Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-08-17

all men of experience In legislation, and'
leaders in the then rising party Colfax, of
Indiana, who, like Grow, rose to promi-.
nence by his ehampioning with much flu
ency and energy the pietistic humanitari-
anism of his party L0yejoy, of Illinois,
who cultivated anignorance of parliament
ary law in order to say the most indecOrous
things, and whose rugged vehemence,. If
not oratory, was taken for 1t by those who
look more to the manner than the substance.
These, with the affable Speaker, Penning-
ton, made up the phalanx upon which the
Southern cOhOrt hurled itself in debate
AS recall the scene which took place at
my desk between Keitt and Grow, during
the preceding Congress, after the hour of
midnight, when the passions of the time
were incarnate in that Congress and at that
hour; asI repicture the fierce clutch and
glaring eye, and the struggle between these
heady champions, there come trooping
down the aisles of memory, as there came
trooping down the actual aisles of the
House, the belligerent members, with
Washburne, of Illinois, and Potter,
ofWisconsin, leading the one extreme, and
Barksdale and Lamar leading the other;
then comes the melee-the struggle, the pale
face of the Speaker calling to order, the
sergeant-at-arms rushing into the area be-
N
of authority, with its silver eagle, moving
up and down on the wave of passion and
conflict: then the dead hush of the hot
heart, and glare of defiance across the hall
AS this scene is reyiviied, looking at
1t through the red storm of the war, can
not but think that then and there was ep-
itomized all that has made that war bloody
and desperate. Then, too, there rise up the
forms of those who were then accounted
moderate and middle men, like Davis and
Holman of Indiana, McClernand and Logan
of Illinois, Mallory and Stevenson of Ken
lucky, ,Pendleton and Vallandigham of Ohio,
Florence and Montgomery of Pennsylvania,
Sickles and Cochrane of New York, who
stood, like Douglas, Bigler, Latham, Pugh,
johnson and Crittenden, in the Senate, as a
breakwater against the contending tides.
From these diSjeCtd mcn,bra of this re-
markable Congress, the reader may gather
some idea of the force and energy, tact and
eloquence, passion and prejudice, which
composed 1t. ..... .........
Some of the great questions which arose
were foreshadowed in the Presidents Mes
sage; for instance the power to coerce a
State. But there were other questions, con-
cerning the acquisition of territory, and
the government of the territories; the effect
of the decisions of the Supreme Court; va
rious amendments of the Constitution so as
to prohibit Congress and the people from
.impairing the right of property in slaves,
ETC.; the fugitive slave law; tugitives from
justice; the right of transit in free States
of persons with slaves; the multiplying acts of
State Legislatures; the abolition of slavery
and the internal slave trade; changes by
constitutional amendments in the EXecu-
tive Office and veto power; the restoration
of ha ihtitr hot ha al nd
free States; the voluntary division of slave
States into two or more States; giving the
slave States vote on all questions of slave
ry; making the amendments proposed un-
amendable; granting to the States power
to appoint the Federal officers in their
midst; the peaceable withdrawal of States,
and apportionmentof of the public debt; dual
Senates and dual Executive; the organiZa-
tion at once of the remaining territories;
the foreign slave trade; the acquisition OF
foreign territory by a vote of two-thirds;
| questions as to ordinances of secession, and
their effect; preventing Africans from ever
becoming citizens; constitutional con-
vention; these and many other questions
were debated, and referred to the Commit
tees of Thirteen in the Senate and Thirty
three in the House. They were the result
OtanXious cogitation OH the problems which
threatened to dispart the country. They
remain upon the records to illustrate the
variety and magnitude of the interests
springing out of the institution of slavery,
and the duplex character of our State and
Federal Governments. They were, for the
last time, thrust into the legislative tribunal
for tranquil solution, before the conflict in
the forum Of reason should be replaced by
I'm .H.. ..t -" the intestine shock
at, And furious close Of ivil butchery."
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