Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of Michael Hahn of Louisiana
MEMORIAL ADDRESSES
on the
LIFE AND CHARACTER
of
MICHAEL HAHN,
(A REPRESENTATIVE FROM LOUISIANA,)
delivered in the
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE,
FOURTY-NINTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1886.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be printed of the eulogies delivered in Congress upon the late Michael Hahn, a Representative in the Forty-ninth Congress from the State of Louisiana, twelve thousand five hundred copies, of which three thousand copies shall be for the use of the Senate and nine thousand five hundred for the use of the House of Representatives; and the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed to have printed a portrait of the said Michael Hahn, to accompany said eulogies; and for the purpose of engraving and printing said portrait the sum of five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
Approved July 15, 1886.
ADDRESSES
on the
Death of Michael Hahn.
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE.
In the House of Representatives,
March 15, 1886.
Mr. St. Martin. Mr. Speaker, it becomes my painful duty to announce the death of my colleague, Hon. Michael Hahn, a Representative from Louisiana, who died Last night at his lodgings in this city. I will not detain the House now with any remarks of tribute to his memory. Meanwhile I offer the resolutions which I send to the desk.
The Clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That the House has heard with sincere regret the announcement of the death of Hon. Michael Hahn, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana.
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That a select joint committee, consisting of seven members of the House and three members of the Senate, be appointed to take order for superintending the funeral and to escort the remains of the deceased to their place of burial, and the necessary expenses attending the execution of this order be paid out of the contingent fund of the House.
Resolved, That the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House be authorized and directed to take such steps as may be necessary for properly carrying out the provisions of these resolutions.
Resolved, That the Clerk communicate the foregoing resolutions to the Senate.
Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the House do now adjourn.The resolutions were adopted unanimously.
And accordingly the House adjourned.
In the House of Representatives,
March 16, 1886.
The Speaker announced as the committee to escort the remains of the late Hon. Michael Hahn from Washington to New Orleans Mr. Louis St. Martin, of Louisiana; Mr. A. B. Irion, of Louisiana; Mr. C. P. Snyder, of West Virginia; Mr. W. W. Ellsberry, of Ohio; Mr. F. D. Ely, of Massachusetts; Mr. G. W. E. Dorsey, of Nebraska, and Mr. Joseph Lyman, of Iowa.
In the House of Representatives,
May 15, 1886.
Mr. St. Martin. Mr. Speaker, the House is convened under special order that we may pay a tribute of respect to the memory of our deceased colleague, the late Hon. Michael Hahn, a Representative from the State of Louisiana, and I send to the Clerk's desk resolutions which I ask to have read and considered.
The Clerk read as follows:
Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of the death of Hon. Michael Hahn, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana.
Resolved, That in the demise of our late colleague the country has suffered the loss of a wise legislator, a valuable citizen, and an able and faithful public servant.
Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceedings, shall stand adjourned.
Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate.
Address of Mr. St. Martin, of Louisiana.
Mr. Speaker, in offering these resolutions I feel it incumbent upon me to give a brief sketch of the life and public services of my late friend and colleague.
Michael Hahn was horn in Bavaria on the 24th day of November, 1830. When an infant, his widowed mother emigrated to the United States, landing at New York and subsequently moving to New Orleans, La. He attended the public schools, and, after graduating from the high school of the city, entered the law office of that most eminent jurist, the late Christian Roselius. After graduating in the law department of the University of Louisiana he entered upon the practice of his profession, conjoining with it the duties of a notary public.
At an early age he was elected a school director and served for several years. During the late war between the States, in 1862, he was elected to Congress, but was not admitted to his seat until the 7th of February, 1863. After the expiration of his Congressional term he was appointed prize commissioner at New Orleans, during which period he purchased the New Orleans True Delta, which he conducted editorially for some time as a Republican journal. He was inaugurated March 4, 1864, as the first Republican governor of Louisiana as a free State—receiving from President Lincoln on the 15th of the same month the additional powers of military governor. This mark of esteem and confidence on the part of President Lincoln Governor Hahn cherished as a marked distinction and held it as the highest of his honors.
I well remember that the day before his untimely death—when he seemed to have fully recovered his health, and not supposing then that we were to part that day to meet no more, I told him in a playful manner that I was glad to be spared the trouble of preparing his eulogy. He smilingly said: "My eulogy would have given you little trouble. It could have been written in a few words It would have been necessary simply to have stated that I enjoyed the friendship and confidence of the martyr President." At the same time he presented the following for my perusal:
Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1864
My Dear Sir: I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first free-State governor of Louisiana. Now that you are about to have a convention, which, among other things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone.
Yours, truly,
A. LINCOLN
Hon. Michael Hahn.
Having been elected to the Senate of the United States, he resigned the governorship, but did not press his claim to his Senatorial seat After having filled with credit and usefulness several appointive positions, he withdrew to his country place at Hahnville, in the parish of Saint Charles, where he secured so fully the confidence of his neighbors that he was elected, almost without opposition, police juror, representative to the State legislature, and district judge, serving as such until March 3, 1885, when he resigned to enter upon his duties in the Forty-ninth Congress. His term of service in this House, though short, gave promise of great usefulness and activity, and had the fatal archer spared his life he would have made his mark in this Hall, and his Congressional career would have been one of unusual splendor and success.
Mr. Speaker, it was my privilege to enjoy relations of personal friendship with Governor Hahn for more than thirty years, and although differing in our political faith, still it affords me pleasure to bear witness that his record as a citizen was such as endeared him to all who knew him. He was noted for the gentleness of his manners and kindliness of his disposition. He was a scholarly man of great ability, coupled with great modesty. He possessed pleasing and winning manners, and in all his social relations he bore the character of an estimable, generous, kindly, and true man.
Like many other bright men, he has been cut down at the threshold of a career full of promise, and which would have brought additional luster to an already honored name, and given a broader scope to his public career. Imbued with a laudable ambition to acquire distinction for devotion to his adopted country, fealty to his party, and fidelity to his friends, he was ever governed in his conduct by a conscientious desire to perform his whole duty as became a man, a citizen, and a public servant. His success was achieved under most perplexing and embarrassing circumstances—standing at one period almost alone in his advocacy of moderation, conciliation, and justice. His conservatism commanded the respect of his political opponents and secured a confidence which was evinced by their votes. On the other hand, he supplied to his own party its safest and wisest counsel and its ablest leadership.
This much is honestly due the memory of my deceased colleague; and, in closing, I can but say that by his death this body has lost a member who would have taken high rank as a legislator and made a record that would have been alike creditable to himself and to the State which he represented.
Address of Mr. Blanchard, of Louisiana.
Mr. Speaker, a colored fireman at Willard's Hotel, this city, making his early rounds, unlocked the door of room No. 16, on the second floor, at half past 6 o'clock on the morning of March 15, 1886, and stepped softly into the room to kindle a fire for the comfort of its occupant. He had advanced but a step toward the open grate when he discovered that occupant lying prone upon his back and surrounded by a pool of blood. Astounded by the discovery, he ran affrighted into the hall, down the neighboring stairs, and pulled up in breathless state at the office counter, where he related, in a tremor of nervous excitement, what he had just seen.
He was confident that it was a case of suicide, and to his terror-stricken gaze there appeared to be a gaping wound in the dead man's throat. The night-clerk and the keeper of the neighboring hack-stand, who happened to be present, ran up the stairs as rapidly as the servant had descended them, and were themselves in turn horrified by the appalling sight.
