The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-11-18
Speech Of Mai. Gen. Butler.
AN AMNESTY TO- THE REBELS SUGGEST


Ter at Fifth Avenue Hotel, by the leading clti-
gems of New York, on Monday evening, be
made speech, of which the following is the
most important part: f8Fg
@NoW what is the duty of the Government
in the present future? War cannot always
last. The history OF nations, the experience
OF the world has shown this. War, therefore,
must come to an end, but how In what way +?
war of this kind is to be prosecuted for the
purpose of breaking down the power Of those
opposed to the Government and bringing them
:nto the fold of the Government, under tho
supremacy OF its laws. In view, therefore, OF
the unanimity of the American people, in
view of the strength and majesty OF the law,
in view of the might OF the nation, might 1t
not be suggested that now is good time for
us once again to hold out to the deluded men
OF the South the olive branch OF peace, and
say to them, "Come back, come back now
This is the last time Of asking, Come back
and leave the feeding upon the husks, and come
with US to the fat of the land, and let bye
cones be bye-gones ii bye-gones, are bye
cones, and our country will live in peace here
AFTER Loud applause.l Are we not able to
afford that now? Do we not stand strong
enough? Do we not stand with Union enough
to be able to afford that to the leaders and 10
all? There might have been reason, / think,
among n pEOuu duQ CultdlIOuS pcOpl6 LAldJ
they would not desert their leaders in answer
to the amnesty OF President Lincoln; but
now has come an hour when we can say.
| Come back, come back, and submit to the
| laws, and you shall find exactly snch laws as
before, except so far as they are altered by the
| good Judgment of the legislature OF the land
| Applause. tesa
We are in condition now. not taking coun-
sci from our fears, not taking counsel from
our weakness, but taking counsel from our
magnanimity and our strength, again to make
| an offer for the last time; to call upon them,
and then shall we not, in the eyes of the coun-
| try, have exhausted all the resources of
| craftsmanship In the effort to restore peace to
| the country. (Laughter.) Who shall hinder
| Not for the rebel to come back after he has
| fought as long as he can and then chooses 10
| come; but to set some time, perhaps the 9Th
| of January, for the association will be as good
as any, for all to come back. And when that
time has come to every man, who shall scout
the proffered amnesty of great and powerful
| nation, speaking in love, in charity, in kind
ness, in hope Of peace and quiet forever?-
We say to them, to him who scouts that
proieryed love and kindness, let US meet him
| with sharp, quick, decisive war, that shall
| bring the war to an end, to the extinguish-
| ment of such men wherever they may be.
| Applause But how is that to be done
| Blood and treasure have been poured out,
spent without measure, until, taking advan-
tage of supposed depletion of treasury first,
/ bad men have been banded together by specu-
lating in that which ought to be the circula-
ting medium, and raised upon the poor men
the price of the Goals upon his hearth and the
| bread upon his table. Let some measures be
taken to stop that; or perhaps better meas
ure than any other is to let it be understood
that hereafter we pay no more bounties from
the taxes of the North, but taking counsel
from the Roman method OF carrying on war,
we say to the young men, look to the fair
| fields of the Sunny South, and unless they
take our amnesty, let us go down there and
you shall have whatever you get by fair
division; we will open new land offices wher-
ever our armies march, distributing lands
among the soldiers, to be theirs and their
heirs forever. -4szs t-oss
A harsh measure, everybody will say but is
/ it not quite as just as that we should tax our
selves and raise the prices of the necessaries
of life for the purpose OF giving bounties and
support to the soldier in fighting these men
whom we have three times over solemnly call
ed to come and be our friends, in 1862, to
come in June, in 1858, to come in September
and in 1864 to come by the Sth OF January
1865? And when the clock strikes the last
knell of that parting day, and then all hope OF
return for those who have not made progress
toward that return, shall be lost forever. No
longer can they live in the land OF America
Mexico, the West India islands, or some place
that care not to name, because l know nc
land hard enough to be cursed with their pres.
ence, shall be their dwelling place. These
shall never come here again. | look with
some considerable interest on what l believe
to be the present result of this election. be-
leve, first, we have settled the question of the
war by settling the question that the people
are determined to carry on that war. think
it has always been claimed that we. should be
strong enough, after great victory, to Offer
terms of peace to the rebels. j never expect
to see in arms or in council greater victory
than the one we have achieved. l think we
are now strong enough to make that offer, anC
then, take it that the most squeamish of Oul
friends will agree with us when they find thai
we have exhausted every resource of states
manship in the attempt to carry out peace
that it is time then to make war, yea, wal
from the hilt. Such war will be decisive war
look upon this victory as one which ha'
decided the wsr-decided it not in military
point of view, but in that Oyerpowering civi
point of view which decides the fate of ma
lions everywhere. To this it may be answer
ed, how shall we live in the same land will
the men whom we thus fight? Again, let III
go to the teachings of history, and we viii
draw from the history of that nation which
we are proud to call our mother land. Every
considerable estate In England under Crom
well passed through the courts, or commission
of confscation. Every considerable house
hold fought against every other considerable
household. the people fought against the no
bles and the mobiles against the people; ant
yet, when the king came to his own again al
ter a time, the nation came together, cemente,
in friendship, never to be divided thereafter
Is there any difficulty then, looking at tn
teachings Of history, in the Anglo Saxon rae
knowing how to live in equity and peace, am
ity and friendship, with those with WHOM
they have had e fight? Is it not well know
rule that those with whom we have fought bit
terly, after the fight is over are the ones VIII,
become the more endeared to US, and we ar
the more ready to take them by the hand
Therefore, see no difficulty in every goo,
man of the North and every good man Of it'll
South coming together, and letting by-gone
be by-gones," s