Year: 1866

On Tuesday evening, a meeting of
the Soldiers and Sailors National
League was held in the Hall of the
House Of Representatives at Washing
ton. Major General Benjamin F. But
ler being present, was advised to ad
dress the meeting. The suggestion was
received with applause. The Chairman
introduced General .Butler,~ who re-
marked that, if there was no objection,
he should feel more at home upon the
floor than at the desk, and would speak
there to which the Chairman replied
that he knew no one more entitled to
the floor of the House of Representa-
tives than his distinguished fellow
citizen.


On taking his place upon the floor,
Gen. Butler received an enthusiastic
greeting, and proceeded to speak in
substance as follows:


Being unexpectedly called upon to
speak to this body, which had met to
consult upon the course to be pursued
by our soldiers in their demands for
justice and right, he hoped to be ex-
cused if in any point he should seem
to err, in which. case he trusted the
errors would be regarded as of the head
rather than of the heart.
Meeting SO many Of his fellow-sol-
diers under circumstances so filled with
glorious recoHections of the past, and
still more glorious hopes for the future,
he felt that it was good to be here. 1t
was meet we should pause a. moment
at such time, and give a passing
thought to those we shall meet no more
in this world, but whom through the
grace of God, we hope to meet here
after-the men who have laid down
| their lives for the salvation Of their
country 1t was our first duty now to
see that they should not have laid them
down in vain-to see that the great
cause for which they struggled-free-
dom, justice and equality before the
laW-shouId not be lost Unless this
was done, all their sacrifices would
have been for naught


| Another duty was to take care that
those who had helped the country
through her days Of trial should be
cared for. First in their claims upon us
were the disabled and the wives and
should pay not only what may be due
to them under existing laws or con-
tracts, but should pay them what was
their rights and he was glad to see
that in one Of the resolutions passed
this afternoon, the convention demand
ed this. The country owed them some
thing more than to enable them to eke
out bare subsistence; they should be
enabled to live on a full equality with
earned for them, and the country was
not, and never had been, nor ever
would be, so poor that she can not do
this act of simple Justice. ess..


He showed here that the pension al
lowed a soldiers widow was not one
third Of what her husband could have
earned had he been living, the pension
of q disabled officer not one third, and
the pension of disabled soldier not
tenth Of what he could have earned
as a mechanic in any workshop Of the
country had he been left in possession
of his physical powers Why, he ask
ed, was this unjust? Why was it un-
reasonable to ask that these pensions
should be. increased? He proceeded
to show that the eight, dollars per
month allowed to, soldiers in former
times was a competency; it was suffi-
cient to live upon. Eight dollars then
would purchase more than twenty four
dollars will now Therefore, he urged
that the resolution on this subject,
passed by the Convention, demanded
Alright that the country should do full
and ample justice. rrsH ..h


1t would be appropriate to stop here
IN the Capitol, saved by the Yalor of