again, 1 say, I do not mean to give up a single inch of the soil of South Carolina. If I had been living at that time, and had the position, the will, and the ability, I would have dealt with South Carolina as Jackson did, and kept her in the Union at all hazards; but now she has gone out, and I will take care that when she comes in again she will come in better behaved; that she shall no longer be the fire-brand of the Union, ay, that she shall enjoy what her people never yet enjoyed, the blessings of a republican form of government. And, therefore, in that view I am not for the reconstruction of the Union as it was. I have spent treasure and blood enough upon it, in conjunction with my fellow-citizens, to make it a little better, and I think we can have a better Union. It was good enough if it had been let alone. The old house was good enough for me, but the South pulled it down, and I propose, when we build it up, to build it up with all the modern improvements. Another one of the logical sequences, it seems to ine, that follow inexorably, and is not to be shunned, from the proposition that we are dealing with alien enemies, what is our duty with regard to the confiscation of their property? And that would seem to me to be very easy of settlement under the constitution, and without any discussion, if my first proposition is right. Hasn't it been held from the beginning of the world down to this day, from the time the Israelites took possession of the land of Canaan, which they got from alien enemies, hasn't it been held that the whole of the property of those alien enemies belongs to the conqueror, and that it has been at his mercy and his clemency what should be done with it? And for one, I would take it and give to the loyal man, who was loyal from the heart, at the South, enough to make him as well as he was before, and I would take the balance of it and distribute it among the volunteer soldiers who have gone forth in the service of their country; and so far as I know them, if we should settle South Carolina with them, in the course of a few years I should be quite willing to receive her back into the Union."* ARMING THE NEGROES. "If these men are alien enemies, is there any objection that you know of, and if so state it, to our arming one portion of that foreign country against the other, while they are fighting us? Suppose we were at war with England, who here would get up in New York and say we must not arm the Irish, lest they should hurt some Englishman? Well, at one time, not very far gone, all those Englishmen were our grandfathers' brothers. Either they or we erred; but we are now separate nations, arising out of the contest. So again I say, if you will look carefully you will see that there can be no objection for another reason. There is no law, either of war or of international law, or law of governmental action that I know of, which prevents * Speech at New York, April 2, 1868. a country arming any portion of its citizens or its subjects for the defense of that portion, or of any other, and they become (if they do not take part with those rebels) simply our citizens, residing upon our territory, which at the present hour is usurped by our enemies. At this moment, and in the waning hour, I do not propose to discuss, more than to hint at these various subjects. But there is one question that I have been so often asked, that I want to make an answer to, once for all, and when I have answered it to everybody, nobody will ask me again, and that is this (and most frequently am I asked that question by my old democratic friends): 'Why, General Butler, what is your experience? Will the negroes fight?' To that I have to answer, that upon that subject I have no personal experience. I left the Department of the Gulf before they were fairly brought into action; but they did fight under Jackson at Chalmette. More than that, I will bring in some other man to answer that question. Let Napoleon III. answer it, who has hired them to do what the veterans of the Crimea can not do-to whip the Mexicans. I will answer it in another form. Let the veterans of Napoleon the First, under his brother-in-law, Le Clerc, who were whipped out of St. Domingo by them, tell whether they will fight or not. I will ask you to remember it in another form still. What has been the demoralizing effect upon them as a race by their contact with the white man, I know not; but I can not forget that they and their fathers would not hav、 been slaves except they were captives of war in their own countries, in hand to hand fights among the several chiefs, and were sold into slavery because they were captives in war. They would fight at some time, and if you want to know any more about it, I can only advise you to try them."* THE QUESTION BEFORE US. "No Union man wants to abrogate the old constitution. It is good enough. The only question is, how can we take back an absconding member of the firm under the old articles of agreement." + It has been mentioned in a previous chapter that, at the time of the seizure of Mason and Slidell, General Butler was of opinion that they ought not to be given up. It is proper to record here, that his more mature opinion, as expressed in his speech of April 2d, 1863, is that "we acted wisely at that time in not getting into serious trouble with England." At the same time, he avowed the conviction that the United States ought not to continue to hold friendly relations with a power in practical alliance with the rebel Speech at New York, April 2, 1863. government. England. He advised a declaration of non-intercourse with “England told us what to do when we took Mason and Slidell, and she thought there was a likelihood to be a war. She stopped exportation of those articles which she thought we wanted, and which she had allowed to be exported before. Let us do the same thing. Let us proclaim non-intercourse, so that no ounce of food from the United States shall ever by any accident get into an Englishman's mouth until this rebellion ceases. I say again, let us proclaim non-intercourse, so that no ounce of food shall by any accident get into an Englishman's mouth