IN CONGRESS.
_Nomination--Refuses to Leave Army--Election
Incident--Election--Course in Congress--Services on Library
Committee--Votes on Various Questions--Submits Plan of
Constitutional Amendments--Re-nominated by Acclamation--Re-elected
by Increased Majority--Overwhelmed with Soldiers'
Letters--Character as Congressman._
On the 6th of August, 1864, while General Hayes was absent from Ohio in
the field, he was nominated by the Republican Convention of the Second
Congressional District of Cincinnati for Congress. This was the result
of the spontaneous action of his friends, and was brought about through
their agency alone. The nomination was neither sought nor desired. The
following extract from a letter written in camp, and bearing date July
30, 1864, makes known the then existing state of the case:
"As to the canvass that occurs, I care nothing at all about it; neither
for the nomination nor for the election. It was merely easier to let the
thing take its own course than to get up a letter declining to run, and
then to explain it to everybody who might choose to bore me about it."
The first information of the nomination for Congress was conveyed to
General Hayes through the letter of a friend written the day after the
convention met, which information was received on Monday, August 22d,
while preparing for battle, and on the same day he did a "good thing" in
the way of taking prisoners while charging on the rebel lines. Two days
after, with the enemy in front, he wrote this "private" letter on the
subject of going home to canvass:
CAMP OF SHERIDAN'S ARMY,
NEAR CHARLESTOWN, VA., _August_ 24, 1864.
FRIEND S.:--Your favor of the 7th came to hand on Monday. It was
the first I had heard of the doings of the Second District
Convention. My thanks for your attention and assistance in the
premises. I cared very little about being a candidate, but having
consented to the use of my name I preferred to succeed. Your
suggestion about getting a furlough to take the stump was certainly
made without reflection. An officer fit for duty who at this crisis
would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress ought
to be scalped. You may feel perfectly sure I shall do no such
thing. We are, and for two weeks past have been, in the immediate
presence of a large rebel army. We have skirmishing and small
affairs constantly. I am not posted in the policy deemed wise at
headquarters, and can't guess as to the prospects of a general
engagement. The condition and spirit of this army are good and
improving. I suspect the enemy are sliding around us toward the
Potomac. If they cross we shall pretty certainly have a meeting.
Sincerely,
R. B. HAYES.
An incident of this canvass caused at the time it occurred intense
feeling and indignation. The Democrats were having a large mass meeting
in Cincinnati, with an immense procession. Among the banners or
transparencies carried in the procession was one large,
coarsely-executed affair, representing General Hayes dodging bullets
while running from the enemy. As Hayes was at that very moment at the
front fighting the enemy, this assault in the rear was not deemed by
Union-loving men to fall within the rules of legitimate political
warfare. Some soldiers of the "Old Kanawha" division happening to be at
home recovering from wounds, had their indignation aroused to such an
uncontrollable pitch that they insisted upon ignominiously trampling
down the libelous transparency and its bearer. They had seen General
Hayes bare his breast a hundred times to the bullet-storm of battle, and
thought they were better judges of what constituted courage than men who
stayed at home occupying their time in passing resolutions that the war
was a "failure." These old veteran comrades of Hayes were moving in
compact line to charge on the procession, when a number of good
citizens, in the interest of order and to prevent a riot, had the
obnoxious banner removed. It is but just to say that Democrats of the
better sort totally disapproved of this public indecency and excuseless
outrage.
During the canvass for Congress, and while in the thickest of the bloody
fight at Opequan, the soldiers under General Hayes kept crying out: "We
will gain a victory to-day, Colonel, and elect you to Congress;" "One
more charge, and you go to Congress!" These brave defenders of the
Republic well knew the effect of a Union victory upon a pending
election. When the soldiers' vote was taken on Tuesday, the 11th of
October, not a man in the Twenty-third or Thirty-sixth Ohio regiment
voted the Democratic ticket, and but fifty-three voted the Peace ticket
in the entire division commanded by General Hayes. The result of his
first contest for Congress, or rather candidacy, for there was no
contest on his part, was his triumphant election by a majority of two
thousand four hundred and fifty-five votes. His competitor was Joseph
C. Butler, a banker, capitalist, and most respectable gentleman. Eight
days after the election, the battle of Cedar Creek was fought, so that
the news of two victories came to the faithful soldier at the same time.
Conducting a congressional campaign on the front, rear, and flanks of
the enemy, worked well. To Hayes the cause of the Union was such a
sacred cause that he could not cease fighting the enemies of that Union
so long as there remained an armed enemy to fight.
