The Abolitionists / Together With Personal Memories Of The Struggle For Human Rights, 1830-1864

who were slaves, or were liable to become slaves, are under the greatest obl

factor in the Government during the great final contest that ended i

most difficult position, in the entire circle of public departments. It was easy to get men to fight the battles of the Union if there was money to pay them. It was easy to furnish ships and arms and supplies in sufficient quantity, notwithstanding the terrible drain of the greatest of civil wars, as long as the funds held out. Everything depended on the treasury. Failure there meant irretr

nomist, the great English financial journal. His opinion in financial matters was regarded as the highest authority. It was accepted as infallible. He discussed the plans of Mr. Chase with great elaborateness and great severity. He pre

history. It was the thing most needed. He gave it a leader who, of all men th

ntest for the mastery of the Government from the hour he took command. The movement was to be slow, sometimes halting and apparently

cold-blooded and cool-headed, a deliberate and conservative man. His speeches were described as giving light but no heat. His sympathies were seemingly weak, but his sense of justice was immense.

he "Attorney-General for runaway niggers." Upon some of his Anti-Slavery cases he bestowed an immense amount of work. His argument in the case of Van Zant-the original of Van Tromp in Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin,-an old man who was prosecuted and fined until he was financially ruined for giving a "

ive sagacity, to foresee, although it must have been but dimly, the possibilities of political development and official promotion, bu

time in their lives, and who had no social position and no influential kinsfolks, had little to lose. But it was very different with Chase. He had a professio

at that time in a subsequent

ing up the organization of the party of constitutional freedom then inaugurated. Sometimes, indeed, all I could do seemed insignificant, wh

les. While a law student in a country village he was sent down to Cincinnati to secure certain testimony in the form of affidavits. During his visi

e. We proceeded to Mr. Chase's chambers, and were about to enter when my companion noticed the name on the door. He fell back as if he had been struck in the face. "The ---- Abolitionist," he exclaimed, "I wouldn't enter his place for a hundred dollars!" We went elsewhere for our business, and on the way m

lence to Mr. Birney was contemplated and that his life was in danger. He made all haste to Birney's residence and gave him warning of his peril. Then he took his stand in the doorway of the building and calmly awaited the coming of the rabble. Those who knew Cha

e him a warm reception. Something prevented his attendance, and a very mild and amiable old clergyman from an adjoining t

ot been a "third party" man. In 1840, when there was an Abolition ticket in the field, headed by his personal friend, James G. Birney, he had not supported it. But soon afterwards, becoming firmly convinced that Anti-Slavery people had nothing to hope for from either of the old parties, he set about the

arty in the State of Ohio, and at the same time nominate a State ticket. Less than a hundred sympat

the proceedings, he said that pretty much everything was directed by a Mr. Chase (Salamander Chase was his

heir addresses and their platforms. He made the leading speeches. He presided at the great convention at Buffalo in

illiam M. Evarts says: "He must be awarded the full credit of having underst

f 1844 and 1848 it held the balance of power and turned the scale to further its purposes. In 1852 it shattered and destroyed one o

at was then entertained by nearly all the radical Anti-Slavery people of the country. It is not unlikely that Chase felt somewhat envious of Lincoln. After, as he stated in his letter of congratulation to Mr. Lincoln on his first election, he had given nineteen years of continuous and exhausting labor to the f