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him to Hon. B. F. Flanders, a treasury officer of the United States Government, (see document 31, accompanying General Schurz’s report,) in December, 1864, long after Louisiana had been made a free State, gives a pretty good idea of his views concerning emancipation and “educational arrangements.” A perusal of his letter will be quite entertaining in a literary point of view, as showing the aptness and facility with which one in his position can use such expressions as “babblers,” “professional philanthropists,” “quacks and demagogues,” “our Solons,” “the received dogmas from the inspired sources of knowledge at the North,” &c. The parish which he represents in the Legislature was among the first to organize a white militia against Union men, in defiance of the Constitution and laws which require the enrollment of all able bodied men in the militia. It was in his parish that Bennie and Rongelot were indicted and imprisoned by returned Confederates as guilty of treason to the State because in the exercise of the American right of free speech, and in obedience to the dictates of humanity, they buried a vulgar prejudice and advocated the claims of their colored neighbors to protection.
Yet this Legislature, after all these and many other exhibitions of its ruling spirit, has had the effrontery to pass resolutions alleging itself to be “loyal,” and denouncing the “Radical” and “fanatical" elements which it sees are ruling Congress. It went further. It selected commissioners from its own members to visit Washington, and present its pledges of “loyalty” to the President. All the commissioners had been prominent in the rebellion, and had supported the obnoxious measures to which I have alluded. I suppose that this settles the question of loyalty.
Let me say, in conclusion, that all persons lately in rebellion are not as perverse and unrepentant as you might be led to infer from this array of facts. Many, very many young men of the South were carried into the rebellion by an irresistible current. Their hearts were with the Union in the great political contest which resulted in war. Many, very many of them have seen the error of their ways, have gone home disgusted with treason and traitors, and are ready to stand by the Union and do justice to the loyal people, white and black. Many of these have seen the war in all its phases. It is well to understand the position in which men found themselves during the whole time; and for the humble masses who were dragged into the rebellion, by moral or physical influences, and who now repent, I bespeak a generous and Christian policy of forgiveness. But for the “intelligent and influential traitor,” like some that have been named, who instigated and started the rebellion to maintain and perpetuate the institution of Slavery,—the traitor who dragged, bullied and frightened others into treason,—the rebel who, although forgiven and pardoned for his great crime, refuses to forgive and pardon, but seeks by means of the powers of Government to make treason fashionable and loyalty odious—for such a traitor I have little charity.
But, you may ask how can these evils be remedied? How can justice be secured the Union men without dealing harshly with the rebels? My answer is ready. Give every colored citizen the right of suffrage. This will settle all difficulties connected with reconstruction. It is not only just and proper to extend this inestimable right to our colored citizens, but it is a debt we owe them. Let the nation be as scrupulous in discharging its moral obligations growing out of the war, as it is to pay its financial obligations. Let us be true to those who have been true to us. In granting this right we obtain security for the future. By doing this act of justice, by paying this debt, we close the rebellion. There is no other question seriously dividing the people which is not settled, with the discharge of this duty.
- Respectfully yours,
MICHAEL HAHN.
Wm. H. Moore, printer, 484 Eleventh Street.
