He knew Chief Justice Chase.
He introduced him to my friend on the cars, and they rode
across Baltimore in one carriage, the two gentlemen, the Chief
Justice, and the wife. The Chief Justice talked to him whom
he had just met for the first time during the whole ride of
half an hour on the same engrossing subject, as he had to
me before.
I think there can be no doubt that Chief Justice Chase, like
many other great men, was consumed by an eager and passionate
ambition for the Presidency. That has been true of other
great statesmen as well as of many small statesmen. It has
been specially true of great orators. The American people
are fond of eloquent speech. They make their admiration known
to the speaker in a way that is quite likely to turn his head.
In Plato's day the bee Hymettus mingled with the discourse
as it came forth. To-day the bee lights in his ear and fills
his fancy with delightful dreams of a hive by the Potomac,
thatched with flowers and redolent with the incense of flattery.
I do not doubt that if Salmon P. Chase had been elected President
of the United States he would have administered that lofty
office honorably and to the advantage of the country.
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