St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-09-08
Gen. HaWfey's Response to GEN
Butter.

We last week gave our readers a little
idea Of the scrimmagc at Springfield, be-
tween Gen. Butler and the newspapers,
the occasion being the Inauguration by
Butler Of a series cf meetings ut which
the main thing was the Generals blow
ing his own horn for governor. We
thought at the time that his attack upon
Gen. IIawlcy, Ex-Governor Of Conncc.
ticut, was particularly coarse and wholly
out of place, inasmuch as the latter cen
tlcman was out of the state. But the
prompt response of Gen. lIawlcy was so
to the point, and h evidently had Butler
at such disadvantage, that one forgot the
grossncss of the attacl. in the enjoyment
of the rcjoinder.
1t seems Gen. lIawlry's response was
not perfectly satisfactory, rs ut Il subsc-
qurnt speech at Worcester, Gen. Butler
repeated his chargc, with sli"ht varia-
tiors, against the former gcntlcman-i. e.
that IIawley was displaced from lii
command by Butler, for incompctency.
These are Buffers words at Worcester
81 know better than anybody else why
Gen. llawley was displaced from his
command and placed on staff duty, and
| I'll I'll Linn oil ,,l.,t L., L.
that he WAS displaced in the Army of
the James, then under my command.
That's the story
In the Massachusetts papers I'll Mon
day, Gen. lIawlcv comes out III II card,
in which he very explicitly replies 10 all
of Butlcr's CHARGES, and in answer To the
above paragraph says:
am glad TO have him fix upon the
transaction which WIS my displacement
for incilicicncy. lie says it was when |
was relieved from command in the Army
of the James, and sent 10 North Caro-
lima and placed ON staff duty. Here are
the facts: About December so, 1861,
Butler came back from Fort FiSLcr
About january ,, 1860, Terry took
charge of the new expedition, AMI Eotiel'
assigned me 10 the very important posi-
ton Terry was leaving. Immediately
altcrward Butler was sent home, and
never appeared there a"aiu. January
IL Fort Fisher, was captured. Finding
that my old brigade and my old friends
were not coming back, Il week or two
afterward | begged to JOIN them, and was
ordered 10 do SO. general Tt1g, not
General Butler, nor General Ord, made
me, not staff officer merely, but chief
IF staff. At the time when Butler SAWS
lie dr4ral,d ne, he had been more than
two weeks out Of the field in diS4racc,
Is not this trightfully reckless lying
Gen. lIawlcy cl"@r- his communic;,-
ton with the tcllowin" plain talk. Ii
palmer or more forcible English has been
used to describe Ben Enller, we have
failed to see it:
| have studied General Butler for
years and know him well. am told he
said he would 'pun-h' me. lie thought
he could start a lie Ivy telegraph several
days ahead of my contradictions by the
papers and mails. He was mistaken.
All his Springfield attacks were carefully
prepared. lie must have reasoned thus:
'It | say that lIawlcy was discrclitrd
and degraded rs an officer, he may deny
it, but people will say there must have
been some little foundation for it, some
preteNt, or Butler would have been too
shrewd to make the clIar9c." That is
quite natural! say to my friend, upon
my honor, that Bullcr's charge, i'll any
of lis several variations, is shameless,
Totally unloundcd falSehood, without Il
shade of Imaginable basis
think General Butler the most rcck-
les, unscrupulnuS, dangerous dcma%ognr
this country has seen since Aaron Burr,
and it is to me patriotic duty and hi"h
pleasure TO oppose him. There is salts
faction III the reflection that 4 man With
such hole in his head where the moral
faculties ou"ht 10 he cannot have GOOD
Judgment or real slrewdncss. lie may
make good deal OF trouble, but lac will
Kill himself. He might succeed in Paris,
as Robespicrre and Rochcfort succeeded,
but he is II mnhstrusity in New England
JOSEPH X. II>WLEl.
1Hr EdiiOr'S IubIr.