THOMAS MORRIS OF CLERMONT COUNTY.

Thomas Morris was born in Pennsylvania, and located in Clermont county, O., when a young man, and began the practice of the law, for which he had been educated and trained. He was president judge of the common pleas court; a judge on the bench of the state supreme court; a member of the Ohio legislature; a United States senator, and a candidate for vice president in 1844 on the Liberty ticket, in opposition to both the Democratic and Whig parties.

During the most of his life Mr. Morris was an ardent and aggressive Democrat, and the leader of his party in the state. He withdrew from the party after the campaign of 1840 because of the slavery question and the phase it was assuming, and gave his adhesion to the anti-slavery element, which then began to lop off many important branches of both the older parties, drawing most strongly, however, from the Democrats in Chio.

Mr. Morris ranked among the greatest orators of his party in political debate in his day, and one of his speeches in the United States senate in answer to Henry Clay was praised as the most splendid oratorical effort ever heard in the senatorial forum. At Democratic conventions and 8th of January banquets, in honor of Jackson's victory at New Orleans, he was the central figure for a long series of years.

On the 17th of February, 1809, the legislature elected Mr. Morris a judge of the supreme court, after an exciting contest, over Richard S. Thomas, Thomas Worthington, Lewis Cass and Ethan Allen Brown, on the fifth ballot.

He served as a state senator for 10 years, being elected from Clermont county in 1813, and re-elected in 1815, 1817, 1819 and 1821. His services in reorganizing the judiciary, promoting popular education and promoting internal improvements were of great value.

On the 15th of December, 1832, he was elected United States senator over John W. Campbell, succeeding Penjamin Ruggles, and serving for the constitutional term of six years, from March 4, 1833, retiring March 4, 1839.

In the senate he was a conspicuous figure during his entire term, he being one of President Jackson's most ardent admirers and supporters.

Mr. Morris was born in Pennsylvania in 1776, being descended from one of the leading Pennsylvania families. As already stated, he withdrew from affiliation with the Democratic party in 1840, and became the candidate for vice president of the Liberty party, the precursor of the Abolition movement in 1844. He died at his home on the 7th of December, 1844.

WILLIAM ALLEN OF ROSS COUNTY.

William Allen was born in Edenton, N. C., in 1807. He immigrated to Ross county, O., in 1823. In 1827, although a minor, he was admitted to the practice of the law. In 1832 he was elected a representative in congress by a single vote over General Duncan McArthur. In 1837 he was elected to the United States senate and in 1843 was re-elected to the same position. In 1873 he was elected governor of Ohio over General Edward F. Noyes, receiving 214,654 votes while his competitor received 213,837. In 1875 he was defeated for governor by General Rutherford B. Hayes, who received 297,817, while 292,273 were cast for Allen. In 1876 he was a candidate for the presidential nomination before the Democratic national convention at St. Louis, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. He died at Fruit Hill, his manorial residence, near Chillicothe, in 1879.

His parents died in his infancy, and he became the ward of his aunt, Mrs.

Thurman, the mother of Judge Allen G. Thurman, who resided in Virginia. In 1821 the parents of the latter gentleman immigrated from Virginia to Chillicothe. Young Allen was at that time a student in the Lynchburg (Va) academy, where he remained for two years, and then joined the Thurmans in their nev home.

His education was finished in a private school in Chillicothe, after which he began the study of law with Thomas Scott, the eminent jurist, who for a long series of years graced the supreme bench of Ohio, being the chief justice of that court during a considerable portion of his judicial services.

In 1827 he was admitted to the practice, while still below the legal age, through a special rule, and in recognition of his ability and erudition. He entered at once into partnership with Colonel Edward King, under whose tuition he completed his legal studies. His career in his profession was brilliant and successful.

He entered politics in 1832, rather against his natural bent and inclinations, and was elected to the national house of representatives by a single vote over General Duncan McArthur, whose daughter, Mrs. Effie McArthur

Coons, he married in 1845. Mrs. Allen inherited Fruit Hill from her father, and there the distinguished senator and future governor resided during the rest of his life.

Just preceding the meeting of the legislature in 1837, which chose a successor to Thomas Ewing in the United States senate, Mr. Allen was the orator of the day at a Democratic banquet at Columbus and delivered a speech so pregnant with eloquence and so pertinent to the great and exciting issues of the hour, that it won him the support of his friends and the members of his party in the legislature in the close and exciting contest which followed.

The election took place on the 18th of January, 1837, and 13 ballots were taken, 108 votes being cast and 55 were necessary to elect. On the thirteenth ballot he received the required 55, Thomas Ewing receiving 52, one marked scattering and one not voting, so that he reached the senatorship by a single vote. In 1843 he was re-elected by 63 votes to 44 for Mr. Ewing and one blank.

