Says he: "Yes, I have had my share. I have a factor down in Savannah, and I give my note and he indorses it and I get the money somehow or other. I have to pay it in the end, on the crop."
"Well," says I, "now look here. In 1861, the Southern States had 4,000,000 slaves as property, for which the States of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and so forth were indorsers. We were on the bond. Your slaves were protected by the same law which protects land and other property. Now, you got mad at them because they didn't think exactly as you did about religion and about that thing and t'other thing; and like a set of fools you first took your bond and drew your name through the indorsers'. Do you know what the effect will be? You will never get paid for those niggers at all. [Laughter.] They are gone. They're free men now.
"Well," says he, "we were the greatest set of fools that ever were in the world." [Laughter.]
"And so I saw one reconstructed man in the good State of Georgia before I left it. [Laughter and applause.]
"Yes, my friends, in those days things looked gloomy to us, but the decree came from a higher power. No pen, no statesman, in fact, no divine could have solved the riddle which bound us at that time; nothing but the great God of War. And you and your fathers, your ancestors, if you please, of whom I profess to be one [applause], had to resort to the great Arbiter of Battles, and call upon Jove himself. And now all men in America, north and south and east and west, stand free before the tribunal of the Almighty, each man to work out his own destiny according to his ability, and according to his virtue, and according to his manhood. [Applause.] I assure you that we who took part in that war were kindly men. We did not wish to kill. We did not wish to strike a blow. I know that I grieved as much as any man when I saw pain and sorrow and affliction among the innocent and distressed, and when I saw burning and desolation. But it was an incident of war, and was forced upon us—forced upon us by men influenced by a bad ambition, not by the men who owned those slaves, but by politicians who used that as a pretext, and forced you and your fathers and me and others who sit near me, to take up arms and settle the controversy once and forever. [Cries of "good," and loud applause.]
"Now, my friends of New England, we all know what your ancestors are recorded to have been; mine were of a kindred stock. Both my parents were from Norfolk, Conn. I think and feel like you. I, too, was taught the alphabet with blows, and all the knowledge I possessed before I went to West Point was spanked into me by the ferule of those old schoolmasters. [Laughter.] I learned my lesson well, and I hope that you, sons of New England, will ever stand by your country and its flag, glory in the achievements of your ancestors, and forever—and to a day beyond forever, if necessary—giving you time to make the journey to your last resting-place—honor your blood, honor your forefathers, honor yourselves, and treasure the memories of those who have gone before you." [Enthusiastic applause.]
At the New York Chamber of Commerce dinner, on November 20, 1888, General Sherman responded to the toast. "The United States—with an educated community and patriotic people her success will continue to be commensurate with her opportunities and her power coextensive with her vast domain." He said:
"Mr. President and Gentlemen—When I first received your invitation I felt almost overwhelmed at the idea of being brought into the presence of the old merchants of New York, who guide the destinies of your city. Every man who loves his country, or who professes to do so, honors the merchant, the far-seeing man of affairs, who takes the whole universe into his calculations, and brings here the things we need and sends forth the things that we can spare and sell, and every man who honors the merchant must think with pride of New York, which exercises an influence over civilization, I am inclined to think, second only to London and greater than either Paris, Vienna or Berlin. [Applause.] And I believe, gentlemen, your influence will continue to grow—provided always that you deserve it. [Applause.]"
"When I got the toast, I was somewhat startled. I didn't know whether to take it in its grand sense or in its minor sense, like the motto in the copy-book that we used to pass around in our school-rooms; "Be virtuous and you will be happy." [Laughter.] That is a self-evident proposition, and so is the toast. Nevertheless, I turned to "Cosmos" and thought of Humboldt, and then to Burghaus, and then to my old friend William Gilpin. I don't know whether you know my old friend William Gilpin, but not to know him is to be yourself unknown. [Laughter.] He lectured in London, and he proved to the satisfaction of his small audience that wherever he was was the centre of creation. [Laughter.] I remember him when he lived in St. Louis—and of course that was the centre of the world [laughter], and when he moved up to Independence the world went with him. Finally, President Lincoln made him Governor of Colorado, and the centre of the world was easily transferred to Colorado. [Laughter.] So it was to the Garden of the Gods, when he subsequently went there.
"Well, he was a graduate of West Point and traveled once with me across this continent to San Francisco. Gentlemen, did it ever strike you that when you get to San Francisco you are only half-way across the United States? The Aleutian Islands, which we got with Alaska, extend further toward Asia than the continent of North America does to the east of San Francisco; and that was the fact that startled Gilpin. Every foot of that land, too, we have honestly come by.