The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1867-04-02
BUTLER VS.. BINGHAM.

"' hu''c' 10 uctlueuIy puSnaclous.
If it should ever occur that he has no
enemy TO fight, his friends will have to
stand from under, or feel the weight of
lis fury. If It evcr occurs that he cannot
provoke anyJody to enter the lists with him
lie will rage and foam and annihilatc
Himself in his madness. And yet he is a
useful man. There are comparatively
Lew men Of uniform consistency and dis.
&c on, W o have the moral courage TO
tell an unwelcome truth, to expose cor
rupIion in high places. to denounce the
abuse of power, to unveil the mysteries of
political "ring,' or in other words, to
"bcard the lion in his den" We do not
alway. commend Buffers discretion, but
we must admire his courage and bid him
"tiod Speed in his bold strokes, and
heavy blows, dealt in the interest of JUS
tice.
The controversy between B ltIer and
bingham in the House on Tuesday last,
illustrates the characteristic traits of th.
former. Some days before they had
little sparring, just enough to fire up and
intensity Buffers pugnaciiy, and on Tues
day he opened heavy battery upon Mr..
bingham of Ohio, charging him with
having changed the report of their con
troversy in Globe. Gen Butler attempt.
ed to prove that Mr.. bingham, as judge
advocate general of the court martha
which tried and convicted the assassina-
tors OF President Lincoln, had procured
the death of Mrs. Surratt, without suili.
Client evidence her guilt. lie insinuated
that he Qiinsham) had suppressed evil
dencc OF her innocence, AMI that the sup
pressed evidence proved that andrew
johnson procured the assassination OF
President Lincoln. The speech of Gen.
cral Butler made profound and painful
impression on the House, AS it will on the
whole country. There has always been
mystery hanging over the assassination
and the trial of the criminals, leaving
painful doubts and suspicious that all was
not right, on the public mind. Those
doubts should be removed. The guilty
parties should be brought into the clear
light Of the day. Buffers speech rencws
and strengthens our suspiciona, and if it
leads to more thorough investigation, it is
well that it was uttered. The following
extract of the speech is sufficient to illus
tratc the scope and bearing of the whole !:
The statement | made the other day
was not a sporadic thought with me 1t
was the result Of careful examination of
this case for another and a different pur-
pose, in the en- leavor to ascertain who
was concerned in fact in the great con
spiracy to assassinatc President Lincoln
When Booth was captured BY the forces
under Lieut. Col Conger, there was taken
from his pocket diary, like the one |
NV hold in my hand. In this diary
Booth had set down, day by day, his
plans, his thoughts, his motives, and the
execution of his plan. That dasy came
into possession of the government, but it
was not brought before the military com
mission, although even Booths tobacco
pipe, spur and compass, found in the same
pocket with the diary, were put in evi,
dence. The diary was not produced.
That diary has been before your commit.
tee on the judiciary. That diary, AT now
produced, has eighteen pages cut out-the
pages prior to the time when Abraham
Lincoln was murdered-although the
edges, as yet, show they had all beer
written over Now, what want to know
IL this: was that diary whole when il
came into the hands of the government
And. second, if it was good judgment OF
the part OF the gentleman prosecuting the
assassins ofihc president to put in evidence
the tobacco pipe which was found il
Booths pocket. why was not the diary, il
his own hand writing, put in evidence
wherein he himself had detained the par.
ticulars of the crimel And, therefore,
did not charge the able and gallant sol
hicrs who sat on that court with having
done any wrong. They did not see tn,
diary. They did not know of the diary
Ifthey had they might have given a diff
ferent finding upon the matter Of the grea