CHASE, SALMON P. 



95 



qnent efforts ; and Mr. Chase followed up the 

 arguments suggested by the above outline of 

 his views on the subject in a still more elabo- 

 rate manner, contending that, "under the Ordi- 

 nance of 1787, no fugitive from service could 

 be reclaimed from Ohio, unless there had been 

 an escape from one of the original States ; that 

 it was the clear understanding of the framers 

 of the Constitution, and of the people who 

 adopted it, that slavery was to be left exclu- 

 sively to the disposal of the several States, 

 without sanction or support from the national 

 Government ; and that the clause of the Con- 

 stitution relative to persons held to service 

 was one of compact between the States, and 

 conferred no power of legislation on Congress, 

 having been transferred from the Ordinance 

 of 1787, in which it conferred no power on the 

 Confederation, and was never understood to 

 confer any." The court, however, through 

 Justice Woodbury, affirmed the constitutional- 

 ity of the act ; and Van Zandt, ruined by the 

 fine imposed upon him, and the costs of the 

 defense, died broken-hearted. Mr. Chase was 

 subsequently engaged for the defense in the 

 case of Dieskell t>*. Parish, before the United 

 Status Circuit Court at Columbus, and argued 

 the same positions. 



Mr. Chase attended a second " National Lib- 

 erty Convention " in 1847, and, in expectation 

 that the agitation of the Wiltnot Proviso would 

 result in a more positive movement against 

 slavery extension, opposed the making of any 

 national nominations at that time. lie antici- 

 pated the Whig and Democratic Conventions 

 in 1843, by calling a Free-Territory Conven- 

 tion, which resulted in the Buffalo Convention 

 in August, and the nomination of Martin Van 

 Buren for the presidency. On the 22d of Feb- 

 ruary of the following year, Mr. Chase was 

 elected to the United States Senate, receiving 

 the entire vote of the Democratic members of 

 the Legislature, as well as a large number of 

 the Free-Soilers. Agreeing with the Democ- 

 racy of Ohio, which had, by resolution in con- 

 vention, declared slavery to be an evil, he sup- 

 ported its State policy and nominees, but de- 

 clared that he would desert it if it deserted the 

 ant'ulavery position. He spoke at length, on 

 the 26th and 27th of March, 1850, against the 

 Compromise resolutions. Opening with a mod- 

 est allusion to his coming from the private 

 walks of lite, without the advantage of previ- 

 ous public position or experience in legislative 

 debates, he claimed consideration for his sin- 

 cerity, and the directness with which he would 

 present his positions. He followed up this 

 speech with others on special topics connected 

 with the Compromise resolutions, moving an 

 amendment against the introduction of slavery 

 in the Territories, to which Mr. Clay's bill ap- 

 plied; but it was lost, receiving 25 yeas to 30 

 nays. He also offered amendments to the Fu- 

 gitive-slave Bill, to conform its provisions to 

 the.provisions of the Constitution, which was 

 also lost. When the Nebraska question came 



up, he proved a tower of strength to the Anti- 

 slavery party, at a critical and exciting period 

 of its existence. He drew np an appeal to the 

 people against the repeal of the Missouri Com- 

 promise in 1854. He made the first elaborate 

 exposure of the wrongs of that iniquitous meas- 

 ure. His persistent attacks upon it in the Sen- 

 ate, though they failed to prevent the consum- 

 mation of the scheme, did thoroughly rouse 

 the North, and are admitted to have influenced 

 in a remarkable degree the subsequent scenes 

 in the struggle. 



During his senatorial career, Mr. Chase also 

 advocated economy in the national finances, a 

 Pacific Railroad by the shortest and best route, 

 the homestead movement, cheap postage, and 

 held that the national Treasury should defray 

 the expense of providing for the safe naviga- 

 tion of the lakes, as well as of the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Oceans. When the Democratic 

 Convention of Baltimore nominated Franklin 

 Pierce, in 1852, and approved of the Compro- 

 mise acts of 1850, Senator Chase dissolved his 

 connection with the Democratic party in Ohio, 

 as he had declared he should do, when elected 

 to the Senate, if it deserted the antislavcry 

 position. At this time he addressed a letter 

 to Hon. Benjamin F. Butler, of New York, 

 suggesting and vindicating the idea of an Inde- 

 pendent Democracy. He made a platform, 

 which was substantially that adopted at the 

 Pittsbnrg Convention, in the same year. He 

 continued his support to the "Independent 

 Democrats" nntil the Nebraska-Kausas Bill 

 came up. In 1855 Mr. Chase was elected 

 Governor of Ohio, by the opponents of the 

 Pierce Administration. His inaugural address, 

 among other things, recommended single dis- 

 tricts for legislative representation, annual in- 

 stead of biennial sessions of the Legislature, 

 and an extended educational system. 



The new Republican party held its first 

 National Convention in 1856. In that conven- 

 tion Governor Chase was the first choice of 

 many of the delegates for the presidential 

 nomination; but his name was withdrawn at 

 his own request. At the close of his first term 

 he was renominated for Governor by acclama- 

 tion, and elected by the largest vote ever given 

 for a Governor in Ohio, although in that State, 

 as in the States generally, the Republicans 

 failed to cast any such heavy vote as they had 

 given to Fremont. At the Chicago Conven- 

 tion, in 1860, Mr. Chase's name was naturally 

 prominent. On the first ballot the votes stood : 

 Seward, 173$; Lincoln, 102; Cameron, 50$; 

 Chase, 49. On the 'third ballot Mr. Lincoln 

 lacked only four of the number necessary to. 

 nominate, and these were given by Mr. Chase's 

 friends before the result was declared. 



Mr. Lincoln was, perhaps, the one man who 

 could have guided the nation through the civil 

 war. Salmon P. Chase was doubtless the one 

 man who could have saved the Treasury 

 from bankruptcy during the long and terrible 

 struggle. He had displayed in the governor- 



