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THE LIFE AND
LETTERS O F
CHARLES BUTLER

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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
CHARLES BUTLER
BY
FRANCIS HOVEY STODDARD
PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

WITH
PORTRAITS

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
MDCCCCIII

COPYRIGHT, 1903
BT CHARLES SCRIBNER's SONS

PREFACE
THIS book has been written in commem
oration of a life, which, it is beUeved,
both by its length and its activities was
associated with so much of the development of
our country that it may have some value as a
contribution to its history.
There has also been the desire to perpetuate in
some measure the memory of a life of singular
charm to those who came in contact with it, as
well as the hope that some useful influence may
still exist in its personaHty for those who read
what at best can give only a very imperfect pic
ture of the living subject.
For the surviving friends who cheered the way,
as my father was often fond of quoting from a
favorite hymn, and for the nephews and nieces,
who by their affection for him, and still more per-

PREFACE
haps as a result of his ever flowing aifection for
them, added much to his enjoyment through many
years, it is hoped that these pages may revive
pleasant remembrances. Perhaps they may also
be welcomed by graduates of Union Theological
Seminary and of New York University, in whom
he ever felt a warm interest, constantly recipro
cated in their expressions of regard for him.
E. O. B.

CONTENTS

PACK

Preface ....... v
Chapter I. ...... 3
Ancestry — Birth and Early Life — School Days —
Study for Professional Life — Influences That Moulded
Character.
Chapter II. . . . . . -54
Plans for Professional Life — Opening Months at Lyons
— Removal to Geneva — Interest in Projects for
Benefiting the City — Western Trip — Marriage.
Chapter III. . . . . . .96
Life at Geneva — Profession of Religion — Resignation
of Postmastership — The Morgan Trial — Great
Work in Connection with the New York Life In
surance and Trust Company on Behalf of the Farm
ers of Western New York.
Chapter IV. . . . . . .129
Plans for New Enterprises — Visit to the Northwest —
Detroit — Chicago — Religious Work — Business
Openings — -Journey to Ohio — Removal From Geneva
to New York.
Chapter V. . . . . . -163
Life in New York — Financial Stress — Loss of Health
— ^Journey to Europe — Victory Over Repudiation in
Michigan — Travel in the South.

CONTENTS

Chapter VII. ......
Journeys in Europe — Family and Home Life — Services
to New York University and to Union Theological
Seminary.
Chapter VIII. . . . . .
Later Years — Patriotic Services — Friends at Home and
Abroad — Journeys in Europe — Fox Meadow —
Closing Scenes of Life.

PACK

Chapter VI. ...... 222
The Funding of the Bonded Debt of Indiana.

179

317

THE LIFE AND
LETTERS O F
CHARLES BUTLER

CHAPTER I
the ancestry  birth and early LIFE-
SCHOOL DAYS  STUDY FOR PROFESSIONAL
LIFE  INFLUENCES THAT MOULDED
CHARACTER

CHARLES BUTLER was born on Febru
ary 1 5, 1 802, in the little town of Kinder-
hook Landing, on the Hudson River.
This name has passed away from the map of
New York, the town now being known as Stuy-
vesant. The settlement was never a large one ;
but was favorably situated for the small-tonnage
river commerce of the early days. Its nearest
large neighbor on the south was Hudson, ten miles
below ; on the North Albany, eighteen miles
above. In Charles Butler's boyhood it was one
of the river outlets of Columbia County, a region
of fine farms, valuable forests, useful water power,
and charming lakes ; and the outlet also of a large
part of the Berkshire region of Western Massa-
3

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
chusetts. Columbia County is known to students
of the history of New York State as the home of
many of its most noted early Dutch citizens, in
cluding among other families the Van Burens, the
Wendovers, the Van Alens, the Vanderpoels and
the Van Schaicks.
Charles Butler was not of Dutch stock. The
history of the family in America runs back to
1724, when its founder, Jonathan Butler, an Irish
gentleman, came to this country and settled at
Saybrook, Connecticut. Jonathan Butler married
Temperance Buckingham, daughter of Rev.
Daniel Buckingham, and granddaughter of
Thomas Buckingham, one of the founders of
Yale College. Ezekiel, the fourth son of Jona
than Butler, married Mabel Jones of Saybrook,
who was granddaughter of William Jones, Lieu
tenant-Governor of New Haven Colony, the son
of the Puritan, Parliament leader and regicide,
Colonel John Jones,* and who was great-grand-
* Colonel John Jones was one of the Judges in the High Court
of Justice created for the trial of Charles I., and with the other
judges signed and sealed the deed of execution for the death of the
King. In 1650 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; he
was for many years a member of Cromwell's Parliament, and in
1656 he married for his second wife Catherine, sister of Oliver
Cromwell. On the Restoration of Charles II. Colonel Jones was

OF CHARLES BUTLER
daughter of Theophilus Eaton, who founded the
colony of New Haven, organized its government,
and was its first governor.
beheaded, October 17, 1660, aged 81. William Jones, the eldest
son of Colonel John Jones, was born in London, in 1624, and was
a Counsellor-at-Law at Westminster from 1647 to 1658. In Lon
don he met and married Hannah, the youngest daughter of
Theophilus Eaton, and with her came to this country in July, 1660,
bringing with him Whalley and GofF, two of the Regicides. His
home in New Haven became thereafter a place of refuge for Puri
tans driven from England. He was chosen magistrate soon after
his arrival, and in 1664 was elected Deputy Governor of New
Haven Colony. He lived for many years thereafter in the mansion
which had been erected by Governor Eaton, a magnificent edifice
for those early days, with thirty rooms and twenty-one fireplaces,
standing on what is now the north corner of Elm and Orange Streets
in New Haven. After the union of New Haven Colony with the
Colony of Connecticut in 1665, William Jones was annually elected
Magistrate, and for five years, after 169a, was Lieutenant-Governor
of the Colony of Connecticut. A monument to Theophilus Eaton
was erected on the green in New Haven, in the rear of the Centre
Church, and had on it these inscriptions :
Theophilus Eaton, Esqr., Govr., dec'd Jan'y, 1657, Aetat 67.
Eaton, so fam' d, so wise, so meek, so just.
The Phoenix of our world, here hides his dust.
This name forget. New England never must.
Wm. Jones Esq., D. Govr. dec'd Oct. 17, 1706, Aetat 82.
Hannah Jones, daughter of Governor Eaton, dec'd May 4, 1707,
Aetat 74. T' attend you. Sir, under these framed stones,
Are come your honored Son and daughter Jones,
On each hand to repose their wearied bones.
This monument was afterwards removed to the southeastern part
of the city cemetery, in New Haven.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Medad Butler, one of the eight children of
Ezekiel Butler and Mabel Jones, was born in
Branford, Connecticut, in January, 1766, and died
in New York in 1847. His father had moved
from Saybrook to Branford and there established
himself shortly before Medad's birth. In the
third quarter of the eighteenth century the town
of Branford was relatively of greater importance
than now. Its harbor — which was greatly dam
aged by storms in the winter of 1822-23 and
thereafter neglected — was then preferred to that of
New Haven. There was traffic by water, in the
little coasting sloops of those days, with the ports
to the eastward along the sound, with New York,
and with the towns then springing up along the
Hudson River. Two other sons of Jonathan
Butler — John and Charles — came from Saybrook
and became prominent citizens when the town was
in the period of its prosperity. Charles was, in
1786, the only merchant in Branford ; and his de
scendants long occupied the large and comfortable
house on the village green still remembered as the
Butler homestead, whose site is now occupied by
the Blackstone Memorial Library.
The youth of Medad Butler was passed in the

OF CHARLES BUTLER
stirring revolutionary days. His eldest brother
Ezekiel served through the war and was honorably
discharged at its close. Medad was but ten years
old when it broke out, but he was one of the boys
of '76 in Branford, who, we are told, educated their
pastor into patriotism. The minister of the vil
lage church was very much of a loyalist and care
fully avoided any expression of encouragement to
what he regarded as the rebellious spirit of the
people against established authority. The boys
of Branford, animated with the patriotic spirit of
their fathers, thought they might do something to
effect a favorable change in his attitude. So on a
Saturday evening they got possession of a cannon,
loaded it, placed it on the turf in the rear of the
church, and pointed it in range with the pulpit.
This was done in the night. In the morning, as
the minister was about to enter the church, his
attention was called to the position of that can
non, and he was notified that if he failed to pray
for the success of the Rebellion, the cannon would
be fired and he might take the consequences. It
is recorded that he prayed earnestly as suggested,
and that ever after there was no question of his
loyalty to the cause of the people.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Patriot though he was, Medad was too young
to enUst until 1783, when the EngUsh made raids
on the Connecticut coast at Stonington, at New
London, and at neighboring places ; and a call was
made upon all young men, of sufficient age to carry
a musket, to turn out in defence of the country.
The boy of seventeen responded and remained in
the service for more than six months until the
war ended. " He often," said his son, "referred
to this incident in his life, not only with a feeling
of gratitude but also of pride for having had the
opportunity of taking any part in that struggle
for liberty." When years afterwards he might
have availed himself of the provision made by the
generous government of a pension to all who had
rendered to it any service, however sUght, in its
hour of extremity, he declined to make application,
satisfied with the memory of his youthfld effort
in his country's cause.
In 178 1 Ezekiel Butier died and his widow
was left with eight children to care for. Then the
eldest son Ezekiel took up the burden. Like
most of his race he was at heart a pioneer, and
seeking to win a home he went a two days' jour
ney through a wilderness to what was then a

OF CHARLES BUTLER
promised land on the banks of the Hudson. He
settled in the young city of Hudson and there
established the family, whose fortunes he thence
forward directed with unselfish zeal. He soon
found a situation for young Medad in Claverack,
a town a few miles inland from Hudson, with Mr.
John C. Hogeboom, the father of Judge Henry
Hogeboom, himself in after years a distinguished
citizen. President of the Bank of Hudson, mem
ber of the Senate of New York State, and High
Sheriff — succeeding in that office his father, Cor
nelius Hogeboom, who was killed in 1 791, by
the " High-Renters," in the performance of his
duty. Mr. Hogeboom became interested in the
young man, very likely in part because of his at
tractive personal appearance. Most of the But
lers were fine-looking men, with a bearing com
bining dignity and graciousness ; and Medad was
no exception.
" He was," said a contemporary chronicler,
" an extremely pretty lad, fresh complexion, blue
eyes, dark hair, genteelly built, and very sensible,
though not yet twenty-one years old;" and it is
hinted that he rivaUed in grace his brother next
older whom this chronicler alludes to. as " the dis-

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
tinguished Mr. Elias," and who, he claims, was
"the very politest man in the whole world."
This brother Elias was then in Hudson, but
found a home for himself later in Delaware
County, where before his death, in 1 804, when he
was scarcely more than forty years old, he had
become High Sheriff, State Assemblyman, and
Brigadier-General of the State Militia. Mr. Hoge-
boom's interest in Medad took a practical turn
and he proposed that they should start out to
gether to find some spot where the young man
might begin life for himself. So up and down
the river the two friends journeyed, visiting Troy
and other promising localities, until they ended
their quest at Kinderhook Landing, where about
1792 Medad Butler, under the patronage of Mr.
Hogeboom, began his business life.
It was the custom of those days for one who
had established himself in business, promptly to
make for himself a home. The New England
spirit is strong in the descendants of her soil and
it was natural for her sons to look to her daughters
as their life companions. The elder brother of
Medad, Ezekiel, had just then gone back to
Branford to win as his wife his boyhood's friend.

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Miss Lydia Frisbee, in the home of his childhood.
This may have stirred the fancy of Medad Butler
and turned his thoughts also toward New Eng
land. At any rate fortune promptly favored him.
One of his first friends when he settled in Kinder-
hook Landing was Samuel Tylee, son of a
Connecticut family, resident then in Hartford.
The Tylee family was one of note in those days.
Mrs. Tylee, Samuel's mother, was cousin of the
eminent theologian. Dr. Nathaniel Emmons.
Her two daughters, Clarissa and Hannah, used
afterwards to recall entertaining George Washing
ton at tea and being much delighted when the
great man said of Clarisssa, " What a beautiful
girl ! " It chanced that the younger sister Hannah
Tylee in 1790 made what was, for those days, a
somewhat adventurous two days' journey over
land from Hartford for a visit to her brother
Samuel. She tells us of her arrival at eleven
o'clock at night when in the moonlight the silvery
waters of the Hudson vividly impressed her girlish
imagination. Four years later in 1794, this same
Hannah Tylee, grown to be a woman of twenty-
two, accompanied by her brother Walter Tylee,
set sail from East Haddam on a coasting sloop,

THE LIFE AND LETTERS

for a voyage through the Sound and up the Hud
son River on another visit to Samuel Tylee at
Kinderhook Landing. The name of this good
ship is lost, but it is recorded that its able com
mander. Captain Roberts, managed to make the
voyage from Haddam to Kinderhook in three
weeks. It was when Hannah Tylee was on this
visit that she was introduced by Captain Van Alen,
an old friend of the family, to Medad Butler ; and
six months later, in December, 1794, they were
married by the Dutch minister Dominie Labaugh.
Kinderhook Landing was then no bustling
mart of commerce — a " veritable sleepy hollow,"
one of the children called it — but Judge Medad
Butler became a man of more than local influence.
He lived on the highland two hundred feet above
the river, in a house commanding a fine view of
the stream, the opposite shore and the Catskill
mountains to the west. The business he conducted
was that of general factor. He founded a store
at the lower landing, owned vessels, established a
sloop transportation route to New York and con
trolled in a great measure the exchange business
of the region. New Englander as he was and
something of a stranger to the Dutch traditions

OF CHARLES BUTLER
of the county, he did not at once enter political
life ; but the records of the town and of the county
are full of recognition of the services he rendered.
He became a member of the State Senate ; six
separate times was appointed Justice of the Peace
by successive governors ; was corporator and sup
porter of public and private enterprises ; and
was for half a century a substantial, patriotic
citizen. Such was the ancestry of Charles Butler. The
traditions and hereditary associations of his early
home tended to carry him back to a New Eng
land habit of mind, a New England religious at
titude, a New England independence of thought.
But outside of his own home most of his early as
sociations made him subject to another influence.
The sturdy Dutch stock which has helped to make
New York the Empire State had come to this
country for exploration's sake as had the Pilgrims
for conscience's sake. Both races were honest,
self-reliant, independent. Their influence was
potent in the development of Charles Buder's
character and fortunes, and to his latest day he
united the imagination of the New Englander
with the practical shrewd sense of the Dutch
13

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
setder, joining the clear-sightedness which gives
success in this world to the religious fervor which
never rests in its efforts to fit men for a higher
sphere. To Medad and Hannah Tylee Butier were
born in all twelve children ; but only six of these,
three sons and three daughters, survived infancy.
Charles Butier, the third child, was the youngest
of the three sons. The eldest son was Benjamin
Franklin, a distinguished statesman and jurist, one
of the Revisers of the Statutes of New York,
and Attorney-General of the United States under
Jackson and Van Buren. Walter, the second
son, a man of unusual charm of character, became
a substantial citizen of his native town, its post
master, inspector of its schools, and interested in
its commerce. He was managing agent of the
Kinderhook and Stuyvesant Steamboat Associ
ation under which the steamboat United States be
gan in 1834 to make regular trips to New York.
He removed to Chicago with his family, a few
years before his death in 185 1. Of the three
daughters, the eldest, Clarissa Tylee, married Dr.
Charles B. Coventry. Harriet, the second daugh
ter, married Rev. Henry Bishop Holmes. The
14

OF CHARLES BUTLER
youngest daughter, Cornelia, married Mr. Abram
Van Alen.
The life at Kinderhook was a simple one. But
simple as it was there are still traditions of Charles
Butler's boyhood that are amusingly illustrative of
the traits that gave him success in later life. The
lad was a born organizer. It was part of his duty
of a Saturday to heap up chips and kindling for
the week's supply of the family fire. This to
most boys would be merely a toil to be put
through as speedily as possible. But to this boy
it was an opportunity. He organized the pro
ceeding into a function, as later in life he organ
ized the business corporations which were to de
velop States. And one of the earliest and most
characteristic recollections of him which his sister
Harriet retained was of seeing him at the head of
a troop of boys as captain, walking very erect and
carrying a flag, while the others followed tugging
along baskets and wheel-barrows full of chips and
kindlings. Indeed all the family memories testify
to the habit of leadership which the boy manifested
in these early days. He whitded the children's
dolls, he directed the chUdren's sports, and he
planned the actions of his playmates with such
IS

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
exactness that they looked upon him almost with
awe. The opportunities for primary education in
Kinderhook Landing were far better than one
might have expected, mainly through the influ
ence of an excellent teacher, Mr. John Freese, a
young man from Massachusetts, who came to the
town intending to take boat for Long Island, and
whom Medad Butler, mindful of the needs of his
children, induced to remain. Mr. Freese, who
was an accomplished classical scholar, maintained
a district school, which Charles attended until he
was fourteen. Then his father sent him to an
academy just established at Greeneville, New
York, in Greene County, across the river from
Kinderhook Landing, due west perhaps a dozen
miles. No record of the curriculum of this academy in
its opening years has been preserved. It was,
however, one of a class of very useful educational
institutions, made relatively less important by the
specializing tendencies of later days, but which did
a great work in New England and New York half
a century ago (scarcely appreciated as yet by
modern educators). The direct successor of the
i6

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Academy may perhaps be said to be the High
School. But the Academy, in its best era, was far
more than a High School. It was at once a
normal school, a conservatory of music and of arts,
a college preparatory school, a nursery of classical
studies, and an institution for thorough, discip
linary and cultural training. At the head of the
Greeneville Academy in 1 8 1 6 were Doctors Parker
and Huntington, men of sound learning. Charles
Butler did not technically fit himself for college,
having in mind to follow in the footsteps of his
brother, Benjamin Franklin, and to enter as
prompdy as possible upon the practice of the law ;
but he took the full classical course, as then given
by the Academy.
Martin Van Buren had been one of the friends
of Medad Butler during his residence at Kinder
hook. In 1818, when Charles Butler finished
his studies at Greeneville, Mr. Van Buren was
engaged in the practice of law at Albany. In
that very year Benjamin F. Butler, who had
studied law in his office, was admitted to the bar
and became his junior partner. Public law
schools did not exist then ; it was seventeen years
later that Benjamin Franklin Butler himself
17

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
founded one in the New York University. But
even before the establishment of regular schools the
system was a reasonably rigid one. The period
of clerkship required before admission to the bar
was seven years, from which in the case of a
student who had attended an Academy or Pre
paratory School the time spent in classical studies
could be deducted. In the case of Charles Butler,
therefore, the required period was reduced to
something less than six years. He entered the
Albany office in 1 8 1 8, and there began his studies,
at first with his brother, afterwards with Martin
Van Buren.
He became an inmate of the Van Buren home,
and his first experience there was in giving help
and comfort to Mrs. Van Buren, then dying of
consumption. Night after night he sat by her
bedside reading the Bible aloud to her. There
was in his nature the tenderness of a woman
and the imaginative reverence of a saint. The
record of his helpfulness in things small as well as
great — in getting a cup of tea for a weary aged
couple, total strangers, on a railway car, as well as
in founding a Theological Seminary — is as long a
story as the story of his life. The strong indivi-

