Ohio History Journal

SALMON PORTLAND CHASE.

 

UNDERGRADUATE AND PEDAGOGUE.

 

 

BY ARTHUR MEIER SCHLESINGER, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.

Salmon Portland Chase was a significant member of that

group of political radicals who plunged the nation into civil

convulsions by their accession to governmental power in the

late '5o's. Much has been written of Chase, the anti-slavery

lawyer, the organizer of the Liberty party, the war financier,

the chief justice; but of Chase, the youth, the college student,

the school teacher, little has been said. Yet these plastic years

were the most critical ones of his life; they were the years

in which he developed the mental habits and human contacts

which were profoundly to influence his later career.

The letters of Chase to his college friend Thomas Spar-

hawk, which have recently been acquired by the Ohio State

Archaeological and Historical Society, are chiefly valuable for

the insight one may acquire of Chase in this formative period.

The first group of seven letters were written while Chase was

an undergraduate at Dartmouth College. Marked by college-

boy pleasantries the correspondence is wholesome and hearty

and innocent of subtlety; it also affords glimpses of the deeply

religious strain which influenced Chase's maturer years. From

a different point of view these letters are instructive for the side-

lights they throw upon student life in the '20's in an American

college and upon the difficulties which lay in ambush for the

district school teacher. In the second series of letters Chase

had removed to Washington, there to earn a livelihood while

preparing himself for his life work. The last letter of this group

was written from Cincinnati where Chase was beginning to take

the first venturesome steps in a career which was to shed much

honor on himself and his adopted state. Of these later letters

more will be said presently. The two groups of letters now

appear in print for the first time.

(119)

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120       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

I.

Salmon P. Chase was born on January 13, 1808, in Cornish,

New Hampshire. When Salmon was a lad of seven the Chase

family removed to Keene and there his father died a year or

so later leaving to his mother a slender property and ten chil-

dren. The boy's schooling began about this time: he received

fragmentary instruction in a young ladies' school, in two district

schools at Keene, and in a private school at Windsor, Vt., and

later he studied Greek under a tutor at Keene. In after years

he remarked of his schooling at Windsor: "I was counted quite

a prodigy; but I see now that thorough instruction and acquisi-

tion of one quarter would have been much better than superficial

coursing through the whole."¹

Early in 1820 Chase felt the first tug of that attraction

which was finally to draw him permanently to Ohio. His uncle,

Bishop Philander Chase, of Worthington, offered to take the

lad under his tutelage, an invitation which his mother gladly

embraced. By flatboat, carriage and steamboat he journeyed to

Cleveland; and then by horseback, employing the familiar

frontier practice of "ride and tie," he arrived at his destination

in Worthington sometime in June, 1820. Chase's sojourn in

Worthington left him with few pleasant memories. The bishop

was an extremely good man, head of the Protestant Episcopal

Church in Ohio, but a stern moral guardian and exacting task-

master. The lad received some desultory instruction in a brick

school-house on the west side of the town square, and read

theological works under the bishop's direction-hardy diet for a

boy of twelve! "Out of school," he related in after years, "I did

chores; took grain to the mill and brought back meal or flour;

milked the cows; drove them to and from pasture; took wool to

the carding factory over on the Scioto, an important journey

to me; built fires and brought in wood in the winter time;

helped gather sugar water and make sugar when winter first

 

Extract from a letter written to J. T. Trowbridge to assist him in

preparing the biographical sketch entitled The Ferry Boy and the Finan-

cier. Quoted in Robert B. Warden's An Account of the Private Life and

Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase (Cincinnati 1874), 60.

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Salmon P. Chase.                  121

 

turned to spring; helped plant and sow in the later spring. In

most of whatever a boy could do on a farm I did a little."²

In 1822 Bishop Chase, whose income from the church was

extremely meager, was offered the presidency of Cincinnati

College. Thence he removed with his family and nephew in

November of that year. Cincinnati College was an institution

in which "the requirements of scholarship was [sic] by no

means exacting," as Chase himself testified in later years.³

Entering the college as a Freshman he soon was able to advance

himself to Sophomore standing by a little extra study.

His description of Cincinnati during the period of his first

residence in that city is of interest in view of the account that

he gives of the city in a letter to Sparhawk on his return there

as a fledgling lawyer in 1830: "Cincinnati was then a com-

paratively small town. From Fifth Street north, there were few

buildings. The Court-house had been removed from its original

location in the square on which the college stood to the center

of a lot of ground on Main Street-the same lot on which the

existing Court-house stands. Mr. Este, a prominent lawyer, had

built a residence not far from the Court-house. I remember

no other building of consequence north of Fifth Street. A

trade had sprung up on the river; but there was little, com-

paratively, in the interior. The river was a wonder to me;

especially when swollen by the spring flood; and a still greater

wonder were the steamboats-inconsiderable crafts, doubtless,

but to me monsters."⁴

Bishop Chase did not long remain content with his new

honors and within less than a year resigned his position and

determined to go to England to seek aid for the establishment of

a theological seminary. Salmon accompanied the Chase family

on their journey eastward and in the autumn of 1823 arrived

at the home in Keene from which he had departed some three

years earlier. His college education being as yet incomplete, it was

decided in family council that he should renew his studies at

Dartmouth College with such partial support as he might effect

 

2Letter to Trowbridge; ibid., 83.

Letter to Trowbridge; ibid., 93.

4 Letter to Trowbridge; ibid., 96.

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122      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

through school-teaching and such assistance as his mother might

spare from her scanty means.

A few months after his return he secured a position as

master of a school in a district of the adjoining town of Rox-

bury; but his employment ended abruptly within less than a

fortnight when one of the bullies of the school, actually older

than the boy-teacher, complained to the school committee that

he had been suppressed too vigorously by the master! Early

in the spring Chase attended the academy at Royalton, Vt., in

order to prepare for the admission examination at Dartmouth

during the approaching commencement, for it was his intention

to enter as a Junior. This process proved to be a pleasant

enough experience inasmuch as Chase did not regard it very

seriously and diluted his studies with liberal doses of social

intermingling.

When the critical day for the examination arrived, he

went to Hanover and, as he related many years later, "I * * *

found the professors much engaged. I was sent from one to

another, questioned a little-luckily for me with no great severity

-and was admitted. One of the questions by the learned pro-

fessor of mathematics amused me. He undertook to fathom

my geographical attainments, and asked: 'Where do the Hotten-

tots live?' I was tempted to answer, 'In Hanover,' but prudence

restrained me."⁵ Now came several weeks of vacation follow-

ing the Dartmouth commencement; and then Chase returned to

Hanover a Junior in fact.

"While rooming in the college," Chase declared in reminis-

cence, "I boarded, for the greater part of the time, in club-

that is to say, a number of the students organized themselves

into an association; rented a room; provided food and attend-

ance through a committee, and assessed the expense on the

association. If any one desired board without being a member of

the association, he could have it on paying an established weekly

rate; and there were a number who did so. I was one."⁶

During the winter which followed his first term in Dart-

mouth he again engaged to teach a district school, this time at

5Letter to Trowbridge; ibid., 112.

6Letter to Trowbridge; ibid., 112.

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Salmon P. Chase.                      123

 

Reading, and he was able to return to college with the earnings

of seven or eight weeks' teaching. Of this venture in "school-

keeping" he gives a highly colored account in one of his letters

to Sparhawk. The letters that are printed below furnish an

excellent running account of the remainder of Chase's course in

Dartmouth.

HANOVER, Novr. 29. 1825.

DEAR TOM,

Why have you not written to me before now? I have been ex-

pecting a letter some time and have at last concluded that the reason you

have not written is that you did not know where to direct. The Govern-

ment were exceedingly wroth at your manner of departure. I understand

that the President⁷ told Elliott that as "you had gone off without liberty

you might get back as you could." Which being interpreted signifies

that you will have to pay two dollars fine & write a confession perhaps

into the bargain on your return. I hope however that the latter will not

be required for I know that if you do not think you have done wrong

you will never write a confession. Folsom8 has got the school at Haver-

hill. Swasy recieved a letter stating that Holmes might have it, but

Holmes was already elsewhere engaged. Swasey then engaged the school

for Folsom altho' he knew that I expected and was waiting for it. I

recieved a letter from Swasey stating that he was sorry I could not

have the school for it was engaged to Folsom, when he knew that he

had engaged it for him at the same time that I was expecting it. I don't

think that Swasey has acted very honourably in this matter. I care not

much about the school as I shall spend my vacation more pleasantly

without it than with, but it is the disposition which S--  has man-

ifested. I do not now expect to keep school this winter; so you may for

the present at least direct your letters to old Dartmouth.

I recieved a letter from Punchard yesterday-he wrote in fine

spirits and appears to enjoy himself very much at home. I will extract

one sentence for your perusal. "Tom Sparhawk is the last person I

should have thought of taking a school-If he don't cry heu miserabile!

I shall lose my guess." What think you Tom? Shall you persevere

unto the end in school-keeping?  Or shall you become tired of the

business and take French leave of your school before it is half through?

I am glad your father likes my profile but am greatly afraid if he

should ever happen to see me he would say that there is very little

resemblance between it & the original. Creeping Moses left the plain

soon after you went away. He was in my room for about 6 hours every

day from the time he took those likenesses till he went. Folks say that

7The Rev. Bennett Tyler was president of Dartmouth College from

1822 to 1828.

8Nathaniel Folsom was in later years to occupy a chair in Mead-

ville Theological Seminary, Pa.

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124        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

the one which was drawn for you resembles you very much. I will now

mention a circumstance which Dan requested me to write to you about

lest I should forget it. Ward says that Kent never bought any wood

of him for you - that he had promised Gen. Poole some wood and drew

that half-cord for him. I heard Ward say this so that if Dan did not

tell Ward what to say, you must have been in the wrong respecting

Dan's conduct in this matter. He says he was very much hurt by your

suspicions and wished me to tell you how matters really were. I have

told you what Ward said and you must draw your own conclusion.

Paine had a letter last Saturday from Concord stating that the school

there was engaged to Robinson, that graduated last commencement.

Torry goes next Friday and the rest of us will probably stay on the

rest of the term. Monsieur's school has closed, but he has engaged to

take another in the Spring. All his scholars are much pleased with

him I believe. For my part I have not obtained much good from it, but

it was my own fault I suppose.

Your classmate Stone has commenced his school in Keene has

about forty noisy, dirty, ragged young idiot[s] to teach. There was a

grand party at Mrs. Woodward's a few evenings since-the gentlemen

were the Rev. Mr. Stone, Tutors Aiken & Carlton, Junior Alvord,

Sophomores Stone and Woodward & George Wood. Ladies I do not

know who or what they are.

Almost all our class have cleared out, and the rest are soon going,

except Kendrich, Kimball, Cilley & Myself. We are studying Butler9

yet, but shall soon commence Paleys Evidences.

As to that important & dignified personage --      i--      ;

he is very well tho' somewhat lasy--studies a little-reads a little

more and scribbles more still, and wishes very much, as he says, to hear

from his chum Tom.

Tom Paine domiciliates with me at present. He has lived with me

since he was taken sick with a violent cold arising from the influence of

Conic Sections. We had an excellent thanksgiving dinner. Turkey,

plumpudding, pies mince, squash & pumpkin, apples and wine, &c &c &c

&c. If you should happen to meet with any body who knows me, present

my respects to them. I am excessively tired, having written one long let-

ter before to-day. Write soon--Good-bye.

Yours Affectionately

 

DART COLL., Dec. 14. 1825.

DEAR TOM,

I recieved your very entertaining letter of the 21st inst with much

pleasure. You say I may be thankful for my disappointment respecting

 

9Joseph Butler's well known work, The Analogy of Religion, Nat-

ural and Revealed, to the Course and Constitution of Nature, published

originally in 1736.

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Salmon P. Chase.                       125

 

the school. I am not by any means sorry that I did not obtain it, tho I

do not by any means like the way in which I lost it. I regret that you

are not better pleased with your school than your letter intimates. I

never thought it would agree with you very well - you are not as patient

as Job I can tell you, without fear of contradiction. I remember that in

the school where I kept last winter10 the noise would sometimes almost

drive me distracted. In respect to the Govt., their bark is always

worse than their bite, tho they can bite keenly enough too upon occasion.

Witness George's case--bow wow.11 You will be called upon for the

fine of course. You knew so much when you left Hanover. I hope that

they will exact nothing further. - Old Tom has recovered from the cold

which so severely afflicted him. N. B. The Junior class have finished

Conic Sections. Tom, Cilley and Ego are all that are left in our family.

