The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-03-11
JOHN YOUNG BROWN
The Man Who "Sassed Butler
His Future Fame.
Washington Special 10 the Chicago Times

Washington Special 10 the Chicago Timesl
John Young Brown came to Congress
this session with the deliberate intention of
insulting Benjamin Butler. When a sense
OF duty impels man to put an afront upon
another, the act is stripped of Tufiianism.
Brown was vituperative because his training
and conscience told him Butler was made to
be insulted by honest men. In this view it
was lust as heroic to push back gentlemanly
instincts, assume the Inevitable censure and
possible expulsion, and deliberately black
guard the object Of his souls detestation, as
1t would have been to charge a roaring bat
terry, or be burnt at the stake for religions
sake.
The fact that the young Hotspur had care
fully prepared his words, and reduced his in
vectye to a single well matured sentence,
proves his sincerity. There could be no ex-
cuse for member of Congress getting angry
enough in the callOric OF debate to suddenly
squirt out such a sentence. But TO prepare
il coolly in advance, and then try for several
days for an opportunity to hurl it at the vic
TINS head, evinces the sense of moral Obliga-
ton which impelled it. John Young Brown
was Just as creditable in sacrificing his breed
ing in order to deliberately insult a fellow
member whom he believed ought to he in
suited, as John Brown of HarpeT's Ferry was
IN laying siege to the whole State of Virginia.
w hat man does for that which he believes
TO be his duty is something for which he
should be punished if it imolates law or de-
cencyi but the mans man, for a that, and
Is entitled to the praise sure to be bestowed
on him whose acts tally with his ideas.
Brown came from a State where courage,
whether of voice or body, is a passport to
position. Kentucky can stand brave idiot,
but has no comfort for an intellectual cow
ard. Marry spUnk to ability, and Kentucky
can not find enough to give joined traits.
Brownlhas notified his bluegrass constituency
many tunes ia the past that he comes up to
the measurement they demand, both in in
tellect and pluck. His browning act, affront-
ing with due meditation and elegant bill
| ing gate the person whom the South regards
twin brother TO the devil, sets him n per-
manent idol in thoir shrine.
He must be cleared from fishing Tor this
exaltatiOn. He banged Butler because he
| fancied it his duty to do so: not from an in
sane yearning for notoriety. But his name
| is henceforth eternal in Kentucky. He wall
on his return home, be given distillery and
a stud horse; Kentucks can do no less fol
/ him.
! lfhis conscience is now satisfied, and for
! bears making him an everlasting Southern
! Quixote, to tilt forever at unworthy wind
mills, there is little OF eminence for which
John Young Brown may not hope. He il
| still on the sunny side of forty, yet has beer
! held remarkable in State which grows re-
markable men as regularly as it does glorious
women, for nearly twenty years. He ran fol
| Congress before he remembered that he wal
not old enough to take hiSseat ifelected. HI
! distanced his competitor, and was then o.
bliged to wait until the second session of the
| term gave him the requisite ripeness of years
/ Since then he has squRndered precious time
| by tervid adhesion to a doomed, and sulky
! repln1ng at d lost cause. His abominatioE
! of Buterism was 50 concentrated and en-
| crossing that he would not come again tC
/ Congress in 1868, though elected 80 to DO by
! persistent admirers. At last he compromised
| with his conscience and took re election tc
! the present body, STIMULATING &c his soul that
he would repay the indignity of sitting with
| Butler by insulting him. This offensC
| all. Brown came to Congress to insult But
Ter. A majority of Congressman appear &c
come here as an insult to the entire common
| intelligence the country
| Brown has youth, superior intelligence, q
/ torked tongue, and q pre- eminent sense
/ Of honor in his favor. He is an excellent
| lawyer, an able debR'er, and his words ring
out with the rich penetration of a silver clar-
ion. If, having made peace with his consci
ence by artistieally painting Butler as "pu-
| slllanimous in war, inhuman in peace, for
hidden in society, infamous in politics." he is
now ready to wash his hands and go sensibly
to work, immediate glory and prospseity
await him. Kentucky has not had Henry
! Clay or Tom Marshall for some years. II il
about time. John Young Brown is in better
trim to fill the bill than any known scion o.
that state of superb women, celestial Bour-
bon and immortal race-hOrses. But if hC
fools away further time paying devoir to the
memory of the punctured Confederacy, and in
coming rhetorical insolence, the golden day
for him will presently have slipped forever
One good insult is as much as clean and am
bilious man can afford TO waste on Butler.