Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1859-03-18
nIOGRAPux OF GOV. CHASE.

pcula, tue loliOWlhg .nOtlceS OF tne NE Oh
Gov Chase. The third volume of the Cy-
clopedia is to be published early in April
CHASE, SALMON PORTLAND, an Ameri-
can statesman, born in Cornish, n. H., Jan.
Is, 1908. When he was Z years old his
father removed to Keene, where Salmon
pursued his studies as a schoolboy. Two
years later his father died, and when 12l
years old he went to Worthington, Ohio,
where his tuition was superinteuded by his
uncle, Philander Chase, then bishop Of
Ohio. He then entered Cincinnati college,
of which his uncle had meantime accepted
the presidency, gaining shortly after his
admission a promotion TO tho sophomore
class. After about a years residence in
Cincinnati, he returned to his mothers home
in New Hampshire, and in 1924 entered
the Junior class in Dartmouth college, where
he was graduated in 1925. In the succeed
! ing winter Mr.. Chase opened classical
school for boys in Washington, having
among his pupils the sons of Henry Clay,
William Writ, Samuel L. Southland, and
other distinguished men of that day. Soon
after closing his school in 1929, he was ad-
mitted to the bar of the District of Colum-
bia, for which he had qualified himself un-
der the direction of Mr.. Writ, during the
time he was discharging the duties Of a
teacher In the spring Of 1880 he return
ed to Cincinnati, where he has ever since
resided, except when interrupted by official
duties, and pursued the profession of the
law. While struggling through the early
cnbanassments of professional life, Mr..
Chase prepared an edition of the statutes of
Ohio, with copious annotations, and a pre-
liminary sketch of tho history of the state
in 8 large vols. Svo. This edition soon su-
persoded all previous publications of the
statutes, and is now received as authority in
the courts Aided by the reputation thus
acquired, he socn gained a valuable practice,
and early in 1884 became solicitor of the
bank of the United States in Cincinnati, and
not long after one of the city banks. In 1887
Mr. Chase acted as counsel for a colored wo-
man clamed as a fugitive slave, and in an
elaborate argument, afterwards published,
, controyerted tue authority of congress to
impose any duties or confer any powers in
fugitive slave cases on state magistrates, a
: position in which he has been sustained by
l the L. S. supreme court; and maintained
that the law of 1898 relative to fugitive.
= from service was void, because unwarranted
by the constitution of the United States-
The same year, in an argument before the
supreme court of Ohio, in defense of Jame
! G. Bruey, prosecuted under state law 70
l harboring a negro slave, Mr.. Chase ASSERTED
the doctrine that slavery is local and dc
pendent on state law for existence and con
: tinuance, and insisted that the person alleg
d ed to have been harbored, having beer
brought within the territorial limits Of Obi,
>, by the individual claiming her rs master
was thenceforth in fact and by right free
u In 1888, in newspaper review Of a report
g Of the judiciary committee of the senate o
u Ohio against the granting Of trial by jury tc
alleged slaves, Mr. Chase took the same
'' ground as in his legal arguments. In ls4f
he was associated with the Hon. w. H. Sew
c ard as defendants counsel in the case Of Var
: Zandt before the supreme court of the Unit
l ed States. The case excited much interest
II and in a speech which attracted marked at
: tention, Mr. Chase argued moro elaborated,
the principles which ho had advanced il
former cases, maintaining that under tn
l. ordinance of 1887 no fugitive from servic
IS could be reclaimed from Ohio unless ther
Il had been an escape from one of the origin
y al states; that it was the clear understand
e ing of the trainers of the constitution, an
Ie of tho people who adopted it, that SLAYER
was to be left exclusively to the disposal {
D. the several states without sanction or sur
L. port from the national government; and tha
the clause of the constitution relative to pei
L sons hold to service WAS one of compact be
r tween the states, and conferred no power c
G. legislation on congress, having been tran.
u ferred from the ordinance of 1887, in whic
ST it conferred no power on the confederation
and was never understood to confer any,
70 He was subsequently engaged for the dc
Is fense in the case Of Driskell u.s. Parish, bC
d. fore the U. S. circuit court at Columbus
and re-argued the same positions. NJ
y Chase's sentiments Of hostility to the natior
g alization of slavery were expressed by h
position in the political movements of tn
'n country, as we'll as in his efforts at the ba
az Prior to ls4l he had taken little part
Id politics. He had voted sometimes wit
the democrats, but more commonly wit
the wings, who, in the North, seemed {
g him more favorable to anti-slayery view
is than their opponents. He supported GEL
ID Harrison in 1910, but the tone of his inal
gural address, and still more the course {
le the Tyler administration, convinced hin
TO that no effective resistance to the encroacl
It, monts of slavery was to be expected fror
We any party with a saveholding and pro-slsv
70 cry wing, modifying if not controlling il
l action; and in ls4l he united in call for
r' convention of the opponents of slavery an
slavery extension, which assembled iu CC
90 lumbus in December of that year. Th
IN convention organized the liberty party {
ee Ohio, nominated candidate for gcverno
or aud issued an address to the people defuin
its principles and purposes This address
KS written and reported by Mr. Chase, an
sn unanimously adopted by the convention, Dc
ne serves attention as one of the earliest expo
ID stions Of the political movements agsini
ne slavery. In ls4S a national liberty col
yention assembled at Buffalo. Mr.. Chas
g. was an active member of the committee o
a resolutions, to which was referred, under
70 rule of the convention, a resolution propot