Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-01-05
Wtaf Raller - of sIarerr.


Washington dispatches state that Gen.
eral Ben Butler will be at once ordered to
one of the most thickly populated slave
districts in the South, where he is to or
gsnize an African army wherewith to
hold, occupy and possess a chain of posts
guarding a most important line of cOmmu-
nicstiOn. It is believed that the work as
signed him, which he is just the man to
perform, viii be to his mind, and that he
viii speedily make the Proclamation
living word to the slave.
Butler was the rankest kind Of Dem
Ocrst at the opening of the war, and, as he
himself Acknowledges, a confirmed pro-
Slavery man, but his experience in the
South has cured him of that, and he now
looks upon slavery as the greatest enemy
Of the country, and especially of the
South. To show what he himself says Of
this, we quote the concluding paragraphs Of
his farewell address to the people Of New
Orleans: -...-
az conjure you, If you desire ever to
see renewed prosperity, giving business
to Your streets and whsFTes-if you hope
to see your city become again the mart
Of the Western World, fed by its rivers
for more than three thousand miles, drain
ing the commerce of a country greater
than the mind Of man hath ever conceived
return to your allegiance.
IL. f1 1aarrn n u0 nhf I'd rem
the Inheritance you received Of your fathers
"a stable Constitutional Goyernment-lf
you desire that they should in the future
be a portion Of the greatest empire the sun
snce.
There is but one thing that stands in
q z1i.l4 =. bat one thing that at tbs hour
sE1z1ias bstsgee1 goa tIsU EHS U0VeTfthtsHt5 etu
that Is Slavery.
q The institution, cursed of God, which
has taken its last refuge here, in His prov
idenee will be rooted out as the tares from
the wheat, although the wheat be torn up
with it.
al have given much thought to this
su bjeet.
II came among you by teachings by
be bit of mind by political position, by So
CT al affinity, inclined to sustain your do
Ulestic laws, if by possibility they might
oe with safety to the Union.
Il Months of experience and Of observation
have forced the conviction that The existence Of
Slavery Is incompatible NTH the safety either
of voaTse ges OF of the Union. As the system
has gradually grown to its present huge
dimensions, it were best if it could be grad
ually removed; but it is better, far better,
that it should be taken out at once than
that it should longer vitiate the social, po-
litical and family relations Of your coun-
try. 1 am speaking with no philanthropic
views as regards the slave, but simply of
the effect of slavery on the master. See
for yourselves.
Look around you and say whether this
saddening, deadening influence, has not all
but destroyed the very framework Of your
society.
al am speaking the farewell words of
one who has shown his devotion to his
country, at the peril of his life and for
tune; who in these words can have nei-
ther hope nor interest, save the good of
those whom he addre, ses and let me here
repeat with all the solemnity of an appeal
to Heaven 10 bear me witness, that such are
the views forced upon me by experience.
Come, then, to the unconditional support
of the Government Take into your own
hands your own institutions; remodel
them them according to the laws of ma
tions and of God, and thus attain that
great prosperity assured to you by geo
graphical position, only portion of which
was heretofore yours"
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER.