Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-05-08
OUR WASHINGTON CORREsP0NDEyCE.
WASHINGTON, D. c., May 2, 1868.

WASHINGTON, D: c., May 2, 1868.
Messrs. Editors -" Behold how great {
matter little fire kindleth." A few days
ago Mr.. Manager Boutwell,, very improper
ly, as ail will say, attempted to prejudice
the Presidents cause by an allusion to the
withdrawal Of Judge Black, after having
accepted place among his counsel an6
which the honorable (?) Manager would
have had us believe, was because of the
weakness and the hopelessness, if not some
thing worse, of the Presidents defense
It thus became incumbent on the counsel
to show uAy Judge Black resigned the
place he had so readily accepted, and in
doing this Judge Nelson showed very con
clusively that it was because the President
would not aid him with the war power OF
the government in the prosecution of a
claim, which his firm, as attorney and
claim agent, had been prosecuting, that
the learned Judge and claim agent aban-
doned the case and turned the President
over to the tender mercies of the Radical
Congress, so far as he was concerned.
It will strike the American people as
strange, that, of the seven radical members
of the House Of Representatives who es-
poused the cause of one of the Companies
claiming Alta Vela, four of them were of
the managers of the impeachment bust
ness. Nor will they believe it to have been
merely accidentdl-it bears upon it's face a
different aspect, and, hence, Mr.. Brooks
very properly moved its reference to a
Committee of the House for investigation,
that these honorable managers might be
relieved of the odium attaching to the af-
fair, if they were not guilty, as charged by
public opinion, of the attempt to coerce
the President into doing what he had no
right 10 do, viz: Deciding between the
two companies, both american, claiming this
little island. Of course it was not expect
ed that the investigation would } permit
ted. The Radical party seem to have a
great horror of Investigation Committees
when one or more of them is to be the sub
ject of scrutiny; but do not hesitate to
appoint Committees to swell out, or even
invent charges against the small number of
opponents, that the insane excitement of
the last few years and the corrupt action
of Congress has left in the two Houses.
Yet, though the investigation was not al
lowed, this little band of patriots in the
House managed against the most indecent
opposition of the majority, to get some of
the facts Of the case before the Country,
and that they penetrated the armor of
these immaculate radical impeachers is
manifest from the course pursued by LO-
gan and Butler in explaining their action.
Poor little Logan at one time evinced o
lofty ambition-he hung on to the coat
tail of Stephen A. Douglas and, proud of
being patronized by him, bent all his ener-
gies to getting himself up on the model of
the Illinois giant. He dressed, and walked,
and talked so much like him that one
might have been excused the suspicion that
he had inherited some of his old clothes
and speeches. His resemblance to Douglas
with q continental uniform on. to George
Washington. He became sort of ninia-
ture editor, sort of pocket Douglas. But,
alas Ste,npord nautantur ct nos" &C.,
Douglas was gathered to his fathers, and
his little fugleman, who had grown to be
a considerable pigmy in his shadow, Ehas
had to seek some other leader.
Happily for him he did not have to wait
long. Massachusetts, that had once been
heard in Congress through such men IS
Webster and Winthrop and Everett had,
under the leadership of Charles Sumner
and Henry Wilson, fallen SO low as to find
a fitting representative in Ben Butler
What a fall was there, my countrymen
From Edward Everett, the gentleman, to
Ben Butler, the beast
There were many points of resemblance
between these two "honorables :" Butler
had been Democrat, with a pro-slavery
record, and protested belief in the doc
trine of Stephen A. Douglas, that {" this is
a arhite mans government, made by white
me- WI no cd
istered by white men," all of which Logan,
also, professed most steadfastly to believe.
Each had gone into the war from sinister
motives, and when the war ended deserted
their party and were elected to Congress
on the strength of their treachery. These
affinities, as might be supposed, drew the
two worthless together, but, inasmuch as
the Hon. Ben. brooked no equal, the Hoo.
John could only sit at his feet and learn Of
him, and he entered his train as an imita
tor. He has cultivated heavy moustache,
so heavy, indeed. that he presents the APP
pearance of a little .felIow fastened to NOUS
tdche, and has proved himself such an apt
scholar that he already plays the role of
bully very well, and to Judge from his
effort yesterday afternoon, in which he
charged sundry Democrats with wilful
falsehood and called one 81 blackguard,"
he will soon be as great blackguard as
Ben Butler himself.
Now, when this Alta Vela matter was up
in the High Court, and Judge Nelson, in
repelling Buffers insults, suggested the
propriety Of ''settling these personal matters
elsewhere giving sort of saltpetre odor
to the atmosphere, the Hon. John replied,
as gently as sucking dove. In the House,
the theatre of his bullyings, the majority is
so great that the radical can do as he pleases,
and here be can rant and abuse better men
who are restrained in @ great measure from
bringing a sailing accusation against him,
primarily by their own self-respect, and
secondly, by the desire to remain to repre-
sent their constituencies, for the same rule
is applied there that is operative in the
case of the South the Democrats have no
rights that the Radical majority are bound
to respect.
In the course of the discussion, Butler
essayed the al h0minena with Mr.. Brooks.
having learned something of its effective
ness from a painful experience with Mr..
Eyarts, in what he has done much towards
making High old Court" He made a
in regard to a law-su between
the several proproprietors OF the express"
IN. W which he spoke of as ga penny-a-
line sheet, published by fellows named