New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-11-30
OUR NEXT CHIEF.JUsTICR.

OUR NEXT CHIEF.JUsTICR.
We presume our readers sufficiently lntelil'
gent TO place little emphasis OH the gossip from
day to day telegraphed from Washington
respecting prospective appointments to i'm
portant stations. The correspondents. we
doubt not mean to state facts; but they must
perforce send such information as they can pick
M; and this is inevitably unsubstantial. If the
President had already decided-as we think he
has not-on the nominations to be made to the
Senate next week or later, he would naturally
keep his choice to himself, so as at once to avoid
fruitless circumstances and leave himself, up to
the last moment, perfectly free to change
should reasons for so doing transpire prior to
the meeting of Congress. We judge, therefore,
that those who gravely telegraph from Wash
ington that "Mr. Chase's chances are i'm
proving" "Mr. Chase's nomination is now
impossible" &c, &c, simply reecho the gossip
of the Washington hotels, set aAoat by men
who know just as much Of the matter in ques-
ton as We do-that is, nothing at all.
| Yet we hope for the appointment Of Gov.
Chase as the successor of Chef-Justice fancy,
not because we know anything Of the PrcSi-
dents predictions, but because Of the manifest
fitness of such appointment, and because OF the
general recognition Of that fitness. If all those
whose choice in the premises is worth consid e1ne
were consulted tomorrow, and each b. hinselt
asked to l. anne the man who ought TO De Chief
Justice, an absolute majority would respond
Salmon 7. Chase.
Whyi
Because Mr.. Chase, beside being an ex
perienced and eminent lawyer, and one Of the
very ablest of our public men, who has filled IN
succession the posts of U. S. Senator, Governor
Of Ohio, (twice elected, Senator again, and Sec
rotary ofthe Treasury, is known to be thoroughly
imbued with the understanding and love Of that
spirit of Impartial Justice and Liberty which is
destined henceforth to guide the policy and
govern the Jurisprudence of our Union. Am
bilious and aspiring as he has been accounted,
no man believes that he would strike hands with
the Slave Power for any office or dignity Oh
earth. He chose to be known as an Abolitionist
when to be so known was to renounce the hope
of ever emerging from despised and powefeSs
minority. Among those who might be made
Chief Justice, he is the man most certain
to infuse into our National jurisprudence
the bencfcent spirit Of Freedom for
All. Others may falter even the
Nation may temporarily relapse into her old
idolatry of brutal Force, Of guilty Gain; but
Gov. Chase must die az he has lived, the cham
pion and expositor Of the new spirit which
flashed forth from the burning interior Of bonn
barded Sumter and cleaned from the CORY breasts
of the Massachusetts volunteers so treacherously
butchered in the insurgent streets Of Baltimore.
Nothing would give the country such firm, we'll
grounded assurance that the revolution which is
vsibly Kidding our land Of Slavery will never
90 backward as the appointment Of Salmon p.
Chase to the first seat on the bench of the
Supreme Court.
In saying this, We cast no reflection on any
of the strong and true men whose names have
recently been connected with this post We
can well afford to admit that they are all able
jurists and worthy citizens. Yet no one will con.
tend that any of them surpaSseS Mr.. Chase in
legal or general ability, while all will admit
that, in the anti-Slavery cause, Mr.. c. is an
older if not better soldier than any competi.
tor. The radical change in our laws about to
be effected by the pending amendment of the
Federal Constitution invites, if it does not abso-
lutely require, q change in the spirit of their
judicial exposition. The new wine should
be put in new bottles. With Salmon
P. Chase in the seat of John Mar
shall, We should confidently hope that all
lingering traces Of that spirit Of caste which has
80 long been the bane and tho shame Of our pol.
ity, would be banished to the moles and the bats,
and the rule of Impartial Freedom be thoroughly
inaugurated.
We do not know how these considerations
strike the President, but we ere confident that
the Senate feels their force. And We look to