The Portland daily press., 1866-02-15

Western congressman on Reconstruction
We are often told that New England-pai-
ticularly Massachusetts, the hotped VI L.
naticisms; that the West is "conserVa'ive'
that New England political not'ohs iiiiu Nv
sympathy in the West; that New Hmsana
notifies are to be cleft out in the cold" that
Inv Western Union men the New England
rod;ools are classed with Southern rebels,
both being considered disunionists' ISEn
This is the common talk Of copperhead pol
;ticians: of Democratic funkeys, who hope,
INV fawning and cringing before the footstool
of power, to come into favor, and out of the
expected divisions in the Republican party to
make little political capital to replenish their
own exhausted stock in trade. team. .....
But what are the facts? Missouri is repre-
scented in. the Senate by two decided radicals,
who go the whole figure for negro suffrage,
and actually go to the extreme limits OF Mr..
Summers views. Senator Brown, especially,
is called a radical of the most radical stamp,
aad several of the members of the House
from that State are of the same decided, en-
phatic quality. e..7. .q4ss -
The Iowa members have shown no weak
ness. Mr.. Wilson, who has come IN lor ~
large share of copperhead abuse Is d iiieiii-
Der of the House from this state. ~
The Freedmen's Bureau bill is the offspring
Of an Illinois Senator, Mr.. Trrmbull, while
his colleague, ex-Gov. Yates, is OF the same
unainching temper. Messrs. Washburne and
Farnsworth are samples of the House delega-
tion from the same State. 'uof 1sir1o 'f ra
From Wisconsin, it is true, we have Senator
Doolittle, but he is more than checkmated by
his radical colleague, Judge Howe, who SYM
pathizes fully with Mr.. Sumner Sos b.sl Il q
Michigan is represented in, the Senate by
radicals of the most extreme stamp, and MIR.
Howard has illustrated the temper OF the
delegation by course which has drawn upon
him the most malignant fire of the opposition.
In Ohio we have Messrs. Wade. Garfield,
Schenck, Shellabarger, Bingham, Spanldlng,
and others. each host in himself, as firm as
the granite hills in their allegiance to the
r;obt Kansas gives us "Jim Lane" but little
short of "Jayhawker" in his raids upon the
Southern pro-slavery rebels. Nevada and
California send to Congress men OF the most
unbending firmness. Ho rvs ! .ul5s ss
From Indiana--one of the last of the North
western States to come up to the progressive
spirit of the age-we have in the House such
men as Colfax and Julian, and in the Senate
Mr.. Lane, whose position may be inferred
from a single paragraph from late speech, in
"The power of the President over the rebel
States ceased with the conyening OF Congress,
and it was for the Congress OF the United
States to fix the status OF the seeded States
He would wait until the last trumpet sum-
noned the rebels to Judgment before he would
admit them to these halls. He did not know
fhat the emancipated slaves were tit to vote,
but thew were quite as fit for it as the rebels
His plan of reconstruction would be TO pass an
amendment to the Constitution that after one,
two or five years, every man who can read the
Constitution of the United States shall vote.
He would disfianchise the rebels for the same
snace of time, and when he admitted them to
vote again he would let the negro vote with
them. We were not ready for restoration up
on either rebel votes or colored votes. 1t was
the duty of Congress and not the fresldent, 10
present plan Of reconstruction to the coun-
trv. II was the duty of the United States to
see that every State had republican form OF
government" t--,...t. ...... .-.......-. .fsii
The truth is, the West and Northwest are
fully as radical as any of the New England
States-more SO than some of them We
were told a few days since by New England
member, that the Western members speak OF
the questions of the hour with much more en-
phasis and manifest more feeling than is often
witnessed in New England. At the first OF
the session Western members assured the
Eastern members that, il they would stand
firm and show no weakness or disposition to
back down, all would be right. 1t is one Ct
the most gratifying facts connected with the
duties of the hour, that men in all parts OF the
LOYAL States stand together, see eye to eye, and
are Influenced by the same great magnetism
of Right, Justice, Liberty and Equality. The
struggle of the hour was not born of this
hour. 1t is the legitimate continuation OF
the same struggle that brought Lee and Grant
face to face before Richmond 1t is the strug-
gle between justice and injustice; equality
and serfdom; democracy and oligarchy; true
civilization and rank barbarism. - a'' i'''
The result is sure. Politicians may enlbar-
rass, but they cannot defeat the great purpose
of the national heart Great men may stand
before the car of progress and attempt to stop
it, but no man can do it. The car is greater
and more powerful than any man. Men, for
standing on principle and demanding the rec
IGNITION of human rights, may be denounced
as disunionists, but such denunciation will be
powerless to stop the work SO well begun
Armed with the panoply Of right and truth,
they can afford to be denounced. They are
in harmony with the spirit Of the age. They
are in the great tide that is rising higher and
still higher, and win not stop till barbarism
and barbarians, rebellion and rebels, treason
and traitors are all alike submerged. They
are in the great Proyidential drift that can no
more be turned back than the Alpine glacier,
and wo to those who oppose this drift, who
anchor themselves to, any fixed old moss
grown errors, which must yield to the spirit
of the age. .S-'''i
The Freedmen's Fair. r.-,.,ss q
We call the special attention of our fellow
citizens of Portland and vicinity to the Fair
at the City Hall in behalf of the Freedmen,
l;, :; a,,ort,sod IN our columns Portland