Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-05-07

trolling its acton; and In 1871 he united
In a call for convention Of the
which assembled At Columbus IN December Of
that year. This convention organized the Lib
erty party Of Ohio, nominated candidate for
Governor, and issued an address to the people
defining its principles and purposes. This ad-
dress, written and reported by Mr.. Chase, and
unanimously adopted by the convention, de-
serves attention as one Of the earliest EXPOSE
tons of the political movement against slavery.
In 1s43 national liberty convention assembled
a. Buffalo. Mr.. Chase was an active me mber
Of the committee on resolutions, to which was
luton proposing "to regard and trv.G the third
clause of the Constitution. whenever applied
to the case Of q fugitits t1eTe, as utterly
null and void, and consequently as forming no
part of the constitution of the United States,
whenever We are called upon or sworn to sup
port it," Mr.. Chase opposed the resolution.
and the committee refused to report IL. 1t was,
however, afterward moved in the convention
by its author, and adopted. Having been
charged in tn United States Senate with the
authorship and advocacy of this resolution, BY
Mr.. Butler, Of South Carolina, who denounced
the doctrine of mental reservation apparently
sanctioned by it, Mr. Chase replied: al have
only to say never proposed the resolution;
never would propose or vote for such resolu-
ton hold no doctrine of mental reservation
Every man, in my judgment, should speak Just
as he thinks, keeping nothing back, here or else
where"
In 1915 Mr.. Chase projected a southern and
western liberty convention, designed to en-
brace call who, believing that whatever is
worth preserving in republicanism can be
maintained only by uncompromsing war
against the usurpations of the slave power. and
are therefore resolved to use all constitutional
aud honorable means to effect the extinction OF
slavery, within their respective states, and its
reduction to its constitutional limits in the
United States" The convention was held in
Cincinnati in June, 1915, and was attended by
4,0O0 persons; delegates were present to the
number Of 2, 900. Mr.. Chase, as chairman of the
committee, prepared the address, giving a his
tory Of slavery in the United States, showing
the position of the whig and democratic parties,
and arguing the necessity of the political or
gaDizatOn unequivocally committed to the de-
naturalization of slavery and the overthrow of
the slave power, and exhibiting what he re-
garded as the necessary hostility OF the slave
holding interest to democracy and all liberal
measures.
In 1917 Mr. Chase was a member of the sec
ond national liberty convention, and opposed
the making OF any national nomination at that
time, urging that a more general movement
against slavery extension and domination was
likely to grow out of the agitation of the Will
mot proviso and the action of Congress and po-
litical parties in reference to slavery. In 1913,
anticipating that the conventions of the whig
and democratic parties would probably refuse
to take ground against the extension of sla-
very, he prepared a call for a free territory
state convention at Columbus, which Unassigned
by more than 900 voters of all political parties
The convention thus called was largely at
tended, and invited a national convention to
meet at Buffalo in August. The influence OF
l.
venticn, and no less SO in the national conven-
ton which assembled upon its invitation, and
nominated Mr.. Van Buren, for president.
On February 22d, 1919, Mn Chase was chosen
a Senator from Ohio, receiving the entire vote
of the democratic members of the legislature.
and those free-sol members who favored demo-
cratic views. The democratic party of Ohio by
the resolutions OF its state convention, had
already declared slavery an evil ;and practically,
through its press and the declarations of It's
leading men, had committed itself to the de-
%,D,,o l,,a<s ~ o1o IT, Nha..
fore, cOinciding with the democrats in their
general views of state policy, supported their
state nominees, distinctly announcing his inten-
ton in the event of the party's desertion of its
anti-savery position, in state or national con-
ventons, to end at once his connection with il.
When the nomination Of Mr.. Pierce by the
Baltimore convention Of 1852, with platform
approving the compromise acts Of 1850, and de-
nouncing the further discussion of the slavery
question, was sanctioned by the democratic
party i'm Ohio, Mr.. Chase, true to his word,
F. Butler, of New York, his associate in the
Buffalo convention, letter in vindication of an
independent democratic party. He pre-
adopted by the convention of the indie,
pendent democracy at Pittsburg, in 1852
Having thus gone into q minority rather than
compromise hisprfhciples, Mr.. Chase gave cor
dial and energetic support to the nominees, and
measures of the independent democracy until
the Nebraska bill gave rise to new and power
full party, based substantially upon the ideas
United States, Mr.. Chase delivered, on March
rs and q, 1850, speech against Mr.. Clay's
compromise bill, reviewing thoroughly all the
questions presented in it. He moved an amend
ment providing against the Introduction of
slavery in the territories to which the bill APP
piled; but it failed by vote of Is to 80. -
In 1855 he gained much popularity by his per-
severing opposition to the " Nebraska bill"
In the same year he was elected governor OF
Ohio, post he held by reelection till 1860. In
1861 he was made Secretary of the Treasury by
President Lincoln, and taking charge Of the
national finances at a tine when the public
credit was low, and great war Immediately
impending, he succeeded in maintaining the
national credit, and provided all the money
needed for the war, even when the expenses of
the government exceeded %, 900 900 per day.
This was accomplished by the issue of legal
tender notes, (pOpularly known as greenbacks,)
the seven-thirty Treasury notes, and the five
twenty bonds.
Mr.. Chase resigned his office June 30, 1864,
and on the 9Th of December following was ap-
pointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court OF
the United States, in place of Roger b. Taney.
deceased. Chief Justice Chase visited the south
ern states after the war, and declared himself
in favor Of impartial suffrage. In 1868 he pre-
sided over the High Court of Impeachment for
the trial of President johnson. He was under
stood to have been in favor of that Presidents
acquittal He was proposed as q candidate for
the presidency at the democratic national con-
vention in July, 1865, but did not obtain the
nomination.
A TALL COLUMN.-The papers saw that a