New-York tribune., 1868-10-23
MASSACHUSETTS,.
THE FIFTH CONGRESS- DISTRICT - DANA
VERSUS BUTLER
fRnnM oliR nNXN CnRHESPONDRNTl
fFRoM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT
0nI 70 1853

Perbaps the contest in the With Congressional Dis
trct of this State can as well be described by his
tory aud analysis Of the principal actors therein as
by any other method. Gen. Buffers history now
ever has been so often written, by friends ana loes
and his character is undergoing so close process oi
examination. that he perhaps, ought TO be lelt out
OF nv narrative In the estimation of one class OF
men he is "the great American spoon thief" ana py
others he is recloned man who performed great
services to the loyal cause during the war, and to the
Republican party since and though not nicely con-
soeutous as to means and ends or particular as 10
his choice of companions, as man against
whom no charges of pecuaton or OF fraud have ever
vet been proved and who is regarded as beng en-
titled to fair play and charitable hearing on ac
count of tho hatred with which he is pursued oy
every Rebel, Copperhead, and Conservative In inc
country. Cen George Ii. Gordon (Of whom more
nuonl has made speech at Salem. in which ne gives
long narrative Of the trading operations o1 fisuy
A. Hildreth of Lowell John Sanborn ol ~ nj cco%o
and other persons with the Nrgna ana hol ~ -. y,
,roat eSt.nt new Contribution TO Buffers history,
though do not understand where SoiIO1 he
from official docnments ehd anu mnf m, and his wife
gnu. DR. Israel Hdroth OF DraCut ",t %tors % most
are responsible for large fahliY u va 5o,nen and
if not all of them; very acco,P one of the most
consequently Bn1ler who married. % oio % Va +onotb ro
acconnIished of them has been bnrdeneG OF suthkIl
eued put it as you and he please 10 ber Sbe " aes
fiiE,i XII. hsf,ra mentioned is one of them. Henry
PaNd and Joln M G. Parker, who were at New
1TicanS are two more These men made money
n fbe war and perhaps by Buffers aid; perhaps,
foo by means unauthorized or oondemhed Dy army
regulations don't say that tins rs denied OF Doubted
cyon Inv Buffers warmest partisans. But 1t ls un-
fortnnate for his opponents that they nave
not vet succeeded in proving that ButIer oo-
fained any profit from the operations OF his friends
and when Cen. Grant himself is stigmGtized as q
cotton thief" and John A. Grlswoid Is charged
with having been stimulated by tho spilt OF money
making instead of patriotism In his Monitor opera
lions, and when too, these charges are made by an
officer with whom Gen. Butler has had long per
small attrntion is paid TO them Making money by
Jobs even by trading with the Rebels during the war;
has not, unfortunately, been rare occurrence even
among members of Congress. Why Is zen. Butler
made the scape-gOat 7 Mainly because he is person
ally offensive TO the batch of Old Hunkers who have
for the last twenty years, hlgs and ConseIVatNe
Repnblicans tried to put down the Radical men OF
the State also. because his financial heresles ana
absurdities have frightened the peculiarly honest
people who congregate in Sate-street; alSo because
he was for impeachment which they opposed so long
as they dared and the failure of which, followed as
it has been by ITS direful train of murders at the
Sontb they have been chucklng over ever since the
vote was taken Nobody disputes Buffers powers
At blackguardiSm. His early career as q lawyer a9g
Yet long before 1861, he was employed In the very
highest class of lawsuits, and now his power as
potician it Is idle to undertake TO dispute. L re-
member his irving cases against Rufus ChOate, to
whom he was no unequal antagonist, and PERHAPS
the impudence with which he b9lhed Judge ana WIZ
ness and his pertinacOus pounding into the jury OF
n sophstical aud false view OF the evidence, were
nearly as serviceabe to his client as Choates soft
aud oily Misrepresentation TO his saw nm wiring
from Middlcsex Jury a verdict of $4,000 in case
of abuse of q sailor while Choate neryously walked
around the Court room, and when asked how he
liked Butler smiled grimly as he replied, "Oh, very
much he is so candidp Yet one was as candid as
the other; and either of them as candid as Ar Dana
in the case of KallOch OF Dalton.
