Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-01-26
Wnde's DIatrfbe,

The pious regret concerning Chief Jus
tice Taney's eternal welfare, with which
Thad. Stevens rounded off hisspeechin the,
House the other day, remained unTiya1ed
until the opening Invocation of Ben. Wade'g
speech IN the Senate last Thursday. These
two Radical leaders, alike i'm their temper
and their political notions, are also, alike in,
their Intimacy with the Alml lightly, and their.
acquaintance with his purposes toward the
human family 1t isineedless to add that
they are alike, too,in their exemplary pietyp
and II their private Inscriptions Of curses TO,
benighted feilow-creatnres are as FREQUENT
as their public Inscriptions of praise to their
Creator, the skeptic must grant that both
are. equally justified by the fact OF such
high intimacy. '..,.....
Senator Wade began his speech for negro
suffrage with an allegation which, IL true
and authentic, made further argument un+i
necessary. He informed the Senate that he,
had polar star, to which he ''adhered,"
which "guided him" /" on which he '.fixed his
eye" and which has 'carriedy him through
all pastdifiieulties." This hard-worked orb
it is necessary to observe, is a figure of,
speech by which Mr.. Wade meant to signify
''the great principle Of eternal Justice"
which, tits again necessary to observe, is a.
good thing for party founded on great
moral ideas to have in the house.. After
displaying the glories of this useful planet,
or principle, Mr.. Wade went on with his
arguments, which were surely, as we have
said, quite unnecessary in the premises.
Eternal justice" should have satisfied any
Senator. Who doubts that? Even Nye, of
Nevada, and Zachariah Chandler would
hesitate to vote plumply against ''eternal
justice" But the justice ought, of course,
to be "eternal," and, besides, ought to be,
unquestionable 'justice" to something, or
somebody, o. everybody. On these condi-'
tiOns, whatever waves of trouble rolled
any one might wade after Wade, fixing his
eye on Wade, while Wade fixed his eve on
the aforementioned Indispensable orb, and
tread after him ''in the great path of rec-i
titude and right" with a perfectly serene
confidence that he would come out dry
shOd and right-side-up..
The Senator from Ohio neglected to au-
thenticate his function as the organ of
'eternal justice" and it is perhaps owing to
this lack of credentials that any Senator,
or indeed any human being, ventures to
differ with the Senator upon any subject,
whatever. o., .- -. II. fr'Igi
"God Almighty is my guide, =" said the
Radical leader" He going before to
strengthen my hands, has never failed me
yet and l do not fear that He will do so on
this OCCASION" ... ....fr1.t N 80
We have scanned the Globe carefully, but
failed to discover that any Senator hereupon
| moved to commit all further legislatinn To
| this m0uthpiece OF Omniscience. Perhaps
the assembled wisdom (human wisdom,
however, was struck dumb at the remem-
| brance of votes cast in opposition to the
votes of Wade-now, dreadful to relate
| discovered to be opposed TO the guidance of
the Almighty Perhaps the Senators were
bowed down with their hands upon their
mouths and their mouths in the dust, an
ticipating the visible advent in thunders
and lightnings of the Intimate and Coun-
| sellOr of the Senator from Ohio. Atany rate.
no motion of the sort was made; and, for all
the Globe shows, stiff-necked and perverse
Senate went on writing its letters and read
ing its newspapers as If there had never
been Sinai, and Wade was bore. is.ji"
Again, the fault is the Senator's. HTis
| credentials from the Governor OF Ohio were
| doubtless in due form. There must be soma
| informality in those which commission him
to utter the DEGREES of Heaven. Or is it that
his fellow creatures have so long and SO
| often survived his curses, when the Senator
has called upon his Maker to launch then,
that they discredit the blessings which he
oilers them upon the same authority? 'iiV
MIR. Wade went on with an argument for
making repentance the condition of recon-
| struction, and wholesale negro suffrage.
conferred by the Southern States themselves,
the outward sign of such inward grace.--
This argument we decline to discuss till the
| Senator assures us that we encounter onlV
| human antaOOnistS-N Y WorLY lh -