The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-09-18

and there were revenue transactions in cotton,
in trade permits, in raising the tax ON whiskey,
in the freedmens service and in the printing
departments of the currency that would sur
pass the Credit Mobilier. Yet because he had
in his interest a large fragment of the repub-
lican party, as an act Of magnanimity and ex-
pediency Mr.. Lincoln gave him the exalted
Office. There may have been irony in the
gift, knowing the restlessness and ambition of
Mr.. Chase. If, however, he could have for
gotten that he was politician he would have
become in time an ideal Chief Justice. But
he never forgot it In his dreams he had seen
the Presidency-nay, he had felt the tide i'm
polling him to that dazzling seat He never
ceased to dream of it. His Office was an exile, an
imprisonment Like Plus VII, when Napo-
leon kept him in captivity at Fontainebleau,
he had all but his freedom So he pinned, and
planned, and hoped, and fretted, and died, in
disappointment and sorrow, as great men die,
who feel they were born for more fertile and
active destinies
II never occurred to Mr.. Chase that he
could have no higher station. It might be so
to other men, but he craved the free air and
hustle and opportunity Of the Presidential
Office. The country, consequently saw an
uneasy Chief Justice. Wherever o political
convention opened its doors there stood
Salmon P. Chase, in the robes Of Marshall and
Jay, seeking the nomination to the Presi-
dency. He stood OF the door of the Republi-
con Convention in 1868, asking to be nomi-
mated as an extreme radical When it was
found that Grant was in possession he went
over the way to the Democratic Convention,
and was almost nominated 0s conservative.
Nor did he appear to feel that in either case he
was unworthy of his Office. Nor did his
friends in the country think so. Is it not
only yesterday that we buried him and
heaped the flowers on his tomb, and honored
and mighty man? Far be it from us to
take leaf from the heaped garlands that
rest on his grave. But is it not q mourntul
thing-a sad evidence of the Cesarism that
pervades the country-that 1t should not be
thought unworthy in q Chief Justice Of the
United States to get down among the Trum-
bulls and Gratz Browns, the Seymours and
Frank Blairs, his name tumbled from bar
room to barroom as beggar for the nomina-
ton to the Presidency Many friends of
Grant, who honored him as soldier have
feared he was unequal to his time that the age
has deadened and weakened his administra-
ton. We see now how a great statesman-and
the Supreme Chief Justice was alike power
less-how he bent before the hour, and, with
all his genius and strength, could not resist its
temptations. Only yesterday and the funeral
poets and orators chanted the praises of this
courageous Judge as one who had the manhood
to set his face against the impeachment Of
johnson and defeat that enterprise. Sorrow
full, sorrowful, indeed, it Is that we should
honor Judge for partisan courage; that We
should forget that the duty of a Judge is to
look neither to the right nor the left in any
trial Mr.. Chase had no business whatever
with the guilt or innocence Of the President,
only with justice and the law-ike the obelisk,
which stands aloft and pierces the heavens,
and is beautiful because it Is upright and
towering, even like Gods own justice and
truth.
These reflections are suggested by the dis
cussions now before the public mind as to
the succession to Mr.. Chase We have had
the painful duty of showing that the Office
under Mr.. fancy was o reward; that under Mr..
Chase it was only resting place. What Is
the temper Of the present discussionsP Simply
this: Show will the appointment of this man
or that man affect his chances for the Presi-
dencyP Here is MIR. Conkling, who is named
from New York. What is the question in the
mind Of the friends of that Senator ? Not is
he competent learned honorable fair
minded; not would his appointment
bring renown to the Bench and exalt
justice; but simply this:-How will
it affect his chances for the Presidency
in the next Convention or some Convention to
come afterp Would he be more available in
the Senate or on the Supreme Bench P-just
as we can imagine company of English
jockeys discussing whether the air and grass
of Surrey or of Kent are best suited for the
horse that is to enter for the Derby. More
than all, the sentiment Of the republican party
justifes these discussions. If some prudish
person suggests that Mr.. Conkling, as Chief
Justice, would no longer have ambition
would be content, and would regard his robes
stained if they draggled in political waters,
the answer is prompt, that this would be to
bury himself, to be of no use to his friends
to be forgotten. Always the Derby-the race
for the Derby as the only purpose in life.
That won, nothing remains.
But it seems to us that something should
remain. Is there no fountain of honor or
duty In this Republic, but that the foul toads
Of politics must knot and gender therep Does
it not occur to our public men that this
Supreme Bench should be above all influ-
ences-even the gaudy winning dreams of
ambition2 Is there not honor enough in that
hinh and almost holy station that NOR, shoald