Mr. Chase was very unwilling to have me leave, and he
endeavored to satisfy me that there was neither illegality nor
impropriety in my continuing until the meeting of Congress. I did not
agree to his view of the law, and moreover, Congress had so changed the
law that the commissioner was required to give bonds. In presence of
that requirement I should have left the place. By the same act a
cashier was authorized, and thus it happened that when the commissioner
was actually in receipt of the moneys the Government had no security
and yet security was required when he was deprived of the power to
touch one cent of the receipts. I remained at Washington from March 3
to August, engaged in the preparation of a work upon the Revenue
System. This volume contains the rulings and decisions by me most of
which have been sustained by the courts or justified by experience.*
My successor was Joseph J. Lewis, a country lawyer from Pennsylvania.
He had written a biography of Mr. Lincoln, and he had been the
President's choice at the outset. When I resigned, the President had
his way. Whether Mr. Chase presented any other person I cannot say.
Mr. Lewis had no idea of the work of administration. When questions
were submitted to the office, he proceeded to prepare an answer which
he wrote with a quill pen in his own hand.
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