New-York tribune., 1868-11-06
GIN. BUTLKRS CANVASS.

The hearty, emphatic gOOd VIII NhtlcNlth
Gen. Butler is regarded by the great mass OF
the loyal upholdtrs Of cur cOuntIy's integrity
in her late struggle, rests on very intelligible
grounds. They like him for reasons identical with
those which impel The Rebels and pro-Rebels
10 hate him so intensely. Though his Military
career was not IN all respects brilliant and
though part of il subjected him 10 the un-
Aattering criticism OF Gen. Grant, il is certain
that the expedition to Ship Island and New
Orleans was substantially projected and exc
cuted by him, and that its success gave the Re
bellion the heaviest and most damaging blow
that it received during the first two years oi
the War. In Wrestling irreeOveTably from the
Confederacy its most wealthy and pOpulcus
city, its commercial focus and stOrohouse, Cen
Butler did it greater material and moral dam
age than it received at DOnelsOn, Shiloh An
tietam or Murfreesborough.
But il is not the material value OF his Mill
tary services that has mOst commended the
elder of the Massachusetts, Major-GencralS to
the popular heart. The masses recognize and
admire in him the first leader of our forces
who eyinced q clear comprehension of the ma
ture and animus of the Rebellion and the ability
and will to deal with them as they deserved.
Up to the outbreak of this War, Gen. Butler
had, through life, been tho political intimate
and ally of " the Cbiyalry," and understood
them like brother. IIe ccmprehended from
the start that their preposteTOus assumptions Of
social superiority must bc met at the threshold
and utterly defied and trampled on. His polite
but firm refusal at an early day to return
Major Cary's fugitive negroes, on the just and
solid ground that they were "contraband OF
"war," like horses or intrenching tools, showed
him the man for the occasion. His
stern dealings with the NoW-Orleans gam
bier who tore down the American flag after IT
had been hoistcd by our forces over city
fairly won by their valor, and his famous
"Order No. 2s," advising the shc-Seccsh OF
that city that they could no longer Tantonly
insult our soldiers with impuniy, were moral
victories for the Union arms, of signal value
and promise. They made plain to the most
stOlid apprehension the fact that territory
fairly recovered from the Rebellion was no
longer part OF the Confoderacy, and could
not bo used for the prosecution of lis warfare,
at least while under the command of Gen.
Butler. That the Rebels should hiss and howl.
foam and rave, whenever and wherever they
might safely do 50, was q matter of course
that they should accuse the man they SO de
tested of stealing the spoons they never had,
was paltry, If you viii, but very human. Wen
might they set price on the head 80 prolific
of devices which they could not matcll-a head
Illuminated by eyes which they could eXecratc
and caricature as nal formed and hideous, but
which they could not curse into blindness To
any of their traitOrOus plots or cOntrvancos
The War over, Gen. Butler was sent 10 Con-
gress from district which was not his home
q disregard of irrelevant boundary lines which
ought ~ be more general than 1t is. His ma
iority was very large, but the district was in-
tensey loyal, and was proud OF the ability
aud renown of the man or its choice. But,
when the time for q second election approached,
strong symptoms of disapproval were mani
tested. and the General had serious struggle
for his reelection. We took little part III that
struggle while il was in progress, for our atten-
ton vas absorbed by the National contest ;
but, now that each is ended, We have some
thing to say of tho side issue, which shall at
least have the merit of frankness.
Gen. Butler had seen lit TO take ground in
favor Of the legality and honesty of paying of
in greenbacls that great bulk of orr National
Debt known as "Thc Five-Twenties." Consid-
ering that Gen. Butler is q good lawyer as well
as an able man, and that he is perfectly aware
that the takers of the bonds were uniformly
assured by our three successive Secretaries Of
the Treasury Chase, Fessenden, and McCullocl
AS well as by the journals paid to advertise
and tile agents employed TO sell those bonds,
that they were certainly payable in coin, We
confess our inability not merely to see this
matter as Gen Butler does (or did. but TO
comprehend how he can thus see il. But, let
us assume that here is room for honest diver
sifY OF nniIiOn and lint sucl diYorbity has ex-