Hon. William E. Chandler.
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��limes of reports. P'roin the time of his coming of age Mr. Cliandler was actively connected with the Republi- can party, serving first as secretary, and afterward as chairman of the state committee. In 1862 he was elected to the New Hampshire house of representatives, of which he was speaker for two successive terms, in 1863-'64. In November, 1864, he was employed by the uav^' depart- ment as special counsel to prosecute the Philadelphia nav^'^-yard frauds, and on 9 March, 1865, was appointed first solicitor and judge-advocate- general of that department. On 17 June, 1865, he became first assistant secretary of the treasury. On 30 Nov., 1867, he resigned this place and resumed law practice. During the next thirteen years, although occupying no official position except that of member of the constitutional conven- tion of New Hampshire in 1876, he continued to take an active part in politics. He was a delegate from his state to the Republican national convention in 1868, and was secretary of the national committee from that time until 1876. In that year he ad- vocated the claims of the Hayes electors in Florida before the can- vassing board of the state, and later was one of the counsel to prepare the case submitted by the Republican side to the electoral commission. Mr. Chandler afterward became an es- pecially outspoken opponent of the Southern policy of the Haj^es admin- istration. In 1880 he was a delegate to the Republican national conven- tion, and served as a member of the committee on credentials, in which place he was active in securing the report in favor of district representa-
��tion, which was adopted by the con- vention. During the subsequent campaign he was a member of the national committee. On 23 March,
1881, he was nominated for U. S. solicitor-general, but the senate re- fused to confirm, the vote being near- ly upon party lines. In that year he was again a member of the New Hampshire legislature. On 7 April,
1882, he was appointed secretary of the navy. Among the important measures carried out by him were the simplification and reduction of the unwieldy navy-yard establish- ment; the limitation of the number of annual appointments to the actual wants of the naval service ; the dis- continuance of the extravagant policy of repairing worthless vessels ; and the beginning of a modern navy in the construction of the four new cruisers recommended by the advisory board. The organization and suc- cessful voyage of the Greely relief expedition in 1884 were largely due to his personal efforts. Mr. Chandler was a strenuous advocate of uniting with the navy the other nautical branches of the federal administra- tion, including the light-house estab- lishment, the coast survey, and the revenue marine, upon the principle, first distinctly set forth by him, that ' the officers and seamen of the navy should be employed to perform all the work of the national government upon or in direct connection with the ocean.'"
In the sketch of the life of Presi- dent Arthur, contained in the same volume of the Cyclopoedia, the work of the navy department for the above period is stated as follows :
" A new naval policy was adopted,
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