AMONG the early political

opponents of slavery Salmon P. Chase held a foremost place. He helped to form the Liberty Party, assisted the Free Soil movement, then joined in organizing the Republican Party, and by it was raised to high offices in the State and nation. Though he reached the highest judicial position, he was disappointed that

he was not awarded the highest executive place.

Salmon Portland Chase was born at Cornish, New Hampshire, on the 13th of January, 1808. He was descended from Aquila Chase, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1640. When Salmon was eight years old, the family moved to Keene, New Hampshire, where his father died the next year. Thereafter this son was cared for by his uncle, Bishop Philander Chase, then residing in Ohio. When fifteen years old, he returned to New Hampshire, and entered Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1826. Having an uncle a senator from Vermont, he went to Washington, hoping to obtain employment under the Government. When his uncle disapproved this plan, he opened a school, and also studied law with William Wirt. After being admitted to the bar, he removed to Cincinnati in 1829, and there engaged in practice, meantime preparing an edition of the Statutes of Ohio.

Although the business community of Cincinnati was proslavery, Chase soon took a determined stand in the defence of fugitive slaves. In 1837, on behalf of a negro woman who had been brought by her master to Cincinnati on his way to Missouri, and had attempted to escape, he argued that a slave brought by his owner into a free State thereby became free, and could not be reclaimed under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793. Though the case was decided against him, his argument made a strong impression. Seeking to restrain the growth of slavery, he joined with others in forming the Liberty Party in 1841, and he prepared its "Address to the People of the United States." In 1846 he was associated with W. H. Seward in pleading before the United States Supreme Court the case of John Van Zandt, who had assisted some fugitive slaves in escaping. Their efforts to have the Fugitive Slave Law declared unconstitutional were unsuccessful.

In 1849 Chase was elected to the United States Senate by a combination of Free Soilers and Democrats, similar to that which sent Sumner to the Senate from Massachusetts. He opposed Clay's compromise measures, and afterwards resisted the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He was an early advocate of a Homestead Law, opening the national domain to actual settlers, and of the construction of a railroad to the Pacific. Chase assisted in forming the Republican Party, and in 1855 he was made its candidate for the governorship of Ohio. By successive elections, he held that position until 1860. At the Republican Convention in that year Chase was a candidate for the presidential nomination, but his friends on the third ballot gave their votes to Lincoln. Chase was again sent to the Senate, but, on the day after taking his seat, was appointed by President Lincoln Secretary of the Treasury. The time was critical, for the treasury was practically empty, and enormous demands were soon made upon it for the maintenance of a vast army and navy and their complicated movements. New systems of finance had speedily to be devised and new methods found to make available the resources of the nation. Vigorous measures were required and prompt decision was indispensable. The patriotism of the people and their representatives in Congress steadily

supported his efforts and willingly submitted to the burdens he was obliged to recommend for the prosecution of the war. Besides successive series of bonds of varying terms, the most important feature of his policy was the issue of the greenbacks, as the United States notes have since been called. He also introduced the national bank system, which almost entirely superseded the old State banks.

Great as were his labors and services to his country in his department, Chase wished for more radical measures than were approved by President Lincoln. This feeling grew stronger as trying times passed on, and he not only chafed under the yoke, but countenanced opposition to his chief. Finally a difficulty about the appointment of a subordinate induced Secretary Chase to resign, and he was surprised to find his resignation promptly accepted. Yet shortly afterward Lincoln testified his high regard for Chase's ability by appointing him Chief-Justice of the United States.

Chase was undeniably well qualified for this high position by mental and moral endowments. The most remarkable scene in his judicial career was when he was called, according to the Constitution, to preside over the Senate during the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In the opinion of all unprejudiced observers he discharged the duties of that novel position in a spirit of the strictest impartiality. His dignity impressed itself on the whole conduct of that trial, and compelled those who participated in it to realize constantly the solemnity of the occasion. Although the President had by his course highly offended the Republican Party, and though that party had a decided majority in the Senate, five of their number joined with the Democrats in voting to acquit him, and thus reduced the number who condemned him to one less than the necessary two-thirds.