Cleveland left this morning.12 I have begun to like C--  quite well--

many of the stories by which I was prejudiced against him I have found

to be false and the others highly exaggerated. I have learnt a lesson

from this which I hope I shall not soon forget, that is not to judge

decidedly upon slight grounds.

Creeping Moses has pulled up stakes and cleared to my great satis-

faction and relief. I was always willing to endure a reasonable share

of his company, but to be favoured with it all the time was a favour of

which I felt myself extremely unworthy, and unwilling that my per-

turbation should be visible I blew out the light, covered up the fire and

hid my blushing face under the blankets. I was not under the necessity

of resorting to the last summary expedient which you mentioned in order

to convince him of my modesty.

Your profile is not such a very bad looking object after all. Old

Bison says it looks exactly like you when you are about to say some-

thing witty. So think of something darn'd cute and look in the glass

and if you don't see something there that will make you laugh I shall

be Content to be set down for a false prophet.

"I wonder if I should have been honoured with an invitation from

the Miss woodward's"-I am     sure I can't tell & am   equally sure

 

10 At Reading.

"This reference is to a difficulty which Chase's friend George

Punchard got into with the college authorities the preceding summer.

Punchard was suspended for some offense of which Chase believed him

to be innocent. Chase protested to President Tyler; and when his pro-

test availed nothing, he quit college for the period of his friend's sus-

pension. In speaking of this episode in a letter to Trowbridge, Chase

remarked in after years: "I could not help feeling that I had done right

in standing by my friend; but I was sorry that I had been obliged to

leave college." Punchard later became a minister in Boston. Warden,

S. P. Chase, 115-116.

12After graduating from Dartmouth in 1827 Charles Dexter Cleve-

land, here referred to, became professor of Latin and Greek in Dickinson

College and later in New York University. He wrote a number of crit-

ical works on modern and classical literature.

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126        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

that you would not have accepted it if you had. I see no reason why

you should wonder that they had no more gentlemen. They had all that

they knew from the three lower classes that would go and they have a

moral antipathy to our class you know because we come ['?] after Mr.

Henry and other reasons too insignificant to mention. There has been

a READING CIRCLE (Excuse my printing Tom I pray thee) estab-

lished at Hanover-the Gentlemen Tommy Aiken & Carlton read and

the ladies correct any mistakes they may happen to observe. Williaminel3

belongs to it and has made marvellous improvement in consequence

thereof: Insomuch that now I scarcely dare say Boo to her (Or as the

old saying goes Say Boo to a goose) for fear that I shall be told that it

is not good English! She has moreover acquired a number of smooth,

elegant, pure, harmonious clear English sayings, par exemple "You lie"

"Shoot your Granny" "Awful crittur" and I don't know how many

others equipollent and tantamount to that. You see hereby what rapid

strides Hanover is taking in the march of improvement. Par example

puts me in mind of Monsieur. I remembered you to him, tho' without

your orders for I suppose that you would have told me to had you

thought of it. He has left Hanover this morning for Woodstock, where

he proposes instructing a school this winter. He told me to remember

him affectionately to you.

I am glad that your cousin remembers me. I thought I should like

him very much upon acquaintance- as it was I feel a great respect for

him. Present my respects to him if you please. I hardly think it will

be possible for me to be in Portsmouth this winter; if it is possible how-

ever I will. Dan brought me your letter and wished to read it. I told

him I had no objections. He read it & said that he was very glad you

had altered your opinion of him. He did not comprehend the import

of the particle Sed [?] I guess.  Cilley tells me that he shall see

you in the course of a fortnight or three weeks & sends a packet of

Love to you. Goodbye.

YOUR SINCERE FRIEND

 

P. S. You must answer this so that I may receive your letter

within eight or ten days for after that time I scarcely know where I

shall be for two or three weeks. I have written this just as I should

talk. Excuse all faults.

 

READING VT. Feby. 6. 1826.

DEAR TOM:

I regret very much that you have not thought fit to answer my last

letter. I expected that you would direct to Hanover and that it would

be forwarded to me in case I should not be there. But I suppose that

you have good reasons for it as I am not willing to suspect the "sin-

13 Daughter of General Poole, already referred to by Chase.

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Salmon P. Chase.                        127

 

cerity" of your friendship. Since my last to you many important events

have taken place, such as old Bison's falling in love for the 99th time.

The present object of his admiration is a Miss Trumbull from Hart-

ford, Conn. But as he is a sworn squire of dames I suppose that his

present will last no longer than his former flames. Many other equally

important events have transpired too tedious to mention. Harriet Wood-

ward has been paying attentions to a medical student but has been re-

jected! At least so says General Report who you know is not a man

of unquestioned veracity. I was up at H______14 a few days since. Saw

Mrs. Poole and Williamine-all well. W     -     had been to a ball at

Windsor and at one in Woodstock so she had plenty to talk of during

the short time I was there. Her tongue went as smooth as butter and

as swift as Eclipse. I did not see any of your particular acquaintances

while there.  Since the vacation commenced I have been at Keene

where I staid between three or four weeks. Charles Olcott is there-

rather more steady than he has been tho' it can scarce be hoped that

he will ever entirely free himself from his unhappy habit of intemper-

ance. I am very sorry for him for setting aside that blot upon his

character. There are few who are more highly gifted with every quality

that excites esteem and insures respect. I came to this place about two

weeks since. I have a sister here who is married to the physician of

the place.15 My Mother intends residing here for the future; as she

has no children who are not either at school at a distance or married or

otherwise engaged. It is a gloomy and unsocial place and were it not

that my sister is here I should hardly think my Mother could endure the

change; but she is satisfied and of course I am. I shall be as much at

liberty as formerly and the change cannot materially affect me, as I am

scarcely ever at home for a month together. How prospers your school!

I hope you meet with no difficulty in the management of the blacks

which are entrusted to you to shape out after a workmanlike manner.

Avery as I understand has bidden farewell to his school in Sharon.

Your friend Elliott is now engaged in his third. Russell does very well

however. Hutchins I understand teaches the young idea how to shoot

with great accuracy. I saw Torry in Windsor a few days since. He

succeeded well I beleive in his school and is now enjoying himself at

home. I think you made a great mistake when you took so long a school.

You must be fairly tired out long before this. I can well sympathise

with you for it was only 12 months since I was engaged in the same

horrid delightful employment. I counted the hours, minutes and even

seconds with the utmost impatience and greatly did I rejoice when the

hour came when I could say to myself "I am free." You however are

differently situated from what I was. You have pleasant society to con-

sole you for the vexations you experience in your school; but to me my

 

14 Hanover.

15Jane Chase, the wife of Dr. Skinner.

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128        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

pleasantest hours were often those which I spent in schoolroom; the peo-

ple among whom I was cast were almost savages,--one or two families

alone could pretend to common decency. I was not starved however-

the best bohea the greasiest nutcake and largest piece of pie which

would rival in the compactness of formation and darkness of hue the

darkest ebony was always reserved for the "master". However I made

shift to live it thro' and tho't at the close of the period for which I was

engaged that I would sooner undertake to teach the wild Indians, than

again attempt to instruct savages of our enlightened land.

I have trespassed thus long upon your patience with an account of

my school merely because I had nothing else to say which I thought

might be interesting to you. Do you ever hear from Punchard? I have

not heard a syllable from him scarcely since the vacation commenced.

Shall you return to H-      at the commencement of the term? If

you do not I wish you would send me an immediate answer to this. Be

sure to come as quick as you finish your school for our room is all too

large to be filled by one person.

Very affectionately

YOUR FRIEND

DEAR TOM,

I wrote this letter in Reading Vermont state and intended to have

sent it to you before this time but as this is an out-of-the-way place

where the mail seldom comes, I have not sent it till this present time.16

George Punchard is here--you cannot think how glad we all were to

see him. He has grown fat and is hearty as a buck. Torrey & Creep-

ing Moses & Cleveland are all here. I am sorry to find that Cleveland

is charged with such heavy accusations as he is said to be for I had

begun to like him quite well. C--      Moses rooms in Brown Hall.

[Three words illegible.] Do Come as soon as you Can. Don't stay to

finish your school if it will keep you long. At all events write imme-

diately. Remember me to your cousin. Goodbye and believe me ever

Ceteris equalibus

Your's Affectionately

 

HANOVER, March 12th 1826.

MY DEAR TOM,

I have taken the liberty of writing to you at this time in order to

request you to purchase me a handsome English watch in Concord the

price of which I do not wish to exceed 16 dolls. I want to have as

small a one as possible, at least as small as yours and warranted for one

year. You may get it as much cheaper than 16 dollars as you can!

A revival is commenced here and probably will make sweeping

work. The President goes round and exhorts every one who has ex-

pressed any concern.

16Postmarked at Hanover, February 20.

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Salmon P. Chase.                       129

 

Prof. Shurtliff as you have probably seen by the papers has lost his

wife.17 George Punchard has just left my room. He is very well and

so is old Tom and Gates. Hutchins lately recd. a letter from you.

I thought it somewhat queer that you did not write to me at the same

time.-What's to pay. Excuse blots and handwriting on account of

my pen.

Your's affectionately

 

P. S. I do not write at any great length as you will come on so

soon. Pay for the watch and I will hand you the money upon your

arrival. If there are no English ones of the kind I wish you to get for

me a small French one to open on the back and front, worked on the

outside, warranted one year, price not exceed 12 dollars. I care very

little which of this you get me and should if any thing prefer the last.

 

 

HANOVER March 16 1826

MY DEAR TOM.

I recd. with much pleasure your very kind letter of the 27th ult.

not however 'till the 11th of this month. Before recieving it I had

written a short letter to you directed to Concord, which you probably

will not receive 'till on your way here if then. It is of no manner of

Consequence whether you do or no as there is no information in that

which will not be contained in this.

I have sold my old watch and wish to procure a new one. If you

should be able to obtain me an English one in Portsmouth of the same

sise, or smaller than yours, warranted for time one year or a French

one, worked on the outside, to open both on the front and back, small

in sise, & warranted for time one year, I should be glad if you would

procure it for me and I will pay you immediately upon your return.

I should not wish the English watch to cost over 16 dolls. and the

French one not over 12 dolls, and you may get either as much cheaper

as possible! I have a small bill at Brown,¹⁸ which if you would pay I

would settle with you. The amount of the bill is $5.68. You remember

you took off my Burns to have it bound. If it is already bound and has

cost more than 2.00 for the binding I should wish you to procure an-

other set if possible at about 3.50 well bound; if not I should wish you

to have them bound as well as you can for .50 cents a volume. Pardon

me for troubling you so much about my matters.-We will now if you

please say something about yours. Are you indispensably engaged in

your school for 3 weeks longer? If not and you have any wish to be

restored to Coll. upon easy terms I would advise you to return imme-

 

¹⁷Roswell Shurtleff was the professor of theology at this time. For

a sketch of his life, see B. P. Smith, The History of Dartmouth College

(Boston, 1878), 228-240.

¹⁸A tailor.

Vol. XXVIII-9.

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130        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

diately in the very next mail and be present at the examination of your

class. If you do this I think you will be readmitted upon easy terms,

if not you will be obliged to undergo a private examination, which is a

thing somewhat to be dreaded if as you say, you have not attended much

to your classical studies. Besides I have a more selfish motive; I want

you as a Room-Mate, to help me fetch wood, draw water, &c., &c. Do

Come, and that not quickly merely but immediately. Your examination

will be upon Thursday next week and it will be your interest to be

present at it. Come therefore without hesitation directly.

A revival has commenced here. I was not taught to believe much

in the efficacy of such things but I do not not [sic] know enough con-

cerning their effects to oppose them.¹⁹ I so wish to comply with the ad-

vice of Gameliel to the Jewish Sanhedrim, "Refrain from these men

&c."²⁰ Charles Thompson has experienced as he says a change of heart-

that is-he has become religious. Ned Avery is said to be under serious

impressions and so is Gates Cilley, and some others of your acquaint-

ance. Every one appears sober. Compared to last fall the College

seems very sober this Spring I assure you. In the chapel this evening

you might have heard a pin drop so attentive and silent were the

students. The revival commenced among the young ladies, all of whom

without exception have become seriously disposed. The president is

indefatigable in his labours to promote it's spread and he is seconded

tho' with less ardour by the other officers of college.