OF CHARLES BUTLER
duality of Martin Van Buren the man appealed
to his young imagination. Still more did the
advocate Van Buren arouse his enthusiasm.
" The case," he said of one noted trial (Troup
vs. Wood and Sherwood, 4 John. Ch. 228) "was
opened by Mr. Van Buren for the complainants
with a speech surpassing everything perhaps ever
delivered by him. In fact every one present was
charmed, and as for Colonel Troup he could not
contain himself, for never was a man so agitated
by mere words." And then he described one of
those dramatic scenes with which the great lawyers
of the earlier days were wont to compel the con
victions of a jury. It was a case of conspiracy to
get possession — by means of a judgment long
before satisfied but never recorded — of the pro
perty of a man who had been convicted of forgery,
had been imprisoned for life, and was therefore
" civilly dead." Considering him civilly dead
the conspirators had, so claimed his advocate.
Van Buren, practiced frauds upon his property.
Up to the days of the trial the defendants had not
known that this man — the only one acquainted
with the facts of the long-past period when the
conspirators first laid their schemes — had been
19

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
pardoned, and thereby restored to "civil life."
It was his dramatic reappearance in court which
made the climax of Mr. Van Buren's advocacy.
" Mr. Kent," said Charles, in describing the
scene, " whilst Judge, had tried and sentenced
Platner about twenty years ago, nor did he now, in
the capacity of Chancellor, know that Platner was
even alive. The impression made by Mr. Van
Buren on the Chancellor was such — especially in
describing the unfortunate situation of Platner at
the time when the defendants were practising the
grossest of frauds on his property, and seizing
the moment when no danger was apprehended of
being detected, as the only person on whom all
depended was under a sentence of life imprison
ment — that the Chancellor interrupted him and
inquired whether Platner was living ; and Mr. Van
Buren pointed toward the man within arm's reach
of His Honor. The Chancellor examined him for
a second, very attentively, and then said : ' Well,
he is a resurrection man, — and a very worthy
one.' " The counsel for the defendant, the re
nowned jury advocate, Elisha Williams, followed
in a three hours' speech ; but the case was already
won by Mr. Van Buren. All this was stimulat-

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ing to the boy of seventeen, as was the association
not only with the successful jurist, but with other
strong men whom he met in the Albany office.
Another influence, perhaps as powerful as any
single moulding force on Charles Butler's char
acter, was that of his elder brother. Benjamin
Franklin Butler, in May, 1818, had married
Miss Harriet Alien,* of Hudson, and a year later
had undertaken an independent law career at
Sandy HUl, a village on the Hudson, about fifty
miles north of Albany. Here he shortly became
an active lawyer, the president of the Washington
and Warren Bank, and a power, political and
financial, in that sparsely settled region. The
correspondence carried on for many years between
Franklin and Charles gives evidence of the warm
est friendship and most helpful tenderness.
Charles was barely seventeen, Benjamin Franklin
not yet twenty-four, when it opened ; but the
maturity of the man and the manliness of the boy
make the letters delightful to read. Charles

* She was the daughter of Mr. Howard Allen, of Hudson, and
sister of the distinguished Lieutenant William Howard Allen, of
the United States Navy, who was killed in 1823 at Matanzas while
gallantly leading a boat attack upon a piratical squadron, and to
whose memory his native town erected a monumenti

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
assisted, Franklin counseled, and all in the sincerest
fashion. The domestic problems which we con
sider now to be peculiar to our time were, it
appears, equally urgent then. The young wife
at Sandy Hill needed a servant. (The current
rate of wages, it may be remarked, parenthetically,
as illustrative of the change in the value of labor
in three-quarters of a century, was one dollar a
week). Sandy Hill could not supply the demand.
The metropolis at Albany had to be drawn upon
for the " general housework maid " desired, and it
was the boy Charles who discovered and secured
one. It became a matter for serious judgment
which of two he should select ; he finally sent
Pender, a stalwart dusky maiden, up to Sandy HUl
with a genial letter. The boy had evidentiy been
reading Nathaniel Lee's tragedy of " The Rival
Queens," in which the Bactrian Roxana wins
against Statira, and it suggested a comparison of
his own experience with that of Alexander in the
play. " Yours, by Pender," said Benjamin Franklin
in reply, " was received with much pleasure. I
am very glad that you took the course you did
with respect to the ' Rival Queens.' The catas-

OF CHARLES BUTLER

trophe was not quite so tragical as that which
befell the unfortunate Statira, but in other points
the allusion would hold good. Your zeal and
intrepidity might well be compared with the
chivalrous spirit of Alexander, and Pender's ma
jestic form might rival the commanding dignity of
Roxana. . . . The political news of the metrop
olis " (alluding to a recent official act of Governor
De Witt Clinton) " was a matter of much surprise
to me. I hope you and Mr. Hoyt will keep
tolerably cool, as the warm season may soon be
expected (write me about the Sunday-school and
tell me how it flourishes). I need not say any
thing to you about the importance of close and
vigorous attention to office duty and reading. Do
not make too many acquaintances, and be cau
tious in those you do make. Above all things,
never be ashamed of being more virtuous or less
gay than the rest of the world. Endeavor to re
tain as much as possible the scrupulous regard to
truth, honesty and virtue which you had when a
child, and try to be as ignorant of everything that
opposes them as you were then. Let conscience
do her office fully and faithfully, and be careful
never to resist her dictates, or even to reason with

23

THE LIFE AND LETTERS

her supposed absurdities. The moment you be
gin to think her over-nice, that moment your
integrity is in danger. Remember me to Mr.
Van Buren and the family."
It was characteristic of the brotherly relations
of this period, as indeed it was of the whole lives
of both brothers that the practical was never sep
arated from the moral and religious in their words
and thoughts. Charles bought the wall-paper and
the carpeting for the house at Sandy Hill ; and
Benjamin Franklin with equal zeal cared for the
mental and physical welfare of the boy. He had
a coat made for Charles by Mr. Stead at South
State and Market Streets, and he paid the bUl,
which came to fourteen dollars.
With the generosity went excellent advice to the
spruce young man at Albany : " I pray you have
a little discretion in your pride. Don't wear your
new coat all the while when you get one, and per
haps the next will last longer than the one you
now have." Some months later Charles, having
somewhat exceeded his modest allowance for ward
robe — and it is characteristic of the simple days of
our fathers that his indiscretion had been no more
than the simultaneous purchase of two pairs of

OF CHARLES BUTLER
trousers at a total cost of thirteen dollars and fifty
cents, — Benjamin Franklin again paid the bill with
cheerfulness, and added :
" But this circumstance gives me an opportunity
of repeating what I have before suggested to you,
the absolute necessity of the most rigid economy
on your part. I have no doubt you will cheer
fully submit, while preparing for future usefulness,
to those little inconveniences which to fops and
fools are great misfortunes, but to persons of
prudence and discretion are rather incentives to
exertion and motives to perseverance. A young
man who is not born to fortune, ' having food
and raiment ' ought ' therewith to be content ' —
because he is rarely in a situation to earn any
thing, and the world does not expect that he
can be enabled to provide for his wants until he
has made himself acquainted with some means of
procuring a livelihood. Poverty, and the appear
ance of poverty, are therefore no reproach to the
student. But a gaudy ostentation in articles of
dress and a fondness for the gaieties of fashionable
life are as disreputable in the eyes of the world as
unbecoming in a young person. Let me exhort
you above all things to beware of contracting
*5

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
debts of any kind before you are settled in life.
Rather choose to go without many things that
might be very necessary, than to procure them
upon credit."
All this was good advice for the boy and he
took it in good part, though in his reply, in his
gentle way, he made some counter claims. " In the
present age of foppery and folly," he said, " you
must confess that a young man may be led amiss
by the glitter of dress and with some vestige of
plausible excuse. I havebeen underthe actual neces
sity," he added humorously," of having my clothes
washed by a washerwoman for the three months
that I have been here and will have to continue
In having them washed so, money or no money."
In greater matters than the details of personal
expenditure the elder brother was also of use to
Charles. The spring of 1 8 19 brought a serious
question, regarding a change of career. To the
enterprising boy the brilliant opportunities of a
naval officer offered more attractions than the rou
tine of a lawyer's life. He was eager to enter the
navy ; through the connections by marriage of
Benjamin Franklin the way seemed easy, and his
desire was considered carefully. z6

OF CHARLES BU'fLER
" I should," wrote Benjamin Franklin in April,
" supposing it certain that you can get the warrant,
be unable at this time to recommend it. Your
parents are the proper persons by whom such a
proposition ought to be decided,and I am confident
you will submit to their wishesand decision. When
I was of your age I also had my head filled with the
splendid achievements of our naval heroes, and it
seemed an object well worth risking life for, if the
glory of a Hull or a Lawrence could be attained. A
few years have satisfied me that it was very fortunate
for me that my boyish projects were overruled by
the better judgment of my father. I do not con
sider your prospects in the law as so very unpro
mising. You have talents equal to its labors, and
I dare say would succeed in it. To say nothing
of the dangers and hardships of a sailor's life — of
the hazards run by those who risk their lives on
the ' faithless deep ' — of the great sacrifices they
must make of social comforts and domestic hap
piness — how few are there who arrive at an ad
vanced station — of those few how many who are
unsuccessful — how few are crowned with honor."
He also warned him against the dangerous in
fluences of the life on a man-of-war, and concluded
Z7

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
by saying : " I hope you will not get alarmed for
your future destinies, and will be governed entirely
by your parents." The question was not at once
setried. Charles was at first eager for the new
life, Benjamin Franklin very doubtful of its wis
dom. " I believe," Benjamin Franklin wrote, " your
head is filled with ' guns and trumpets, blunder
busses, drums and thunder,' therefore I have no
doubt the law must be an ' empty science ' to
you. I form this opinion from the lofty style
of some of your late letters. Pray read Blair's
Lectures morning, noon, and night, and study
Murray's Grammar until you ascertain that such
sentences as ' I premise to make an answer,' * the
conflux of a moment,' ' inflict a goad upon my
feelings,' are neither sublime, elegant, nor gram
matical. Endeavor to keep in mind that there is
but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, and
that he who writes with the least labor and affec
tation is generally the most successful in composi
tion. Addison's Spectator is a good model for
any one. Do not be offended with my plainness.
I am really mortified that when you understand
the use of language and possess genius and talent
28

OF CHARLES BUTLER
you should permit yourself to be drawn away from
the simplicity of nature into the flowery but dan
gerous fields of rhetoric, where one can hardly tread
with safety unless long accustomed to its path."
But Benjamin Franklin was ready to aid as well
as counsel. He wrote to Martin Van Buren.
" Charles has written me about his naval project.
I have repeatedly informed him that he must be
guided by the opinion and wishes of his father,
and provided he obtained his consent for the
application I had no objections on my own account.
Whether my father approves of it or not I do not
exactly know, as I have not heard from him spe
cially on the subject. If he does, I need not say
that I will feel myself peculiarly grateful for any
assistance you may render him."
It was a momentous decision for Charles Butler
when in June he finally gave up the enticing
prospect of a naval life, withdrew his application
to the Navy Department, and after a little visit at
Kinderhook Landing returned to Albany and took
up anew, in earnest, preparation for his work as a
lawyer. His months of probation being over he
was regularly installed as clerk in Mr. Van
Buren's office at a salary of a hundred dollars a
»9

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
year in addition to his board. This position was
no sinecure. The first morning, being minded to
dispatch work, he rose at half-past four, and at
five in came Mr. Van Buren himself ready for the
business of the day, which was to turn over the
" Insignia " of the Attorney-General's office to his
successor, Thomas J. Oakley, afterwards Chief
Justice of the Superior Court of the City of New
York. He was entirely alone in the office work,
which he thought a good thing, for he had busi
ness enough, he says, to keep him employed all
the time. He had need to be busy, one thinks,
to keep up with Martin Van Buren.
" I rise early," he wrote, " and, what is more
provoking, Mr. Van Buren some mornings back
has risen at half-past four. I rise at five and find
him up. This morning he rode five or seven mUes
before seven o'clock. I can't imagine what pos
sesses him."
The boy, however, took up the work with
unflagging energy, and had his physical strength
been equal to the demand upon it might have con
tinued in the Albany office through his entire
period of study. But he soon found the strain
of the work so severe that he contemplated giving
30

OF CHARLES BUTLER
up his legal studies altogether, and in January,
1820, he went to Sandy Hill for a few months of
comparative quiet.
During his residence in Albany the young man
had gained a valuable experience through his con
nection as assistant and friend in helping along
the movement of the machinery of his brother's
banking business at Sandy Hill. It is difficult for
anyone now to realize, or even credit, the incom
plete condition of large financial enterprises four
score years ago. In 181 8 the United States had
no banking system worthy of the name. Under
State laws, differing widely in different parts of the
country, banks could be organized, and could gain
a certain credit as State institutions, when, in fact,
the State in no way guaranteed thera. These
banks were a necessity to the small communities.
Means of transportation were very inadequate ;
places of deposit were needed; facilities for ex
change must be afforded. The profits of rural
banking were likely to be small ; and the State,
without as afterwards proved exacting sufficient
guarantees, permitted these banks to issue notes,
— bank bills we now name them — to very large
amounts. From this permission came endless

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
trouble. Honest and well-meaning as in most
cases were the capitalists who established banks,
they found themselves confronted with what proved
to be insuperable difficulties from the mere vast-
ness of the regions to be served, and the inade
quacy of the machinery for serving. The notes
issued, when first paid out, were taken largely by
people of the vicinity ; but the bank to support
itself was obliged to send its money for invest
ment to some city at a distance, for no machinery
of mortgage loans such as that which Charles
Butler afterwards established in western New
York, and which has now become the recognized
method for local investments, was as yet in oper
ation. Hence plentiful trouble when the slightest
suspicion fell upon the bank, it mattered little
whether from idle rumor or from credible infor
mation. Brokers went about the neighboring
country, bought up the notes at such depreciated
value as the frightened farmers would accept, and
plumped the whole upon the bank with a demand
for instant redemption. And then there was
hurrying to and fro. The lumbering stage coach
bringing specie from the far-off city of deposit
3^

OF CHARLES BUTLER
was too slow and uncertain. Messengers with
swift horses would start by night all secretly to
hurry forward fiinds. Sometimes the kegs of
specie, usually consigned to some individual not
connected with the bank, would arrive in season ;
sometimes the bank exhausted Its local funds, was
obliged, though perfectly solvent, to refuse or defer
the payment of its own notes, and a run, a sus
pension, a depreciation In the value of the notes
ensued, and perhaps the total failure of the bank
became the prospect of the immediate future.
The needs of this rapidly developing country had
outgrown its financial machinery, and the railroad
and the telegraph came none too soon to pre
serve the credit of its banking systems. The
Washington and Warren bank at Sandy HUl had
been established by a banker of New York City
to meet the needs of that section.
Benjamin Franklin Butier, then twenty-three,
with a reputation as an honest man and an able
though not then very experienced lawyer, under
took in 1818 to continue its management. The
two years which he spent In Sandy HUl were
harassing ones for him, but they afforded a fine
training in financial methods and business habits
33

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
for the younger brother who was called upon to
act, though unofficially, as agent for the bank in
Albany, where there was need of some one to
expedite the slow movements of transportation.
A run began In the spring of 1 8 1 9, and thence
forth the letters are full of the record of his services.
As the notes were presented specie was sent up
to the bank. It was sent in kegs, and It is inter
esting to note the confidence in the honesty of
everybody concerned which prevailed in those days.
Kegs of specie were sent about like tubs of
butter. " FItz-Greene Halleck, Esq.,"* wrote Benjamin
Franklin to Charles, " requests me to inform you
that there goes by the boat to-day a box of specie
for the Washington and Warren Bank. Will you
be good enough to send it by the stage or by
the first private conveyance before the stage goes.
You need not put it in the bank for safe keeping,
but leave it in charge of the barkeeper of the Eagle
Tavern, where I think it will be perfectly safe.
Have it entered on the way bill and it then will
certainly go, and let them the evening before the
*The poet, then employed in a banking house in New York
City. 34-

OF CHARLES BUTLER
stage starts put it in the stage office or manage it
any other way you think proper."
This box, which arrived safely a few days after,
contained five thousand pistarres (a thousand dol
lars), which speaks well for the honesty of the bar
keeper of the Eagle Tavern. Charles went as a matter
of course to the boat to see if any money might by
chance be there. In September the bank author
ities in New York sent up a cask of specie in the
care of a chance passenger whose name they did
not ask, but who duly delivered up his charge
when the steamer ChanceUor reached her dock.
Once this method of procedure involved parties in
serious difficulty, for a box having been given to
the care of one Captain Roorback, without in
structions as to its consignee, the conscientious
captain and the waiting bankers had each infinite
difficulty before the matter was settled. Arrived
in Albany the kegs were sent to Sandy Hill In
charge of any one who happened to be going, and
they always arrived In safety. There was a limit,
it appears, to this trustfulness, for Benjamin
Franklin Butler did hesitate on one occasion to
send down three thousand dollars in charge of a
stranger who proposed to go on foot to the river
35

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
and thence to Albany on a raft. But this limit
was rarely reached. The honesty of the people
is as evident as the difficulty of the conditions.
Benjamin Franklin had entered upon banking
hopefully enough, and when told that some criti
cism had been made upon his undertaking only
said :
" So be it.
' They cannot rob me of free nature's grace ;
They cannot shut the windows of the sky
Through which Aurora shows her brightening face ;
They cannot bar my constant feet to trace
The wood and lawns, by living stream, at eve.
Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave.' "
But doubts about the soundness of the system
gradually came to the brothers. Singularly
enough. It was the high-spirited boy Charles who
first expressed them. The subterfuges and shifts
which the difficulties of the situation necessitated
were repugnant to his nature, and youth though
he was, he was unwilling to engage in the country
banking business as it was then conducted.
Before he went to Sandy Hill to study In his
brother's office, he declined an offer from the
bank. " I have already had," he said in Novem-
36

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ber, " enough of banks and banking to keep at a
distance from them, nor will I have anything
more to do with them unless from absolute neces
sity. And as to entering as a clerk in the W.
and W. bank, I would not do it for $300 a year."
His brother, though at first Inclined to rebuke
him for his presumption, came himself only six
months later to very much the same conclusion.
The Washington and Warren Bank did not fail,
but the brothers gave up banking and devoted
themselves to the study and practice of law.
As the winter months came on Charles Butler
regained his strength, and in the spring of 1821
he undertook a new period of law studies, this
time at Kinderhook. " It was," says the old record,
" a beautiful village ; wide streets ; three elegant
brick houses with shady courts and yards before
them ; a number of stores, a show of business ;
churches, taverns; inhabited by wealthy farmers or
professional men, principally Dutch of the more
enlightened order. The men generally tall, per
sonable and fair." Here he studied in the office and
under the care of James Vanderpoel, a distin
guished lawyer, for many years Judge of the Third
Judicial District of New York State.
37

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
" I am greatly pleased," wrote Benjamin Frank
Un, "with your letter announcing a new era in
your life as a student — new, because you have so
long been prevented from prosecuting your stud
ies by 111 health, and, more especially, because you
have adopted some new resolutions in regard to
the line of conduct you Intend pursuing. As to
the caution you should use in the choice of your
companions and your public deportment, it is
unnecessary for me to say anything. Your
course of study is a matter of more interest and
importance. I approve of your reading law at
this stage of your studies and perhaps it will be
as useful to read books of practice as any other.
Read Tidd, and Sellon If you can get the latter,
and Johnson's Digest — Title Practice. This is
all the practice you need to read at present. Then
take up Blackstone again, which you will be able
to read with more benefit than ever before. After
Blackstone, Chitty on Pleading, which must be
read with great care and very slowly. This Is as
much as you can accomplish by spring. In the
meantime let your miscellaneous reading be con
fined as much as can be to History and Bio
graphy, and you will not have much time to de-
38

