The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1867-03-27
Butler aud Bingham-Butlcr's
Revelations.

hA ~ W A.HFh 'f'-
Those who pcruscd the telegraphic alb
stract of the congressional debates of the
DIST March, must have read with intense
surprise some of the developments made
i'm the passage at arms between the hero ni
Fort Fisher and Mr.. Bingham. la this
cOmbat-thc only one in which hc ever
held his own when one Of his own sex was
his oppouent-Butler asserts un~equivocally
that Mrs. Surratt was innocent, aud that,
In prosecuting her to death, Bingham was
guilty Of shedding the blood OF an innocent
woman.
We doubt very much II the annals of leg
~islation. or of tile action otany body Of mcu
pretending to respcctability, can produce
anything 50 utterly diSgracetul as the de-
velopmeuts of the passage between Butler
and Bingham. Both are Republicans.
Both are shining lights In a party devoted
to philanthropy and the Interests Of God
and humanity Both receive the support
of the clerical super-rcligious and extra
moral elements OF the country.
The old adage, that when rogues fall
out honest men get their dues never re-
ccivcd a better illustration than In the
present case. Bingham shows that Butler
was an adhcicut of JEFF. Davis until such a
time as policy induced him to turn against
his old friend. He pronounCes him cow
ardly as a soldier and inefficient asalcader.
Butler rctorts by charging that Bingham
headed a political conspiracy To hunt an
innocent woman to death. such arc these
two elevated Republicans, rs seen by each
other.
What Bingham charged against Butler
will excite no surprise. That Butler was
originally Il secessiOuist, and that, like
Logan, he sold ont to the Federal Govern
mcnt. everybody knows. Everybody also
knows that his military course. while 1t
would reflect credit, in some Of II phases,
upon a cherdiier d iHdustie, has no features
in It which are crcditable to Il soldier.
Butler. all through the war, excited hatred
as a man and contempt aud derision as Il
soldier.
But the charge of Butler against Bling
ham will excite unbouudCd establishment
II is not so much that Butler should pro-
nouuce Mrs. Surratt innocent, but that the
assertion should be made ut the national
capital, before the Federal legislature, and
from the seat OF n representative in the
Congress Of the United States. Ii Is a
charge which duplicates the Federal Cow
eminent. IL is II something which, if true,
is more lamuiug to rcpublicanism than
was the blood of King Duncan upon the
soul of Macbeth.
There are Il great many people, north and
south, in this country. who doubted the
guilt of Mrs. Surratt; there are but few
who believed her sufficiently guilty to de
serve death. There are not wanting those
who believed in her iunocece. Hence the
assertion of her Innocence Is not surprising
the element of wonder in it is that Il leader
in the republican ranks should himself AN
~uouuce that innocence under circumstance
that admit no doubt of its sincerity.
Butler is a man who is capable of reach
ing logical conclusions. lie has been en-
gagged in this impeachment business. lie
has had access to evidences, and he proba-
bly, had the best ofreasonS for announcing
from his seat in the House of Representa-.
tivcs that Mrs. Surratt was guiltless.
Little by little the truth of this COnspira.
cy case is reaching the world. COnOver, 1
main witness is now in prison for perjury
Butler. one of the shrewdest lawyers on the
continent, has Just given his official assem-
to an eXourratiOn OfMrs. Surratt. In time
we have no doubt that the whole damnabl(
truth will be elected, when it will be know
that the hanging of Mrs. Surratt was in re,
Spouse to the tcrocious desire of radicaliSn
for blood, and also, like the attempt to i'm,
plicate Davis, Il part of the radical pro,
gramme for creating and fostering hatreC
against the South.
After all, the revelations of Butler show
the hanging of Il single innocent woman
How many thousands of lives were Oifere,
up at Olustec, on the Red river expedition
upon the peninsula, and ut other places, no
to conquer rebellion, but to crush presi
dental aspirants and to gain electoral votes
The garments of radicalism are covered al
over with the blood of those whom 1t ha
slain to subservc its own partisan pun
poses.