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