The war being ended, he took his seat on the first day of the first
session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, which assembled December 4, 1865.
Among the able or notable men in that Congress were Shellabarger,
Bingham, Schenck, Spaulding, and Garfield, from Ohio, and Thad. Stevens,
Conkling, Kerr, E. B. Washburne, A. H. Rice, Raymond, Niblack, John A.
Griswold, Farnsworth, Orth, Cullom, Dawes, Blaine, Voorhees, and
Randall, from other States. The first session was mainly occupied with
the question of reconstruction. The central questions during the
subsequent sessions were those growing out of the impeachment of
President Johnson. General Hayes voted consistently with his party on
these two classes of questions. He was the only new member, except one,
who was given the chairmanship of a committee, being placed at the head
of the joint committee of the House on Library. The other members were
Wm. D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, and Calvin T. Hurlburd, of New York. As
chairman of the committee on the Library of the United States, to employ
the language of its accomplished librarian, he had "a clear discernment
and quick apprehension of all things that needed to be done;" he "threw
his influence in favor of the most liberal and permanent improvement."
During his term of service on the committee, the Library was expanded by
the addition of two wings, increasing threefold its space. The "Force
Historical Library" was added, to the acquisition of which General Hayes
devoted months of zealous labor. It is now one of the most valuable
parts of the great Library. He procured in the House the passage of the
Senate bill to transfer the Library of the Smithsonian Institution to
the Library of Congress. He introduced a joint resolution to extend the
privileges of the Library to a larger class of public officers. He
reported back and recommended the passage of a copyright bill for
securing to the Library copies of all books, pamphlets, maps, etc.,
published in the United States.
In dealing with the subject of art while on this committee, Hayes showed
artistic taste and judgment. He voted to reject works without merit,
such as busts and portraits, and favored giving government commissions
to real artists of conceded genius and established standing.
One of the first votes of General Hayes in Congress was cast in favor of
this resolution:
"That the public debt created during the late rebellion was contracted
upon the faith and honor of the nation; that it is sacred and inviolate,
and must and ought to be paid, principal and interest; and that any
attempt to repudiate or in any manner impair or scale the said debt
should be universally discountenanced by the people, and promptly
rejected by Congress if proposed."
Early in the session a resolution was introduced "that the committee on
appropriations be instructed to bring in a bill increasing the
compensation of members of Congress." Mr. Hayes voted for Mr. E. B.
Washburne's motion to lay the resolution on the table. This is the whole
of his record on the back pay and front pay questions. General Hayes
during the session voted for a resolution commending President Johnson
for declining to accept presents, and condemning the practice as
demoralizing in its tendencies and destructive of public confidence.
This vote needs no explanation to enable it to be understood.
He also submitted the following resolution, which was read, considered,
and agreed to:
"That the committee on military affairs be instructed to inquire into
the expediency of providing by law for punishing by imprisonment or
otherwise any person who, as agent or attorney, shall collect from the
government money due to officers, soldiers, or sailors, or to their
widows or orphans, for services in the army or navy, or for pensions or
bounties, and who shall fraudulently convert the same to his own use;
and to report by bill or otherwise."
This was timely action aimed to remedy what has since become a gross
abuse and most serious evil. Its purpose was to check robbery and secure
to soldiers and sailors their own.
In 1865, General Hayes submitted to leading Republicans in Congress, and
subsequently to the Republican caucus, these resolutions, which became
the basis of the action of the party:
"_Resolved_, That it is the sense of the caucus that the best if not the
only mode of obtaining from the States lately in rebellion guarantees
which will be irreversible is by amendments of the national
constitution.
"_Resolved_, That such amendments to the national constitution as may be
deemed necessary ought to be submitted to the house for its action at as
early a day as possible, in order to propose them to the several states
during the present sessions of their legislatures.
"_Resolved_, That an amendment, basing representation on voters instead
of population, ought to be promptly acted upon, and the judiciary
committee is requested to prepare resolutions for that purpose, and
submit them to the house as soon as practicable."
When the ratification of the amendments taking their origin from these
resolutions became a matter of supreme concern, Mr. Orth and Mr. Cullom,
now the Republican candidates for Governor in Indiana and Illinois, in
conjunction with Mr. Hayes, drafted the following letter, which was
signed by Republican members of Congress and forwarded to Governor
Brownlow, of Tennessee:
"The undersigned members of Congress respectfully suggest, that, as
Governor of the State of Tennessee, you call a special session of the
legislature of your state, for the purpose of ratifying the
constitutional amendment submitted by the present Congress to the
several states for ratification, believing that upon such ratification
this Congress will, during its present session, recognize the present
state government of Tennessee and admit the state to representation in
both houses of Congress."
