Year: 1873

VI OC4


BOSTON, August 80. 1873.


When the colored delegation from the Sixth
ward OF this city was ruled out OF the Worcester
Convention two years ago, General Butler was vir-
tually defeated The contest was typical OF the
struggle that is now going on in the republican
ranks The Sixth ward OF Boston, unlike the more
famous "Bloody Sixth" OF New York, is thoroughly
representative OF all classes Of society. Beacon Hill
towers up in pride on the one hand-an eminence
on which perched the mansions of the rich
and falls away in humility on the other, q mean
declivity revealing the homes OF the poor. Here,
facing ''the Common" are the aristocracy OF the
city, the old families OF Massachusetts; there,
looking out towards the nats and marshes OF what
Ia to me an unknown waste, are the citizens whose
franchise is the creation of to-day There is only
the shadow Of the summit between the blue blood
and the black. AS Beacon Hill divides this ward,
30 is the republican party Of the State divided.
The mOneyed men are on the one side and the
laborlng population on the other. They are the
two wings of the ruling power united once year
In State convention Outside OF these are the de-
mOcracy and the liberal republicans but every body
knows that they are helpless and hopeless
minority. That there should be fierce and bitter
contest in the republican party under such circum-
stances is not surprising. When a party has been
long in power in q State and the same men have
shaped it's policy for years it is natural that the
people should exercise little control over their
Affairs. Caucuses and conventions bind them fast,
while these caucuses and conventions are embit
tered by their efforts to get free. Such is the
dition of anars in Massachusetts this time. There
Ii Ring here there Rings in other cities and
States, and If the contest that Is going on has
any real significance it is in the promise to break
this Ring and give the power back to the people.


HOW THE RING WAS FORMED.


The Ring as 1t exists in Massachusetts to-day
was not formed-it grew. 1t was born on the
Maynower, but it did not attain the funess Of its
strength until the advent OF the whig party. From
1880 to 1852 the State q whig State except
when Governor Morton triumphed over pro- oslavery
whigsm as q free-soi democrat 1t thus
Sumner got into the Senate. for Webster died
In accord with the slave power. Nearly all
the prominent republican abolitiOnists OF the few
years anterior to the were previously pro-
slavery whigs When the whig party died they
went over to republicanism and aboitionism in
body. AS a mere matter Of course, they grasped
Immediate control OF the new party and have held
It ever since with strong hand they
exerted over the machinery Of the old organ
lzatiOn. Years OF control over the whig
party had gradually cemented the power OF
o whig dynasty. The old family interest in
the State ruled the party. and for years and
years Beacon Hill selected the Governor Of Massa.
chusetts. Blue blood filed all the high Ofices OF
the Comm on wealth. The Winthrops and the Ever
etts sat in the Governors seat. When Banks,
''the Bobbm Boy" attained the distinction it
marked new era perhaps but in reality the old
whig dynasty had not yet lost control. The doors
Of the Executive chamber were opened to men
who were not OF the Brahmin caste, but only on
condition that the new men, the Bullocks, the
Claims and the Washburns, should submit to be
guided by the Brahmins. Butler is not Brahmin,
and he Ia not a man to submit to the dictation OF
Brahmins. His life has been a life of obloquy.
Every act of his public career has been construed
against hun. He has often been most unjustly as
sailed Dawes, who shared in the Credit Mobilier
frauds, reproaches him as the friend OF Oakes
Ames. George F. Hoar, who took his back pay
out of the Treasury and distributed 1t in his dis
trict, placing it where 1t would do the most good,
charges MIN with being the most wicked Of the SAL
ary-grabbers. In nearly everything that is urged
against him it is repetition Of the new edition Of
the old story OF Washington and his little hatchet.
sMy son." said the elder washington, 'can you tell
me whe hacked my favOrite cherry treeT' ''Oh
father" answered George, the fire Of truth beam
Ing out OF his eyes, 81 cannot tell e it was Ben.
Butler.n ] do not know whether many or
any OF the charges made against General Butler
are calumnes but | do know that the men who
make them are generally as deep in the mud as he
Ia In the mire. The assaults usually come from the
whig dynasty OF Massachusetts and its supporters.
Tney sssail him most bitterly, but with the Brahmin
polish of New England letters and he answers
them in terms more bitter still, the Mephistoph e
lean characteristics OF his nature grnning at them
from out OF his speeches in a way that both
frightens and maddens them. The whig dynasty OF
Massachusetts, an element so venerable that it
venerates ITSELF accordingly both fears and hates
him, and Beacon Hil the home OF the dynasty,
asks itself in terror whether this "blackguard" is
TO be allowed to enroll his name on the list OF the
Governors Of the State bring the other side OF the
hill to bask in the eastern sun, and TO make the
blue blood OF Boston, so long potent in society and
politics, as thin as water.


wH1G HOSTILITY TO BUTLEk's DEeoC2ACY.


when employed the word 'blackguard" a mo-
ment ago used 1t as the peculiar epithet OF the
Boston Brahmin when speaking OF General Butler
Is universally urged against him by his enemte:
as the one argument there is no gansaying g-tht
one grand reason why everybody should oppoet
him. In reality 1t has no force In the sense IL
which 1t is used. Whatever truth there ia in it is
merely descriptive OF his fierce answers to aerc,
invective and bitter accusations The man /,
prescribed on far different ground. He said TO m,
the other day that the real OF the oppositior
to his pretensions to the republican nomination fol
Governor was in whig hostility to his old time de
mocracy. II this is the real reason why the whis
dynasty opposes him 1t is seldom urged. 1t ma,
readily be understood, however, how 1t may ente
into all his relations with and interests In tn,
State. few examples VIII illustrate this point
The whig dynasty represents blood and capital
while Butler puts hinself forward % the leader o
The poor and the champion Of the laboring classes
Long years OF power have enabled the Ring t,
make alliances which Butler would not respect