Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-06-08
WASHINGTON. D. C. May %. IS11.

through MI fltklns nlteu States MARSHAL
in louisiana
WASHINGTON, d. c., May %, 1877.
My DEAR PTKIy: | have yours of the
18th inst, informing me that when YOU
were in Washington both the President and
Mr.. Devens, the Attorney-General, gave you
substantial assurances that you would not
be disturbed in your office as United States
Marshal, being native of the State of
Louisiana and 4 good Republican, and
against whom no official malfeasance or per-
sOnal derelictiOn from the path of right had
been shown, and who, therefore, came emi-
nently within the provisions of civil service
reform, which is the cornerstone, as | un-
derstand it, Of our Republican Administra-
tion. am certain, therefore, that the Pres
ident and the Attorney-General would never
have asked your resignation of the Office of
Marshal, as you say they have done, in con-
travention of their assurances and in disre-
gard Of. the principles Of civil service reform.
| am bound, therefore, from what | know of
both these gentlemen, to believe that they
intend in good faith to carry out their assur-
ances and preserve their principles. One
fault which | find with your letter is that
you do not make sufficient allowance for Do
litical necessities and entanglements, by
which good men are compelled to do that
which they would rather not do. 1t is an
open secret here, as | am informed, that
Colonel Wharton, your competitor, aided
by Mr.. MacVeagh, one of the Commissioners
of New Orleans, very largely in getting
portion of the members Of the Republican
Legislature to desert from Packard and 60
over to Nichols, by which a Returning
Board Legislature was put under the control
of Nichols, and then that Legislature en-
abled the Commission to advise that as the
Legislature had recognized the Nichols
Government, the President was bound to
withdraw the troops. 1t is also asserted that
$4,000 was to be paid to the leading desert
ing legislators and only $500 to others,
disguised in the latter case in the shape of
mileage, so that Mr.. johnson, a colored
man, speaking out of the innocence OF his
heart, said on the floor OF the House that all
he wanted was to get his mileage and 90
home. 1t is also asserted here that Colonel
Wharton. being the instrument selected by
Mr. MacVeagh to do this piece of business,
had his promise of being made Marshal if he
successfully accomplished it. Now, Whar-
ton performed his side of the bargain, and
think YOU are very unreasonable in OBJ
jecting that the Administration should carry
out their side of it, or, at least, do the best
they can so to do. 1t ought to satisfy
Wharton that they have asked you to resign,
and you won't, and therefore they have done
the best they could to make good NaeVeagh's
bargain, and, as they can't, Wharton ought
to be satisfied, precisely like my friend
General Garfield, who, having done his best,
and succeeded in electing Mr.. Stanley
Matthews to the Senate at the request
of the President, as it is said, on the
agreement that the President would make
him Speaker Of the House of Representa-
tiyes. will have to be, and ought to be, sat
isfied with fair. honest and hearty en-
deavor on the part of the President to make
him Speaker. and if he fails Garfield will
have nobody to blame but himself for not
remembering that ga bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush
Now, my dear Mr. Pitkin, | call upon
you. by the love you bear to the Republican
party and its principles, in memory of the
many sacrifices you have made during and
since the war as Union man in Louis
lana, for the safety of the country, and not
for the sake of holding office under the
United States, not to throw any impediment
in the way of the Presidents fulfilling all
the bargains which his subordinates made, as
necessary steps in inaugurating his Southern
policy, which is to be of 50 great and meal
culable advantage, not only to the party
which YOU love so well, but also to the
country for the unity and nacifration of
which you have given the best days of your
manhood. write thus to you because
| thought | detected in your note
to me what seemed to be an IN
reasonable tone of complaint that you
ere thus to be sacrificed. Remember that
Abraham was about to sacrifice his only son
Isaac, the child of his old age, to what he
believed to be the will of God and the neces-
sites OF his people, and the Good Book does
not make mention of any unreasonable COM
plants or outcries of Isaac on that occasion
and so, when you find that the President, in
obedience to the call of the country and the
public exigency for its pacifeation, deems
it necessary to sacrifice you and take away
your office and give it to one who wore the
gray when you stood in the blue, you ought
not to kick and squirm any more than Isaac
did when he lay upon the altar under the
knife of his father, Abraham. am sorry
that cannot write you any other words OF
comfort and consolation, but such as have
| give unto you. am yours, truly,
BENJAMIN f. BUTLER.
j. Il. c. Pitkin. ED. nitcd States Marshal,
New Orleans, La.