Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1862-06-13
Correspondence.
Written for the Fremont Journal.

/
! wAsHISoroN June 4th, 1862
Mn. Congressional Legislation ie
proceeding slowly and surely. When the acts
Of the present Congress come TO be made up
and spread out in print upon paper, It viii be
found that more legislation has been done by
this Congress than has ever been done by any
of its predecessors. No Congress has ever had
such important measures before il, aud Il the
legislation required by the exigency Of the
times be such as 1t ought TO be, centuries will
elapse before such legislation will be again
needed.
This is the day set apart in the House for the
reconsideration of the emancipation bill. There
seems to be good prospect Of the bill passing.
At least the Republican members are most Of
them sanguine that such will be the case
The legislation Of this session, whenever 1t
nieddles with the negro, NEEDLES with him not
for his benefit solely, but for the purpose Of
Furnishing rebellious masters. If there had
been no rebellion there would have been no
emancipation, probably not even in the District
of Columbia. To me it is very doubtful if the
Shareholders of this District had been all loyal
whether there would have been any emancipa-
tion in this City or District this session Of Con-
gress. 1t may be that at some future day many
members of the present Congress will claim that
they have assisted to pass tho emancipation act
on the score Of philanthropy, but at present this
philanthrophy seems to be caused by fear of
their constituents who will never forgive men
having it in their power to punish rebels, il this
punishment is not meetcd out to them in all
possible ways So that you see fear may, once
in great while, promote benevolent actions in
the conduct Of some who have no heart in the
matter
threading the reports Of Congressional doings,
you will occasionally see remarks, made by such
men as Cox, Richardson, and men of that po-
litical stripe urging Congress to quit legslatng
so much for the "nigger," and do little more
for the country, the white man, DC, DC. There
have been petitions sent into Congress asking
the same thing When persons, who talk and
| petition after the manner aforesaid are asked
what legislation has been done this session for
the benefit of the "nigger" as they express
themselves, the only thing they can point to is
the emancipation in this District. 1t took but
a pc1y small amount of time to rid our Capital
of this disgrace. 1t cannot be that which makes
them so uneasy.
When the Jeffersonian Ordinance is extended
to all our territories, it is not done certainly for
the benefit of the "nigger." 1t is done for the
| exclusive benefit of the poor white men.
When slavery is crippled for the purpose OF
Furnishing rebellion, the poor white man sustain'
no loss Ou the contrary, he has region o.
country opened TO his enterprise for the frs
time since its settlement. VIII this be an injury
to him2 In the passage of the Jeffersonian Or
dinance, or in the opening the South TO the use
of white men, who gets all the benefit? The
1 "nigger' or the white man?
These grumblers, if they mean any thing,
must mean that Congress shall not legislate for
| the white man for fear the black man might in
cidently derive some small favor from the same
! legislation, or else they must mean that Congress
must do something more to put down rebellion
faster than it is going down now. As far as
quenching out the rebellion is concerned, Com
gress can do nothing more than it has The
! President has now more money, more men, and
more power than any limited monarch in the
world, and if he does not suppress the rebellion
fast enough for their expectations, it is because
against the wish of his truest friends, lie relies
upon Generals of the same political stripe and
political institutions of these very grumblers.
The battle of Chickahomany is not looked
upon here as being any thing to boast of. The
friends of the regiments in Casey's Division are
highly displeased with the General command
ing for so needlessly disparaging the discipline
\
! detail them, these: Casey's division wa,
0 made up of the newest regiments in the army
Q of the Potomac. They were, by order of tn
General commanding ordered to the extrem
J front five miles in advance of the main army -
, In this position they were attacked by over.
whelming numbers, and an attempt was made
by the enemy to flank them. Their distance
from the main army great as to Justify
this move by the enemy. Nothing but the most
precipitate retreat could save them from capture.
If you will notice the dispatch which speaks
so hastily of that division, you will see that
when Summers and Heintzelman's corps came
into action, they had to contend against superb
or numbers If these numbers were superior
to the two corps already mentioned, they must
have been infinitely more so to single division
such as Casey's was. The friends of that di-
vision do not hesitate to say that Gen. McClel-
Ian raised the cry against Casey's men to call
attention from the blunder he himself made in
ordering them into such an exposed situation
Be that as it may, the retreat of the men is go.
ing to be thoroughly investigated, and the blame
will be laid upon the deserving party.
Before closing have just time TO say that tn,
; emancipation bill in the House has been recon-
) mitted to the select Committee, who reported i
to the House, for the purpose Of amending it,
The vote to recommt stood, yeas-64; nays, &C
These same votes will pass it when before thu
House the next time. Sirius.