Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-02-27
sf;istellaueuns geadiug.
GEN. NJ. C. BUTLER.

The Washington correspondent Of the Chi
cago Times furnishes that paper with the fol-
lowing pen and ink sketch Of Senator M. G.
Butler, of South Carolina:
If any one in the North were to be asked
who is the most fierce and barbarous man
among the unreconstructed people in the
South, the prompt reply, in the majority OF
cases, would be Gen. M. G. Butler, Of South
Carolina. But what astonishes the people
who make his acquaintance is to learn how
he could have acquired any such bad repu.
tation through the North. Possibly, Gen.
Butler shares this astonishment, for milder
hammered gentleman and one more agreeable
in social converse it would be hard to find
among the public men in Washington. In
the first place there is nothing about the
personal appearance of Butler to indicate
the typical idea of the Southern man as is
entertained by the people of the North. He
does not wear his hair long. 1t is an iron
gray, cropped close after the style of the
French officer. He has no blowing mustache
or bushy whiskers His face is smooth sha-
ven, except medium gray mustache that
slightly shades his upper lip. Instead OF the
angular bony face Of the Southern type, his
face is round and full. His eyes, instead Of
flashing with cold emotion, are dead cold
gray, whose expression rarely changes in
intense excitement. Senator Butler does not
wear shiny broadcloth clothes made into
baggy shapelessness; neither does he wear
the traditional huge soft black hat. He dress
es in the English style; generally wearing
close fitting black coats made by the best Of
tailors. A stiff felt hat or silk hat covers his
head. His boots also fit him, which fact
also distinguishes him from the typical South
ern statesman. If yon were to see M. G..
Butler in New York, London or Paris, you
would say, in all probability, that he was a
citizen of the place where you saw him, 80
thoroughly at home does he appear wherever
he may happen to be.
Indeed, he is the reverse Of almosts every
idea that the Northern mind would natural
ly conceive concerning Southern statesman.
There is nothing of the emotional in NJ. G.
Butler. He is not man to act on impulse,
but always upon cool judgment. He is one
of the best men in the South, so far as keen
political judgment is concerned. A large
percentage of the success Of Hampton, Of
South Carolina, has been through the ccunsels
of his friend Butler, and yet one unfortu-
nate circumstance-the fact of his being
in the neighborhood Of the Hamburg massa-
cre-has been sufficient to create for him an
evil reputation that has existed for so long
time in the North, but which is now begin
ming to be slowly corrected. He has been
thoroughly vindicated by both parties. After
thorough investigation, it has been shown
that he acted the part of a peacemaker, rather
than as a disturber of the peace, and had his
counsels been followed, there would have been
no trouble whatever. 1t is an old proverb
that lie can never be overtaken by the
truth, and it is for that reason that Gen.
Butler never expects that the people of the
North will ever know him as he really is a