The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1893-02-11
AN INFAMOUS THING.

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Says the Chicago Inter Ocean. 1t has
never been denied that the profession
of journalism has its proportion of pu-
sillanimous miscreants. No calling is
so noble to be above the reach of the
vile wretches that, devoid of all honor,
decency or the semblance of self-re-
spect, seek to gain for themselves the
color of reputability by crawling into
the presence of that which is honor
able and honoring. As there are crea-
lures wearing the coat of the clergy
whose souls are leprous with hypocrisy
and sin, so there are counterfeits of
man in the scarcely less sacred office
of the editor whose moral characters
fit them to coil with serpents, since
they are too ignoble to herd with
wolves. Such an one has emitted his
venomous hiss from the obscure office
of the Nashville american, in a viper
attempt to sting the heel of the man
whom death has silenced. Worms and
toads are supposed to fatten on the
dead; but it is rare that we find the
counterparts of man so utterly de-
praved, so despicably vile that they are
willing to stand and, with blackguard
speech, spit out their hatred upon the
scarce cold dead whose living presence
they would have fled as reptiles flee
the approach Of man.
The attack of the Nashville Ameri-
can upon Benjamin F. Butler the
morning after his death was the most
infamous thing any American paper
has ever published against the dead
doubly Infamous for being SO contempt
ibls as piece of writing. 1t did not |
even have brilliancy or cleverness to
redeem it, but was the vulgar fustian
of drunken drab, the vituperation of
blatherskite enamored of an audacity |
that had nothing to dread but that
contempt Of decent men to which it is
already Injured. Only the fact that a
paper pretending to decency published
the screed distinguishes it from the
mouthings Of sot in the gutter.
In no place but the south-that
makes such loud boast of valor, chiv-
airy, manhood and honor-could there
have been found paper to open its
columns to so cowardly, beggarly,
blackguardly and dishonest vill6ca-
tion of the dead as that in which were
the words, "In all this southern coun-
try there are no tears, no sighs and no
regrets. He lived only too long. We
are glad he has been at last removed
from earth and even pity the devil the
possession he has secured" Nothing |
has ever been said in defense of Gen
eral Buffers attitude toward the peo-
pie of New Orleans in time of war
that made so complete justification
of his conduct as does the article from
which this quotation is made. If
thirty years.. bene6cent peace and the
solemn last atonement of death could |
not soften into something like dignity
the vicious nature of which the editor
of the Nashville american is SO shame
full an example, Butler did not only
the safest but the wisest thing as mill
tary dictator to subdue its dangerous
malevoence in its virulent form. Das-
tardly as the article was it will be con-
strued into tribute to the fearless
ness, Judgment and patriotic honesty
of the man it was written to defame.
Whatever the faillngs of Butler,
however erfatic his occasional i'm
pulses, however rigorous and uncom-
promising his methods, he was one of
the intellectual giants of this country,
one of its most proudly loyal citizens,
and one Of its most incorruptibly hon.
est men, and one who commanded the
admiration and held the respect of all
who knew him in his daily relations
to life. In every respect he was man
compared to whom the creature of the
american dwindles to the dimensions
of the slime bred worm that we un-
consciously tread under foot.
Happily for the nation, the people
of the south do not resemble the edi-
tor who impudently offers himself as
their spokesman. If they felt bitterly
living Butler, they had the
dignity and the humanity to inter
their resentment with his clay.