Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-02-13
13 1866

Il
and the gentlemen seem to be blind to the
fact that they appeal to the Constitution In
behalf of the very men who sought through
| bloody war to destroy that Constitution
and putan end to our beautiful Government.
But since when, ask, did this loyal zeal
in behalf of the soldier have birth! Ger
tainly we heard nothing of 1t during the
war. Then our cause was unholy. The
principal business of their ill-spent time
was to discourage enlistments and favor de-
sertions, while all the war measures of the
| Administration were bitterly denounced
| from every stump that was at safe dist
anoe in the rear. Isay now, that have no
faith in such zeal, and the sudden change
of front on, this resolution proves me to be
correct. The gentlemen differ from their
| friends they now seek to protect only in
| the lack of courage that prevented their
taking up muskets and attacking the de-
| tenders of the very Constitution they now
| pretend to love and defend.
[DoNN PIATr, the instrument of ScHENcK,
to talk about lack of courage!l
We are willing to pay out so long as we
have money to pay. The soldier has no
doubt of this; he knows his friend. We
have slept under the same blanket, touched
elbows in the same weary march, and shared
and we know him. and we require no in
PRODUCTION at the hands OF those who SLAM
dered his career and abused his interest.
| We have that interest at heart and the
means to provide. In the language of the
noble old Ben. Butler: "We propose COM
mencing on Arlington Heights and meas
| ure South"
Mr.. PUTNAM-Genera Butler, General
Grant says, is cOrked up.
| Mr.. PIATT-General Grant does not say
that he is, but that when struggling to
reach Richmond he was checked and as
good as bottled up. 1t is well that General
| Grant gave that information, for the gentle
man from Licking was not there to see
nor even any of his enthusiastic friends on
the other side of the House. Nor were they
in Baltimore at the time he speaks of or
they would have been among the old wo-
men he so plalntively refers to as being inn
| prisOned and abused. lie aud his friends
were hid in the hoop-pole regions of Ohio,
and were only heard when they lifted their
pathetic voices in behalf of treason. As
for General Buffers fame. it asks nothing
at our hands. Impartial history will record
his name as that of a patriot. soldier ard
a statesman, whose clear sunlight intellect
not only saw the post of duty, but who
had the courage to follow what his sense OF
right dictated. All honor to old Ben But
leris the voice of every thoughtful patriot
in the land. ...
1t won't do, Mr.. Speaker. All the reso-
lutions, platforms and speeches that can be
poured on will not wash out the base,
shameful treachery of the past. While
General Butler goes up, these gentlemen OF
the Copperhead organization will 90 down.
Remarks of Hon. w. d. Hill. 90
Mr.. HILL (DemOcrat) said:
Mr.. SPEAKER IL had hoped that this dis
cussion would have been confined to the
merits of the resolution now under consid-
Grafton, and regret exceedingly, that gen.
| tlemen on the other side of this House have
seen fit to indulge in the low, partisan slang
that has characterized the heated political
campaigns of the past few years. | had
| hoped, now that the country was at peace,
and when the united efforts of us all were
needed to heal the wounds which four years
of carnage have made, that the bitter feel
| ings of the past would be forgotten; and 1t
affords me pleasure here to remark that the
gentleman from Hamilton (Mr. YOung),
and the gentleman from Champaign, have
spoken of this question during the morn
| ing hour solely on its merits. But they, it
seems, are honorable exceptions. The gem
tleman from Logan has taken peculiar
| pleasure in throwing out sneers at the DEM
oeratic members of this House. | did not
| intend to notice any of these taunt' of Cop
| perhead and traitor, and that Other Pc
culiar billingsgate which some gentlemen
use in slanderng the Democratic party
but as they have indulged in it here to-day
| to an extraordinary extent, am unwilling
TO submit any longer, .,..... .
Sir, this cry of Copperhead has no ter
rors for me. am rather proud of the APP
! pellation, for if it means anything at all, it
means that there were men in this country
who, during the last four years OF civil war
and usuTpatiOn, had the nerve and the man
hood to stand by the Constitution of our
fathers, and who, in defiance of arbitrary
power, defended and proclaimed those great
principles of civil liberty which have ever
| constituted the glory and power of this Re-
public. Nor, sir, is this cry OF Copperhead
at all new to us. Remember that but little
more than one year ago had the pleasure
of supporting friend for a seat in Con-
gress who, while upholtling the flag of the
Union, had one leg shot off at Vicksbburg
under Grant, and the other wounded at
| Jonesboro under Sherman, and who,
while yet lying mangled and bleeding of
his wounds on his bed, was denounced from
one end of his district to the other, as a
traitor and Copperhead, although some
men of that party supported him, and only
because large respectable portion of his
fellow citizens were seeking to elevate him
to a seat in Congress. Sir, ii an angel from
Heaven could descend upon earth, and did
not come up fully to the negro equality
standard of these tdnatical Abolitionists,
they would raise the howl of Copperhead
and traitor. Now, Mr.. Speaker, what do
we propose to do by this resolution 4? Why
sir, the Legislature of Ohio proposes by a
single resolve to grant the lands of those
lately in rebellion, to the soldiers OF Ohio
What Jurisdiction or control has this body
over territory outside the limits oftheirown
State? Suppose you take the cOniiscated
lands of those people for our soldiers, what
will it amount to? My friend from Lick
ing (Mr. Putnam) has already demonstrat-
ed that 1t will giveito each soldier less than
one acre apiece, and that too under the pro-
visions of the Constitution, can only be
during the lifetime of those whose lands
are confscated, and | agree with him, that
it would be but an Insult to every soldier to
whom it is offered. If gentlemen desire
to aid these brave men, who have made so
many sacrifices Ia enduring the trials aud
hardships OF war, let them vote for the orig
inal resolution offered by the gentleman
from CoshoctOn, and the grand object will
be attained. That resolution, sir, proposes
to give each soldier one hundred and sixty
acres of land, from our western domains
without the contingencies of cOnfiscation,
aud two hundred dollars in cash, in addi-l
tion to that. 1t seems TO me the soldier
could appreciate that kind Of q bounty
But the gentleman from Logan proposes to