John F. Hume, The abolitionists together with personal memories of the struggle for human rights

[65] was with no mental reservation on his part. When he put his hand to that plow there was no looking back, notwithstanding that a rougher or more stony field, and one less promising of returns for the laborer than that before him, would be difficult to imagine.

In 1841 he headed a call for a convention at Columbus, the State capital, to organize the Liberty party in the State of Ohio, and at the same time nominate a State ticket. Less than a hundred sympathizers responded to the call, and the ticket put in nomination received less than one thousand votes.

Among the attendants at the Columbus meeting was a near kinsman of the author. On his return, in describing the proceedings, he said that pretty much everything was directed by a Mr. Chase (Salamander Chase was his name, he said), a young Cincinnati lawyer. That young man, he declared, would yet make a mark in the world.

From that time every important move was directed by Chase. He prepared the calls for important meetings. He wrote their addresses and their platforms. He made the leading speeches. He presided at the great convention at Buffalo in 1848, which formulated the “Free-soil” party-successor to the Liberty party-and wrote the platform which it adopted.

In speaking of Chase's share in the independent organization of this time, William M. Evarts says: “He must be awarded the full credit of having understood, resolved upon, planned, organized, and executed this political movement.”

The movement thus conducted by Mr. Chase was