George is well and studies quite hard this term. In fact I never

knew a time when he appeared to so good advantage in the class as he

does at present. Old Tom is hearty as usual;--he and I have had a

slight falling-out tho' I hope no lasting ill-will will arise from it; for

if there be one whose talents I admire, or whose honour I respect, or

whose good opinion I should wish to secure in the Junior Class, that

one is George Paine. I would not crouch however to purchase even his

good opinion.

Your Society are about I believe to make some alterations in the

library;-what they are I have not been able exactly to learn. Dane

Smith of the freshman class has been considerably with me this term,

and I think him a very fine fellow, tho' take the class as a body and I

doubt whether it would be possible, to find a poorer set of intellects in

any college in America.

 

19 Chase had been baptized and confirmed a member of the Protestant

Episcopal Church. A deeply religious note dominated his entire life,

being the result in part, no doubt, of the teachings of his devoted mother

and of the reading which he did under Bishop Chase's supervision in

Worthington. His college mate Nathaniel Folsom believed that the re-

vival left an ineradicable impress on Chase's later career. See ibid.,

134-139.

20 Acts, v, 38.

• 12
 

Salmon P. Chase.                       131

 

Come immediately or answer this in less than no time.

Good-bye. Your's Affectionately.

N. B. "I do not doubt the sincerity of your friendship."

 

ROYALTON April 9 1826.

Tuesday.

MY DEAR TOM,                                          Tuesday.

When I left H---     in my hurry I forgot to bring with me my

pencil case, my penknife, and the little account book all which you will

find in the drawer of my table and which I should be glad to have you

send by the afternoon stage of tomorrow, as likewise a packet of tracts

which I expect Caleb Kimball will give you. Will you do me the favour

to hand the inclosed immediately to him? [Written in later.] I do not

inclose any thing as you will percieve for him.

I arrived here after a pleasant tho slow ride safe and sound, wind

& limb and had the satisfaction of finding all my friends well. I inclose

to you the amount of my debt 5 dollars.

Do not my dear Tom forget the promise which you made me at

parting and remember the day is fast approaching when you will be

called to account for the faithful fulfilment of it. Do not think me

officiously impertinent in thus reminding you of an acknowledged duty

but attribute it to the real cause anxiety for your welfare. May he who

alone is able give you strength to fulfil your resolution.

Good-bye do not neglect writing soon to

Your Sincerely Aff. Friend

P. S. Love to George, Tom, Gates & Hutch. Send likewise my

razor and strop-April 12. I inclose your money $5--Stage-fee in

deduction 4.00.

 

MY DEAR TOM,                          ROYALTON May 15th 1826.

I recieved your epistle a few moments since & answer it imme-

diately. I was glad and sorry upon your letter. Glad that the work

which I verily believe to be that of the Spirit of God continues to pro-

ceed in Hanover. Sorry that your manner of mentioning it seemed to

imply doubt if not incredulity. No doubt you may serve the Lord in your

studies as acceptably as in other ways if you study from right motives,

but if you do not you must be conscious of something wrong. "Without

Holiness no man shall see the Lord," and the question is therefore a

very important one. Are we in any degree holy? Has the Holy Spirit

renewed our corrupt hearts?  I pray (and I hope I pray sincerely)

that you may be enabled to give an affirmative answer to these questions.

"Seek you first the Kingdom of Heaven and all other things shall be

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132       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

added unto you." These are the words of God Himself who cannot be

deceived and who will not be mocked. I leave you to make their appli-

cation.

I thank you sincerely for the trouble you have taken in sending

my things. Whence came the tracts and why did you not send my pen-

knife? Glad that the money went safe. Answer this if you please this

week. Love to all.

Your aff Friend.

 

 

II.

After graduation at Dartmouth, where, it is worthy of note,

Chase was honored by election to the Phi Beta Kappa Society,

he planned to go south and teach for a time preparatory to the

selection of a profession. He strongly inclined at this time to

enter the ministry. At Philadelphia, on his journey southward,

he came upon his uncle Bishop Chase, whose mission to Eng-

land had proved successful and who was devoting his energies

now to the building up of the Theological Seminary of the

Protestant Episcopal Church, later called Kenyon College.

Young Chase sought openings for his school at Swedesboro, N.

J., and at Frederick City, Md., but the conditions were not

favorable for his venture.

He now journeyed on to Washington, where he had letters

to the Reverend Dr. Hawley and the Reverend Mr. Allen and

where his uncle Dudley Chase, United States Senator from

Vermont, spent a portion of each year on his official duties.

These gentlemen were not able to assist him materially at the

outset except through the prestige afforded by the use of their

names. With considerable diffidence Chase announced his

project to the public in the following advertisement in The

National Intelligencer, December 23, 1826:

 

 

SELECT CLASSICAL SCHOOL

The subscriber intends opening a Select Classical School, in the

Western part of the City, to commence on the second Monday in Jan-

uary. His number of pupils will be limited to twenty, which will enable

him to devote a much larger portion of his time and attention than

ordinary to each individual student. Instruction will be given in all

the studies preparatory to entering College, or, if desired, in any of

• 14
 

Salmon P. Chase.                     133

 

the higher branches of a classical education. The subscriber pledges

himself that no effort shall be wanting on his part to promote both the

moral and intellectual improvement of those who may be confided to his

care. He may be found at his room three doors west of Brown's Hotel.

Reference may be made to the Hon. Henry Clay; Hon. D. Chase,

and Hon. H. Seymour, of the Senate; Hon. J. Bartlet, and Hon. William

C. Bradley of the House of Representatives; Rev. Wm. Hawley, and

Rev. E. Alien.

SALMON P. CHASE.

 

For a few    weeks this notice evoked no response.     His

slender means became well-nigh exhausted. He bethought himself

of a government clerkship, which his uncle as an administration

Senator might easily secure for him. The Senator's reply to

his nephew's appeal is familiar to students of Chase's career.

"Salmon," he said, "I once obtained an office for a nephew of

mine, and he was ruined by it. I then determined never to ask

one for another. I will give you fifty cents to buy a spade with,

but I will not help to get you a clerkship."²¹ Fortune now came

to him in the guise of a Mr. Plumley, a schoolmaster, who

offered to turn over to Chase his boy scholars in view of the

fact that the girls under his instruction were absorbing prac-

tically all of his time. Chase was thus able to write to Spar-

hawk in his first letter from  Washington that he had twenty

pupils in his school early in January, 1827.

From this time forward Chase's letters to his college friend

reveal the high lights, if not the details, of his three years' resi-

dence in the national capital. Financially his school afforded

him a livelihood. Like most young teachers he admitted in after

years: "I was obliged to read a good deal to keep ahead of my

scholars, for my college opportunities had not been well im-

proved as they should have been. I had relied too much on

my faculty of easy acquirement, and had given far less time

to study than was necessary to thoroughness."²²   His sense of

 

21Letter to Trowbridge; Warden, S. P. Chase, 121. As Secretary

of the Treasury, Chase reflected on this incident in this wise: "Had I

become a clerk, it is almost certain I would have remained a clerk, or

should have been, at least, disqualified by clerk habits for the work I

have actually done." Ibid.

22Letter to Trowbridge; ibid., 127.

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134      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

neglected opportunities while at college dwelt heavily on his

mind during these early years and caused him to deliver several

solemn and sententious preachments on the subject to Spar-

hawk.

Of his studies under William Wirt, Chase rightly says little.

Whatever progress he made toward a mastery of the law came

as a result of self-direction. In a personal memorandum made

many years later Chase admitted: "My reading for the bar had

not been diligent or very extensive.  I had looked through

Burlamaqui at college. After I went to Washington, in 1826,

and had opened my school in the spring of 1827, I received as

pupils the sons of William Wirt, and was received by him as

a student-at-law. It may well be believed that between the cares

of a school and other duties, and the attractions of society and

especially of the delightful family circle of Mr. Wirt-where I

was ever welcomed with cordial kindness-I made no great

progress in legal lore. Mr. Wirt never examined me. Only

once did he put a question to me about my studies. He asked

me one day while I was reading Blackstone if I understood

him. I answered confidently, 'Yes.' But I was greatly mistaken,

as I afterward found. The knowledge obtained by bare reading

is of very little value. Books must be meditated and talked to

be understood and converted into mental aliment. I forget what

books I read besides 'Blackstone's Commentaries'; 'Cruise's

Digest,' I think, and perhaps some others-'Dalrymple on Feudal

Law,' I remember as one, but the catalogue was very short."²³

It appears to be entirely within the truth to say that Chase

was much more studious in his attentions to the feminine por-

tion of the Wirt family than to the mastery of the law. The

passages which tell of his relations with the Wirt daughters

and other charmers of the same sex reveal a nature sopho-

morically naive and impressionable-a quality which Chase

never entirely lost if his record of wedding three wives in twelve

years may be held to signify anything.

So far as political affairs were concerned Chase resided in

Washington at an unusually interesting period. But he was

23 Quoted by J. W. Schuckers in The Life and Public Services of

Salmon Portland Chase (New York, 1874), 29-30.

• 16
 

Salmon P. Chase.                     135

 

essentially an onlooker while the new democratic ferment was

violently at work,-a mildly curious observer and faithful mir-

ror of Whig opinion. Contrary to a widely accepted belief he

makes it clear that presidential receptions had ceased being de-

corous and stately functions even before the advent of Jack-

sonism (witness the episode of Mr. Clayton's hat!); and he

affords amusing evidence that the "millennium of minnows,"

which all good Whigs deplored, was making inroads even

upon the sacred precincts of the Adams relationship, in his re-

port of the engagement of one of that circle to a serving maid!

His experiences in Washington did convince him, however,

that he would thenceforth regard his legal career principally as

a vestibule through which he might enter politics, in order to

play an enlightened part in the broader field. It is evident that

he had as yet no idea of the particular role which he was to be

called upon to essay, for his correspondence shows no trace

of the all-absorbing passion of his later years-hatred of slavery

-although he was thrown in constant contact with slaves in

the Wirt home and elsewhere.

As for other matters the letters to Sparhawk, which follow,

speak for themselves.

 

MY DEAR TOM,                 WASHINGTON CITY Jany. 13, 1827,

MY DEAR TOM,

Do I prove myself a false prophet when I foretell that this letter

will be gladly welcomed for the writer's sake? Indeed I hope not, tho'

you might justly blame me for my long neglect of writing. I will give

you my excuses, weak and flimsy as you will probably pronounce them

to be, for a man must be very far gone indeed whose ingenuity cannot

devise some excuse to screen him from censure. Well then, in the first

place I had written to Paine and knowing that you would see that letter

I deemed it useless to trouble you by a repetition of such dry stuff; and

in the second place you neglected writing to me all the while I was at

Hopkinton24 and my neglect was but "quid pro quo" you know. But

stop:-what am I doing? Filling the letter with excuses.-A bad business

this. You see by the date of my letter that I am now in the metropolis

of the nation, where all grades of character,-all distinctions of rank,-

from the noble, magnanimous, upright and talented Webster down to

the mean, servile intriguing &-yes I must call him talented too-

 

24Where he had visited with his sister Mrs. Colby for a short time

following the Dartmouth commencement.

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136        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

C--    ; from the President of the United States down to the Ostler

that attends upon the President's horses--meet and mingle. The Presi-

dent holds a Levee every alternate Wednesday night. I have never at-

tended them but once, when I went at the invitation of Mr. Ichabod

Bartlett,25 who introduced me to Mrs. Adams and the President's two

sons. Mrs. Adams is a very fine-looking woman and is said to possess

a very liberal disposition. The sons are nothing remarkable either in

person or in mind.²⁶ These levees are always crowded to excess; so

much so that standing room can scarcely be found. Last New Year's

day the room was so crowded that a servant who was carrying around

refreshments was pushed down by the violence of those who were striv-

ing to help themselves from his waiter.  On the same day Mr. Clayton

of Delaware lost his hat. He had put his hat away with his coat and

when he came for them he found an old hat in the place of his new

one, with the papers in it which he had left in his own. Something of

this kind almost always occurs and those who attend would do well to

wear the poorest articles they have, that their value may not tempt the

honesty of others. As to myself, I have opened a school here. It com-

menced on Monday last, and I have twenty scholars at different prices

from $5.00 to $12.50 per quarter. I like my school as well as I ever shall

like any school. It will be somewhat profitable in the end I hope, tho

my expenses are very great. I cannot write any more now. Indeed I

know of nothing that would be pleasing to you to learn. I am in great

haste. I have not an hour scarcely from morning till night I can Call my

own. Do remember me with much respect to your excellent Father and

present my compliments to your sister. When I write again I will write

more at large. In the meantime I shall expect to hear from you and

hope it will be soon.

