New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-07

GENERAL BU7LENS BATTLEFIELD VoV.
The final withdrawal OF General Buller from
party which has not only been in the haoH
OF assembling its love for him, but has ire
quently kicked him down stairs, may not we
felt as a loss by the Republicans; but literature
certainly suffers nreplrably in the dlscon'h-
uance-for we suppose it must be DISCONTINUED
of that noble passage in his speeches upon
which he has for many years been ringing the
changes, apostrophzing the upturned faces oI 'l'c
dead negro soldiers whom he saw lying on the
battlefield 1t was very fine thing, ana ten
eTa Butler was i'll the habit of using IL ire
quently and getting n great deal ont OF 1t. Ills
favoritc putting of it, if we rightly remember
was that "a he looked upon those upturned olack
faces on the tied-rhe faces of men VINO iad
died for country which the Democratic party
sought to dcstroy-he either lifted up his hand
or took of his hat, OF waved his handkerchlei'
or did something else to show that he was en-
gagged in the act of adjuration. and soiemhIy
vowed to devote the remainder of his life to the
work of making the black men who had de-
Tended the country the equals, at least IN all the
| respects of citizenship, with the men VINO hau
sought its destruction.
1t was one of his pet passages, and though we
| have sometimes thought and have taken 0cca-
| sion to say in THE TRIBUNE, that he gave II
rather too much to do, it has always seemed
beautiful Or rather, 1t would have seemed
| beautiful and touching If there had not been
something in the orators character or career,
or general appearance, that somehow, when he
| struck into sentiment, suggested thrustlng OF
| the tongue in the cheek, or dropping the tan OF
| the eve. or other indefinable token of what the
| worldly call "tafly.n For though General
| Buffers may be one of those earnest and sincere
vet unreasonable natures that lead their pos
SCISSORS to go around on battle(ieds with.a,nOtary
public and blanks to look into the faces OF the
dead and register oatfs to avenge them, 1t is
only fair to say thatwhen he " gives 1t away
in public, the people on the platform TIP theWlnk
to each other, even while the audience IN
| front are deluged in tears. Not that this Is
absolutely his fault. Quite likely it Is only
his misfortune. 1t sometimes happens to men
who take this kind of avenging Oaths, and even
20 to the extent of having them formally
recorded in the Office of the town clerk, that a
| cold and unsentimental world takes no stock In
| them-especially when they ale running foI
office. And this, too, when they distinctly state
that the only inducement they have to run
for Office Is to fulfil the vow.
But. as we were saying, this apostrophe viii
he missed II has undergone many changes
of form since it first appeared; 1t fingers in
somewhat Kaleidoscope way in memory and
we fear it has not been sufficiently worked NJ
70 be embalmcd in our permanent literature
Orr ONLY consolation is that he may in his re
cent Yachting cruise have had the opportunity
while visiting other yachts than his own, tC
discover the despodc relations OF capital II
The cabin toward labor in tie iorecaslle, and
register another VOW to keep running fol
office until this injustice Is externnated, and
both occupy the same bunk. The scene would
be changed, but the poetry aud the sentiment
would remain.