Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-10-06
BEAST BUTLER.
The Late John M. Daniels Opin.
ion of Him

One of our readers whose attention
was attracted by the speech of General
Butler, in our columns recently, sends
us the following article cut from stray
copy of the Richmond Examiner, which
found its way northward in 1867. 1T
has been preserved as part of collec-
tisn of elegant extracts, to constitute,
at some future time. "The american
Vernaculdr Reader" The article from
the Richmond Examiner was written
by the late Hon. John NJ. Daniel, who
was at that time its editor
The custom OF denouncing the Yam
KEGS is becoming common. Under the
soft influence of a serenade, President
Davis likens them to hyenas; Governor
Letcher, in his mild way, insists that
they are heaven-defying, hell-deserving
race, and pleasantly consigns their chief
magistrate, Abe Lincoln, to doom
more fearful than that of Devergoll. Is
it to be wondered that Mr.. Lincoln has
had trouble on his mind ever since this
fearful doom was pronounced upon him !;
that he is getting gray, and finds 1t diff
cult to tell a dirty anecdote every ten
minutes during the day?
The practice of villifying the Yankees
has gotten into the newspapers. Editors
spend most of their time in concocting
diatribes against a contemplate race,
whose only defect is a proneness to all
that is foul and everything that is evil.
Why should people so despicable be
aspersed? Even this newspaper, care
ful as it is never to say werd that
would disturb the most placid tea-party,
has been known TO speak disrespectfully
of race which the civilized world, with
one consent, acknowledges to be 'its last
and vilest product
Rejecting persons tell us that this is
altogether wrong. We should restrain
ourselves, and be scrupulously polite
when speaking of these abominable vii
lains. We should remember that these
Internal scoundrels are human beings,
and bear in mind the fact that they never
lose an opportunity of heaping the most
ungracious abuse upon ourselves. Nor
should it be forgotten that they have at
tained an almost inconceivable perfec-
ton and dexterity in lying, so that if 1t
were possible for us to match them IN
billDgsgate, we would still be at their
mercy in the trifling matter of falsehood.
We are told by our philosophic friends
that it should serve to cool the intensity
of our hatred to remember that they are
hourly committing every crime known
TO man, and some with which even the
fends are not familiar; that thrill of
delight should pass through us, when we
recall the pressing circumstance that
upwards of million of these incarnate
demons are hired by the year for the
purpose of numbering us, burning our
houses, killing our cattle, stealing our
slaves, destroying our crops, and driving
our wives and helpless children into the
waste, bowling wilderness, in mid winter.
that a genial glow of the purest love
should pervsde our hearts at the thought
that they candidly avow their purpose 10
exterminate us, to kill every one of us,
men, women and children, TO take pos
session by violenne; in a word, to ami
hilate us, to destroy us from the face OF
the earth, so that our names shall be no
more heard among men.
There is another view which should en-
courage us in the purpose heneeiorth TO
cherish an aifectionate regard for the ac-
cursed beings at war with us. 10 well
regulated mind the beastly practices of
beasts excite no disagreeable emotion
and it is said that the scientific intellect
finds world of enjoyment in the con-
temptation of the disgusting utility Of the
lowest order Of creatures Surely, the
feast of the vulture upon carrion is not
reprehensible, and occasions in the be-
holder no special wonder, and never any
animosity against the bird for gratifying
his somewhat peculiar tastes. So the
tiger that laps blood, and the beetle that
porces excrement, are but Yankees of
the animal kingdom, accommodating the
wants Of nature and it were folly to i'm
pute to them improper motives IN par
taking Of their CHASTITY and sickening re-
pasts. 1t follows that our feeling towards
the people Of the North, the scarabei and
vipers of humanity, should be character
lied neither by rage or by nausea, but
by q fixed, cheerful, christian deiermi-
nation to inte-pose sufficient obstacles
between them and ourselves; to curb
their inordinaie and bloody lusts by such
adequate means as natural wit suggests
and as a general thing, to kill them
wherever we find them, without idle
ouestions as 10 whether they are reptiles
or vermin A certain calmness Of mind
is requisite for their successful slaughter.
The convulsions Of passion are out Of
place when one is merely scaldng
| chinches.
The foregoing reflections are suggested
naturally enough BY the accounts in