The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1875-03-06
Hon, Michael Hahn.

The correspondent Of the Chicago
Inter Ocean in a letter from New Or
leans writes as follows of Speaker
Hahn: aa
Ex-Governor Hahn, Speaker Of the
Honse, is . German by descent. He
was engaged in the practice Of law
here when the war broke out, but did
not hesitate to denounce secession
from the platform. After Buffers
advent he was elected to fill an un-
finished congressional term, was ad
mittel to his seat, and distinguished
himself as . stubborn leyalist, a for
,eible speaker, and a fruitful counselor
upon Southern needs. In 1864 he was
elected Governor Of the State, and
the ensuing year to the Emitted States
Senate, but that body, undetermined
as to . Southern policy Of rehabilita-
ton, though averse from Lfnepln's
plan of immediate re-admissi0n to
their original relations of the States,
as they might be reclaimed by arms,
did no more than hold its door ajar to
Mr.. Hahn, thrust out it's head and
commend the man rather than the
precedent he. had come in. Louisiana's
interest to establish. He made sturdy
but fruitless remonstrance, and at
length returned home mere citizen,
as naked Of the Sehatorship as when
for it he stripped himself Of the Gov
erpOrship.
Hahn is a short, adipose ;snan, say
forty -fiveyears Of age, with keen little
eyes that are always on the alert. He
is frank, whether as a friend or as a
foe; is cautious in resolving his opin-
ions, but blunt and even arbitrary in
announcing them. The first Louis
'ianian to pronounce in 1862 for col
ored snffragans, and increasingly in
imical to all miscllievous demagogues
III his own or the opposition party !;
the sworn foe of partisan despotism
and official corruption; a Republican
who has made bold, honest battle for
principle, and who, falling under the
bludgeOn. on that awful day of July,
1866, rose later from his bed erect and
resolnte as ever; a man against whom
no whisper of. misconduct has been
directed, he commands the unalloyed
respect and confidence of both poiiti-
cal parties. You greet an indoniita-
hle selfcOnsciousness in him that cav
lis aud ISLANDERS can not sting. His
skin is = thick rind, 30 to speak. His
Tentonic phleg:n so te,npers his Amer
ican zeal chat he is like horse of fine
nettle, responsive to the bride; lie
never wastes himself in restiveness,
but waits for handicaps. He likes
pubiie stntiUn; fbJut nnst~ have It ty
open sortie, or not at all. Heregarsls
official tenure. as moral larceny, where
incumbents crawl into it by stealth,
through the back door of "ring" or
over the fence Of a caucus. He square,
ly announces the stewardship he seeks,
moves toward it in open daylight,
and In his last election was hidden,
as | have shown, "Godspeed by
both political parties, circumstance
of peculiar significance in view of the
general acrin'ony between them. Hahn
has a brilliant future before him, less
because of any pre-eminent ability
than because he is resolute, equable,
and honest. These traits are granite
blocks, solid and safe. Chosen a men,
ber Of Congress, Governor, and
United States Senator before his thir-
y-fiftll year, and weary, perhaps, of
rust and inactivity during the last six
years, he is about to start anew, if
not, and has climbed to the
Speakership to proclaim as much and
to make predatory survey.