The room was the one occupied by Representative Michael Hahn, of the second Congressional district of Louisiana, who was found lying upon the floor in the manner described. He was in his nightdress, which was deeply stained about the bosom with blood, and in his right hand was clutched a handkerchief. The left was drawn up toward the body, as if to press the side to ease pain. The feet were toward the grate and near the fender, showing that the dead man had stood leaning against the mantel, and in his exhaustion from the loss of blood had fallen full length backward. Further examination of the room told the rest of the melancholy story.
The sick man, finding he w as discharging blood through the mouth, had left his bed and walked across to the mantel. The discharge continued copiously there, as was plainly to be seen, and also after he had fallen exhausted to the floor. The expression of the face was calm and free from pain. The servant's story of suicide and of a gaping wound in the throat was, of course, merely a matter of the imagination. Death had resulted from the bursting of a blood vessel near the heart. Thus died Michael Hahn, who, coming to America a child and friendless, had carved out for himself a notable career, illustrating the possibilities within the reach of every American citizen, whether native-born or foreign, under the liberal and benign institutions of our beloved country.
The deceased was born in Bavaria, on the Rhine, on the 24th of November, 1830. When he was quite an infant his widowed mother, with five children, came to the United States, stopping a short time in New York and Texas, and finally settling in New Orleans about 1840. The mother died of yellow fever in 1841. Young Hahn was educated in the public schools of the city, and after finishing his course entered upon the study of law. In April, 1851. he graduated from the law department of the University of Louisiana with the degree of LL. B. This diploma admitted him to practice in all the courts of the State. He immediately engaged in the practice of his profession. When but twenty-two years of age he was elected a school director and served for several years, being at one time president of the board.
Politically he identified himself with the Democratic party, adhering to that wing of the party whose recognized head was Stephen A. Douglas, whom he supported for the Presidency in 1860. He was a member of the Douglas State committee.
After the disruption of the Charleston convention a large Union mass meeting was held at Lafayette Square, New Orleans, May 8, 1860, at which Hahn made a strong Union speech and offered the resolutions adopted by the meeting.
He continued zealous and persistent in his opposition to secession. The State seceded. After secession the legislative authorities required all officers of the State to take a new oath of office, which prescribed a pledge to be faithful "to the constitution and laws of the Confederate States." He refused to subscribe to the oath, and on the arrival of Farragut and Butler at New Orleans was prominent in forming Union associations and in reconstructing the State.
In December, 1862, there was an election for Congress in the two districts of the State then entirely within the Federal lines, and Hahn. after a candidacy of but a few days, was elected from the second district, receiving more votes than the other three candidates together. He was not admitted to his seat until February, 1863. During his short stay in Congress he voted for all the war measures of President Lincoln, and he and the President very soon became close friends. After the expiration of his Congressional term he was appointed prize commissioner of New Orleans.
During this year (1863) he made a number of speeches in favor of President Lincoln's policy to re-establish a loyal State government in Louisiana, and in a speech at Lyceum Hall, New Orleans, in November, 1863, he declared for the abolition of slavery in the whole State.
In January, 1864, he took charge, as owner and editor, of the New Orleans Daily True Delta, in which he advocated emancipation, being the first paper ever owned by a Louisianian to do so. On the reconstruction of the State government on a loyal basis, February, 1864, Mr. Hahn was elected the first free-State governor, and was inducted into office in March following. In the same month President Lincoln invested him with the additional powers of a military governor.
A reconstruction constitution for the State having been declared adopted, a legislature was elected thereunder, which in January, 1865, elected Governor Hahn to the United States Senate for six years. In consequence of this election he resigned the office of governor, but never pressed his claim to a seat in the Senate.
On the 4th of July, 1865, he made a speech at the emancipation celebration in Washington, which was widely circulated.
A few months later he made a speech before the Equal Suffrage Association of Washington, which also obtained wide circulation.
In 1867 he became editor and manager of the New Orleans Daily Republican, and continued with eminent success in that position until 1871. During this time he received the appointment of administrator of the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. On quitting journalistic life he retired to his plantation in Saint Charles Parish. Here he laid out and built the pretty and thriving village of Hahnville.
He was made a school director of Saint Charles Parish, and repeatedly elected to represent the parish in the legislature of the State. In 1872 he served as president of the Louisiana State educational convention during its three days' session.
While in the legislature he served as chairman of the committee on the judiciary and a short time as speaker.
In 1876 he was appointed State registrar of voters; in 1878 he was unanimously elected police juror for his parish, and in June, 1878, was appointed by the President superintendent of the United States mint at New Orleans, which position he held until January, 1879.
In November, 1879, he was elected by an almost unanimous vote judge of the district composed of the parishes of Jefferson, Saint Charles, and Saint John, and was unanimously re-elected to that position in 1884. In November, 1884, he was the Republican nominee for Congress in the second Congressional district of the State. He had repeatedly refused the nomination, but toward the close of the campaign, two weeks before the election, being pressed to accept, he yielded and became a candidate. His election in a district usually Democratic by 3,000 majority attested his great popularly with the people in and out of his own political party.
In consequence of his election to Congress he resigned his judgeship in March, 1885, and was serving in Congress with usefulness to his State and credit to himself when stricken down by the icy hand of death.
It is thus seen that Michael Hahn had long been a conspicuous figure in the public and political affairs of Louisiana, and his career is one of which any man might well be proud.
Though an active, consistent Republican from the earliest days of that party's existence in the South, Governor Hahn always enjoyed the esteem and respect of even his bitterest political opponents. He was recognized as a man of unswerving integrity and sincere devotion to principle, and it was because of this that he was enabled to retain the respect and esteem of the people generally, notwithstanding his affiliation with a part) which had made itself justly odious in the State.
Of all the leading Republicans in Louisiana he was one of the least objectionable.
He was—
Said an editorial in a New Orleans paper, speaking of his death—
among the few men prominently connected with reconstruction who enjoyed the respect and esteem of the community, whose life was honorable, and whose record would bear scrutiny.
In disposition Governor Hahn was warm-hearted and genial, and his courteous demeanor toward all with whom he came in contact drew around him a large circle of devoted friends.
In positions of trust he was inflexible in the performance of his duty; in his social relations he bore the character of an estimable, generous, kindly, and true man.
His popularity in the immediate community in which he lived was unexampled; his people loved him. A number of citizens in the village of Hahnville draped their houses in black when the announcement of his death was made.
The bar of the district over which he had presided as judge adopted the following tribute to his memory on March 22—a few days after his death:
Resolved, That in the death of the late Michael Hahn the country at large, the State of Louisiana, and especially the district represented by him in Congress have suffered a loss deeply to be deplored and difficult to be repaired.
Resolved further. That as a gentleman he was without reproach, as a politician he was incorruptible, as a judge he was learned, just, and patient, and as a citizen he was accessible to all, courteous without subserviency, stern without asperity, enterprising without extravagance, appreciated and beloved by high and low as trustworthy and energetic, and a man of high power and remarkable intellect, without false pride.
Mr. Speaker, a good man has gone from among us in the noontide of his usefulness as a member of this House; one who, whether on the bench, in the executive office, or in the State or National legislature, was recognized by his contemporaries as just, honest, and capable. And such will be the judgment of posterity.
