The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-01-30
The nIa.erial Condition of the sou,..


The intelligence which reaches us of the
suffering all over the Southern States, caused
by the failure of the crops in addition to the
devastations of war, appeals with irresistible
force to the sympathics of the true men and
women of the North. Women and children
are starving there, and they must oe helped.
Perhaps Portland, notwithstanding her heavy
losses, can do something in such cause.
New York has moved with its accustomed
prompt liberality. The great meeting held at
Cooper Institute last week was presided over
by Hon. Peter Cooper and addressed by DR..
Bright of the Examiner and Chronicle, Rev.
Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Greeley, and
Rev. DIR. Kendrick. Major General Anderson.
the defender OF Fort SUMTER was on the plat
form and spoke briefly. Mr.. Greeleys presen
tation of the case is SO clear and explicit, that
we copy his speech entire. He was received
with loud cheers and spoke as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Geatlemen.-
There are so many things that it is wise not
to say on an occasion like this, that / appear
before you exceedingly embarrassed Indeed, L
s,ASestiy iS' oi"e VhoO w z may say ucIc Ill Der
feet truth and perfect charity mar see m to
wear Pharisaic and selErighteous aspect, un-
less we are exceedingly careful So far as I
am concerned, do not desire, then, to reopen
any questions oil political Or of social ditieren-
ces which have divided and alienated in times
past the North and the South. l would lool,
solely at the one question OF human suffering: |:
for know that New York, whatever its short
comings, whatever It's sins, never was deficient
in the quality OF mercy, nor failed to turn a
generous ear to every appeal in behalf of sui:
tering, and hunger, and thirst, and humanity.
l Will endeavor, then, so far as possible. to
keepthis question especially before YOU. lest in
giving charity we might accompany it with
words which would seem to convey Something
OF bitterness, where we mean only to be kind.
Some statements have been made here to-
night which came home to me more than to
many others, because l have been specially
called upon to trace thoroughly and carefully
the history OF this great and sad struggle. In
the first place, there are to-day think. quar-
ter of a million of orphan white children in
the South, and widows whom this great war
has made-Women and children who were not
accustomed TO earn their livelihood. They are
not unwilling, they are willing and anxious to
work for living but the means of doing it
do not rightly present themselves. Again.
there aIe quarter ofa million and more in the
South, OF MANNED and crippled men, most of
them heads OF families-famihes whom thew
once were able to suppOrt-but who, because
of the manning, the mutilation which they re-
ceived during the war, are no longer a helm tn
their families, but rather burdens upon them
The soldiers of the Union-those of them
MANNED and crippled by the war-have very
properly been given pensions, and something
has been done to mitigate the suffering Of
their families. Again, the sufierings of cur
people were nothing compared with those of
the South-nOthing at all. The seat of the
war was substantially in the South. yery little
OF it in the North. The war passed over
Southern fields and Southern homes.
Now, unless you have carefully scanned
this, you cannot realize how weighty is The
difference it makes whether the war is upon
your fireside, whether it tramples down your
fields, or whether it is thousand miles away.
You cannot realize the difference. An army
marches, and the country is stripped of all
sustenance. Animals, waving fields are ne
cessarily consumed, destroyed, trampled down,
eaten up-and the country behind the army
is left with scarcely anything to sustain life
The army rests for the night in camp, and the
fences, miles IN extent every way, are burnt up
by the soldiers making their meagre fires.
Necessarily, they cannot lie and shiver there
from the cold. They must take such dry
wood as comes handiest to them. They have
no time to procure coal or to seek wood in
the forest. No matter how orderly the men.
considering the condition in which they find
themselves, where an army marches there
must be desolation. But in this case there
was unusual desolation; because. wherever
there was factory where corn was ground or
woolen goods manufactured, wherever there
was an iron foundry, those factories and
foundries were necessarily contributors to the
support of the rebellion, and they were burn
ed or destroyed by our armies as a means Of
putting down the rebellion. And thus, at
every place, women and children were turned
out OF those establishments wherein they
were earning, OF course, humble pay, but
earning their living, and the means upon
which they lived have not been replaced.
The cotton, the principal wealth OF the
country, was burnel by one army, anc Durneu
by the other; and where it was not burned, IL
was generally stolen by some means OF otner.
Laughter No matter by what means IL
was disposed OF, the people got notnnS RON
it. The South stood out unreasonapiy iohs
think: long after any hope OF success remain
ed stood out until the last possible resistance
was overcome, when nearly every foot OF the
south excepting the State OF Texas had been
trayersed by Jour armies, tramplng, devo1r-
ing, devastating, destroying, until there was
scarcely anything left but the naked country,
with q people nearly all OF whom, the whites