as among the most
considerate men of the Convention a settled purpose to secure the
nomination of the Chief Justice. They intended to place him before the
people upon the issues in regard to which he was in harmony with the
Democratic party, and omit all mention of issues in regard to which
there was a difference of view. This was a species of tactics not
unknown to political parties, and might be used with great effect if
Mr. Chase should be the nominee. The astute men who advocated his
selection saw that the great need of the Democracy was to secure a
candidate who had been unquestionably loyal during the war, and who
at the same time was not offensive to Southern feeling. The prime
necessity of the party was to regain strength in the North--to recover
power in that great cordon of Western States which had for so many
years prior to the rebellion followed the Democratic flag. The States
that had attempted secession were assured to the Democracy as soon as
the party could be placed in National power, and to secure that end
the South would be wise to follow the lead of New York as obediently
as in former years New York had followed the lead of the South. It
was a contest which involved the necessity of stooping to conquer.

The Chief Justice was, so far as his position would permit, active in
his own behalf. He was in correspondence with influential Democrats
before the Convention, and in a still more intimate degree after the
Convention was in session. On the 4th of July he wrote a significant
letter to a friend who was in close communication with the leading
delegates in New York. His object was to soften the hostility of the
partisan Democrats, especially of the Southern school. Referring to
the policy of Reconstruction, he said, "I have always favored the
submission of the questions of re-organization after disorganization
by war to the entire people of the whole State." This was intended
to assure Southern men that if he believed in the justice of giving
suffrage to the negro, he did not believe in the justice of denying
it to the white man.

The strangest feature in Judge Chase's strange canvass was the
apparent friendship of Vallandingham, and the apparent reliance of the
distinguished candidate upon the strength which the notorious anti-war
Democrat could bring to him. Vallandingham had evidently been sending
some kind messages to the Chief Justice, who responded while the
Democratic Convention was