The New York herald., 1878-09-18
Butler iu His Elem ent-The s'Stormy
Petrol, OF American Politics.

SeEeiui puDiic through the pOelS Vuuh siiS
ornithologists-a bird of i'll omen, of which
no sailor speaks we'll, whose appearance
in the course of q voyage bodies storm
and disaster and shipwreck. What the
'stormy petrel" is in navigation
General Butler is in politics. He is never
his element, as when careering on the edge
of tempest and striking terror into the
hearts Of political navigators, when 'the
strong masts shake like quivering reeds,
Isand the merest hairs breadth divides safety
from shipwreck. To be sure, the fear OF
the stormy petrol is only sailors
superstition, but the unnerving and terror
izing effect of superstition is not to be dis
regarded by any commander OF a vessel. II,
in threatening weather, the crew be appalled,
and disheartened the ship is lost. The
stormy petrel is not favorite, although it
is warning bird
For the mariner curseth tho warning bird
Which brngoth him news OF tho storm unncard!
All thus does the prophet OF good or Ill
Meet hato from the creatures be scrvcth Sill
These descriptive lines Of the poet set
forth precisely the function Of General
Butler in politics. he is the bird of ill
omen, the unpopular and hated bird whose
careering in the storm and fitting over the
waves announces the shipwreck Of political
parties. True indeed it is that parties must
already be in an advanced state of disin-
tegration when SO slight matter can throw
them into confusion. The appearance OF the
stormy petrol at Worcester has disrupted and
disorganized the democratic party OF Msssa-
chusetts, and it is postponed and unde-
cided question whether the party can sur
vive the shock it encountered yesterday at
Worcester. When in battle the enemy
retreats, makes q sudden change Of base
and transfers the contest to new ground at
future day, the advantage is obviously
on the side Of the party which puts the
enemy to flight The tactics of the Butler
men at Worcester yesterday cannot very
well be defended on the score of fairness
or morals or legal right, but it must never
theless be conceded that they got the better
of their adversaries. The democratic regu-
lars. finding that they were outwitted
and circumvented by the superior
numbers and astuteness of the Butler
men, adopted sudden resolution to
adjourn the Convention for a week, and
to transfer IL from Worcester to Boston
The defeated old-liners will ~reassemble
in Taneui, Hall next Wednesday and at
tempt 10 nominate an anti-Butler ticket.
But meanwhile events will have advanced
and The consolidation of the Butler forces
viii have rendered it more difficult to arrest
al. II Ia fOr ba
ensuing critical week, the Butler demo-
Gratis will maintain that he has received the
regular nomination of the party, o.nd their
position will have become SO fixed and un-
alt9rable that the Faneuil Hall Convention
cannot change it. They have nothing to fear
from party discipline since it is beyond
dispute that Butler had majority Of the
regularly elected delegates and that his
friends would have controlled the Worcester
Convention if they and his enemies had
been admitted on the same footing. 1t is
beyond oil question that Butler had n large
majority of the delegates chosen to
represent the party ut Worcester.
The illegal methods adopted by his
friends to get control of the hall were re-
sorted to because they were stung by
sense of outrage at the sharp practice which
the old-liners had decided to adopt for their
exclusion. If the State Committee had
been willing that all the regular delegates
should be admitted to seats, irrespective of
instructions or pledges, the Butler men
would have controlled the Convention. 1t
was only because the State Committee knew
this and understood it's consequences that
they. concocted a plan for shutting the
door of the Convention against the majority
of regularly elected delegates. The inten-
ton of the old-fcgy State Committee to
refuse seats to delegates regularly chosen
may not quite justify. but it at least palli-
ates, the desperate tactics Of the majority
to head off an unwarranted assumption of
authority. The Butler delegates got pos
session of the hall by stratagem
which must be regarded as a trick;
but some allowance must be made
for tho provocation. 1t is beyond
question or dispute that if tho will of the
local constituencies had been respected
Butler would have had a clear and decisive
majority of the Convention. The State
Committee knew this, and it was because
they knew it that they undertook to dis
franchise the majority of the constituencies.
They were foiled by a trick as discredit-
able as their own; but their intention to
nullify the will of the constituencies de-
prives them of any just title to sympathy.
The Butler movement is likely to grow in
strength in the interval before the Faneuil
Hall Convention meets, and no democrat
will be restrained from voting for Butler by
anything which may be done next week in
Faneuil Hall. The adjourned Convention
will be rump respected by no Massachu-
sets democrat who is not already
committed against Butler. The proba-
hilitu is that the old-hnera unWill-