Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-08-21
Mgisfellaueuns &eading.
A TALK WITH SENATOR BUTLER.
THE LATE FIGHT IN CONGRESS AND THE
,,.rr... o PRESENT SITUATION. rr....' F.
Correspondence of the News and Courler.]

According to instructions have interviewed
Senator M. G. Butler, and have succeeded in
obtaining his views on some of the more i'm
portant subjects now before the country.
called on him at his residence, and after the
usual exchange of courtesies, stated the pur-
port of my visit, and, with a little prelimina-
ry skirmishing, the interview proceeded as
follows:
"After the smoke of battle has cleared away,
what is your opinion of the result of the po-
litical conflict at the extra session of Con.
gress ?" ..ga,. .-.aia .... .a-.
eft is about what supposed it would be
when the controversy opened. The Radicals
sounded their gongs, raised great hue and
cry, and frightened the timid throughout the
country; but, as it progressed, the Democrats
gained on their adversaries and ended in a
substantial victory. The Radicals have, for
some years, concealed their real principles
under attacks upon the South, and this great
debate has compelled them to throw off the
mask and show their disregard for the Consti-
tutional Limitations which attach to our Re-
public, distinguishing it from any other that
has ever existed, and boldly avow their pur'
poses to make the Government what they
choose to call strong government which,
in reality, means nothing less than consoli-
dated Ellrire-built upon the destruction Of
the States. Of course, the leaders deny hav-
ing any such purpose, but it is the inevitable
logic of their position. They cannot escape
it, and the Democrats ought not to allow them
to escape it,"
"Do you think that will be the issue in the
next Presidential campaign ?"
"Unquestionably it ought to be, for if the
Radical party succeed in establishing the doc.
trines announced in debate, as the settled poll
cy of the General Government, an entire
change of our system of government will fol-
low. A constitutional government of limited
powers, operating upon the individual citizen
through the States, except as to those powers
specifically granted in the constitution, or such
as are necessary to carry out specific grants,
will be converted into a consolidated central
ism-if may use the term-responsible only
to the leaders of the dominant faction, who
WELD the supreme power for the aggrandize-
ment of their party and for the distribution
of the spols Of Office; and this change will
follow much more speedily than you suppose.
The exercise of national authority, in their
view, means the destruction of State authori-
ty, except so far as the State governments
may be convenient instrumentalities for en-
forcing the national will. The form of gov
ernment is much more efectually changed by
this means than by dissolution Of the Union,
or separation of the States, for in the latter
case Republican institutions may be preserved,
but in the former they will be entirely and
hopelessly destroyed" --....
"Do you think that Mr.. Hayes sympathizes
with the extreme doctrines of his party lead
ers, and is it your opinion that the rank
and file of the Republican party concur in
them ?"
~ will reverse the order of your question.
I do not believe the rank and file of the Re-
publican party in the North do concur in
such doctrines or principles as general thing.
The rank and file of the Republican party in
the South have no opinions of their own, and
consequently can scarcely be held RESPONSE
BILE. believe that great many of the more
conservative Republicans of the North are
really devoted to correct principles Of consti-
tutional government, but their leaders are
able, aggressive, and, in many instances, un-
scrupulous men, who love power for the sake
of power and the emouments and import
ance that it gives them, and not fer the good
that they may do to their fellow man, and,
under the cry of party necessity and party
supremacy, many Of these men will be borne
along and committed to a policy of govern
ment which in their hearts they do not ap-
prove The battle-ground will be at the
North, and everything depends upon the pluck
and energy of the Northern Democracy. If
they do not permit the Radicals to raise false
issues and frighten the people by false alarms,
they can win. But they will have to press
home the real danger to liberty with untiring
pertinacity and tact. The pendulum has
been swung back in the South as it was when
Mr.. Jefferson went into power in 1901, and
upon similar issues As to Mr.. Hayes, have
no doubt he is in full accord and sympathy
with the extreme men of his party on these
questions. If you will read his veto messages
to the late appropriation bills of Congress,
you will discover that he pushed the right Of
Federal interference with the affairs of the
States further than any man has ever ven.
tured in this country. No President, not even