The session of the legislature was called, the fourteenth amendment
ratified, and the Tennessee members admitted to seats in Congress in
July, 1866. This ratification was the one required to render the
amendment valid.
In the fall of 1865, General Hayes delivered very earnest political
speeches in about twenty counties in Ohio, in advocacy of the election
of his military comrade, General Jacob D. Cox, as governor of the state.
We find many of these speeches partially reported, and from one
delivered in the West end, in Cincinnati, September 28, we take this
extract:
"The Democratic plan of reorganization is this: The rebels, having laid
down their arms and abandoned their attempt to break up the Union, are
now entitled, as a matter of right, to be restored to all the rights,
political and civil, which they enjoyed before the rebellion, precisely
as if they had remained loyal. They are to vote, to hold office, to bear
arms, immediately and unconditionally. There is to be no confiscation
and no punishment, either for leaders or followers--no amendment or
change of the constitution by way of guaranty against future
rebellion--no indemnity for the past, and no security for the future.
The Union party objects to this plan, because it wants, before rebels
shall again be restored to power, an amendment to the constitution which
shall remove all vestiges of slavery, and an amendment which shall
equalize representation between the States having a large negro
population and the States whose negro population is small."
In August, 1866, General Hayes received the endorsement of a
re-nomination to Congress by acclamation. There was no opposing
candidate. He entered at once into the canvass. He delivered a speech
almost every afternoon or evening until the day of the election. He
frequently spoke outside of his own district, to aid his friends. The
questions at issue were the reconstruction measures of Congress and of
President Johnson, and the merits of the new constitutional amendments.
In a public speech delivered in the Seventeenth Ward, in Cincinnati,
September 7, 1866, he discussed at great length the questions of the
day. In conclusion he said:
"The Union party is prepared to make great sacrifices in the
future, as in the past, for the sake of peace and for the sake of
union, but submission to what is wrong can never be the foundation
of a real peace or a lasting union. They can have no other sure
foundation but the principles of eternal justice. The Union men
therefore say to the South: 'We ask nothing but what is right; we
will submit to nothing that is wrong.' With undoubting confidence
we submit the issue to the candid judgment of the patriotic people
of the country, under the guidance of that Providence which has
hitherto blessed and preserved the Nation."
The canvass was an active and exciting one; but General Hayes was
re-elected over a competitor of so high standing as Theodore Cook, by a
majority of two thousand five hundred and fifty-six. It is noticeable
that while there was a Republican loss of seven hundred in the first
district, compared with the vote for Congressmen in 1864, in the second
district there was a gain of one hundred over the vote of two years
before.
General Hayes took his seat in the Fortieth Congress, which convened
March 11, 1867. He was re-appointed chairman of the library committee,
with John D. Baldwin, of Massachusetts, and J. V. L. Pruyn, of New
York, as associate members. General Hayes' three years in Congress were
almost continuously employed in exacting labors in looking after the
pensions and pay of soldiers, and in making provision for their
families. Cincinnati had sent a great many soldiers into the war, and
all who had wants sent their petitions to the only representative of
Hamilton county who had served in the army. The soldiers of his old
division, scattered over the country, sent their applications to him as
a sympathizing friend. He had as many as seven hundred cases of this
kind on hand at one time. His time was therefore necessarily consumed in
running to the departments and in answering soldiers' correspondence.
This service of love was of course gratuitously and most cheerfully
rendered; but it withdrew him more or less from his duties on the floor
of Congress.
He was not consequently a speech-maker in Congress, but a business-doer.
His innate good sense taught him that the public business was pushed
forward, not by talking much, but by talking little. Like Schurz, who
became the intellectual leader of the Senate, like Senator Edmunds and
most strong men, he kept silent while new to the business of
legislation. He was constantly consulted by the chief men in his party
because he possessed that most essential quality in a public man--good
judgment. He did no talking for himself, but an immense deal of working
for others. Every soldier was his constituent, whether he lived in Maine
or Nebraska. He placed self not first, but last.
He had no thought of fame or higher place, but silently served those
that loved him, and to the maimed or needy tried to make the burdens and
loads of life lighter. He doubtless thought that "he who lives a great
truth is incomparably greater than he who but speaks it."