The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-16

| eminent, ana tUp
a Union of free States into which fusi-
tiyes could at any time escape. The
chances are that there would have teen
another war in a very short while
Mr.. Hart again expresses his opinion on
ante bellum conditions a little later:
Those writer's who charge upon the additions =
the responsibility Of arousing the South anu
compelling 1t TO take the ofensiredeiehs'fe Ioi /,
get that there must have been numerous 49,
aggressive abolitionists, unless the Northern
States 10 remain Just where they mao peei !,
in 1850 In colonial times the two sections NAG
the same Standards Of treatment OF inierlor arc
depend, mt beings; they were both brutal TO a9-
prentccs indcntured servants, debtors prisoieis ,,
paupers, insane people, and slaves butins tne
half century from lI15 to 1873 the frank, uhus-
ouis,d unsharned cruelty OF the eighteenth cen
fury gave way in the North but il still continue q
| in the South The jails and penitertiarles hatl
been Gehennas everywhere in 1850, ara were sun
still in most Of the Southern states III iooo,
| but the Pennsylvania State prison was modei
for the world. Hence the cruelty OF sidNsH'
which the stock in tiade OF the agoiilivhiS.s
! vs. to the Southern Of 1880 4 disagreeabie
\ necessity: they even invited Northern irlends 20
cone down and view the institution, Just as
Ru.s:an officials have welcomed travellers To see
the Siberian prisons, supposiI9 them 10 DC a
NORMAL Kind Of prison. But While intelligent
Northern men admitted the heartlessness OF thar
s.avtholding fathers, the South p-sitively deh ca
that slavery had ever been cruel. ana uea'eu
her reforneTs public enemies
| some eSCepllCn Dt ldNSh ~
Harris views here. II is true that during
the years Immediately preceding the war
this was the case in the South, but earlier
there was a strong sentiment in virginia
and other Southern States in favor OF
! emancipation, and the thoughtful men OF
that section were convinced that slavery
/ was an evil which must eventually be
done away with. The influences which
changed this considerable and intelligent
-la apfir nj
! of 1856 go are discussed in the following
paragraph:
Furthermore, the southerners had grievances
which TO them s.ened to come Of simple Northern
hypocrisy The abolition efforts to prohibit
I, slavery in the District OF Columbia had in their
! eyes no other purpose han to degrade them ny
I setting a rational disapprobation On a practice
! whici, had lasted in Washington half century
The open defiance Of the fugitive save laws
them not only refusal 10 carry out
consti .utional obligation, but also an annul-
meni OF REGULATE, ms without which the fields
could not be titled, or food prepared for the
| family Hence when the South asked TO fulfil
its constitutional obligations by proper iTeat-
mont of nee negroes from the North and from
abroad, il answered simply that tine presence of
I saves in free State was not menace 10 tae
lives OF the people, but that strange free negroes
+ in the South mignt he melting instruction, and
they could not be allowed TO go at larse.s
Lven had ii been true, Calhoun and his iol-
lowers alleg d. that slavery was "a positive
! good" the zeal OF the South to extend it into
! other regions not benevolent desire TO cx-
tend the POSITIVE good Ii was the instructive
: feeling that slavery could net stand in the face
OF the dslpprobation Of tie Federal Government,
and that to prevent such disapprobdtion they
/ must have more Save st.tes, and more Senator'S
) and Representatives, and more electoral votes.
Hence the absolute determination OF the South
never TO admit the principle crystallzcd in the
/ Wimot Proviso. the principle that freedom was
I the normal condition Of annexed territory.
! The history of Chase's efforts to obtain
a nomination for the Presidency occupies
/ several chapters. and is very interesting,
! though from its nature not quotable. The
4 same is true OF the clear and graphic
sketch given of his career as Secretary of
! the Treasury and his relations with Lin
/ coin. Nothing. perhaps, so clearly shows
Lincoln's greatness as a controller of men
than the fact that he managed to get into
his Cabinet Seward and Chase, two men
who had definitely aspired to become
President. and each of whom lad strong
following in the party. In spite Of the
prominence and ability in leadership of
both these men. Lincoln gradually be-
came, not their tool. but their master.
