Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-04-08
CONGRESSIONAL.

| WASHINGTON, April 7.--HoUsE.-The House set
as if in Committee Of the Whole the state Of
| the Union, the only business in order being the
general debate on the Presidents annual
message.
Mr.. Hogan, Of Mo-, addressed the House. lie
characterized this session rs the session Of maya
zine articles prepared and spoken by members
and published in the Globe tossuch an extent that
| that publication exceeded by three or four hun
| bred pages the quantity published in the CORES
ponding period of the first session Of the last
| Congress.
| What beneficial purposes had all these essays
| contributed; with the exception Of five or six or
| perhaps dozen Of them There was not q solitary
new idea obtained by them they were but mere
repetition Of what had been said by others. The
| language had been changed, the ideas were the
| same, these speeches might be almost regarded as
| law The principal topic of all these speeches
| was the American citizen of African descent he
| believed there was great deal of mistaken phi
| lanthrOpy and sympathy expended for the col
| Ored people, when they were in slavery, and he
proceeded to show from personal experience that
| the slaves of the South had not had such a very
| bad time Of it.
This part of his speech brought out series Of
| questioning from Price, Blount and Morris Hogan
answered, showed he beloved slavery to be wrong
that he was gladit was extcrminated; that he be-
| heved the Democratic party could not die while
| liberty lived and that all defamation about the
niger was a great wrong perpetrated on Congress
| and the American people. Passing on the discus
sion, in question, Mr.. Hogan proceeded to show
the Inconsistency of the present policy of the
| Republican party with the action of Conaress
| throughout the war in the adoption of declama-
tory resolutions in reference to objects ofwar, and
in the admission to seat on floor of persons claim
ing to be Representatives from Tennessee and
| Louisiana, and other matters of general lCgisla
ton. Much Of the argument in the question had
been against the President of the United States.
lie had been denounced and abused because his
policy was sustained by Democrats in the House
but had he not been nominated and elected be-
cause he was a.Democrat, and because he was
Southern man Democrats sustained him, purely
| from patriotic motives.
Mr.. Baldwin was the next speaker. He had not
| sympathized, he said. with the eager zeal which
| had been exhibited for restoring the insurgent
| States to their proper places in the Union i'm
! medately after their arms had surrendered. He
| thought the effort was premature. He thought
|
had subsided-until the whole nation had been
made to feel that treason crime-until the
| policy to be pursued with traitors had been set
tled-until time had developed in the Southern
| States such elements Of reconstruction as would
| have been successful. and until that black and
bloody spirit Of baffled treason had been changed
and purified.
| The semblance into genuine loyalty was cor
J III. :. A.. d
| construction Committee, but the resolution was
not quite free from objection. In another aspect
| it had been presented in better form. He
| thought it would be much improved by making
more direct a portion OF the language-resolying
that Tennessee is hereby declared to be one of the
United States Of America, on an equal footing
with other States. He thought it would be well
to strike out certain words and substitute some
| thing like the following:
| Resoived. That the State OF Tennessee is here
by declared to be satisfactorily organized and in
fit condition to re-establish her old relation to the
Government, and assume her representation in
Congress.
He held not an acre Of land in the Southern re-
glon, and had not ceased for moment to be IN
der the nation. No assumption or proceedings Of
treason had repealed the act Of Congress by which
certain specified Territory was declared to be the
State OF Tennessee. The doctrine Of secession
and every ordinance of secession must be treated
as null and void from the beginning. The men
who had conspired against the Government and
who were still unchanged in spirit, and such men
as had been described in the testimony Of Gen.
Thomas. should be compelled to stand back for a
time to the sensibilitics of treason. No
consideration OF policy. no desire to exercise mag
nanimity orcharm Of expediency could withhold
the overwhelming fact that the admission Of such
men into the councils ofthe nation would be
crime more damnable than treason itself