Peace to his ashes!
Address of Mr. O'Donnell, of Michigan.
Mr. Speaker, it is a mournful pleasure to have been invited to pay a tribute to the memory of one who deserved so well of his associates. My acquaintance with Governor Hahn began soon after the opening of the present session, and from familiar conversations I grew to esteem him highly. He was modest and retiring, but even in the few weeks he served here he gathered about him many friends. You remember the suddenness of his demise: while those who knew him had noted his absence from his accustomed place, no one thought death near until his end was announced.
His departure from earthly scenes teaches us the frail tenure of existence here; it was an impressive admonition of the brevity and uncertainty of life, an exemplification of the hollowness of ambition and the emptiness of office. It is indeed sad to contemplate that this quiet man should be forced into such rude acquaintance with death, that the rending of soul and body should be accompanied with such terrible suffering. Little did he or I realize at our last friendly interchange of thought that he stood on the very threshold of eternity, that the conqueror of all mankind was already beckoning him to its cold embrace, that his soul should so soon go forth on the mystic journey to the hereafter.
No native of the soil of Louisiana loved the State more than this its adopted son. I remember, sir, when I first began service in this body I offered a bill which he thought, if it became a law, would affect a great industry in Louisiana, and he at once came to me to discuss the provisions of the measure, pointing out the injury he feared it might entail upon the people of the State he served and cherished. This son of a foreign monarchy loved liberty and our institutions; indeed his example taught patriotism to the children of the land; his devotion to the nation was often tried in the crucible of persecution, but he ever remained true to freedom and union.
Representative Hahn lived nearly fifty-six years. More than a third of that life was passed in the service of the people, and, though elevated to high positions where avarice could have its sway, it is recorded to the honor of this public servant that he died poor in this world's goods. He was the just executive, the erudite jurist, and the faithful Representative. During the fierce contests in the section where he lived no one ever assailed his purity or the integrity of his intentions. Even during the last political strife, a campaign when plummet and press fathomed greater depths of acrimony and injustice in the political sea than any before, the fierce light did not beat upon him with withering rays, and he came here the accredited Representative of the better elements of each party in his district. He sought to serve his people and the Commonwealth which he in part represented on this floor.
The only time we heard his voice was when he appealed for the interests of Louisiana to promote the prosperity of its great undertaking. We all remember a bill he offered and urged its passage. It was to remove a bitter reminder to his constituency of the struggle of two decades agone. He hoped to see the prejudices of the past "dissolve like the winter drifts in the sunshine of spring," and rejoiced that they were yielding to the inevitable influences of time.
Our late associate was of a genial nature and loved harmony. I remember just before he left this House the wound inflicted on him by party reflection, and the mournful manner in which he read to me an article from a journal in his State and expressed the hurt he felt from its injustice.
Little did its author realize the one he assailed would so soon join the vanished procession of men who were. Ah, Mr. Speaker, we can but deplore partisan malice, while kindly feeling and justice are lost on the arid waste of political controversy. It is one of the lamentable accompaniments of our institutions that the sincerest and most upright intentions are too often refracted by party atmosphere from their aim. As I think of my friend who is gone, I am mournfully reminded of the truth of the Arab proverb "The word that we speak to day, shall it not meet us again and again at the turning of the ways to show us how it has cursed or blessed our fellows?"
The evidences of respect and regard for the memory of our departed brother, shown by those in whose midst his honorable life was passed, were a comfort to relatives and friends. To them it was a sweet blossom of the thorny wreath of sorrow. In the harsh and cruel contests of the troublous times and contentions which convulsed his State, much that was unkind came to the surface; but in the calmer years of retrospect, happily "death holds a flag of truce over its own; under that flag friend and foe sit peacefully together—passions stilled, benevolence restored, wrongs repaired, and justice done." As time passes, bitterness and acrimony are forgotten. Blessed be the kindly feeling! And as the past is viewed through the mellowing atmosphere of time, old friendships are renewed, and the grateful seed of charity and forbearance bring forth a fruitage whose harvests blossom for all eternity.
Among the precious legacies left by the past our dead friend prized the letters written him by the martyr President Lincoln. They embodied the thoughts of that most imperial brain penned during "the great evolution of history—that creative act, so to speak, which still exercises an influence over the destinies of mankind." The great ruler regarded him with warm feeling, commended his moderation and wise use of power, and gratefully acknowledged his devotion to country, liberty, and law. Well may his heart have been animated with just pride as he read the lines, as he often did, traced by the hand that lifted up humanity and made the flag the honest emblem of a free and happy nation.
The life of Judge Hahn has closed. It is a tribute to the genius of our institutions that the child of another clime came to our shores and his worth so recognized to call him to the highest places in the gift of his people, for they were his people and he was theirs. He sought to build anew the broken fortunes of the section where his lot was cast. In all positions of responsibility and trust he exercised their powers wisely and well, with an eye single to the prosperity and advancement of the nation and those whom he served.
The useful life is over. With him the world's sun has gone down in the shadow of death, but to emerge in the full light of God's eternal day. Farewell, true patriot and friend of freedom. Thy days on earth have been lor the benefit of others more than lor thine own, and as we give voice to the praise due departed worth, we bestow upon you the well-earned commendation: You left your country better than you found it. What more need be said?
Go in God's peace! We shall stay,
But a little while delay.
Address of Mr. Lyman, of Iowa.
Mr. Speaker, my personal acquaintance with Michael Hahn began on the first day of the present session of Congress, when, as the result of the chance by which our respective places in this Hall are determined, I found myself allotted to a seat immediately on the right of that occupied by the Representative of the second district of Louisiana. From that time there sprang up between us a friendship which continued steadfast, warm, and sincere until the hour of his sudden and unexpected death.
But while, personally, until that time he had been a stranger to me, he was not by me entirely unknown. Our deceased companion is a historic character in the annals of this country for the last quarter of a century. Being familiar with the history of his varied and eventful career, it was with a good amount of interest that I watched the appearance in the House of the only representative of his party and of mine from the State of Louisiana.
As we learn from the Congressional Directory, Mr. Hahn was not to the manor born. He was not a native of the land he loved so well, and owed no natural allegiance to the Government which he served so faithfully He was born in Bavaria, November 24, 1830, whence he came when an infant, brought by his widowed mother, to the United States, landing in New York, and afterward removing to the city of New Orleans, which city and vicinity continued to be his home until his death. Like the majority of American youth, his education was that of the public schools. He graduated from the high school of the second municipality of his adopted city. He studied law in the office of Christian Roselius, esq., and attended lectures in the law department of the University of Louisiana, from which department he graduated April 7, 1851, before he had reached his majority.
He at once commenced the practice of his chosen profession. His ability to serve the people was promptly recognized, and when but twenty-two years of age he was elected a member of the school board of the city of New Orleans, and was made its president. In the days prior to the civil war he was in politics a Democrat, and a follower of Stephen A. Douglas, making Union speeches, and by all the power he could command opposed secession. And even after his State had taken the fatal step he still remained loyal to the Union, and refused to take an oath requiring allegiance to the Confederate States government. When the State of Louisiana again fell into the hands of the Federal authorities he took an active and a prominent part in the reconstruction of the State, and was the trusted friend and adviser of President Lincoln. In 1862 he was elected to Congress, and in February, 1863, took his seat in this Hall as a Representative of the people of Louisiana.
