Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1863-03-14
From the N. Y. Independent
The XxXVIIth COngress.
RI HORACE GREELEY.

ERE this sheet can lch its readers. The
last sands OF the XXXVlIth Congress will
have rua. Somewhere between 4 NJ. aud
noon Of "Wednesday, March T. the Iegisla.
tive body " hose words and deeds will fll a
larger space iu our country's history thvu
Hose OF any predecessor, he Congress of
'76 and the Convention Of 'S7 perhaps ex
cepted J will adjourn without day. How
immense the chaSm which separates the
election OF a majority Of its members from
the close Ut their term Of service, no words
eau adequately depict, but some concep
ton OF II may be gained from these hasly
notes.
When The telegraph announced that.
simultaneously with The election of Lincoln.
New York had chosen ten, New JERSEY
throe, and Illinois FIVE anti Republican
members OF lie next House, in addition to
seven from Pennsylvania, seven from Ohio,
four from Indiana, aud one from Oregon,
previously elected, the probability OF Pro.
Slavery Congress was rendered little less
than moral certainty Missouri had al,
ready chosen delegation all but unani.
meusly Pro-Slavery; Connecticut and Cal
Ifornia would probably add three or foar 10
that side; and il was only requisite that
the Slave States should remain in the
Union ard elect members as usual, to sc.
cure Congress thoroughly devoted to the
interests and ahjectly doelle 10 the exac
tlons OF the alarmed and rapacious Slave
Power
. 1t was otherwise decreed South Caro-
lima set the example Of Secession, and most
OF the Slave States followed in her wake
several recalling their members from the
aud none but the Border
States etiecting any to the XXXVIIth
Congress. lnSead of proliting 10y the ID.
portnnity secured for them by their North.
ern friends, the Slavery Propagandists lefI
those friends a decided minority in the
House then closing its existence. And
when the new Congress met in extra ses-
sion on the 4th OF July, 1861, the Repub.
licans had, for the first time, a clear major
ily in either House.
That majority has been called, at each
of its three Sessions, 10 authorize enormous
leVies of men aud loans of money for the
support aud prosecution of the Union War.
w hen the President, in his first Message
called for Four Hundred Thousand Men
and -Four Hundred Millions of Dollars for
the suppression of the Rebellion, though
the response If Congress was prompt, cor.
dial, even enthusiastic, there was a wide
spread impression that the demand smack.
ed OF bravado-thaI no serious expectation
OF requiring or using such vasL resources
Was enIerlalned or Justified. Yet up TO |
this present tlme, not less thau One Million |
Men nave been called Iulo The Union ser
wee, anu hardly less than One Thousand |
Mlllons oil Dollars actually expended
whIle the votes ol money for the residue OF |
The current aud the whole of the ensaing /
fiscal year, (eudiug with June, 1868. 3.5 /
AmounI 10 nearly or quite Que Thousand
Millions more. Aud one Of the Growing
measures Of the Session just closed is the |.
passage Of National Mllnia or So-cslIed
Conscnption bill, which virtually puls The
'ntlrs physical force of the loyal States At
he coIumaud OF the President, So far as
may he required for the discontinue Of the
= Rebellion. alqoY woK
IhIs Congress, when it FIRST assembled
ound itself confronted by lhe aetualities of
great Civil War, and it has nobly dis
'lhArged The grave responsibilities thenee
esulllng IL feund that the National de.
enses had been Systematically dlapidaGed.
he National resources dried up, the Ma
lonnl credit blasted, by the desperate
railprS who filed the more important ex.
euuVe departments under the irresnlute
nd Iimorous President whom MT Lineeln
ucceeded. 10 time Of peace, When our
National Debt was less than two dollars
er head OF our population, How Ell Cobb
= Secretary Of the Treasury had borrowed
lopey for the United States at rates SO
alnous thai Austria o. Turkey would have
purGed them He has since served line
tebelion as General TO the hest Of bis
bility, bat with not half the efficiency he
vlueed while acting as Finance Minister