, 1865-02-03
Qbifa9u Qribnne,
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1856.
GEN. BUTl;;R IN LOWELL.
His Welcome by the Citizens.
The General Makes a Report of
His Doings. =.
nGW TIE EXtHiNGE OF PRISONERS
WAS STOPPED.
The Plan of Grants Campaign
Explained.
WHY FORT FISHER WAS NOT
TAKEN.
L Few Jokes about Admiral Porter.
The Prospect Of Peace.

@AO L 4tofSGN0 NJ L CAL0s
{Reportcd fo. the Boston Journal
aIs @9s sac Sn pn F. pasF scsT a1sa I'd a5 s Ss us:
in obedience to the order relieving him of hfE
command Of the Army of the James. In confor.
nifty with the desire Of the Mayor and the leading
cit1zd n Of the city, who have witnessed ltk ad
ntfation and pride the conree Of their tlustrions
fclioWeit1zen from the beginning Of the rebellion
and Who had undoubtinE faith In his ability Ia
few months, In manner alike crcditable aud hon.
ofoh!e to himself the General designated Saturday
evening as the time for meeting them. The doors
In very few minutes i waa densely packed with
people, more 50 probably, Than ever before.
me General, on entering the hall in COMPANY
siastieally chctred. a patriotic Gong was sung by
the Union Glce Club OF Lowell, after which Mayor
J. G: Peabody. in behalf Of the Committee, made a
br1et address of welcome.
SPEECH or GENERAL BuT1En.
His Honor the Mayor, my Fdenls and Nci:hbors: !:
1propose with yuur 1cnge, TO recall to your minds
what has happened to the army in the field, and
especially wbat has occurred within the narrower
circle where have endeaTored TO serve the inter
eats OF the country since LETT you q year ago
November last. called by the partial ktndness ar
the Pres1den; to take comma of the Department
MonPac 1pa sna Moh 9pon
duties deyolvcd upon nc, funni there, In The
first place, demanding immed,ate attention, eighty
Thousand freedmen, women and children, who had
escaped from ElaScTy and thrown themselves as
wards upon the guardianship OF the United States
There was no departmental organization for their
care, maintenance, protection and education.
The aheencc Of acuye military operation, scanned
to BE- toward the htpe beings thus cast M IN our
hande: IEnew what you would have snld ought
thought you would have done. | established gva-
TEN, order and organization OF labor, 80 tuat he
freedman who woufh work could work; and those
.fe f.-k% a.
woman and child should have what, thank God
We always have had in Massachusetts for all. food
and rafmcnt and protection from thc lnclemency Of
liens Capt. Wilder, Capt Brown and Capt James,
1apklied myself to this work, md presently order
freedmen ID North Carolina md Virginia. The
organization Of those affairs WAS carried on stit.
further under the charge Of Lieut.. Col. Kfnsman,
and ha. since been continued under the superin.
tcudcnce Of your towDsman, Mnior Carney. We
hive. as the rcsllt o. one year work In that De.
partment. five thousand men brought into the
arm, ol the United States without bounty; and
Cause they were credited to the several States in
whose regiments they enlisted. and not to the
Inited states By he labors Of this year We hare
the South can be selfsnpporting, even Without
large proportion Of ahle-bodttd men. We have
saved from the government rattous alone which
we're to be dealt ont to them. one hundred thou
made the large losses IN tbs negro ad1rs Of North
Carolina because OF the disturbance of labor from
the yellow ieseE, the fall Of Plymouth, and the
evacuation Of Washington In april last by the
order of the Lieut. mint General. Within the
same space Of tmc we hare succeeded IN demon.
sIating that th-sc negroes aru capable o. being
educated. Aided by the seltsacridcin. 1abors Of
benevolent teachers from the North, hundreds
and thousands Of children have thera been taught
to read, and a:ults, foo who never read before.
SEE o hy snS te L. nss
been raised. Such ate some Of the results OF tn Is
The next 1nnttsr in order Of time to which my
attention ras called Was the exchange Of prison.
