The Portland daily press., 1869-05-31
A ..Proiracfcd Meetineu with General.
Efmffer.

Butfers
A correspondent of the Boston Post has Wis
tied General Butler at Lowell. The General
is one OF those convenient persons who have
only to be tapped by reporter to secure d
stream of talk that soon fills their note books
This time Butler took occasion TO reiterate his
opinions, previously expressed, that Mr.. Sum-
ner is wrong in trying to base any claim
against Great Britain ON the hasty recogni-
tion of the belligerency of the Confederacy.
There was in this. he thinks, no technical vio-
lalion of international law His argument
against England would be that the recogni-
tion of bellgerent rights was part of Eng
lands policy to break down this country, and
for this general hostility he would hold Eng
land responsible, though we are precluded by
Lincoln's proclamation establishing block
ade and by decision of the Supreme Court
in an insurance case, which recognized the.bel-
ligerency Of the Confederacy eleven days be-
fore the Queens proclamation, from making a
legal claim for indemnity. We quote the GEN
erals language as given by the reporter:
All questions of disputed law arising under
the laws Of nations, where there is no final
arbiter but the sword, might, it would seem,
be well laid aside. May we not wei say that
she bad lett us legacy of slavery which, being
lnterW0 zen in the industrial pursuits OF almost
one-haif of our country, became forlthe time at
least of necessity, part OF our institutions,
while in her Empire it was only an incident of
her colonial wealth. She then set us the ex-
ample of emancipation, which she could easily
do without danger to her Government She
taught us that slavery was wrong and emanci-
patton and freedom only right. After our
government had fully accepted these views to
such an extent that large portion of our peo-
pie, becoming fearful for what they considered
their constitutional rights, and that what they
held as their most valuable property would be
destroyed under our government, Tebelled to
save it and instituted war; at once, at the earli-
est possible moment, she led the way to
sustain them in that rebellion and aid
ed TO set up that slavery which she
had declared to be cur national sin.-
What motive could there be for her to do
this except the desire to destroy our Govern
inent at all hazards? Then the fitting out of
the Alabama, allowing her to escape and
giving her shelter,-and permitting the She
nandoah to 60 out, become not incidents OF.
her sympathy with rebellion, but her own
act in pursuance of her designs TO destroy our
commerce and cripple our power. From this
point of view these acts are not incidents of
recognition OF the Confederates, but they are
the means which she adopted to crush our
Government.
Now, as to the remedy We need not 60 to
her chance to cripple us when We were in
trouble. We can wait till some fitting oppor-
tunity enables us to repay her in her kind. We
can easily find means, whenever she gets into
a war, to sweep her commerce from the ocean
and substitute our own in its place. We can
afford to wait.
In the event Of war Gen. Butler proposes to
capture the Dominion of Canada, keeping it
permanently or not as seems best. He holds
that there is not the slightest prospect of the
reestablishment of reciprocity, and that the
movement looking to a new treaty now on foot
will accomplish nothing beyond securing the
right to navigate the st. Lawrence. 81 do not
propose" says he, dogmatically and aphoristi-
tically, "to give 10 Canada all the advantages
of marriage till the rites are performed. /"
In the course of the conversation Chief JUS
tice Chase was quoted as saying that we
could not 'stand five minutes before any court
in Europe ON the basis of Mr.. Summers
speech
But there was one thing Gen. Butler said in
reply to a foolish question that has been often
asked both here aud in England that meets
the case exactly We quote:
How do you account for the fact that France
which was in earnest in her desire to have the
Confederacy recognized, has been allowed to
escape denunciation, when England, which
refused to follow her advice, has been SO uni
versally anathemized?
"For the same reason said Butler, "that
although man might intend to mQrder, if he
never did the act itself, you could neither pun
ish nor hold him liable for damages; you
could do nothing but bind him over to keep
the peace. The difference was that England
did the acts-France taking great care to al
low nothing to be done on her part or on her
behalf which would involve her in any contro-
versy with this country. Perhaps her reason
was that until she could get the support of
England, being complicated in the affairs of
Mexico, she was altogether too vulnerable
Finally, Mr.. Butler expressed his warmest
approval of Boutwelrs financial policy, saying
that if he goes on as he has began she will be
the best, if not the most popular Secretary
since Hamilton.