The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-19
GENERAL BUTLBR's LETTER.


of the Greenback party and to tear it to
smithereens by performing Donnybrook jig
on its tattered remains. General Butler is so
outre; so ostentatiously hostile to all men ex-
cept himself and all ideas save his own; he is
so pcturesquely bizarre, that, as though he
were the bedizened and befeathered chief in a
and try to ring the bell by hitting the center.
By nature, OF by self-schooling, Gen
eral Butler has way of making him
self so conspicuous, and of drawing
so many shafts of criticism to himself, that
his Importance is magnifed, and he is regard
ed as bigger than he really is. The Journal
to say that he is not possessed of some charac-
teristics that mark him above his fellows.
Without rising to the dignity of statesman
ship he is no mean politician, shrewd in ma
nipulating people and in maneuvering the
forces he has at command His persistency,
too, is phenomenal, so that, as the lady with
an Objectionable but importunate lover, Massa-
chusetts once committed the folly of electing
him Governor ITO get rid of him" The ex-
pertinent was not repeated, however. One
year of Butlerism was quite enough.
The letter now given publication is charac-
teristic of the man; plausible without ap-
preaching convincing argument; compliment
airy, without committing the writer to any
body in particular. The weather-eye of the
willy writer is so evidently on the favorable
as to almost smother the sentiment of friend
illness toward the Greenbackers. 1t will be
observed that he did not once say turkey"
unequivocally to the committee representing
the Indianapolis convention. dissemination,
he says, affected him with deep
sensibility," and Gin the ordinary
course of events" such an honor
"would call for grateful acknowledgements"
The diplomatic gentleman from Massa-
chusetts then sails through sea of Demo
cratic eulogy, though, without condescend-
ing TO mention the Republican party by name,
he pays it a high compliment in its financial
management which,, by a ratocination
peculiarly his, he credits to General Jackson.
Pulling again for the shore, he recalls the fact
that his letter is to the Greenbackers, and he is
constrained to say that there Seems a
necessity for further continuance of 'your"
(not 'our") organization, and therefore, n
am with you"
Analysing the letter of acceptance of
this gentleman who is with" the Greenback
party, we find that the declaration that he is
with it in sentiment is the nearest he comes
to saying that he expects to act as its stand
ard-bearer with all that such leadership i'm
plies. His attention is devoted wholly to the
Democratic party; he finds great satisfaction
in the thought that he was "a Democrat
taught in the Jackson school" Of all his
distinguished services in the war for the
Union, General Butler finds nothing that he
cares to mention. '1n the days of Jack
son was a Democrat he pleads
He views with alarm ''this attempt to undo
what jackson had so we'll DONE" though it
does not appear wherein jackson or the Dem
ocratic party had anything to do toward
making good the ''greenback." Singularly
enough too, Butler shows no disposition to
embarass himself by referring to the question
of tariff. Gentlemen Greenbackers," he
says, II am very much obliged to you for
your compliment, and iii the one question of
opposing the national banking system l am
with you. 1 don't care to say further; but am
Democrat, educated in the jackson school,
and--well we will see."
This, we think, is the only fair interpreta-
ton that can be placed upon this remarkable
letter. Beyond well-defined bid for the
Chicago nomination, there is not enough meat
in it to cover the skeleton of mosquito. His
point, evidently, is to say just enough to put
string about the Greenback vote to lead it to
the Chicago convention. Laying aside his
pugnacity for the time being, he is 'fin the
hands of his friends" for the first time in his
life a position alien to his aggressive
nature and necessarily calling to de-
gree. But Benjamin F. Butler is too old a
politician to be fooled while there is the ghost
of chance to get what he wants. He is not
so engrossed with the Greenback sparrow in
his hand as to forget the goose that may yet
be his. He is Sinbad in the valley of dia-
monds, and his hope is that he may climb to
the back of the Democratic roc, and be car
ned to the height of his ambition The
Greenback party, then, finds itself with can