Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-08-17

l'tnOCTdUlC DOllCy, dlUnOUHn HeNOtcu lot
the Directory and negro suffrage qualified
We will discuss him hereafter . frt UsgTo
"a The party ascendant were led ia in the
Senate by men of the French revolutionary
type, like Robespierfe, the Ihcorruptible,
and Camille Desmoulins, 1.-The Attorney
General of the elamp-post.n They We're tull
Of fine theories which they illustrated in
'bloody Instructions" TLey lacked the
courage Of Marat, Danton, and Mirabeau
and the purity Of the Girondist chiefs.
Sumner, Fessenden and Wade furnish
TYPES of the dominant Radical, while
Stevens, Boutwell,, Bingham, Washburne,
Wilson, Dawes, ColfaX and Wentworth,
furnish samples of the unconscionable,
vindictiVe, incongruous, pietistici parlia-
mentarians, who without needing. the
warnings of history, the sanctions OF law,
or the Interests of Union, pursued their
course, for party success, regardless of their
country's needs. [Cheers ] .r..nJ ,.foi
f But the ruling spirit of these Jacobins,
was Thaddeus Stevens. He is a man OF
iron will, strong convictions, uniailing
sarcasm, and vindictive feeling. His familiar
speeches consist in references to the abodes
of the damned, as if familiar with their
ruler. He has been likened to that prince.
But he resembles not the Satan of Milton,
whose sublime courage we respect and
whose intellect we admire Nor the Me-
phistopheles of Goethe, whose insidious
disguises and tempting lures led German
scholars like Faust and lovely Gretchens,
like Margaret, to ruin. Rather he resem-
bles the Devil of Dante, who is represented
as three-faced devil: one red with anger,
one pale with envy, and the third black
with vengeance; having three mouths
81 And at every mouth his teeth sinner champed.
After which, he swallowed his colleagues
in diabolic glee. Laughter. This was
the Genius who presided over the Junta of
Fifteen. and gave impression to the mis-
deeds of the Thirty-ninth Congress!
d The minority, led by such constitutional
statesmen as Reverdy johnson and Hend-
ricks, had but little opportunity to chal-
lenge these champions to debate. By lung
force, by previous questions, by expulsion
of the minority members, Voorhees,, COf-
frOth, Baldwin and BroOks-iollowing the
sad and bad example of the Senate in ex-
pelling the truly honorable Senator from
New Jersey, to gain two-thirds majority
to cripple and thwart the President-this
majority illustrated the cowardice of the
bully, and made its legislation the counter
part of that generous spirit which strikes
the fallen foe.
III. From the composition of the body,
you might well infer its legislation. Re-
Yelling in thespirit of war after peace had
come, breathing bitterness instead of
brotherhood, giving reproaches for recon-
ciliation, and penalties for pardon cheers
lit at once, before it's session began, cross
ed swords with the humane and generous
policy of the President. ..t ....
From this spirit, one might think st.
James had this Congress in his mind when
he said, "From whence come wars and
tightings among you? Come they not
hence even of your lusts that war in your
members" tLaughter.l Referring partic-
ularly to Mr.. Stevens, he warns them
"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify
your hearts, ye double minded" Refer
ring to their conduct toward the South
II "He that speaketh evil of his brother
speaketh evil of the law" Predicting
their fate, he says WHAT'S your life? 1t
IS even vapOr that appeareth for little
time and then Vanisfeth away !" This body
began its wicked career in hidden caucus
of Oligarchs to foil the Presidents good
work and circumvent his plans. Deter
mined to keep out the eleven States, it
rocked not of the commerce, Industry, and
happiness of the people. By its fruits let
it be judged Men do not gather grapes
off thOrns or figs of thistlesg Patriotism is
not born OF sectional asperities, nor does
healing come from the pOignards point in
the brigand's hands! Let me pluck some
of the fruit of this Congress; whether it
suit your taste or not, you have to pay for
the planting and nurture. ....,r
From the 4th of December to the last of
July, there has been offered by the Radicals
constitutional amendments forty-five; bills
and resolutions for keeping up disuniou,
seventy three; bills and resolutions as to
the negro exclusively, forty-nine. That
these were not all passed is no credit of tile
Congress {; but proceeds from the efeebleness
of Intellect, which could not frame coher-
ent parts to the system of destruction and
vengeance they designed. More than two
thousand pages of the Globe are taken up
with discussions about the negro question
of suffrage and representation alone. SO
common became this negro mania that the
galleries were tlironged with ignorant Al
ricans, hoping for the most impossible
UtOpias from these Soi-disaat dmtS des n0trs,.
and a member from Illinois moved to set
apart one day Of the week as white
mans day" But of these hereafter.-
Laughter .i
The meaSureless absurdity of these low
ers of hate can find its parallel only in the
brutality of their treatment OF the. Presi-
dent. He was of their own creation. They
found him following the paths of his pre-
decesSor Mr.. lincoln had, on the S5h Of
December, 1868, recognized and urged the
rebel States to restoration, beginning the
work in Tennessee, Arkansas and L0uisi-
ana. Andrew johnson was ready to adapt
to peace the policy OF peace which Mr.. Linz
coin had promised in war. At once the
Radicals began to sap his efforts. To do
this they placed every impediment in his
way. They have not been content to take
From every tree top bark and part O. the timber,
Hacking the root that the air might drink the sap;"
but, with thefury of hurricane, they up
rooted the ancestral trees which gave the
sweetness and coolness of their shade to the
fevered Southern people. TCheersl They
cast these niutiated trunks ia his path.
These impediments were from many
sources. BY amendments to the COnstitu-
tlon, by resolutions, joint and concurrent;
by legislative devices; by bureaus; by at
Temps to curtail his powers Of appoint
ment; by chimerical schemes as to equal
rights; by war test Oaths and penalties by
infringing on the rights of States and COM
by elaborate and irritative sVs-
TENS of force and frhud for the blacks; 'bv |
laws to enforce impossible conditions by
wolfish lust in the land, to
Justify the atrocity of this age, and to rem
der Impossible the union of these States, for |
which twenty-siX hundred battles had been
fought, for which 325000 soldiers had been
killed, for which 100000 soldiers had been
Scared and maimed, and for which ($3 ,0OO,-
100000 three thousand millions, of debt |
and five hundred millions of taxes per an
mum are levied!' [ApplauseI o-croWr /
this capital iniqulty OF earth and time, the 4
written Constitutions made under the eve !
IF the great Washington, is passed through |