New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-11-03
THE DEAD SENATOR'S CAREER.

THE DEAD SENATOR'S CAREER.
| The Hon. Zachariah Chandler was born in Bed
ford, n H. hamlet of the Merrimac Valley, De-
cember 10, 1913, SO that in a short time he would
have completed his sixty sixth year. He had first
| the training of the common school, and aftcrward
the more liberal culture of one OF those classical
| academies then common in New-England. To the
education there received, be afterward added the
| fruits of constant and miscellaneous reading. In
| 1888, when he was but twenty-five years OF age,
| like SO many other Eastern young men, he turned
his face westward 1t has been stated that in this
enterprise he received pecuniary assistance from
the Hon. Franklin Pierce. He settled at Detroit
then town Of about 900 inhabitants. Tie began
| in comparatively small way with retail dry
goods shop, but his thrift and energy maklng MIN
prosperous, he soon enlarged his business to whole
sale proportions. supplying many dealers III
| Northern and Western Michigan, Northern
| Ohio Indiana and Western Canada. No
| Western house stood higher i'll the trade
! than that of Zach Chandler IL Co.. of Detroit. He
| soon amaSsed a competency, which was judciously
invested in real estate. To the business men of
New-York, long before he acquired political repnta-
ton the maine of Mr.. Chandler was well known as
that of trustworthy and honorable merchant.
While the Wing party was yet power he was IL
Wing in politics. Michigan was then, under the in
duence of General Cas-, almost bopelessly Demo
cratic State, and Detroit was long controlled
politically by the Cass family. In spite OF this,
however. Mr.. Chandler was in 1851 elected Mayor
Of that city. This circumstance made him naturally
the leader of the opposition to the Cass Democracy.
In 1852 he was nominated for Governor; but bis
time had not yet come, and his ayowed anti
slavery principles had something TO do with his de-
feat. The day of a different public opinion. how
ever, was at hand. and after one of the bitter
| est political struggles upon record no was
elected to the United States Senate, TAX
| ing his seat March 4, 1857. While he
thus started upon his National as
Republican, his old and steady opponent, General
Cass, entered the Cabinet OF President Buchanan
rs Secretary OF State.
During his first term in the Senate although
identified with all the leading measures of Congress,
favoring general system of internal improvements,
Mr.. Chandler may be said TO have mainly distin-
gushed himself by his unhinching hostility to the
extension of Slavery. and tho denunciation Of the
| Slave Power, which could neither nor brighten
| him. He set his face resolutely against the COM
promise measures, which was more than many Wing
Senators did. Each House was then under the con-
troll of Southern leaders, and their bitterness, inso
| leuce and irrational selfshness knew no bounds.
| An anti-slavery Senator AT that time was hardly
ever safe from contumehous insult upon the floor,
| or elsewhere. Among the few who distinguished
and honored themselves by an undaunted bearing,
Senator Chandler occupied a foremost place. There
| is said to have been plot to assault him In the
| street. but prudent investigation of its prob
| able issue led to its abandonment. He stood
| side by side with Mr.. Wade and pretty soon the
Southern fire-eaters comprehended that Neither of
| these gentlemen were afraid OF them. Whatever
else Mr.. Chandler may have been, nobody ever said
| that he was a coward. To the bill admitting Kan
sas into the Union under the Lecompton Constitu-
| ton his opposition was vigorous. and lie did not
hesitate TO denounce the whole affair as conceived
and executed in fraud and as aiming a death-blow
al State sovereignty ana popular rights. He char
acterzed the bill of series of aggressions on
the part of the Slave Power. and made one of the
strongest arguments against it uttered the Sen
ate In 1889. his opposition to the bill for the ac-
| QUESTION of Cuba was equally decided. This he re-
gaTded as proposition TO stave oil the impending
defeat of the Democratic party" Cuba" he said,
sis to be the cry in the next Presidential election.
and $50, 600 900 are to be the inducements to cry
loud and long" His opposition did much to secure
| the defeat of the bill.
| After the War of the Rebellion had fairly begun,
Senator Chandler continually urged its vigorous
| prosecution. The position assumed and main
tanned by him from the beginning to the end.
made his name familiar, and honorably familiar,
! TO the whole country. To a fervid patriot
Ism he added taste for details and a
dextcrity in their manipulation for which in some
respects he was indebted TO his early commercial
training. He was "stalwart" from the start. He
never dreamed of asserting to upon any terms
less than the absolute and unqualified restoration
of the Union. He had no patience, and pretended
| to have none, with the plan of making war softly.
| His speeches were OF such a plain and positive
character that there was no mistaking their mean
ing. The fastidious might find fault with their
a flv l.,,s
necessary to call spade a spade. Mr.. Chandler so
| called it without ceremony circumlocution.
| When thoroughly aroused he was not a pleasant
| man TO meet in debate, as the Confederate
| Brigadiers afterward found TO their cost Ii
| was upon Mr. Chandler's motion that a
| "Commlttee on the Conduct of the War "
was appointed. He declined the craftsmanship,
| TO which Mr.. Wade was appointed, but he was one
of its most energetic members The services of this
committee In lending energy TO military operations,
in sitting from the service incompetent commanders
and In keeping Copperheads within tolerable
bounds. cannot be overestimated. Mr. Chandler
frankly avowed his opinion of the dilatory move
ments of General Mcclellan, and was earnest In his
| demand for bold and decided operations One of
the earliest results of the investigations of the COM
mittee was the removal of that General from COM
| mand. A letter addressed by the Senator TO the
Governor of Michigan had suggested that blood
| mnst How If the Government was to be preserved"
This was the keynote of Mr.. Chambers policy
throughout the continuance Of the war. Long after
| he was tainted in the Senate with this recOmmen-
daton of blood letting" His reply is worth giving
here as a favorable specimen of his man.
ner and spirit
1T is not the first time that have been arragned
on that indictment of blood letting. | was
first arraigned for it upon TINS floor by
the traitor, John T.. Breckenridge. ana after gave
him his answer he went out into the rebel ranks,
| and fought against our flag. | was arraigned by