At the expiration of his Congressional term he was appointed prize commissioner of New Orleans. He at this time also began the career of a journalist. He purchased and edited the New Orleans Daily True Delta, and, true to the principles he had always entertained, he was a fearless and powerful advocate of emancipation. He was elected, and on March 4, 1864, was inaugurated, the first governor of Louisiana as a free State, to which was added during the same month, by the appointment of President Lincoln, the duties and powers of military governor. In January, 1865, he resigned the office of governor, having been chosen to represent his State in the United States Senate. Owing to the disturbed and unsettled condition of the country at that time he did not press his claim, and was not admitted to a seat in the Senate. As a result of his devotion to what he deemed the best interests of his State and country, in 1866, during the progress of a riot in New Orleans, he received a gunshot wound, which went with him to his grave, and made him a cripple from that time to the end of his life.
In 1867 he became editor and manager of the New Orleans Daily Republican, and was also appointed administrator of the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. In 1871 he added to his other duties and vocations that of a sugar-planter, and removed to his sugar plantation in Saint Charles Parish, where he laid out and built the village of Hahnville. He was a school director of Saint Charles Parish, and in May, 1872, served as president of the Louisiana State educational convention. During the years 1872, 1874, and 1876 he was a member of the legislature of his State. He was superintendent of the United States mint at New Orleans in 1878, and during the fearful ravages and excitement of the yellow-fever epidemic of that year he remained at his post, faithful to his trust.
In November, 1879, he was elected judge of his district, and unanimously re-elected in 1884, in which position he served until his term as a member of the Forty-ninth Congress began. His career as a youth in a strange land, as a man, as a citizen, as a student, as an educator, as a lawyer, as a judge, as a journalist, as a politician, and as a patriot is worthy of all commendation, and challenges the admiration and imitation of every American. His death was wholly unanticipated by his friends and himself. He had been absent from his seat for several days on account of what he and all supposed was only a slight and temporary indisposition On the Friday evening previous to his death on Monday morning, I met him for, as events proved, the last time in life, on this floor. He greeted me cheerfully and said he was feeling better than he had for a long time, and that on Monday morning he would be again regularly in his seat. How little thought I then that one week from that day, and almost at the same hour of the day, I should, as one of a committee of this House, assist in the sad duty of laying his mortal remains away to their final rest in the silent city of the dead, the beautiful cemetery Metairie, hard by the Crescent City, the Queen of the South, the city of his adoption and of his labors.
How shocked was I when on that Monday morning, coming to the House expecting to find my genial neighbor in his seat, to find that seat draped in the habiliments of mourning and to be told that Mr. Hahn was dead! Our deceased friend was a man who appears to have won the esteem of all classes, races, and conditions of his fellow-citizens. This trait of his character was strikingly illustrated at the funeral obsequies at his home in New Orleans. All classes, rich and poor, high and low, Anglo-Saxon and African, from the governor of the State and State and city officials to the humblest member of society, appeared to feel that the Commonwealth and the community of his immediate home had met with a great loss, and they all came together and mingled their tears at his bier.
Michael Hahn had the confidence of all who knew him. He was the only Representative of his political faith from his State. Yet a tribute of inestimable value was paid him in the sincere sorrow at his death shown by his colleagues from his own State, differing from him politically so radically as they do. I stood by the side of one of those gentlemen at the services held in this city, and he said Mr. Hahn had got beyond the plane of mere politics, and was a statesman who could act for what he believed to be the best interest of his State and country. He said, "Michael Hahn could always be relied upon. I always knew where to find him." What higher tribute could be paid to his worth? In this connection I may be pardoned for mentioning an incident which occurred during the earlier days of our present session, which illustrates this phase of his character, his devotion to the interests of the people he represented, and also the extreme modesty of the man and his distrust of himself and of his abilities.
We had under consideration the bill or resolution authorizing the sending of certain property of the United States to the New Orleans Exposition, a proposition which was generally opposed by his party associates. I asked him what he would do about it. His answer was characteristic of the man: "I shall favor it; I think it will assist in developing the resources of my State, and I shall not only vote for it but I must speak for it, even if I am a new member here." And he did speak and made an eloquent plea for it. When he sat down, with his usual distrust of himself he asked, "Did I make a fool of myself and hurt the cause?" While he was thus modest and distrustful of himself, there was one phase of his life of which he was justly proud, and of which he was wont to speak, and that was the friendship and confidence of Abraham Lincoln. With what pardonable and justifiable pride did he use to exhibit to his friends the autograph letters of that great man to him, asking his advice upon questions of reconstruction and commending his patriotic and judicious efforts in that direction!
The career of our departed colaborer is one of which his friends may well be proud. The man who, under the peculiar circumstances surrounding our country during his active life, with all the disadvantages of foreign birth, could live a lifetime in a community which was necessarily opposed to him in sentiment on almost every question, and sustain himself and retain the entire confidence, support, and esteem of everybody, was no ordinary man.
He has gone. In his death his adopted country and State have lost a patriotic, devoted, and useful citizen, his city and district a faithful and earnest Representative, and his friends a steadfast ally. Peace to the ashes of Michael Hahn. Let all that is mortal of our dead companion rest in the quiet tomb to which loving hands have consigned his remains, until the trump of the resurrection morn shall call us all to appear before the great Judge to give an account of the deeds done in the body; and if he shall then rise to a future as happy as his life was useful to his country and to his fellows, his warmest friends can desire no better fate for him we mourn.
Address of Mr. Ely, of Massachusetts.
Mr. Speaker, in obedience to a graceful custom, we are convened in this Hall to pay our tributes of respect and esteem to the memory of a deceased member of this House. Not alone do the proprieties sanctioned by past Congresses impel us to these services. The associations of this House form a peculiar bond of union between us. We come here strangers to each other. We take these seats, and each looks in the other's face with courteous civility, or , it may be, with idle curiosity. But as day follows day, and members join in the work of legislation, meet in committee-rooms or on this floor, consult, antagonize, compare and contrast opinions, and struggle with the problems before them, there arises a common interest in the well-being and destiny of all and of every one which can never be wholly effaced. And when death's pale flag enters this Chamber, and at his summons a brother leaves his chair and departs to return no more, all hearts are moved by the bonds of goodwill here cemented to speak the last farewell, to strew flowers on his new-made grave, and to place on the printed page an appreciative estimate of those qualities which elevated him to this distinguished post of honor and responsibility.
Animated by these emotions, I gladly avail myself of this occasion to offer my brief tribute to the life and character of Michael Hahn. My personal acquaintance with Mr. Hahn covered a period of scarcely more than three months, but during, that brief time I had not failed to observe that he was a man of calm, conservative, judicious temperament, full of experience in public affairs, firm and decided in his views, but gentle in his expression of them. He was evidently a man whom it would be safe to follow. I was attracted toward him by his quiet and unassuming manners and interesting conversation. In him were happily blended those qualities of mind and heart which would make him, as he was from earliest manhood to the day of his death, the trusted public servant of those among whom his lot was most intimately cast. What a remarkable record of public service was his! Without the influence of birth or fortune, born in a foreign land, almost from infancy the son of a widow, he had scarcely attained his majority when be was selected for school director, and from that time onward the rolling years succeed each other not so rapidly as honor succeeded to honor and trust to trust, until in the plenitude of his influence and usefulness, but it may be believed not in the plenitude of his honors, we mournfully draped his chair in this national House of Representatives, and tenderly escorted his remains to their last resting-place among the people who loved him so well and trusted him so much.