Believe me now as ever

Your Sincere Friend.

 

 

WASHINGTON CITY July 8. 1827-

Saturday After -

MY DEAR TOM,

I need make no apology for the length of time which I have suf-

fered to elapse between the time that I received your welcome and

interesting letter and the date of this, because you set me the example

and of course could not have expected anything better from me. Were

it necessary however I could produce a still stronger reason in justifica-

tion of myself;-that I have written so frequently to friends at Han-

over, that my letter to you had I sent it sooner could have contained

25Ichabod Bartlett was a graduate of Dartmouth and a member of

the House of Representatives from New Hampshire, 1823-1829.

26George W. and John. George W. Adams died in 1829. The third

son Charles Francis became the most distinguished member of the family.

• 18
 

Salmon P. Chase.                       137

 

little or nothing to interest or profit. Indeed I am far from being sure

that I shall now succeed for I know of nothing new-nothing amusing

nothing instructive. The weather has been so excessively warm this

month that I have been really afraid that I should be compelled to

"Pack out" as the military Dutchman said and return to the land of my

forefathers. The 3 first days of this month and a part of the fourth

were so hot that I was compelled to confine myself almost entirely

to the house. On the Afternoon of the fourth we had a most delight-

ful rain which laid the dust and reduced the glowing heat of the

Atmosphere.   Since then the weather has been quite moderate and

this afternoon it is again raining. I hope to be able to see New Eng-

land this summer but it is quite uncertain. I desire much to see the

face of my friends and the green hills and verdant vallies of my

native stated [sic] which tho' not endued with voice or feeling, still

excite in my bosom all the emotions of eloquence and all the interest of

affection. You, my dear friend, have never yet known what it is to

go forth into the world with few to cry, "God speed you" and none

to lend an assisting hand to strengthen you in your arduous race.

When you do go forth, thus to seek for yourself an honourable in-

dependence, may you have what is infinitely better than the applause

of the multitude or even the sympathy of friends, a firm reliance on

the covenanted mercy of him who doeth all things well, an unshaken

tho humble faith in that Redeemer who came into the world to save

sinners. Thus armed you need not fear the assaults of the enemy

nor [feel] discouraged at the reverses of fortune.

"Breaks not the Morning's glorious light

Forth from the darkest hour of night."

Thus you will often find it, for He who has promised never to leave

nor forsake them who put their trust in him, dealeth with us not

as man dealeth. My dear friend, I know you do not want correct

principle but you will not blame a sincere friend for telling you that

you want energy decision and perseverence in action. Your long

neglect of an important college duty, that of composition is a proof

of this and if I remember right I have heard you complain of these

besetting sins. It is then high time surely that you be up and doing.

I know of no sure defence against these weaknesses, or to call them

by a more proper name, these sins, than a habit of reflecting upon the

dread account which we are to render for the manner in which we

spend each fleeting moment, and a habit of seeking assistance from

God by fervent earnest prayer. I am afraid that I am making you

weary of my correspondence and of myself. God forbid that the chain

of our correspondence should be broken thus. If I could by any means

make you sensible of the meaning of that one short word, "Forever"

if I could make you practically believe that "God will bring every work

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138        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

into judgement," you would not wonder at my earnestness or my im-

portunity. I fear you will be ready to say that while I was with you

my daily practise was not such as should have resulted from sentiments

like those I have expressed. With sorrow I confess that such is the

fact; but remember that you do not attribute to religion that which

religion has failed to cure. Remember too that the religion of the

Bible is the religion which I recommend. To that blessed volume I

would have you refer to see "whether these things are so," and I would

wish you to make that book your counsellor and your guide never for-

getting to implore the teachings of the Holy Spirit of Truth.

I suppose you are now looking forward with some impatience to

the time when you will assume the toga virilis and assume the dignity

of Senior. You will, if your experience in life resembles mine thus far,

find few seasons of more unmingled felicity than the time you spend at

College. I am sorry I did not cultivate more assiduously the advan-

tages of my situation-especially that I did not enrich my mind with

more extensive and valuable reading. Especially do I regret that I

spent so much of my time in reading novels and other light works.

They may impart a little brilliancy to the imagination but at length

like an intoxicating draught they enfeeble and deaden the powers of

thought and action. My life seems to me to have been wasted, tho

there are few young persons of my age who have been placed in more

favorable situations for acquiring knowledge both of men and books

than I have been. But my improvement has not been commensurate

with my opportunities. I say this to you that when your college career

is finished you may not have the unhappiness to look back upon so

many mispent hours as I do. Enough of this-

I recieved a letter from our friend George Punchard lately. He

told me he had visited Hanover and that Paine is engaged to Martha

Porter, that Ned Olcott is pay [ing] great attention to Miss E. Webster.27

She shone as a star of the first magnitude here for one winter, but like

a star her light was borrowed from the sun of her Uncle's political

reputation. She is spoken of here as a very estimable young lady. You

seem to compassionate my situation as an Instructor. It is not so bad

as you think. I have a very small school and very ample remuneration--

And my time passes quite pleasantly-You ask my opinion of Gov

Van Ness's publications.28 I am not old enough or wise enough to be

able to discuss very clearly the good and the evil in political life. But

still I think that He was to say the least misled when he first appealed

to the people of Vermont and the peice which he published against Mr

Slade has not added to the lustre of his reputation. Has Cleveland

found the lost money? or did he pay Gen. Poole? Is Holmes still

27Emeline C. Webster, a niece of Daniel Webster.

28Cornelius Peter Van Ness was governor of Vermont 1823-1829.

William Slade was secretary of state of Vermont 1815-1823 and a clerk

in the state department in Washington 1823-1829.

• 20
 

Salmon P. Chase.                      139

 

in Hanover? If he is please to remind him that he owes me a letter.

You wind up your letter with doleful complaints and selfupbraidings

which encourage me to hope that you will take in good part what I

have said in the first part of my letter. Love to Mrs Poole & Williamine,

To Smith and Holmes, to Folsom and Cleveland, to Hutchins &c. I

remain

Your Affec Friend

Set me the example and I will be more punctual another time

This is your duty as you are my Senior in years-

 

WASHINGTON CITY September 18. 1827

MY DEAR TOM,

I do not know whether you will care to receive two letters for

one, but notwithstanding I have confidence enough in your friendship

to venture thus to trouble you. I fear besides if I do not give you a

hint or two extra you will forget me altogether. I did not come to

Concord29 for a very simple reason, viz. it was very inconvenient so to

do: besides I could not with a very good face have passed by my

mother & sisters in Hopkinton and come down to spend the Sunday

in Concord. Accordingly when I left Reading I went directly to Keene

where I staid over Sunday. On the following day I went to Boston-

saw none of my friends. From Boston I came thro Taunton and

Middleboro to Providence. I diverged thus from the direct route for

the sake of meeting Emeline Webster at Middleboro and having her

company to Washn. I said something to you respecting her before I

left. This I might now repeat, but it is useless. It is not necessary to

say much to an honourable and feeling mind to refute the assertions of

a base calumniator of female character. I said that she was innocent.

I say so still and I say moreover that the whole affair as represented

by William I. Hadduck bears such evident marks of falsehood upon it's

very face that those who are deceived by his artifice, must be blinded

to the truth by prepossession or by interest. I do not say that her

conduct has been strictly proper. But I beleive her errors to have

been rather of the head than of the heart-& I do think that her sub-

sequent conduct has amply atoned so far as the world is concerned,

for any slight deviations from the paths of strict propriety-I well

know what I say and I do not speak unadvisedly or rashly. Now, dear

Tom I have a favour to ask of you. That you will find out something

-everything respecting Hadduck's trial before the Church--that you

will procure copies of the letters falsely alleged to have been written

to H-     by Miss Webster. (One of them was truly written-the other

two are forgeries having never been addressed to him) Discover if you

can who take an active part in her favour and the contrary and let me

29 Chase had gone to New England for a vacation late in the summer.

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140        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

know the rumours which may now be or have been current in Hanover

respecting the affair. Send me the whole -I am sorry that I am obliged

in order to arrive at the object of my wishes, which is to have a com-

plete knowledge of the whole affair. You know me well enough to be

assured I would not hesitate to do for you what I am therefore en-

couraged to ask of you. You can learn most respecting the "trial"

from Prof. Howe; to whom I wish you to remember me very respect-

fully--I saw him at New York and came in his company as far as

Phila. -roomed with him one night at Trenton. I arrived in Wash-

ington on Saturday one week after I left Hanover. I found every thing

pretty nearly in the same state in which I left. My number of pupils

has somewhat increased and I intend in the course of the present week

to make some arrangements for pursuing steadily and with vigor the

study of my profession. All my time after 3 in the afternoon will be

my own besides two or three hours in the morning and all of Satur-

days. I shall then certainly be able to devote six hours per diem to

professional study and may make some progress. I retire to bed at 11

o'clock and rise by daybreak.  What say you Tom    to imitating my

example? I assure you would be pleased with the effects of it. I con-

sider it as sinful to waste any portion of our [time] in sleep, nearly as

much so as wasting it when awake. When I consider the shortness of

time and the magnitude of the work which each of us must perform, I

am frequently much astonished at my own listlessness and carelessness.

Week after week brings us nearer the grave --to that night "wherein

no man can work." Here is a solemn truth presented to our considera-

tion and I pray God that it may have a suitable influence upon our

lives and conduct. I saw Cleveland in Keene on my way down. He

promised to call upon me in Boston, but when I arrived I found the

Hotel where I had intended to stay already full and had no opportunity

of informing him of my place of abode. Has Paine gone to New York?

What is Hutchins doing? Where is Torrey &c &c? If you see Mary

Emerson, present my respects to her and say that her friends here are

well. What do you intend to do this year? If I did not recollect that

I am a year younger than you are I would advise you to make the

best improvement of your Senior [year]. Make yourself a perfect mas-

ter of your class recitations and devote the remainder of your time

to historical reading. I regret bitterly my own want of application

and must as far as lies in my power make amends for it now. Especially

do I feel the want of a more thorough knowledge of the history of my

own country. To remedy this I have begun with Mather's Magnalia30

and am determined to read every valuable [(torn) book] I can lay my

hands upon. We have no perfect history of the United States. Judge

 

30 Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana; or The Ecclesias-

tical History of New-England, originally published in London in 1702.

• 22
 

Salmon P. Chase.                        141

 

Marshall's life of Washington,³¹ the incidents of whose life are so in-

timately blended with the welfare of his country that it would be im-

possible to separate them. Grimshaw's history of the U. S. is an interest-

ing little work.³² His style is clear and lucid and the information which

he imparts is very valuable. When you write to your family remember

me to them particularly to your excellent father. Give my love to Mrs

Poole & Williamine- Love to Smith & Holmes - Folsom and Thompson

-Why has not Smith written? Be sure to answer this as soon as you

can for [I] wish particularly to hear respecting the matters mentioned.

Do not show this letter to any one and communicate only such parts

as you may think proper. The Lord bless you and keep you my dear

friend

Yours truly

 

Having read this letter over this morning I find it full of mistakes.

Supply all ellipses and excuse it for it was written late last night when

I was intolerably sleepy. I have received a letter from Kendrick and

another from Herrick since my return. Herrick said that Waterman

was then with him and would stay a day or two. Blodgett is in S.

Carolina with his brother. H- intends to return to New England this

winter and I hope to see him here.

 

 

WASHINGTON CITY Jany 2. 1828 -

MY DEAR TOM,

This is the third time that I have commenced a letter to you and

I intend now   to persevere unto the end.   I wish you many, many

happy New Years. May the cup of your felicity ever overflow, and may

you ever be mindful of the Source whence all our joys are derived.

I received your kind letter of the last month when I was about to com-

mence a letter to you, fearing lest your long silence might be caused

by your expectation of an answer to the few lines you sent me by Bart-

lett. I thank you most sincerely for the goodness you have shewn in

taking so much trouble to collect the information I desired relative to

Miss W-. From the anxiety I manifested respecting it you may have

inferred that I had fallen a victim to her charms. No my dear fellow,

no. When I went to New England last summer and heard the base

slanders which H- had put in circulation respecting her, when I saw

 

31John Marshall's Life of George Washington, originally published

in 1804-1807 in five volumes and an atlas.