until these piracies are stopped. That we have a right to do; and when we ever do do it, my word for it, they will find out where these vessels are going to, and they will write to the Emperor of China." CHAPTER XXXV. SUMMARY. THE speciality of General Butler is this: He is a great achiever. He is the victorious kind of man. He is that combination of qualities and powers which is most potent in bringing things to pass. Upon reviewing his life, we find that he has been signally successful in the undertakings which have seriously tasked his powers. A good example of his ready adaptation of means to ends, has just been related to me by one of his legal friends. A wealthy corporation in New England refused to pay for a bridge, on the ground that the contractor had been a few days behind the stipulated time in completing it. General Butler was retained on behalf of the contractor. Aware that he really had no case, though the delay in finishing the bridge was abundantly excusable, he brought the cause to the bar of public opinion. In other words, he told the story to every man and group of men whom chance threw in his way. He caused endless paragraphs upon the subject to be inserted in the newspapers. The bridge was justly commended as a most admirable piece of work, and remarks were appended upon the soullessness of a corporation, which could avail itself of the letter of a contract to deprive a fellow-citizen of the reward of his labors. In a word, he enlisted the feelings and the judgment of the whole community on the side of the contractor, and thus shamed the corporation into a compromise. You may call this, if you please, an illegitimate mode of proceeding for a learned advocate. It remains true, nevertheless, that the plan adopted answered the end proposed, and that the end proposed was justice. It may be profitable to inquire what is the secret of General Butler's success. Brains. That is a great part of the secret. This man has understood the matter. He has been able to grasp the situation at all times, and to know what the situation required at all times. From the hour when he shook hands with Jefferson Davis, in December, 1860, to the present moment, he has never been groping in the dark, or feeling his way to a policy. And his opinion, generally scouted at the moment, has always been justified by the progress of events. He was right in getting Massachusetts ready to march. He took the right road to Washington. He was right in regarding Fortress Monroe as the base against Richmond. The flash of inspiration which pronounced the negroes contraband of war, was right. Each step in the progress of his mind upon the negro question was right at the time and in the circumstances. That single suggestion of a board to decide upon the fitness of officers, was worth all he has received from the government. His order, making officers pay for the pillage committed by their men, was another masterly stroke. Better still, perhaps, it would be to make the whole regiment responsible-privates as well as officers. At New Orleans, he was magnificently right, both in theory and in practice. Every day brought forth some new proof of the fertility of his mind of his genius for governing. That policy of isolating, crippling, and destroying the malignants, and of raising in the scale of being the laboring multitude, white, black, or yellow, is the only policy which can ever make the country A NATION, homogeneous, united, powerful and free. No man has, no man can, point out another path to permanent reconstruction. To dethrone the false king, Minority, and to crown in his stead the true king, Majority-that was the scheme attempted in Louisiana. But one thing is wanting to its complete success-the total abolition of slavery, which con stitutes the power of the ruling faction, and keeps in heathenisł bondage every poor man in the South, whatever his color. General Butler, on the other hand, is no dreamer or theorizer. Dreamers and theorizers are good and helpful; but he is not one of them. His forte is to devise expedients to meet a new state of things, or to effect a special purpose. He is singularly happy in framing a measure, on the spur of the moment, which precisely answers the end proposed, and works good in many directions not specially contemplated. His plan for feeding the poor of New Orleans, for example, besides effecting the main purpose of saving thousands from starvation, brought home to the authors of their ruin a part of the ill-consequences of their conduct, and chimed in with his general policy of suppressing one class and raising another. Brains are the great secret. He is endowed with a large, healthy, active, instructed, experienced brain-Heaven's best gift, and the medium through which all other good gifts are given. Courage, will, firmness, nerve-call it what you will—General Butler has it. He has not been called to face the leaden rain and iron hail of battle; but he has exhibited on every occasion the courage which the occasion required. He has shown a singular insensibility to the phantoms which play so important a part in war. He has shown the courage to go forward and meet the imaginary danger, as well as the real. He has the courage of opinion so rare in a republic where public men all want the favor of the many. He dares accept the remote consequences of a policy. He dares to take the responsibility. He dares to incur obloquy. He dares to tell the truth, and all the truth. I venture to declare, that in the many thousand pages of his writings as an officer of the government, there is not one intentional misstatement or unfair suppression. Falsehood is the natural resort of timidity. A brave man does not lie, and need not. Honesty. With opportunities of irregular gain, such as no other man has had since the days of Warren Hastings, his hands are spotless. He could have made a safe half million by a wink; and, if he had done so, he would have come home with a peculiar and marked reputation for integrity; because then he would have had an interest to create such a reputation, and could not have indulged the noble carelessness with regard to his good name which |