In the senate he distinguished himself for his great forensic ability no less than for his strong and aggressive views on all great questions. During the Oregon boundary dispute the American claim extended to 54 degrees 40 minutes of north latitude, which was disputed by the English diplomats and statesmen. In a speech in the senate when this question was under consideration Allen said: "I am here to declare for 54 40 or fight.” In the presidential campaign of 1844 this expression became the Democratic battle cry throughout the country. During his whole senatorial career he was the champion of a vigorous foreign policy and the unrelenting foe of the Bank of the United States.

An intense Democrat, he took an active part in all the political campaigns from 1832 to 1845. Of gigantic frame and mold, and a voice like Stentor's, he gained the sobriquet or "The Fog Horn," after he had drowned the noise of a steam whistle which was being blown in the vicinity of a Democratic mass meeting to prevent his auditors from hearing him.

In 1845 he retired from públic life, and devoted himself to the graces of literature and scientific research. He became an expert in botany and geology, was an enthusiastic patron of art and literature, and nothing so delighted him as to have his friends, young and old, throng his stately mansion and talk with him on his favorite topics.

Many and strenuous efforts were made by his friends to recall him to public life, but he put them all aside until 1873, almost 40 years after his retiracy, an then re-entered public life under the most peculiar circumstances.

In that year the leaders of the Democratic party were anxiously scanning the horizon for some one who could retrieve the disastrous defeats of nearly a score of fruitless campaigns. Many distinguished names were canvassed, but Allen's was not on the list because of his many declinations. Then it was that Mr. Murat Halstead, the brilliant editor of the chief Republican journal in the state, The Cincinnati Commercial, paraphrased an

ancient popular melody as follows, indicative of the sore straits of the Ohlo Democracy:

"Come, rise up, William Allen,

And go along with me,

And I will make you governor

Of Ohio's fair countree."

A copy of the Commercial containing this ditty was shown to Senator Allen by Colonel John A. Cockrill, the afterward renowned journalist, the a young man representing The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The clear blue grey eye of the Sage of Fruit Hill twinkled with merriment as he listened to the jingle of the lines. He stretched himself to his full height, walked to and fro on the broad veranda for a few moments, and then stopping in front of his young friend said:

"John, you will do me the kindness to say in The Enquirer in the morning that I can not resist Mr. Halstead's kind invitation, and that I will accept the Democratic nomination if it is tendered to me, and more than that I will be elected governor by the people."

That message, when it appeared in the press of the state the next day in a much more elaborate form, electrified the party in the state, and when the Democratic state convention met, it unanimously nominated the Sage of Fruit Hill, in the midst of the wildest enthusiasm. He took the stump with all the ardor of youth, and although the Republican committee, scenting the danger, covered the state with the ablest orators from all parts of the Union, he was elected by a plurality of 817. The remainder of the Democratic state ticket was defeated by pluralities ranging from 176 to 633 President Grant had carried the state on the Republican ticket at the preceding election by over 37,000.

The marble statue of William Allen adorns the rotunda of the National Capitol as one of the Ohioans of the nineteenth century deemed worthy of that honor by the general assembly of the state.

BENJAMIN TAPPAN OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.

Jurist, statesman and philanthropist. These words aptly describe Benjamin Tappan. Strong-minded and bioad-minded, aggressive in thought and action. stern and unyielding in his convictions, he was tolerant and mag

netic. By his compeers he was regarded as daring and audacious in the solution of current public questions. The early friend and mentor of Edwin M. Stanton, he doubtless did much in the formation of his character and fitted him to be the man of the hour when the hour arrived.

Mr. Tappan began the practice of law in Steubenville, O., in 1799, and entered public life in 1803, and for 40 years continued as one of the really conspicuous figures in the political and public affairs of the state.

His legislative career was brief. He Iwas elected a senator in the legislature in 1803, and in the allotment of the senatorships was one of the four senators elected that year who drew the

one-year term. He sought no further honors in the state legislature, but continued active in politics, and in the promotion of all measures looking toward public improvements and the development of the great natural resources of the state.

During the War of 1812 he served on the staff of General William Wadsworth and was distinguished for his dash and gallantry. After leaving the military service he resumed the practice of the law, and at once went to the head of the bar in the state.

On the 18th of February, 1816, he was elected president judge of the Fifth circuit and held the position for the constitutional period of seven years, and then declined a re-election. He again resumed the practice of the law and took an active part in Democratic politics, soon becoming one of the state leaders. In 1832 he was at the head of the Jackson electoral ticket, and cast his vote for the hero of New Orleans, with whom he sustained the warmest personal relations.

In 1833 President Jackson appointed him United States judge for the district of Ohio, which office he continued to hold until he was elected tc the United States senate. On the 20th of December, 1838, he was chosen