Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-11-22
GENERAL SHERMAN.
Address Before the Society OF the Array
of Tennessee.


of Tennessee.
=
. That questions Of great interest shout
have resulted from our war was to be eX
pected, such as concern the rights of States
, and the rights of citizens therein. o.
these questions you, who were formerl,
officers and soldiers, but are now citizens
should form and express your opinions a
freemen, unbiased by the clamor of tn.
hour, and should leave to others an equa
right, bearing in mind that there is room
for doubt, and that men may differ, an5
differ widely, and yet be honest; but whe1
: a conclusion is once arrived at by due
course of law, the subject is no longer al
open question for discussion, but should
be submitted to, simply because it is the
law of the land Each and every one OF
you can recall periods in your own history
when you supposed those in authority were
acting wrong; but 10y patient, silent dis
charge of your own clearly-dehned duty,
you saw these doubts and COMMISSIONS clear
away like q mist cloud, and reveal to you
the truth triumphant. So it will be in
your civil experience, when a similar &C
quiescence in events will produce the same
result.
But for more comprehensive under
standing Of these important questions, we
must turn from our limited experience to
that of others recorded in history.
Dr. Draper, an eminent American author,
has likened the growth Of people or of a
nation to that of the human body, and has
shown that its intelligence and political de-
velopment are governed by natural laws as
clear of demonstration rs thosa Of any
physical scionce.
He also Gkens our system of 81 gernment
to that of the sun, which first in the begin
ming was mere confused mass Of nebulous
matter and force. By natural operations,
condensation ensued, and one after
another, with mathematical precision, orb
after orb was cast off from the revolving
mass, and a family of worlds, the solar sys-
| TEN, arose.
Round the central sun these obedient
worlds, with all their servitOr satellites
pursue their courses. There was no hang
ing back IN the mOVement-nO vagrant
Wanton wandering-no revolt.
Through unutterable ages this union
was, as now, an exhibition of inconceivable
energy, mathematical precision, paramount
and r-edominating law.
| He further pursues the comparison, that
lnasmuch as every atom of matter has its
| just influence in the system, SO every State,
every country, every man, woman, and
child, and every conceivable human inter-
est has its influence under our system.
| But, unfortunately, man, in the individ-
ual Or IN the aggregate, is not mere pas
sing subject. Though endowed with a vi
| tally capable Of infinite good he is liable
to wide alterations which often lead him
astray, and he is brought back to his true
orbit only by slow process, or by a sudden
shock, such as war.
[ need not attempt to apply these princ;-
Piles to the history of our country, with
which you are as familiar as I am, but will
simply recall to your memories, that in the
beginning of colonization, slavery on this
continent was universal Fertile lands and
rich mines abounded everywhere, and COM
pulsory slave labor resulted, as matter of
self-interest, not confined to the colonies
of England alone, nor to those of France,
Spain, Portugal, Sweden, or Holland. AS
a general rule the coIonists, resisted as far
as they were able to do, but they were
always overruled by the merchants and
pr OPP fietors abr 5ad, Ewho demanded quick
and large returns for their money invested.
AS early as 1851, hundred years before
our civil war, Virginia, under the influence
of Richard Henry Lee, attempted to stop
the importation of slaves by prohibitory
duty, but her action was vetoed IN England.
In South Carolina a similar attempt was
made, with a like result In Georgia Gen.
Oglethorpe began his colony for the express
purpose of limiting the extension of slavery
in that direction. Still later, at the time
of our Revolutionary war, the sentiment OPP
posed to the institution of slavery was
nearly universal, so much SO that the slave
trade was prohibited after 1903, and the
word slave was not written at all in our
| Constitution.
| Slavery would surely have been extin-
guished in this country by a gradual and
natural process, and we might have been
spared our civil war, had not other causes
come into play. 1t was found that the soil
and climate of the Southern States were adj
mirably adapted to the growth of cotton
The power of steam was discovered and ap-
piled to machinery of all kinds, especially
in Old and New England, and Eli Whitney,
of Massachusetts, invented his cotton gin.
These created an immense demand for the
staple, and seemed to have changed the
whole current of public opinion. The in
vention of the cotton gin did more to fix
slavery upon us than any amount of pro-
hibitory legislation, or any amount Of anti
lslavery agitation, so that [ have always fell
that both Old England and New England
had much to do In fastening slavery upon
us as a people, and should have Just share
in the responsibility for its baneful result.
under these influences cotton became a
power in the land. 1t was proved arrogant,
and claimed to be king. Il dictated its
terms, and threatened war unless its impe-
lrlous demands were granted. It claimed
the right to go where it pleased, and to ex:
tend itself over lands such as Kansas and
California, not adapted to it or to slave Ia
Dor at all and at last it rebelled, and set
up government of its own, whose very
corner-stoues were cotton and slavery
Nothing on earth could justify such re-
bellion, and only mention these facts in
the past to show that others than the peo-
pie of the South were partially responsible,
and should share the natural consequences
of their own acts.
And I, born of Connecticut parents, bear
ling in affectionate remembrance the vir
tues of my honored ancestors, and yielding
to no man in admiration of acknowledgement
refinement, industry, and thrift of the PEG
pie Of New England, do honestly believe
that they, in common with all the grea
North who shared in the original causes
Low ark Of &1a