Nor were his public trusts more remarkable for their number than their variety. In all departments of public service, educational, legislative, judicial, and executive, he seemed equally at home. It may not perhaps be said that in any special attribute was he notably endowed. Others may be undoubtedly named who were more eloquent than he, others more learned, others of stronger intellects. But he was eloquent, he was learned, he was strong, because he was faithful—faithful with an ingenuous, noble, inspiring faithfulness, which bore him successfully and triumphantly through the rugged and sometimes dangerous paths of his eventful career, and made him equal to the performance of every duty. In war and in peace he was ever the same calm, conservative, faithful man.
He loved his country. He never forgot his allegiance to her. When the war of the rebellion carried the whole people of the South willingly or unwillingly into its vortex, Michael Hahn stood aloof, and was foremost in all measures for the maintenance of the Federal Union as our fathers had established it. Considering the circumstances in which he was placed, this part of his career distinguishes him as a remarkable man. By his election as the first governor of Louisiana as a free State, by his position as military governor under Abraham Lincoln, by his advocacy of the emancipation of the slaves, He acquired a national reputation, and has written his name in indelible characters on the scroll of his country's history.
By this devotion to his adopted country and the perpetuity of her institutions Michael Hahn made fitting recognition of what she had done for him. His career furnishes another illustration of the beneficence of our beloved land to all her children, native and adopted.
Coming to our shores a fatherless boy, the doors of the public schools of the country opened to receive him. Without money and without price, competent teachers guided his tottering feet into paths of learning and opened to his youthful mind store houses of knowledge. He emerged from the public school well equipped to enter on the study of that most difficult and intricate science, the law. At the age of manhood that same country placed him on a stage of action where all men were equal, equal under the law, equal in opportunity, equal in the inspiration which American representative government breathes into all her children. How well he availed himself of these privileges is clearly written on the pages of his life, and will long be treasured in the memory of those to whom he was a true friend, a faithful adviser, and a devoted public servant.
Address of Mr. Pettibone, of Tennessee.
In the late months of 1863, after the fall of Vicksburg and the surrender at Port Hudson, when the Mississippi was again opened from its source to the sea, it became my fortune to arrive at New Orleans with a large contingent of the Federal Army; and then and there I first made the acquaintance of our late associate, Hon. Michael Hahn. He was then in power in the great city of the South, New Orleans; but I believe that they who will recall that time, the citizens of Louisiana in the dread period of the civil war, will always remember that when in power he so bore himself and carried his faculties so meek, with such just and scrupulous equity in looking after the rights and interests of all, as that the whole of the people of Louisiana who came in contact with him at that time felt that in him they had a safe adviser, a true and warm and steadfast friend.
This man, as has already been stated, was born under a foreign sky beyond the sea. In early life he sought the shores of America. He came to this country as thousands had come before him, believing that here was larger scope and verge and room for those who desired to enjoy the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity; and Louisiana became his foster-mother. As the years went by he grew into the full stature of American citizenship and manhood.
The great civil war which was then before us, which was too much for the wisdom of Clay and Calhoun and Webster and the sages of that now elder time to avert, because the reasons and the causes of it lay back almost within the Middle Ages—that great civil war was in front of Michael Hahn in his early manhood. Through that dark ordeal he passed as did the citizens of his State and his section of the Union.
When the war closed, divergent interests, sharp passions, keen antagonisms, virulent partisanship had their influence and their power, as we all know, over the States that had thrown their interests with the Confederacy. We look back upon it now as we look back upon the history of the Revolution or the great rebellion in the time of Cromwell. A generation of men have been born since that time. Today and now we can come, and with calmness and clearness of mind can measure men not as they would have been measured in the olden days, but as we now see them, surrounded by the circumstances which environed them in that time, and in the light which subsequent experience has cast upon it.
It is well for any one of us that, when life's journey is done, it can be said of him he was honest, he was true, he was discreet, he was patriotic, he desired and loved the just.
Knowing Michael Hahn a generation ago, and then having been separated from him by the long years that have passed, when I learned that he was elected to this Congress and was made a member of my committee I joyfully renewed the old acquaintance, and I found him what he was in the dark days of 1861 to 1865. only broader, and widened, and ripened.
In him the elements were mixed. All the elements were so combined that Nature might stand up and say to all the world. This was a man! That he was a man of broad principle, of profound conviction, and that he had the moral courage to breast all time and all circumstance, I think will be admitted by all who knew him. The Quaker poet Whittier (and in one of the last conversations I had with Mr. Hahn he quoted Whittier) has described the character of this man and his aspirations for what was right and just in the little poem wherein he brings the Angel of Freedom and the Angel of Peace together in the dark time which we call our civil war, when, to the pleadings of the Angel of Peace for a surcease of battle, the Angel of Freedom replied:
No pang nor strife beneath the sun
When human rights are staked and won.
I knelt with Ziska's hunted flock;
I watched in Touissaint's cell of rock;
I walked with Sidney to the block;
The moor of Marston felt my tread;
Through Jersey's snows the march I led;
My voice Magenta's charges sped.
That was the spirit with which Michael Hahn stood up in those dark days in Louisiana. But it happened to him that, as the years went by and age came on, the people of Louisiana came to regard him as he was, as a true citizen of their State, wishing only the best things for the State and for all the Southland and for all the Republic. That the man fought life's battle well, that he was an honored citizen of his Commonwealth and of the nation, was attested by the fact that he was sent as a Representative to this the Forty-ninth Congress, when long years had interposed between the sharp antagonisms of the past and the present time.
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose).
The bosom of his Father and his God.
Address of Mr. Gay, of Louisiana.
Mr. Speaker, this occasion has been set apart by solemn resolution to pay the just tribute of respect to the memory of Hon. Michael Hahn, of Louisiana.
It often happens in intercourse with our fellow-men that we do not fully appreciate their value until the rude hand of death removes them from our midst. This I feel to be especially true with regard to my deceased colleague, and when made aware of his untimely, unlooked-for death, I awoke to a partial realization of the great loss sustained by this House, by his colleagues, by his constituency, and by the State of Louisiana.
Michael Hahn was a native of Bavaria, and removed in 1840, with a widowed mother, to the city of New Orleans, in the tenth year of his age. His mother had five children, and when the yellow-fever epidemic of 1841 visited that city she fell a victim, leaving these children, doubly orphaned, in a strange land.
The solid metal of young Michael's nature maybe seen by watching the progress of events. He attended the public schools and graduated in the high school of the second municipality. In his nineteenth year we find him in the law office of Christian Roselius, an eminent lawyer, whose pure and unblemished character no doubt stamped itself on young Hahn.
While here, besides attending to the duties of the office, he followed two courses of lectures in the law department of the University of Louisiana, and graduated in April, 1851.
During his study of the law he earned his livelihood by attention to the agency of real estate, with which he was intrusted, and by writing short articles for the press, for which he developed an early taste. His diploma admitted him to all the courts of the State, and he immediately commenced the practice of law, blending with this the duties of a notary public, receiving his commission in 1851.
