The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-08-25
For TIE INTELLIGENcER.
BUTLER AND BROOKS.
Two Notable South Carollnians Who Did
their Duty as they saw 1t.

Two Notable South Carollnians Who Did
their Duty as they saw 1t.
In 1878 the late Judge A. P. AL
drich wrote a sketch of the life of
Judge A. P. Butler and from different
parts of which I take the following:
Andrew Pickens Butler, the son Of
Gen. William Butler and his wife,
Mrs. Behethland Forte Butler, who was
a Miss Moore, was born in Edgefeld on
the 18th Of November, 1896. He
graduated in the South Carolina College
in 1917, was admitted to the Bar
in 1918, elected one of the law Judges
in 1888, to the United States Senate
in 1916, and was Chairman of the Ju-
dietary Committee Of hat then august
body. As a lawyer, Judge Butler rose
rapidly to the highest rank in his pro-
fession, and the best proof of his
marked ability is the fact that he met
as competitors such distinguished
jurists and orators as McDufie, Pres
ton, the Wardlaws, Bauskett, Bacon,
Glascock, Griffin, Burt and a host Of
other shining lights, who have adorn-
cd the Bench, the Senate chamber and
illustrated the profession. The uni
versal testimony Of his contempora-
ries is, that he was one of the most
adroit, able and eloquent advocates
who ever adorned the Bar Of the
State. His wit and humor were un-
failing, his invective scathing, his
power of illustration unsurpassed,
and, at times, his pathos would melt
to tears. But all the men who heard
him, with one or two exceptions, are
dead and gone, and he has left no re-
cord of his great triumphs as an advo-
cate and a lawyer. I do not know
that I can give a better idea of what I
mean than by q quotation from one of
his W letters to Mrs. Hayne, the
mother of his second wife:
"There is a wisdom in the dispen-
sations of God, far beyond our concep-
ton. The developments Of tomorrow
only dispel the hattering or distress
ing fallacies of to-day. Man in the
proudest exhibition of his earthly ma
ture, is but an evanescent creature,
leaving an impression on the memory
of a few. 1t is only in the ful6llment
of the unknown but wise designs of
Providence that he assimilates himself
to Divine dignity"
AS a Legislator his career was equal
ly successful, but here, as at the Bar,
his fame is only tradisionary-there is
no record. In 1924 he was elected to
the House Of Representatives from
Edgefeld, and Immediately took a high
stand. In 1928 he was appointed
n of the Committee to impeach
Judge James, which was successfully
done, and which shows that Judge
Butler had impressed himself on the
House. This painful duty was we'll
performed, and, SO far as | can see, it
was the only case in which he pre-
served the notes Of his argument. /
doubt not it was the most painful duty
of his life, for a kinder heart never
beat in human bosom. He commenced
by saying: ''The impeachment is con-
Quoted in sorrow.
"It has been their painful duty to
arraign before this august tribunal an
old, infrm man, high in station and
cndeared to US by many recollections;
q man who has many claims to u
gratitude. n n \ 1t is to be conducted
against a soldier of the Revolution; it
is to be conducted against a man who
has a name with which all that is gal
liant is associated, \ and who de-
serves to be considered the shield of
South Carolina
And so on, throughout the notes of
his argument, are these calculations
thrown out. No wonder, as a con-
temporary writes, she more than once
whispered to his friend, who was coun-
sci for the defense, L wish I could
change places with you" He con-
%tinucs, 'sBut while this s~ensibility
was apparent throughout the trial, his
duty was faithfully and sorrowfully
discharged, and his speech for the
prosecution, upon the close Of the tes-
timony, was a most vigorous and pow
erful effort, in the general estimation
surprising those of the very clever
gentlemen, his associates"
When the Senate rendered its de-
cision, adverse to the old Judge, a
shower of tears streamed down Mr..
Buffers checks, and he buried his
face in his hands until he was relieved
by the dispensing of the crowd. In
this, his earliest exhibition on a con-
%spicuous stage, he manifested all his
prominent characteristics, rich in tai
emit, extensive knowledge of law, con-
scientious devotion to duty, and that
activity and tenderness Of sensibility
which promptly springs into tears
upon occasion of pathetic excitement.
| He was tender and true, soft and bold,
soft as a woman and bold as a lion.
His nature was impulsive and explo-
sive. In the Senate | suppose his
grandest senatorial effort was his reply
to Mr.. Sumner. 1t must be so, for l
find among his papers letters, not only
from all parts of the United States,
but from Europe, soliciting copies of
the speech, and thanking him for its
calm wisdom, its digni6ed, sever re-
buke of the unwarrantable attack upon
State and himself in his absence, and
the craftsmanship displayed in the
discussion of the great question then
agitating the country. Had Judge
Butler been present in the Senate per-
haps Mr.. Summers speech would not
have been delivered, or, if it had, he
would have replied to tin such indig-
naut terms and with such crushing cf-
feet that poor Brooks would not have
felt called upon to vindicate his alb
sent relative. But they are all dead,
the strife and contention Of life are
over with thcm-lct them rest.