Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-01-16
United States Senator.

satisfactory and hopeful in general chs
acter, has brought for consideration al
permanent adjustment many questions {
fecting seriously all the interests viii,
the struggle involved. This is the gold'
opportunity for craftsmanship. As in a
the great upheavals of the past, whiC
have produced organic changes in societ
and government, so now new prineipl
are found to be evolved, and old principl
in new relations; and the highest virtu
wisdom and skill are required to embod
these new principles in institutions an
laws. Heretofore it has been eontende
that the laws of climate and physics
geography rendered slave labor indisper
sable to the development of our resource:
we are now to show that free labor is on
normal system, adapted as well to ou
sugar and cotton plantations as to ou
corn-felds. The absolute equality of mel
in respect of civil rights was enunciatet
in 1776; but for eighty-nine years tn
doctrine has been practically denied anC
secuted as glittering generality; we ART
now to show that it rests upon the eterna
principles of truth and justice.
In the great war the State Of Ohio bore
conspicuous and commanding part; and
now she may well accept, without hesita-
tion, the high place SO universally &C.
| oardo9 - bo. =, +lo not;ona1 oarno;Ia Tt
will not be unbecoming in her to seek to
give direction to the discussion and settle
ment of the questions which now go fully
and so properly engage the public mind.
But we need for this great work our very
best men-men distinguished not only for
intellectual force, but also for unselhsh
patriotism and devotion to the best inter
ests of the country and of manhind. 1t
is hardly necessary specially to observe,
in this connection, that the people of
Ohio will demand for the duties of this
exigent hour men of unquestioned and
unquestionable soundness on the subject of
the disenthralment of all our people from
the bonds of slavery. Now, if never be-
fore, we need liberty-loving and tyranny
hating statesman. We would not suggest
any unreasonable tests. We must not for
get that the breaking out of the slave
holders rebellion was signal for union
and concord among genuine lovers Of
their country, who, prior thereto, had held
the most variant political sentiments. But
we think it indispensable to insist that at
this critical time, no man should be trust
ed with the great responsibilities of the
Senatorial Office who is not without spot
or wrinkle in his record during theprogreSs
of the aOar; and we greatly err if these
are not the sentiments of the Union voters
of the State and especially of the West
ern Reserve.
We do not propose at this time to dis
cuss fully the fitness of all the distinguish
ed citizens whose names have been prom
inently mentioned in connection with
the United States Senatorship; our pur-
pose for the present is merely to inquire
in the light of the observations we have
here made, whether the preference for
Mr.. Sherman, SO zealously urged by our
neighbor of the Herald, is in accordance
with the well-known sentiments of the
people of our county and of the West
ern Reserve.
We do not deny that Mr.. Sherman pos
sesses some of the qualities of statesman
ship; but his very glsring defects have
greatly impaired his usefulness during the
important period of his service in the
Senate. These defects have at times been
painfully manifest, and consist in an in
corrigible attachment to the dead past
There is a school of politicians, whose
patriotism will not be doubted, but who
seem to be smitten with blindness as to all
the facts of the progressive present; and
of this school Mr.. John Sherman is dis
ciple, thoroughly rooted and grounded.
We shall aim to illustrate this very plain
ly.
lst. When the proposition came before
the Senate to give the sanction of law to
the suspension of the privileges of the
writ of habeas corpus the blockade of the
Southern ports, the three years enlist
ments, and the various other extensive
acts of April and May, 1861, it was met
by this whole school of fossil patriots
Mr.. Sherman at their head-with vehe-
ment opposition. These gentlemen were
willing to concede the absolute necessity
of all these acts for the defence of the ma
tional life, but Mr.. Sherman was wholly
unable to see thatsuch a necessity, present,
immediate, overwhelming, admitting of no
delay, could afford any lawful justifea-
ton for the actsin question and, of course,
was constrained by his convictions to in
sist that the President should stand, in
strict law, a usurper That this ground
should have been taken by Senators of
questionable loyalty, could have been ex-
pected; but it was not fit ground to be oc-
cupied by Senator from Ohio.
I'd. Mr.. Sherman voted against Mr..
Summers bill to repeal all laws for the rem
dition of fugitive slaves, the bill being be-
fore the Senate after President Li'reoL'l's
Emancipation Proclamation had taken
efeca He urgently insisted that there
certainly were some shareholders who
could establish the right, in stTietissiD1o
lure to follow and reclaim their fugacious
Negroes, notwithstanding theproclamation,
and that that right should be respected.
1t may be conceded that Mr.. Sherman
was not without some ground for this
claim, since the institution still had a legal
existence in Kentucky and Delaware. But
Congress nevertheless swept every vestige
of the Fugitive Slave code from the statute
book, leaving Mr.. Sherman still to wonder
at the rapid movements of this rapid age.
Sd. When the bill was before the Senate
for the enlistment of slaves into the mill
tary service, Mr.. Sherman offered and
urged with great vehemence an amend
ment providing that loyal masters should
receive the pay earned by their slaves
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