Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-12-23
Obio:: State,ss;rlatlr;:.. Is;
The Use and Abuse of b
, IIFrom the st. Louis Rspublics

fff llrTOm the ob. LOUIE nepuDact[1| sf---T
I The Use and Abuse of b. Her.
Nextto fame is notorietyr; and 6 there
is one person more than another in the
world at thevpreseht time whois literally
saturated with notoriety, ithatb person ia \
Benjamin Franklin Butler, by theagraee
Of God and the power of Radical votes,
member of Congress from MassaS Shusetts.
From the Ganges to the MississiH pi. from
Australia to Alaska, from thee lators to-
either pole,, wherever a. white bri black
man ghasrtrod, there have his nam and his
deeds penetrated. and there the 5stand as
eloquent representatives of mos of those,
vices which honest and. dece4t people
should aNoids7 Amben is, said to ) be
more precious when its yellow substanee|
contains a fly, caught in, some tran
sitionr state, of :, the +, strange stuff,
ap3 7prisoned5 for the gaze, of Iad;
n.;-,ag ages. So perhaps the, future
Clarendon who writes the, history of our
tGreat Rebellion" will find in the char
acter and achievements of Butler par
tial recompense for his labori9us study,
and hand both down to posterity as the
most curious and valuable result of a
four years, fraternal war. Ben .Jonson
sung Of Shakespeare that she was not of,
an age but for all time. /" He might say
quite as much and with equal truth Of
Butler, who looms up now, and will loom
up forever, a moral lighthouse on the
shores of sin. at once a warning and "a
guide to frail, humanity until the crack,
of doom. No individual, unless it be
Judas .Iscariot, has ever received SO
much. and such unanimous, execration.
If the curses which have been levelled
by men, women and children at his NOR
tai and immortal parts could be collected
and concentrate& we might get an ex-
cellent idea of TePhet without reading
Dante's Inferno" or venturing where
Orpht US did: "''l'' d s-i'~'''i9 5el !.
But, notwithstanding all this, we kaSs
sufficient confidence in the ways of Provi-
dence to believe that Butler; was created
for some wise if not benefcient purpose.
Wasps, scorpions, serpents, arsenic,
measles, and Radicalism are thought to
possess redeeming traits, which, if judic-
iously managed, may become a blessing in
disguise, although the disguise is very
difficult to penetrate. IF this is true
with these chronic nuisances in the
realm of nature, pray is there
not room for Butler in the catalogue ?
We think SO; and we think we are
able to demonstrate that, aside from being
a wonderfully perfect specimen of orig
inal sin and total depravity, and as such
of priceless worth to certain religious ex-
tremists Butler has the capacity
and the Willingness tie doc The
State some service in political way.
No one, we presume, questions Butler
right to claim for himself three qualities
in the largest abundance-ability, ambi-
ton and impudence. Since the close OF
the war, however, with the single excep-
tion ofethe impeachment trial, he has
had small opportunity to display either
of these to any great extent, ,7o
The late lamented Thaddeus Stevens
was so firmly rooted as leader of.ghis
party in the House Of Representatives
that Butler found it impossible ito dis
place him, aud has therefore been OBJ.
liged to content himself with playing Sc
tcondl violin in a legislativei orchestra
where he ought to have been 1.-The con-
ductor, welding an, alltocratic baton.
Stevens has been called home. "rhe
King is dead b. Long live, the King! =
But who is the rising sun, the coming
monarch destined to fill the vacant chair
of the great o! PennsylVanian. Here
will scomezAthe stuggle, and out
off, that struggle we hope and
expect substantial benefits to arise
Butler rs goes back to Washington
stronger than ever. He has not only
beaten the Democracy in his district, bu
be has beaten rebellious Radicals; and
in crushing out Dana with a tremendou'
majority, he has virtually crushed GU
all opposition in the ranks of his owl
friends. He will rear that front of tripl
brass in the halls of the Capito
with a triumphant effrontery. neve
surpassed since Satan waged war
fare on the plains of heaven
He will insist upon being first il
command Caesar or nothing" !" ant
Bingham, Logan, with one CT two more o
the same stripe, will resist long and bit
terly before they yield. The acknowledged
leadership of the House is no paltr!
prize, even in these degenerate days, ant
Butler is determined to have it or know
| the reason why. He will have his enc
mics and his partisans, and when this in
ternal strife really begins in earnest ther'
Il will be interesting revelations. and posi-
bly, split. "When rogues fall out, hon
! est men get their dues" '-'
More than this. Butler is goo
hater. He neither forgets nor forgives
. and, though he may bury the tomahawk
he takes care to have the handle of tn
weapon near enough the surface to b
easily grasped when occasion requires
4 He is the enemy of Grant, for the Pres
idept elect committed the unpardonabl
sin of making Butler ridiculous. Butle
was indeed2~bottled" at Dutch Gap, an,
has been. more or less "bottled" eve
since, but woe to Grant when the da
4; comes for that bottle to be uncorked ant
the vials of Butlerian wrath to be poured
out upon the head of the wearer of fou
stars @'i.1'.i'f- a sit3lliv :Sas
Butler is in the Radical party, but no
of it. He is far from orthodox on severa
points of the "loyal' creed He ha
! heretical notions in regard to the paymen
of the public debt, and the management
! of national finances. For these he ha
been SO kicked and cuffed by his tribe
that whatever desire for recantation an,
repentance he may have possessed, ha
been thoroughly beaten out of him.. H'
takes his seat next Monday PolltIca