OF CHARLES BUTLER
vote even to them and none to newspapers. I
also beg you very particularly to keep up as much
acquaintance as possible with the Latin. Read a
littie in the morning steadily, and from my own
experience I can say you will be able to accomplish
considerable in a year. I hope you will endeavor
to improve by the various religious privileges you
enjoy." For the advantage of association during the next
two years with Judge Vanderpoel and for its for
mative influence upon his character Charles Butler
always felt deeply gratefiil. Judge Vanderpoel was
not only an able lawyer but a citizen of worth and
distinction. He made a good lawyer out of the
youth, so good that only two years later the Judge
confided an important case to his care with the
note, " I commit the whole subject to your manage
ment, confident that in that I have a sure pledge
that the case wUl be won if mortal can effect It."
The office at Kinderhook had a large country
practice. It soon became Judge Vanderpoel's habit
to turn over to the young student the trial of
most of the cases — which were usually argued
before a Justice of the Peace. The customary
fee for trying a case was two dollars, and the liti-
39

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
gants saw to It that the counsel earned his money,
for the stolid Dutch witnesses would not be hur
ried, and the progress of Justice was moderate
enough to discipline the most eager young attor
ney into patience. A school of tact also was this
country practice, and here It was that Charles
Butler first studied the art — of which in later
years he became so consummate a master — of
moulding the minds of many men Into harmon
ious action. Even in these early days he settled
more cases than he fought. He would tell of
amusing Interviews with the Dutch goodwives
who came to sign conveyances of lands and titles.
The paper would be drawn, and then a time-
honored little comedy would begin. The wife
refused to sign; the husband urged, but all in
vain, until finally the expected present — usually a
black silk dress — suggested to the husband by the
tactful lawyer at exactiy the right moment, grati
fied the hesitating wife and happily ended the
incident. Kinderhook was then far more a centre of influ
ence than a country town of the same importance
would be at the present day. It had been for many
years the home of Peter Van Schaick, the eminent
40

OF CHARLES BUTLER
jurist and author, well known not only as an able
lawyer but also as one of the best read classical
scholars of his day. Mr. Van Schaick kept a
private law school of much reputation in those
days, and at the time of Charles Butler's residence
had among his students William Kent, son of the
distinguished chancellor, the author of the " Com
mentaries " and other noted legal works. Chan
cellor Kent was the life-long friend of Peter Van
Schaick ; other noted men were frequent visitors ;
and the concerns of public life were an habitual
matter of discussion by the legal society of the
town. Under the care of Judge Vanderpoel the
youth gained more than a knowledge of the prin
ciples or experience in the practice of law ; he
developed a habit of citizenship. He began to
take an interest in the politics of the State and
before he was of age became an active member of
the " Buck-tail " or Anti-Clinton section of the
Democratic-Republican party.
The quiet life at Kinderhook was sometimes
varied by mild diversions. It was customary,
for example, to have a great celebration on the
Fourth of July. In 1821, a memorable one was
held at Kinderhook Landing. Judge Butier and
41

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Postmaster Walter Butler were active in arranging
for it. Benjamin Franklin Butler came from
Albany to deliver the oration, and of course
Charles came from Kinderhook, five miles away.
The oration was a success, but a greater excite
ment was to follow. Hardly had the refresh
ments been served when in came the famous
steamship Richmond on her way to Albany
bringing the news of the death of Napoleon
Bonaparte, which had occurred May 23d, nearly
six weeks before. Perhaps we can now hardly
understand the feeling in those days toward
Napoleon, as summing up In himself all the
forces which make for evil, and the relief brought
by the news of his death. " It Is," said Charles
Butier to his mother, " the forerunner of the MU-
lennlum." At the end of 1822 Charles Butier received the
appointment of Deputy Clerk of the New York
Senate, and on the 5th of January, 1823, took up
his residence at Albany, entering the law office of
his brother, Benjamin Franklin, who had returned
there, had been appointed District Attorney of
Albany County, and had re-established his law
partnership with Martin Van Buren. There is
42

OF CHARLES BUTLER
a touch of pensiveness in the letters of the young
student as he left the quiet country life at Kin
derhook for the bustle of the city. " But," he
said, " the purest treasure mortal times afford
is spotless reputation and it is to obtain that treas
ure that I shall sacrifice all minor considerations
and endeavor to act well my part." His first
letter after he arrived sounded again a little note
of regretful sadness :
" We had a pleasant and brilliant party at Kin
derhook on the evening previous to my final de
parture. The sound of the violin and the gaiety of
the company reminded me forcibly of the even
ing of the fourth of July spent at Walton. The
association caused the regretful wish for the
company of some of those friends who con
duced and added to the pleasure of that evening.
' But wherefore of pleasures departed complain
That leave such enjoyment behind
Though the sun of their sweetness be sunk in the main,
Their twilight still rests on the mind.'
Yes, long will that twilight rest on the mind —
the recollection of those pleasures departed will
long be cherished with the fondest care, identified
43

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
as they are with the recollection of a person who
receives the kindest and most enthusiastic wishes
of my heart. I shall be much occupied during
the winter and shall rejoice when the spring comes,
for until then I must submit to be confined to all
the minutiae of laws and legislation. My situa
tion in the Senate requires unremitted attention
during the day, and study In my office a still more
severe application during the evening.
These promises of " unremitted attention "
were well fulfilled, yet It is but simple justice to
a young man's nature to record here that Charles
found time and strength to get a hundred sub
scribers at five dollars each for a ball in aid of the
Greeks, by which a fund of two hundred and sixty
dollars was won for the cause of liberty in that far-
off land. " The Greek ball," he wrote, " was one
of the most splendid exhibitions of the kind ever
witnessed In Albany. There were superb decora
tions — elegant standards of various hues, a Gre
cian cross with the motto in Greek iv zouzijj uixa
(with this conquer), an American Eagle supported
by the Genius of Liberty, a Phoenix emerging
from the ashes, emblematic of the Grecian cause
— there were lights from three massive glass
44

OF CHARLES BUTLER
chandeliers containing sixty spermaceti candles,
whose reflection on the cross and mottoes and
standards quite dazzled the sight. There were
nine musicians, some of whom made music like
the harp of Orpheus, which enchanted the ear
and delighted the heart. The tout ensemble of
the room and company seemed like magic
and reminded one of the days of chivalry and
romance. Thus were we trying to aid in their
speedy restoration to the franchises of freemen ;
it was certainly an interesting manner of render
ing them assistance, dancing the Greeks into
liberty." It is interesting to learn also of Cooper's
new novel, " The Pilot," and its reception ; of
forty-two calls on New Year's Day, where at each
house the young man had to drink a bumper to
a certain young lady not yet mentioned in this
history ; and of the simple customs of the quaint
old town whose day of work and pleasure was ended
with the watchman's cry " Twelve — twelve o'clock,
and all Is well."
Once fairly settied In Albany the young man
took up his studies with vigor. The position he
held was one of Importance, for the reason that It
threw him in contact with the prominent men of
45

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
the State who were then sent to the Senate from
the eight Senatorial districts. He acquired so
much influence that in 1823, when he was not yet
twenty-one years old. Judge Vanderpoel solicited
his support in obtaining an appointment. As
deputy clerk of the Senate he became an official
also of the Court of Errors. This Court, under
the old Constitution of the State, was the Court
of Last Resort, corresponding to the present Court
of Appeals. As then constituted, it was composed
of the Chancellor of the State, of the three Supreme
Court Judges, and of the thirty-two State Sena
tors. Cases of the greatest importance were
brought to it, and thus the most distinguished
lawyers of the day appeared there.
This was the age of oratory, and famous men
spoke daily. From his brother, a model advocate,
Charles learned much of the art of dignified and
persuasive speech. " I have been listening to
his argument," he wrote in January, " more than
an hour. It is one of the most splendid displays of
forensic and legal eloquence I have ever heard. The
gratification which I feel in thus seeing him at the
bar of this court listened to with the greatest
attention can scarcely be expressed. He Is now
46

OF CHARLES BUTLER
on the high road to that eminence to which his
talents must ultimately lead him."
Charles learned from him also much of the art of
life. Benjamin Franklin was morethan an advocate.
He could rise above partisanship. When some
years later the long struggle against De Witt
Clinton had been suddenly ended by his death,
it was he, a long-time opponent, who came
forward, opposing his own party, to aid the bill
for a testimonial to the memory of the states
man. " Among the most eloquent advocates of
the bUl," wrote Bela Edgerton, " were Benjamin
F. Butler and Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, both
democrats, political opponents of De Witt Clinton,
and both then young statesmen of brilliant pro
mise. The speech of Mr. Butler was one of the
most eloquent efforts of his Ufe and drew tears
from the eyes of strong men unused to weep.
Breathing the language of devoted affection to his
own dead leader, Governer Tompkins, Clinton's
opponent, he appealed to his friends to do for
the helpless chUdren of the dead Clinton what his
great rival would himself have done had he been
living. ' Pass the bill,' said Mr. Butier, ' for you
47

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
know that he would have done it. If you cannot
do It for De Witt Clinton, as he now lies in his
grave, do it for him as he was from 1798 to 18 12
— the pride of your party and the hope of your
State. Do It for James Clinton, who fought for
you at Quebec and at Fort Washington. Do it
for George Clinton — my appeal Is to party men
— do It for George Clinton, the founder of your
party, the father ofyour State.* "
It was a valuable experience, which could not
fail to stimulate and educate the young law student,
to listen daily to speeches such as this and to hear
the arguments of such men as John Wells, David
B. Ogden, Abram Van Vechten, Ogden Hoffman,
Martin Van Buren, Samuel G. Talcott, Elisha
Williams, John Duer, John D. Henry and
Thomas Addis Emmet. Once he heard Aaron
Burr. " He was," said Mr. Butier, " a striking
figure whom every one would turn to look at as
he passed in the street — of small, slight build,
dressed in small clothes and black silk stockings,
with knee buckles, and walking steadily forward,
never seeing anyone apparently, but with eyes,
which were wonderfuUy penetrating, turned on
the ground in apparent self-absorption. He was
48

OF CHARLES BUTLER
already an old man, with white hair and weak
through very persuasive voice."
Charles Butler held the office for two sessions
and until his admission to the bar as attorney at
law. During the final years of his studies two
events occurred which profoundly stirred his
imagination and probably established a current of
thought which gave direction to the purposes of
his whole life. The first of these was the placing
upon the Hudson of what was for those days a
superb steamboat, called the James Kent., in honor
of the ChanceUor of the State.
" On Monday evening," wrote Mr. Butler,
" the new steamboat, James Kent, arrived at the
wharf, having left New York at five o'clock in the
morning. On Tuesday at twelve o'clock the ladies
and gentlemen of Albany, at the request of the
proprietors in this city, visited her. Upon no
former occasion have I seen such an assemblage of
beauty and fashion. The intention was to have
saUed to Hudson, but the machinery being out of
order we did not leave the dock. The scene was
truly novel and pleasing — the boat lying at the
wharf. Its decks literally thronged with a gay com
pany of citizens. The music with which they were
49

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
regaled (the band attached to West Point being
on board), the good humor of the company, and
the cheering of the multitude standing on the
dock, who were precluded from boarding, and,
above all, the clear and beautiful day, combined
to give an effect the most magical of anything
that I have ever witnessed. All were evidentiy
delighted with the splendor of the party which
had been so suddenly congregated.
The boat Is a magnificent specimen of naval
architecture and Is fitted up in a style to rival the
splendor of the palace of any nabob in the country.
At one we sat down to an excellent repast, and hav
ing done honor to the feast, and poured out one or
two libations to the James Kent ; at about two the
company dispersed each to his home, gratified
with the events of the day. The march of im
provement In the arts and sciences In our country
has been astonishingly rapid. Who that witnesses
the Inventions of modern times but recurs with
mixed feelings of pride and exultation to the time
when America — independent, rich, happy Amer
ica — was the habitation of the savage. The in
vention of steam power may be esteemed as one
of the noblest and most useful Inventions of the
5°

OF CHARLES BUTLER
age, for by it the elements are conquered — time
and space are shortened. Fulton's name will
descend to posterity encircled with a fame and
glory * more lasting than brass.' "
The second event was the opening of the Erie
canal, in the autumn of 1823; referred to in a let
ter from Albany, dated September 29 :
" The principal subject of conversation in Al
bany at present is the approaching celebration of
the transit of the first boat from the Lakes Into
the waters of the Hudson. Great preparations
are making to celebrate the event with that mag
nificence and splendor compatible with the dig
nity and prodigality of the great and patriotic
State of New York. It will indeed be a jubilee
— the union of the Lakes and the Ocean. A
century ago a man who ventured to predict the
mingling of the waters of Erie and the Hudson
would have been derided as a lunatic. Yet the
union Is accompUshed. Rome and Greece In
their proudest days could not boast the consum
mation of a work to equal the grand canal. The
water has already been let into this city, but no
boat will come down untU the day appointed for
the celebration, which is next Wednesday, the
51

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
eighth of October. This will be no ordinary
event. This eighth of October, 1823, ought ever
hereafter to be a jubilee with the citizens of this
Republic. The occurrences of that day ought
to be described in tablets of brass and handed
down to succeeding generations as mementoes of
national greatness — of the astonishing and unparal
leled industry, enterprise and genius of the present
generation." It Is, of course, the enthusiasm of a young
man that speaks. To the youth just twenty-
one, this great waterway, which on Its completion
almost doubled the accessible regions of the north
ern states, was a symbol and a prophecy of the
coming dominance of the Empire State. Thus,
In one summer the quiet boy whom we have
seen contentedly studying on the banks of the
creek at Kinderhook became the man of action.
Henceforward his mind was upon the opportuni
ties for work which life afforded — to a remark
able degree even in these earlier years work for
others — and upon plans for his own part In the
work. He finished his course of study at Albany;
on February 26, 1824, he took his examination,
and In April was admitted to practice.
5^

OF CHARLES BUTLER
In this record of early life the narrative has
seemed to lay much stress upon the influence of
men of ability and force ; but it would be Incom
plete without the notice of an Influence more
continuous than any of the others. Charles But
ler's mother was a very handsome woman, with
dark eyes which had in them a never-fading
charm. She was of New England stock, with the
strict integrity, the frugal care-taking unselfish
habit, the quiet self-controlled nature — never fully
revealing Its depth of tenderness — of the wife and
mother of the early New England days. The
son's love and veneration for her, as the records
show, were very beautiful and touching, in the
boy of twenty. In the man of fifty, in the still en
thusiastic and youthful-hearted man of ninety-six.
In a letter written long after this period Is a
touching picture of one of their latest interviews.
He was then just fifty, she just eighty years of
age. He read to her the twelfth chapter of Isaiah,
talked with her of her heavenly home, so near,
and kissed her hand as she gave to him her part
ing blessing. This blessing had been with him
all his earlier days, and was to help him all his
coming years. 53

CHAPTER II
PLANS FOR PROFESSIONAL LIFE  OPENING
MONTHS AT LYONS  REMOVAL TO GEN
EVA  INTEREST IN PROJECTS FOR
BENEFITING THE CITY  WEST
ERN TRIP  MARRIAGE

" TT Is the five years after college which are
I the most decisive in a man's career.
Any event which happens then has Its
full Influence. The years which come before are
too fluid. The years which come after are too
solid." These words were spoken by Phillips
Brooks In his maturity ; his biographer rightly
claims that he could not have thus spoken, if he
had not been aware of the importance of the open
ing years In the history of his own life. So the
decisions made by Charles Butler In the years
immediately succeeding the closing of his studies
determined his future course. The spring of
1824 brought him to the first of these decisions;
54

OF CHARLES BUTLER
he must choose the location for the opening of his
work. He could enter, as clerk or junior partner,
the law office of his brother at Albany ; or he could
go into some distant section, sacrificing thereby
much of the influence which might at first aid him,
but opening for himself a more independent career.
Benjamin FrankUn Butler, though only twenty-
eight, was at that time securely established in his
profession. Yet It was patronage rather than
opportunity which the connection with him seemed
to offer, for the business of his office, being mostly
counsel practice In the Courts of Error and Chan
cery, could not easily be given to the young
lawyer. Charles wrote. In a letter (to his future wife),
dated Albany, December 17, 1823 :
" I come now briefly to speak of my future
destination. The period when I shall be re
leased from the thraldom of the Senate Clerkship
Is so near at hand that It Is not premature to begin
to think at least of a place of residence. If the veil
which hides futurity from our vision could be re
moved and the inscrutable and mysterious govern
ment of the world be for a moment comprehended
by finite beings, what doubts, uncertainties, cares
55

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
and perplexities should we poor mortals be relieved
from. At this moment when weighing in the
balance the advantages and disadvantages, the
inducements and objections in favor of or against
the several places which have been recommended
by my friends, I could wish for the gift of second
sight. I have no fears as to obtaining an honest,
wholesome subsistence. I believe I shall always
be able to provide for the necessities of life, and
that so far as respects comforts and gentility I
shall never be found wanting. It is said that to
be ' poor and content is rich and rich enough,'
but this doctrine I could not subscribe to. That
man is rich who has health, who has a partner of
his life in whom he can confide, and who is pos
sessed of enough to satisfy the comforts and
inclinations, without the extravagances of life.
The comforts, I trust — and my trust Is based on
reasonable expectations — always to be enabled to
indulge In ; the luxuries and extravagances impair
the constitution and for that reason ought not to
be coveted. Fortune has not showered down her
smiles upon the roof of my ancestors, and I do
not therefore inherit any of the goods or chattels
or lands which belong to others more favored.
56

OF CHARLES BUTLER
But I have health, a portion of Industry, and a
profession at once honorable and lucrative, which
is all I ask. I would not sacrifice the content and
Independence of my station in society for all the
ill-gotten wealth of the miser ; nor would I ex
change my comparatively poor and humble lot
for the luxuries of wealth, if in the exchange I
should have to submit to be deprived of a single
privilege which I now enjoy. I do not covet the
riches of the world — although It is a comfortable
thing to be rich ; I ask for nothing more than I
now have, wherewithal to obtain a livelihood ; and
I would prefer the domestic and happy life of the
country gentleman to all the pomp and splendor
of the city nabob. I have, therefore, determined
upon going Into the country as affording a more
extensive field for a young lawyer who has not
family influence to support him in the city. A
location in the country Is preferable, not only
because of the cheapness of living, but also by
reason of the political as well as professional
advantages which may be attained by a proper
course of conduct. My friends have advised me
which town or county in this State presents the
best field to consider." 57

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
The advice of these friends was of the highest
value. Chief among them were Senators Green,
Tallmadge and Whiting, who had been greatly
attracted to him during his two terms of service
as Deputy Clerk of the State Senate and of the
Court of Errors. His first choice was Delaware
County, partly for reasons of a personal nature,
which will be evident later in this narrative, prin
cipally because in his opinion no other county
afforded so many Inducements to persons wishing
to Interest themselves in the politics of the State.
But he gave this up. " My bark," he said, " is
a fraU one, and I must not let it drift beyond the
limits of my profession." He next considered
Onondaga County, which seemed to offer great
Inducements. Possibly he might have setded
there had he not been attracted by the opportu
nities in the newer portions of what was then the
" far West." The opening of the Erie Canal had
given an immense impulse to the development of
the western part of the State of New York. Es
sentially a pioneer, he listened with eagerness to
Senators Green and Tallmadge when they urged
him to come and help them to develop the infant
county of Wayne, and to Senator Bowen Whiting
58

OF CHARLES BUTLER
when he urged him to take part at Geneva in the
development of Seneca township, in the county
of Ontario, The session of the Senate lasted from
the first of January to the twentieth of April, and
before its close the question was decided In favor
of the West.
The best opening seemed to be at Geneva, and
it was a flattering prospect for a youth of twenty-
two. Mr. Bowen Whiting, afterwards a distin
guished judge, at this time District- Attorney of
his county. State Senator, and a man of influence
in both county and State, was in a partnership
which was to expire by limitation in the succeed
ing autumn. He proposed that Charles Butler
should then become his partner ; and a provi
sional agreement was made to this effect. The
eager lawyer, however, had no mind to spend a
summer in idleness, nor indeed to rest his future
on a single hope. The Senators from Wayne
County still urged him to make at least a trial
there. Mr. John S. TaUmadge, especially, begged
him to "come and see our County, the Pride of
the World, and Lyons, its most beautiful village."
Accordingly he began practice there while await
ing the permanent situation at Geneva.
59