32 William Grimshaw's History of the United States from their First

Settlement as Colonies was a well known school history of Chase's day,

now entirely forgotten. The Philadelphia edition of 1834 said: "The

demand for Grimshaw's Histories, for the last fourteen years, has been

greater than was ever known for any other historical works, in any age,

or in any language."

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142        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

her friends either silent or lukewarm, I felt for her as I believe I

should have felt for any female similarly situated. I vindicated her

character, defended her fame and as well as I could repelled the base

insinuations of her enemies. Afterward when we journeyed together

I endeavored to convince her that she was not without friends. So far

as I could divine them every wish was anticipated, so far as my ability

extended every desire was gratified. Kindness always brings with it

it's own reward.  I found her a very agreeable companion and the

journey was the most pleasant I ever took. All these circumstances

made me feel a more than ordinary degree of interest in her. I felt

for her as for a sister. -This will be sufficient to explain the motives

which led me to make that request of you. For the readiness and

kindness with which you have complied with it I again thank you.

- I see Miss W- now more seldom than formerly. Here she has many

of what the world calls friends and my time is too fully occupied with

important engagements to allow me to visit much. Report says that

she is engaged to a young physician of the name of Lindsley. I know

him slightly and think she would have no occasion to regret the change

of Olcott for him.

Yesterday I attended the levee at the President's and after shaking

hands with him made my way out of the crowd and as soon as I could

conveniently left the house.  There was an immense crowd there,

greater I am told, than has ever been known on a similar occasion.

Foreign Embassadors, Judges, Senators, Representatives, Officers Civil

and Military, gentlemen, and blackguards, all were there or at least some

persons of all these kinds. Mr Adams is peculiarly unfortunate in his

demeanour - Cold and reserved, he says "I am very happy to see you Sir"

precisely as the Automaton Chess-Player would make a move. He is

stiff as a crow-bar. No polish is perceptible about him and he goes

thro his part on these occasions like a man who was sensible it must

be done and who is heartily rejoiced when he finds that it is done.

On Monday I heard an oration by Mr. Southard Sec of the Navy39

before the Columbian Institute. He is far from being an eloquent or

graceful speaker, but his discourse was replete with sound wisdom and

valuable thought.

This evening I have been at Mr. Wirt's.³⁴ He is absent in Balti-

more, but Mrs W- and family remain. She is a very interesting and

agreeable woman, tho somewhat inclined like most of her sex to remem-

ber the faults of the absent. I like the family much. Elizabeth Wirt

is a modest girl, with a richly cultivated mind and a most amiable dis-

 

Samuel L. Southard of New Jersey was Secretary of the Navy

1823-1829.

34William Wirt of Maryland was one of the best known jurists of

his time and was Attorney General of the United States during three

administrations, 1817-1829.

• 24
 

Salmon P. Chase.                       143

 

position. Her sisters four in number do not equal her as to sweetness

of temper but all are uncommonly intelligent.

The Jackson men as you have long since learned thro the medium

of the papers, are predominant in the senate and in the house. Gentle-

men of the other party say however that the Jackson stock is falling in

the market. The late movements in North Carolina and Pennsylvania

unexpected I imagine on all hands, and have struck a damp upon the

hopes of the heterogeneous supporters of the "Military Chieftain" while

encouragement is given to the friends of our institutions to persevere

in the confidence that in the end success will crown their efforts. A

novel proposition was discussed in the House of Reps Monday, and

carried by a large majority. The proposition was to confer on the

Committee of Manufactures a power to send for and examine under

oath, persons in relation to the state of Manufactures in their States-

I believe the resolution to be beneficial in its tendencies as we

shall thereby come at a true state of the case. The practise has long

since been adopted in England and has answered well its intended pur-

poses -

I received a letter from Herrick a few weeks since. He has re-

turned to N. E. and has entered the Institution at Ando[v]er. I had a

letter from Blodgett yesterday. He was in good health and spirits-

I cannot write farther at present so Goodbye

Yours truly

 

P. S. On reading over what I have written this morning I feel

truly ashamed of it, but what shall I do? This is my third attempt

as I said before and I cannot, that is there is a moral impossibility

that I should go over it again. I must therefore trust to your goodness

to receive it as it is. I am now in the midst of my school and a class

is before me reciting a Latin lesson. I suppose too that you are in

the midst of yours also. On my right and left are the sons of the

Attorney General of the U. S. Mr. Wirt. Next to them on one side is

the son of Henry Clay, on the other a nephew of Mrs Adams. Next

week I shall have in my school the children of All the Members of the

Cabinet, except those of Mr. Rush, Sec. of the Treasury.³⁵ So you see I

have as respectable a school as I could wish and I find them far more

docile and obedient than an equal of brats in a district-school in N.

E. would be. I wish I could peep in upon you and behold you arrayed

in your pedagogical dignity and seated in the curule chair-Alas I shall

not soon have that pleasure; But I can almost fancy I behold you sitting

among your scholars, with a great fire blazing on the hearth. Your

school-room is not the cleanest place in the world, and possibly your

scholars are not much too tidy in their persons or dress. I can imagine

 

35Richard Rush of Pennsylvania was Secretary of the Treasury

1825-1829.

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144        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

that you hear from various quarters of the room, "M' I g' out" "M' I

come to the fire" "I can't do this ere sum," "That 'are fellow's making

faces at me" &c &c.

I think no employment so completely thankless which deserves so

many thanks as that of teaching. We have the satisfaction however if

we discharge our duties faithfully that we are doing good to our fellow

men. This consciousness ought to cheer our hearts and animate us to

exertion. Let us imagine that upon our labours depends in a degree

the happiness, the honour of our beloved country and we shall feel the

obligations incumbent upon us - I shall expect a long letter from you

either before or immediately after your return to Hanover -Do excuse

all defects in this letter and I will endeavour to do better when I write

again -

Affectionately

 

 

WASHINGTON May 15. 1828.

MON CHER AMI,

J'ai recu avec plaisir votre epitre dernier, et j'y aurais repondu

plutot si je n'eusse ete empeche par une multiplicite d'affaires. You

see my dear friend that I have recommended la etude de la langue

Francoise, and perhaps you will think I am as fond of displaying my

acquirements as you were when you could not say "pronunciation" with-

out pronouncing it pronongseeahseeongh. Now laugh at me if you dare.

As I have been rather irregular in my Hanover correspondence

this year I scarcely know what to write lest I write about something

I have already mentioned. Perhaps it will be my safest way to re-

strict myself to the occurrences of the last six weeks. Well what has

transpired at the Federal City during that time. Truly nothing very

wonderful. I have been at Baltimore where I saw, Cleveland Miss

E. G. Wirt, Charles Carroll of Carrollton,³⁶ and -a black fellow. The

said Miss W- and your quondam chum and faithful friend waited upon

Mr. Carroll, to obtain the fulfilment of a promise which he had pre-

viously made that he would write in her Album. (By the way she has

a most beautiful album and beautifully filled). Mr. Carroll not only

wrote in her album but gave her a kiss to boot, which was more [than]

he promised. He is a wonderfully active old gentleman, runs up and

down stairs like a boy, only that all his motions are as soft and gentle

as those of a cat. He rides every day when weather permits, some six

or eight miles, and tho' now on the farther side of ninety enjoys con-

versation and society with as much apparent pleasure as most younger

men. Cleveland is very comfortably situated in Baltimore; has a fine

school and I should imagine has reason to be contented with his situa-

 

36 The last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. He

died in 1832.

• 26
 

Salmon P. Chase.                       145

 

tion. Returning from Balt. a young man who seemed to be a mechanic

proposed taking the question Adams or Jackson & I was the only one

shewed the Adams flag, "among innumerable false unmoved."    When

I returned I intended to have commenced study in earnest but some-

thing has always hitherto prevented but I intend to carry my resolution

into effect tomorrow.

So you plead not guilty to the charge of being in love? Well,

it is much as I expected. As for the way I came by the report 'twas

an honest way enough; Emeline Webster told me of it. How did she

hear of it? You must ask her ladyship. Apropos Emeline W. is about

to be married!   It is a fact-to a young physician of the name of

Lindsley, a Jersey man. The consummation is to take place in the fall.

I would give the end of my little finger-nail to know a thing or

two in relation to this match. I must confess that my faith in E. C. W's

truth and honour is somewhat shaken by some statements I heard from

Cleveland when at Balt. If you have seen my letter to Smith, as I sup-

pose you have, your "pleasing anticipation" with regard to a certain

young lady must have given place to complete despair. Yes, I must

("reluctantly I acknowledge") leave that conquest to be achieved by

some more favoured mortal.

You speak of your father's intention to take a trip to Philadelphia

& New York during your Senior vacation. If I cannot so arrange mat-

ters so as to be able to visit New England during the coming summer.

I shall be very happy to meet you in Philadelphia and will endeavor

to do so. When you are so near I hope you will not find it too great

an exertion to extend your journey to Washington. You can come

from Washington to Phila in 20 hours and for nine dollars including

all necessary expenses. Suppose this be the plan I will meet you in

Phil. and you return with me to Washn and see the Capitol and so

forth. If the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Bill pass the Senate, Wash-

ington will be a very busy place by August. The whole face of the

city will be changed in a year and instead of dull, fashionable, idle &

dissipated we shall become an industrious thriving and commercial

people.

I am glad to hear that you think me a favourite of your fathers,

tho' I fear your friendship has induced you to use too strong a term. I

do place a very great value on the good opinion of such men as your

father and it is my anxious desire to gain and retain it. If I have

succeeded with regard to him I shall be truly happy.

I have received a circular from President Tyler and am yet doubt-

ful whether I shall shall [sic] subscribe anything to the Institution I do

not admire or approve the spirit of exclusive sectarianism which has long

distinguished the Government of that College. I do not speak of any

persons but of the general character of the Institution. I would be

glad to see all denominations of Christians who unite in the Worship

Vol. XXVIII-10.

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146        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

of the same God and expect to be saved thro' the merits of the same

Savior, renouncing the unessential points of difference and coalescing

into one vast band of brethren, one mighty army of the Cross. It is in

vain I suppose to look for such a state of things but I think it might

be approximated. I am also astonished at the pertinacious refusal of

the Trustees to take any steps to procure the fund of the State, by

moderation & concession, especially when that fund has been virtually

offered them in terms to say the least just and reasonable in my view.

I am still studying law with Mr Wirt and shall probably remain in

the City until I am admitted to the bar which will be in about two years

from next fall. Mr Wirt has a charming family and I visit there more

than at any other place in the City. You may judge that I am there

sometimes when I tell you that during the week ending today I have

spent three evenings there, 'till eleven o'clock each evening. Mrs Wirt

and two of her daughters are generally to be found at home. All of

them play on some instrument and sing. Sometimes, one plays on the

harp, another on the piano while a gentleman accompanies on the flute

forming a most delightful concord of sweet sounds. Add to this that

they are uncommonly intelligent and well informed and you will have

some idea of their characters. Mrs. Wirt is herself a woman of a very

superior and highly cultivated mind, of polished and elegant manners,

and of delicate and refined taste.

Give my love to Folsom -tell him he may dread an answer to

his interesting letter, to Smith and remind him that he is my debtor and

that if he is not a little more punctual I mean to strike his name out

of my books. Tell Swasey I intend to send him a number of the

Telegraph37 & a number of the Intelligencer38 and a number of "We the

People"³⁹ in lieu of a letter on politics. By the way do you know that

Whipple from N. H. is crazy here and most of the time drunk.⁴⁰ The

Speaker the other day went twice to a Rep from N. H. to get him to

keep W- from making so much noise in the House. May He whose

favour is better than life bless you-

Your truly Aff friend

 

MY DEAR TOM,                WASHINGTON CITY September 3. 1828

MY DEAR TOM,

Your kind letter of July 23 has often come before my imagination

like a perturbed spirit, demanding an answer and I have as often re-

plied, "I shall soon have more leisure and then I will do it." But the

37 Duff Green's newspaper, The United States Telegraph, established

in the interests of Jackson and Calhoun.

38The National Intelligencer, an administration organ.

39A campaign paper favorable to Jackson.

40 Dr. Thomas Whipple was a member of the House of Representa-

tives from New Hampshire, 1821-1829.

