Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-10
UNION AND AMERICAN.
A BILL TO RESDER THE sOuTHERN
People TNFaM0TIs

tricky as a soldier, and carried witt
him into the army all the worst vice
of the pettifogging criminal lawye
which he once was Needy and un
scrupulous, he cared far less for thu
cause he had espoused than for tn,
opportunities his new position gave
him to enrich himself, both at the
expense Of the government he pro-
fessed to serve and by the plumber
of private property. His career al
Fortress Monroe was but the coun-
terpart of his career at New Orleans
Wherever battles were to be fought
says the Baltimore Gazette, he was
conspicuous by his absence"
Wherever money was to be gained,
he was active and on the alert. AS
to how it was to be acquired he had
no scruples. Operating at New
Orleans through associates as I'M
scrupulous as himself, steamers
were bought at forced sales, and
chartered to the government for
vast sums. Other steamers were
allowed to ply on Lake Pontchar-
train, taking provisions and stores
into the Confederacy and bringing
back cotton. The shipment of
sugar to the North was made most
difficult to merchants generally, but
could be accomplished with singular
ease through Buffers brother.
Large sums of money were seized
in the vaults of the banks and in
private repositories. Furniture and
silVerware, choice pictures and
libraries Of rare books, were taken
from their owners by Butler and
his accomplices. Virginia scarcely
presented so fine field for spoliation
rs Louisiana; but with what licenses
and rents, taxes on, or partnership
in, the oyster trade, and the oppor-
tunities presented for running goods
into North Carolina and running
cotton out, Butler did not do badly
even there, and when the war was
over, and he returned to his North
ern home, rich and infamous, he
found congenial souls to welcome
him with acclamations, and a con-
stituency ready to reward him with
a seat in Congress.
Very recently it was announced
that he intended TO make an effort
TO conciliate the people he had so
often outraged and plundered. He
was about, it was said, to bring a
bill into Congress to relieve the ex-
Cenfederates of their political dis
abilities. 1t was to be Just and
generous in its terms, and of gen.
eral application. But people who |
expected kindness from Butler for
got the truth Of the old maxim that |
"men always hate those whom they |
have injured" and the intensity of
their malignity is in proportion to
the wrongs they have inflicted, or
the crimes they have porpetrated.
The instincts of Butler are essen
TALLY devilish, and any act betray-
ing even a CLEAN of nobility of soul
would be as foreign to his nature as |
tenderness was to that of Barabbas.
His bill for the restoration of the |
disfranchised Southern people to
their political rights and privileges
is characteristic of the man. Under
the provisions of the bill, every
Southerner, who seeks relief from
his political disabilities, must first
prefer petition to that end before
the District Court of the United |
States in the State where he lived
during the war. He must confess,
to the minutest particular, Gin what |
manner he had given aid, comfort, |
or assistance to the rebellion, either
voluntary or involuntary" He must |
further declare chat he believes,
and confesses, such acts were wrong,
rebellious and wicked, and that the |
State and Confederate govern
ments established by and during
the rebellion "were, in his belief"
reasonable, and "ought not to have
been sustained" and, finally, he
must say "that he truly repents of
all acts done by him in maintenance
thereof, and heartily desires to atone
for any part he took in the same,
10y hereafter acting and conducting
himself as a true and loyal citizen
Of the United States" But the mea-
sure Of self degradation does not
end here. The applicant has next
to affirm that his loyalty has been
perfect and Immaculate, since the l st
of June, 1868; that subsequent to
that date he has done no hostile act,
or committed any crime against the
the laws of the United States, or of
any individual State; "that he has
not endeavored, by force or fraud,
to interfere with the civil rights of
any citizen Of the United States"
or TO prevent the freedom of
election or or speech but that che
has behaved himself as q man of
good moral character" etc, etc
Having thus abjectly humbled him.
selfwith his face to the ground, and
mouth in the dust, he has then to
undergo another ordeal His peti-
ton, setting forth all these things,