Cleveland tri-weekly leader. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1854-1885, 1863-01-13
General RurIsr,s Address.

f Ihe WhOle oOcumeht Is 100 gOOu 70 De cuI
tailed, and we therefore give it in full be
low:
4" Citizens of NelO Orleans 1t may no
be inappropriate, as it is not inopportun
in occasion, that there should be addresses
} to you a few words at parting, by on
whose name is to be hereafter indissolubl,
connected with your city.
" shall speak in no bitterness, becausl
1 am not conscious of a single persona
snimosity. Commanding the Army Of thu
Gulf, found you captured but not sur
rendered conquered, but not orderly; re
lieved from the presence of an army, but
incapable Of taking care of yourselves
So far from it, you had called upon for
eign legion to protect you from yourselves
1 restored order, punished crimes, opened
commerce, brought provisions to your
starving people, reformed your currency,
and gave You quiet protection, such as you
had not enjoyed for many years.
While doing this, my soldiers were
subjected to obloquy, rsproaeh and insult.
1" And now, speaking to you, who know
the truth, | here declare that whoever has
quietly remained about his business. nf-
fOrding neither aid nor comfort to the en-
emies of the United States, has never been
interfered with by the soldiers of the
United States.
+" The men who had assumed to govern
you and to defend your city in arms, hav-
/ ing fed, some Of your women fouted at the
presence of those who came to protect them.
By simple order mo. 28) called upon
every soldier of this army to treat the
women ofNeW Orleans as gentlemen should
deal with the sex, with such effect that I
now call upou the jdst-minded ladies of
New Orleans to say whether they have ev-
er enjoyed SO complete protection and calm
quiet for themselves and their families,
as since the advent Of the United States
troops.
"The enemies of my country, unrepent-
ant and implacable, have treated with
merited severity. l hold that rebellion is
treason, and that treason persisted in is
death, and any punishment short of that
due traitor, gives so much clear gain TO
him from the elemency ofthe Government
Upon this thesis have 1 administered the
authority of the United States, because of
which l am not unconscious of complaint.
| do not feel that 1 have erred in too
much harshness, for that harshness has
ever been exhibited to disloyal enc
mics of my country, and not to loyal
friends. To be sure / might have regaled
you with the amenities of British civiliza-
tion, and yet been within the supposed
rules of civilized warfare. You might
have BEEN smoked to death in caverns, as
were the COvenanters of Scotland by the
command Of q General of the Royal House
of England or roasted like the inhabi-
tants Of Algiers during the French cam
paign your wives and daughters might
have been given over TO the ravisher as
were the unfortunate danes Of Spain in
the Peninsula war; or you might have
been scalped and tomahawked as your
mothers were at Wyoming by savage al
lies Of Great Britain in our own revolu-
ton your property could have been turn
ed over TO indiscriminate "loot" like the
palace Of the Emperor of China works of
arts which adorned your buildings might !
HUv5 Uvvu 5OUU uUoJ INV -
the Vatican; your sons might have been
blown from the mouths of cannon like the
Sepoys at Delhi; and yet all this would
have been within the rules of civilized
warfare as practiced by the most polished
and the most hypocritical nations of Eu-
rope. For such acts the records Of the do
ings of some of the inhabitants of your
city toward the friends of the Union, be-
fore my coming, were q different provo
cative and justification.
" But Ihave not so conducted. On the
contrary, the worst punishment inflicted,
except for criminal acts punishable by
every law, has been banishment with Ia
Dor to barren island, where 1 encamped
my own soldiers before marching here.
at is true I have levied upon the
wealthy rebel and paid out nearly half
million Of fdOllars to feed forty thousand of
the starving poor Of all nations assembled
here, made so by this war;
al saw that this rebellion was war of
the aristocrats against the middling men
Of the rich against the poor; a war of the
landowner 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 conclusion to it save in the
subjugation of the few and the disenthrall-
ment of the many. therefore felt no hes
itation in taking the substance of the
wealthy, who had caused the war, to feed
the innocent poor who had suffered by the
war. And shall now leave you with the
proud consciousness that 1 carry with me
the blessings Of the humble and loyal un-
der the roof of the cottage and in the cabin
Of the slave, and so an quite content to
incur the sneers of the salon or the curse
Of the rich.
II found you trembling at the terrors
Of servile insurrection. All danger of this
have prevented by so treating the slave
that he had no cause to rebel.
"I found the dungeon, the chain, and
the lash your only means of enforcing
obedience in your servants. l leave them
peaceful, laborious, controlled by the laws
of kindness and justice.
az have demonstrated that the pesti-
lence can be kept from your borders.
at have added million Of dollars to
your wealth in the form of new land from
the batture Of the Mississippi
al have cleansed and improved your
streets, canals and public squares, and
opened new avenues TO unoccupied land.
al have given you freedom of elections,
greater than you have ever enjoyed be-
fore.
al have caused justice to be administer
ed SO impartially, that your own advo-
Gates have unanimously 1Omplimented the
judges of my appointment.
You have seen, therefore, the benefit OF
the laws and justice Of the Government
against which you have rebelled.
"Why, then, will you not return to your
allegiance to that Government-not with
! lip service, but with the heart
"Iconjure you, if you desire ever to
see renewed prosperity, giving business to
your streets and wharves-if you hope to
! 80 ,-o,,,. c;t,r hooor,a acain tho rnnrt Of the
Western world, fed by its rivers for more
than three thousand miles, draining the
commerce Of a country greater than the
mind Of man hath ever eonceiyed-retuFn
to your allegiance.
"If you desire to leave to your children
the inheritance you received of your faith