Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-09-08
CO.N'TR.TB.f.V'D.

talnly rather n low term TO apply to men as
class, rising but very little above classify
ing them with articles of merchandise.
Gen. Butler claims the credit of having
invented the application of the word con-
traband to the negroes of the United States.
What is generally meant by the term is the
dictionary definition of the word, which is,
according to Webster's fifth edition, the one
we happen to have-"Prohibited contra
band goods are such as are prohibited to be
imported or exported, either by the laws of
a particular kingdom or state, or by the
laws of nations, or by special treaty.
"COntrdbdnd, n, /. Prohibition of trading
in goods contrary to the laws of state or
of nations. 2. Illegal traffic"
What Gen. Butler meant by the use of
tho word contraband was, probably, that
negroes were goods which he, as an officer
of the army, representing the whole coun-
try, its constitution and its average laws,
was prohibited from traflicking in; and
that, as war had been declared, be could
not return negroes to the enemy from
which they had been taken, any more than
he could mules or horses, or beef cattle.
This idea might have answered well
enough for the time, especially with sickly
| democrats whom tho General had birod
himself out in opposition to his political
sentiments, to nurse into a reconciliation
with the defensive measures Of the govern
ment but the General did not even stick
TO this idea. He was free to advance ii, on
the northern frontier of slavery, where
such and similar sentiments were openly
advanced, and had been for many years;
but the moment he was put in command at
New orleans, that moment he entirely for
got the contraband, and began to traffic in
negroes at once. He began TO return them
to their masters, and to receive on his part
unlimited facilities for trade and for accu-
mulating a rapid fortune. His brother and
brother-in-law were his right and left hand
men, into whose pockets he could pour
thousands by a mere turn of his pen. 1t
was not to the pecuniary interests of the
General that the war should be waged en-
ergetically and brought to a speedy end.
SO long as the enemy occupied the country
above, and our own forces held the river
below, and the forts near its mouth the
General could control the trade of New
Orleans and vicinity, and manage it to suit
his own convenience.
Our forces were landed in the city of New
Orleans, in the rear centre of the enemy's
strategical line, about the first of May,
1862. 1t was the most sensitive point to the
enemy in his whole sphere Of operations;
and yet less was made out of it for the in
terests of the government than out of any
other point. BY an energetic course of ac-
ton, making use of negroes as troops, and
taking and holding such strategic points as
the mouth of the Red river, Port Hudson,
etc., the whole southwest could have been
firmly held, and the limits of the rebellion
seriously restrcted but by the end of five
months, a most critical and valuable period
of time, all this country was lost to our
forces. 1t was once in our possession, and
it could have been easily held if the proper
measures had been adopted for that pur-
pose. Our troops once held Port Hudson,
and all the way up to Vicksburg, but at
the end of some five months after General
Buffers assuming the command in New
Orleans, all this territory, with its strong
strategic points and abundant military re-
sources, was lost to our arms, and it cost
many, many millions of treasure and thou
sands of lives to recover it.
In the meantime Gen. Butler, delighted
with power and Distinction and in posi-
ton to make money beyond the dreams OF
avarice, was making n brilliant display OF
brief authority in New Orleans. One OF
the last acts that the forces which the gov
eminent had entrusted to his command did
on Withdrawing from Vicksburg down the
rivert 10 New Orleans, was TO return negroes
to the owners from which they had beer
taken. An officer of a Vermont regiment
by a strange retribution visited on the in
nocent instead of on the guilty, lost his lilC
in performing this peculiar duty having
been killed by shot from the cannon o
pursuing rebels. He was engaged, wheI
killed, in returning negroes, under Gen
Buffers orders, to a condition Of slavery
after they had been employed in govern
m ont service against the enemy as ditch
diggers.
Gen. Butler now, with an innocent, re
buk elul countenGnce, rendered indignan
by the disorders of the times which few
ha We helped more than he to create, talk
virtuously of reform and economy, anC
sets up the claim of having invented a new
application of the word contraband!
1t seems as preposterous rs it is unac
| countable that, at period e retribution 70
national crime and folly, man of so lttl
character as General Butler should main
f tain a prominent position in public affairs
. and that, long after the emptiness of hi
pretensions have been exposed, he SHOULD
! set up claim TO be Governor of practical
t sensible State like Massachusetts,; but tn
fact is undeniable; and, what is still NOR
= strange, the success of the claim seem
probable. The people have been so loni
r feel strange under the leadership of honest
g trustworthy men, and would have no con
, tidence in it. Butlerism is like bad habi
of excessive drinking or smoking whicl
I the people find it hard to break of.
And especially is this the case when Sc
G cret societies have got the control of tn
, machinery of the elections, as the rebe
= leaders did Of that of the State governments
a and can, thus far, put any secret soclet.
e man they please in Office. They can ele
= vate to Office any one they choose, whethe
= he is Butler, a Sckles, or an AndreN
r johnson, who, if we are not greatly mis-
Il taken, are all Masons sin good standing"
e CIVIs.
d POLITICAL MATTERS.
e The revelations Of the n. Y. Times Ina