Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-05-01
RepSFSSfMe EeconstrucsIOn Com
O{bRA1ileiv vIhore safvl6e As q fifth Wheel

mhltGCe
OffHAoTeiy more service As . flfth wheel
to a wagon, than has been the notable com
mittee of Fifteen, appointed at the instance
Of I9fR6bEus STEgENs before the lower
House Of Congress had convened In the
House for the purpose of organization, and Ilf
known, as the Reconstruction committees;
It yss appointed for the express purpose
of retardlng the work Of ,conciliatiopi. II
was appointed to cast odium upon what
the President had dohe in that dlrectioni
The men who voted in Republican caucus lIc1 y
for that committee, knew as well as they
knew that they exercised the function Of
respiration, that President Johnson had
been ,suceessfal. beyond all expectation IN
his work Of conciliation,, Twas not nee
essary for him to tell them q couple days
thereafter in his first annual message, that
all that remained to be done toIcomPlete
the work, of conciliationh and restoration,
waste allow the lately ipsurgent States TO
resume their right Of representation, They
knewit. 1t was not necessary for him to tell
them IN that message, that with view Of
satisfying the predominant feeling of the
non-slaveholdingS States, ,hehad required the
Southern States to ratiiy the constitutional
amendment abolishing slavery in such form
as To preclude its re-enactnent at any sub
seoaent period, and that for the purpose Of
recSnciling them with this requlsition and.
TO win their affections to the Government,
he gave them to understand that a general
amnesty should beextended to all who had
participated in the futile enterpriseof Sc
cedinS from the Union and erecting an in
dependent Confederacy. They knewit. 1t
was not necessary for General GRANT to
make a tour OF the South and then submit
a report, in which be certified the loyalty
and good behavior Of those whose military
power short time before he had made it
his duty to demolish, and expressed the
conyietion that the Southern States should
be permitted 10 resume their representa-
tion. They knewit. 1t was not necessary
for.the President to send General STEED-
MAN throughthe South ont tour ofinspec-
tion. His report, which, we assume, Will be
imbartial, will have no effect on that body,
because it will further strengthen the Pres
idents claim 10 craftsmanship. e., go
Toisuppose, therefore, that the committee
of Fifteen, organized for no other purpose
than TO foment discord between the South
and the North would report a plan, policy
or measure, or whatever you may please to
calfft, either designed or calculated to be
healthy and healing, is to suppose an uo-
suriIty that stupidity would be amazed at.
The COMMITTEES has made its report. 1t
ia given to the public this morning
through the telegraphic department. Ie Is
not. therefore, necessary TO .rehearse its Ian
Ruase. Its object is the disfranchisement
oftile southern White people and the denial
TO them of representation in Congress and
thenwithholding from them of all voice IN
theelection of President and Vice. Presi-
dent in 1858. This is what the Radicals
have been and are now driving at, and it is
becauseI the President upto this time has
retttsed to become a consenting party to a
scbenie so rnefarious, that they have de-
noRnced him In the vilest of language. a'
win the amendment reported by the
committee give peace to the country |?
VIII IL reconcile those people to their fall
ure who we're identified with the secession
movement? Thus far they have without
murmufing submitted to the fate Of War.
They have decreed the perpetual abolition
of slavery; they have repudiated the Rebel
War debt: most of the States have ex-
tended to the Negroes the same civil
rights That White men enjoy. Our people
have secured far more than they expected
to Secure when theyweht to war with the
Southern people. They alleged that ali
they contemplated was the maintenance of
the Constitution and the preservation OF
the Union. With indignation they pro-
tested that tAbolihonism, ,even the mildest
= form. was not an object. Abolition, how
ever, has been secured. Every condition
that the President exacted of the'Southern
people, contrary to general expectation, has
been complied with. Is there no point at
which magnanimity will interpose short OF
their total disfranchisement? The advo-
caoy Of Negro Suffrage is not prompted by
any special love OF the Negro? !? 1t is
prompted by spirit to debase, humiliate
and, degrade all men who took any part in
the secession enterprise. Weput the ques-
tloa,tol rational minds Is this the way to
give enduring peace and concord to our
conntryf - rasi'' I,.e,
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