crs. subject which interests every man, WoInsu
ar child who has brother. son, husband Or father
IN the army; That also vas placed IN my bands
former Commissioner Of Exchange Of the United
States and the agent acting In the Confed-
eratc States contending upon questions as 70 how
crs shuuld be kept, whether the United States had
received a few moro or less than the Confederate
States. or the contrary, and state Of embisered
cSanes had becn re at red
the experiment to zee II the confederates would
return man for man. they giving Us as many SOL
sl,. d. e a T. We gave to them; This WIS dons; and
went on. Some time In March lnst Mr.. Onld, t6s
Monroe, and there, Ter full discussion OF all
matters Of difference, we canc to just and cqui-
table nnd-s.tanalng, arranging the adjustment Of
numbers delivered, paroles aud exchanges, on all
disputed points but one, and that related to ex-
persisted that negr0es heretofore In bondl.e
when captured, should be treated ~ .l.vez ;, and
ect q Sosk rs slaves under their masters. This
could not PERMIT Whoever had worn the unf-
form Of the Cuite1 States Us soldier was entitled
70 tts protection tn the fullest sense. Having set
u all else, however, hsu determined to bring
about system Of general exchanges until We
should receive all The white men held by the
rehela and rhould clsc them m equal number in
exchange, and thus all our white soldiers would
had given Us al! our white soldiers In their pfts-
ons, there wonld Gull remain about fifteen or
twenty thousand rebel prisoners in our hands md
Arriving ut TINT point, lproposcd to say to the
confcderates. We ere willing to take these 1vo
hundred men and Pivc JON IN equa number of
and sill held our negro soldiers in bondage and
ut lahor, designed TO eny to them: t'If you do
not deliver me those men like other prisoners Of
work your tftcen thousand - and as Napoleon
built the caual Of Langueduc with forty thousand
Austrian prisoners Of war, 80 Will this govern
asissippi M scF ~i,h the laks. By o 1abor Of
the rel:cl prisoners in our hands. Ny word fur
1t, ii that stand had been taken, we should never
have built much canal. because, when as1erward
the rcbcle set some Of my negro soldiers at work
On the iortidca1ions, and pat an equal nuIaber
Of Virginia Reserves at work in Dutch Gap In re-
tallation, the negroes were instantly taken ont Of
] reported the points of agreement between
myself md the rebel agent to the Secretary Of
War, and asked for power 10 adjust the other
be des
With By Itself, aud that the whole power Of The
Omitted States should BE- c1erted to do justice to
hose who had fought the battles Of the country
The whole subject WIS referred BY the Secretary
IT War to the lieutenant General commanding,
Sho fe1ceEaphed me on the 18th Of April, 1864. IN
rhr$n +z,fY1 Iii.
u exchange till further orders.'' And therefore
Ill neEot3atioIs we're broken of, eaye that Epe-
Of sick and wounded, on either aide,
On The 10Th ofApr1 received another telegram
[ron Gen. Grant, ordering not another man to be
given the rebe!s. To that I answered, on the same
Implicitly obeyed, assume that you do not mean
10 stop the special exchange ofthe sick and wound-
I'd now going on" To t6,s received reply, in
bodied man." From .tllat hour, 20 long as re-
NAMED In the Department, exchanges Of prison.
rs stopped under that order, l,ecausc coald not
n exchange. By sending the sick aud wounded
orward, however, soae twelve thousand Of our
:nfcrtng soldiers were relieved, being upward OF
'ight thousand d.. nore Re- than % we gave ths rebels
Serc broken Of and that no exchanges were made,
Erote to Gen. Hitchcock, the Commissioner at
: Washington, that the rebels were ready to ex-
hem. us ] had proposed In December.
Under The Instructions OF the lieutenant Gener-
j, / wrote to Mr. onld letter which has been
mean to give Up sli yonf as,ion nan and = revoke ali
7our laws about black men employed al soluierss'
These questions were therein argned, Justly, a.
hnknGt dlplomadeal'E but obtsustyely and de-
Exchange Of prisoners, but for the purpose OF pre-
renting and stopping the exchange, and fnrnlsh-
M ground On which re could fairly stand.
am now at liberty to state these facts because
meg appear IN the correspondence On the subject
:, sIshha1ge, now On the public dies Of Congress,
tsan " ne War DEPARTMENT uPon Eesou
re coFIecq;ss and propriety Of this course Of
lion ol the Lieutenant General in relation to ex-
gn1 neSnase, a. It as not proper to utter
may not even APT laud where think thcnl right,
St not nppauding in otcr instances euch acts as
may eI'1oa ~ Eoald ip cen.uss
Of pzieoners: be It wiae or unw1se, Should rsst
upon tho Lieutenant General Commanding md
grave matter fo5 nine months, and now propose,
ID the facts sre laid before Congress and tic couu.
~, not 70 earry any longer any more Of IL than
Since wrote my farewell address to the Army
Of the James, hare received letters from the fat
Vest saying: Why do you claim that you hare
not uselessty sacrificed the lives Of your men.
aons to starre and rot in Southern. .prisonsf' In
answer to all such appeals an allowed only to
repeat: IL have not -usclees'y tacriEccd the
L1re& OF Tue 6olQleIb OI LQe Uutpu uQelT O4o0a
does not stain my garments This IL not cr1ti-
cism npon the acIs Of ybody. but only the euun-
linton Of fsct In explanation Of which the re-
spoasibility oi my positton Will not allow nc to
3ay more. -
The next movement Of consequence in the de-
partmcnt was the attack upon Plymouth By the
:nemy.. Plymouth was defended In 4 most gal
ant and able manner by Gen Wesee11, who did
i'll brnve man could 10 keep It. But the gun !
,oats had been depended upon for holding the
Roanoke river, and when they were driven out By
onger defenelble. II the gallant and Iamcnted
Flreser who commanded the naval force had not
allen In the first attack, their ram Wonld not
,aye controlled the rtyer, and the result might
lot have happened.
Another considerable event Wis the evacuation
d Washington, N. C., in april. This was done
:nh1e detlberatlon, without attack. and every
collars worth OF government property brought