• 28
 

Salmon P. Chase.                       147

 

little boy who returned from  the vain pursuit of the rainbow with

clothes tattered and hands scratched was not more sadly disappointed

than I was when I anticipated a season of rest. Leisure -we may

know the meaning of the term when in college we are willing to adopt

almost any method to hasten the flight of the tardy hours, but when

we have commenced our professional studies especially under circum-

stances like mine we may well be excused if we forget the definition

of the word. And yet as we advance along the path of life how do

incentives to exertion multiply around us. The farther our time of

leisure recedes from us, the more do we feel ourselves impelled to the

unremitting pursuit of that knowledge which at that time we perhaps so

lightly regarded. Why is [it] that truth so often pours in it's light

upon the mind only when it but serves to exhibit in more vivid colours

the desolation which erroneous action founded on erroneous opinion

has caused there? Why is it that we are thus suffered to trifle away

the whole season of youth and only awake to a sense of our folly when

it is too late to retreive our errors? I often feel myself ashamed when

I review my slender stock of knowledge and compare it with that of

those men whom I so often meet here and a consciousness that I idly

flung away two of the best years of my life when in college adds the

poignancy of sorrow to the feeling of shame. But like you when I

left college I resolved to turn over a new leaf and for the past year

I have been enabled to carry this resolution into effect and I have had

but few idle moments. I hope you also will resolutely struggle with

your habits of laziness (do I not speak plainly?) and on no account

suffer yourself to relax in your efforts. If you do you may be sure

you will realize in your experience, the fable of the spirited frog who

jumped up two feet and fell back three! I will not ask you to make

a calculation of the time which the said frog would require to attain

any given height.

I was not sorry to hear that you had again undertaken the task

of instruction. You will not find the knowledge of the elementary

branches of education, which could not fail to become deeply impressed

on your own mind while you were engaged in the duty of imparting

a knowledge of them to others, of great utility. Besides your temper

must either be ruined or greatly amended in a school, which you will

[keep] and here is another great advantage to be derived from school-

keeping. However if you do not like it you had better quit the busi-

ness; for unless you can like it i. e. endure it, success is impossible.

I do not believe that you can conscientiously assign incompetency as a

reason for abandoning the employment. I know well that you are in-

clined to rate your attainments and abilities too low by far. The truth

is you do not exert yourself and therefore cannot tell of what you are

capable. I know you to be able to do many things and to do them

well too which your extreme diffidence prevents you from undertaking.

To instance in the matter of composition and you will allow I could

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148        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

hardly select an instance in which appearances would be more against

you. Now I know you can write and write well but your taste is more

perfect than your style. You examine your own peice with Argus

jealousy. Faults which in another's performance would entirely escape

your notice glare upon you like some monstrous vision. And you con-

demn and commit to the flames a composition which had anybody else

written it you would have praised. Now can you deny that you some-

times suspect that this is a true statement of the case. You cannot.

Well: I know it is: for I have seen your writings know your feelings

and can judge of both. I have been astonished to see how much can

be accomplished by arrogant pretension in this world. Every day proves

that nothing is easier than to deceive the majority of mankind by mere

show and pretence. Thus gilt dust carries, the palm while gold oerdust

has its only satisfaction in railing at the folly and perversity of man-

kind. But there is a better way. Let the gold rub off it's dust & then

while any accident may strip the putman of his outward coat and expose

the vile material which is concealed beneath, no change, no circum-

stances can diminish the brightness of the genuine metal. Then dull

indeed must be the perception and false indeed the taste which would

prefer gilt to gold. Sir Richard Steel[e] observes of Sir C. Wren the

famous architect "His art and skill were disregarded for want of that

manner with which men of the world support their pretensions." "This

bashful quality" he continues "has as fatal an effect upon men's reputa-

tion as poverty for as it is said, 'the poor wise man [word illegible]

the city yet no man remembered that same poor man,' so here we find

that the modest man built the city and the modest man's skill was un-

known."⁴¹  Excuse this long quotation, it is so appropos.

I heard of Gen. Poole's death with unfeigned sorrow. What does

Mrs Poole do now? Does she still continue at Hanover? I have sel-

dom met with a woman who united so many excellent qualities

as Mrs Poole and any sorrow which she may encounter I am sure must

be shared by all who know her. George will be a support and a con-

solation to her in her calamity. Do you know how soon his marriage

with Williamine will take place?

41This passage is taken from The Tatler, No. 52, and is evidently

quoted from memory. The passage with its context reads correctly as

follows: "But Nestor's modesty was such that his art and skill were

soon disregarded for want of that manner with which men of the world

support and assert the merit of their own performances.  Soon after

this example of his art Athens was, by the treachery of its enemies,

burnt to the ground. This gave Nestor the greatest occasion that ever

builder had to render his name immortal, and his person venerable: for

all the new city rose according to his disposition, and all the monu-

ments of the glories and distresses of that people were erected by that

sole artist. Nay, all their temples, as well as houses, were the effects

of his study and labour; insomuch, that it was said by an old sage, 'Sure,

Nestor will now be famous; for the habitations of gods, as well as men,

are built by his contrivance'. But this bashful quality still put a damp

• 30
 

Salmon P. Chase.                      149

 

I am glad I succeeded in describing the Wirt family so as to excite

your admiration. They well deserve it and perhaps at some future time

I may endeavor to increase it.--Not a word against her whom you

characterize as my quondam Dulcinea. I have no such attachment but

I tell you in frankness that did I permit myself to think of these things

I know no one to whom I would sooner offer heart and hand. But

I hold it the merest folly in a young man, not possessed of an inde-

pendent fortune, who is pursuing the study of law or Medicine to clog

his free steps by incumbrances like these. By the way what has become

of Miss Hall, your quondam Dulcinea the fame of which attachment

reached even the Federal City and excited the attention of a magistrate

therof.-My opinion of a certain one of whom I was so chivalrous a

defender a year since is slightly changed and may change farther. Would

that all interested now knew all the circumstances. Do any of your

class come southward this fall. I should be glad to see any body from

Old Dart. Remember me to your excellent Father and the family and

believe me now as ever

Your Faithfully attached friend

Write soon & I will forgive the last--

 

 

WASHINGTON Nov. 10. 1828.

MY DEAR TOM,

Your kind letter of the 27th ult was received, as all your letters are

with great pleasure and read even with more than usual interest. I am

glad to hear you have formed so high an opinion of my cousin. I have

ever heard her spoken of in terms of admiration by those who have

had the good fortune to know her. I have never seen her but once

and then, so brief was my visit that I do not now remember enough

of her form  or feature to be able to recognize her should we meet

again. She has never visited her paternal relations and appears to

have imbibed a prejudice against them, whether justly or not it is not

for me to say. This prejudice, I presume, is in no degree removed as

I gather from your letter that she did not visit them while on her

 

upon his great knowledge, which has as fatal an effect upon men's repu-

tation as poverty; for as it was said, the poor man saved the city, and

the poor man's labour was forgot; so here we see, the modest man built

the city, and the modest man's skill was unknown. Thus we see every

man is the maker of his own fortune; and what is very odd to consider,

he must in some measure be the trumpet of his fame: not that men are

to be tolerated who directly praise themselves, but they are to be en-

dued with a sort of defensive eloquence, by which they shall be always

capable of expressing the rules and arts by which they govern them-

selves." "Nestor" is, of course, another name for the famous Sir

Christopher Wren, builder of St. Paul's Cathedral and many other

edifices. I am indebted to Professor Milton Percival of the Ohio State

University for this reference.

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150        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

visit to the country last summer. I imagine her prejudice arises from

suspicion that they would be influenced in their attentions to her by

regard to her property; but I verily think she is mistaken in regard

to most of them. As a family I do not think we have or deserve to

have the reputation of loving money or the possession of money over-

much. Individuals among us, I doubt not, are open to this charge but

it should be general. Now under the circumstances perhaps you will

say I was foolish in making two attempts at distant intervals to remove

or allay this feeling. I wrote to her once by mail while I was in College

before I graduated. The letter was either not received or was not

answered. Again I wrote last Spring by my Uncle⁴², who represents

Vermont in the Senate. This letter too was not received or deemed

unworthy of an answer. The remark which she made to you induces

me to think it possible she did not receive them. I wish I could be in-

formed as to this point as it would materially influence the estimate

I should form  of her character. Of course under existing circum-

stances you would not wish me to follow your advice. I will say how-

ever that were the case otherwise I should pursue the course you point

out; for, aside from the hope of being able to do away the prejudice

I have mentioned, it would give me great pleasure to correspond with

a young lady such as I have ever heard that my cousin is.

You enquire if Emeline Webster is married. She is. I was present

at the ceremony and spent a most disagreeable evening. Not that her

presence rendered it disagreeable but the party was very large and I

abhor these promiscuous gatherings. I think her husband is every way

superior to Olcott and I hope that the connexion will be a happy one.

I am glad to hear that you have commenced your professional

studies and I should think that Boston would afford ample means and

opportunities for improvement. If I may be allowed to exercize again

the privilege I have so often assumed I would say to you, place your

mark high. Aim at the accomplishment of great things and do not

permit the allurements of pleasure or the fascinations of society, or the

difficulties of study, to divert or deter you from a course steadily and

rapidly onward. Individuals of the profession you have chosen have been

eminent in all science and familiar with all literature. Many of them

have been benefactors of mankind-men of enlarged liberal views

whose souls have been too lofty to regard minute selfish interest in their

generous ardor to ameliorate the condition of man.   You, my dear

friend, do not intend to live for yourself alone-you would desire that

your name if known at all might be known as the name of one who

in passing thro' life communicated, like a fertilizing stream, beauty and

strength to all around. Take then as your examples the eminent of

your profession and resolve to surpass them. It may be done. In-

 

42 Dudley Chase, United States Senator from Vermont, 1813-1817

and 1825-1831.

• 32
 

Salmon P. Chase.                       151

 

dustry and a judicious application of time effects wonders. No man

was ever great--truly great--without them, and with them   any one

not unfitted by providence, may excel. I have perhaps singular views of

life. Certain it is that I regard this world not as a place of leisure--

not as a place of selfish exertion, but as a vast theatre upon which

each man has a part allotted to him to perform and duties to discharge

which connect him closely with his fellowman. I confess I desire to

be distinguished but I desire more to be useful and were the choice

of exalted honour and undying fame or extensive tho humble useful-

ness offered to me I do not think I should hesitate a moment in my

choice of the latter. And I do not regard myself as at liberty to make

any disposition of my time that may suit my inclination but I esteem

it as a sacred trust committed to me by my God every moment of which

ought to be devoted to a diligent preparation to discharge any duties

which He may call me to perform. Feeling thus myself you will excuse

me if my interest in the welfare of a dear friend should prompt me

to be too liberal of my counsel or too urgent in my exhortations.

You have ere this learned the result of the Presidential contest.

The People have made choice of King Dragon and we must be content

to abide the consequences. If I do not mistake the signs of the times

you and I will live to see this Union dissolved & I do not know that

New England has much reason to deprecate such an event. The proceed-

ings at the South during the last summer, the measures adopted as

preparatory, by the South Carolina delegation in Congress, last winter,

and the recent election of an ignoramus, a rash, violent military chief

to the highest civil office are fearful omens of approaching convulsions.

It is my hope that Genl. Jackson will disappoint the fears of his

opponents but I hope with much apprehension. Time however will shew

and till then I trust the People of the North will hope for the best

and prepare for the worst.

My life moves on in one unvaried course which will not probably

be materially altered till I commence the practice of my profession.

It is probable that Mr. Wirt will remove to New York next summer.

In that event I shall, if I can so arrange matters, accompany him and

continue my studies under his direction and finally settle in some part

of that state if not in the city. If any of my acquaintances are in Bos-

ton remember me to them and do not forget to evince your sense of

my punctuality by imitation.

Your sincere & Affectionate friend

Did E. see my letter to you?

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WASHINGTON April 20. 182943

MY DEAR SPARHAWK,

You say well that the dear people, are happy in having such faith-

ful sentries upon the watchtowers of liberty. Thrice happy say I, "ter-

que quatuorque beata" is Freedom in the possession of so chivalrous and

undaunted an advocate as Isaac Hill whilom editor of the New Hamp-

shire patriot and now reposing himself after the hard fought battle in

the chair of the second Comptroller under the glorious administration

of the greatest, wisest virtuousest of men, bravest of heroes and most

profound of Presidents, Gen. Andrew Jackson, the Defender of New-

Orleans, the farmer of Tennessee! This is a bright era in the History

of America. The golden age of disinterested patriotism has returned.

