Mr. Blair accepted his dismissal in a manner to be expected from his manly and generous character, not pretending to be pleased, but assuming that the President had good reason for his action; and, on turning over his office to his successor, ex-Governor William Dennison of Ohio, went at once to Maryland and entered into the campaign, working heartily for Mr. Lincoln’s reelection.

After the death of Judge Taney in October, Mr. Blair for a while indulged the hope that he might be appointed chief justice, a position for which his natural abilities and legal acquirements eminently fitted him.  But Mr. Chase was chosen, to the bitter disappointment of Mr. Blair’s family, though even this did not shake their steadfast loyalty to the Union cause or their personal friendship for the President.  Immediately after his second inauguration, Mr. Lincoln offered Montgomery Blair his choice of the Spanish or the Austrian mission, an offer which he peremptorily though respectfully declined.

The appointment of Mr. Chase as chief justice had probably been decided on in Mr. Lincoln’s own mind from the first, though he gave no public intimation of his decision before sending the nomination to the Senate on December 6.  Mr. Chase’s partizans claimed that the President had already virtually promised him the place; his opponents counted upon the ex-secretary’s attitude of criticism to work against his appointment.  But Mr. Lincoln sternly checked all presentations of this personal argument; nor were the prayers of those who urged him to overlook the harsh and indecorous things Mr. Chase had said of him at all necessary.  To one who spoke in this latter strain the President replied: 

“Oh, as to that I care nothing.  Of Mr. Chase’s ability, and of his soundness on the general issues of the war, there is, of course, no question.  I have only one doubt about his appointment.  He is a man of unbounded ambition, and has been working all his life to become President.  That he can never be; and I fear that if I make him chief justice he will simply become more restless and uneasy and neglect the place in his strife and intrigue to make himself President.  If I were sure that he would go on the bench and give up his aspirations, and do nothing but make himself a great judge, I would not hesitate a moment.”

He wrote out Mr. Chase’s nomination with his own hand, and sent it to the Senate the day after Congress came together.  It was confirmed at once, without reference to a committee, and Mr. Chase, on learning of his new dignity, sent the President a cordial note, thanking him for the manner of his appointment, and adding:  “I prize your confidence and good will more than any nomination to office.”  But Mr. Lincoln’s fears were better founded than his hopes.  Though Mr. Chase took his place on the bench with a conscientious desire to do his whole duty in his great office, he could not dismiss the political affairs of the country from his mind, and still considered himself called upon to counteract the mischievous tendencies of the President toward conciliation and hasty reconstruction.