The Portland daily press., 1863-01-14

Presentation Of Secession Flag to the
City of Boston.
BOSTON. Jan. Is

Gen. Butler had grand and enthusiastic
reception to-day. Immense crowds gathered
around the Lowell depot awaiting his arrival,
and the route of the procession was lined with
multitudes of people. Faneuil Hall was over
flowing, and the spaces around it contained
thousands of spectators. The galleries of the
Hall were packed with ladies.
The General and his escort reached it about
l O'Clock. 1t was gorgeously arranged with
flags and emblems for the occasion, the panels
of the galleries bearing the names of the cities
and battles which he has made famous by his
deeds.
When the General entered the hall, the effect
was very grand, the white handkerchiefs OF
nearly two thousand ladies waving him bril-
liant welcome home.
Mayor Lincoln introduced Gen. Butler to
the assembled citizens. He spoke of his SER
vices and deeds, which were known to the
world, and alluded, as one proof of those SER
vices, to the fact that the rebels had offered
100000 for his head. Tremendous applause
followed this introduction. Gen. Butler in
response, spoke with great feeling
His emotions, he said, so impressed the heart
as to almost choke the words he would utter,
and he alluded to the heroic men left behind
who would never again receive a welcome in
this world. He announced his readiness to go
wherever duty calls when government says the
word. He was ready to go north, south, east
or west He said confidently that there was
more doubt at home concerning the issue OF
the struggle, than there was among the sol
diers; the soldiers saw and knew our strength
and the weakness of the enemy, aud were
deeply impressed with the justice of our cause.
In his judgment we had exhausted concilia-
ton, and there should be no peace, nor could
there be, until the rebels were content to re-
ceive it as part of the Union. His plan of
paying the war debt was the Introduction of
free labor South, whereby labor would become
honorable, and by which more abundant crops
of cotton could he raised. at less cost, than by
slave labor. Cotton could be raised with profit
at less than ten cents per pound. We were
now paying from fifty to sixty cents per pound
for it. Put tax of ten cents per pound on
cotton, thus bringing the market price to TWEEN
ty cents, and we have an internal revenue from
that source enough to pay the interest on a
war debt twice as large as that we now have.
Besides, by doing this, England and France,
which have done SO much to prolong the war,
would thus be obliged to pay large proper
ton of the debt
After some further remarks, in which he al
luded to the calumnies that had been cast up
on him, Gen. Butler concluded by presenting
TO the Mayor an elegant Confederate flag tax
en- from City Hall, New Orleans He gave it
to Boston, not as trophy, but as a memento
of the evils of secession.
Gen. Butler resumed his seat amid the most
enthusiastic cheering.
Among the decorations on the route of the
procession, a large flag was suspended from
the residence of Hon. Edward Everett.
A public dinner was rendered to Gen. But
Ter, but he declined it. A serenade was given
him at the Revere House in the evening, and
the square was crowded with dense multi
tude. The General returned to Lowell in a
special train.