The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-03-11
No Butler in "OurS. -

a sensational uISpdJCI " Dooboh PePOi
saws that Sewal of Maine sis controlled by
Congressman Frye of Maine, who secured
his appointment as Supervisor of Internal
Revenue and who is strong friend of But
ler." So much matter of course has it be-
come to assume that every subordinate gov
err ment official is somebody's s.manv' Why,
ii it could be established by competent evil
dence that anybody had recently gone to heav-
en-, there would be large number of people
whom nothing could persuade that the de-
ceased had not obtained the position in some
body's "interest.' So much for absurdity
number one.
But the correspondent adds-mendaciously
no doubt, for Mr.. Frye is not an idiot:
''Frye said the other day, that if the people
OF Maine could have their way they would
elect Butler Governor of Massachusetts,
And the Springfield Republican, ordinarily
sagacious, comments gravely on that "fact"
as curious phenomenon. Well-a- day! that
was always just our luck! Maine has, it
must be confessed, an unhappy facility for
falling prey to foreign conquest. First the
Jesuits bedevied our Indians and gained an
ascendency over them, then the French got
foothold, afterwards the Massachusetts, Pu.
ritans extended their rule over Gorges' prov
ince, then the British held large part of our
territory during the Revolution and the war
of 1872, and, finally, the gallant Strickland
was obliged to fall back in disorder from the
frontier during the "Aroostook War;" And
now Butler, SO the Springfield Republican
fears, has got us well entombed in his diges-
tive apparatus !-and makes nothing of it |!
Down we go as easily as a little German
duchy into the Unsuitable nav of Prussia.
When the English acquired Gibraltar they
loudly exulted: when Kaiser William got his
iron hand on Alsace and Lorraine, the pious
old monarch devoutly thanked God; when
Italy annexed Venetia there was national re-
joicing. But we are annexed to Butler and
the great man doesn't do us so much grace as
to give single grimace OF satisfaction in the
act Of deglutition and digestion. AMI no note
is taken of the transaction except in an OBJ
scure corner of Boston newspaper and in a
paragraph of tender regret in the Springfield
Republican.
But seriously-the correspondent is Ii
beler. Mr. Frye never could have formed so
absurdly incorrect all opinion, no matter how
much he himself admires the Massachusetts,
phenomenon. That the people of Maine
have their faults is too true. They neglect
their schools and don't absolutely abolish
hanging; they export schoolmasters and hay,
and import Western -four and tobacco; and it
is only week or so since they entirely ceased
the use of spirituous and malt liquors. But,
thank heaven, they are sound to the core on
the Butler question. They have never yet
made any pact or contract with the OBJ
lique eyed man of destiny, They taught him
Christian evidences and polemics at Water
vile College and then washed their hands OF
him. The graceless unfilial wight never
comes of a commencement day to kiss the
hand of his cherishing mother-never brings
her corn and oil from his boundless stores
never contributes a half penny to build up
her temples or hallow the memory of her pa
triot dead. Poor, sad-eyed mother, stricken
heart! uncovered amid her elms she bushes
at the mad antics of her monstrous progeny,
as Pasiphae might have blushed at the below
ings of Minotaur.
Butler! Why that is the name with which
good parents in Maine frighten their unruly
children. If the national constitution should
be changed to conform to thai of Great Brit
ain, so that we could select non residents for
our representatives in Congress, Butler could
never receive our suffraSA- ,vus as we
corld eha----vrrween him and Brick Pom
eroy or the Kansas ex- senator of that name
or JEFF Davis or Tweed or Oakley Hall. No,
with all our faults we hav'nt reached that
depth. When we do fail in our respect for
such things as are honorable and decent and
of good report, when we turn from truth,
right and justice to worship mere brute force
and diabolsm, we shall not mnce the mat
ter by prostrating ourselves before Butler but
shall boldly erect shrine to Beelzebub him
self.