Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-04-16
How the Rebellion is Allotted in
Congress.
The Folly Of the House in Curbing Freedom OF
Debate.
From the n. Y. Times (Administrat;on orean) Of
April ISL

4
| IFrom the n. ". Times administration organ Of
April ID.
Gold at 175, and Congress, with tax bills,
| tariff bills, bank bills, every financial meas
urc, lifeless and shapeless, engaged In put
ting down freedom of debate In the Ma
tional Capital! In the name Of loyal peo-
pie we protest. 1t Ia disgrace, and an
outrage.
We tell these men at Washington that
passion is making them mad. 1t Is an abb
solute infatuation that has seized them
Their words strike upon the ears Of the peo-
pie like the gibberish of Bedlam. Where
have the senses of Congressman gone that
| they don't realize the terrible burdens that
rest upon the people, and the fearful dam
gers that confront the Government? Do
they call themselves loyal men, and yet
play these fantastic tricks? By their default,
the prices of everything that sustains life
are rapidly mounting. The currency Is
gradually turning into worthless rags. Inch
| by inch, foot by foot, the Government
moves on, straight before the eyes of its
guardians, toward the bottomless pit of
bankruptcy-yet distant, but unless they
| act, inevitable. Not an arm do they yet
raise to save it. If they had but done the
duty they were put to do, the credit of the
Government would still be resting on its
old foundations. They have neither done
it, nor made any rational effort to do it. 1t
is not misfortune, but guilt, that rests upon
them; not failure. simply, but faithlessness.
1t is astonishing it is astounding, that
the House, after this long and fragrant ne
| glect of duty, should turn upon one of its
members in this fierce fashion for encour-
aging the enemy by words--by words which
were made of air, and which If they had
been let alone, would have straightway
vanished into air. 1t is the wildness of the
fireman who stands motionless while the
flames are gathering headway, and falls
foul of the man who declares that the fire
will not be subdued. 1t Is the inaction of
these so-called loyal servants of the people
that is aiding the rebellion ten thousand
times more than the so-called disloyal
speeches of the malcontents of the House.
Not words, but acts are to decide this war.
Unfaithfulness in respect to the former
shrinks into insignificance; it is absolutely
nothing, when measured against that other
unfaithfulness in act, of which this House
is every day making itself guilty.
Not content with the fatal dereliction of
neglecting indispensable action, this body
must superadd an equally fatal positive act.
dissatisfied with helping on the Southern
rebels by depriving our Government of the
sound credit which is its life, they must put
into the hands of the Northern Copper
heads a weapon of more deadly potency
than they have ever yet handled or hoped
for. How is it possible for trae men so to
misunderstood the American people, as to
suppose they will submit quietly to this
destruction of free debate in the council
halls of the nation? What helebore have
they been drinking in Washington that
has drugged their old perceptions? Are
we to be told that American liberty is Of
the bastard type these men would make it?
Has 1t, indeed, so degenerated since it was
transported from its native land? Is our
National Capitol so much below Parliament
House, that men may only talk in it "by the
card" and with bated breath? For the last
hundred years who has heard of a parlia-
mentary expulsion in England for words
spoken in debate? If the House of Rep
sentatives eXpel Mr.. Long, as attempted,
it will prove beyond all possibility of ques-
tion or cavil that the freedom of debate un-
der our boasted Republicanism, Is not even
what it was under the British monarchy,
against the tyranny of which we revolted.
Every American school-boy knows that the
language used i'm Parliament against the
Government in favor of the American reb-
els, was a hundred times stronger than
any that has been used in Congress against
our Government i'm favor of the Southern
rebels, and that it was used with perfect
impunity in the very face of overwhelm-
ing Government majorities. Said Lord
Chatham, in the House of Commons, In
1777: "lf were an American, as / am an
Englishman,. while foreign troop was
landed in my country, never would lay
down my arms-neyer, never, neverl" Has
anything like that been heard in Congress
from the sympathizers with our rebellion?
Said Fox, "There is not an American but
must reject and resist the principle and the
right" The worst that Mr.. Long said falls
far short of that. Nothing is gained by
saying that the American rebellion was
right and the Southern rebellion wrong
that Chatham's arguments were good and
Longs arguments bad. To the strong ma
jorities in Parliament our rebellion was Just
as hateful, and the necessity of supporting
Government, in war already undertaken
for the maintenance of its authority, just
as imperative as can be here even with our
own Congressional majorities in respect to
our own rebellion. They did not curb the
speech of the sympathizers with our re-
bellion, simply and solely because they did
not have the constitutional power to do it.
Neither does our Constitution give any such
power.
We use plain language, because the crisis
demands 1t. 1t is no time for houeyed
speech, either toward men or parties. The
cause of the country alone has claim. We
will not look passively on while that cause
is crippled, either by mistaken friends or
malignant foes. 1t is sure of triumph If
those who are specially deputed to save 1t,
the leaders in the field, the Legislators and
administrators in civil life, and the conduc-
tors of the public press through which pub
lie opinion mainly speaks, do their duty
faithfully and well. But If there be un-
faithfulness in any of these spheres of ac-
tion, untold calamity may come. We are
as sure as of the sun at midday that the
people are not satisfied with either the past
inaction or the present action of their Rep
resentatives in Congress; that among great
numbers of those most earnest in their loy-
atty, there is discomfort verging closely
upon disgust. This discomfort we do not
deplore. 1t comes from the very highest
and best qualities of the American nature.
Were it absent, we should despair of the
cause. A people that could be unmindful
of such neglect in their public servants as
these Representatives have displayed dur
ing the four months they have been in ses-
sion, at such critical period for the Gov
ernment, and that could be insensible to the
violation of parliamentary freedom, the
most sacred principle in every representa-
tive government, would be people alike
unworthy and unable to maintain conflict
like this for the salvation of human free
dom. Thank heaven, 1t is not so. There
Is discOntent-for the most part silent. as