drudgery of teaching was extremely dis tasteful to him. He was pleasantly received at the home of the Wirts and seems to have had more or less social success throughout his three years in Washington. There, too, he got his first insight into politics, and saw and heard the eminent men- who were then in official life at the Capital. During these three years the administration of John Quincy Adams ended and that of Andrew Jackson began. It is interesting to note that so early as 1828 Mr. Chase was committed to the anti-slavery cause. In that year he was one of those who drew up a petition to Congress praying for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. This was his first public political act. He had great admiration and love for Mr. Wirt, who, in 1829, wrote him a letter predicting for him future distinction and proferring him advice and friendship. On December 21 of that year he was examined for admission to the bar by the venerable Judge Cranch, who would not have admitted him except for Mr. Chase's pathetic plea: " Please, your honor, I have made all my arrangements to go to the western country to practice law." Evi dently the learned judge considered that Mr. Chase had acquired a sufficient knowledge of the law to practice in the West. The three years of boyhood spent in Ohio largely determined the choice of his resi dence. Yet, as at this time he wrote to a friend: "I would rather be first twenty years hence at Cincinnati than at Baltimore," he apparently divined the future growth and importance of the West. He reached Cin cinnati .in March, 1830, and was admitted to the bar of Ohio in the following Tune, and at once entered upon the practice of his pro fession. His industry brought him a clien tage. Although its beginnings were small, it steadily increased. Pending professional engagements which would consume his time he entered into the life of Cincinnati, then the largest city of the West, and soon be
came well known. During the first three years of his residence there he compiled the statutes of Ohio, familiarly known as Chase's Statutes. This was a work of mag nitude, and gained him some distinction. The annotations and references are accurate and valuable, and the work called forth let ters of commendation from Chancellor Kent and Mr. Justice Story. But Mr. Chase's legal attainments were not excessive. He was, as a friend said: "Not a great lawyer, but a great man who had a knowledge of the law." His business was chiefly commercial. At one time he was counsel for the United States Bank, the business of which he lost in 1841, because his fees were considered too high. About that time, too, he became so engrossed in politics that ten years later his practice had decidedly diminished. The greatest cause in which he was engaged while at the bar was the celebrated telegraph case of O'Reilly v. Morse, 15 Howard 62, which he successfully argued before the Su preme Court of the United States in 1853. From the time that he gained a reputation as a lawyer he attached to himself many young men, like George Pugh, at first his supporter and afterwards his political rival, Stanley Matthews and Edward L. Pierce. He had none of the arts of the orator. He appealed solely to the reason of his hearers. He was an effective speaker, although the impression made by his grand, imposing and dignified presence was marred by a hesitancy and thickness of speech, and his speeches read better than they sounded. His great strength lay in the preparation of briefs, and later, in the writing of political addresses and platforms. In this talent he much re sembled his predecessor on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, the first Chief Justice, John Jay. The mob, which in July, 1836, at Cincin nati, destroyed James G. Birney's printing press, wrecked the office of his paper, "The Philanthropist," and threatened personal violence to the subsequent candidate for the
