The Portland daily press., 1865-01-14
Major General Benjamin F. Butler. =.

years has filed no small or obscure space in
the public mind. He is a man into whose
composition no negative or mere passive ee-
ments have entered When we think of Ben
Butler" we call to mind what he has DONE
and not what he has left undone; what ne Isl
and not simply what he is not; What, ne nas
inaugurated and put in force, and not what he
has simply opposed. Emphatically he is
posittUe man; a man of action, a man Of will,
man Of purpose, a man Of force, a man that
makes bis mark and leaves his impress upon
whatever he touches, man whose eyes,
though said.to squint slightly, are placed I'M
mistakably In the front of his head 80 that he
always looks ahead; never backward. ~ 5l,. ~
AT the present moment General Butler
seems To- be under a cloud, but how long he
will remain so is anotherquestion. And now
while for the momenths is, as it were, disarm-
ed, every spaniel In the land feels at liberty to
groSl and suap at him. Hsfells 4hes'style''
In which this delectable work is done by me-
tropolitan Journal, that dsyilish politco religi
.oustD concern known Las the New York
siWorJd Il We quote but afewp agraphs from
avery long article headed Butter; tobit. Jan.
8, 1867" 70 tsad elss -cg Gaia.
Itsyould be ridiculous tesay Of Butler that
he is, simply, dead.
Like some iIeape Of offaf flung from out a
window in the onightr--aR edoroas sFarningItu
thefeet.and nostrils of pedestrians at dawn
this creature, named a General by powers and
Called the Beast by lips too dainty TO be who'll
ly Just, Hes worse than Dead SsSzANE
D..kI. .t~.i.k H. Id 80
human charity. But that rule offair play,
which forbids to strike a man who is down,
does not apply 10 Batler4iving. $50 far be-
meath the noble hate that ceases at the sepul1
chre, and vanishes in the shadow of misfor1
etuAe, Ii the sentiment wiiicit every Memorable
citizen feels, for, his embodied disgrace to
American manhood, that it contains !" or pity,
nor CHARITY hnorE the setnblance of con-
siderAtionE oIHereafter please Heaven, it
rs not an armed and petted despet with whom
the sse0fn9 aud detestafiDn OF the country has
70 deal. Some one spot surely exists In the
.cpesse5 hyenA Nature which ~hasssb long been
suffered to fatten In the cemetery ola nation 8
hopes, that, Ahnrns az military amor, must be
sensitive to kicks. The administration has
set the example. With one herculeah hoist of
his official boot, either Mr.. Lincoln OF Secre-
tary Stanton has 1sent poor Butler careering
on Lhls way from Fortress Monroe to lowell
there to receive, 1t is deVoutly to be hoped, 1
sasute from Che collective cewhtdes ofsaal who
rejoice In the -dispeusaii0uof- poetical Justice.
% Yet, who shall read lhe riddle Of this won
drOussfA ISofaithtuf1a servitSf, ID patient
a disciple, so advanced sau apostle OF those
creeds and policies which his masters adopted
and best loved, had never been known before.
From there this sudden lesson that Something
Morss faan thrift may follow fawgning, is hard,
Were there no MOI nore EbS ahIass 1 ~ human ,vas
wherewith to heap the waste stack. Of death,
that this Demon Of the Pitchfork had already
WsrstbsFe no more woida1 tobS Unclaimed
harl0ts, no more rebels in embryo to be .starv-
edGintOt i0yalty2 WasltherS dearth OF man
hood to be outraged. common honor to be
squinted at?
sa bad the ldeas of rnrcftieSceassd to
breed plottings of revolution, that the SEE
law FUN p OF a Blue Beard seemed no longer
necessary TO fright tho souls of fearful cleo!
tors?
.sa Had greenbacks flllenso low, had COLA be-
come 50, highs that Butler and tho Treasury
department ceased to agraa as to the proper
e tons of their respective shares in eaehf
qodsAh, yes and ,alr. no Lives, almost plen;
tiful ass az the first walt to be spfflet for
nothing. Women there are, hundreds or them
IN the South and North, whom military tyran,
ny can insult, 1t it chooses--for nothing. Man
hood there, is to be dishopored BY foul wrong
e and persecution-Hof nothing. Plots, hideous
plots, for the dethronemeat Of Mr. Lincoln
aud his merry men. are thick as ever all over
Z, the North; aud asfoF greenbaotsI the nIates
at Washington are not yet worn out, and the
printerSc Heaven save theB mark44grind out
theis wages with willing sinews. -, =
After such, an efusiop Of weakness and Bit
terness as the above, it may not be uninterest-
ing TO aspehaa brief moment In considering
Why and 6y lehom Gen. Butler is SO hated.
1p foingthtswsPhall cQupleEbosh inquiries in,
one, and have more regard for facts and truth
than for logical arrangement.
Z Wehage said that Butler IS atpositive man,
and this Is ajsuficient EeasonsEwhy, in crisis
like that through which our country. has been
passing, he should have incurred the iil-will
I Of every scamp with whose vocation de has
inftefsred.e For the same reason that
No roguse,er felt the halter draw
,,o4r ", with good opinion Of the Law, a.,ts
none of the characters referred to bfaH to spit
! their venom and gnash their teeth insippotent
rage at Benz. r Bu6er.s XXI OK
Probably no man In America is SO cordially
hated by the Observation-Disclosures by the
a lsadersulof the Democratic party, as Gen. But
Ter. ) While for other men who have lefs. their
communion they sometimes speak in terms Of
respect, for hin sthey have only airiathernas,
ana bis pane can scarcely 3bs mentioned to a
Leading Democrat ,withon ), producing upon
him an effect similar to that said to Be produce.
ed upon Satan when before his eyes is held
up representation Of tue Cross And wiz,
1 As thsa. What has he done that they should
SO hate hint Nothing, absolutely nothiug,i
: only that he-has net only left them; 9but he
has, ike Saul oF Talsns sflsr his colplversion,,
gone to the opposite extreme. and become as
ceralsi sswGEerfgv thesubgeviea of So call
ca Democraeg as he Rnce-was in its defence.
KE4Es slqYe4qsdess hate sB utIer switla peri
iect hatred. Weneed not adduce facts to prove
the statement,1 for no reader will doubt its
scorreetnssss 'Andwhyaiosthey sozhate him
why 10 they regard their old enemies
FnhaPs, Harrison. aadvGerrift Smith-withi
) lprq' arisiVo placency, but cIeuch their
1s!s - Irage AZ Il the :. pane Of For this
feasod: he was the 'frst ma -
- and to practice upon, making the e.. 49,
slaVeholders3 had forced upon as, the ipstru.
Misunderstanding ddabtheI danning iust,tu9
ton OF negro slavery. While other General
yTSssss disposed to handle 3Iavefy With silken
gloves, and to prosecute the war SO as not 10
a'lrs IL apa to- allow rebeI slavsholders the
freedom OF their encampments to drag from
thence into servitude the painting fugitive.
0ntfier put bis tare against such practice and
policy, declared that slaves escaped from ret1
elsdwithia his, lines were "contrabaud- of war;,
and that they should not be.sioen up. This
5yaA TIE y entering wedge which has been forced
in.o the once solid structure Of slavery until
IL Is nov splintered finer than oven-wood. e
I" Inc Febsls hate Butler, and With what in
> tensley' DO they do sol vsTos show oBoao they
snaee hluaHwe'need only refer to the epithets by
which they have designated him. =. Even JEFF