The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-19 00:00:00

General Butler and Wendell Phillips on the
Rampage.

(From the New York Herald.)

We publish this morning two important docu-
ments, showing the drift of events on the Radical
side in this political contest. One is the speech of
General Butler at Gloucester, Massachusetts, the
.other a letter from Wendell Phillips, published in
the Anti-Slavery Standard. They are both charac-
teristic documents, and just such as we might have
expected from these men. Of the two productions
that of Wendell Phillips exhibits the greatest tact,
shrewdness, philosophy, and honesty. They are
both filled with venom and extreme bitterness
against the President, and call for the adoption of
extraordinary measures to put him out of the way,
or, to use the language of Phillips, " to find some
measure fit
.and efficient to- serve their purpose—
the deposition of the perjured and usurping traitor."
This is the language used against the Chief Magis-
trate of the nation, who has the firmness to stand by
the constitution in this trying
hour of the nation.
The Philadelphia Convention and the South form,
however, the burden of both these manifestoes.
Butler endeavours to show that the Convention
amounted to nothing, yet in his very argument he
proves it was a formidable affair. Wendell Phillips,
on the other hand, starts out with the declaration
that it is of the greatest importance—if not in im-
mediate results, it will 4t prepare a way for a des-
perate conflict in 1868," and calls upon the Radicals
to prepare for a struggle, pointing out as one of the
means the deposal of Andrew Johnson.

From the tone and temper of the speech of
Butler we infer that he is ready, at least in the
use of words, to carry out this doct‘rine advo-
cated by the old abolition apostle. His
courage, which failed him at Fort Fisher and
prompted him to testify before the Committee
on the Conduct of the War that Fort Fisher
could not be captured—and that, too, when the
committee had in their possession a despatch
stating that it had been captured—has all of a sud-
den returned to him, now that there are no more
forts to capture or armies to confront.. Butler is
a brave man when he has a few defenceless women
and unarmed people to govern, and plunder in New
Orleans, or is on the stump in Massachusetts, where
he does nothave to confront the men whom he de-
fames. His courage knows no bounds on such occa-
sions. He is then full of pluck, and can order a raid
upon the vaults of some bank, direct the seizure of
some family spoons, or harangue a crowd of Massa-
chusetts Radicals with the coolness of a philosopher.
We never knew until his speech at Gloucester what
principle he based his administration at New Orleans
upon. He there tells us that the people were public
enemies, and in their capture by
the war " we cap-
tured men and property, their slaves, their rights,
constitutional and otherwise, except the right to be
hung."
pri-
vate property, and the seizure of all valuables that.
he
Cilisrescent City. The war,
according
to Thishis
a c c
whileo at h
interpretation,u nt s
t f
eo appropriation of r
having accomplished
all South, this, he
u now could
find
all the people in
the
permit the slaves which
Butler captured to rule them,
" If," says Butler,
" I am asked how long I would keep these men out
nless they will proposes to hang
of the Union, I say, keep them out until the heavens
melt with fervent heat ; and if it should not come
in
them
thisalec generationoeti:
l h
silseaisch
is speechu we
wiilswear our sons to keep
throughout, is of this violent
he
evidently trying to convince the
op
Massachusetts that he has crawled out of
people
the bottle which General Grant placed him in, and
that he is ready to fight, now that the South has
laid down their arms and there is no danger of their
firing back.
What Butler says in regard to the issues has
an important bearing upon the contest. He is
one of the acknowledged high priests of the
Radical party. He is in that respect a repre-
sentative man—the same as the leaders in the French
Revolution were in their day. He has all the inso-
lence and cowardice of Marat, the bloodthirstiness,
but net the magnanimity of Robespierre, and all the
,