Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-02-11
Gen. CAN'T at Cooper Institute.
slavery the Cause Of the Rebel
81 Hon, and q Nuisance. .
NEoEssITy OF ITS pEsTRUc.
TIOT.
1lrtom II. New Yoth Tribune, sal

with an intelligent oudience, who had come
to hear an exposition of tho views CT Ed
ward w J CAN'T, late n General in the Reb-
81 army, on the subject of our great Nation.
al struggle, and the means of obtaining
speedy aud permanent peace. On the plat
form were DR.. Tying, Judge DAILY, Wm. Q.
Bryant, Gen. Anderson, and other persons
Of note. Gen. CAN'T was introduced by
VIM. E. Dodge, and was received With
kestfy scclamations Of applause. When 1t
had subsided, he said;
: Our country had been separated too much
In sentiment and impulse, and Providence,
which directed alike the destinies of indiyid-
uals and of nations, was to weld US by war
into ono homogeneous and powerful nation.
The local institution that has stood be-
tween two sections had been broken down
BY the war; we began to look each other in
the face and understand each other better.
Applause. am glad to meet 40 many
citizens Of your great State. The State that
i have the honor to represent has been
linked to you for many years in destiny,
trade, and common sentiment, more than
With any other part Of the United States. =
But we have been strangers long time; and
while you have prospered, we have been
Impoverished; while you have become great
and powerful, we have become desolated. -
Around some of your firesides mourning
sits; ours are all draped in sorrow; we have
country drenched in blood We have q
country. desoated; our towns and villages
are well-nigh impoverished; our people eth.
er sleep upon CORY battle-fel1s or in silent
grave yards all over the land, or are held by
the force 6fbayonets to the vilest and most
loathsome despotism that ever held man in
Slavery upon the face of the earth. Tho
New. Y ofker who years ago visited our sun
ny cline would be much struck with these
sad changes Few of the old familiar friends
he used to meet would now greet him. But
hewould be more struck with the change OF
sentiment that has come over our people
since the institution Of Slavery brought tho
country into the vortex Of civil war. We
thought il war commenced, and we told you
30, and we believed it conscientously, that
grass would grow in the streets Of New Y ork
Geo. N. Sanders said so, and | believed
it; and in spite of myself when came into
the city, | looked out to see if there was not
asprigor two. But never saw somany peo-
pie in my lite. If jeff. Davis could go out
conscripting here he could catch more men
than there are in the whole Davis limits -
And you have become wealthy, you have in
creased in trade, in commerce, pubic i'm
proyements, and public buildings. YOU did
not know much about fighting WI a you
commenced. presume many Of you be.
lieved with us that if you were deprived OF
cotton you would be destroyed, and that
you could not do without slave labor. But
you have done without it--you can do with
out it. You came, however, to the conclu'
sion that it was the province Of New York
to fight for the Union, and tell you the
time will never come in your history when
you can cease to fight for the Union. Ap
plsuse. The war will pass away and a new
order Of things will como up. New York
capnot afford to do without Arkansas, and
Arkansas cannot afford to do without New
York; but the peace at any price. men would
let Arkansas go, and allow the men who
for the flag to come-would let thom 20 and
,be conscriptcd by JEFF. Davis and allow Ar
kansas TO 20 out of the sovereignty in which
New York is bound up. The time is APP
preaching when those who love thoir coun-
try will look to the means that will insure
permanent peace and the most rapidly re-.
cuperate US from our misiortunes. There
are many questions presenting themselves
which you do not take hold of with that
freshness and power that Southern people,
who are looking to tho future ofthemselves,
and their country are in the habit of doing.
we begin to see our way clearly. Ii Is true,
much is to be done. Three hundred thous.
and men in arms are not to be laughed at
are not to be despised. Ifyou were to lay
down your arms and call them to meet you
in Peace Convention, they would fame
like comet oveeths land, and leave desc.
lation wherever they came But the Uni
ted States have the power, and yo1 have
the determination, to have the flag oil the
country borne until il shall wavb ever every
portion of it. [Cheers. What is tho cause
Of this war2 We in the South understand
what is the cause Of this war; and We are 60
ing to treat the cause. We will not have our
children subjected to the same suffering and
anguish that we have felt. We know that
there is but one disturbing element in the
country. We know that there is but one
tree ofevil, and We intend to lay the AK at
the root ofthe tree. Great cheering. =
Had there been no negro Slavery there
would have been no war. Cheers There
never was any bitter contest in the country
that negro Slavery was not the corner stone
of it. What was it We tried to compromise
year after year? Was it horses, was it dogs,
was it cats, was il women? Why, no; it was
the question ofnegro Slavery. 1t wasalways
some kind Of new guarantees for negro Sla-
very. A great many of US said the Consti-
tuition would not do because it didn't protect
negro Slavery enough. And now somo
Northern men are afraid the Constitution
will be changed SO it will not protect Sa'
very. We attempted to settle this question
BY diplomacy and craftsmanship. We could
not do il. What did say myself--and
was a very good type Of Pro-Slavsry man
Il said il the Constitution Of our fathers
would not protect Slavery no guarantees
would do it. / wanted to give that power
an expansion westward to tha ocean, and in
another direction to take in Cuba and part
Of Mexico, and all We could get beyond. -
e Men talk about compromise, but the South
ern people would not have heard anything
TO compromise. A man could not have
stood up before that ocean Of passion aud
talked about compromise and kept his head
on his shoulders. And yet men talk about
ssndina peace commissioners down there
nowi Laughter The question could moi
be compromised, and we submitted il to the
last arbitrament, that Of the sword. But
am little too fast: We said we are willing tS