The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1867-11-23
Gen. Sherman.

DAYS ago, is one of the finest OratOrical efforts
in the English language. The radical papers,
by taking sentence from it here and there,
have attempted to distort portion of it into
meaning favorable to them, but the pervad-
ing spirit of the whcle is as pointed an indict-
ment of their reconstruction system as it could
be made under the circumstances; for in his
position Gen. Sherman could speak neither as
radical or democrat, but he spoke as
soldier and patriot.
contemporary, speaking Of Gen. Sherman
in connection with this address, says of him
with as much truth as elegance: fisherman is
to-day one OF the greatest men of the age. His
only compeer in modern times as a general, is
Napoleon. He is greater man than Napoleon
in many respects. Taken as whole, he finds
his prototype only in Caesar, of whom it is said
that as general he stands first in history,
having no equal except the modern Napo-
leon; as statesman, the highest rank is
conceded to him; as an orator, he was COM
pared to Cicero; AS a writer, he surpassed
'Nenophon, and was only less than Tacitus.'"
| The great length of Gen. Sherman's speech
precludes the possibility Of its publication in
our columns; yet, as attempts have been made
by papers that refuse to publish it to give
portions of it false meaning, we copy all
that part of it which has direct bearing
upon the present political condition of the
country. Gen. Sherman shows, by indisputa-
bic historical references that New and old
England were more responsible than the
southern colonies themselves for the introduc-
ton of slavery in the South, and then pro-
cecds: .s
And !, born of Connecticut parents, bearing in
| atfectionate remembrance the virtues Of nv
honored ancestors, and yielding to no man in
admiration of the intelligence refinement, in
dustry and thrift of the people of New England,
| do honestly believe that they, in common with
causes and enjoyed a large part of the profits
resulting from cotton and slave labor should
be charitable and liberal in the final distribu.
| ton of the natural penalties
| If slavery then was the real cause of our civil
war, even the pretext for it, and if children
inherit the sins Of their fathers, even to the
third and fourth generations, then none of us
who trace our origin back to the earlier days of
! the republic, can escape this mathematical and
philosophical conclusion or, in the Language of
Dr. Draper:
equity, then, both OF Va in the sight of God,
| let US not vex each other with mutual crimina.
ton, but bear our punishment with humility. -
How has this punishment been partitioned by
the result Of the war; We Of the north have to
mourn the loss Of fathers, brothers, Sons and
| friends. and are burdened with vast national
- I'LL e.. = - = y. n
never, hope, to b- questioned by any honorable
man in America till every cent il paid
Look TO thu south, and You who went with me
through that land can best say il they too have
not been fearfully punished. Mourning in overy
household, desolation written in broad Characters
across the whole facs Of their country, cities in
ashes, and fields laid waste, their commerce gone,
their system Of lsbor STIMULATED and destroyed.
Ruin. poverty and distress everywhere, and now
pestilsncs adding the very ,cap-sheaf TO their
stack OF misery: her proud men begging for
pardon, and appealing for psrmissioa " raiss
food for their children, her 100000 Of slaves
free; aud their value lost 10 their former mastsrs
forever. How any southern gentlemen, with
these facts, plain and palpable, everywhere star.
ing him in tho face, and recorded forever in the
book Of history, can still boast Of his "lost
cause" or speak Of it in lsngusge other than Of
shame and sorrow, passes ny Misunderstanding,
lost cause will sink deeper and deeper into infany
- time more kssnly probes its hidden mysteries
and reveals them 70 the light Of day.
Now that slavery 10 gone, snd gone forever,
with it, unhappy wrecks loft behind, and oil
danger il passed II any Get Of nsn again appeal
| TO war when they have courts TO SECURE their
rights and redress their wrongs, would trust
| our national destiny again 70 those grand old
national laws which raised our country through
the long. tedious vsssalsgs Of colonization which
carried rs safely through the ordeal Of our rsvo-
high ssas in 1872; led our cOnquerns army 10
the gatea Of Mexico in 1917; and hsA borne us
glorious through four years Of ~ hard var ~
| ever tested the manhood Of any people.
With such . spirit pervading all our country
once more; with our population increasing thir.
ty.thres per cent. every 10 years; with oar ns-
tionsl wealth developing in even greater ratio;
with our frontiers pushing bask in every diree-
ton with farms, and villages, and cities rapidly
covering cur vast national domain; With mines
Of gold. and silver, and iron, sad coal pouring
on: wealth faster than evor did the cotton fields
Of the south, with forty thousand miles Of Apish.
Cd railroads, and other Thousands in progress
can any one doubt our present strength, or cslcn.
late our future destiny!
II our friends Ut tho south will heartily and
chssrfully join us in this future course, ], for
one, would welcome them back, our equals but
net our supe,iors, and lend Thorn helping hand.
But il, like spoiled children, they will cling to
the dead past and shut their eyes 70 tho coming
future, would only call their attention TO that
wave OF emigration that has swept our land from
the Atlantic To the Pacific, and must soon turn
back and flow south They may oppose, but
their opposition will DO ~ vain ~ it was for
them n try and stop tho Army OF the Tennessee
which swept the length and breadth Of their