Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1865-12-06
RECONSTRUCTION.
of Hon. Schuyler CoiGax
1--WE Must Make Haste slowly"

va AAOAAs SoAEGAA
''Te Must Make Haste slowly
WAsHIAGToN, November lS.-This eve
ming a large crowd OF friends oi speak e
Collax repaired to his quarters, and com
plimented him with a serenade.
In response to earnest calls, he sppear
ed and addressed them as follows: My
| iriends-l thank You for this pleasant
welcome on my return 10 tins sphere o
| pubic duty. Since l lefI mere, [ nave
travelled, you are ali aware, many tuoa,
sands of miles. My thoughts turn tnis
evening To the auspIeIOus condition oi
| our country now, as compared with the
closing of the last Congress. Then al
alien, an hostile flag waved over cities auo
forts, and camps and regiments, and We
went home IN March TO assist III raising
more troops, called for by the President
Now, there Is peace over ali tine land, ana
the flag of the Republic waves uuques
toned over every acre Of our national
domain. Cheers. We never knew The
value of our institutions until the hOui
of their peril. Ii we had failed, ther,
would have been no resurrection IRON
the tomb OF nations; but thanks to OuI
heroic defenders, no GI5bon Will write
the history OF our decline and fall
Cheers. | shall hail the day when al.
the states shall reyolve In their approprl-
ate orbits round the central government,
and when we can behold them, not dis
tinct as billOws, but one as the sea. But
we cannot forget that history teaches u
that it was eight years alter the suIreu-
der Of Yorktown, IN the revolutionary
war, though our fathers were OF one mIno
as to its necessity, before the COnslItu
tion was adopted, and the Union thus es
tablished. The ablest Congress that ever
sat, to my knowledge OF public affairs,
meets next month 10 face and settle the
momentous questions which viii be
brought before 1t. Ii will not be govern
ed by any spirit OF revolution, bar solely
by duty 10 the country. / have DO rIght
TO anticipate its action, nor to Gophne my
self to any inhexibIe, unaiteTable policy;
but these ideas occur to me, and l speak
of them with the irsnkness with which
we should always express our views. Last
Maroh, when Congress adjourned, the
States lately IN rebellion, We're repIesen-
ted in hostile Congress and Cabinet de
Vising ways and means for the destrUc-
ton of the country. 1t may not be gen
orally known that 1t has been repeated
to me in the testimony OF members OF :he
so-called Confederate Congress, that Gen.
Lee, the military head OF the rebellion,
declared last February in his official char
acter, that the contest was utterly hope
less, but that their Congress and Cabinet
determined to continue the struggle, ano
@ba,,eo-l FoIl ,Feo H.
both sides IN the battle around Peter sburp
and Richmond, since the adjournment o.
the United States Congress. Not u single
rebellious State voluntarily surrendered,
not an army laid down its weapons, not b
regiment abandoned their falling cause,
but the Union armies CONQUERED peace,
not by compromise or voluntary submis-
sion; but by the force of arms. Some oi
these members OF the sO-called Coufed-
crate Congress, who al our adjoUrnmens
last March were struggling 10 blot this
nation from the map OF the woriu, pro
pose, understand to enter Congress Cd
the opening day of It's session next
month, and resume their iOTmer business
of governing the country they struggled
so earnestly to ruin. They say they have
lost no rights. 1t seems as il the burn
ing of the ships of our commerce on the
ocean, starving Of onr prisoners, and rais-
ing armies to destroy the nation HOulG
impair some of their rights until then
new government were recognized by Con-
gress. Cheers. The Constitution, which
seemed framed for every emergency,
gives to each house the exclusive right TO
Judge of the qualifications Of the election
of r. hupc .rnH |
they will exercise that right. Congress
having passed no law on reconstruction,
President johnson prescribed certain ac-
ton for those States which ne deemed
indispensable to their restoration TO
their former relations to the Gov
ernment, which l think emine1llg
wise and proper. First, that their Con-
yetions should declare their various or
dinances of secession null and void, not
as some have done, merely repeating that,
but declaring it absolutely without any
force and effect. Second, that their leg
islatures should raiily the constitutional
amendment abolishlng slavery, ami this
cause of dissension and rebellion mighI
be utterly extirpated. Third, that they
shall formally repudiate the rebel debl,
though. by iIs terms, II will be long
while before it falls due, as ii was psyahi,
six months after the recognition OF :he
Confederacy by the United States
fCheers This reminds me of an Oid
friend in Indiana, who said he liked to
give his note, payable ten days after con-
venience. Laughter and cries of 'goodl'l
But there are other terms on which
think there is nodivision among the loyal
men of the Union; first, that the Deciar
alton of Independence must be recogniz
ed as the law of the land, and every man,
alien and naturalized, white and black,
protected in the inalienable and God
given rights of Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness" Mr.. Lincoln, in
that emancipation proclamation, which
is the proudest wreath in his chaplet OF
fame, cheers, not only gives freedom
to the slave, but declared that the Gov
eminent would maintain that freedom
lApplanse. We cannot abandon them
and leave them defenseless at the mercy
of their former owners. They must be
protected in their rights OF person and
property, and these ireemen must have
the right to sue in courts of justice for all
just claims, and to testify also, so rs to
have security against outrage and wrong.
l call them freemen, not freedmen. The
last phrase might have answered before
their freedom was fully secured, but they