The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-08-26

Placement was taken, and he referred TO what he
had written to me, and repeated H. saying that ii he
"could do 70 with honor he would prefer TO resign
his place as Chief Justice, quit pubic life and spend
the remnant OF his days in connection with some OF
the great railroad interests OF our countryn lie
said he had tired to do his whole duty, ana quoted
with deep feeling the closing lines OF Senator Fessen-
denis speech:-'Ihe future is in the hands OF Him
who made ana governs the Universe, and the fear
that He will not govern 1t wisely and well would
not excuse me Tor a violation of this law"
saying also 'that his actions were his own,
but that events were. with Cod" About
tins time the efforts Of some democrats to
make Mr.. Chase their candidate began to assume q
practical shape. IL was believed by many OF the
most progressive and best men OF that party that
the wisest thing they could do was TO recognize the
situation as it was to nominate Mr. Chase as q man
whom all war democrats and repentant rebels could
support and who could carry With him the c)nserva-
tive masses Of the republican party; and they were
encouraged In this movement by the condition OF the
republican organization at that time, which was lar
from harmonious. No one not an eye witness OF the
closing scenes Of the impeachment trial. about the
lobbies hotels and streets OF Washington, can ever
realize the condition OF things then existing there's
the whole country slept, as 1T were upon vast mag
aZine, which q single spark might have ignlted.
The more extreme advocates Of impeachment
seemed beside themselves with phrenzy. With
shameless impudence, the Chief Justice and the
seven republican Senators who voted for acquittal
were traduced and v1ed. i heard many threats OF
assassination. | heard many men high III office
using the language of vituperat0n, and personal
menaces were made to Senators. IL was said they
would be burned in eilgy throughout the land, and
that they could no longer live among their cOnStu
after the trial began and were kept up with increas
ing rancOr. He was lied upon most shamefuily. The
stories OF his interviews with Senators for the pur
pose OF influencing their votes, OF the carriage rides
with them, Of the dinner party and OF
congratulatory visits to the President were all
manufactured by men who knew they were lies
and who professed TO be republicans. Their object
was to write General Grant up by writing
NJ Chase down. But am most happy to know they
are the last men In the country who will influence
General Grant his administration. 1t Mr..
Chase's intention from the first to that the Presl
dent had fair trial. for he was sworn to ''dO impair
tia Justice according to the constitution and
laws" He did nothing more; and OF all the scenes
through which he has passed in his long and event.
full ca eer, none will give more enduring basis
upon which to repOse his posthum0us fame than his
conduct during the trial. asked him. after the tes-
timony was all in, what he thought would be the YER
dict OF the Senate, and he replied that it such
amxed question OF law and politics 1t was impossible
for him to form an opinion" / know that he had
nothing to do with the trial, or those engaged in
it, except when presiding over the Senate
in his Official capacity, and there Is not a
lawyer in America with sense sufficient to take
charge Of q involving the cost of u setting Of
eggs or the price Of q coon skin who will not admit
that his decision Will bear the test OF the most
searching legal criticism while or the Senators who
were accused OF bribery and corruption not one has
gwen any ground for the charge, except difference
OF opinion with some OF his peers. Every time
man loses law case he has just the same right to
accuse a Judge and jury Of bribery and fraud. No
seven men can be selected from the Senate Chamber
who, in purity OF character integrity and moral
worth, have ever had more unsued regulations
tnan Messrs. Fcssenden Irumbull, Henderson, Ross,
Fowler, Grimes and Van Wrinkle They may have
erred in judgment, but their error was OF the
same character with that OF the upright Jury
man who renders a verdict OF mot guilty"
in q case OF real guilt, but where the law
requires that the criminal Shall have the benefit
such doubts exist in the testimony 1t Is better
that ninety and nine guilty men Shout escape under
such circumstances tnan that one innocent man
should suner pun snment. The action of the House
Of Representatives i'm appointing committee to
