The Van Buren press., 1866-04-07
Defense Of Gen. Butler.

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The Mobile Register which seems to be
earnest in its defense of the late MAJOR
Gen. Butler. thus relieves him from some
of the foul aspersions which have been
heaped upon his honorable and "hon-
Ored name:
"Gen. Butler is said to have declared
recently, in substance, that he would rath-
er his name should go down to poster
ity on the tongues of men, all covered
with infamy, than have it perish utterly
on the way; in other words, that ne
would rather it should forever . tester IN
the infamy of years." than that it should
be unheard in after ages-that he would
rather leave
"Aname to after times
Linked to no virtue and thousand crimes
than leave it spotless legacy to oblivion.
This sublime sentiment is an attribute OF
true greatness, and few men living are ca
pable of so lofty an aspiration.
But We take issue with the world on
that point in it's opinion of Gen. Butler,
which attributes to this sentiment the true
inspiration of all those deeds which rem
der part of his military career so mem
orable among the former owners Of sill
yer plate and furniture in the city of New
Orleans.
I've profess to be judge of charac-
ter, and to comprehend, at a glance, the
motives which impel them to action, and
We are far more than satisfied that, both
in the conception and the achievement of
the deeds in question, Gen. Butler was
actuated far less by an ambition to live
externally in death, than by desire to
live luxuriously in Lowell
"It is asserted, too, that while Lord
Elgin expended his time and tin in the
collection of Grecian marbles, and Bel
zOni gathered up from the dusty cata-
combs the crumbling devOtees of Isis
and Osiris, the archaeological researches
of Gen. Butler in New Orleans resulted
only in vast accumulation Of spoons
spoons, too, the sole attraction of which
lay not in their antiquity, but merely in
their intrinsic value.
"It is asserted that Gen. Butler did no
conduct himself with the conspicuous
gallantry of Ceur de Leon or Cheva-
lier Bayard-that he did not seem, on that
occasion to be impelled so much by q
heroic desire to attain the spot where glo-
ry awaited him, as by an impetuous de-
! sire to find the thinnest Of the fight, and
there impress upon the minds Of his as
tonished soldiery the great classic max.
i'm that self-prescrvation is the first law
of nature.
In reply to this charge, which, if not
entirely destitute of truth, can lay no val
id claim to poetry, it is only necessary to
remind just and intelligent public that
the good Homer sometimes mods
"Mr. Burke, in his great speech against
Warren Hastings, declared that the latter
had made even the rivers of India blush
for the honor of the British name And
in the Imitation of the gorgeous flower OF
rhetoric, some of the traducers of Gen
Buffers character have said his treatment
of the ladies of New Orleans would have
made the Mississippi blush for the honor
of the Federal flag, had not the Father Of
Waters been an original secessionst and
believed that there could be little honor
left to blush for in the particular price fol
bunting which Gen. Butler had made the
@gis of private rapine and plunder. We
leave this contemplate charge to the ref.
utation of history.
"Lieut. Gen. Grant, with an ineffectu.
ally concealed desire to
-" Build his fame