Daily Kennebec journal., 1883-04-02
Butler Answered..

An uncomfortably large dose of his own
medicine has been torcibly administered to
Governor Butler, and he is likely to feel the
effects of ii for some time. In one of his
veto messages he took the unprecedented
course of lecturing the legislature for alleged
csrelessness, basing his charge upon defects
which he pointed out in the vetoed bill Now
the Judiciary Committee of the Senate re-
torts in a report defending the legislature
from the charge of carelessness and show
ing that the Governor did not know what he
was talking about The report is an exceed
ingly clever document and convicts the Gov
ernor of blunders both serious and
amusing. The committee say that the Gov
ernors language toward the legislature
was such as was never before used by the
Chief Executive of civilized State or Nation
and advise the Senate to spread upon the
journal their sense of its 'undignitied and
unbecoming'' character. They then pass TO
q consideration of the statements of facts and
opinions in the message, and say they were
'pained to find that His Excellency has so
''loaded his message with errors, mistakes
land blunders tina, to be charitable, all were
forced to the conclusion that he had never
''read the bill returned, except, in parliamen-
'tary phrase, by title
They specify some of the more glsring
hlunders, and then score this extremely neat
shot at the Governors historical learning:
We pause by the way, however, TO note the extra
ordinary statement that las early a. the third
century the Christian Emperors of Rome found IT
to pass decrecs against the method of
holding land" II is presumed this example of
Christian Emperors is cited for the that his
Exceency thought IL likely to have weight
aud influence with the representatives of Christian
people than could be fairy given TO those Emperors
whose minds were couded with the base supersti-
tons and dostrous prac;ices of the heather world
And your Committee are again paiuei 10 report thai
though Rome had been ruled by nearly hundred
Emperors before the close of the third century,
Christian Emperor had as yet succeeded to the i'm
perial throne of the Caesars.
That is precisely in the Governors own
manner, and is so fair a hit that even he will
be able possibly to take grim sort of pleas
ure in it. Having got their man down, the
committee proceed TO trample upon him
They say that only an imperative sense of
duty impelled them TO point cut this hlunder
and they hope that he will spare them the
pain of calling attention to any more ''such
unaccountable mistakes in a Massachusetts
State paper" Then comes the final blow
which is perhaps the neatest of all
The Commonwealth a. great expense has pur-
chased and furnished extensive library, con-
venienty located door TO the Governors private
room, which might be interpreted as quiet init
nation that she will accept excuse for mis- axes
who are from time to time called upon to ill her
highest ofhce.
The Governor has his innings now. but he
will have to wait till the State stops laughing
before he can be heard. He has clearly been
giving too much attention to the law business
lie said recently that he could attend to all