In fact he never was the tool of anybody,
ever when, as an almost unknown Illinois
lawyer, he took his seat in the White
House
An especially important chapter is enc
in the latter part of the book in which
i q
Chase is given. 1t is in part as follows:
|, Chase ssw more clearly than any other public
nan Of HE time. except Lincoln, the impor
tance. the necesitv. and the moral effect of
sticking 10 consistent principle. He entered
public life 2oti-s.asery man, and nothing
ever d.cw him aside from what he conceived
To be the right 81 the bondinan, and the
parallel right Of The community to be freed
from bondage. In this respect he stood fsf
above William II. Seward, a whose career
ives in many respects like his own In the
dark months Of 1850 ard 1861, both men were
inclined 70 give up the strenuous opposition TO
etc-.itsl-Seward because lie believed thar the
Southern States were not in earnest, and Chasc
because he could not al once see that the future
freedom of the continent depended upon striking
at the ConteJcTacy before IL was completed.
The national banking system was Chlses crea-
ton. and from ls6l 70 1861 be thought ct II
continuously, losing no opportunity Of showing
how much il netSi.d and eventually his prin-
c.pes triumpbe5. Beginning with the conviction
that the seif-contfol Of the States in their own
concerns necessary for freedom in the North,
Chase never d.vested himself OF the belief that
it best to leave even the Southern States
after Reorganization 10 manage their own az
fairs; and at his death ne stood on the great
question of State rights about where be had
stood thirty years earlier. Otter mon OF his
time had changed their mines. and Chase was
not the 10 he bound forever by partial
conception arrived at carly in life; his view
was simply that il lay in the nature Of man TO
misuse the powefs Of government If TOO much
assembled in the national part q thu Amer
lean system.
Why is it that man so large, farsighted,
so upright Whose principles were SO excellent.
should have failed to leave impression of
superemincnce? One reason is that the times
were rot 50 favorable for the reputation Of a
civilian a. Of a military man; Eut still stronger
reason IS that LiHcon, in the public mind. 80
oYertopped all Other Statement There were
plenty 81 striking civilians during the owl war.
and Chase into relations with most OF
them; bat their regulations are all stuutcd By
the greatness Of that most Overpowerlng per-
sonality Charles Francis Adams, Stanton, Sc
ward Sumner, and ThsGIcus Stevens would al
have -hone brightly in earlier or later times
They the men with whom ChHse Is TO be com
pared: and moi Of them has such claims %
our admiration as he. force and impacab.e
radical in Lis Younger Gays, Chase came TO have
. spirit OF moderation and conception that there
was Possibly another side 10 the controversy, |
which could ncycr enter into the miGcs OF sum
nor and Stevens. Ia breath Of view and IN igit
into the conditions OF the country he certainly |
surpassed Adans; in balance ana in power Of
working with other men as insjnLmcntIiitics |
stanton was lar his inferior; and the whole course
Of the civil war and reconstruction showed that |
be had in his mind q basis Of solid conviction |
which LACKING in The hcry, more astute and
genial Seward.
II is rot defence to say that for some wears |
Chase thought thai his own experience and long |
service a. an.i-slaveIy man gave him deeper |
insight than Lincoln possessed. In the crisi, Of
1862 and the supreme effort of 1864 h. ought to |
have taken his place as LincoIns strongest aud |
most generous supporter. That he did not J. due |
to two defects in his makeup; he lacked a sense
OF propor,io and he lacked Imagination II |
was not in him to That in 1854 the question |
was not Of military success, of putting at the
head Of affairs a man OF great intelligence and |
good judgment-that is, Chase hmself-but in
uniting the country in its final, desperate effort
- f1aa head az he .,y mar