Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/276

 270 Southern Historical Society Papers.

days as they deserve, and to her verdict, in common with my com- patriots in that trying hour, the issue is referred.

The epithets which Senator Sherman in the debate apphed to my- self, are his mode of retahation for my denunciation of his brother. I have been compelled to prove General Sherman to be a falsifier and a slanderer in order to protect my character and reputation from his willful and unscrupulous mendacity. If his brother, the Senator, felt the sting of that exposure, and his epithets are any relief, I am con- tent that he shall go on the record as denouncing me as a " traitor" because I have proved his brother to be a liar.

As the Republican party renounced the issue of treason when it abandoned my trial in 1867, not at my instance, but in face of my defiance, its leaders of the present day but stultify themselves in the cry of traitor which they raise at the mention of my name. This is more a matter of traffic than of argument, but as it serves to keep alive the issues and prejudices of the war period, it is a device which, as politicians, they may not like to abandon It is not surprising that the politicians of a party which, in the mad fury of its passions, delib- erately hung a harmless and helpless woman, should continue to keep warm their malice against an old soldier, and long a civil official, by the frequent use of epithets. If it affords them any relief, it costs me so little concern that it would be uncharitable to deny them the enjoyment they take in hurling epithets at me, a game in which any fishwoman might successfully compete.

The Senate, whert about to give its sanction to General Sherman's "historical statement." ought, in fairness, to have demanded of him the production of the verifying letters, papers, and information within his knowledge or possession. He says in that "Ex. Doc." : "But of him (myself) I have personal knowledge, not meant for publi-| cation, but to become a part of the 'Traditions of the Civil War,' which the Grand Army of the Republic will preserve." What fair and honorable purpose could the Senate liave had in sanctioning such a base and infamous innuendo, as that above quoted from page 3 of] the " Ex. Uoc. ?" If that " personal knowledge" is withheld from publication for the purposes of future slanders, surely the Senate] ought not to have made itself a party to that malice which hides its' slanders until their subject shall have passed away, and contradiction I and exposure become difficult, if not impossible. But I am not] apprehensive of Sherman's additions to the "Traditions of the Civil' War;" he stands pilloried before the public and all future history as.