Year: 1877

THE MOST REMARKABLE POLITICAL STRUGGLE
| EVER WITNESSED


! in the United States Senate. For twenty y-seven
hours and half the session flag fioated over
balanced battle, whose scales of victory finally
turned-for the first time in seventeen yearg--in
favor Of the Democratic party. 1t is not my in
tent to moralize upon this result, but rather to


describe the scenes Of the combat which brought


it about. The result itself is that the hitherto


unbridled power of Radicalism is at last
broken in the Senate-and the Senate was its


last fortress This is a result which may well
| let loose the pens of writer's and furnish food


for many repasts of thought and reflection
| But to the details. The work of last Wednes-s
day and Thursday was either


| PRELIMINARY sKrRMrsH,


or q reconnaissance in force, and 1t ended with
an adjournment to Monday, leaving both
sides anxious. neither fully confident and
but one fairly hopeful. The Radicals.
whether oppressed by the shadow Of fate,
| or haunted by the ghosts of the past.
| seemed to'discount all chances as against them,
and betrayed lack Of hope strangely new to
| them. The Democrats. like troops who have
| fought their way to the verge Of victory at the
point OF the bayonet. without losing either dash
| or morale. waited patiently for Monday to COM
plete their triumph. The issue hung, indeed,
upon brittle thread-the two votes OF
JOHN PATTERSON AND CoNeyER,
or, to speak more exactly, upon the single vote
OF either OF them. and there was no telling what
the three days between Thursday and Monday
might bring forth. But the Democrats chose To
harbor very nearly perfect faith in the stead
fastness of their new allies. despite the sinister
omen of the vote to adjourn, and the vague
augury fthe rumors which filled the air In the
Intervening days.


When the Senate met on Monday, therefore,
public expectation was at the highest pitch, and
long before the hour of noon all the galleries
were full, hundreds thronged the corridors un-
able to obtain even standing room inside, every
square foot of space on the floor of the Senate
outside the bar was occupied by the favored
friends of Senators, and all the doors which
commanded even occasional glimpses of the
scene within were besieged by multitudes with
strained neeks and eager eyes,


The morning hour passed off in the usual
monotony. broken only when Senator Thur
man. in reply to q request from the Republican
side for time in regard to some unimportant
measure, responded. DO what you please with
the morning hour. but at l o'clock sharp shall
call for the regular order"


This regular order was the resolution to dis
charge the Committee on Privileges and Elec-
tions from further consideration of the case OF


GEN. MATTHIAS c. BUTLER,


Senator elect from South Carolina. As this
gentleman has already, been for some time
the central figure for the observation OF Che
country, and as he is likely in the Immediate
f9te m to YIN share hre Of the general stock
main topic to describe him. Butler is a man Of
no common strain, He is nephew of Andrew
South Carolinians of the ancien regime to sit in
the Senate; and It is curious coincidence that
the nephew should be the bone of contention
in battle to regain that ascendancy In the Sem
ate which the Democratic party began to lose In
fight of which the uncle was the cause twenty
ton Brooks struck with his cane the first blow of
the war between North and South, the provoca-
ton was an insult offered BY Sumner to the
venerable Andrew P. Butler. Well If


NJ. G. BUTLERs LINEAGE


ON his fathers side is illustrious in the conn.,
ellis OF the nation, his mother gave him kinship
with a race immortal In our annals; for she
gave him the name Of Matthias Colbraith Perry.
japan. and taught him to call uncle the man
who fought the battle of Lake Erie


Nor is Butler himself lacking either the
record or the scars Of a hero. He came out of
the late war with the distinction Of being =
THE YOUNGEST MAJOR GENERAL OF THE coNFED-


ERACY,


and limDs upon q wooden leg by way OF certifi-
cate that he is fit scion Of fighting ancestry
In person he is couple of inches above tIfs
medium height-say about $ feet 1O11-erect and
3T-
tie in manner and mild of speech. His head
and face have no hesitation In pronouncirg
the handsonest Ia MsoS and most noteworthy to be
the n most admirable | have ever encountered.
In a 9bsepaton Gf Rube
instantly ready to meet friendly act with abnn ons
daat Dan gratitude, or an unkindness with defiance
without reproach, he is alike unversed in fhs
arts, 50 fashionable among modern politicians,
OF oetfiaying n ms III; frlends and evading his ene-
owe to the former and Of descending what he
may may feel toward the latter-in fine man to Be
for Just what heappearsto be. whose YEA means
yea, and whose nay. nay. There are men ii
Louisiana M who R will recognize the fidelity Of this
known Butler and who have been mangled in
battle by his side. At all events, no one who
Knows the man will think my picture Of his ex-
vantage is that he is inclined to an excess Of
With rahkae9s amounting to arroganee. coupled
hauteav. This may be true so far as his enc
mics are concerned; but his friends never en-
counter any such manifestations


Wen. the struggle of yesterday and to-day
was TO install such a man in the long vacant
Seat Se OF et eRptledge and Calhoun; and never was


Promptly at o'clock Senator Thurman. az
good as his word, called for


THE REGULAR ORDER.
waved his great red bandanna as the signal to
get ready, and blew his traditional nasal bugle-
call OF boots, and saddles" until the galleries
resounded. The veteran field marshal OF the
democracy was in fine health and spirits and
as ne looked upon his cohorts in serried ranks
about him. one could see an expression of grim
satisfaction and confidence upon his solemn
visage. The frst hour or two was wasted in
that


DIGNIFTED SORT OF sKIBMrsHING
which the peculiar decorum of the Senate makes
necessarily preliminary to a real battle. and it
was nearly O'Clock before the opposing forces
began to aim their shots low" The approach
TO this sort of thing had been SO gradual and
withal so delicate. that when Edmunds. of Yer-
mont, led off with his


HOME THRUST AT PATTERSON AND coSovER
here was buzz of astonishment even on
the Senate floor and an actual eommotion in
the galleries. Edmunds is gnared and griz-
zled old Yankee. rugged and tough as the birch
trees that grow upon his native mountains. and
his tongue is as keen and incisive as are the
wigs OF the aforesaid birches which form SO
important an adjunct TO the New England sys-