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Mr. Butler's first letter from Lyons was dated
May I, 1824:
" I have finally arrived at home, much pleased,
I can assure you, to get to a resting-place, after rid
ing four hundred miles over
' Ruts and ridges,
And bridges
Made of a few uneasy planks,
In open ranks,'
as some poet has expressed it. The country
is much pleasanter than I expected to find It.
Lyons Is larger and the inhabitants more friendly
than I anticipated. I board at the Mansion
House, In the most central part of the village, in
Water street (they even have streets here), and
directly on the bank of the canal. From the
table at which I am now writing I have a delight
ful view of the canal for some distance, and of all
the craft on it. It is an excellent substitute for
the North River. Packets and boats are con
stantly passing, the former loaded with passen
gers, the latter with the produce of the Western
world. The boatmen have bugles and horns, and
make merry music as they pass along. There are
a number of fine country residences In the vlcln-
60

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ity, and everything looks as if the wealth and pop
ulation of the country were rapidly increasing,
and as If Lyons was destined to be almost a city.
From what I have seen I feel assured that I have
made a discreet and excellent location. I find it
difficult to obtain board in a private family — at
present I board with Mr. Griffith, a brother-in-law
of my friend Mr. Green, an excellent landlord,
with an interesting and pleasant family, and fur
nishing an excellent and neat table. I think of
renting an office in Broad street, just around the
corner, a few rods west of my boarding house,
painted white with green blinds, having two
pleasant rooms, one of which I shall convert into
a bedroom. When I sleep in the office I shall
pay Mr. Griffith at the rate of twelve shillings
(^1.50) per week, for victuals. I could not get the
front room In the office for less than twenty-six
dollars a year, and I can rent them both for
thirty. Since I could not get board and lodging
together for less than two dollars a week, I shall
now save enough in the year to furnish the bed
room in the office. The arrangement, I think,
will be a pleasant one. Those citizens whom I
have conversed with are pleased at my coming,
61

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
and say that I shall do well. The inhabitants
had been expecting me for seven or eight days,
and I presume are much relieved."
The next letter gave an account of the first
Sunday in Lyons :
" I went to the Presbyterian Meeting-house
this morning. It Is a building erected In olden
time — extremely frail and venerable in appear
ance — probably a few feet larger than the school-
house in the Square in Walton — plain benches,run-
nlng lengthwise, and parallel with each other, form
the seats. The pulpit, made of plain oaken timber.
Is elevated about i}4 feet above the pews. The
ladies sit on one side of the pulpit, the gentlemen
on the other (this, you know, is rigid Presbyterian
ism). I could not stand erect, the ceiling was so
low, but had to bend my head In a devotional
position when the Parson prayed. Parson Pome
roy, the Shepherd of the flock. Is an old and ven
erable-looking man. His head is whitened with
the frost of years — his delivery broken, but Im
pressive ; and when animated with the subject
reminds one of the apostolic age. I was delighted
with his preaching. The simplicity of his appear
ance and the earnest and sincere manner of his
62

OF CHARLES BUTLER
delivery form a striking contrast to the city clergy.
Thinks I to myself, this Is a true devotion. Here
the poor and the rich are literally on an equal
footing (the pews are not elevated, but on a level)
and here pure and genuine religion is preached.
There was something in the worship, the con
struction of the building, and the appearance of
the preacher, so novel that to me the service was
quite entertaining. However, the Lyonsites have
become proud and are making preparations to
build a new and elegant church and mean to
' throw Parson Pomeroy over the pulpit,' as a
gentleman Informed me to-day. The old church
will be razed to the foundation. I shall regret to
see It done — and ' what for no ; ' are not the old
church and the old parson good enough ?"
In 1824, the village of Lyons was considered
to be well toward the setting sun, but it was then,
as it Is now, a pleasant place, and the enthusiasm
of the youth fairly glowed as he told of Its charms
to his friends at home. He would never admit
that it was as beautiful as Geneva or as Canan-
dalgua — the latter he declared to be " the most
charming place In all creation " — but he main
tained that Lyons was the natural rival of Geneva
63

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
and that the time would come when the former
place would not only successfully compete with the
latter In business but also in wealth and beauty.
Lyons also, as he proudly claimed, was very
accessible from Albany, only four days distant.
One could leave Utica at nine in the evening and
be in Lyons at eight the second morning after,
so that it was " in fact only one day's travel "
from Utica to Lyons. The journeying of those
days was of course on the canal ; by the " Packet
Boat," the traveler leaving Albany at six o'clock
on Monday morning would be due to arrive in
Lyons on the succeeding Thursday ; and would,
as Mr. Butler said without the least suspicion of
humor, " see a great deal of the country on his
way." In this opening Ufe at Lyons, both the simplic
ity of the well-bred youth and the characteristic
traits of the man of large foresight quickly made
themselves evident. He began his law career with
little capital besides his natural ability. His per
sonal expenditures were frugal and it would cer
tainly appear that the opening of an establishment
at a total cost of nine dollars a month for the
combined expenses of office and home was a
64

OF CHARLES BUTLER
modest venture. But the young lawyer had
plenty of courage for outlay In professional mat
ters. Postage In those days was a most impor
tant item ; on a single sheet to Albany it was a
shilling and a half, and on a double sheet twice
that sum. " But you must," he wrote to a legal
correspondent, " forward letters to me with all
convenient speed and promptness. The double
postage is of no consequence in comparison with
the object in view." He would have efficiency
in his business no matter what It cost and he
would be equipped for it. He borrowed five hun
dred dollars from his brother at Albany to buy a
law library. He used to say later that his " only
capital, when he married, was his library and his
debt therefor." But it proved to be the best law
library In the county at that day, and made his
little office a centre for the consultations of the bar.
Mr. Butler was wise when he determined to
start for himself rather than to rely upon the
influence of his brother or of that group of states
men, which he calls the "Junto," and which Is
known to history as the "Albany Regency."
His independent legal life had thereby far greater
scope. In his new home the first problem was
65

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
that of participation In political affairs. The
advice of his brother was against it :
" I would advise you to be moderate though
decided in the expression of your political senti
ments. Nothing gives more weight to one's
opinions than to have them clothed with an air
of modesty, especially the opinions of a young
man among strangers. You will be obliged to
express your views on political subjects and to
take some part In them, the less the better. Let
eminence in your profession be your constant aim ;
every thing else of a temporal character should be
In subordination to it. The folly of risking one's
hopes on the ocean of politics is daily more and
more apparent. Your first essays will of course
be in a Justice's Court. In regard to business of
that kind you know my views. It is useful,
though it may be dangerous. You have not yet
contracted any of the bad habits of pettifogging
and I am not afraid that you will. You will not
fail to recollect that this is probably the most
favorable time you will ever have for pursuing a
course of regular legal studies. You have more
leisure now than you will ever have again. Let
it be improved to the best advantage."
66

OF CHARLES BUTLER
The advice in this letter had Important re
sults. Mr. Butler was, though perhaps hardly
consciously, during these summer months at
Lyons, facing decisions In regard to his work
second In importance to no others since the
day when he gave up the alluring vision of naval
glory. His brother offered three specific coun
sels ; to study Intensely, to avoid pettifogging,
and to keep out of politics. For the first of
these there was little need of emphasis. The
bent of the young lawyer's mind was studious,
and habits of industry had been fixed by train
ing. At the end of the summer he had com
pleted a task of reading rather surprising In its
amount, and less limited in range than one could
have expected. He wrote from Lyons, August
30, 1824:
" I have just finished reading Vattel and have
commenced Montesquieu, but think I shall have
to lay it aside for some future day. My reading
hitherto has been rather desultory, not having
adopted (because I had not the means of pur
suing) a regular course of study. Phillips's two
volumes on the Laws of Evidence, Cowen's
Reports, portions of Dunlap, Archbold, Comyn
67

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
on Contract, Adams's Ejectment, and Toller, and
Blackstone, together with some History, Paley's
Philosophy and Theology, Dwight's Theology,
Milton's works, Hazlitt's Lectures, Chatham's
Letters, and a variety of miscellaneous matter
have been read since the first of May. I have
made It a point to read a few lines in Virgil each
morning. All of Dwight's Theology has not
been read, but a considerable portion of it.
Having also had occasion to investigate a num
ber of legal questions arising in cases which
have been submitted to me, I think the season
thus far has been one of real legal, if not of
pecuniary profit."
The second subject of advice concerned " Petti
fogging." As many young lawyers of that day
understood the term, this was a perfectly legitimate
branch of what may be called the legal trade,
requiring small labor and attractive as a source of
income. It meant simply devoting one's atten
tion to the numerous petty cases to which the new
ness of the country and the rapid development of
conflicting interests gave rise. These cases were
usually tried before a Justice of the Peace, with
witnesses Httle versed in the subtleties of the law.
6S

OF CHARLES BUTLER
A knowledge of the weaknesses of human na
ture in the matter of giving testimony, and per
haps even in the matter of weighing and judging
testimony when given, often made for success
more surely than sound legal knowledge or sincere
zeal for the principles of equity. A practice of
this sort, therefore, led to immediate gain, but
rarely to desirable reputation. Yet it was a tempta
tion to many a young lawyer, especially to one
who, like Charles Butier, had resolutely left influ
ential friends in order not to be dependent, and
who was in a new country with no capital but
" some books and a debt."
Hardly was he settled when a client appeared
with a " horse case," which was likely, if success-
fiiUy conducted, to lay the foundation for a lucra
tive pettifogging business. Mr. Butler went, pro
bably with some elation, to conduct the case ; but
after he had won it he decided definitely not to take
any more of the kind. " I made," he wrote, " the
first essay In a Justice's Court about three weeks
since in Sodus, about eight mUes north of Lyons,
and have since received considerable credit for it.
Mr. Grift, a member of the Villages, went out ex
pressly to witness the first appearance of the young
69

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
lawyer from Albany.' It was a suit for the breach
of the warranty of a span of horses, and there were
twenty-eight witnesses examined. Of course great
interest was excited, as usual upon such occasions.
There were two renowned pettifoggers opposed to
me. The winning of his first case was a triumph for
the boy of twenty-two. Yet the real triumph was
the decision to reserve himself, even though it
might be at the cost of patient waiting, for what he
termed " real legal rather than pecuniary " profit.
The reward of this resolution came more promptly
than he could have anticipated. At the session
of the Court of Common Pleas, which was held in
Lyons in September, he found himself entrusted
with the care of two important cases, and on that
occasion made a record which attracted the atten
tion of some of the noted men of the day.
The third Item of advice in his brother's letter
was "to keep out of politics," and it involved a
grave decision affecting the entire course of his
professional life. Little of the suspicion which in
these latter days Is apt to be suggested by the
term " politician " had then been aroused. A pol
itical career in the early years of the century was
70

OF CHARLES BUTLER
an attractive one for a lawyer, and was, as in its
best estate It Is still, a legitimate goal for ambition,
leading to high office and substantial fame, and
offering opportunities for usefulness. Mr. Butler
was attracted toward politics by natural bent as
well as by early associations. He possessed In a
high degree a capacity for discerning the principle
which lay behind any special application of consti
tutional law or any political measure about
which men differed. To this discernment he
added exceptional tact In bringing men to an
agreement on the basis of the principles involved.
This remarkable union of insight and tact — of
power to see the principle involved and suavity
to win men to its acceptance — was the equipment
which later in life won him his best triumphs. It
Is also the basis for the making of a statesman,
and one is now almost tempted to regret his de
cision. In making It he must surely have stifled
many natural desires. He had been in the midst
of the poUtical life at Albany. His own brother
Benjamin Franklin was himself giving most of his
strength and influence to the service of the State
and was fairly launched on that distinguished pub
lic career which carried him afterwards to Wash-
71

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ington as the Attorney-General of the United
States. Charles Butler was urged towards politics
on all sides. The friend of his youth, Edwin
Croswell, then just established as State printer
and editor of the Albany Argus, wrote to him,
begging the " tall and handsome Charles " to be
the best man at his wedding in September, and
with equal zeal urging the " rising young lawyer "
to join him and his friends in making the Repub
lican party a power for usefulness In New York
State. The history of New York politics has few
chapters more Important than that which narrates
the influence (largely a sound and useful one) ex
erted upon its affairs by Edwin Croswell, Mar
tin Van Buren, Benjamin Franklin Butler, John
A. DIx, Silas Wright, William L. Marcy,
Azariah C. Flagg and the others who formed the
Albany Regency. It was no light matter to re
nounce the opportunity for association with such
men and the advantages which It offered.
Nevertheless the independent young lawyer
decided against politics. Success and not failure
in this direction led him to this step just as
success and not failure in pettifogging had led
him to confine himself to the higher fields of
72

OF CHARLES BUTLER
legal practice. At the outset, almost In spite of
himself, he was drawn into politics. His first
venture was a successful vindication of the good
name of his friend. Senator Green, to whose ad
vice his own settlement In Lyons had been largely
due. Political feeling ran high just then in New
York State. An " Electoral " blU, giving to the
people the choice of electors of President and
Vice-President, then chosen by the legislature, was
up for action. The Assembly and the Governor
were for the bill ; the Senate was against it, fear
ing that Jackson instead of Crawford might be
elected if the people made the choice. All this is
ancient history now, for another electoral usage
has long been established. But strife was plenti
ful about the matter in 1824. Particularly in
Wayne and Ontario counties had popular enmity
fastened itself upon Senator Green. The Lyons
Advertiser refused to publish his speech, and the
people of Waterloo burned him In effigy. Mr.
Butler was a much younger man than Mr. Green.
He was a newcomer in the district, and he had up
to this time been extremely cautious about engag
ing in political discussions. He hesitated to take
part. " It does not become me," he wrote, " to
73

THE LIFE AND L E-T T E R S
say or do much at this time, but I cannot remain
silent and witness the unfairness, not to say the
dishonesty, with which they attempt to destroy a
man for having discharged with frankness and
propriety his duty to his country and his con
science. I know Green. I know him to be
honest and intelligent, above suspicion and above
reproach." He did not remain silent ; and the
course he took in its union of calmness and im
petuosity is characteristic of the man who always
won the convictions of his opponents in after life,
before attempting to compel their movements.
Young as he was he entered the political field him
self, and in a letter to his brother gave the result :
" My friend Green, who Is one of the most
honest. Intelligent and popular men In this west
ern country, has somewhat ' exposed himself to
the enemy ' by his proper and honest stand in the
Senate at the extraordinary session. Although
there is not a man in the country who is more
zealously In favor of the Electoral bill, he could
not consent to a violation of the Constitu
tion. The editor of our paper — the Lyons Ad
vertiser — is a violent electoral bill and Adams
man, and also under Federal Influence. He, too,
74

OF CHARLES BUTLER
was much incensed with Mr. Green for presum
ing to be in favor of an Immediate adjournment,
so much so that he would not even publish his
speech. I had frequent conversations with him,
and by dint of persuasion brought him over to the
faith, as you will perceive by the copy of the Ad
vertiser which accompanies this. The remarks
about Mr. Green, under the editorial head, were
written by me and published verbatim as they
were written. Great is the astonishment of our
villagers, a great majority of whom are Federal
ists and Cllntonians, at the course of the editor of
the Advertiser. They expected that instead of
justifying he would denounce Mr. Green."
Senator Green was fortunate in his advocate,
and the story goes to confirm the feeling in the
reader that opportunity combined with natural ap
titude in turning the attention of the young
lawyer toward politics. But he resisted the temp
tation, great as It must have been, and after due
consideration, he wrote In December to his friends
at Albany formally announcing his Intention
thenceforth to take no active part In poUtical
life. Many of his friends had urged him to the
contrary course, but most of them seem to
75

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
have recognized the wisdom of the decision
when once made. Mr. Croswell wrote :
" You say you have renounced politics. It is
a reasonable resolution. I take it you mean by
this an active share in them ; for It is quite impos
sible for you or me to lose all feeling about such
matters. Even if it were possible, it would not
be proper. There are great considerations why
we should feel, in a reasonable degree, the respon
sibilities we are under to the party, the country
and ourselves. There are few conditions of life
in which we can be absolved from these, or. In
deed, in which the ordinary feelings of the mind
would allow us to be free if we could."
It need hardly be said that through his whole
life Mr. Butler had a deep sense of these public
responsibilities of which Mr. Croswell spoke.
His decision as to active political life, however,
once made, was never changed. Though his voice,
his pen and his means were always at the service
of any good public cause ; and though his Influence
made him a friend to be desired, he never, except
as a private citizen, entered the field of politics
and never sought Its honors.
Arrangements for the removal to Geneva were
76

OF CHARLES BUTLER
completed in the autumn of 1824. On October
25th Mr. Butler wrote:
" You have probably been apprised of my
intention to remove to Geneva and will not there
fore be surprised at the caption of my letter.
Last week I took up my bed and walked from
Lyons to a village abounding, I hope, in more
business and wealth than the one I left. Mr.
Whiting and I have concluded a connection as
partners equally Interested in the profits of the
practice of law. We partially concluded upon
the arrangements In Albany last winter, and it
was with a view to Its consummation some time
during the season that I located at Lyons, not
Intending to become a permanent citizen of that
village. Business and prospects there were more
flattering when I left than I had any reason to
expect they would be, and If the connection with
Mr. Whiting had not been formed, I think that
I should have been contented to remain there
although inducements to remove to Onondaga
and join Mr. Earll were very great. The situation
of Geneva is the most beautiful Imaginable. It Is
at the foot of the lake on its west bank. The
lake is about two and a quarter miles wide and
77

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
separates us from Seneca County ; and, what is
remarkable and renders the country more Inter
esting, the lake never freezes nor has It been
known to be closed with ice in the recollection of
the oldest inhabitant ; the water is clear and trans
parent, the banks not very bold but even and
sloping. The main street extends for more than
a mile along the bank of the lake. The office
which we at present occupy Is on the public
square and near my boarding house. A new one
Is buUding for us on the opposite side of the
square, next door to the bank, and when com
pleted will be one of the finest situations in the
viUage. Boarding costs more than at Lyons.
At Geneva boarding and lodging cost four dollars,
including office expenses. The Genevans are the
most enterprising people in the State of New
York, and Geneva wUl soon rival any place in this
State for wealth and business. We intend to
apply to the legislature for the Improvement of
the navigation of the outiet, which will not
only give an impulse to trade in Geneva, but will
be a source of vast revenue and profit to the
State. It is also in contemplation to open a
canal navigation from the head of Seneca Lake to
78

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Newtown (now ElmIra)on the Susquehanna River,
a distance of twenty miles only and directly south.
Refer to the map and you will at once perceive
what a door will be opened for trade and what an
important auxIUary it will be to the Erie Canal ;
steamboats will be built next season to ply on
the lake and to tow boats between Geneva and
its head."
It Is evident from the tone of his letters that
the young man, just entering upon law practice In
Geneva, had no notion of giving up interest in the
welfare of his adopted village, although giving
up active participation In the politics of the State.
He became a citizen at once in the fullest sense
of the term. He drew a bill for the Canal, which
was presented in the Legislature by Mr. Whiting
that very winter and took active interest in many
other projects, afterwards successfully carried out.
At this same session of the Legislature the new
firm presented a bill for the endowment of the
college at Geneva. " Our affairs," wrote Mr.
Bowen Whiting from Albany, January 9, 1825,
" stand well, so far as we know. The Governor
is fully in favor of our canal and of endowing our
college. How the House stands I do not know."
79

