The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-19
GENERAL BUTLER AT BOSTON.
the london satNrdan Rertelc.

From the London Saturday Rerteo
General Buffers insolent speech at Boston,
although il is below intellectual criticism and
moral censure, may perhaps portend mis-
chief. The most prominent member OF
class Of politicians peculiar to the United
States, General Butler scarcely pretends to
self-respect, to honesty, or to regard for JUS
tiee. His reasons for proposing an unpro-
voked war against England are stated with
a candor which in other communities might
be deemed imprudent. The Republicans, he
says, are disunited on every question of i'm
portance; they have no recognized leaders;
the Western members of the party oppose
the demand of the Eastern Republicans for
protection; and in the last Congress the ad-
ministratiop failed to carry any of its mea-
sures. If the process of disintegration con-
tinues, the Democrats may probably return
to power and carry the next Presidential
election. It therefore becomes expedient to
devise some popular policy on which the
whole party can unite; and American tradition
points to the unfailing resource OF hostile
declarations against England. Only two
years ago General Butler thought it possible
to restore harmony to the party by proposing
the partial reputation of the national debt,
and he succeeded in inducing large majo-
rity of the House of Representatives to
adopt his proposal; but robbery of the public
creditor has gone out of fashion, and now
it seems better to make England pay the
price of the restoration of harmony in the
Republican party. The Emperor Napoleon
commenced the present war with the analo-
gous object of establishing his dynasty per-
manently on the imperial thrones but he has
never had the audaoity to avow that he
attacked Germany in pursuance of do
mestic French intrigue. General But
Ter is bolder or more open, aud he has
not even thought it necessary to invent so
respectable pretext for war as the Hohen-
a II x~lo -
make an ostentatiously insulting demand
upon England, with the alternative, in case
of REFUSAL of a declaration of war. In one of
his speeches he was moderate enough to sug-
gest that the cession of Jamaica, Bermuda,
and Nassau would be accepted in full pay
ment of the Alabama claim; but on another
occasion he intimated that the whole of
British America must be surrendered to the
United States. 1t was troublesome to main
tain custom houses on land frontier of four
thousand miles, and the union of the prov
inces into the Canadian Dominion was in it.
self an offense and menace to the United
States Perhaps General Butler may have
been conscious that he was parodying the
French quarrel with the North German Con-
federation. With a similar readiness TO
copy the worst European precedents he offers
plebiscite to be taken by separate provinces.
''We will have nothing to do with your Do
minion, which you put up to make an uR-
friendly power on our Northern border,
when you thought we should have powerful
enemy at the South in theHsuccessful Con-
federate States" Agents of the English or
Canadian Governments are to be prohibited
from interfering in the operation of voting
which is probably to be conducted by Amer-
can commissioners 1t is not inconceivable
that before the war M. Emile de Girardin or
M. Paul de Oassagnac might have made a
similar proposal with respect to the Bavarian
Palatinate or to Rhenish Prussia. General
Butler informs his audience that, when some
of the Canadian provinces have voted for an-
nexation, the remainder must necessarily
after time follow their example. The details
of a scheme which is merely intended as an
affront to England and an occasion of war
scarcely require discussion.
When such ontrages on right and decency
are perpetrated, it is more material to ascer-
tain the position and resources of the offender
than to inquire into his motives. In some
respects General Butler might be thought not
to be formidable enemy. BY the best OF
his own countrymen he has been repeatedly
denounced as the most discreditable specimen
of an unscrupulous class. AS an administra
tor he was loudly accused of pecuniary cor.
ruption; as q soldier he incurred the contempt
and censure of his chief. In politics his
most effective weapons have beer
bluster and calumny; and when ht
acted as a manager of the impeachment OF
President Johnson, his foul-mouthed violence
provoked the indignation even of the ultra
Republican ajority of the Senate. In al
respects he resembles the Cleon of Thucy
dides and Aristophanes, except that he never
achieved casual military success. Unfortu
nately it is possible that he may also resem
BILE Cleon in directing or influencing for
time the policy of the nation which tolerate'
him. His coarse yigor will make him, since
the defeat of General Schenck in the recen
election, the inevitable Republican leader
In the House of Representa-
tives, and although the strength of tn,
party in the House has been largely dimin
ished, considerable section of the Demo
Gratis will always be ready support hostile
measures against England. General Butler
has recently been again returned to Congress.
by the Fifth District of Massachusetts,, whict
diseredited itself by electing him when h,
appeared as the most prominent candidate o.
repudiation. Few American peculiarities ar,
more puzzling to foreigners than the genera
indifference with which the language anC
proceedings of the House of Representative
are regarded. The members are rarel,
chosen, as in Utopia, for their wisdom auC
virtue, or, as in England, on account of thei
social and political importance; aud tn
Constitution wisely provides that the Hous
shall have no direct control of policy or ad
ministration. In ordinary times the debate
attract little more attention than the discus
sions of the Convocation of Canterbury; bu
nevertheless a House of Representative
which expressed a strong popular feelin
might especially under the guidance of
skilful demagogue, exercise for time cor
siderable power. A determined ma iority actin