Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1863-01-29
Gen. Buffers Welcome Home.
A NOBLE sPMEOII.


tii' A NOBLE 8PHEOII.
Gen. Butter had t7Sincsnt welcome al
Lowell, Mass, his native city, on the 18th
inst In response to tho welcoming speech
made by the Postmaster Of the city, Hon.
John A. Goodwin, General Butler replied
in the following truly admirable remarks:
Mr.. Chairman, Friends and Neighbors:
l have many times met you in this hall,
but never under circumstances Of greater
embarrassment. My heart is FULL My
voice Is choked with the emotions that well
up to the eyes as l listen TO your kind words
Of greeting and approval. My friends, il
thsre is a reward to be sought on earth
by faithful discharge Of duty, by a loyal
devotion to country, It is the approval
of ones friends and neighbors- Applause. !
You, sir, have fstteringly alluded to my
services, but you have not alluded to the
great element Of my succesa have never
been in battle without Massachusetts, reg
iment, and have never been engaged in a
battle where success crowned my efforts
without Lowell regiment. Applause. j
The 26th--once ypurold Ah-was at New
Orleans; it was at Baltimore; and if could
do nothing for you at Fortress Monroe, it
was because the Government kept back
from me the 9th and 9Th Massachusetts, reg
iments. At New Orleans, at st. Philip,
your regiment waded up to the arm pits in
mud to attack that fortress, and it was Ow-
ing to their gallantry that the fortress sur
rendered. 1t is to Lowell men, to Lowell
perseverence-not alone in the fervor Of the
General in command, but in the brave and
gallant comrades with him-that the coun-
try owes the glory of that victory.
Let us pause here a moment to drop one
tear and breathe one sigh for the gallant
dead who have offered up their lives on the
altar Of their country. l need not name
them to you. Every heart cherishes their
memory But there occurs to my thoughts
the name of the gallant ,Crowell, who lies
nov with his kindred here al homo. These
noble men have given their lives for the sa-
cred cause Of liberty. and they can never be
forgotten. Now, friends, ,cherishing their
the present and the duties of the living
have heard, but cannot believe it, that
some are falteriug 10 this hour Of their coun
try's peril, that the faith Of some in the ma
tion' triumph in this unhappy war has. fol
ulohout SNou way ~ you uono'o ohc'
there is just God? Whoever believes in
and justice and truth must necessarily tri-
umph. Upon that subject never permit
yourself to doubt. We may have TO- peril
more treasure, to lose Wprs sons and broth
ers in the cause Of the e'1Ql2fy, but ultimate
success is sure. To dedE this is, in my
Judgment, atheism 0f the worst sort.
1 have heard it said, my friends that !
have changed in some of my ideas and
thoughts on political questions since left
you. l have changed in some Of my ideas,
l grant you, because l have learned some
thing, (great applause, but that have
changed, in single principle, deny. !
stand before you the same Democrat who
for SO many years battlea for the rights Oi
the people at the North, and now battle fol
the same rights in the South. l have found
that this rebellion is rebellion against the
working classes, without distinction ofcolor
and have stood upon that question where
have ever stood, and where | shall ask
you to stand-as | know you will. The re-
bellion was begun and is carried on for the
purpose of creating a landed arlstocracy,
which shall give to four hundred thousand
the government of eight millions of whites
and four millions Of blacks. 1t is for that
that JEFF. Davis and his confsderates have
undertaken a rebellion which they claim il
to secure the rights of the people. Do you
think, if it was rebellion Of the people, il
would be necessary to resort to conscriptior
to raise their armies2 Did our fathers have
to conscript men? Did not our fathers will
ingly 20 forth? At this tune may say tha
more than one half the army Of the South
is composed Of men driven into it at thu
point Of the bayonst. Did anything Of this
kind ever succeed before, and will it succeed
now? No; unless. the laws Of nature are en-
tirely reversed. a, ,,.,rf. r.. .t
Nov let US look directly at your interests
and your duties; for l am speaking now
having Just come from the cotton regions,
where interests and duties for once 60 hand
in hand. Would you wisn to be at thu
command of those masters ut the South who
could make you do as they said by cutting
off the supply OF cotton? 1t is tor YOU
freedom from those masters that We ar,
fighting to-day; that the people Of the Soutf
may not claim to be our masters but ou
brothers; that we may place ourselves wher'
they will feel US to be, as we know we are
their equals, not their interiors. 1t is t.
correct this idea that the Northern man
with red blood, blue eyes, light hair and al
that God gives to this image Of himself, i
not equal to the slave drivers, with thei
thin lips and pallid brows-it is to- correc
this idea, say, that We are engaged in thi.
momentous struggle. That is the question
before us; and he who does not side with u,
on that question says thatIhe desires to kis,
the feet Of those mastars. Invent TO Lousl
ana desiring to do everything to restore i al
it was; to ses if by any possibility l might
bring the principles, the laws aad the, in
stitutions which govern that State into har'
mony with the Union; but | found there nc
disposition to have that done. l found
that the aristocracy looked upon us as their
enemies; and found that the working and
middling classes looked upon US as friends.
Within the first month $4,000 Of those who
compose the bone and sihew Of New Or,
leans had taken the oath Of allegiance, not
BY lips service only, but from their hearts;
and fom that day found no man owning
slsves who would take the oath Of allegi'