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
The canal bill had Its vicissitudes, but passed at
this session, and Its passage was celebrated at a
public dinner in Geneva. The College bill had
its vicissitudes also. In the spring of 1826 Mr.
Butler visited Albany to labor in Its interest, and
he thereafter continued the firm friend of the in
stitution then called Geneva College, which later,
with new endowments, became Hobart College,
and has since abundantly justified its founding.
The law business of the new firm was from the
first extensive. Mr. Bowen Whiting had been
established in Geneva for eight years and had a
good practice. He was now State Senator and in
his absence In Albany left aU his business In
Charles Butler's care. The advent of so young a
lawyer In charge of important cases created great
interest. One of the first of these cases was at Can-
andalgua. A private letter tells of the compli
ment he received for the manner In which he
discharged his duty : " It came from the Crier, a
venerable-looking giant of six feet eight inches.
' Well now ' (his own words), ' It does my heart
good to see a child like you speaking to the jury
so. Bless my soul ! Why, you are a Uttie boy,
and one would not think you could speak so.' "
80

OF CHARLES BUTLER
But speak he did and won the case, which was
an appeal from the decision of a justice, and there
by gained such renown that the citizens of the
town of WiUiamson held a public jubilee " In
commemoration of the triumph of virtue over
vice." The records speak of many other cases
undertaken even this first winter in defense or
prosecution of matters of relatively high import
ance, carried on by young Butler without any as
sistance from clerk or counsellor. Yet, in the midst
of the session of the Court he found time to organize
a reading-room for Geneva :
" Since my return (from the trial of the cases
just mentioned) I have been head over ears in
business at the office and preparing for the trial of
a number of cases next week at the Common
Pleas and Sessions in this county and Canandalgua.
I have also been engaged in drawing the consti
tution and by-laws of the ' Geneva Atheneum,'
which we organized yesterday. The object of the
Association Is to procure a number of the best
domestic and foreign periodicals and newspa
pers, such as the Edinburgh, London and West
minster Quarterly, North American ^arterly,
Atlantic Magazine and others, and to establish
8i

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
a general reading-room for ladles and gentlemen
in a new building to be completed by the first of
July — a few doors from my office — under the di
rection of five managers of whom I am one. We
sent for the periodicals yesterday."
In the midst of his busiest season Charles
Butler undertook the study of French. He wrote
on February 20, 1825: "I returned yester
day from Canandalgua having been there since
Monday attending a Court of Common Pleas
and Sessions and having officiated as District-At
torney. Thirteen indictments were found. Hav
ing no one to assist me I had to be up night and
day and two nights did not go to bed at all but
was writing constantly. I tried three indictments
and succeeded In all of them. The having to
attend the sittings of the courts, although a very
interesting duty, is most fatiguing ; the noise,
bustle and throng are tiresome. But the trial of
a case involving interesting questions of law is
highly entertaining. A court-house during the
session of the court Is a world in miniature ; you
see at once men from different sections of the
country, of different minds and Interests, of differ
ent bearings and manners, and of different stations
82

OF CHARLES BUTLER
in life, from the judge on the bench to the vilest
criminal in the box. I do not find time to read
much besides law, a subject which has interested
me for years and which now grows with my
growth and strengthens with my strength. But
two weeks ago I commenced reading French and
I have made pretty good proficiency (can say
Donnez moi du pain et du beurre — Nous mangeons
du hachis !) Business has broken in upon it and in
the morning I shall recommence. I take a lesson
every morning from nine to half-past ten, and
have to get up pretty early to prepare for It. M.
Canu, the teacher, is an accomplished French
scholar, a lawyer about my age. He was friend to
Napoleon and belongs to a respectable family in
Paris. He is a friend to Lafayette. He arrived
in America in August or September, being com
peUed by some political persecution to leave his
country. He comes to Geneva highly recom
mended and Intends to take a few scholars and
spend the summer with us. He is a fine man and
under his instruction I shall pursue the study of
French as long as he remains."
In 1825 enthusiasm ran high over Lafayette
on the occasion of his triumphal progress through
83

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
the State of New York, and towns and cities com
peted eagerly for the opportunity to do him
honor. Lafayette had been visiting Niagara and
was to make his journey eastward to Albany.
Great was the rivalry between Lyons and Geneva
as to which should secure a visit. Mr. Bowen
Whiting, young Mr. Butler with his French ac
cent just new from Paris, and others won the day
for Geneva. Mr. Butler was selected as one of
the leading citizens to receive him, and wrote de
scribing the occasion as follows :
" We have had Lafayette with us and have just
recovered from the fatigue of honoring him. I
had the happiness to escort him about twenty-
five miles and had good opportunity to make ac
quaintance with him and suite. We had only
twenty-four hours' notice and received him in
style inferior only to the display at PhUadelphia
— so we say of ourselves. Lafayette said it was
beautiful and surpassed anything he had seen In
this country. The entertainment was at the
Franklin House, just finished, at the foot of
Seneca street, on the margin of the lake. I was
on the committee of reception of which Bowen
Whiting, who made the address of welcome, was
84

OF CHARLES BUTLER
chairman. The committee Included the leading
citizens of the village, Henry Dwight, William S.
De Zeng, Major Rees, Joseph Fellows, Nicholas
Ayrault, Phineas Prouty, David S. Skaats and
others. The citizens of Geneva were cordial and
enthusiastic in their reception of the distinguished
guest. A triumphal arch, decorated with flowers,
was thrown over Main street, at the point where
it approached the public square, and under this
the carriage containing the general and those in
the procession passed. By arrangement he was
to breakfast at Geneva about eleven o'clock, on
his arrival from Canandalgua, where he had passed
the night. A large number of gentlemen, mem
bers of the committee and others, went out in car
riages and on horseback to meet the escort from
Canandalgua, about two miles out. On entering
the village the procession halted on the public
square, on Main street, opposite the Geneva Ho
tel, where the guest was formally transferred to
our committee, and the address of welcome deliv
ered. From the room In which the breakfast or
lunch had been prepared there was a fine view of
the lake. General Lafayette remarked at the table
that it was to him a pleasant coincidence that he
85

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
should here be breakfasting on salmon trout taken
from Geneva Lake, in America, for which the Lake
of Geneva in Switzerland was so celebrated, and
where he had often eaten the same. A very large
and fine salmon trout, which had been caught
near the head of the lake, was sent to the commit
tee for the occasion. It was a clear, beautiful day,
and Geneva, always beautiful, appeared at its best.
The general expressed his great delight in the
beauty of the country through which he had been
riding on his journey eastward from Buffalo, and
particularly with the situation of the villages
Canandalgua and Geneva, on the margin of lakes
which give such finished beauty to the landscape."
In 1825 two Incidents occurred. In themselves
of slight importance, and seeming to have little
connection, which gave direction to one of the
great achievements of Mr. Butler's life. One of
these was the incorporation of the Insurance
Company of Geneva with a capital of ^250,000.
While In Lyons, Mr. Butler had been appointed
agent of the New York Insurance Company,
and he was convinced that a local company would
be a substantial protection to Geneva and afford a
good investment for Its capital. He drew the
86

OF CHARLES BUTLER
petition and bill for such a company In December.
Mr. Bowen Whiting presented It In the Senate,
and the Charter was granted. Whiting and But
ler were made Attorneys for the company, and
thus became interested in the fortunes of the land
owners and proprietors in all the villages and
towns round about. The knowledge thus gained
was a useful preparation for the development of
that region through the system of mortgage loans
inaugurated later by Mr. Butler, and maintained
by the great Insurance company which he after
wards represented.
The second incident which turned Mr. Butler's
mind definitely towards the possibilities of develop
ment helped to deepen the Impression of the first.
Mr. Edwin Croswell of the Albany Argus organ
ized in May a "jaunt" to the western region.
Mr. Butler became one of the party, which con
sisted of five gentlemen, traveling with two saddle
horses and a four-seated wagon. They explored
the country as far as Buffalo, thence to Niagara
Falls and the battie grounds of Erie, Chippewa,
and Bridgewater, and crossing the Niagara River
In a skiff about thirty rods below the Falls, they
journeyed on the Canadian side to the Lake.
87

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
" Fort George," wrote Mr. Butier, " Is at the
mouth of the Niagara on the British side ; Fort
Niagara is on our side directly opposite to the
former ; there are troops stationed at both. We
saw the British drilling and they looked brave as
death. The officers appeared well, but neither
their fort nor their men appear as well as Uncle
Sam's on the opposite side. The village of New
ark Is delightfully situated, having been rebuilt
since the war, but It Is dull and tiresome. We
returned to Queenstown, and crossed over to our
country at Lewiston. I could not but remark the
contrast between the two shores. On the Canada
side the country Is truly beautiful, but the inhabi
tants are indolent ; farm houses In decay, fences
generally poor, the people poor. There are no
signs of prosperity or business, and everything
appears still and silent as the grave. The moment
you cross you are sensible of a change in every
thing. The Americans are Industrious and enter
prising. The country smiles with prosperity ;
mechanic arts, agriculture, commerce and manu
factures are thriving. This contrast is generally
remarked by all who travel to Fort George. The
reason Is obvious; the Canadians are oppressed

OF CHARLES BUTLER
with taxes and impositions and depend on govern
ment for support. The Americans are Independent
of government. The inhabitants of our happy
country are protected in their rights and liberties
by the government, but they have no lien upon
It for their maintenance. They must exercise the
faculties which they possess for that purpose. It
is a fine evening. We have had a pleasant game
of whist."
Charles Butler left the party at Lockport. " I
returned," he wrote, " by way of Burning Springs,
about seventeen miles south-west of Geneva. It
is a most singular phenomenon. The gas is car
ried through ordinary pine pump logs from the
spring to the house, about twenty rods, and Is
communicated to the stove and lighted. It burns
constantly and is a substitute for fuel. It Is also
a substitute for candles, being carried through the
barrel of a gun. The gas escapes through the
priming hole In the barrel and is lighted up. The
old lady was boiling her tea-kettle for breakfast.
It contained four quarts of water and boiled in
fourteen minutes. We had a raost delightful ex
cursion — fine roads, fine corapany, and a fine
country." 89

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
The year 1825 has been dwelt upon rather at
length since it was one of great moment for Its
achievements and Its promise. Most important
of all were Its later months. On the loth of Oc
tober Mr. Butler was married to Miss Eliza A.
Ogden, of Walton, Delaware County, New York.
This marriage was the fulfillment of a long-
cherished desire. The story of the friendship, of
the awakening love, of the increasing intimacy, of
the tender affection, Is told in a long series of
letters, glowing with a constancy of love and sym
pathy which made even the reticence characteristic
of the day eloquent of devotion and fidelity. It
was a fortunate union, which for more than fifty
years grew increasingly more coraplete. Eliza
Ogden was the eldest of six children. Her
brothers, William B. and Mahlon D. Ogden, be
came citizens of Chicago, and from Its earliest days
identified themselves with its growth. Two of the
youngers sisters also settled In that city. Caroline,
afterwards Mrs. Ezra B. McCagg, first married
William E. Jones, who became a partner In the
real estate firra of Ogden, Sheldon and Company,
established In Chicago In 1836. The youngest
sister, Frances, married Edwin H. Sheldon, who
90

OF CHARLES BUTLER
also became a partner In the firm. Only one
sister, EmIly,who married Judge N. K. Wheeler,
remained In Delaware County, where she lived for
many years. She afterward settled near the de
lightful home " Boscobel," at High Bridge (New
York City), In which Mr. WUliam B. Ogden spent
the last ten years of his life.
Abraham Ogden had moved from Morrlstown,
New Jersey, to Delaware County, attracted by the
water power and fine forests of that region. He
built a mill and established a prosperous lumber
business at Walton on the Delaware River, float
ing the logs down the river every Spring after the
freshets, sometimes going on the raft himself to
Philadelphia, where he found his market. In her
girlhood Eliza had twice made this journey of
three or four hundred miles with her father, and
recalled visits in the Quaker City, where she
walked in the street with sUk stockings and white
kid sUppers. Mr. Ogden also raised sheep and
manufactured woolen cloth. The Government
offered bounties to encourage home manufactures
after the War of 1 8 1 2, and Mr. Ogden won both
the State and County bounty for his woolen cloth.
The prize was a handsome silver tea-set, still in
91

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
the family, made at Albany, with a well-wrought
sheep standing on the lid of the tea-pot and sugar
bowl. Eliza Ogden had been no stranger to Judge
Butler's household, for her aunt, Hannah Weed,
had married William, Medad's youngest brother ;
and the friendship formed at school with Emily,
their daughter, had made her as a cousin to all the
Butlers of Charles's generation. Indeed, Benjamin
Franklin Butler, In the letter which he wrote to
Charles congratulating him on his raarriage,
claimed to have almost lost his heart to Eliza,
when she as a little girl of thirteen stayed at his
father's house a day or two on her way to
boarding school. " I once saw her," he said,
" when on her way to Litchfield some nine or ten
years ago. She was then a little girl, but she
proved nearly as dangerous to me as she has since
done to you, for I well recollect that I was half
Inclined to fall In love with her myself." Of
course, Benjamin Franklin, who must have been
a staid lawyer of the mature age of twenty-one,
could not seriously consider little girls of thirteen,
but this conquest was but one of the evidences of
the attraction which through all her life Mrs.
92

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Butler had for those who knew her. Eliza had
the advantage of early and good training. In the
summer of 1816, the same year in which Charles
went to Greenville Academy, she was sent with
her cousin Emily to the boarding school of Miss
Pierce in Litchfield, Conn. The journal which
she kept during the two years of her stay gives
evidence of a remarkably well-balanced mind. In
this school sound Instruction was given In all
English branches. Especially good seems to have
been the training In history, for which the taste
then formed gave solace to many later years. One
notes with Interest how thorough was the course
as compared with similar work In these days.
Steady regular drill in Grammar, Blair's rhetoric.
Geography, History (" Universal, Sacred and
Profane") for the week days, regular religious
instruction for the evenings and Sundays — this was
the mental diet for the girl of thirteen In the Con
necticut School. The journal gives critical obser
vations upon the preaching of Dr. Lyman Beecher,
then about forty years old and at the zenith of his
eariy fame. Dr. Beecher and the Rev. Mr. Brace*

*Mr. Brace was the father of Mr. Charles Loring Brace for many
years engaged in charitable work in the City of New York.

93

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
were counsellors to the girls at school, and their
Influence greatly aided In fixing the steadfast
Christian character on Mrs. Butier's later hfe.
She was, however, of strong native resolution, and
owed a debt only for Impulse and suggestion to
this early training. We find her after her return
to Walton reading Addison's " Spectator," Paley's
" Evidences," Volney's " Ruins," and Erasmus
Darwin's " Temple of Nature " ; and the list of
her reading through the next few years raight
alraost serve as a record of the useful literature
of the day. It was Napoleon's hour in the first
quarter of the century, and history illumined by
his career became the ardent study of youth. It
is not all a gain to young girls of our day that the
easy magazine and the never absent novel have
supplanted the sterner methods of an earlier
period. And yet one cannot think that It was chiefly
qualities of the raind which made this union so
perfect through all the years. " Love Is the
pilot, love the only guide," said Charles in one of
his letters, " and I have a presentiment already
that the Uttle urchin will lead me off on some fine
October morning, when the heavens are blue and
94

OF CHARLES BUTLER
the sun shines clear and bright, even If you do not
give rae a written consent to come." To his
dying day he had a heart of thankfulness that this
love had filled his life.

CHAPTER III

LIFE AT GENEVA  PROFESSION OF RELIGION-
RESIGNATION OF POSTMASTERSHIP  THE
MORGAN TRIAL  GREAT WORK IN
CONNECTION WITH THE NEW YORK
LIFE INSURANCE AND TRUST
COMPANY ON BEHALF OF
THE FARMERS OF WEST
ERN NEW YORK

IT was a simple establishraent that the young
people set up. The village of Geneva then
contained about two thousand inhabit
ants, with three hundred houses and twenty-six
shops of all kinds, great and sraall. It had two
hotels, excellent for those days — the Mansion
House at the village centre and the FrankHn
House, just opened, by the lake. There were
besides several small Inns of the old-fashioned
type, more like family boarding houses than hotels,
with a few large comfortable rooms, and with pro
prietors of the type of the host of the Tabard
96

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Inn when Chaucer's pilgrims were " esed atte
beste " on the road to Canterbury. It was in one
of these family horaes, somewhat ambitiously
known as the " Eagle Tavern," that the house
hold was first established.
WiUiam B. Ogden, who appears In the let
ters as a delightful friend and companion of his
sister, drove the wedding party, Charles, Eliza
and Charles's sister, Clarissa, In his own wagon
the long journey from Walton to Geneva. He
gave advice In the fitting up of the new horae,
and bought In New York forty yards of carpet,
at a dollar a yard, of " good bright colors with a
figure or pattern very neat and small." Ben
jamin Franklin Butler gave assistance in getting
the chairs. " We have furnished our parlor,"
wrote Mrs. Charles Butier to her brother, " In a
plain but corafortable raanner. The carpet which
you bought me is first laid down and looks very
neat. Then we have a very neat cherry table on
which to set candles (there being no mantel piece
in the room, but a Franklin fireplace like yours at
Walton), and a dozen handsome curled maple
chairs which you know I liked so well at Albany
and sent for there. We have a very handsome
97

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
looking-glass at twenty dollars, and under that
stands my work-stand, these being the two richest
pieces of furniture in the room. Charles has a
picture of Lafayette on one side of the room
which with a neat pair of brass andirons must con
clude the description. Our chairs cost fifteen
shillings each and with one shilling for putting
them up in mats they cost us sixteen shillings
($2.00) each, which I think was very cheap. I
think you will give us some credit for being eco
nomical." Four years later Mr. Butler buUt a
house on the shore of the Lake, and took much
pleasure in laying out a garden In terraces sloping
down to the water's edge.
Charles Butler came of a family which had pre
served the earnest seriousness of its Puritan an
cestors. The stern and rock-bound coast on
which they settled was In harmony with their own
nature. The reticence of the soul In those days
was a barrier not easily passed. There was a
rigid distinction between the world and the church,
and the habit of communion with others on deep
themes was gained only after intense strain and
effort. Thus periods of exceptional emotional
life, " revivals of religion," became the habit of
98

OF CHARLES BUTLER
church work. During this first year at Geneva
one of these waves of emotion swept over the
western country. Charles Butler was touched by
it and he threw himself actively thereafter into all
the religious life of the coraraunity. He became the
corresponding secretary of the American Sunday
School Union and organizer of Sunday School
work throughout the county of Ontario. In con
nection with other citizens he re-organized the
County Bible Society, auxiliary to the American
Bible Society, became Its secretary, and made ad
dresses in its behalf throughout the county. Out
of his slender raeans he contributed twenty-five
dollars a year toward the support of a rainister In
the new church at Kinderhook Landing. One
may say that this was not a large amount, and
that these labors were not constantly engrossing,
yet for a young lawyer to contribute thus of
tirae and means iraplies a devotion and a firm
ness of principle that go far to explain the greater
service of his later life.
He was ready to sacrifice as well as to labor. In
1830 he was appointed postmaster at Geneva with
out soHcitation on his own part ; the salary was a
great assistance ; the routine work could be mostiy
99

