Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1877-05-17
Gen. NJ. C. Butler.

Ine CnlcaSO ItWeS, StyS tne CHTOHtCtG
G C0nstitution0liSt, is an able but rabid
paper. Its mission in theworld seems
to be to purvey social nastiness and po-
li,ically tostrike, like a blind -attlesnake
in the month OF August, anything that
comes within its range. 1t is not less
merciless in attacking Democracy thar
in combating Radicalisn; but its chief
point Of venomous onslaught appears to
be the South and her leading men. In q
recent number the editor, who is only
surpassed in his talent by his mendacity,
makes furious and i'll considered raid
upon the good name and fair fame of
Gen. NJ. G. Butler, of South Carolina.
Senator Butler is described as man of
slow origin and habits, as of the over
seer and slave dealer class, conspicuous
for his brutality to negroes, as tho nm
porter of Russian blood hounds to hunt
down runaway slaves, as the instigator
of the massacre at Hamburg, indeed q
representative OF the worst class which
exists in the South, instead of that class
of scholarly, chivalric and high toned
gentlemen from which South Carolina
has been wont to choose her national
representatives. ~
A moro malignant or atrocious false
hood was never uttered, and the mem
dacity Of the sketch is only equaled by
its utter wantonness or ignorance. We
have taken pains, on several occasions,
to correct these gratuitous SANDERS. At
this time we avail ourselves of compe-
tent defense by the New Orleans Demo-
crat, which speaks the words of truth
and soberness, US follows:
General Butler is known to every
South Carolinian as the very reverse of
the picture here drawn. There is no
gentleman IN the North or South more
respected Sor his generous aud ehixals
justice; his infexible courage and
promptitude in resistance to every form
of tyranny aud oppression. No man on
the continent has a prouder lineage. His
mother was the daughter of Commodore
NJ. c. Perry, the hero of one of the bright
est achievements Of our navy; his uncle
was the gallant Colonel Pierce Butler,
-,ho fell at the head of the Palmetto
Regiment in one of the most gallant
charges of our army in one Of the battles
in the valley of Mexico. His grandia-
ther, bearing the same name, was re-
garded as the model Of Southern gen.
tleman, and his father, the original Colo
mel Pierce Butler, was the progenitor OF
that remarkable family of Generals, so
distinguished in our Revolutionary war,
to whom George Washington once gave
the toast: ITO the Buffers, the heroes of
our Revolution
$50 much for the lineage Of General
NJ. C. Butler, reference to which we
are provoked by the sneers Of the Times
at his low origin.
"For the General himself, history will
bear witness to his heroic and selfsacri-
ticing devotion to the cause of Southern
independence, as will be further attested
by the loss of one of his limbs and the
devotion of u handsome fortune to the
raising and equipment of regiment of
cavalry, which he led through the late
war with distinguished gallantry and
skill. When the war was over General
Butler co-operated with Governor Hamp-
ton in his eminently conservative policy.
in discouraging and repressing all yio-
lent and extreme measures on the part
of his oppressed and prosecuted fellow.
citizens. The connection of his name
with the Hamburg affair had no further
foundation in truth than may be derived
from his presence in the character OF
mediator and suppressor of a serious
and bloody affair"