The Object of Law. ambitious men have thought me. My only ambition now is to see this country united and peaceful and happy." In the summer of 1869, 1 sent him some news paper clippings on the subject of what was called the " Chase movement." In reply he said : " The gentlemen who have shown such anxiety to relieve themselves of all complicity in ' Chase movements ' might at least have had the grace to say that Mr. Chase never indicated (and might have added, with perfect truth, never felt) any wish that they should engage in any such." In religion, Chief Justice Chase was an Episcopalian of a very mild type; and Miss Chase, who was extremely high in her views, regarded him as almost a Methodist. He was a man of deep religious convictions,
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and he tried to live up to his belief. He read morning prayers for his family and servants; he went to church every Sunday, and refrained from all official work on that day; two or three times, when compelled to finish an opinion on Sunday, in order to have it ready for court the next day, he ex pressed regret that he had to work on Sun day. When I first saw Chief-Justice Chase he was, seemingly, in the prime of a splendid manhood : tall, straight, and vigorous, he was, to all appearance, good for twenty years of usefulness; yet, within two years, he was struck down by a mortal disease, which carried him off in the sixty-fifth year of his age.
THE OBJECT OF LAW. T AW was designed to keep a state in peace; ' To punish robbery, that wrong might cease; To be impregnable, a constant fort, To which the weak and injur'd might resort; But these perverted minds its force employ, Not to protect mankind, but to annoyjy And long as ammunition can be found, Its lightning flashes, and its thunders sound. Crabbe.
