Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1863-01-16
FAREWELL ADDRESS OF eBE. BUTLER.

pie Of New Orleans:
i "Citizens of New Orleans:-It may not bt
inappropriate, as it is not inopportune, ia oc
! easion, that there should be addressed to yod
a few words AT parting. by one whose name j,
to be hereafter indissolnbly connected with
your city.
Il shall speak in no bitterness, because an
not conscious ola single personal auimosity.-
! bat Commanding the army ofthe Gull, found
/ you captured but not surrendesed ;cconquered,
not orderly; relieved from the presence of an
army, but incapable Of taking care Of your
selves. So far frein it, you had called upon
a foreign region 10 protect you from your
selves, ] restored order, punished crimes,
! opened commerce, brought provisions TO yoar
4 starving people, reformed yeur currency, and
gave you quiet protection, such as you had not
enjoyed for many years.
| "While doing this my soldiers were subjec-
ted to obIoquy, reproaeh and insult.
"And now, speaking to you, who know the
truth, l here declare that whoever has quietly
remained about bis business affording neither
aid nor comfort to the enemies of the United
States, has never been interfered with the SOL
diers of the United States,
'The men who had assumed to govern you
and to defend your city in arms having fed,
some Of your women foutcd at the presence
leG those who came to protect them. By sim
pie order (No. 28) 1 called upon every SOL
dier of this army to treat the women of New
Orleans as gentlemen sheuld deal with the sex,
with such effect that call upon the Just mind
ed ladies of New Orleans to say whether they
have ever enjoyed so complete protection and
calm quiet for themselves and families as since
the advent Of the United States troops.
The enemies Of my country, uurepentant
aud mplacable. l have treated with merited
severity. hold that rebelIion is treason, and
| that treason persisted 10 IS death, and any pun
/ ishment short Of that due traitor, is so much
clear gain to him from the clemency of the
government. Upon this thesis have I adn
ninistered the authority Of the United States,
| because Of which am not unconcious of COM
plaint. do not feel that I have erred in too
much hafshness, for that harshness has ever
/ peen exhibited tie disloynl enemies of my coun-
try, and not to loyal friends. To be sure,
l might have regarded you with the amenities
Of British civilization, aud yet been within the
supposed rules Of civilized warfare You
might have been smoked to death in cayerns
as were the Cunvenautors of Scotland by the
command of General of the royal house oi
England; or roasted like inhabitants of Algiers
during the French eampagn your wives and
daughters might have been given over to the
ravisher as were the unfortunate danes of
Spain in the Peninsula yor yo,a might have
been scalped aud tomahawked as our mothers
were at Wyoming 10y savage allies of Great
Britain in our own revolution your, property
could have been turned over to indiscrilninate
loot like the palace of The Emperor Of China !;
works Of art which aaorn your buildings might
have been sent away like the paintings Of the
| Vatic an your sons might have been blown
from the mouths of cannon like the Sepoys a.
Delhi; ; and yet all thiswould have been with
iu the rules of civilized warfare as practised
| by the most hypocriical nations of Europe
For such acts the records of ;he doings of some
Of the inhabitants Of your city towards the
friends Of the Upion, before my coming, were
a sufficient proyoeation and Justification
But have not so concluded. On the con
trary, The worst punishment inflicted, except
for criminal acls punishable by every law,
has been Punishment with labop 10 a. barren
island, where 1 encamped my own soldiers be
fore marching here.
''It is true have levied upon the wealthy
rebel and paid out nearly half a million of dol
lars to feed forty thousand OF the starving poor
Of all nations assembled here made so by this
war.
Il saw that this rebellion was war Of the
arrstocrats against The middng men of the
rich against the poor a war Of the land owner
against the laborer; that it was a struggle
for the retention Of power in the hands Of the
few against the many and found no conclu-
sion 10 it save in the suhjugation of the few,
aud the disenthrallment Of the many. l there
fore felt no hesitation in taking the substance
OF the wealthy, who have caused the war, to
feed the innocent poor who had suffered from
the war. And 1 shall now leave you with the
proud consciousness that carry with me the
blessings Of the humble and loyal under the
roof of the cottage and in the cabin of the
slave, and 50 am quite content to incnr the
sneers of the salon or the curse of the rich.
Il found you trembling. at the terrors of ser
vile insurection. All dangers of this, | have
prevented by so treating he slave that he had
no cause TO rebel.
Il found the dungeon, the chain and the
lash, your only means of enforcing obedience
in your servants. leave them peaceful la
borious, controlled by the laws OF kindness
and justice,
4 have demonstrated that the pestilence
can be Kept from your borders.
i have added million of dollars to your
wealth in the form of new land from the bat
ture of the Mississippi.
Il have o,eansed and improved your streets,
CANALS and public squares. and opened new
avenues TO unoccupied land.
Il have given you freedom Of election, great
er thapyou have ever enjoyed before.
Il have caused justice TO be administered so
imparcially, that your own advocates have
unanimously compiimenteI the judges of my
appointment.
You have seen, therefore, the benefit of the
laws and justice of the Government against
| Which you have rebelIed.
"Why, then, will you not all return to yonr
allegiance 10 that Goverument-not with lip
service, but with the heart?
Il conjure You, if you desire ever to see re-
newed prosperity. giving business 10 your
streets and wharyes-ifyou hope to see yoar
city become again the mart of the Western
world, fed by its rivers for more than three
thousand miles, draining the commerce of a
country greater thar the mind of man hath ev-
er cOneeived-return 10 your allegiance.
"If you desire to leave 10 your children the
Inheritance you received ofy your fathers-a sta
pie constitutional Governmental you desire
that they should in the future be portion of
the greatest empire the sun ever shone upon
return to your allegiance.
"There is but one thing that stands in the
way.