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
done by clerks ; and the duties, in those days of
few mails and infrequent and expensive corres
pondence, were not arduous. But after long de
liberation and some weeks of experience Mr. But
ler resigned the office, and wrote a letter to the
authorities at Washington which is given here be
cause it is a revelation of character as well as a
record of sacrifice :
"Geneva, N. Y., 26th of May, 1831.
To the Honorable William Taylor Barry,
Postmaster-General :
" Dear Sir — In communicating to you my re
signation of the post office of this place, I feel it
my duty from the uniform confidence and cour
tesy which you have extended to rae, the high
regard which I entertain for your character, and a
proper consideration of the iraraediate causes which
influenced rae, to explain briefly the reasons.
" Soon after entering upon my duties I found
that there was no Sabbath in the post office. The
best assistant I ever had, and subsequently two
other young men of high character, resigned on
this account, and it was difficult to secure compe
tent and conscientious service. I endeavored to
persuade rayself that there was necessity in this

OF CHARLES BUTLER
arrangeraent ; that the Sunday raails could not be
discontinued and the office closed on that day
without prejudice to the public interest ; that the
law of the land regulated the business, and that I
was acting under the responsibility of an oath to
perform the duties of the office according to law.
But more reflection brought me to the conclusion
that if there was any propriety in suspending the
business of the other departments of government
on that day, the principle applied with greater
force to the Post Office department than to any
other, for its business was not only more extensive
but eraployed a greater number of agents ; and it
seemed to me that, so far from this presenting a
justification in favor of the measure, it furnished
the strongest reasons in favor of a more rigid sus
pension of all transactions on this day.
"It is a striking commentary upon the business
arguments in favor of Sunday mails, that although
the mail which arrives on that day may bring rae a
letter containing information upon which I may
desire speedily to make a contract, yet the common
law of the land expressly declares the Invalidity
of contracts made on Sunday. Knowing that the
business could not be varied except by the inter-

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
position of the Congress of the United States, I
have resolved to relinquish the office, and I
hereby resign the same, to take effect at the expi
ration of the present quarter on the 30th June next.
" I sincerely hope, my dear sir, that during your
administration and under the auspices of our be
loved President, the business of the Post Office
Department may be established upon a footing
raore congenial with the raoral spirit which char
acterizes our free and happy institutions. I have
frankly expressed ray views. In so doing I raay
perhaps have failed in satisfying you of their pro
priety and I may have presumed too much upon
your Indulgence. But for this I shall make no
apology, as I have been prompted by considera
tions of duty to be frank with you, that you
may not by reason of silence on my part attri
bute my resignation to any other than the true
cause. Pray accept, my dear sir, the assurance of
my regard and esteem forever."
When this decision was made Mrs. Butler
was at Walton, on a visit to her family. Her hus
band wrote to her :
" Some events have transpired at Geneva ;
namely, a house-cleaning. In the way of domestic

OF CHARLES BUTLER
news, and an office-resigning. I have resigned
the post office, and I am right glad ; Indeed, no
act of my life ever afforded me one-half the grati
fication and peace of mind that this has, and I feel
gratitude to the great and good Author and Giver
of every perfect gift that He has not only guided
and directed me, but that He has so tempered my
mind to it. My dear wife, I have clearer evidence
of the goodness of God In this transaction than
in any other of ray life."
The professional life at Geneva was full of
achleveraent frora Its beginning. Charles Butler
was a fine advocate — " tall, grave, dignified," say
the descriptions — and won confidence so rapidly
that his legal activities soon became part of the
history of the section. He desired to take no
share In politics save as a citizen interested in the
welfare of the State. But his pen was at the ser
vice of his convictions, and the contributions
which he made to the Palladium at Geneva, and to
the Argus at Albany, soon made him well known
to all the active citizens of the region. His influ
ence became a potent one, and his approval or dis
approval an important factor as respected both
measures and men. 103

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Shortly after his settiement a reraarkable inci
dent of his legal career gave hira more than local
fame. In the autumn of 1826 and the spring of
1827 he became a public prosecutor In the famous
" Morgan case." It is difficult now, after the lapse
of three-quarters of a century, to realize the tre
mendous Interest excited by this case, and to un
derstand the prominence which any one officially
connected with the conduct of It thereby attained.
William Morgan was a raeraber of the Order of
Free Masons, who, in 1826, for reasons not clear,
determined, in connection with a printer friend,
named Miller, to publish to the world the secrets
of the Masonic Order. His purpose was discov
ered, and, naturally, caused intense exciteraent
among masons. The little printing office at Bata-
vla became a centre of interest for all the country
about, and all legitimate means were exerted to
suppress the revelations.
Then In the autumn of 1826 came a sensation.
On the 15th of September Morgan was arrested
at Batavia on a trivial charge of debt, hurried to
Canandalgua, tried, convicted, and committed to
jail in default of the small sum needed to satisfy
the judgment. Late In the evening of the sarae
104

OF CHARLES BUTLER
day several men in a carriage stopped at the jail,
satisfied the judgraent, took Morgan and drove
away. He was never again seen alive by his
friends. The carriage was afterwards traced,
moving westward, drawn by relays of horses, as
far as the Niagara river. At the mouth of the
river stood the old Fort Niagara, then unoccupied
by troops, and in charge of a single custodian who
with his family lived In the barracks. In the maga
zine of this fort Morgan was confined for a day
or two. Then he vanished from the face of the
earth, and to this day the mystery of his taking
off has never been solved. Fifty-six years after
the event Mr. Thurlow Weed published an ac
count of a confession of one who said he helped
to murder Morgan ; but the hands of him who
should have signed the confession were cold In
death before the signature could bewritten. Look
ing back now after these many years, it seems
probable that the original Intention of his kid
nappers was to remove Morgan to the safe cus
tody of certain Masons in Canada, where no writ
could reach him ; and that this intention was not
carried out on account of the unwillingness of the
Canadian Masons to receive so dangerous a guest.
105

THE LIFE AND LETTERS

Hence the halt at Niagara and the mystery of the
disappearance. But even if one considered that
the murder — granting that there was a murder —
was not a part of the design, the horror remained.
The shock of It startiedthe world, and the mystery
deepened as the months went by.
The men who had aided In the kidnapping were
men of good standing in the community, personally
known to Bowen Whiting and Charles Butler.
They were brought to trial, and it was the duty of
the District-Attorney to undertake their prosecu
tion. This District- Attorney was Mr. Bowen Whit
ing. Hewas himself a Mason,andwhile fiiUydesir-
ous of seeing justice done,he naturallyfelt that some
suspicion of his zeal in prosecuting his fellow-
masons might easily be aroused. In his stead
Charles Butler, who as his partner acted as deputy
district-attorney, had sole charge of the case.
Under his direction four of the raen who brought
Morgan from Batavia to Canandalgua were Indicted
in November, 1826, for kidnapping. At the
January circuit of 1827 they were arraigned. They
pleaded guilty and were punished by Iraprison
ment. The successful prosecution of these cases made
106

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Mr. Butler the best known man at the bar in the
western portion of New York State, For the
matter rapidly became a subject of far more than
local Interest. It had the attraction of a mystery ;
it involved men of prominence ; and It seemed to
suggest a question of principle. These men were
not ordinary ruffians and had no thought of per
sonal advantage. They believed themselves to be
acting in the Interest of good morals. They were
defending, as they beUeved, the Institution of
Free Masonry, and the reasons which they gave
for their conduct roused a storm of controversy
they could little have foreseen. When they
pleaded guilty to the kidnapping, three of them
signed an exculpatory and mitigatory affidavit in
which they avowed that their only object was to
suppress the publication of the book. In the
language of the affidavit: "The said WiUiam
Morgan was engaged In the publication of a book
on Free Masonry, In which he revealed secrets
which he had solemnly sworn never to reveal ;
and the said deponents, being desirous to prevent
such publication, aided in the removal of Morgan
for that purpose." To the people this seemed a
high-handed outrage and defiance of law avowed
107

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
under oath, committed by Masons for Masonic
purposes ; and the Institution of Free Masonry
became Involved In the public condemnation of
this act. Such a burst of indignation and feehng
was excited in western New York among men of
all parties that the raatter quickly becarae one of
high political concern. The farraers raet in pri
mary meetings In every town throughout the
seventh and eighth election districts of the State
and resolved deliberately never to vote for any
member of the Masonic Order for any elective
office. For the people believed that the kid
nappers acted with high authority and rested on
sorae power which would protect and defend them.
The foundations of the party institutions of the
day were threatened by this new Issue, and the
eyes of statesmen throughout the Union awaited
with anxious dread the impending revolution In
Western New York.
It will not be possible here to give a fiiU account
of this struggle; though the tale of the coUIsion
of political forces on this issue In Vermont, In
Massachusetts and in Pennsylvania, as well as in
New York, of its Importance In the presidential
contest of 1828, of its influence on the fortunes
108

OF CHARLES BUTLER
of John Quincy Adaras and of Andrew Jackson,
might well detain us. It was, take It all in all,
one of the raost iraportant political Incidents of
the period, and to be prorainent In It meant a
prominence rarely gained In those days of no rail
roads, no telegraphs, of slow coraraunication, and
tardy publicity. Charles Butler becarae known
to public men as well as to the lawyers of his
State, and gained their confidence by the sagacity
of his course. He was not himself a Mason ;
nor, on the other hand, did he ally himself with
the Anti-Masonic movement. He perforraed his
legal duty in the prosecution with promptness
and success ; his Influence was wholly on the side
of a candid, calm consideration of the principles
involved rather than of a hasty yielding to the
impulses of excitement. To one now reading the
story he seems almost the only local leader, closely
connected with the exciting action, who remained
throughout unmoved by passion. The leaders
of the parties took him Into their confidence. It
was planned that Martin Van Buren, then United
States Senator from New York, should be nomin
ated to the Governorship, with a view to his ulti
mate election as President of the United States,
109

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
and that a prominent Western New York man,
Mr. Throop, should be raade Lieutenant-Gover
nor so that Van Buren could safely resign in case
of noralnation to the Presidency. In the interest
of these plans, which ultiraately were in the raain
carried out, Mr. Butler went In 1828 as delegate
to the Convention at Herkimer.
To a young lawyer prominence is the gateway
to success. Genius, says an ancient writer, con
sists In seizing opportunity when it comes. Charles
Butler seized this opportunity and reaped its best
fruits. Enticing as seeraed the invitation to for
get his former resolution and take up politics, he
resisted the temptation, though for a littie time,
as already mentioned, he accepted the postmaster-
ship of Geneva and became the confidant and
adviser of the political leaders of his section.
Flattering as It raust have been to Charles Butler,
when Judge Duer of the Supreme Court resigned
his position that he might become President of
Columbia College, to have Mr. Vanderpoel, his
former instructor, request his influence toward the
succession ; and flattering as it must have been
to have half the politicians of the region at his
door when matters of policy were to be decided.

OF CHARLES BUTLER
he never seemed In the least moved from his judi
cial calm. But very tangible results of his pro-
rainence soon carae to hira In the line of his own
profession In a department which he thereafter
made peculiarly his own. Men of influence in
the financial as well as in the political and legal
world began to hear his narae as that of an honor
able and efficient raan ; and his career then began
as legal representative of institutions having great
interests in charge.
His first responsibility of this kind brought him
face to face with a raoral problem. The Charter
of the Bank of Geneva had expired. The former
incorporators wished to have it renewed, and asked
Mr. Butler to go to Albany and labor in the in
terests of the bill. In reply he wrote:
" If the other banks send agents of pure morals
and high character whose well-earned reputations
forbid at once the Idea that they could be guilty
of improper conduct to effect their objects, then
an agent might safely unite his Influence to theirs
In effecting what all sensible raen must acknowl
edge the best interests of the State demand — the
renewal of the Charters of our sound banking
Institutions. If, for instance, the Ontario Bank

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
should send Mr. Greig, and other banks should
employ agents equally high-minded and honor
able, one certainly could not suffer in reputation
by being associated with thera." And not until
he got assurances of the character of the men
representing other Institutions from the banks and
from all concerned, would he accept the corarais
sion. When once decided he undertook the work
with energy. The Charter bill was passed, and
a sound and enduring reputation In financial circles
was a part of his reward.
For aid and syrapathy In these early years of
work Mr. Butler was greatly indebted to his wife.
It Is difficult to do justice to this wholesorae, help
ful, loving influence. " Let us," she wrote, " be
just to ourselves and to others. We shall be
much happier and better If we are. I had rather
live on bread and water than to feel Indebted to
any human being and be unable to pay that which
is justly due. And you know that your wife
desires nothing so rauch as your happiness and
peace of raind and honorable reputation." Hap
piness and peace she brought Into the years.
" Defer," she wrote when once her husband
seemed despondent, " all sighs and tears until we

OF CHARLES BUTLER
meet, when we will sigh, and cry, and laugh, for
joy." Mrs. Butler was a warm friend and charm
ing hostess, winning for herself and for her hus
band's horae the enthusiastic commendation of
every visitor.
She was also the most cheerful of corarades,
whether present or absent. In the suraraer of
1829, being somewhat out of health, she was
exiled to Guilford, Conn., then a " watering
place " of some repute. It was not a very gay
spot for suramer diversion, being raostly " crabs,
clams, scallops, oysters and sand," but Mrs.
Butler's letters from the town iUumlne the whole
region with her cheerfulness.
On one occasion, when Mr. Butler was away,
she wrote from Geneva :
" I stayed with Mrs. Whiting on Friday night.
I was there all the afternoon, and It being stormy
I concluded to stay, as I had nothing In particular
to call rae home — no husband — no chUdren — no
servants — no house — no cares — what a blessing
it Is to have nothing to care for ! One might
think that my lot was perfect happiness ; ' free as
air ' to go and corae when I list, do what I please.
But the goddess of Liberty never resides In a val-
113

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ley ; she delights in the mountains ; and ever since
my acquaintance with that mischievous urchin
Cupid she has never favored me rauch with her
society. The little fellow has fastened such be
witching and enduring cords about ray heart, so
interwoven hiraself into my affection and wish,
that although I sometimes long for a littie more
of Liberty's sweets, yet I cannot relinquish my
attachment for that powerful, mysterious and
delightful littie deity. You will conclude that I
am growing romantic. Truly ray habitation seems
to be the resort of the gods and goddesses. In
the morning Aurora, bright daughter of the dawn,
awakes me with her rosy light. I generally have
fair Hebe to accompany me on my morning walk.
Ceres presides at our meals, and Somnus attends
me to my couch. My next letter you may expect
to be an epic poem. The subject, I think, will
be a good one ; to coraraence with our acquaint
ance, courtship and raarriage (which wUl afford
numerous delightful episodes) ; to proceed to our
separation ; and to conclude, after toils, disap
pointments and adverse fortunes, with our re
union ! "
In the spring of 1830 opportunity came for the
114

OF CHARLES BUTLER
great work that Charles Butler accomplished in
developing the farming Interests of the region in
which he lived. Western New York, now the
garden of the State, was then a comparatively
new country. It originally consisted of extensive
forests, as far as Lake Erie on the west and Lake
Ontario on the north. The first settlers, gene
rally from New England and the eastern and
older portion of the State of New York, had a
laborious and exhausting life In clearing the land
and subduing it for cultivation. The fee of a
very large part of this territory was held by land
companies who had purchased from the original
proprietors. These companies were the Pulteney
Estate (English), the Hornby Estate (Scotch),
and the Holland Land Corapany (Dutch). The
lands of the first-named company lay chiefly In
Wayne, Ontario, Steuben, Monroe, Livingston
and Cattaraugus counties, stretching from Lake
Ontario on the north to the Pennsylvania line on
the south, covering the most beautiful and fertile
region of that portion of the State. Its agency
was at Geneva, with Mr. Joseph Fellows as gene
ral agent. Interspersed with the Pulteney prop
erty were the lands of the less extensive Hornby
"5

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
estate, with an agency at Canandalgua, in charge
of Mr. John Gray. The lands of the Holland
Land Corapany lay chiefly west in Orleans, Gen
esee, Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara counties, and
at this time its agency was at Batavia, Mr. David
Evans being general agent. The land office sys
tem was indulgent towards purchasers, and had
need to be, for the first settlers of the country
came seeking to better their condition, generally
without any capital, or with a very sraall sum
which had been saved for the purpose of covering
the expense of travel and transportation. The
settlements began In the latter part of the
eighteenth century, and had multiplied in the
first third of the nineteenth, by which time the
timber had been well cleared off and the farra
lands were in good and productive condition. But
the houses of the farmers were yet very largely
built of logs, and there was great need of capital.
The Land Companies had been honorably con
ducted and, as already stated, had been liberal In
their dealings with the farmers. But this very
liberality had gradually brought the farmer into
a state of dependence amounting almost to vassal
age, extremely prejudicial to the growth of free
ii6

OF CHARLES BUTLER
and Independent life. He usuaUy had no title to
his land. He had contracted to purchase it on in
stalment payments and was to receive a deed only
on payment of the last instalment. His debt bore
interest, and if left unpaid this interest was con
verted into capital and thus compounded. As the
means of the settler during the first years upon
his new land were likely to be exhausted for the
support of himself and his family, and for the im
provements which were indispensable for the pro
tection of health and life, at the end of the year
he was generally behind on his contract to pay the
instalment, and at the mercy of the land office.
The office readUy extended the time for payraent,
converting the interest into capital. The farmer
was not in a situation to question this condition
which gave him Immediate relief, hardly realizing
until too late that he had increased his burden. He
rarely found it possible to complete his instal
ments. In Genesee County in 1829 not a single
farmer held a tide to his land. He had gradually
become a tenant at will ; he could not sell and
give a deed for the property in which all his means
had been invested ; and the Instability of his fi
nancial position weakened his Influence as a citizen.
117

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
It was as a far-seeing observer that Charles But
ler began to consider the problems involved in
this condition. It seemed to him that the rem
edy was for sorae capitalists with ample means
to advance money to these farraers on long tirae
and reasonable interest, in araounts sufficient to
enable them to pay off the remaining instalments
to the land corapanies, to obtain their deeds, and
with no Immediate obligation upon thera beyond
the annual interest, to be able to devote sorae
surplus each year to the Iraproveraent of their
estates. In the general improvement of the coun
try from year to year, not only by the labor of
the farmer but by immigration and by increased
facilities of communication, these lands had
become and were becoming of more and raore
value, so that in settled portions of the country
good farraing lands with reasonable iraprovements
were worth from twenty to forty dollars an acre.
Charles Butler saw here an opportunity for in-
vestraent which would give a reasonable return to
the capitalist and would be of Inestiraable service
to the coramunities of this western region.
To most of us to-day this plan would seem to
be a self-evident business proposition needing no
ii8

OF CHARLES BUTLER
missionary effort. Conditions seventy-five years
ago, however, were not the same as now. The
vast extent of the country, the slow raeans of
transportation, the difficulty of gaining trustworthy
local reports, the unsettled currency, the imper
fect banking system, the continuous financial
needs of developing regions, the lack of concen
tration of resources and of convenient means of
distribution — all these raade pioneer work neces
sary In financial matters.
In March, 1830, the New York Life Insurance
and Trust Company was incorporated. It was
the first company of Its character in this State,
and its charter gave it great power. It had the
right of effecting insurance on lives, of receiving
monies in trust from guardians and from estates,
and of being a depository for monies held by the
Court of Chancery ; and hence the Legislature
embodied In the charter special provisions to
make the deposits of trust funds with the company
secure beyond a doubt. The corapany was
required, owing to the extraordinary powers
vested in it, to loan Its capital, which was a rail-
lion dollars, under the security of bond and
mortgage, only on real estate, restricted to one-
119

