The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-09-03
Buffers Friends.

chusetts, has been the victim Of . delusiOn.
Ben has always been regarded ~ low and /
rowJlyish III HE own community, asd un-
worthy the consideration Of respectable |
people. But 90 bitter was the proscriptive
feeling ~ bur Puritan brethren towards
the Soath, thas they gladly ovsrlsoked
Butler's delinqueHcies whom tho degrade
tiou Of this section was in question. He
had thoroughly abused, robbed, insulted
and bulIied the people, OF New Orleans,
therefore he was worthy Of some reward.
It was certain that II he had . seat in Com
gross, no man would be more untiriDg and
vindictive in demonstrating, plundering,
grinding down aud humiliatiss the South,
therefore he must be sent to Congress. He
went, and his career there Of uudyiDg hate,
of ingenious cruelty, Of untelenting war
upon the South under the name of peace, Ia
but too we'll knowD to all. Ben was IN his
element. He was great man in the COM
mittees. His pettifogging cunning stood
him in hand, and made him the hero on q
field Of political legerdemain, where Con-
situations were to be ekilfully broken and
weakness was to be brutally bullied.
Ben rose in Importance. The police
court subscribing, the ward club juggler,
the thieving, lying, hectoring Falstaff of
new England, found himself on the
floor of Congress with an undoubted
right to air his vulgarity, called Mr.. Butler
for the first time by gentlemen, feared by q
few, fattered by good many, and, to
some extent, a central figure of public at
tention. 1t is probable that even respect
able citizens of Boston gave him some sort
of personal recognition in gratitude for his
genuine, uncompromising hatred Of the
South. His name was published daily
throughout the length and breadth of the
land in Geographic dispatches, and his
head began to turn. Like the original Fall
staff, this man has great fund Of shrcwd-
nees, and we had begun to despair of catch
ing him in an act of pure folly, in an exhi-
bition OF real weakness, but he put his foot
in it at last.
1t is now evident that Mr. Butler began
to forget his history. He forgot that he
was q mere tool in the hands Of bigotry
and hate, that he was permitted to strut
and fume on the national stage merely or
suffrance and for a purpose. He forgot
that he was playing the role Of grea'
man, aud actually began to think that ht
was one. He ignored the tinsel and fea
thers Of theatrical prominence, and fan
cied himself equally prominent and respect
able in his own clothes. The shrewd knavt
has blundered at last. He has not beer
sensible enough to know his own place
. He has shown the weakness of an absurd
and ridiculous vanity.
Not content with being sent to Congress
, as q boss rowdy, he aspires to enter tn
{ Governors mansion of Massachusetts, as
3 gentleman. The strait-laced descendant
f of the Mayfower are shocked at his pre-
Q sum tion. They sent him to a dirty place
Q among a lot of dirty associates, the Who'll
C being called Congress-, to half do YER
o dirty piece Of work called Reconstruction
Y while they should hold their aristocrati
a noses at a distance. What is their horre
!. now at his insolence on finding that
4 wants to govern the State! The outer
i. against him is immense, The telegraph
ia the stump, the press, outvie each other
, efforts to call him hard names and portra
bis moral hideousness in terse, energet
70 luuSu1SO'
. Ben's sun is dipping towards horize
~ of cloud and gloom. His political race
~ probably run, and certainly is not Wort
:. our notice except as it recalls moral pri
ciple that many are inclined to forget. III
:. prosperity of wickedness is not stable.
-, NAV be dazzling, it may excite the admir-
~ ton and envy of the thoughtless, it mi
- attract the homage of those who worsh
- success, and see in it the sure and on
- mark of divine approval, but it is very
~ to have a weak point somewhere, a
through it to finally fall. Wickedness
weapons which honesty may not use.
- wonder, then, that it enjoys very often
- apparent advantage. Its disciples are VIII
" in their own generation than those of
~ truth. But somehow truth will eventual
~ triumph.
al Men who devote themselves to the pl
=. suit of wealth, of glory, of science,
have no longing for the things Of faith, +