With such criteria before me, I proceed to sketch, concisely, the eventful career of SAMUEL CHASE, a native of Somerset county, Maryland, who was born on the 17th of April, 1741. He was the son of the Rev. Thomas Chase, who immigrated to this country from England, and in 1743 became the pastor of St. Paul’s parish in Baltimore, then a mere country village and destitute of good schools. At the age of two years Samuel was deprived of the tender care of his mother by her premature death. In the superior classical and theological qualifications of his father to guide him in the paths of science and virtue, he was peculiarly fortunate. Under his instructions he became an accomplished scholar, admired and esteemed by a large circle of acquaintances. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law, and prosecuted it with great industry under the direction of John Hammond and John Hall of Annapolis. At the age of twenty he was admitted to practice in the mayor’s court, and at twenty-two was admitted to several of the county courts and the court of chancery. He located at Annapolis, married the amiable and intelligent Miss Ann Baldwin, and soon obtained the reputation of a sound lawyer and an able advocate. He was of a sanguine temperament, bold, fearless and undisguised, independent in mind, language and action, but honest, patriotic and pure in his motives and immovable in his purposes—qualities that dignify a man if prudently balanced, but which often rouse the most implacable enmity in others. These leading traits in the original composition of the nature of Samuel Chase must be kept constantly in view to enable the reader to form a just estimate of his character. The circumstances and times that influenced him must also be borne in mind.