When but twenty-two years of age he was elected a school director, and served on the committee on teachers with such men as Rawle, Jennings, and Bonford. This position he filled several times, and was at one time president of the board and ex officio chairman of the committee on teachers and high schools.
In politics Mr. Hahn was a Democrat and a member of the Douglas State committee, supporting Stephen A. Douglas for President. After the disruption of the Charleston convention he was pronounced in his attachment to the perpetuation of the Union, and when in 1861 all persons holding office were required by the Louisiana legislature to swear allegiance to the confederate government he declined.
On the arrival of Farragut and Butler at New Orleans Mr. Hahn was recognized as a Union man, and became prominent in devising means for the re-establishment of the State government within the lines of Federal control.
On the 3d of December, 1862, elections for Congress were held in the first and second districts of Louisiana, then entirely within the Federal lines. Mr. Hahn was elected in the second district, receiving more votes than his three competitors, Darrell, Greathouse, and Jacob Barker, together, but was not admitted to his seat until the 17th of February, 1863.
During his short stay in Congress he became an intimate friend of President Lincoln, whose confidence he enjoyed. During the year 1863 he was appointed and acted as prize commissioner at New Orleans. He was appointed by General Banks with two others commissioners to liquidate the affairs of the Bank of Louisiana; but on his recommendation the appointments were revoked and the bank allowed to settle its own affairs.
On the reconstruction of the State government on a loyal basis (22d of February, 1864) he was elected the first free-State governor, and was inducted into office on the 4th of March following, and on the 15th of the same month he was invested with the additional powers of a military governor by President Lincoln.
A constitutional convention was elected and submitted a constitution, which was ratified. A legislature was elected, and in January, 1865, Governor Hahn was chosen a Senator to the Senate of the United States for six years. He resigned his position as governor, to take effect on the 4th of March, 1865. He never pressed his claim to a seat in the Senate, because he approved of the reconstruction measures which were then being matured.
As a journalist, his experience was extensive. On the 1st of January, 1864, he took charge of the New Orleans Daily True Delta. In 1867 he formed a corporation for publishing the New Orleans Daily Republican, of which paper he continued to be the manager and editor till 1871 with eminent success.
On retiring from editorial life he went to reside on his plantation in Saint Charles Parish. He laid out thereon the thriving village of Hahnville. Here he was made a school director, and in 1872 was elected to the legislature.
In May, 1872, he served as president of the Louisiana State educational convention during its session of three days He was elected to the legislature three successive terms, in 1872, 1874, 1876, generally without opposition.
He served as chairman on the committee on the judiciary and a short time as speaker.
On the 15th of August, 1876, he was appointed registrar of voters, and although much discussion took place concerning the irregularity of the election that year, both political parties approved of the conduct of Michael Hahn. In June, 1878, he was appointed by the President as superintendent of the United States mint at New Orleans, which office he held until the 1st of January, 1879, remaining at his post of duty during the epidemic of 1878 and contributing his services in relieving the distress caused by that scourge upon the city.
In November, 1879, he was elected by an almost unanimous vote judge of the district composed of the parishes of Jefferson, Saint Charles, and Saint John. In 1880, during the Presidential campaign, he started and edited the New Orleans Ledger, supporting the Republican nominees. In April, 1884, he was re-elected district judge unanimously for four years. In October following he reluctantly accepted the nomination as the Republican candidate for Congress from the second district of Louisiana only two weeks before the election, at which he received over 1,300 majority.
The mature years of Michael Hahn ran parallel with the most exciting and trying period in the history of his adopted State. The political caldron of 1860 stirred the souls of the great masses from one end of the land to the other. Hard feelings were engendered; solicitudes were entertained and nurtured.
The Sage of Auburn had declared that this country must be all free or all slave. The people of the South knew well that it would never be all slave.
Mr. Lincoln was elected. His motives were pure, his sentiments were liberal, his course would doubtless have been paternal and national, but he was untried, and the minds of the South were filled with apprehension. Webster, Clay, and Benton, alas! were dead. Had they lived, their counsel, as oil poured upon the raging waters of the storm, might have brought calm. But they had been removed from our midst.
The people of the South loved their country, but the security of their equal rights seemed to be in peril. Hence the coals were easily fanned to a flame and the clash of arms succeeded.
The heart of Louisiana was with their whole country; but when the hour for derision came she stood side by side with her sister States of the South.
I recall these incidents, not to revive the recollection of events which have passed into history, but merely to show how the subject of this memoir was brought into greater pominence.
It was in such a crisis that Michael Hahn took his stand amid the few who at the advent of the victorious Federal commanders in New Orleans in 1862 could be received with confidence. It was but natural that General Butler should look with favor upon the small band of men of good repute who went forward in good faith to welcome his arrival.
In the prominent part taken by Michael Hahn during this trying period it is worthy of remembrance and commendation that his course was never marked by unfriendly bearing to his fellow-citizens who had differed with him in opinion; that he evinced no malice, and he had none; that he never used his power to oppress or annoy when it could have been so readily done.
On the contrary, his talents and influence seem ever to have been industriously given to re-establish order and civil government, to restore prosperity, and to build up the best interests of the State in the mode he thought available. In this he was trusted far beyond what is the ordinary lot of man. and his judgment and learning lent strength to the fabric rebuilt.
He was of a kindly, courteous disposition, ever willing to extend the hand of relief, and approachable by all.
When a member of Congress in 1863 he was granted permission by the President to visit the Union military prisons to look into the condition of Louisiana prisoners.
Many kindly acts of Governor Hahn to the people of Louisiana will live in their grateful remembrance, and especially one recounted, when citizens from the interior of the State were dragged, upon frivolous charges, before the court in New Orleans and lodged in a loathsome prison, and it became necessary in order to enlarge them to give a heavy bond, his warm heart led him to tender his name for their relief.
In his quiet country home he was looked up to with the confidence of a father. His advice was sought by all, and his decisions settled difficulties, smoothed asperities, and preserved order.
He was not permitted to retire from public life, but was compelled to accept positions of trust, and when he consented to be a candidate there was seldom opposition.
Mr. Hahn was a bachelor; was accustomed to living alone. In his solitary apartments, alone, he was called upon in the silent hour of night to surrender his existence. That he was ready and that he met his fate with dignity was plainly manifest from the calm and genial glow which wreathed his countenance when his prostrate form was discovered.
When I gazed for the last time upon the placid, peaceful countenance of the deceased, I was deeply impressed that the light which seemed to shine upon his forehead was but the reflex of the gentle spirit of the still small voice instilled by a mother and the heavenly spirit of all grace vouchsafed to man through the sacrifice of the Son of God, which stands ready to enter the hearts of all men who serve God with a willing mind and with a perfect heart.
The nation has done honor to itself in bearing the mortal remains of Michael Hahn, in the guardian charge of his peers of both Houses of Congress, to their last resting-place amid the cypress and myrtle of his cherished home in Louisiana. They have laid him to rest in peace in the midst of relatives, friends, and neighbors, who to him were most dear and with whom the energies of his life had been identified.
As one of the colleagues of Mr. Hahn I bear testimony to the urbanity of his manners, to his firmness of purpose, and to his unswerving devotion to the interests of his constituents. His presence here gave promise of great usefulness, and I sincerely mourn his loss.
Mr. St. Martin. Mr. Speaker, I now move the adoption of the resolutions.
