Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-04-09
XXXIXth CONGRESS- lst Session
WASHINGTON. April 7, 1866.
HOUSE.

The House sat as if in committee Of the Whole on
the ate of the Union, the only busi mess in order
being general debate on the Presidents annual mes
Hr HOGAN, of Missouri, addressed the House.
He characterized this session as the session OF mag
azine articles, prepared and spoken by members and
published in the Globe to such an extent that that
publication exceeded by three or four hundred
pages the Quarterly published in the corresponding
period Of the first session of the la Cong hat
beneficial purposes had all these es ays contributedR
With the exception OF five or six, or perhaps a
dozen Of them, there was not a solitary idea pre-.
what had been said by others. The verb age had
been changed. The ideas were the same, These
speeches might be almost regarded law, for they
had their first their second and their third readings.
The principal topic of all these speeches was the
American citizen of African descent. Ho believed
that there was great deal of mistaken philanthro-
by and sympathy estab bhshed for the colOred people
when they were in slavery. and he proceeded 10
show from personal experience that the slaves of the
south had not had such very bad time of it.
This part of his speech brought out a series of
ouestonings from Messrs. Price, Plantz and Morris.
MIR. Hogans answers showed that he believed
slavery to- be wrong; that he was glad thai it was
extirpated that he believed the Democratic parry
could not die while liberty lived, and that all eca
nation about the negro was a great wrong perpe-
tratei on Congress and the American people.
Passing on to the discussion of the reconstruction
question, MIR. Hogan proceeded to show the incon-
sistency of the present policy Of the Republican
party, with the action of Congress throughout the
war, in the adoption of dccaratory resolutions in
reference to the object of the war, &c, IN the ad
mission to seats on the floor Of persons claiming to
be Representatives om Tennessee and Louisiana,
id in other matters of general legisla atiOn Much
of the heargumentaton this so SIGN had been against
the President of the United States. He had been
denoun ed and abusel because his policy was su'-
tanned by Democrats in the House; but had he not
been nominated and elected because he was DEM
ocrat and because he was Southern man? DEM
was the %SSs' nest
speaker. He had not sympathized with the eager
zeal which had been exhibited for restoring the in
surgent States to their place in the Union immedi
stey after their armies had surrendered He thought
the effort premature. 1t seemed to him that the
work should have been undertaken without haste
and Tn very sIs t6s aS he noTt SS 1t
sided, till the whole nation had been made to feel
that treason was crime. till the policy to be pur-
sued with traitors had been settled until time had
developed in those Soutnern communities such ele-
ments of reconstruction as would have made
it successful, and until that black and bloody
ed and purified by the TRANSPORTATION Of
such returning love for the old flag and for the
honor and glory Of the Republic, as would have
cordially approved of the joint resolution reported
from the Reconstruction committee relating to
Tennessee, far as it asserted or implied the abso
Lutte authority Of Congress over questions Of that
character; but the resolution was not quite free
from objection in another aspect. 1t had not been
presented in the best FORM He thought it could be
improved by making vt more direct. A portion of
its language was calculated to misead many peo-
pie He emeant the por ion Of 1t resolving that the
State Of Tennessee Is hereby declared to be Of
the United States Of America, on an equal footing
with other States. That language was understood
by many to mean that Tennessee was now out of
the Union. He was sure no such meaning was in
tended; but the language was liable to mis- Onstruc
ton and should not be used in resolution of such
Importance. He thought the resolution might be
much improved by striking out the words he had
quoted, and substituting for them something like
u RsscSesd. THAT the State of Tennessee is hereby
declared to be satisfactorily reorganized, and in fit