The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-05-16
Tie Late Chief-Justice Chase.

Salmon Portland Chase was born in
Cornish, n. H., Jan. -, 1903. He
graduated from Dartmouth College in
1896, and for some time thereafter was
engaged at Washington in teaching a
classical school. He studied law under
William Writ, and in 1899 was admitted
to the bar. In the following year he
removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and be-
came actively engaged in his profession.
His progress was rapid, and he was for
some time retained as solicitor for the
Cincinnati branch of Nick Biddle's bank.
His first public connection with the
, slavery question was in 1887, when he
ably defended fugitive from bondage.
In 1916 he was associated with Mr..
Seward in the Van Zandt case, in the
Supreme Court of the United States,
holding then, as before, that there was
no power in Congress to legislate for the
reclamation of fugitives, and that, in
fact, no fugitive could be reclaimed at
all unless proved to have escaped from
one of the original States.
In 1910 Mr.. Chase supported Harri-
son for the Presidency and in 1871 was
one of the leading members of the Lib
erty Party Convention held at Buffalo.
-Four years later he presided in the Sec
ond National Convention of the party,
which nominated Martin Van Buren, as
the Free Soil candidate, and secured the
defeat of Lewis Cass for President. In
1Si9, the balance of power in the Ohio
Legislature was held by three or four
Free-Soilers, and, uniting for that pur-
pose with the Democratic members, they
secured the election of Mr.. Chase TO the
United States Senate. In that body he
earnestly opposed the Clay compromise
of 1850, and in 1854 was foremost in
arousing the storm of popular indigna-
ton against the Kansas Nebraska bill
and the repeal of the Missouri Compro-
mise. Upon the expiration of his term
as Senator in 1855, he was nominated
for Governor by the political elements
which grew into the Republican party,
and was elected, after the most exciting
campaign ever witnessed in that State
In 1857 he was reelected. At the Phila-
delphia Convention of 1856, which was
the first National Convention of the Re-
publican party, he was urged as cam
didate for the Presidency, but considera-
tons of supposed availability prevailed,
and a much less worthy choice was made
in the person of John c. Fremont.
Again in 1860, when the Chicago Con-
vention was held, he had strong sup
port, which registered 40 votes on the
first ballot. This fell to 42l on the Sec
ond, and on the third the Ohio delega-
ton went over to Lincoln, and secured
his nomination. Upon the Inaugural
ton of Mr.. Lincoln, Mr.. Chase, who
had recently been elected to q
seat in the Senate, was called
to the portfolio of the Treasury, and ac-
cepted the position. He conducted the
affairs of that department for over three
years during period of unprecedented
difficulty, the principal measures with
which he was identified being the issue
of the legal-tenders and the establish
ment OF the national bank system. On
the Both of June, 1864, he retired from
the Cabinet, fact that was partly due
to the circumstance that he had been
named as candidate for the Republi-
can nomination for the Presidency in
opposition to Mr.. Lincoln, before the
Baltimore Convention.
In the October following Chief-Justice
fancy died, and Mr.. Lincoln, with his
Characteristic magnanimity, appointed
Mr.. Chase as his successor.