The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-23

the power to Discriminate between right and wTohmI ne
in his honesty of intention. II his friends can make
out his claims % TO average Intelligence in political
guilt in this efiort-vain. we trust-to misead and
in times past can hardly outweigh.
WENDELL PHILLIPS.
GEN. BUTLER DEFENDS HIMSELF.
HIS ACCOUNT OF THE DEsERTERs, AND WHY THEY
DID NOT voTE-ABoUT BOOTHS DIARY-oRIGIN
OF THE PHRASE ''BoTTLED up"
Boston, May 2l. - met General Butler
this morning, and had a long talk with him on
national affairs. He is as full of fight and fun"
as ever, and not n bit inclined to throw up the
sponge in any of the sparrings he is carrying on
with his political opponents.
He Is attending to his law business, and will
probably not make any public speeches this
summer, although he has received neary four
hu1 dred invitations to lecture from all parts of
The statement in the New York Herald, that
he has been corresponding with Miss Surratt
in the matter of the trial of her brother, is not
correct; although, judging from his theory of q
lawyers duty, l do not suppose that he would
decline to appear as the counsel for the pri-
soner, This, however, even If authentic Ito
use Orpheus c, Kerr's nice distinction), is not
In the course of our conversation he referred
TO paragraph in the Boston 1TdUeller, in Mr.,
Hazewells "Review OF the Week." and said
writing reply to it. At his room obtained
copy of IL, which you can thus publish stimuli
taneously with the journal to which it is
addressed,
Here it isl
IrdCelIe1:-I clip from your paper OF the l9th:--
1.-TWO of the big guns of the impeachment faction
before the judiciary Committee Of the United states
d 99se or KepTeSenaVfS faet @ the S5oIy Whtc9 WAS
corruptly pardoned one hundred and ninety
that the story that eighteen pages had been taken KEN
from Booths diary is also an invention. General
Butler must be more careful or he'll get "bottled up
agaip; ,t rrIo ,ever 70 o,,s,vor ,orso,,o,
newspaper slander unless II concerns some
public interest, it is generally safe business
either to misrepresent my actions or misinter-
"To meet false statements of proofs in a grave
public accusation, break custom
LAS no word of the evidence before the Judi
ciary Committee has been allowed to be pub
llshed, how could the editor of the IraveLler
know the statement to be true that 1T has been
proved before the Judiciary Committee of the
House of Representatives that the story which
was sei.a-going by General Butler, that President
Johnson corruptly pardoned one hundred and
ninety-three deserters, has not one word of
"On the contrary, 1t has been put in evidence
to the committee that President Johnson, at
Rebel sheet in Washington, on the 28d of
October, two days before the election in West
candidate for Congress to the President, that
they would vote the ticket, and without any
other evidence of their deserving than letter
Of claim agent (who was to have half of their
forfeited back pay ami bounties for getting the
restoration OF ali pay and allowance forfeited
by desertion, one hundred and nlnety-three
marked as 'deserters,' and some Of them
charged with deserting To the enemy. 1t was
also proved that the claim agent who expected
to make thirty thousand dollars out of the Job,
paid Florence one thousand dollars for his share
of the pluHder.
"I know that such testimony was given, be.
cause have a sworn affidavit of the fact made
before the witness went before the committee,
and have sure means of knowing that the
same facts we've there testified.
at is true that the War Department order
restoring these men is not dated till the 25th of
NoVember-thirty days after election; but the
Presidents order was dated before election, and
the Department took thirty days to investigate
the case of one man of the one hundred and
ninety-three. who was proved to have deserted
to the enemy, and then obeyed the Executive
order as to the one hundred and ninetytwo SO
that no thanks are due Mr.. johnson that all
these deserters were not restored before the
elections, as he had ordered to be done without
investigation before the elections; thereby taking
$4,000 from the fund appropriated to the dis
abled soldiers and giving it to these deserters
and claim agents.
"These facts no truthful person has contra
"Again: let me examine the assertion that
"'The story that eighteen pages had been taken
booths diary has been before the Com
mittee, and eighteen pages are carefully cut
out, being the pages down to the very day of
the assassination.
"The only question I raised was-When and
by whom were these leaves cut out?
"Booth. while hunted for his life through
would hardly have leisure for such amusement;
besides on horseback, with one leg broken, it
might be difficult to get ruler Of straight edge
by which TO trim the leaves as nicely as 1t Is
"Everything taken from Booths person was
| put in evidence on the trial of Mrs. Surratt-
even to bill of exchange taken out of this same
diary-eXcept this diary itself and the valuable
diamond pin which he wore.
"These alone were kept back.
"Why cannot eighteen leaves of the diary
| and the pin now be found? Until those having
| had custody of the articles taken from the body
! can account for all of them, must be excused
! from believing the testimony that the articles
are all now IN the same condition as when
! found.
| "If the witness can be found who has got the
| pin, perhaps he can tell us who has the miss
| ing leaves.
"Upon the whole do you really think that
! the missing leaves are an invention?
| "As my hand is In, perhaps it Will be well TO
| look up the origin of the phrase which unin-
| venttve persons have appropriated 10 them
| selves.
'Your article says
"General Butler must be more careful, he'll get
"bOttled up" again.
"True, he may be-in the same way as before.
"In May, 1864, when operating against Rich
mond and Petersburg, General Butler received
orders from General Grant to send away all
| the troops he could with safety spare to rein
| force the Army of the Potomac on the Penln-
| sula--then about to fight the battle of Cold
| Harbor.
I'm obedience thereto General Butler sent
| General Grant seventeen thousand picked men
| of the twenty-five thousand effective men, In
| cluding black troops, then under General But
| lers command. Whereupon, General Butler
complained That the necessities of the Army of
the Potomac had bottled him up in Bermuda
Hundred.'
THAT complaint was repeated about his head
| quarters, and In the very words will be found
10 nave been published in the correspondence
| from thence OF the New York TinleSof that date.
Eighteen months afterwards General Grant
Incorporated the words in q grave official re.
| port, without giving, as have done, the reason
| for their pertinency; and the phrase thus used
| by him was deemed sclnt1llatlOn OF genius.
"Ihe inventor did not think as highly OF his
| own production; however, even borrowed
ruehliWht ahfnaq VVidQlV In a thick mist