The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1866-03-08
"RECoNsTRUcT1oN."
SPEECH OF HON. R. ". CLARKE
OF OHIO,
Delivered in the House Of Representa-.
tires, Monday, Fe6. &c, 1866. ~

Mr.. CLARKE, of Ohio. Mr.. Speak
er, Notwithstanding the bitterness of
feelingin which the rebellion was pro-
jected, and the more than savage fe-
rocity with which it was prosecuted,
still the hearts of the loyal people of
the nation are full Of tenderness, and
ready to respond with kindness to the
appeals Of our erring brethren, when
ever those appeals are made in the
spirit that ought to touch our sympa-
thies and challenge our forgiveness.
II, we appear to move cautiously in
the work of reconstruction, and to con-
slider the measures necessary to that
end with more than ordinary delibera-
ton; if we appear tardy in the eyes
Of those lately in rebellion in our adj
vances toward their restoration to their
former condition in the Union, it
should be full answer to them, and
an ample Justification to us, in the
Judgment of all impartial minds, that
we have not only good cause to be de-
liberate, but that haste in such an un-
dertaking, with such great response
bilities depending upon what we do in
that behalf, would not only bring re-
proach upon us as deliberative body,
but expose the country to results more
calamitous, if possible, than those from
which we have but just emerged after
a four-years' war.
The times in which we live, and the
people with whom we have to deal in
this work, are worthy of careful con.
sideratiOn, for without a just apprecia-
tion of which we have no assurance
that our labors will be either wise OF
well-timed. Old things are passing
away, and new ones are taking their
places; old ideas, old errors, are fading
out in the sunlight Of truth, and old
customs and practices, based on en-
ploded dogmas, are everywhere crumb-
ling into ruins, and higher and holier
o.dar of things succeeds, keeping pace
with the moralizing and Christianizing
influences which mark with especial
significance the ruling spirit of the
times.
Slavery, that but a short time since
was received as a God-given institu-
tion to man, has flllen under the ban
of purer morality and gone down
with the curses of the Christian world
resting upon its memory. -Four brief
years have done the work for that
monstrouS institution of outrage and
wrong and crime against humanity.
With the fall of slavery must also
fall the things pertaining thereto; the
thing that was yesterday chattel is
to-day a man, and the master who
yesterday had his heel upon the neck
of his slave, to-day meets that slave
upon the level of a common equality
in all that pertains to the natural and
civil rights of man.
These changes are suddenly thrust
upon us, and upon those with whom
we are dealing in the work of recon-
struction, and necessarily require to
be kept constantly in view in whatever
is proposed us solution of the great
question. ...,.g
The negro is in our hands-his we'll
being, his liberty, his life, are all nj
our mercy, and whether we like or dis
like the labor of providing for his fuI-
ture destiny, it falls upon us as a
charge of the most solemn and Oblig-
ing character. Through the providence
of God he has become Il freeman, and
we must see to it that the great pur-
poses his 7deliverance is intended to eff
feet are not lost through our neglect.
These things cluster around the
question of reconstruction, and require
toybe- carefully considered !; we are our
brothers keeper, and must see that
even-handed justice shall be meted out
to the black man if possible; at least
he must be protected from outrage un-
til time and tie refining influences of
the new order of things shall bring
our erring brethren to right appre-
citation of the dignity of man and the
duties and obligations that manhood
imposes upon all. 1'l 0-
And while we should moi Judge too
harshly, we cannot forget that the re-
beIliOn was projected delibeptely, pro
jected by men Of great capacity and ol
the highest respectability, occupying
the most important and commanding
posi- ions in the South, many of them
holding seats in these Halls, solemnly
sworn to support the Constitution, and
who, regardless of their Oaths, lef,
their places here with the openly-de
clared purpose of going TO their re
spective constituencies tolkindle in tn,
hearts of their loyal and unsuspectini
people the fires of rebellion, to IN
struct them in the lessons of treason
and to make war upon the nation.- -
Other prominent leaders, wearing tn,
uniform of the Army. and Navy OF
our Government, who had long year
been the recipients of its beneticenc
and honors, abandoned their duty ant
their allegiance and, laying perjury up
on their souls, became the willing ant
active leaders in the war of the rebel
lion, eat erly seeking to destroy tn
Government which their duty an,
their oaths bound them alike to dc
fend. These are the schoolmasters o
the rebellion; these are the men VIII
have taught treason as a science to tn
people of the South these are tn
men who have kept up this blood
crusade upon our country for four years
and who only yielded when their laS