Another remarkable event of Chief-Justice Chase's career was his decision that the constitutional limits had been overstepped when the greenbacks which he, as Secretary of the Treasury, had devised and issued, had been declared a legal tender for all debts. This opinion was supported by a majority of the court, but at a later period was reversed. In other respects Chief-Justice Chase disapproved the later acts

of the Republican

Party, being especially averse to military rule in the South. In 1870 he was detained by his judicial duties in Washington till the end of June. He then took a trip to the Northwest, and while returning was stricken with paralysis. He was thenceforth an invalid, though he recovered sufficiently to resume his seat on the bench. He died at New York on the 7th of May, 1873.

Salmon P. Chase was a man of commanding presence and splendid physique, but years of constant and severe labor undermined his strength. He was unduly disposed to worry over the bad management of public affairs by others. His firm belief in his own intellectual and executive ability made him too anxious to attain the presidency, an ambition which has injured some of the greatest Americans.

THE IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JOHNSON.

[Soon after the Thirty-ninth Congress met in December, 1865, having a large Republican majority in both branches, it refused to recognize elections held in the Southern States in accordance with President Johnson's proclamation restoring them to their place in the Union, passed acts over his veto on behalf of the freedmen, and proposed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. In 1867 it passed over the President's veto a bill for the government of the South as military districts. Generals Sheridan, Sickles and Pope were assigned by the President to the command of these districts. Congress on the same day passed a "Tenure of Office" act, restraining the President from removing principal officers without the consent of the Senate, which was required in their appointment. The President, however, removed Secretary Stanton and assigned the War Department to General Grant. When the Senate met, it overruled the deposition of Stanton, and General Grant at once retired in his favor. President Johnson again issued an order removing Secretary Stanton and appointing Adjutant-General L. Thomas in his place, but Stanton would not yield the place. The President held that Stanton was merely a hold-over from Lincoln's cabinet, and therefore removable.

In consequence of these differences and the President's strong language in denunciation of Congress, the House of Representatives resolved on February 24, 1868 (by 126 yeas to 47 nays), that the President be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. The eleven articles of impeachment were agreed to by the House on March 3d. They specified his removal of Secretary Stanton, his publicly expressed contempt for the Thirty-ninth Congress as a Congress of only part of the States, and his obstruction of the execution of its

measures. They were presented to the Senate on the 5th of March, and the trial began on the 23d. According to the Constitution, Chief Justice Chase presided. The managers appointed by the House from its own members were Thaddeus Stevens, B. F. Butler, John A. Bingham, George S. Boutwell, J. F. Wilson, T. Williams and John A. Logan. The counsel for the President were Attorney-General Henry Stanbery, Benjamin R. Curtis, Jeremiah S. Black, William M. Evarts, and T. A. R. Nelson. The Chief-Justice claimed and exercised at the outset the right to give a casting vote.

After several sessions in which eloquent and powerful speeches were made on both sides, a test vote was had on May 16th, on the eleventh article, which was considered the strongest. The result was, for conviction, 35 Senators; for acquittal, 19 Senators, of whom 14 were Democrats and 5 Republicans. As the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote to convict, the result was acquittal on this article. On May 26th, a vote was taken on the first and second articles, with the same result. It being evident that conviction could not be obtained, the Court of Impeachment adjourned sine die.]

The first political impeachment in our constitutional history, involving, as it did, the accusation of the President of the United States, required the Chief-Justice to preside at the trial before the Senate, creating thus the tribunal to which the Constitution had assigned this high jurisdiction. Beyond the injunction that the Senate, when sitting for the trial of impeachments, should be "on oath," the Constitution gave no instruction to fix or ascertain the character of the procedure, the nature of the duty assigned to the specially-organized court, or the distribution of authority between the ChiefJustice and the Senate.

The situation lacked no feature of gravity-no circumstance of solicitude-and the attention of the whole country, and of foreign nations, watched the transaction at every stage of its progress. No circumstances could present a greater disparity of political or popular forces between accuser and accused, and none could be imagined of more thorough commitment of the body of the court-the Senate-both in the interests of its members, in their political feeling, and their pre-judgments; all tending to make the condemnation of the President, upon all superficial calculations, inevitable. The effort of the Constitution to guard against mere partisan judgment, by requiring a two-thirds vote to convict, was paralyzed by the com