To come now to Buffers Republican antagonist
It's Mr.. Dans's misfortune that he comes into poll,
ties late. He went to sea in early life, then studied
and praoticed law and probably has not been well
pbe TO afford much of his time to legislative service
lie was in the Constitutional Convention of 1853 and
was rockoned TO have more laurels there than
any of tho younger members. except perhaps CioV.
Boutwell, He has been U. S. District Attorney, but
resigned when johnson went over to the enemy
So although he was an enemy of impeachment. and
after its failure tried by legislative resolution and
by dinner invitation to MT Fcssenden To eXalt the
seven Senators at the eXpeh~e of the thirty
fyo true ones be is quite untainted with suspicion
of frendlness toward the President or his theories
and policy. Indeed, bis policy had no more able
antagonist in Massachusetts than Mr.. Dana. His
speech and his address 20 the people in lSt1 when
Johnson, by his North Carolina proclamation
brOached his reactionaIy policy, are wonderfully
able documents. In the Legislature of 1867 and 1853
performed great service in the debate the Soldiers
l;ounty bill and made an able speech on the usury
laws, which showed familiarity with the writings
of Bentham and Mill, and willingness to accept
their philOsOphic teachings on this subject, ana
which was also remarkable as specimen OF nus az az
mirable style and hls skill IN the arrangement OF MS
materials lie also astonished his friends and
enemies by appearing as Radical opponent OF the
railroads OF rather of the railroad presidents
and snperintendents. who are considered by
a good many people to be crOwding the Legislatures
and the people little too much i'm these late days,
and contest with whom is now deemed inevitable.
sooner later These tree-trade and antl-corpora-
toD notions are, however, exceptions to Mr. Dsnas
general conservatism. This in all political drec-
tons is extreme He was "a Free-Soiler in 1Sis and
stood by the party, doing II good service Yet he OPP
posed it when II tried 10 drive Judge Long from the
Bench and bis advocacy Of the Constitution Of 1883
was coupled with many apologies and excuses for
the radical character of some Of It's provisions that
be did il much more harm than good About the year
1851 2 land not just before the war az one or the
boston papers saysl he addressed letter TO Lord
IsadsOck an English friend, in which while pro-
fssng 10 give the results Of the secret ballot expert
ment he substantially declared against the ballot
itself He opposed the nomination OF Dir. Sumner
Dy the State Convention Of 1862. made some very bad
speeches on national politics. the emancipation
poIcy etc in that year as well in 1861 and 1865 and
in the State Conventions OF the Republican party OF
which he has generally been a conspicuous member.
and lac was always counted Oh, and Justified the
count for an earnest and persistent opposition TO
every step in the direction OF q more vigorous and
robust anti-Slavery policy. Ills conservatism mas
been modified by hs intense paItsanshIP, MS gene
raj sympathy with the antl-SlayeTy and Republican
cause and his hatred of Democracy, which to his
mind is synonymous with characterization ana
license; but for all that ho has been generally
Tcokoncd as a block in the way Of anti-SlaveTy poit
ical effort. In this however, he has not differed
from most of the Cambridge antiSlavery men. even
those who by nature are radicals as ne IS by nature
the reverse of that The old Harvard set ultra and
viley prO-Savery have been put out OF sight FELTON,
died with The Boston Courier, which ne used 10 ~
dead rs FELTON,, and has unlike Felton, left no fra
grant memory of kindllness and good fellow;
Norton. and Pierce and Dana, with The
Norfa american Rerier and its weekly tender
TIRE Nese- York Nation. organs OF a Repnbllcanlsm
whose only characteristics are captlousness and
uamby-panbyism, and high-stepping atfectatlon
of contempt for men inst as honest and good deal
better acquainted with American men aud American
institutions than themselves.
Here Won have all that / need TO say Of the two
leading candidates in the Fifth District. Judge Otis