The resolutions were adopted unanimously; and the House thereupon adjourned.
PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.
In the Senate of the United States,
March 15, 1886.
A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Clark, its Clerk, conveyed to the Senate the intelligence of the death of Hon. Michael Hahn, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana, and communicated the action of the House thereon.
The Presiding Officer (Mr. Sewell in the chair). The message will be laid before the Senate.
The Secretary read as follows;
In the House of Representatives,
March 15, 1886.
Resolved, That the House has heard with sincere regret the announcement of the death of Hon. Michael Hahn, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana.
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That a select joint committee consisting of seven members of the House and three members of the Senate be appointed to take order for superintending the funeral and to escort the remains of the deceased to their place of burial, and the necessary expenses attending the execution of this order be paid out of the contingent fund of the House
Resolved, That the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House be authorized and directed to take such steps as may be necessary for properly carrying out the provisions of these resolutions.
Resolved, That the Clerk communicate the foregoing resolutions to the Senate.
Mr. Eustis. I offer the following resolutions and move their adoption:
Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sensibility the announcement of the death of Hon. Michael Hahn, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana.
Resolved, That the Senate concur in the resolution of the House of Representatives providing for the appointment of a joint committee to take order for superintending the funeral and escort the remains of the deceased to the place of burial, and that the members of the committee on the part of the Senate be appointed by the President pro temporte.
Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House of Representatives.
The resolutions were unanimously agreed to.
Mr. Eustis. As an additional mark of respect to the memory of Mr. Hahn I move that the Senate adjourn.
The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Louisiana moves that the Senate adjourn.
The motion was agreed to unanimously; and the Senate adjourned.
In the Senate of the United States,
March 16, 1886.
The President pro tempore announced as the members of the committee on the part of the Senate to escort the remains of the late Representative Hahn to the place of burial in the State of Louisiana, Mr. Eustis, Mr. Vance, and Mr. Butler.
In the Senate of the United States,
July 2, 1886.
Mr. Eustis. Mr. President, pursuant to notice heretofore given, I ask that the message of the House of Representatives in relation to the death of Mr. Hahn be laid before the Senate.
The Presiding Officer (Mr. Platt in the chair). The resolutions referred to will be laid before the Senate. The Secretary read the following resolutions of the House of Representatives:
Resolved, That the House have heard with profound sorrow of the death of Hon. Michael Hahn, late a Representative from the State of Louisiana.
Resolved, That in the demise of our late colleague the country has suffered the loss of a wise legislator, a valuable citizen, and an able and faithful public servant.
Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceedings, shall stand adjourned.
Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate.
Mr. Eustis. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I send to the desk.
The Presiding Officer. The resolutions will be read.
The Secretary read as follows:
Resolved, That the Senate receives with deep sensibility the announcement of the death of Hon. Michael Hahn, late a member of the House of Representatives from the State of Louisiana, and tenders to the family and relations of the deceased the assurance of its sympathy in their bereavement.
Resolved, That the Secretary be directed to transmit to the family of Mr. Hahn a copy of the foregoing resolution.
Address of Mr. Eustis, of Louisiana.
Mr. President, on the 14th of March, 1886, Hon. Michael Hahn, a Representative from Louisiana, died in this city. Several of his former associates in the House of Representatives have in eulogies presented in detail the important incidents of his public career. It is not necessary for me to repeat what has been so well said by those who were brought into more intimate relations with him, and I will only briefly refer to his prominent identification with some of the important events in the recent history of Louisiana to illustrate the character of the deceased and to delineate his connection with measures of national importance. When he died, the Democratic press in New Orleans united in paying a just tribute to his memory, which attested that Mr. Hahn enjoyed the respect and esteem of his political opponents. The bar and the court over which he presided as judge when he became a candidate for Congress passed resolutions expressing their profound respect for his judicial attainments and unimpeachable integrity, and as a last token of sorrow the governor, prominent State officers, and a large concourse of people and distinguished citizens, irrespective of party, attended the mournful cortege that bore his remains to the family tomb.
Mr. Hahn was a Bavarian by birth, but came to this country at an age so youthful that his opinions and convictions upon public questions were due exclusively to the associations he formed and to the education he received in the country of his adoption. Before the war he was an ardent Douglas Democrat, and after the disruption of the Charleston convention he addressed a large Union mass-meeting held in New Orleans on May 8, 1860, at which he made a strong Union speech and offered the resolutions which were adopted by the meeting. This outspoken declaration of his convictions foreshadowed his attitude of firm adherence to the cause of the Union. As a public official, after the State had seceded, he refused to take the required oath to support the constitution and laws of the Confederate States.
When the possibility of the emancipation of the slaves first dawned amid the rude shock of armed conflict, as early as November, 1863, Mr. Hahn, in a speech delivered in New Orleans, declared himself as the champion of their freedom, and advocated the abolition of slavery throughout the State of Louisiana. Hence, from an early period he gained the unreserved confidence of the colored people, not by any shallow pretense of undue solicitude for their welfare, but by reason of his sincere convictions upon the question of slavery. Their confidence he retained to the day of his death, for they knew that his labors for their educational, social, and material improvement were disinterested, and that no selfish consideration of personal advantage or political advancement induced him to profess to be their friend and benefactor.
Although recognized as a Republican leader, rather than appeal to race prejudices or engender race animosities he preferred to live in political retirement, asking for no rewards unless voluntarily tendered to him in grateful recognition of his ability and willingness to faithfully serve a trusting constituency. He could always rely upon the united and hearty support of the colored people, for to them he had been a friend, having never deceived them by flattering their prejudices or having never misled them to indulge false and exaggerated expectations. He honestly inculcated the teachings of good-will and good feeling between the races as most conducive to the prosperity and good order of society and the well being of both races.
Mr. Hahn was a conspicuous figure in a memorable movement which had serious international significance during the war, but which has been obscured by the overshadowing prominence of the stirring episodes of that eventful period. Louis Napoleon was restrained from recognizing the Southern Confederacy only by the obstinate refusal of the British ministry to co-operate with him in that direction, the British ministry itself being controlled by the force of public opinion in England. The oft-repeated assurances of Mr. Seward that the war would be of short duration had lost their efficacy and had emboldened Louis Napoleon, who pointed to the fluctuating fortunes of the contending armies as indicating an uncertainty in the result, if not an indefinite prolongation of the struggle between the Federal and Confederate armies.
Mr. Lincoln determined to offset this argument in favor of recognition, so urgently pressed by Napoleon upon the other courts, by making it appear that as Federal armies conquer territory civil government was being re-established with a view to the early reunion of the States. Louisiana, once a province of France, was selected as the field for this civil manifestation of restored Federal authority. This scheme of rehabilitating a seceded State amid the clash of arms was mainly designed to counteract the intrigues of Louis Napoleon. New Orleans and a few riparian parishes were the only territory in Louisiana actually and exclusively occupied by the Federal Army. A convention representing an insignificant fragment of the State was called. A constitution was formed and civil officers were elected, and Mr. Hahn was duly installed as governor-elect of the State of Louisiana.