Resuscitated Independence will date from this auspicious epoch her new

birth. Hurra for Jackson! Let the air be rent with the deafning ac-

claim. Jackson & Reform Let the echoes repeat it till the sound die

away among the murmurs of the mighty Pacific. Wake from the dead

Shade of the gigantic Johnson! Behold a wonder under the sun and

confess your ignorance of the signification of terms. Patriotism means

selflove, violence means energy, cruelty magnanimity, and reform the

removal of an honourable opponent and the substitution of a servile tool.

This administration was appropriately denominated some weeks since

as "the millenium of minnows." It is so truly. From all quarters have

applicants for office been flocking, of all kinds and conditions. Not long

since I am told a man went to the Treasury Department and enquired

"Where's the mon that makes the clerks?"   He wanted an office. I

know not if he was successful in his application. -But the auspicious star

of the little shines not merely upon the Jackson party. Johnson Eaton,

the brother of the younger Mrs. Adams is to be married next

week to his sister's serving maid. This, as you may suppose, has not

only given the gossips a subject but has occasioned a great deal of dis-

tress and discord in the family of Mr. Adams. "Ainsi va la monde."

The society here is not sufficiently enlightened with the new doctrine to

be willing to receive Mrs. Eaton into it's bosom. So they say Mr. Eaton

must have a foreign embassy and exhibit his lovely wife, his better half

as the representative of American ladies at an European court. It will

be well if she does not come to fisticuffs with her Grace the Duchess

or my lady, the Marchioness.

I thank you for the friendly interest you take in my future destinies

and assure you that nothing but the impossibility of the thing prevents

me from pursuing the course which you point out to me. You ask why

I do not at once go to Baltimore. I answer because there is a rule of

court which would prevent me from commencing practise until after

the lapse of three years and I do not wish to wait so long. It is my

intention now to go immediately upon the completion of my engage-

 

43 Postmarked April 18.

• 34
 

Salmon P. Chase.                       153

 

ment here either to the western part of the state of New York or to

Ohio or to Frederick in Md. The last of these schemes is the least

likely to be adopted of the three. But my intention may be materially

changed upon subsequent information. My plan of life, so far as I

have formed any is this. To pursue the practice of my profession un-

deviatingly until I have accumulated a little--enough to render me in-

dependent of the world and then to run a political career. I think in

this way I may be more extensively useful than in any other and there-

fore I wish to pursue this course. I will not tell you all my day-dreams

of good effected through my instrumentality lest you should doubt the

sanity of your friend. There is one subject however which engages

(and naturally enough) many of my thoughts and that is the simplifica-

tion and improvement of the law. I would wish to contribute my poor

efforts to the accomplishment of this great work. I would desire to see

all the dark and circuitous by paths which conduct to the sanctuary of

justice converted into a broad and beaten highway. I would be glad to

see the sun of Jurisprudence shining with unclouded effulgence upon all,

the rich & the poor, the learned and the ignorant; not hidden by

clouds or obscured by a disastrous eclipse as it now is, serving but to

render the darkness in which we are involved, felt. I am sure that

much may be done by zealous devotion to effect this object. And could

I render such a service to my country I would not give the conscious-

ness of having done so, for all the crowns which ever encircled a

monarch's brow or for all the plaudits which were ever lavished upon a

successful warrior. I know I am enthusiastic, but this enthusiasm, this

far-reaching anticipation is the source of happiness to me, and I would

not exchange it for the contented tranquillity of a more phlegmatic

disposition.

With regard to the Misses Wirt you are again mistaken. It was

the engaged one who used to me the expressions I repeated to you and

so your castle in the air must fall. They are all gone now; the two

young ladies to Richmond and the rest of the family to Baltimore. I

would (I speak frankly) I could cherish the anticipations to which you

obviously allude. But it cannot be, says the stern voice of cold Reason,

it cannot be. If I were a little more advanced in the world - even one

short year it might be. But ignorant as I am of my future destinies, un-

certain even as to the place where my lot may be cast, I feel it would

be unjust to her to attempt to win her affections. And yet so strangely

inconsistent is man with himself. I always forget all this when in her

presence and half of my thoughts are employed upon this very subject

& tho' Conviction continually extinguishes the taper of Hope, yet is it

constantly relumed in my bosom. Now I have unfolded to you the pre-

cise nature of my feelings and have reposed in you a confidence which

I know will be fully deserved.

I should be glad to hear of the fate of my letters to my cousin in

your next, which I hope soon to receive. Remember me very respectfully

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154        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

to your father and sister if she has not forgotten me and believe [me]

ever

Your sincere & affectionate

 

Write me in extenso of your own affairs and plans in your next

& thus countenance my egotism.

 

CITY OF WASHINGTON, Sept. 30. 1829.

MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,

It was my intention to have written you as soon as I had returned44

but I found so many things to do that in the whirl of occupations the

little moments and the greater hours have slipped almost imperceptibly

away and the thing has not been done. You however who so often need

forgiveness (pardon the reminiscence) will not be very immitigable in

your resentment. I returned here without accident and with renovated

health. The journey was performed somewhat more rapidly than I an-

ticipated when with you I went to Salem the same day I left Concord

with George Punchard whom I found or rather who found me at An-

dover. You know I went down with Ward. When I arrived I felt

thoroughly fatigued and threw myself on Ward's bed to rest myself.

While there Punchard happened to be passing by and seeing Ward's

window opened he concluded that he had returned and stepped in to

enquire the news from Hanover. He found me there quite unexpectedly

and told me he was going to Salem. I immediately agreed to go with

him and off we went. The next day I went to see my sister at Ipswich

and returned, bid goodbye to our noble friend and his admirable family

and went to Boston. Here I unluckily missed seeing Smith in conse-

quence of an oversight on my part. I saw none of our acquaintances in

Boston as it was too late when I arrived to seek them out that evening

and the next day was Sunday. On Monday morning I was off-passed

thro N. Y. the next day without stopping an instant--slept at Philadel-

phia and the next evg. at 8 o'clock was comfortably seated at Balti-

more in the midst of my friends the Wirts. I remained in Baltimore till

Saturday when I came here as a dog that is dragged back to a chain

from which he has been temporarily freed. I always feel when I have

been absent from the city a little while and pass by the Capitol on my

return, a sort of involuntary sinking of the heart for which I cannot

account unless it be that I detest the drudgery and thanklessness of

school-keeping. Well it is a source of some consolation that I shall

soon be released from it. I can see thro' as they say in the Western

forests and I will strive to divert my mind from the gloom around me,

from the rugged surface and tangled ways of the wood to yonder clear

blue sky which I can just discern thro the interstices of the interlaced

 

44 Chase had left Washington on July 31 for a visit with his mother

and sister in New England. Incidentally he had spent a few days with

Sparhawk in Concord, N. H.

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Salmon P. Chase.                       155

 

boughs. And I am not sorry that I have been a pedagogue. It is good

to have borne the yoke in one's youth. It is well to have made trial of

this world. It is a test-a criterion of strength-energy-power.

When I returned I found that the Secretary of War was likely to be

involved in a disagreeable difficulty on account of his wife. A curious

version of this affair has found it's way into the newspapers and has

been published I perceive in the N. H. Journal in which statement there

are not two grains of truth. It was written either by a dunce or a

knave-either by some busy meddler who could not ascertain the true

state of the case or by some designing fellow who wished for particular

reason to impose a false statement on the public. I am inclined to

think that the last supposition is nearest the truth. The true state or

nearly a true state of the case is this. Sometime last March Mr. [J. M.]

Campbell a clergyman of this city in a confidential conversation with

Dr. [E. S.] Ely of Phila. a staunch adherent of Genl. Jackson men-

tioned some circumstances respecting the character of Mrs. Eaton when

Mrs. Timberlake with a view that being repeated to Gen. J. by Dr. Ely

they might prevent the appt. of Maj. Eaton as Secy. of War Dr Ely said

nothing about them at the time. Maj. Eaton was appointed and here

the matter rested for a time. Subsequently Dr. Ely finding that the

character of the administration was suffering from the attempts made

by the Genl. to obtrude this woman on Society wrote to him detailing to

him these circumstances stating that he had recd. them from a clergyman

but without mentioning his name. Genl. J. communicated the contents

to the Secy. and Mrs. Eaton immediately departs for Phila. to demand

the name of the audacious offender. It was given up and she returned.

Mr. Campbell declared to Gen. J. the whole course he had taken and the

motives by which he was influenced. He approved of them but subse-

quently after conversing with E   - saw fit to recant his approval.

Various attempts were then made to intimidate Mr. C. and induce a

recantation but in vain. Genl. J--  in the true spirit of the despotism

which has marked his every exercise of power has withdrawn himself

from Mr. C's church and Maj Eaton his worthy friend after having

magnanimously threatened personal violence to a peaceful clergyman,

says nothing about the matter at present. Mr. C. is absent from the city.

I cannot tell what will be done when he returns. Such is an abridgment

of the whole affair as I believe it stands.⁴⁵ My affectionate respects to

your excellent father and mother. In a great hurry.

Your very aff. friend

45Chase gives a more explicit account of this affair in his diary

under date of September 5, 1829: "Mr. Campbell, a Presbyterian clergy-

man in Washington, had stated in confidence to Dr. Ely, of Philadelphia,

with a view to prevent the appointment of Maj. Eaton to the Cabinet,

that Mrs. E. had been delivered of a child when she was Mrs. Timber-

lake, supposed to be by Maj. E., and that various other reports, greatly

prejudicial to the character of both, had been for some time in circula-

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156        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

WASHINGTON Jany. 15. 1830.

MY DEAR SPARHAWK,

What apology shall I make for my long silence. Shall I tell you

how often I have determined to write immediately and how often some

duty seemingly more imperative in it's claims would drag me from this

more pleasant one? Shall I tell how much I have to do? Shall I plead

the harrassing anxiety which constantly accompanies indecision as to

future residence-especially when the hour is nigh at hand when that

die, so pregnant with good or evil, must be thrown? Will any or all of

these apologies avail? If so then, my dear friend, you will not impute

my silence to a wrong cause and of course will not retaliate upon me.

You mentioned in your last a dangerous illness of your excellent

father. As I have since heard nothing from you I trust he is restored

 

tion. Dr. Ely had made no use of the information then but some time

afterward wrote to the President, informing him of the circumstances,

and giving Mr. Campbell's name as the author of the report. The Presi-

dent immediately sent for Mr. C., who confessed that he had made the

statement to Dr. E., explained his motives, and showed this authority.

The President was apparently contented. But, the next day, he had

changed his mind, and called upon Mr. C. to deny his belief in the

charge. Mr. C. replied that he could not-when the President became

angry, and talked of a suit for slander. Mr. C. now thought it expedient

to prepare for the worst, and with that view requested me to call with

him at Mrs. Williams' to-day. I went and the old lady told us that she

was a neighbor to Mrs. Timberlake, and that Mrs. O'Neale, the mother

of Mrs. T., had told her that she had had twins in the absence of Mr.

T. This was the amount of her statement, but from other sources Mr.

C. gathered a mass of evidence sufficient, and more than sufficient, to

establish every allegation he had made, not as of his own knowledge, but

as resting upon the credit of a particular individual and upon the strength

of common report. A few days afterward a conclave was held at the

palace, for the extraordinary purpose of taking this affair into considera-

tion.

"Nearly the whole Cabinet was present, and some extra counselors

summoned for the special occasion. These last were Dr. Ely and Mr.

Auditor Lewis. Mr. C. was summoned to appear and answer for him-

self. I can not state the particulars as they transpired. I have now no

note of the transaction, and the minutiae have faded from my memory.

However, the President became highly exasperated, and attributed the

whole affair to the agency of Mr. Clay, and Mr. C. left the room indignant

at the treatment he had received, and determined to publish the whole

affair to the world. Dr. Ely followed him and entreated him to change

his resolution. At last he consented. Many other incidents grew out of

this. The ladies of Washington excluded Mrs. E. from their society,

and so the matter still rests. Eaton has threatened personal violence

to Mr. C., but will not probably execute his threat; and Mrs. E. called

herself on Mr. C., and after alternate abuse and entreaty, screaming and

fainting, finding the whole ineffectual, declared that his blood should be

spilt for his audacity." Warden, S. P. Chase, 148.

As this extract indicates, the evidence of Mrs. Eaton's guilt was

by no means conclusive. Professor J. S. Bassett, the most recent

biographer of Jackson, presents a well-balanced account of this affair in

his chapter on "The Eaton Malaria."