look INTO the conduct OF Senators suggested to many
thoughtful minds that the supremacy OF COngress''
imply but that II rather meant the supremacy OF the
House over the Executive, the Judiciary and the
Senate. This condition OF things about the latter
part OF May, and knowledge OF q serious intention
al Chicago TO read the Chief Justice and the ''seven
recreant Senator'S out of the republican party;
the action Of Congress in depriving the Supreme
Court of its rlghtfuI jurisdiction in the McCardle
case, and the bold ntimatons given OF an inten
ton to re0rganiZe that Court solely with view
to political ends excited serious alarm and appre-
henson in the minds Of all conservative republicans
and prepared the way for division OF the party in
order to save what mad been won by contest; to
secure the thirteenth and fourteenth articles Of the
constitution beyond the power Of repeal or defeat,
far as IL had gone Mr. Chase was the proper
representative Of this class OF men, and they in
perls Of the hour These men hal no personal OBJ
lection to General Grant; they appreciated the in
valuable services he had rendered his country: they
hOnored him us the greatest soldier our land had
produced, but they knew him TO be entirely without
experience In the administration OF civil affairs,
and they did not know who his advisers would
be what political theories he might attempt TO
carry out. Mr.. Chase had been identified with
the anti-slayery movement from boyhOod; he was
the very Nestor OF those brave men who fought for
freedom long before was born, when slavery was
honored in the North and the love OF liberty was
no deeper than the pigment or the skin. lie was a
warm supporter OF Mr. Lincoln. He Ii was who in
voked the gracious protection or Almighty Godr
upon the emancipation proclamation. His financial
skill saved the nation by furnishing us the means
Win which TO carry on the war. lie very earnestly
APPROX ed the ratification Of the thirteenth article,
md used all his influence to secure the adoption OF
execution
he was not unfriendlv to the policy or
adopted by Congress when the four
eenth article was rejected by the Southern rebels.
He was opposed however, to the trial of any citizen
In time Of peace by military commission, to any
OF the constitutional prerOgative
Of the Executive or the Judiciary. He believed the
as framed and handed down to us by
our fathers, was better instrument than any we
could now make, always saving and excepting
slavery. lie favored the obliteratiOn OF this great
nuisance by the adoption OF the thirteenth article
and the total destruction of its power In the four
be nth article by making the negro citizen giving
him the equal protection OF the laws and abolshing
The three-iiiths representation based on slavery,
which has always been the most iniquitous feature
In our constitution. He believed that every man,
without relard TO color, should be free; that he
should have the right to the ballot and the privilege
that best suits his own pleasure, restrained
only by wise laws, to operate with equal force on
al. both black and white. These general opinions
were not antagonlstic to those OF any true Union
man. nor need they have been Objectionable to any
democrat who desired to accept and acknowledge
In q hopeless struggle to undo what Congress had
done. Hence a large number OF democrats com.
menced the work Of educating their party TO accept
this condition OF things, TO take Mr.. Chase a. their
candidate and TO unite with the conservative repub-
lIcans on the new tissues Of the day In the spirit OF
the day." thus to found a great democratic party
upon basis Of permanent usefulness The intention
was to remove political disabilities from every man,
whether once q rebel or once q slave, and TO
found true democracy, not that OF the Southern
rebel the anti-war man OF the North but one like
the democracy Of Jefferson, Hamilton and Lincoln;
o democracy OF equal righta OF peace and protec-
tion TO all men; democracy a. wide as humanity
and as universal Gods omnipotence, under which
our country could prosper to degree the most vivid
imag natlon dares not attempt to compass. These
men felt, too, that the rebellion and It's ideas should
die, and that the war and Its horrors should sink
into obblyion and that 1t was the duty OF the lovers
OF the Union 20
Let all the tender voices OF nature
Temper the triumph and chastrn n,irih,
ful of the Infinite love and pity
For fallen martyr and dArkened heart.
The 'movement' assumed great strength from the
first ald wa, started by certain patriotic democrats,