The New York herald., 1869-01-18
The New Leader in Congress-General
Ter and His Strong Points.

| House.
The New Leader in ConGress-(scneral But.
Ter and His Strong Points.
General Fitzpatrick last fall, in the service
of radical clique, went down East and into
the Fifth Congressional district Of Massachu-
setts to unhorse General Butler. But the
knight Of Jersey signally failed, and the next
thing we hear is that Butler in Congress has
unhorsed Fitzpatrick. This develops in But
| Ter one of the strong points Of General Jack
son. With the first opportunity he settled his
outstanding accounts. Secondly of all the
enemies of Andy Johnson the merciless i'm
peacher, Butler, was considered the most i'm
placable till last New Years Day, when he
went up to the White House and smoked the
pipe of peace with Johnson and drank the
toast OF Rip Van Wrinkle :-'sHeres to you and
your family, and may you all live long and
prosper" Here, in the courteous gallantry Of
Butler, is another strong point of character,
challenging the admiration of the South Caro-
lima chivalry. General Quattlebum has
preached it, but Butler has practised it.
ssLet us have peace" is the motto of General
Grant; and of all the notices of the days of
little words in simplicity and grandeur. 1t was
supposed, however, that after the bottling up
Of Butler by Grant there could be no peace
between these men. But a horse fancier, who
knew the strong and the weak points OF Grant
and Butler as he knows the point of horse,
fh, hoft nd
in effecting reconciliation. Behold the re-
suit! Butler, the stone which the radical
builders rejected, accepted by Grant, has be-
come the head of the corner. Thus, to change
the figure, Butler, as by common consent in
Congress, steps into the high-quartered shoes
of .'Old Thad" and lays down the law to the
republican party. On the Tenure of Office
repeal forty-seven bewildered radicals fly off
at a tangent; but they are out in the cold.
The promised land, flowing with milk and
honey, lies in the other direction. On Buffers
grand financial theory Congress, Wall street
and Chatham street are all bewildered; but
Rome was not built in day. Andy Johnson
holds they say, that the public mind in two
years will grow up to his simple and effective
policy Of taking the interest Of the national
debt to pay off the principal And why, then,
should not public opinion expand to the aex-
ible system of Butler? Make paper the basis
of values and gold will soon come down. This
is better than the plan of the editor of the
radical organ Of resuming specie payments
without the specie, though the flexible paper
system may puzzle the ''bloated bondholders."
At all events, assuming that this financial
system Of Butler will take some time to ripen,
we may say that as a man of great political
ideas and of great tact and energy in fighting
them he will still hold his ground in. the coming
Congress. In the Charleston Convention of
1860 he voted fifty-seven times for JEFF Davis,
and kept up the fight on that line till the DEM
ocratic party was broken to pieces. But what
then? He cut loose from the whole concern,
and at Baltimore, as the Union gen.
eral in command, to the disgust Of
Davis, very soon settled the right of
way to Washington. Next at Newport News,
on the James, he first opened the eyes Of Presi-
dent Lincoln and Secretary Seward to the
grand idea that negro slaves captured or
fugitives from the enemy were ''contrabands !"
Before that, very absurdly, such property had
been returned in obedience to the Fugitive
| Slave law. We had been shooting white men
and delivering up their negroes according TO
the constitution. Butler introduced the laws
of war. But it was in his military civil gov
ernment of New Orleans that he most dis
! tinguished himself Here his skill as lawyer
and politician, and his resolute and energetic
character as a dictator, proved him to be the
very man to bring law and order out Of chaos
and to make the LATEST, filthiest and most
pestilential, the busiest, cleanliest and healthi
est city Of the South.
We say nothing Of Big Bethel, Bermuda
Hundreds and Fort Fisher. They were not in
General Buffers line. But the force Of charac-
ter and the peculiar qualities displayed by him
| in the civil affairs of Baltimore and New
| Orleans during the war are the very qualities
required In the leader OF the House Of Repre-
sentatives Hence we think that Butler Is the
man to take the place of Stevens. We think,
too, that having assumed the position, he Is
the man to hold 1t ; but we dare say that
among the wrangling factions he will have
something like bis New Orleans experience
| over again from and after the 4th OF March.
PUBLIC EDucATIoN.--A quasi organ of the
people that Is not an organ Of the people, but
only makes believe, as the wolf made believe