The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-05-09
s. P. Chase, Chief Justice, Char
latin and Demagogue!

4 s. Il e Z
The Philadelphia Ledger says: There
was a very general feeling at the time of
Mr.. Chase's appointment to the Chief
Justiceship Of the United States that his.
legal attachments were not such as to quail
fy him for the great Office, and that q life
spent in feverish political struggles had
spoiled him for the dispassionate and inn
partial investigation Of truth. But it was
hoped, even by those who liked and trusted
him least, that he would endeavor, by pa
tient study, to prepare himself to render
learned judgments, and by rigid renuncia-
ton of partisan prejndices to give honest
ones.
/ It was presumed, Very naturally, that the
measure Of his ambition would be filled
when he found himself the occupant of the
highest Judicial seat in the lind, the seat
in which Jay, and Rutledge, and Ellsworth,
and Marshall, 'aaa fancy had won fame
far more precious than any which can be
conquered In the1strife Of the hastings, or
conferred by the feeting breath Of popular
applause. But Mr.. Chase has aisappoint-
ed everybody. Instead Of betaking himself
to study and eschewing politics, he signal
lied his entrance upon judicial life by ma
king a tour through the South, in which he
was not sparing OF stump speeches.
On his return from this journey, he de-
liyered a halangue at Dartmouth College,
in which, while he freely admitted the men
tai incapacity Of the negroes, and conceded
that their moral defects were more striking
than any positive virtues which he had dis
covered among them, he yet claimed that
they should have votos-eyer oneof them,
and without delay--because they had the
! physical power to throw them into the
ballot-box, where they were needed to per-
petuate power in the hands of the Republi-
cans. The end, which he regarded as one
Of paramount importance, in his Judgment
| justified the means, which he acknowledged
were extremely lad. We refer anybody
who doubts the possibility of o Chief JUS
tice Of the United States INDUCING in such
talk as this to his speech, as reported at
the time in all the prominent journals of
the country.
He has not mended his ways since the
meeting of Congress, but has given infn-
itely more attention to the schemes of the
Radicals on its floor than to the causes
argued in his court He is conspicuous in
their secret councils; he is notorious as the
chief adviser of those in opposition to the
President, and his comments upon current
/ politics have become so cheap that news
paper letter writers record personal inter
views with him on the latest Radical trick
and the last scurrilous fling Of Mr.. Ste
pleas at Andrew Johnson He has even
sought o confdant in Mr. Tilton of the
New York Independent, whose talent for
retailing the gossip of the Capitol makes
him most desirable listener. Meantime,
he has positively refused to do his duty,
and has been guilty Of 9 plain denial of jus
tice, for which he ought to be impeached,
in declining to hold court in Virginia and
give Jefferson Davis the speedy and impair
tial trial assured to him, and all other pris-
oners in bonds, by the Constitution oftheir
country.
We observe that Mr.. Chase is again on
the stump--hence these remarks. His last
speech was to female association in New
York, and was devoted to the expositiono Of
the Civil Rights Bill, and the necessity Of
following it up with negro suffrage. TWAS
the harangue Of a demagogue Throughout
an appeal to passion and prejudice, in
which argument and reason were ignored
Fancy any one Of Mr.. Chase's great prede-
cessors throwing off his judicial robe, forsa-
king his high seat, and joining pot house
wranglers on equal terms to advocate the
devices Of a political party. Fancy Mar
shall at ward meeting, or fancy on the
balcony of a hotel, bidding for the cheers Of
a crowd. The study and the court room
engrossed the hours of those pure and use
full lives. But Mr.. Chase finds the blazco OF
the torchlights pleasanter than the flicker
! of midnight oil, and the gossip of living
demagogues more congeniai than the re-
corded wisdom Of the dead sages of the
law.