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Salmon P. Chase.                      157

 

to his usual health. I can sympathize with you in the anxiety which you

must have felt. I have so often and so keenly felt the want of paternal

aid and guidance and from want we [are] often enabled to appreciate

more truly than by possession, that I can do with more reality than

most men. But long may you be spared the sad experience which has

been mine. Long may your revered father enjoy the love and honour to

which his many and lofty virtues so justly entitle him.

Things here are in very much the same situation as when I wrote

last. The political parties have not yet separated. Tho it is probable

enough that e'er the session has closed Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Cal-

houn will be openly proclaimed by their respective adherents as candi-

dates for the next Presidency. Of these two Mr. Van Buren is at present

so far as can be judged by indications here is [sic] unquestionably the

strongest. Mr. Calhoun, however is much the ablest man. Van Buren

has never been conspicuous as the originator or constant advocate of

any one great measure. The United States Bank which has saved the

country from financial ruin, is the child of Mr. Calhoun. Mr. Van Buren

has been a successful intriguer without ever manifesting any of those

splendid mental endowments which constitute the great statesman.46 Mr.

Calhoun, of too lofty a spirit to stoop to the arts and chicane of po-

litical tacticians, rests his high pretensions upon his unrivalled ability in

affairs of state. And this is the true reason why he is comparatively

weak. The day has past, I fear forever past in this country, when a

man will be rated according to his intellectual strength, extensive ex-

perience or moral excellence. But my fear is mingled with hope. Amid

the gloomy clouds which overhang our future destiny I sometimes think

I can discover, faint revealings of the bow of promise. It has for some

time been my opinion that a mighty moral revolution is taking place

throughout our land. If it be so, then is the day at hand when this

nation shall be as no nation hath been. The time approaches when the

intellect of man, no longer confined by superstition or despotic will, shall

expand over the whole range of knowledge; when improvement shall

reach it's uttermost limit; and man, disenthralled from the bondage of

error and the worse bondage of sin, shall be what his maker intended he

should be the chief glory of all his works. Do not laugh at my en-

thusiasm but think of the subject and see if you do not arrive at the same

result. I have not time or space now for the development of my own

views of the whole matter but they appear to me to be reasonable. But

whither have I been led? To go back I will say that while Mr. Calhoun

& Van Buren are the only actors on the stage at present Mr. Clay's

friends are neither asleep or unwatchful. Nor are they weak. They do

not outnumber the united friends of the gentlemen I have named-but

divided they would be stronger than either party.

46 Such are the mutations of politics that eighteen years later Chase

supported Van Buren for president of the United States.

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158        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Now as to myself I am here thinking of my situation and trying

to decide upon my future residence. It is my present opinion that I

shall go to Cincinnati but I am uncertain as farther information may

change my determination. At all events I shall remain here four or five

weeks longer. I have relinquished the school to Smith and have been

admitted to the Bar.⁴⁷ Smith is I believe well pleased with his situation.

Tho there are some desagemens about it with which one cannot easily

reconcile himself. Instructors here are not esteemed as they are at the

North and no wonder for of all men assuming the duties of that relation

I do not think a more miserable set could be selected than those who

are located here. I do not associate with them and in fact tho I have

been in the city for three years I am yet acquainted with but one teacher.

How then can a man expect to be pleased when his profession ranks

him with a degraded caste?

I shall be looking for a letter from you soon. Please remember

me to all my friends in Boston. If you can find it convenient call soon

at Mr. Lamb's, Winthrop Place, & see Mr. Elliott, a young gentleman

who left this last Monday for Boston and who will remain there I sup-

pose a few days. He is a fine fellow.

Your very affectionate friend

 

CINCINNATI OHIO June 12. 1830.

MY DEAR SPARHAWK.

You will be somewhat surprised to receive a letter from your old

friend dated in this ultra-montane world and really I am a little sur-

prised to find myself here a practising attorney, but as yet without prac-

tice except in the moot-court! I feel almost sorry that I ever left New

England but upon the whole I do not know that I have found thus far

47 He was admitted to the bar in December, 1829, under circum-

stances which he describes as follows in a letter to Trowbridge: "Very

seldom, I imagine, has any candidate for admission to the bar presented

himself for examination with a slenderer stock of learning. I was ex-

amined in open court. The venerable and excellent Justice Cranch put

the questions. I answered as well as I was able-how well or how ill

I cannot say-but certainly, I think, not very well. Finally, the Judge

asked me how long I had studied. I replied that, including the time em-

ployed in reading in college and the scraps devoted to legal reading be-

fore I regularly commenced the study, and the time since, I thought three

years might be made up. The Judge smiled and said, 'We think, Mr.

Chase, that you must study another year and present yourself again for

examination.' 'Please your honors,' said I deprecatingly, 'I have made

all my arrangements to go to the Western country and practise law.'

The kind Judge yielded to this appeal, and turning to the clerk said,

'Swear in Mr. Chase.' Perhaps he would have been less facile if he had

not known me personally and very well."   Schuckers is authority for

the statement that the law of Maryland made three years' study a

prerequisite for admission to the bar of the state and holds that Judge

Cranch's comments reflected in no way upon Chase's fitness for admission.

Schuckers, S. P. Chase, 30.

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Salmon P. Chase.                       159

 

much reason to regret that course. I have studied my profession after

a sort: have been admitted to the Courts of the District and the Courts

of Ohio: have made some acquaintance with the great men and have

seen a little of the great world:--and now nearly four eventful years

have elapsed since I took my sheep skin at Dartmouth (dear old Dart-

mouth!) and sallied forth to seek my fortune aet. 18 as they say upon

the tombstones. Well and how should I have spent the time had New

England still detained me with[in] her loved borders? Verily I cannot

tell: but I see no great reason to suppose that I should have been much

better or wiser or richer than I am now. Qua cum ita sint it seems to

me that I have not much cause to repine. But I wont pester you any

more with my egoism until I have exhausted other topics.

I was rejoiced to hear that the health of your excellent father was

so far restored. The exercise which his new situation will constantly

induce him to take will I trust, complete his restoration. I thank you

for your kind invitation and assure you that there are few in N. E.

whom I should more desire to see and were my purse as full of dollars

as your heart is of kindness I should lose no time in setting out. But

now is the spring of my fortune. As yet not even the tender shoots

appear. If they do rise there may come a cruel frost to nip them in

the bud. So you see it is a thing impossible to hope for that I should

see New England for a year or two at least.

Do you know the Dr. Howard who married my cousin Elizabeth?

What sort of a gentleman is he?    There is another brother of the

Pill here from Boston who has accomplished a conquest of one of our

loveliest ladies. His name is Hayward and he says he is acquainted

with my cousin-in-law and speaks well of him. The lady is the youngest

daughter of Judge [John] McLean who, some say, will be president of

the U. S. one of these days. Only think of a Bostonian seeking a wife

in the far West where when he was a child (some thirty years since)

scarce a tree had been cut down so as to let in the light of the blessed

sun upon the soil. So change all things of earth! But isn't it an ex-

cellent thing to be a stranger? One would think the world has grown

wondrous charitable did we see nothing but the consequence which one

enjoys in a strange place. My left hand to a Queen Anne's shilling Dr.

H could not have obtained so pretty a girl in Boston and so highly gifted

with other advantages, as Miss McLean.

I would tell something about Cincinnati but I scarcely know where

to begin. The city has sprung up at once as it were from the bosom of

mother earth, like Minerva proceeding armed at all points from the

skull of Jupiter which I take to have been about the most monstrous

conception ever begotten in the brain. Thirtyfive years ago and where

Cincinnati now stands was one immense forest in the midst of wh.

rose one or two mounds, mechancoly [sic] types of past ages. A few

trees had been cut down on the margin of the river and a few huts had

been constructed of their trunks. Fort Washington was built after-

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160        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

wards and the striped and starred banner floated proudly over the spot

where the Turkish crescent now glitters. A bazaar has been erected

there in the fantastic style of eastern Architecture. And every thing

had changed. The Ohio formerly rolled her waters along the base of

abrupt overhanging banks but now the bank has been made to slope

gently down to the waters edge from a great distance and is paved like

the streets of Boston. There is a solid bed of stone extending a con-

siderable distance up and down the river. Then [MS. torn] trees hung

their branches over the flood. Now extensive warehouses and hotels

lift their imposing fronts. Then a solitary canoe was now and then to be

seen guided by the Indian huntsman moving over the water, loaded

with the spoils of the chace. Now fleets of steam-vessels shoot swiftly

along, annihilating distance and bearing in their ample bosoms the pro-

ductions of the whole world. Is it not wonderful-passing wonderful,

the difference between then and now?48

Goodbye, my dear Tom, remember me affectionately to every mem-

ber of your family - do not neglect writing so long again and believe [me]

with sincerest affection

Your friend

P. S. Do you know what has become of Geo. Punchard?

 

48Writing in the Cincinnati America some time afterward Chase

gave in greater detail his first impressions of Cincinnati. A portion of

this description is worthy of reproduction in connection with the above

account: "Thirty-five years ago our city was, as he [Daniel Webster]

said it was, a little opening in the midst of a vast, unbroken forest. And

what is it now? Let us look around us. Let us walk around Cincinnati

and take note of what we see. First, there is the great landing, sloping

down from Front street to the water's edge, a declivity of between sixty

and seventy feet in perpendicular elevation, and reaching along the river

more than two whole squares. The noble stream is up now, and a part

of this immense work is hidden from view. Yet enough is visible to

show that it would be a difficult matter to find a structure like it any-

where. If the rise of water hides the landing it shows the steamboats

for the use of which the landing was made. There they are, of a stately

structure, fitting the river on whose bosom they rush along, and the

mighty territory whose productions they carry to a distant market. As

if Providence had designed this spot for their use, the river, generally

careering on with a rapid current, here sweeps round an eddy, and thus

forms a natural harbor, as it were, for them. They are discharging and

receiving their cargoes. To-morrow almost every one of them will be

gone, and their places will be filled with others.

"As we proceed eastward, coming up into the city a little, our ears

are greeted with the sound of busy occupation, and our eyes with the

sight of the numerous factories. There are the steam mill, and the cot-

ton factories, and the saw mill factories, and the engine factories, and

others that we have not room to enumerate. Here is the principal source

of the wealth and prosperity of our city. It is labor that gives value to

every thing. The raw material is worthless till it is wrought. What

purpose serves the iron in the earth? What good does the cotton ere it

be gathered? Labor must be applied before value can be created  . .

• 42
 

Salmon P. Chase.                      161 "We pass on eastward until we come to the water works, and then climb up the hill that lies just down upon the river, until we attain a commanding position for a panoramic view of the valley. The first thought that strikes us is, that this spot must have been marked out for a high destiny in the councils of heaven. That wide amphitheater be- low must surely have been scooped out on purpose to be the seat of a great city. On all sides it is guarded by the everlasting hills, which seem, from this point, to be arrayed around the whole valley, in the form of an ellipsis. We see La Belle Riviere entering it from the north- east. It sweeps round in a beautiful curve, and we see it again far off and seeming like a zone of silver, binding nature's verdant apparelling, glid- ing away tranquilly toward the mighty Mississippi.  From the north and the south several small streams are seen pouring in their scanty tribute. The canal comes in from the north, and is covered with boats. We close our eyes for a moment and listen. We hear, from the river, the roaring of the stream; from the canal, the notes of the bugle; and from the entire city, that confused noise of the rattling of wheels and the jar of machines, and the clamor of voices, which always indicate the presence of a multitudinous population. We open our eyes again and we almost imagine that we see the city grow. We do see all the symptoms of vigorous growth. There are factories, more than we saw when in the valley, and in every part of the city. There are many churches, some of them grand in their proportions, and splendid in their architecture. There are the residences of some of our private citizens that show like palaces. There are extending streets and multiplying erections of every description, on the two levels that, with the connecting declivity between them, form the area of this vast amphitreater. There are the markets, not quite so neat fabrics as they might be, but filled to the overflowing with the abundance of the surrounding country, and crowded by the great multitude who live to eat, or eat to live. There, too, is NOT- alas! that we must say so-a CITY HALL worthy of the greatness and opulence of our city. "Having now cast a general and rapid glance over the scene be- fore us, we descend the hill, and we meet with men not yet past the prime of life, who tell us that when they were boys they used to gather grapes and hunt squirrels and wild turkeys over the very spot where these thick-crowding edifices now stand."- Warden, S. P. Chase, 185-187.

Vol. XXVIII-11.

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