New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-06-24
n,,r,rp AS 4 CANDIDATE.

| down when il comes To the tesJ OF 'oUo "
the Convention. Perhaps the respectapie
odi,ors who are trying to convince themselves
tLot there is no danger of Buffers nomination,
ord oro doing such o cheerful amount OF
| ,,bistIing TO keep up their courage, believe
all this. Intensely respectable people VINO
! have allowed their children to keep bad
| comnonv are capable of any amount
! of self-deception upon the absolute I'M
nossiLilitv of contamination TO any mem
her of their own families. The Massa-
cbusetts Republicans, as indeed Massachusetts
people generally, are quite high strung III their
notions of responsibility. They have always
been so. And yet Mr.. Cakes Ames with no
qualification other than his wealth, and Mr..
BENJAMIN +. Butler with-well, with such
qualifications as he is known to have-have
represented some of the most respectable
constituencies in that severely Tespecta-
Bile State, receiving overwhelming majortles
| from the most respectable party. The lofty
disdain with which the Republican press
generally regards the possibility OF Buffers
nomination almost makes one forget that But
ler and Ames, and some others who might be
named, who, without being thoroughly
yicious. were more or less tainted ever repre-
| sented Massachusetts,. There is something In
! the manner of these gentlemen that fairly for
! bids us to remember anybody but Websters
and WinthrOps and Adamses and Summers and
Fveretts in Massachusetts history. Bunker
! Hill and Faneuil Hall and the Ancient and
| Honorable Artillery so fill the" field OF
vision that if it were not for speech
| he made tho other day, we should
forget that within few months past a
| drunken demagogue from Athol led whole
Massachusetts Legislature to vote resolutions
OF censure upon Charles Sumner. And in the
calm confidence with which these reputable
gentlemen of Massachusetts, wait to see Mr.
Butler endorsed by nobody, we half forgot
that this little Athol person who led Massa-
cbusetts against Mr.. Sumner Is now leading
| Mr.. Butler AGAINST Massachusetts, and that he
is aided in the assault by the President of the
United States and the power Of the Admins
tration.
In no spirit Of unlindness, but just to stir
I'D the pure Massachusetts, mind by way OF
remembrance we beg leave to recall to them the
canvass of Mr.. Butler for the gubernatorial
nomination just two years ago. He had then
the press of the State almostsOlidly against him
we do not now remember o single respectable
newspaper of any party that did not oppose
| him. Public sentiment seemed overwheim-
| ingly against him both United States Sen
| ators-and Mr.. Sumner was then in accord
with the party-certifed to his wOrthlesSness,
and warned the party and the people
| against the disgrace of such a nomina-
! ton the Administration kept aloof from help
! ing him he went upon the stump in his own
behalf, and made enemies instead Of friends;
! he made vigorous canvass but was
! everywhere interrupted, disturbed, questioned,
and followed up by active opponents; and
the Republican press, almost without excep-
ton, was talking then, just as it is now, about
the weakness of Butlerism and the absurdity
of supp0sing there was any danger OF his
nomination. Mr.. Butler meantime meant
business He kept at work. The night before
the Convention the gentlemen who had been
so confident found that Mr.. Butler
was the leading candidate, and that IN
less something was done at once he would
carry off the nomination. Massachusetts, was
saved the disgrace of it then only by carrying
out a programme agreed upon at the last
moment, by which all the other candidates
withdrew in favor of Mr.. Washburn. The
confidence felt by the and-Butlerites was
| llluBLldEu
| informal ballot every one of these candidates
made formal withdrawal of his name, and,
in terms which showed his own fears and
the appreheDsions Of his friends, urged
| his supporters to unite on Mr. Wash
burn against Butler. The campaign
against Butler had been made in the most
confident reliance on the good sense and the
real responsibility of Massachusetts,, and the
press talked then for all the world precisely
! as it does now. No one was scared till
the battle was about to be joined. Then
| the managers, who had trusted the abstract
! responsibility to defeat the concrete shame,
| found there was work to do. Well, they did
it we give them credit for it, But that they
| may not be over confident on account of it,
we beg leave to suggest to them that, under
all the discouraging circumstances enumer-
ated, Mr.. Butler received 484 votes in the
Convention to 643 which the united opposition
| gave Washburn.
| And Butlerism was not so strong in Massa-
| chusetts then as now. For mark you, he
comes before the people this year with the
| claim of having been second on the list before,
of having been defeated by combination
against him, and OF having supported heartily
the ticket that defeated him. Since then he
has been Endorsed by his district in an over
whelming vote; he has carried through Con-
gress an increase of the Presidents salary, and
| has in return the Government patronage of the
| State, as shown by .the appointment last
| week Of Judge Sanger of Boston as District
! Attorney upon his recommendation, in opposi-
! ton TO the remonstrances of better men.
| Then, too, it must be considered that many of
those who successfully opposed him two years