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
half of the valuation, and subject to the super
vision of the Court of Chancery. Just after the
organization of this company Mr. Butler went to
New York and made a personal application to
the board of directors on behalf of the farming in
terests of Western New York. He carried let
ters of introduction from influential friends to the
president, William Bard, and to directors of the
company, araong whora at that time were John
Jacob Astor, Isaac Bronson, Robert Lenox,
Stephen Whitney, Samuel Ward, Nathaniel
Prime, Thoraas Ludlow and other capitalists of
New York City. After repeated conferences they
consented to raake loans upon lands and larms In
the region which he recoraraended, and the great
enterprise was inaugurated.
When it was announced to the public that
raoney raight be obtained on the security of farras
from the trust company, on application through
Mr. Butler, great Interest was excited through
all the Western counties, and applicants thronged
to avail themselves of the opportunity. It was a
new business, bringing him Into direct contact
with the landed and farraing Interests of the coun
try, and he had necessarily to organize a system

OF CHARLES BUTLER
of safe and convenient procedure. There was a
wide field for selection In the choice of security.
As these loans were to be made in preference to
farmers, the first question to the applicant was,
naturally, for what purpose was the loan desired.
Generally, it was to pay up a balance due upon
his contract to the Land Office, and to obtain a
deed ; or for the purpose of paying off an exist
ing mortgage upon his land, given for the pur
chase money ; or it might be to enable him to
raake a purchase of land and pay for it In cash,
when by so doing he could make an advantageous
bargain. The applicants of the first two classes,
and particularly of the first class, were most fav
ored by hira, for as a general rule the amount re
quired to pay off the balance due to the land com
pany and take a deed was small in comparison
with the value of the land, and by raaking the
loan in that case there was a double benefit se
cured. It converted the farraer frora the relation
of a tenant at will into a freeholder.
To effect this an arrangeraent was made with
the several land companies, by which, when it was
ascertained that the applicant was to receive the
loan, the Land Office would transmit a deed of the

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
land, with the understanding that the needful secur
ity, a bond and mortgage to the Trust Corapany,
would be executed by the party when the securi
ties had been duly recorded and the negotiation
with the trust corapany for the raoney corapleted.
The corapany would transrait the draft for the
money, out of which the amount due to the Land
Office would be paid. This arrangeraent was a
great convenience in the transaction of business,
nor did any difficulty ever result frora it between
the agent and the land offices. A very large
amount was loaned to borrowers of the first class
in Genesee County, where the lands were held
under contract with the Holland Land Company.
In one town In this county, Alabama, so many
applications were made for loans of this character
that the farmers organized an association for the
purpose of obtaining them, and appointed a justice
of the peace, naraed Wheeler, to act for the ap
plicants. He carae all the way to Geneva with
their papers, and so raany loans were made in
this town that It was called " Butler's Trust
Town." The good effected by this work of Charles
Butler's was Incalculable. For he acted not merely

OF CHARLES BUTLER
as trustee for a company interested in Investing Its
funds safely, nor merely as agent for a farmer
desirous of easing his financial burdens, though he
never forgot the interest of either party. He was
also a wise and far-seeing citizen of the State, and
his concern for the development of the Western
section was unceasing. Soraewhat more than a
million dollars was loaned by him for this Trust
Corapany and for other capitalists, and hundreds
of thriving farraing communities bore, and bear
to-day, testimony to the excellence of the work.
Nor did he neglect other Interests, either material
or spiritual. With all the energy at his comraand
he aided In a project for a railroad from Schenec
tady to Buffalo in the fall of 1 83 1 . He united In
the call for a convention in its behalf and labored
for its charter with unselfish zeal. He found time
to take charge of the interests of the Teraperance
Society in the towns of Naples, Hopewell, Cal
houn, Seneca and Phelps, and raade a subscription
to send a colonist to Liberia.
When he went to New York on his business
for the Trust Company, It was not of loans and
mortgages that he wrote. It was partly of the
lighter things of life, of finding lodgings " in an
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
excellent htjuse. Miss Boyd's, 66 Broadway," and
of going out to dine with Mr. Arthur Bronson, Mr.
Betts, Mr. Bard, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Devereaux,
or Dr. Ludlow, and of the proceedings at the din
ners, where, in February, they sat down by can
dle light to the dinner table at half-past five, and
whence they left for home at exactly nine o'clock.
But It was mainly of the serious things of life
which lav nearest his heart that he wrote ; and the
letters rarely close without some expression such
as that given below, of interest in spiritual
things :
" I attended Dr. Spring's church yesterday and
heard two raost excellent discourses, and in the
evening attended St. Thoraas's, where I heard a
favorite, Mr. Hawkes, with whora I was much
delighted. He preached a raissionary sermon.
I have attended the Sunday-schools every Sunday
of ray absence and addressed the teachers at Utica,
Poughkeepsie, and yesterday in Dr. Spring's, so
that I hope that I raay be in some small degree
In the path of duty, and rendering humble service
to my Master's cause. I feel a deep Interest In
every measure of Christian enterprise, and I only
hope to be raore diligent and faithful, and to work
124

OF CHARLES BUTLER
while it is day, and while I enjoy the rich bless
ings of health and Ufe."
It was in the early part of its beneficent service
to the farraers that the Trust Company for which
he acted had an opportunity rarely given to a
financial institution. It might have been the
means of printing a Bible and of becoming spon
sor for a new religion. One morning in 1830 as
Mr. Butler entered the office, usually found full
of farmers seeking loans, he met a respectable
citizen, one Martin Harris of Palmyra, who
brought him letters of comraendatlon from a per
son of repute In his town and desired a loan of
thirteen hundred dollars. Since the building up
of the communities was very much at heart with
him, it was Mr. Butler's custora never to advise a
loan unless the applicant could give proof of good
habits, character and capacity, and also a worthy
purpose for which the raoney was desired. So a
catechlsra began and went on to complete satisfac
tion until the last question was propounded. With
much hesitation the farraer admitted that he
wanted the money to pay for publishing a book.
Now farraers in New York had not up to that
tirae been much given to the habit of mortgaging

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
their farms in order to pubhsh books, and Mr.
Butler's curiosity was excited. It was not dimin
ished when Mr. Harris seriously said that the
book he wished to publish was a Bible.
It was that Bible which was written on golden
plates by Jacob the brother of Nephi, Enos the
son of Jacob, Jarora the son of Enos, Orani the son
of Jarom, Mormon the son of Orani, and Maroni
the son of Morraon. In the year 384 a. d., said
Mr. Harris, after the great battle on the hill
Curaorah, in what Is now Western New York,
Maroni, one of the few survivors, becarae a wan
derer ; and In a. d. 420 he sealed up the golden
plates on which the records of God's promises
were written and hid them In the hill. There
they had lain until a little while before, when Di
vine inspiration had come to one Joseph Smith,
a young raan living In Palmyra, directing him to
go to a certain hill In the town of Manchester —
this same ancient hill of Curaorah — just south of
Palmyra, and there to dig In the earth until he
came to these plates, the books of the Bible of
Mormon, the son of Orani. Joseph Smith had
gone, said Mr. Harris, and there he found the
golden plates, thin tablets about eight inches long
126

OF CHARLES BUTLER
by seven wide, bound together by three rings,
engraved on each side in hieroglyphics In a dialect
of ancient Egyptian, not then known upon the
earth. With these plates the angel of the Lord
had helped Joseph Smith to find also the Urim
and the Thuraralm, the two transparent stones in
silver bows, through which Smith, the inspired
prophet, could read and Interpret the writings.
This was the book that Martin Harris wished to
publish, the famous Mormon Bible, documentary
basis of a religion noted in later days, and still of
importance In at least one western State.
The earnest convert, although much discour
aged by Mr. Butler's refusal to make the loan or
to commend the project to the consideration of
the New York Life Insurance and Trust Com
pany, departed asserting that nevertheless the
Bible would be printed, that he would receive a
copy, and that when he had read it he would be
come a convert. Only a few days later Mr. Butler
met a tall, alert-looking young raan on the street
who gave hira a letter from James Watson Webb
of the New York Courier and Inquirer, Introducing
James Gordon Bennett, sent thus promptiy as a
reporter into these distant western wilds for Infor-
127

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
matlon concerning this Mormon Bible. Mr.
Bennett was then the assistant editor of the
Courier and four years later became the enterprising
founder of the New York Herald. It may be
added that two of the assertions of Martin Harris
were made good, for the book was published and
Charles Butler received a copy.

CHAPTER IV
plans for new enterprises — VISIT TO the
NORTHWEST  DETROIT  CHICAGO  RE
LIGIOUS WORK  BUSINESS OPENINGS
 ^JOURNEY TO OHIO  RE
MOVAL FROM GENEVA
TO NEW YORK

A GREAT record had been made in western
New York in the nine years since Charles
Butler, on his first visit to Buffalo in
1824, had found "the stumps of the forest still
standing in its finest streets." In those few years
the country had changed from a wilderness dotted
with log cabins to a land full of cities and towns
knit together by the facilities of civilization.
Farmers had become independent citizens. Routes
of travel had been firraly established. Canal
and stage-coach lines had become prosperous,
and there were rumors of railroads soon to
corae. Banks had opened, manufactures had
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
started, stable local currency systems — precursors
of the great national system which as yet had not
been created- — had come into being. All this had
taken place under the observation of Charles But
ler since he opened his modest office at Geneva.
In a large part of this growth he had him
self been prime raover. To hira was due in great
measure the stability of real-estate ownership, the
stability of local financial institutions, and the es
tablishment of helpful relations between these far
away farming sections and the great financial cen
tre of New York City. So completely had he
Identified hiraself with the growth and prosperity
of the region that, in 1833, when he was scarcely
more than thirty. It was almost as a veteran that
he looked upon the growing life about him. He
felt the instincts of a pioneer ready to push out
still farther, to carry into new fields the forces of
civilization. In January, 1833, while visiting Mr. Arthur
Bronson In New York, the two friends made
a plan to explore the western country as far as
Fort Dearborn, and study its possibilities. Mr.
Robert A. Kinzie, whose name has since become
part of the topography of Chicago, carae soon after
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
to New York for his yearly purchase of goods for
the Indians. Mr. Kinzie maintained that a large
town would yet be built on the site of the little
village near Fort Dearborn, which Is now the city
of Chicago. This seemed rather an extravagant
proposition, but one worth considering, and in the
following June Mr. Butler started, in company
with Mr. Arthur Bronson, for a journey to the
western wilds.
In 1833 Detroit was really an out-post of civ
ilization, to which the little steamer Superior
ran on Lake Erie frora Buffalo, raaking the dis
tance in a little more than two days. It was an
old French settlement just emerging into the sta
tus of an Araerican town. It had a social charm
from the old French residents, whose courtesies
raade the visit a delightful one. Hospitality and
kindness were shown on every hand. One of his
friends even offered to Mr. Butier his pet saddle
horse for the long journey to Fort Dearborn.
Three distinct social conditions were in evidence :
the cultivated French residents, the frontier raill-
Itary force, and the drunken, half-civilized, wholly
irapossible Indian natives. Black Hawk, the In
dian Chief, came with them on the steamer, and
131

THE LIFE AND LETTERS

talked with thera sadly of the future of his people.
Of Interest also was the quick-coraing growth
which seeraed in sight. Before the raarch of civil
ization the Indians must go, and even the .French.
The travelers noted "several handsome old French
houses standing in the centre of the town and in
the way of iraproveraent."
Beyond Detroit, to the northward and the west
ward, stretched a wUderness. Northward, as far as
Fort Gratiot at the foot of Lake Huron, travel by
water could be carried on somewhat uncertainly.
Our travelers raade this journey in a dilapidated
steamboat, which broke down ; and returned in sc
still more dilapidated schooner, making the whole
trip of eighty railes each way In a little less than a
week. Westward, there was no regular raeans of
communication, and they took saddle horses to
Fort Dearborn. The journey of three hundred
miles from Detroit to Fort Dearborn was consid
ered rather an adventurous one for travelers who
were neither Indian traders nor pioneers accus
tomed to hardships. The route was by the old In
dian trail, which crossed the southern portion of
the territory of Michigan southwesterly from
Detroit through the village of Ypsllanti to White
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
Pigeon Prairie; thence through South Bend and La
Porte Prairie to Michigan City; thence sixty miles
along the shore of the lake to Fort Dearborn. The
journey was to occupy fully ten days, and elabo
rate preparations were made. Arthur Bronson
and Charles Butler rode Indian saddle ponies, and
a young man naraed Gohlson Kercheval, who had
been connected with the Indian agency at Fort
Dearborn, went with thera as guide, cook, com
panion, and commissary agent. In charge of a
two-pony wagon which contained the supplies and
provisions. The trail wound across the prairies
through noble groves of forest trees and by the
margins of beautiful lakes.
" If you have never seen a prairie," wrote Mr.
Butler, " It Is utterly impossible for me to convey
to you any idea of the peculiar and Interesting
aspect which it presents. The White Pigeon
Prairie is an expanse of about fifteen thousand
acres skirted or encircled with a dense and noble
forest of timber, which is to it like the frame of
a picture. In looking off upon a landscape like
this one feels the sentiment of the Psalmist when he
exclaims : "The works of the Lord are very great,
and sought of all them that have pleasure therein."
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
In the midst of this prairie the travelers found
the little village of White Pigeon with a population
of nearly two hundred and fifty persons, where three
years before was only a solitary desert. Here they
spent Sunday and found a flourishing little Sun
day School. In traveling to White Pigeon they
passed a great raany small lakes, from one to five
miles in length, surrounded by the native and lux
uriant forest, which were delightful and cheering
to the weary travelers. The banks were generally
sloping to the water, which was pure and clear as
crystal and abounding with fine fish. In Imagi
nation they selected many a site for a country
seat on the margin of a lake. There were fifty
lakes in, St. Joseph County alone, covering from
one to sixty acres of land, sorae of thera having
no visible outlet or inlet.
The country west of White Pigeon, between it
and the head of Lake Michigan, was interesting
and not rauch settied. It was a series of oak open
ings, prairies, and dense forests. Beardsley's
prairie, through which they passed, excited raore
adralration than any which they had yet seen ; it
formed a complete circle enclosed with a forest of
oaks. " The surface of this prairie," wrote Mr.
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
Butler, " is undulating, and therefore, to our eyes,
raore beautiful. If It were owned by a private
gentleraan, and he had exercised his taste in laying
out the grounds and roads, in view of combining
the greatest attractions, he could not have made a
more beautiful park than this." On the banks of
the St. Joseph's river, about twenty-five miles frora
its mouth, was the little village of NUes, then con
taining forty or fifty log houses. At this point
the river was navigable for boats of considerable
size, and it was throughout, they thought, one of
the finest streams of water they had ever seen. Its
shores were generally low, but not marshy, and
the country through which it flowed enjoyed the
reputation of being the best In the territory. On
the opposite side of the river was then a reserva
tion belonging to the Potawatamies ; they passed
through Indian villages built altogether of bark.
"Terre Coupe prairie and Rolling prairie," wrote
Mr. Butler, "are very handsome tracts inter
spersed with littie ' islands ' of forests. This may
strike you as a singular and Inappropriate term as
applied to a forest, but the traveler uses it natu
rally, for it expresses the appearance which the fact
presents. These islands seem to have been planted
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
and cultivated with the greatest care. Some of
thera are two or three miles in circumference, sur
rounded with extensive prairie on all sides, some
only half a raile or less, and appear as if rising
above the surface of an ocean. The settler always
locates his house on the raargin of the wood, and
many a humble log house is to be found within the
shade of a princely forest on a site which would
excite the envy of those who covet a country resi
dence, of a beauty which the hand of art cannot
possibly equal. Nature has done that here which
the wealthy have spent their lives and fortunes In
their efforts to accoraplish."
The most Interesting tract, however, which the
travelers saw, was La Porte Prairie in Indiana.
" It was many miles in length and breadth,"
wrote Mr. Butler, " surrounded by dense woods.
It gained its narae because at one point the bor
dering forests converged frora each side toward
the centre, leaving an opening just wide enough
for a passage, which, viewed from the east or west
at a distance, appeared like a doorway cut through
for the road. As one passed through this ' door '
either way, the country expanded into a raost mag
nificent prairie. Two miles east of the opening
136

OF CHARLES BUTLER
was the little village, fitly named La Porte."
Three months before the travelers passed there
was not a single house on the ground where there
were now more than twenty-five log buildings,
including two stores.
They arrived at Michigan City late In the even
ing. There were but two buildings on this site.
In one of which, the " City Hotel," kept by Gen
eral Orr, our travelers lodged. It was a small log
house, with a single room, which answered the
purpose of sitting-room, eating-room and sleeping-
room. In this twelve persons lodged, in beds and
on the floor. Including, of course, the host and his
wife. There they met Major Elston, of Craw-
fordsvllle, who had become the purchaser of the
section of land on which Michigan City was laid
out. He had just then completed a survey and
map of the town which he exhibited to them, and
offered to sell lots. It was a great novelty, this
map of Michigan City, and in the morning, when
daylight came, the novelty was still more striking,
for a more desolate tract of sand and barren land
could scarcely be Imagined. There was hardly a
tree or a shrub to distinguish It, much less any
house. Major Elston had become Interested In
137

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
it because it was the only place on Lake Michigan,
within the limits of the State of Indiana, where it
might be possible at some future time to establish
a commercial port In connection with the naviga
tion of the lake. This distant vision of possibil
ities attracted his attention at this early day, and
the survey and the map were the first steps to
wards its realization.
From this point to Chicago, about sixty miles,
the trail foUowed the shore of the lake nearly the
whole distance. There was but one stopping place
on the way, and that was the house of a French
man named Bayeux, who had married an Indian
woman. Here and there were Indian villages.
At Caluraet River, which was crossed on a float,
there was an encampment of Potawatamie Indians,
whose hammocks swung from the trees on the
westerly side of the river. Aside frora these na
tives not one resident was to be found In the whole
distance. " I approached Chicago," wrote Mr. Butler,
" in the afternoon of a beautiful day, the second of
August, the sun setting in a cloudless sky. On
ray left lay the prairie, bounded only by the dis
tant horizon like a vast expanse of ocean, on ray
,38

OF CHARLES BUTLER
right In suraraer's stillness lay Lake Michigan. I
have never seen anything more beautiful or capti
vating in nature. There was an entire absence of
animal life, nothing visible in the way of human
habitation, nothing to indicate the presence of
man ; and yet it was a scene full of life, for there,
spread out before me in every direction, as far as
the eye could reach, were the gerras of life In earth,
air and water. In these closing hours of day — so
calra, so clear, so bright — I came to the realization
of the objective point of my journey."
But what was the Chicago to which, in this year
1833, the travelers had come with so much labor?
A small settlement of a few hundred people, all
told, most of whom had come within the last year
or two. The houses, about twenty in number,
were of the cheapest and most primitive character.
A string of them, which formed the village, had
been erected without much regard to lines, on the
south side of the Chicago River. Just above the
junction on the west side of the south branch our
travelers found lodgings In a tavern (afterwards
known as the " Green Tree ") which had been
Improvised for the entertainment of immigrants by
James Kinzie. The building was not lathed and
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
plastered ; the partitions were made by blankets
only, and free coraraunication existed between all
the rooms. Its eastern windows looked over the
little village, past Fort Dearborn to Lake Michi
gan. To the west stretched three hundred miles
of unbroken prairie. On the north beyond the
Chicago River there was then but one building,
known as the " Block House," though there had
been a house near it occupied by Mr. Kinzie, the
Indian Agent, until its destruction by fire. The
government, under the charge of Major Bender,
had just entered upon some improvements at the
mouth of the river for military purposes.
This was all the " Chicago " our travelers found ;
yet Charles Butler wrote :
" Chicago is a beautiful place ; the north and
the south branches of the Chicago River unite
in the centre of the town, and form a beautiful river
flowing into the great and noble lake, as shown In
the rough sketch which I enclose.
The house at which I stay Is on the point, and
I look down upon the river which winds through
the village to the lake. Vessels of the largest size
can come up to the point in front of the tavern.
The banks of the river are low, but dry. We
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CHICAGO IN 1833
141

