," render it desirable that they should be somewhat better understood than they have been, and we there- fore gladly avail ourselves of the following explanations of them, recently put forth, it is understood, with his own sanction.
The objects which he had in view, were :
"I. To establish satisfactory relations between the public credit and the productive industry of the country-in other words, to obtain supplies. The suspension of the banks put an end to the first and most obvious resort, loans of gold, and made new methods indispensable. Then the secretary resorted to legal tender notes, made them a currency, and borrowed them as cash. The patriotism of the people came in aid of the labors of the treasury and the legislation of Congress, and the first great object was made secure.
" II. To provide against disastrous results on a return of peace. This could only be done by providing a national cur- rency. There were about 1,500 State banks in existence which wanted to make their own paper the currency of the country This the secretary resisted, and confined his loans to greenbacks; but he did not drive out their currency, nor indeed did he think 13
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it exactly honest to so deprive them of it, without giving any equivalent. He preferred to neutralize their opposition to a national currency and make them allies as far as possible, instead of enemies. In his endeavors to secure such results, he proposed the national banking system, and before he left the Department its success was assured.
"The national banks were certain to be useful in many ways, but the secretary's main object was the establishment of a national currency. This saved us from panic and revulsion at the end of the war, and is of inestimable value to men of labor and men of business-indeed, to every class.
"III. The third division of his labor was to provide a fund- ing system. It was unavoidable during the rebellion that every means of credit should be used. He borrowed money every way he could at reasonable rates. The form that suited one lender did not suit another; and the army and navy needed every dollar that could be raised in any form. Hence tem- porary loans, certificates of deposit, certificates of indebtedness, 7.30 notes, compound interest notes, treasury notes payable after one and two years, etc.
" But it was necessary to have funding loans, into which all these temporary loans could be ultimately merged. To this end the secretary established the 5-20 loan and the 10-40 loan. His belief was that after the $514,000,000 of the 5-20 loan had been taken, the additional amounts needed could be obtained by the 10-40 loan and the temporary loans; but the secretary was ready to resort to the 5-20s in case of emergency. He did get $73,000,000 in the 10-40 loan, and his successors got about $120,000,000 more, at par.
"It is easy to see how Mr. Chase's funding system worked, by examining the last statement of the public debt. The condi- tion is something like this : $1,200,000,000 5-20s; $200,000,000 10-40s ; $200,000,000 81s payable now after fourteen years, which can then easily be put into 10-40s; other loans (all tem- porary), say $500,000,000, of which three fourths consist of 7.30s, convertible, and certain to be converted into 10-40s; and say $400,000,000 greenbacks, including fractional currency,
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making the debt of $2,500,000,000. So, it may be seen, the whole debt except '81s is already funded, or sure to be funded in 5-20 six per cents, or 10-40 five per cents."
It has been well said of Mr. Chase's conduct in this hazardous and laborious position, that "the nerve he displayed, the breadth of intellect he manifested, the ardor of his patriotism, and the wonders wrought by his financial wisdom and skill throughout the first three years of the rebellion, are so recent and so well remembered, and live so freshly in the hearts of his grateful countrymen, as to render unnecessary any thing more than this simple reference. His enduring fame is built on his measures ; his best eulogy is written in his acts. He vindicated the wisdom of the President's choice; he both justified and rewarded the confidence of the people." It is not strange, therefore, that President Lincoln, with strengthened confidence in Mr. Chase's patriotism, ability, and sound judgment, tendered to him, in 1864, the highest judicial seat of the nation, which had become vacant by the death of its venerable incumbent, Roger S. Taney. The nomination of Mr. Chase as Chief Justice, by the Execu- tive, on the 6th of December, 1864, was promptly confirmed by the Senate, and on the 13th of the same month he took his seat upon the bench, " having previously," as the records state, “ on the same day taken the oath of allegiance, in the room of the judges, and the oath of office, in open court, at his place upon the bench, in the presence of a large number of ladies and gen- tlemen, who had assembled to witness a ceremony which, in this nation, had taken place but once in sixty-three years preceding." Shortly after his assumption of the duties of this high position, the Chief Justice made an extended tour throughout the recently conquered rebel States-passing down the Atlantic coast and up the Mississippi river-with the purpose of gaining a personal knowledge of the actual condition of the people. During this
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trip, he embraced every opportunity of conversing unreservedly with all, both white and black, who chose to avail themselves of the knowledge of his presence, and the information thus obtained was placed at the public service in his correspondence with the President and others, while his suggestions of measures necessary and expedient to the proper accomplishment of peace and reconstruction, order and justice, were characterized by a comprehensiveness of view and a noble spirit of Christian patriotism eminently creditable to his head and heart.
Few public men of his years, in this country, possess minds better stored with varied treasures of knowledge, or bear the evidence of severer mental discipline than Mr. Chase. To an intellect at once comprehensive, discriminating and retentive, he adds the graces of learning and the power of logic; and whatever subject he treats, is handled with keen insight, breadth of view, thoroughness of reflection, and strength of reasoning. His whole career as a statesman and jurist, and all his public efforts, in popular addresses, newspaper writings, occasional lectures, and contributions to periodical literature, show the same breadth of premise, exactness of statement, logical sequence, completeness of consideration, and power of conclusion, from which we are justified in hoping and expecting much in his present exalted position, where his ruling and decisions have always been characterized by their adherence to the great fundamental principles of equity on which all human law is professedly based. His is no narrow mind to run only in the rut of precedents, and be constantly hampered by the chi- canery of rigid constructionists. He goes naturally to the foun- dation principles, and while he has no superior, either in legal learning and acumen or in wide and generous culture, upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, he is less
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