Year: 1866

if he had not "chasgsd The opinion 15hteh
he entertained an 1850, he IS not tie man to
sit IN judgment upon Dr. jefferson Daris,
or any body else standing IN tie ike posi-
EHa." Senator Sherman, on the day fol-
lowing Senator Johnson's speech, said
that Chief Justice Chase never saw the
resolutions affirming the right Of aSiate
TO decide on the Constituuonality of a
United States law, which were passed
at Cleveland in 1859, during the 0ber-
lin rescue excitement, and added that
Mr. Chase did speak at the meeting re-
| ferred TO, but was not aware that any
such resolutions were passed, and that
| his speech as Executive of Ohio, in ia.
vor of law and order, was such as to
cause dissent from those who composed
the Cleveland meeting. Senator Sher-
man said:


81 know that his (Chase's) remarks
on the occasion were received with dis
sent by the excited audience, and he
was not applsuded during the whole
| of his brief remarks. He counseled
moderation and strict obedience I to
law, and took no part in framing, sd-
yocating, or passing the resolutions. 1t
is due to the Chief Justice to make this
/ statement.


Now, sir, you may look through
all the writings and all the speeches of
| that distinguished citizen, and you
will find nothing in them that would
sanction secession or notification or
any OF those outrageous doctrines,
which emanated from John c. Calhoun
and Jefferson Davis"


One of the resolutions adopted at
Cleveland by the Sons of Liberty was
/ the famous first of the Kentucky reso-
/ luuons, the corner stone of the extreme
States Rights doctrine. The truth is,
the anti-slaVery men in the North,
were for time inclined to adopt the
extreme States Rights ideas prevailing
in the South, as a means of resisting
the encroachments of the slave power
through the General Government; and
there is no doubt about it, there was,
| when Mr.. Chase was Governor of Ohio,
a proposition lseriously entertained to
nullify the Fugitive Slave Law, and
that upon the Calhoun theory of the
/ Federal system, by asserting the su-
preme sovereignty of the State.


The speech of Governor Chase on this
memorable occasion was not fully re-
ported. The most complete report we
! have been able to find of it, and its ac-
| curacy, we believe, has not been ques-
toned, is the following from the CleVe-
| land Leader:


Governor Chase was then received
| with hearty and tremendous cheers.
"a few hours ago he was sitting in his
Office at Columbus, not expecting to be
present to-day, but having received a
| summons to meet with them to-day,
he had felt it his duty to come, but he
had not come to advise them to do any
thing which they hereafter might have
occasion to regret He had not come
to counsel any violence. The Ameri-
can people, having the control of all
power Dy the ballot-bozes, it was for
/ them to do it in their legitimate way.


alt was not necessary that we, the
| sovereigns of the land, should resort to
any measures which could not be car
ried out at all times and under all Cir
cumstGnces.


Some of the most respected CITIZENS
of the State, whom he had known for
wears, had done what they believed to
be right, and which not one man in ten
thousand would look up into the blue
sky with his hand on his heart and say
was not right; they had been thrown
into confinement This was wrong,
and what should we do2 We exist un-
der State Government and Federal
Government, and ii the Government
does wrong, turn it out Dismiss the
unworthy servants and put in those
who will do your will So with the
State Governments. Take the right
course always, and look to the Govern
ments and reform them.


''The Federal Government is now
acting under the Fugitive Slave Law,
of which he had often expressed his
opinion, and what is our redress for
those who are imprisoned under that
act The first thing to do was to ably
defend them, as had been done. 1t
was said that this law was unconsGtu-
tional. If this be so, all done under
that law is null and void. He believed
when the law was passed, aud believed
now, that that act was intended rather
as q symbol of the supremacy of the
slave States, and subjugation of the
free. The case has been brought be-
fore the courts of the State, and they
are bound to carry out their duty un-
der such view of it. If the process
for the release of any prisoner should
issue from the courts OF the State, he
was free to say that so long as Ohio
was a State, that process should be exc
cuted. lie was in favor of reciprocity,
but if the State Court issued papers
and process, the Federal Court must
show the same Difference to the State
Court that was at other times shown to
the Federal Court We can reform the
Judiciary, the Congress and the Ad-
ministration. and although the process
may be too slow to suit some of the more
excited of the audience, yet none OF


them were so old that they might not


see the operation of this remedy. lie
did not counsel revolutionary measures,


but when his time came, and his duty


was plain, he, as the Governor OF OhIor
! would meet it as a man.


t "He then reviewed the circumstances


of the arrest and seizure of the negro
3 how John, under 8 power of attorney.
= ard this process Of a power ofsttorney


gave to the SCENTS Of the power the
right 10 take John wherever he was
found, although at that time he was
citizen of Ohio Consequently that
paper Of authority was not peace, but


war. againsta citizen Of Ohio.


His deliberate judgment was, that


no person could be seized and captured


while he was citizen of any sovereign
) State. under the Constitution Of the


United States. He entered into brief


analysis of the constitutlonshty Of this


law ,showingit to be at variance with the


letter and spirit of that document CIV


ing, as il does, the power of the Judges
/, to the Commissioners under this act.
!, "Who does not see in all these un.


righteous accusations and prosecutions
the doom of this law He remembered


the statement of the Plain Dealer, of
few years ago, which said that the
, origin Of this law was internal, and it


most be repealed, whether Constiul-


tional or not But it was never in
o tended by this clause which permits
} slavery in the land, that ii wss 70 spread


farther than the States IN which il then


existed and had they believed other


wise. the Constitution would never have
been enacted.


aLet the courts be appealed to, and


lat them set in accordance with their
. oonsciepcss and their duty between


themselves and their God. The great


remedy is in the people themselves, al
"a the bailotbox. Elect men with back
rs bone. who win stand up for Their


r;ghts. no matter what forces are ar
as r.yed AGAINST them See 70 lt, TOO
,rhst President YOU elect again. lie