So incompatible was this deformed civil government with the exigency of military occupation and military domination that Mr. Lincoln at once invested Governor Hahn with the powers of a military governor. To the European courts was to be presented the unexpected spectacle of a civil government being established by the sanction of Federal authority in a State that had seceded from the Union and of which Mr. Hahn was the chief executive. But this diplomatic effort to inaugurate a system of reconstruction, intended for the patriotic purpose of influencing foreign governments, was never sanctioned by Congress, and this anomalous and undefined civil authority of a military governor, so far as domestic government was concerned, had to yield to the undiminished supremacy of military rule. From different motives and for different reasons President Lincoln and Mr. Hahn equally rejoiced in this triumph of civil government.
The one because he successfully arrested the predetermined purpose of Louis Napoleon to recognize the Southern Confederacy, which it was feared would form an alliance with the Latin Empire which Napoleon was establishing in Mexico, to be protected by France; and the other because by the aid and assistance of the President of the United States he was to wear civic honors of a high grade, representing, as he believed, the majesty of a seceded State restored to the Union.
Mr. Hahn treasured as a valued legacy the following letter written to him by Mr. Lincoln in connection with the events I have mentioned:
Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., March 13, 1864
My Dear Sir: I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first free-State governor of Louisiana. Now that you are about to have a convention which, among other things, will probably define the elective franchise, I barely suggest for your private consideration whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help in some trying time to come to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public but to you alone.
A. LINCOLN.
When the Federal troops occupied New Orleans Mr. Hahn, by reason of his having been a Union man, was in a position to give good or bad advice to the military commanders, as regards the treatment of the people of that city. But he was a man entirely free from any resentful or vindictive feelings, and instead of persecuting any one he aided and befriended those whom it was in his power to assist. He always respected the convictions of his opponents, and never allowed any difference of opinion, even upon questions which he considered of vital moment, to prejudice him in his dealings and his intercourse with his fellow-men. In that respect he was truly remarkable for the kindly disposition of his nature.
To the poor and the lowly he always showed a feeling of deep sympathy, for he himself had risen from a very humble condition in life, unaided except by his own efforts and the opportunities afforded in this country to every one to gratify his ambition for advancement. I use no mere formal or conventional expression when I state that during his life he was a man respected and esteemed, and that his death was as sincerely regretted by his political opponents as by those with whom he had been politically associated.
Called upon to discharge the duties of many public offices, State and Federal, at the time that he surrendered these various functions no enemy, if he had any, could point to a stain upon his character. At the time of his sudden death he had reentered upon a career of promising political activity and usefulness. Full of buoyant and hopeful expectations, he was stimulated by a renewed ambition to devote his talents and his energies to the service of his State and country as a representative in Congress. Those who knew him best shared his confidence in his ability to attain signal distinction among his distinguished associates. Providence decreed otherwise; and it is to be hoped that he has reaped that rich reward in eternity for which his exemplary life on earth undoubtedly prepared him.
Mr. President, I move the adoption of the resolutions. Address of Mr. Gibson, of Louisiana.
Mr. President, I rise to second the resolutions commemorative of the public life and services of Hon. Michael Hahn, recently a Representative from the second Congressional district of Louisiana, who died in this city suddenly on the 15th of March last. I was absent on the day of his death and had not the opportunity to participate in the funeral obsequies or in the action of the Senate.
My acquaintance with Mr. Hahn dates from the Presidential contest resulting in the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. He was a supporter of Stephen A. Douglas. I remember distinctly the large and enthusiastic meeting held in the town of Thibodeaux during that campaign, and the strong and earnest speech delivered by Hon. Michael Hahn. Thibodeaux is the capital town of La Fourche Parish, the center of a wealthy, intelligent, and cultivated population.
I have never known in my life in any land a community that was more distinguished for its polished manners, its sturdy character, its genuine hospitality, and charitable benefactions, and in which the poor and rich alike enjoyed in a larger measure contentment and happiness. It could boast of such citizens as Bishop Leonidas Polk, than whom no more striking character ever shone forth in the annals of the Christian Church in this country; George S. Guion, the model planter, the public-spirited citizen, the devout Christian, the knightly gentleman; Dr. James Scudday, an ornament to his profession, and beloved as widely as he was known; Braxton Bragg, whose name is forever associated with the history of the war of secession, and of General Richard Taylor, as its senator in the State legislature, renowned abroad as well as at home as one of the most, if not the most, accomplished gentleman and brilliant conversationalist of the age and second only to the foremost in military genius. The day Mr. Hahn came before the audience that had assembled on the occasion referred to he was quite unknown, but when he had closed his address there was not a person in it who had not become convinced that he was a sincere, upright, patriotic man, and an earnest and persuasive speaker.
The career of Mr. Hahn illustrates the beneficence of our institutions as well as how much may be accomplished under them by self-denial, hard work, inherent virtue, and earnestness of purpose. Young men may take courage from his example. Born in Bavaria November 24, 1830, he was brought to the city of New Orleans when ten years of age, one of five children under the care of a widowed mother, whose early death left him to the guardianship of friends and to his own unaided resources. He was fortunate, however, in living in a community quick to recognize merit and in falling under the kindly guidance and instruction of Hon. Christian Roselius, in whose office he was chiefly prepared for the practice of the law. Christian Roselius was for many years a leading lawyer at the New Orleans bar and educated more young men for the practice of the profession than any other lawyer of his generation, not only as the veteran professor of law in the University of Louisiana, but he possessed great benevolence, and never omitted an opportunity to aid any young man of merit who was struggling for admission to the bar or in the early years of his practice.
The active interest which Mr. Roselius manifested in all worthy young men I think was owing not only to his own experience in early life, for he himself had reached the head of his profession in the State of Louisiana by triumphing over all the difficulties that early poverty imposes, his only weapons being an invincible will and the highest order of intellect, but because the great lawyer had seen his own fondest hopes crushed in the death of his only son, attractive beyond all his compeers, a type of rarest manly beauty, and possessing every intellectual accomplishment, cut off at the very threshold of his manhood. There still dwells upon my memory the image of Conrad Roselius as he appeared when we first met at school, the fairest, brightest, and most gifted of the companions of my youth.
I will not recapitulate the successive steps by which Michael Hahn won his way to the confidence and support of a large body of the people of Louisiana and to the respect of all. He was successively director in the public schools, editor of a newspaper, Presidential elector, governor of the State, superintendent of the mint, judge, Representative in Congress, and founder of a village that bears his name. And, though I differed from him widely in political opinions, I never heard, even in seasons of political excitements, any aspersion upon, the integrity of his character of the uprightness of his purposes. I believe he met every duty in life in a firm, conscientious, generous spirit. I remember reading some few years ago an address delivered by Mr. Hahn in the village of Gretna, in which he quoted the following passage from Festus, and I doubt not that the noble sentiments therein expressed found lodgment in his memory, because his heart beat responsive to them and they inspired the aspirations of his life.
Let each man think himself an act of God—his mind a thought, his life a breath of God; and let each try by great thoughts and good deeds to show the most of heaven he has in him:
It is a great spirit and a busy heart.
The coward and the small in soul scarce do live.
One generous feeling—one great thought—one deed
Of good, ere night, would make life longer seem
Than if each year might number a thousand days
Spent as this is by nations of mankind.
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on the dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
The President pro tempore. The question is on the adoption of the resolutions.
The resolutions were adopted unanimously.
Mr. Eustis. Mr. President, as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased I move that the Senate do now adjourn.
The motion was agreed to; and the Senate adjourned.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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