OHIO-GOVERNOR CHASE TO THE RESCUE
At a Republican ratification meeting, held in Cincinnati on the 20th, Governor Chase made a speech in which he referred to the Rescue cases and said:
We have a right to have our State laws obeyed. We don’t mean to resist federal authority. Just or unjust laws, properly administered, will be respected. If dissatisfied, we will go to the ballot box and redress our wrongs. But we have rights which the Federal Government must not invade—rights superior to its power, on which our sovereignty depends, and we do mean to assert these rights against all tyrannical assumption s of authority.
I know not what will be done in Champaign County. The Courts will determine that. But I do know that if the Marshals who violated our laws are indicted, and the writs for their arrest are placed in the hands of our State officers, THEY SHALL BE EXECUTED. [shouts and great applause] And we expect the Federal Government to submit.
I believe that Jefferson that the cardinal principle of our Union is the preservation of the reserved rights of the States; and if we have certain organic laws, if we wish to maintain our liberties, we must have our laws obeyed. Unless we sustain our officers we forfeit our freedom, and are worse than the [illegible] slaves of European despotisms. But I have extended my remarks further than intended, and I must draw to a close.
I wish to say, however, that I want an economical government; I want perfect security from despotism of the State, and from officers, with undoubted integrity to recommend them; I want the rights of the State protected; I want to see Slavery overthrown, and intend to help overturn its power; I want to see the power of 250,000 slaveholders over 30,000,000 of people cease; I want it acknowledged that colored people have rights and privileges which they have not now; I want to see Territories become the free soil home of free labor. These are some of the articles of my political faith, and I call upon you to vindicate those principles at the ballot box
