returned to Washington at the beginning of the next session
I called upon the President and recommended the appointment of Mr.
Chase. We had a brief conversation upon the subject in which he
asked me pointedly the question whether if Chase was appointed he
would be satisfied, or whether he would immediately become a
candidate for President. I told him I thought his appointment to
that great office ought to and would satisfy his ambition. He then
told me that he had determined to appoint him and intended to send
the nomination to the Senate that day and he did so, December 6,
1864. After Mr. Chase had become chief justice he still had a
lingering interest in the financial policy of the country. On
March 1, 1865, I received from him the following letter. The
portion which refers to the legal tender laws will naturally excite
some interest in view of his decision against the power of Congress
to make the notes of the United States a legal tender. He wrote:

"At Home, March 1, 1865.
"My Dear Sir:--More to fulfill a promise than with the hope of
service I write this note.

"Your speech on the finances is excellent. There are one or two
points on which I shall express myself otherwise; but, in the main,
it commands the fullest assent of my judgment.

"Your appreciation of the currency question exactly corresponds
with my own; only I would not give up the national currency even
if we must endure for years depreciation through the issues of
state banks before getting rid of them.

"The clause in the bill, as it came from the House, imposing a tax
of ten per cent. on all notes not authorized by Congress which may
be paid out after this year by any bank, whether state or national,
will do much towards making our currency sound.

"I will briefly indicate what I should prefer and what I should
most zealously labor to have sanctioned by Congress if I were at
the head of the treasury department.

"1. Let the monthly tax on state bank circulation be increased to
one-half of one per cent.

"2. Provide that any bank may pay into the national treasury the
amount of its circulation in United States notes or national currency
and that on such payment the bank making it shall be exempt from
taxation on circulation.

"3. Provide for the application to the redemption of the circulation
represented by such payments, of the United States notes or national
currency so paid in, and strictly prohibit the paying out of such