fund, since we have the right to do so. I must solemnly protest against applying them to colleges, in the present situation of the State. The diffusion of knowledge among the people is first to be regarded. We are told that colleges. must be encouraged, in order to raise up lawyers and statesmen, and legislators. What is this but going at considerable part of the way toward constituting a Patrician class, from which, those who are to administer the government are only to be chosen. If this were an age of monkish ignorance, and it were necessary to protect a privileged order, then we should throw our means into a fund for their support. But this is not our situation. We have undertaken to diffuse knowledge among the people, and to the accomplishment of this object it is our duty to direct all our attention."

In his own county, he was active in his efforts to build up a fund for the support of common schools. He brought the funds, appropriated to Clermont, from the State treasury, and for several years, acted as Commissioner of the County School Funds. In bringing the School Fund into existence, he says, "I well knew that I was incurring great personal responsibility. Conscious of the rectitude of my intentions, and the purity of my motives, I feel much gratified that the day has arrived in which a disinterested tribunal, under the authority of law, can furnish evidence of my integrity in this whole matter. I have now fulfilled the task I imposed on myself, and which I have long had in view, to establish the means by which the entire youth of this county should receive a common school education. Having laid the foundation of a fund for that purpose, and given to it all the security, system, and order of which I was capable, I yield up my trust under the grateful conviction, that my agency, in establishing the School Fund of Clermont county, is among the best acts I have ever been able to perform for the citizens of the county.".

Believing that popular education was the shield of free institutions, giving to the national structure, solidity and perpetuity, and developing the elements of national prosperity and greatness-Mr. Morris, in the legislature of Ohio, earnestly advocated taxation for school purposes. Taxation is to carry on the functions of civil government, and intelligence and virtue being essential to the operations and very existence of free governments, it is the first duty of a free people to tax themselves for the support of universal education. Colleges, seminaries, and common schools are nobler fruits of taxation than penitentiaries, jails and poor houses. If the former are not founded and fostered by taxation, the latter must be, for an uncultivated people must be a vicious people.

Among some portions of the American people formerly, there was an unwillingness to be taxed for the support of common schools. In Ohio, opposition to this taxation was manifested. "Fortunately," says John P. Foote, in his work on "The schools of Cincinnati," "men of intelligence, zeal, and industry, from different States, who knew the value of common schools, and their special necessity in a State with such an ultra Democratic Constitution, as was the first Constitution of Ohio-were fixed in their determination never to cease their efforts to obtain for the State a system of free schools, until it should be successful, and free schools be among the established institutions of the State. They succeeded in spite of much opposition, and more lukewarmness, and now the system is firmly fixed in the affections of the people of Ohio, and is considered by them as indispensable an element of their liberties, and guardian of our free institutions as the trial by jury, the freedom of the press, or the elective franchise."

As a legislator, Mr. Morris was among the most active and earnest in maintaining the doctrine of taxation for education, and in establishing and perfecting a system of

common schools in Ohio. This measure was met with much opposition in his own county, and in one canvass, he lost his election for State Senator, mainly for his successful efforts in this matter.

Clermont county never had a more able, honest, and faithful public servant, and their appreciation of his ability and fidelity is demonstrated in his frequent re-elections. He represented the same constituency for twenty-four years, seventeen of them consecutively, a rare fact in the ceaseless changes to which public men are liable, under Democratic institutions.

CHAPTER VIII.

IMPEACHMENT of Judges-Morris appointed to conduct the Trial-A Select Committee on Vermont Resolutions in 1809-A Select Committee, in 1810, on the Measures of the General Government-Supports the War in 1812-South Carolina Nullification in 1832-Morris a Select Committee-His Resolutions-Letter of Judge McLean-Report on Colonization.

IN 1808-9, the Legislature of Ohio preferred articles of impeachment against Calvin Pease and John Tod, two of the judges of Ohio, for an alleged unconstitutional interference with the powers and duties of justices of the peace, to whom jurisdiction in cases not exceeding twenty dollars, was given. This was decided unconstitutional by Judge Pease, of the District Court, and confirmed by Judges Huntington and Tod, a majority of the Supreme Court. This decision was made in view of the seventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which declares that "In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved," and the eighth section of article eighth, which declares that "the right of trial by jury shall be inviolate." The substance of the impeachment charged that Judge Pease had, on various occasions, decided that the Court had full power to set aside, suspend and declare null and void any act of the State legislature, and that this had been done by the judge, in declaring null and void the act defining the duties of justices of peace. On this ground the impeachment was made by the House of Representatives, and the judges tried before the bar of the Senate. Thomas Morris was appointed to conduct the impeachment on the part of the

House; and the historical record shows that he performed the duty with ability. In this prosecution, the legislature also procured the aid of Judge Baldwin, of Pittsburgh, a distinguished lawyer, and for many years one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. After a protracted trial, the impeachment was not sustained, the Constitution requiring two-thirds of the Senate to sustain.

The ability with which Mr. Morris conducted this grave trial, as a lawyer and leader of the House of Representatives, secured for him, in 1809, his election as one of the Supreme Judges of Ohio, but by a subsequent act of the legislature, called the "Sweeping Acts," he was prevented from taking his seat.

In 1809-10, resolutions were sent from Vermont to the legislature of Ohio, proposing to amend the Constitution. of the United States, so as to remove judges of the courts of the United States upon the address of a majority of the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Sen

Mr. Morris was appointed a select committee on the Vermont resolutions, and reported that:

The General Assembly of the State of Ohio, viewing all public offices as belonging to the people, and they having a right to bestow them as they may deem proper; that the officers in every department of the government ought to be amenable to them for their conduct; and inasmuch as all government is established for the happiness and welfare of the people, therefore, when any public servant ceases to merit their approbation, they have at all times the right to withdraw their confidence, and bestow it on such others as they may deem fit. Therefore, our Senators in Congress are instructed, and the members of the House requested, to propose this amendment to the Constitution of the United States."

In 1810, Mr. Morris, appointed a Committee on the measures of the General Government, reported as follows: