Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-08-02
From the Baltimore Sun
Truth, as Tested by Failure or

In debate in the late session of Con-
gress on the statement of Judge Ould, Con-
federate commissioner of exchange, in re-
gard to the exchange of prisoners, &c,
General Butler is reported to have said that
s.before the war he had thought Judge
Ould highly conscientious and honorable
man, but when a man committed treason
he was like woman fallen from virtue,
ready for any crime, and from that hour no
one knew where to find him." Does any
one suppose that if General Butler had been
able to avoid the force of Judge Ould's tes-
timony by single argument or fact worthy
of the name, he would have resorted to
such a-pitifal quibble as this? And in
view of the fact that he has done so, the
query is irresistible if General Butler had
followed out his persistent advocacy OF JET
ferson Davis for President at the Charles
ton Convention by supporting him after
wards would any one have said OF him as
to his antecedents what he has said OF
Judge Ould? True manhood, indeed,
would scorn such quibble as he has re-
sorted to, and it would not be done by any
who had moral grounds to stand upon.
Every Intelligent man knows the worth
lessness of such a plea, and General Butler
could only be assuming the, existence of
gross ignorance and moral obliquity among
the people, or of malignant and tyranical
disposition among them, to allow OF no
stair play" when he advanced such prop
ositlon with the expectation OF its accept
ance. s---s- iel
When Mr.. Eldridge, OF Wisconsin,. re-
minded Mr.. Butler that the fathers of the
American revolution had been called reb-
els, he was hissed, as if it was shameful
thing, whereas the men of the revolution
gleried in the name. According to the late
decision of Chief Justice Chase, in Raleigh,
the supreme power rightfully holds all IN
surgents to be rebels until the rebellion
obtains recognition, and thus the war OF
l7765was OF course a rebellion until it be-
came q success. The fact is, no one in this
country ever hesitated. up to the period Of
the late war, to speak of it as rebellion,
and to glory in the fact. The Neao Orleans
PicdyRne says: a-rs.}I. a-tsA :
"The problem, popularity enunciated, is
that every man engaged in resisting, by
arms or otherwise, an established govern
ment. is rebel until rebellion becomes
successful revolution. There is an old dis
itch which says the same thing IN these
quaint words
".Treason neer prospers what's the reason?
Cause. when it prospers 'tisn't treason.
.sThe proyocation for the Kissing was for
the suggestion that rebels are not necessa-
rily dishonest and dishonora1le meniL
They may be dreadfnlly mistaken in the
grievances they allege and the remedies
they propose; there may be bad men
among them as there are bad men In all
causes even if public opinion be any test,
some were not absolutely immaculate in
the armies that overthrow the rebellion;
but it is not fair to assume that every man
who was with the Confederates Is person
allv dishonest in all the relations OF life,
and every man who helped to suppress the
rebellion became by that fact washed OF all
sin and capacity to sin, and superior IN
point Of personal morals and crediD1 llty TO
any man who had been rebel"
Would not Washington, Adams and Han
cock have been as credible witnesses before
any court of Justice in England or Ameri-
ca, if the revolution of f776 had failed as
if it had succeeded? What connection is
there between success and virtue, ana Iall-
ure and crime? How does an error OF
Judgment, admitting it to be such, corrupt
the heart? According TO the same logic of
Butler all the men who have ever commit
ted treason in England, some OF whom
have been men of whom this world was
not worthy, did not deserve to be believed.
Oliver Cromwell, the chief of Puritans, and
the greatest ruler whom England has had
in modern times, John Milton, and other
kindred spirits, were not worthy OF Dellef
while they were in arms against Charles l.,
and only became so when they@were
successful. The whole Roundhead con-
Germ, according to Butler (who represents
the Puritan State of Massachusetts,, fell
from virtue when it rebelled against the
British Government, rose to virtue again
when it beheaded the king, anu became
once more unworthy of credit when, fall
ing from power, it fell from grace.
If Gen. Butler cannot spike Gen. Ould's
guns with something more substantial than
this (and we are sure he would if he could),
he had better confess judgment. He is not
going to convince any sane man in this
country that an error of political opinion
corrupts the moral nature like fall from
virtue In woman. By the way, that kind
of illustration appears to be favorlte with
the General. but how much of pruriency OF
mind it may indicate we will not stop to in
quire.