The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-12-16
Horace Greeley writes a Letter to Ben
Butler.

Horace Greeley writes Letter to Ben.
Butler.
The philosopher of the New York 1ri-
buae has written q remarkable letter to
Beast Butler, which is herewith append
ed. 1t will be seen that the main point
urged by Greeley is that the Radicals
shall bribe the people of the South and
their friends at the North by the offer to
remove the disabilities imposed by the Sd
section of the Fourteenth Amendment to
the Constitution, in order to induce them
to ratify the proposed Fifteenth Amend
ment, and which Greeley more than indi,
Gates will fail unless the proposition which
he makes be acted upon by his party:
TO Mai. Gen. B. F. Butler, NJ. c.:
NY DEAR SIR: Your name; l think
you will have remarked, IS very often pro-
nounced, from one end Of our country to
the othef. 1, travelling somewhat, oh.
serving little, and reading newspapers
considerably-quite often hear it mention.
ed, and (t may surprise you to learn not
always admiringly. And yet, while Ihave
for many years heard and read all manner
Of evil said of you-some of it absurdly
eroundless and false-I cannot recollect
that ever heard or read suggestion that
yeu were q fool. Now, come before the
public to impeach, not yourselfpersonally,
but policy wherewith your name is pop
ularly and prominently identified, as lack
ing rational motive and at war with COM
mon sense. / allude to that policy which
prelongs indefinitely the prescription and
disfranchisemen of large portion of the
men Of the South for their part in the late
rebellion.
Understand that speak from the stand.
point not of sentiment, but of business l
do not here impeach that policy as harsh
or hateful, but DIS deficient in tact-in
gumption. l impeach it as nursing and
intensifying enmities certain to subyert, at
no distant day, the party which Is identl-
fed with it.
will not dwell upon the well-known
fact that the late Governor Andrew, in
ais farewell message OF address, put forth
four years ago, strongly urged policy
antaconistic to this-a policy that con-
tempisted the early and complete concili-
alton of the South, through the enfran.
chisement and magnanimous treatment of
her natural leaders. Nor need l invite
your attention to the fact that General
Sickles Ia shrewd, thoroughly practical
politician,) officially demonstrated. more
than three years ago, against the proscrP-
ton of prominent and wealthy ex.rebels,
ss depriving him Of the services OF the
very men he urgently needed and could
make most useful in governing South Car
olina. Nor do care to press home the
fact. of which you cannot be Ignorant,
that the Southern men Of education and
property are by far more reasonable aud
less bitter than their poorer, more lgno'
rant neighbors-are less implacab!e, more
RATIONAL. and more ready to unite heartily
in rebuiiding the waste places of the land.
Nor will dwell upon the noble addition
made. on motion OF General Carl Schurz,
to the latest National platform Of the BE-
publican party-that plank which declares
Prescription q temporary expedieDt, rem
dered necessary by grave public peril,
and to be abandoned when that peril shall
have vanished. rest on the naked fact
that the Republican party inaminently
needs the good will which this policy re, re,
pels, and must go under if that gooa WEI
be not secured.
assume that you realize the absolute
necessity of the triumph Of the XVIII
Amendment to the success of Gen. Grants
| Al;n;e+rot;on and that Won must be