the white ridges of Grandsom, which rise upwards of 2500 feet above the convent roof. All access to the spot was formerly by difficult and defensible pathways ; and before the construction of the modern roads, it was very seldom that alien visitors disturbed the monks in their retreat. One of the principal approaches is by the valley of the Guiers Mort, which the traveller enters at St-Laurent-du- Pont, a village of about 1800 inhabitants, with a deaf-mute institution supported by the Carthusians. Passing up the left bank of the stream he next reaches the picturesque hamlet of Fourvoirie (Latin forata via), so named from the road which was driven up the pass at the suggestion of Le Roux, the thirty- third general of the order, in the 16th century. It is the seat of iron forges, a saw-mill, a farm, and laboratories belonging to the monks; and it was formerly the site of the first gateway that guarded the entrance to their domain. The river is there spanned by a noble three- storied bridge of a single arch ; and about three miles higher up is the bridge of St Bruno, which has replaced the older P6rant bridge still hanging in romantic dilapida tion over the torrent. A short distance higher up begins the new part of the road constructed by M. Eugene Viaud in 1853-4 ; it soon leads through the narrow passage of the CEillette or Aiguillette, formerly guarded by a second gateway, beyond which no female footstep was permitted ; and after having passed through four separate tunnels, it brings the traveller in sight of the convent in about three hours from St-Laurent-du-Pont. Other routes of less interest are by the villages of Sappey and La Charmette. There is nothing very striking or beautiful about the architecture of the Chartreuse, its principal features being the high roofs of dark slate and the cross-surmounted turrets. Within the buildings there are four halls for the reception of monks from the Carthusian provinces of France, Italy, Burgundy, and Germany, about sixty cells for the resident brethren, a church of the 15th and 16th centuries, several chapels, and a library, which before the Revolution contained a valuable collection both of books and manuscripts. A short distance from the main building is the infirmary, now set apart under the direction of the sisters of charity for the entertainment of female visitors. Since the revolutionary confiscation of 1793 the domain of Chartreuse has belonged to the state, and the monks, who were permitted to return to the monastery in 1816, pay a nominal rent for the use of the buildings and the right of pasturage, and have no longer any property in the neighbouring forests, which are in great measure due to their predecessors. Their revenue is augmented by the sale of various pharmaceutical preparations known as the Elixir, the Boule d Acier (a mineral paste or salve), and the Chartreuse. In the manufacture of the last a famous aromatic liqueur carnations, absinthium, and the young buds of the pine tree are employed ; there are three kinds a green, a yellow, and a white differing in degree of strength. The monks are distinguished by an active benevolence, the effects of which are visible in all the surrounding villages, where churches, schools, hospitals, and similar institutions have been erected and maintained at their expense. See Bruno and Carthusians; also Adolphe Joanne s Dauphine d Savoie, 1870, and Jules
Taulier s Guide du Voyageur ft, la Grande Chartreuse, 1860.CHARYBDIS. See Scylla and Charybdis.
CHASE, Salmon Portland (1808-1873), an American statesman, was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, on the 13th of January 1808. After graduating with distinction at Dartmouth College, at the age of eighteen he opened a classical school at Washington, and commenced the study of law under William Wirt. In 1830 he was admitted to the bar; and he soon after gained for himself considerable reputation by a compilation of the statutes of Ohio. Throughout his whole career he was a consistent and vigorous opponent of slavery. From the first he was willing to risk his hopes of professional success by undertaking the defence of runaway slaves or of those who assisted their escape; and he boldly argued that slavery was merely an institution of the individual States, to which the national Government could not extend its sanction. He took a prominent part in the anti-slavery convention which met at Columbus in 1841, in the first “National Liberty Convention” of 1843, in the “Southern and Western Liberty Convention” of 1845, and in the second “National Liberty Convention” of 1847. He also presided over the “National Convention” of 1848, which nominated Van Buren for president and Adams for vice-president. In 1849 he became member of the senate; and in 1855 he was elected governor of Ohio, in which position he was so popular that he was re-elected, two years after, by an extraordinarily large number of votes. He was also three times nominated for the presidency, though he never attained that dignity.
On the accession of Lincoln to the presidency, in March 1861, Chase became secretary of the treasury; and he fulfilled the duties of this most important and difficult post with the greatest energy till June 1864. Still, notwithstanding his ability and zeal, it cannot be said that the measures he adopted were the best even in the extremely difficult circumstances in which he was placed. Though he appears to have apprehended some of the evil consequences likely to arise from the creation of inconvertible notes, he argues that their issue was necessary on the ground that it would increase the loanable capital of the country, while, in fact, employed as it was by Government in defraying expenses, it could have no such effect. At first Chase contemplated raising a large sum by direct taxation; but this course Congress refused to pursue. He was forced, therefore, to resort to a considerable increase of the taxes on imports, to issues of an inconvertible paper currency, and to enormous loans, which were contracted upon unnecessarily expensive terms. The interest was, in reality, about double its nominal amount, owing to the fact that it was paid in gold; and, beside this, a considerable loss was sustained through the arrangement by which the debt contracted in depreciated paper was discharged in coin.
It was under his management that Congress passed the Banking Law of February 1863, which, as amended in June 1864, is still in force (see Banking, vol. iii. p. 310). It was at that time useful in two ways; for it procured for the Government, in its necessity, a considerable loan from the banks, and it replaced the notes of the banks, which had lost their credit through frequent failures, by notes which possessed the Government guarantee. Its great recommendation at present is that it secures the trustworthiness of the note currency.
In December of the year in which he resigned the secretaryship of the treasury, Chase was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and in this capacity he had to undertake the responsibility of superintending the trial of President Johnson. But his health was now broken, and his old activity was no longer possible. In June 1870 he suffered a shock of apoplexy, and on May 7, 1873, he died at New York.
Alost in Flanders. When only seven years old be began the study of letters. This, however, he abandoned to become a soldier, serving first of all as a squire. Particu larly favoured by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, he quitted the career of arms towards 1443, and devoted him self to the service of that prince, who made him successively
pantler, orator, and finally grand chronicler of the house of