Year: 1878

SeEeiui puDiic through the pOelS Vuuh siiS


ornithologists-a bird of i'll omen, of which


no sailor speaks we'll, whose appearance


in the course of q voyage bodies storm


and disaster and shipwreck. What the


'stormy petrel" is in navigation


General Butler is in politics. He is never
his element, as when careering on the edge
of tempest and striking terror into the
hearts Of political navigators, when 'the
strong masts shake like quivering reeds,
Isand the merest hairs breadth divides safety
from shipwreck. To be sure, the fear OF
the stormy petrol is only sailors
superstition, but the unnerving and terror
izing effect of superstition is not to be dis
regarded by any commander OF a vessel. II,
in threatening weather, the crew be appalled,
and disheartened the ship is lost. The
stormy petrel is not favorite, although it
is warning bird


For the mariner curseth tho warning bird


Which brngoth him news OF tho storm unncard!
All thus does the prophet OF good or Ill


Meet hato from the creatures be scrvcth Sill
These descriptive lines Of the poet set
forth precisely the function Of General
Butler in politics. he is the bird of ill
omen, the unpopular and hated bird whose
careering in the storm and fitting over the
waves announces the shipwreck Of political
parties. True indeed it is that parties must


already be in an advanced state of disin-
tegration when SO slight matter can throw
them into confusion. The appearance OF the
stormy petrol at Worcester has disrupted and
disorganized the democratic party OF Msssa-
chusetts, and it is postponed and unde-
cided question whether the party can sur
vive the shock it encountered yesterday at
Worcester. When in battle the enemy


retreats, makes q sudden change Of base


and transfers the contest to new ground at
future day, the advantage is obviously


on the side Of the party which puts the


enemy to flight The tactics of the Butler


men at Worcester yesterday cannot very
well be defended on the score of fairness
or morals or legal right, but it must never


theless be conceded that they got the better
of their adversaries. The democratic regu-


lars. finding that they were outwitted
and circumvented by the superior


numbers and astuteness of the Butler
men, adopted sudden resolution to


adjourn the Convention for a week, and


to transfer IL from Worcester to Boston


The defeated old-liners will ~reassemble


in Taneui, Hall next Wednesday and at


tempt 10 nominate an anti-Butler ticket.


But meanwhile events will have advanced


and The consolidation of the Butler forces


viii have rendered it more difficult to arrest


al. II Ia fOr ba


ensuing critical week, the Butler demo-


Gratis will maintain that he has received the


regular nomination of the party, o.nd their


position will have become SO fixed and un-


alt9rable that the Faneuil Hall Convention


cannot change it. They have nothing to fear


from party discipline since it is beyond
dispute that Butler had majority Of the
regularly elected delegates and that his
friends would have controlled the Worcester


Convention if they and his enemies had


been admitted on the same footing. 1t is


beyond oil question that Butler had n large


majority of the delegates chosen to


represent the party ut Worcester.


The illegal methods adopted by his


friends to get control of the hall were re-


sorted to because they were stung by


sense of outrage at the sharp practice which


the old-liners had decided to adopt for their


exclusion. If the State Committee had


been willing that all the regular delegates


should be admitted to seats, irrespective of
instructions or pledges, the Butler men
would have controlled the Convention. 1t
was only because the State Committee knew


this and understood it's consequences that


they. concocted a plan for shutting the
door of the Convention against the majority
of regularly elected delegates. The inten-
ton of the old-fcgy State Committee to
refuse seats to delegates regularly chosen
may not quite justify. but it at least palli-
ates, the desperate tactics Of the majority
to head off an unwarranted assumption of
authority. The Butler delegates got pos


session of the hall by stratagem


which must be regarded as a trick;
but some allowance must be made


for tho provocation. 1t is beyond


question or dispute that if tho will of the


local constituencies had been respected


Butler would have had a clear and decisive


majority of the Convention. The State


Committee knew this, and it was because


they knew it that they undertook to dis


franchise the majority of the constituencies.


They were foiled by a trick as discredit-


able as their own; but their intention to


nullify the will of the constituencies de-


prives them of any just title to sympathy.


The Butler movement is likely to grow in


strength in the interval before the Faneuil


Hall Convention meets, and no democrat


will be restrained from voting for Butler by


anything which may be done next week in


Faneuil Hall. The adjourned Convention


will be rump respected by no Massachu-


sets democrat who is not already


committed against Butler. The proba-


hilitu is that the old-hnera unWill-