The Portland daily press., 1864-03-26
Reported Phonographically by j. D. Pulsifer Esq.

Il
Gen. Dow. attended by the Mayor and men,
bers of the City Government, took seats upon
the platform at f-2 o'clock, the house being
literally packed, as were all the side rooms
passage ways and approaches to the Hall
Even the platform was soon so crowded with
those anxious to get sight of and listen to the
words of their honored fellow-townsman. that
| there was scarcely room left for the speakers
and the reporters. After the cheering with
which the General was greeted on entering
the Hall had subsidized, and music from Camp
Berry Band, Mayor MCCLELLAN called the
meeting to order and introduced Rev. HoRA-
ITO STEBBINs, who spoke as follows:
| o beautiful temple of liberty! Fair dwell
ling-place of the peoples love! Open wide
| your gates and let the exultant throngs come
| in Oft within thy walls has my breast burned
| with holy zeal for my country's honor! An
swer back before bid thee farewell, and say
| if any word of mine hath ever grieved the
| spirit that dwells within thee.
| And ye people, how fair are your ranks to
| me once more in these exalted seats! o loyal
hearts! o noble friends Companions in a
| magnanmous, immortal sentiment, where e'er
| wander, can never over step its breadth.
| esteem myself happy, Mr.. Mayor and fel-
low-citizens, in being permitted to join in these
| demonstrations of joy on the return of our
| distinguished fellow-citizen from the war. We
| have come to welcome him, and to pay him
| our honors. We have come to assure him that
we are not unmindful of his spirit, his tolls, or
| his trials. We have come that we might lift
| him high aloft, upon the hands Of all the peo-
| pie, into the air and light of patriotic love-
General! III that man is to be esteemed
most happy whose conduct finds noble re-
| sponse in the hearts of his fellow-men who is
honored above all claims of the partisan in the
open realm of his country's glory, for deeds,
for tolls, for sufierngs, done and borne for her
cause, you may be esteemed the favorite of
Heaven! 1t is worth living for, General, to
feel the feyered brow of life refreshed by the
wind of a universal, allpervading sentiment.
Rise, and receive the peoples benediction!
have your recompense in their eyes, forget
your pains and be satisfied!
Gen. Dow, on rising to respond, was again
greeted with prolonged and enthusiastic
cheers, and spoke as follows:
Mr.. Mayor, Ladies' and Fello,o-C Citizens =
You will readily believe me, / know, when l
assure you that It gives me great joy to stand
here tonight The contrast between what /
see now, and what L have beheld the last nine
months is wider and greater than l can tell
you. In the South everywhere l have travelled
have beheld the desolaton of war; every
thing saw there, reminded me that war is
desolating our land; but as | come across the
Potomac and traverse the free states, | see
nothing that reminds me of war. You know
nothing of war, you feel nothing of the war
except those OF you who have offered up
loved ones for the honor and safety OF their
country. Everywhere in the South the land
is desolate because of the war. As the presi-
dent of the Confederate States said, they I'M
dertook an enterprise the magnitude of which
they did not at all comprehend; an enterprise
that had no other purpose than the establish
ment of great empire founded upon human
slavery.
Until within a few months, the leading
men of the South confidently believed in the
success of their undertaking. Now they be-
ginto realize the tremendous power of the
North, in its naval resources, in men, money,
and all the appliances of war, and every
where they despair Of success.
The resources of the rebel country are ex-
hausted. The Rebel Government is desti-
tute of money, destitute OF credit. 1t is i'm
possible, as the rebels begin now to under
stand. To carry on this great war without
money, without credit, without food, and
with an absolute destitution of almost all the
appliances of war.
ouob uClOiC iSit IAiCuuiUHu tuc ICDti OUu-
gress had passed an act, in effect repudating
all their currency, amounting to SS50,000,
000 On and after the lst of April all the
notes of the denomination of 500, not invest
ed 10 per cent. Bonds (which are worthless
in the market) are taxed 100 per cent. All
other notes are taxed 33 1-3 per cent-and
thereafter, are taxed 10 per cent month,
until their nominal value shall be absorbed in
that way. The 500 Treasury notes amount
TO 100000, ,0o0-and those Of all other de-
nominations, to $450,000,000.
This measure is distinct repudiation of
the entire circulation Of $S50,000000. At the
same time the government proposes to issue
new series of Treasury notes, which they
hope will have some credit in their domains
You will judge whether such a scheme will
be likely to succeed; whether a war can be
carried on by money such as that; whether
armies such as theirs can be paid and fed with
such a currency. The financiers of the South
are destitute OF all knowledge upon the sub
ject OF finance, and they say in excuse for
this ignorance, that hitherto all financial op-
erations on a great scale have been entirely
in the hands OF Northern men, and carried on
in Northern cities
You have heard from high authority that
the people of the South are semi-barbarians
Educated, so far as they are educated at all,
in disregard of the rights Of four millions of
see the rights of others trampled In the dust,
and undertaking to subsst upon their unrec-
ompensed labor, they learn to disregard the
rights OF every body else, in their Intercourse
with both blacks and whites. You see it in
their intercourse with each other. The Union
prisoners have come in contact with this feel
ing very largely. / would not be under
stood that there are no cultivated people at
the South. The Union prisoners have come
in contact with such people and they have
experienced the most berbarous treatment
From the Confederate soldiers at the front,
they have experienced kind and courteous
treatment. But from the "Home Guards" il
has been more barbarous than any prisoners
of war have suffered since the DAYS of the
"Black Hole" of Calcutta. / know of moth
ing in the history of war, to compare with the
shameful treatment of the Union prisoners at
Richmond and Atlanta, Georgia.
A large quantity of clothing and blankets
were sent to my care to be distributed to the
soldiers. / was permitted to visit them for
the purpose of distributing the articles. Pas
sing around the camp at Belle Isle, saw the
wretched condition of our soldiers, as TO cloth
ing and quarters. Nearly one-half of them
were without shelter of any kind, and all
were in extreme want of clothing As
passed around the camp, they cried to me to
send them food. Shelterless and almost naked.
as many of them were, their first want was
food-their chief suffering was from hunger.
| On my return to Richmond, / addressed a
note to Gen. Winder, in command there.
stating that one-haf the soldiers were with
| out shelter, and all without sufficient food,