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
cross from the tavern to the village In a dug-out
canoe. The lake is one of the largest, larger than
Erie or Ontario, and the water very clear. The
lake on the one hand, and the boundless prairie
on the other, seem to leave Chicago in the centre
of a great ocean. If I were a young raan (Mr.
Butler was then thirty-one), and unraarried, I
should settle at Chicago. It presents one of the
finest fields in Araerica for industry and enterprise,
and though at present a journey to this point Is
attended with great privations, fatigue, exposure,
and difficulty, in a few years we shall think no
more of going to Chicago than we now think of
going to Buffalo. There will be a line of steam
boats, stages, and railroads the entire distance from
Albany to the Fort at St. Louis on the Missis
sippi, Chicago being an Important and command
ing point on this great thoroughfare."
Charles Butler had come just at the birth of the
coraraunity. On Saturday, the tenth of August,
a week after his arrival, Chicago becarae a town by
vote of citizens and choice of officers. It is re
corded that twenty-seven votes were given for, and
one against, a town organization, alraost all the
voting citizens being present. On the morning
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
after his arrival he started out with letters of intro
duction to find the Rev. Jereralah Porter, just
then come to Fort Dearborn as chaplain of the
government troops under Major Wilcox. The
first man he accosted proved to be the one he
sought. Mr. Porter told him that he was on his way
to bury a child, the little daughter of Mr. Ben-
jarain Jones, and begged his assistance; for the
needs of the living, in pioneer days, made even
kind offices to the dead most difficult. In the lit
tle house of mourning the small coffin of plain
boards was on a table in the middle of the only
room, save two bedrooms, in the house. Mr.
Porter read a passage out of the Bible and prayed.
The funeral service was then over. It had been
interrupted by the noise of the hammer of a work
man who was putting up a shanty for some new
comers. There were no friends to serve as bear
ers, and Mr. Porter called in from the shanty the
carpenter In his shirt sleeves to assist In carrying
the littie burden. Then the three men, Mr. Por
ter, Mr. Butier, and the carpenter, took up the
coffin ; followed by the sorrowing parents, they
walked to the river, crossed In the dug-out to the
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
west side of the north branch and thence to a spot
where a few burials had been made, and there they
laid the child.
Shortly after, Mr. Butler began with Mr.
Porter to lay plans for the religious life of the
new town. The two friends used to meet to
converse and pray together in an unfinished loft
in the second frame store built in the town, kindly
loaned by a young merchant who had come from
New York the year before, Mr. F. F. W. Peck,
afterwards one of Chicago's wealthy citizens. This
little building, which long stood on the corner of
La Salle and South Water streets, was the centre
of religious effort. In the loft, which served Mr.
Porter as home and study, a little Sunday-school
was held, the sheets used for partitions being
drawn up, and loose planks being laid on boxes
for seats, making it, as Mr. Porter said, " very con
venient." Here Mr. Butler labored during his
stay, and on his return he sent to this school, In
connection with Mr. Bronson, a library of two
hundred volumes of bound books, besides a full
set of class, reading, question, hymn and record
books. He encouraged Mr. Porter, also. In estab-
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
llshing the First Presbyterian Church, which had
been organized six weeks before, with twenty-
six members, and laid plans for the establishment
here of a Bible, Tract, and Sunday-school Depos
itory, that a " raoral influence should be diffused
in the beginning to give character to the society
soon to grow up." It may be of Interest to note
here, that less than six raonths later, the First
Presbyterian Church, the fruit of these anxious
hopes, was dedicated In this town where at the time
of Mr. Butler's visit the occasional little evening
service was held In a log house with seats of loose
slabs, the sraooth side turned up, and the candles
for lighting held in the hands of the worshippers
while the minister preached. " I well recollect,"
he wrote later, " that the candles being of poor tal
low, shed a very dim light. Still, we had a good
time of it, and all enjoyed the service."
To the raind of Charles Butler the future of
Chicago as acoramerclal centre was clear. In the
little village of twenty houses, and the swamp-lands
bordering the river, he saw the " germ of a city
destined, from Its peculiar position near the head
of the lake, and Its remarkable harbor formed by
the river, to become the largest inland commercial
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
emporium In the United States." His views were
regarded at the time as visionary and absurd.
" Your character is naturaUy sanguine," wrote his
trusted friend and partner, Mr. Bowen Whiting,
" and I fancy now that the ' Michigan fever ' has
fairly inflamed your brain ; and were it not that
Mr. Bronson partakes of your opinions, I should
think you had written to me under the Influence
of a most flattering dream. I am a good deal in
the condition of Rip Van Winkle after reading
your letter, and am compelled to acknowledge that
the world has gone a good way past me."
It was, however, no flattering dream, but the
genius of prophetic foresight. It was evident to
Charles Butler that the productions of the vast
country lying west and northwest of Chicago would
necessarily be tributary to It on their way to the
Eastern market — the great Atiantic Seaboard.
His predictions concerning the means of commu
nication which would soon be established were even
more reraarkable than his judgments concerning
the future of the city. The United States had
then very few railways, and New York State had
none except the one in process of construction be
tween Albany and Utica. Steamboats from New
146

OF CHARLES BUTLER
York to Albany, stages to Buffalo, and mud-wag
ons to the west were the raeans of conveyance.
Yet before he had returned frora his first brief
visit he wrote confidently to the Albany Argus :
" Chicago is on the great western thoroughfare
of the valley of the Mississippi, and In a few years
we shall have a regular chain of steamboat, railroad,
and stage communication from the city of New
York to St. Louis and New Orleans, on this route.
The natural route Is a railroad from Albany to
Buffalo, steamboats from thence to Detroit, a rail
road across the territory from Detroit to the mouth
of the St. Joseph River (about two hundred
miles), a steamboat from thence across the lake to
Chicago, only forty-five railes, and a railroad from
Chicago to the Illinois River, one hundred and ten
miles, where it will raeet steamboats of the largest
size from New Orleans and St. Louis. When this
route is established, you raay travel from Albany
to St. Louis in nine days, and it will combine such
advantages of certainty and safety, comfort and ex
pedition, to say nothing of the great attraction of
the country and places through which it will pass,
that In my opinion it will be the great thorough
fare between the Atlantic States and the valley of
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
the Mississippi. If this be so, the interests of St.
Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and New York
are identical, and should be so considered. I re
gard the speedy establishment of this route as one
of the raost important Improvements of the day,
and as constituting one of the strongest links in
that chain of Internal Improveraents, which will
bind this Union indlssolubly together. It will
bring all the Southwestern States in close contact
with the Northern, Middle, and Atiantic States.
The Union is to be preserved, in my opinion, with
the blessing of Providence, by a free intercourse
between the people of the far South and of the
West, and the far East, and by the difRisIon down
the great valley of the Mississippi, and over all
the Southwestern States, of the principles and feel
ings which are common to the people of the
Northern and Middle States."
The large-mlndedness of Charles Butler is as
evident in this prediction as Is his sagacity. The
Mississippi river was at that time regarded as the
natural boundary of the West, and the United
StateSjinlts utmost possibIlities,as the region south
of the lakes and east of the Mississippi. To weld
all this Into unity, and to make of its Inhabitants
148

OF CHARLES BUTLER
one homogeneous people was an object rauch at
heart with him. The possibility of successful com
petition between steamboats and railroads was not
foreseen until 1840; and the nine days' journey
from Albany to St. Louis, based on water-commu
nication mainly, seemed araazlng. But the great
thoroughfare has done its work, and these scat
tered coraraunities have been united In interests.
The practical benefits which this growth might
bring with It, were clear to Mr. Butler and Mr.
Bronson. They at once undertook to invest
in lands on the site of the possible city. The pro
cess was slow, for titles were very uncertain, but
Mr. Bronson finally succeeded in purchasing about
a hundred and eighty-two acres on the north side
of the river — the half of Kinzle's Addition, the
whole of Wolcott's Addition, and Block No. i in
the town of Chicago — for the sum of twenty thou
sand dollars. In this first purchase Mr. Butler,
for lack, at the raoraent, of available capital,
took no Interest ; but in May, 183 5, being able to
arrange with sorae of his friends to share the finan
cial burden, he purchased the same property from
Mr. Bronson for the sum of one hundred thou
sand dollars. Charles Butler persuaded his broth-
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
er-in-law — Mr. William B. Ogden — to go to Chi
cago to take charge of the property.
The spring had been unusually wet, and on Mr.
Ogden's arrival his first impressions were not at all
favorable. The property lay on the north side of
the river, an unbroken field covered with a coarse
growth of oak and underbrush, marshy and muddy
from the recent heavy rains. Nothing could be
more unattractive in appearance, and he could not
see It as possessing any advantages to justify the
extraordinary price for which It had been bought.
But Mr. Ogden had gone there for a purpose, and
to execute an important trust. A great deal of work
had to be done to prepare this wilderness for the
coming auction. It had to be laid out and opened
up by streets and avenues into blocks and lots, the
boundaries of which must be carefully defined,
maps and plans raade, surveys perfected and land-
raarks established. To this Mr. Ogden addressed
himself with energy, and brought to It his extra
ordinary ability in the handling of all raaterial
Interests, so that by the time the auction sale ap
proached, he was ready to exhibit It in business
form. A governraent sale of lands had brought
together a large collection of people frora all parts
150

OF CHARLES BUTLER
of the country, particularly from the east and the
southeast. The. sales amounted to more than a
hundred thousand dollars,and Included only about
one-third of the property; but this result, although
it did not as yet fully establish his faith, went far
to convince hira of the future of the town which
was to become the scene of his after life, and In the
development and growth of which he was to be
come an active and important factor.
The account of Mr. Butler's first western trip
and of Its results has been given somewhat at
length partly because of its general interest and
partly because It Illustrates so well his character,
and the great services he rendered. He foresaw
intuitively upon what lines, material and moral,
the development of the country must proceed.
Though Detroit and NUes and Michigan City
and other places were urged upon his notice, he
thus early believed that Chicago would pass be
yond them all. And not less notable was his
tenacity ; for the early enthusiasm of his associates
flagged ; they grew timid, and left to him the bur
den which brought Its reward In after years. To
the horror of his associates he disinterestedly pub
lished the news of the western possibilities before
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
his own purchases were completed, thus inviting
competitors, as they feared, to his own detriment.
Two of the services which he rendered to the
infant city were of great value. The first was the
quick and eager interest which he took, in con
nection with Mr. Bronson, in projects for public
improvement. The most important of those dis
cussed at the time of his first visit was the construc
tion of a canal to connect Lake Michigan at
Chicago with the Illinois river at Ottawa or Peru,
a distance of about eighty or one hundred miles. A
grant had been made by Congress to the territory
of Illinois, at an early day, of each alternate
section of land in aid of the construction of such
a canal. New Orleans being regarded at this time
as the principal market of the valley of the Mis
sissippi, this would secure to Chicago a western
outlet. Mr. Bronson and Mr. Butler entered
enthusiastically into this project, advising, however,
the construction of a railroad Instead of a canal.
A memorial urging the Incorporation of a cora
pany for building a railroad or canal was carefully
prepared by Mr. Butler and sent through a cora
raittee to the Legislature, Mr. Bronson and Mr.
Butler submitting proposals for financing the
152

OF CHARLES BUTLER
whole enterprise If such a company should be in
corporated. The application was not successful the first
winter, and It was found necessary to give up
the plan for a railroad ; but at the session
of 1834-35 a bill was passed authorizing a loan
for a canal as a State work. It was soon after
begun and though retarded by embarrassraents
which overtook the State and for a tirae ptos-
trated its credit, was finally completed and re
mains to this day a monument not only to the en
terprise of the State, but also to its Integrity In
paying its just debts. It is hardly too much to
say that the result would have been much longer
retarded. If not finally checked, had It not been
for Mr. Butler's interest. For lUinoIs having un
dertaken this great system of internal Improve
ment, and finding itself later unable to meet its
obligations, the question what could be done to
retrieve its credit became one of vital importance
not only to its citizens, but to all who had any
interests In the State. Mr. Bronson and Mr.
Butler gave much study to this subject and finally
arranged that Illinois should ask Its bondholders,
who were chiefly In Europe, to make a further
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
advance of money sufficient for the completion of
the canal, for the payraent of which the canal, its
lands, and revenues should be pledged, backed by
the faith and credit of the State. Upon this basis
the arrangement was finaUy made. Only a person
living at that time and fully understandingthe situa
tion could rightly appreciate the value of the aid
given by these two men at this critical period.
Another service, indirect but of great impor
tance, Charles Butler rendered to the city in send
ing there Mr. William B. Ogden, his brother-in-
law. Mr. Ogden was a man of remarkable ability
and of broad and comprehensive views. He be
came the first Mayor of Chicago at its incorpora
tion as a city in 1837, and from that time until his
death In 1877 was one of its leading citizens,
largely Interested In the growth and welfare of the
place. He was constantly engaged in public
works; he raade miles upon railes of streets, along
which he planted shade trees ; he zealously ad
vocated public parks ; he was a leading contractor
on the Illinois and Michigan Canal and ever one
of Its ablest advocates. He was a pioneer in con
structing railways, giving to them services to a
great extent gratuitous and unselfish. There is to-
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
day scarcely a railroad leading to or from Chi
cago, east, west, north, or, south, with which he
did not have important association and to which
he did not render efficient service, so that his acts
are written in lines of steel all over the west.
The visit to Chicago proved a turning-point
in Charles Butler's career. He returned, after a
few weeks' stay, to his Geneva home ; but he
never returned to his Geneva life. His outlook
had widened with new experiences and his raind
was quick to grasp new opportunities. His In
fluence was at once sought and obtained for great
enterprises, such as the " New York and Erie Rail
road" and the "Utica and Schenectady Railroad."
To both he rendered effective service ; the latter
he was largely instrumental in organizing. He
was again urged to enter Into politics and was of
fered a nomination as State Senator ; but he de
clined this, as two years before he had declined
to enter the field of diplomacy, when offered an
appointment as Secretary of Legation to England.
His special field of usefulness In life, as the or
ganizer of great undertakings, and the trusted
counsellor of men of action, was becoming clear.
His advice was sought by statesmen on the great
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
financial Issues then under discussion. The char
ter of the Bank of the United States was to ex
pire by Umltatlon in 1836 and the question of a
recharter was the one memorable contest of An
drew Jackson's administration. Charles Butier,
as one acquainted with the needs of the people,
and with fundamental principles of banking pol
icy, was called upon by Silas Wright, then Senator
from New York, to give testimony. He opposed
the recharter of the bank, feeUng that its power
was too great to be safe.
In place of this bank of the United States he
urged the establishment of an " institution to be
located In the District of Columbia, to be known
as The Office of Exchange and Currency," whose
function should be to give stability to the
monetary systera of the country. The experience
of years seems now to indicate that this pro
posal had In it sterUng wisdom, and that such
an Institution, if then created, might have
hastened by a quarter of a century the establish
ment upon a firm footing of a national currency.
The question has long since become a meraory, and
need not here be discussed. What is notable, for
the purposes of this memoir, Is the remarkable
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
foresight evinced by his contribution to the dis
cussion. He foretold, as early as February, 1834, the
financial pressure of 1837 to 1840 with an ex
actness which could not have been greater had his
words been written after the event. " That a very
severe pressure," he wrote, " hitherto unparalleled
in my knowledge of the country. Is beginning to
be felt In every part of the country there can be
no doubt. That this pressure will be so severe as
to affect every man in these twenty-four United
States, however remote his dwelling may be —
even beyond the Rotky Mountains — who has
anything at stake In the way of business or prop
erty, is certain, and he who doubts does not un
derstand the signs of the times." That such an
optimist as Charles Butler should make this pre
diction shows not only sagacity but courage
equally characteristic of the man; for he well knew
that an adraission of Impending stringency did
not advance his cause as an opponent of the bank.
But his frankness commended. If it did not fur
ther, his advocacy. It established his reputation
still more securely among financiers and states
men as a prudent and experienced counsellor.
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
Not long after his return from Chicago he un
dertook a second journey of exploration. The
commercial and financial needs of the State of Ohio
were then pressing, and he made thera the sub
ject of careful study in the interest of New York
bankers who were anxious to develop these western
resources so far as was consistent with safety. The
journey to Cincinnati was not, in 1 833, adventurous
as had been the northwestern trip, yet there were
in it eleraents of hardship foreign enough to our
thoughts to-day. The trip from Geneva to Cin
cinnati, by way of Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Col
umbus, Portsmouth and the Ohio river, perhaps
five hundred miles by the route then taken —
now a trip of a single day at a cost of about
ten dollars — then required eleven days and nights
of laborious travelling by stage and private convey
ance over frightful roads at a cost of nearly forty
dollars for stage fare alone. The entire journey oc
cupied two months, and extended eastward from
Cincinnati, through Wheeling, Hagerstown, Fred
erick, as far as Baltimore, Washington and eastern
Virginia and thence northward through New York
and Albany. It had certain incidental features of
interest to a keen observer. Mr. Butler noted
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
the opportunities of the country and the charac
teristics of the people.
" I have left," he wrote, " the State of Ohio
with deep impressions of its present and future
greatness. The capacity of Its soil, the character
of its population, its wonderful increase. Its
commercial and agricultural resources, all Indicate
that at some future day it must become a star
of the first magnitude in the galaxy of the
States. Cincinnati is laid out very rauch like
Philadelphia. Its location is on a tableland about
one hundred feet above the level of the water,
surrounded on all sides by high hills, which form
a very beautiful landscape. Good cheer, hospi
tality and social disposition characterize the peo
ple, and you meet and enjoy them at every step ;
there Is a frankness of character, an openness, an
ingenuousness, which is calculated to excite ad
miration and secure confidence. The national
road frora east to west is a great and noble high
way ; the canals are sources of revenue and wealth;
the private turnpikes are unparalleled for excel
lence ; the projected railroad will add to the un
bounded prosperity of the State. Colleges, high
schools, academies and coraraon schools are spring-
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ing up in every section and diffusing their rich
blessings among the people."
Among the minor incidents of interest on this
long trip was the meteoric shower of November
thirteenth, 1833, viewed from Brownsville, Penn
sylvania. " Wednesday morning we were called
up a little before four o'clock. My attention was
called to the appearance of the heavens. There
was a clear and cloudless and brilliant sky.
Stars were shooting, tens of thousands of them,
in rapid procession, crossing each other's tracks.
The eastern half of the heavens seemed to be in
motion. This continued until daylight. The
drivers told me it had coramenced about two
o'clock. Some of the meteors were so large and
emitted so much light as to reflect directly upon
the horses and upon the road and make every
thing light." " A shower of fire," he added later,
" seemed to fall like snowflakes on the horses and
on all around us."
The iraraediate fruits of this journey were the
proraotlon of several enterprises of business ira
portance such as the " Cincinnati, Columbus and
Worcester Turnpike Company," the " Columbus
Insurance Company," and chief of aU the " Ohio
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
Life Insurance and Trust Company," of which
he was the originator, and which was Incor
porated by the Ohio legislature in the spring
of 1834. Its secondary results were to strengthen
In his mind the determination to leave Geneva
and settle In New York City. The removal was
not made without regret, for with all his pioneer
ing energy he loved a quiet home and old asso
ciations. On his way back to Geneva, he had
stopped at Stuyvesant, and a longing came to hira
then to return to that early home. "It never
looked so pleasant to me as now," he wrote. "It
has improved so much and the country is really
so beautiful ; I ara not certain that there Is any
thing in the West equal to it. Associations and
feelings of forraer days, of happiness unalloyed,
and enjoyraent unmodified by worldly schemes,
tend to throw about the place beauty and interest.
*• Oh ! give me back my early days,
The fresh springs and the bright,
That made the course of childhood's ways
A journey of delight.' "
In October, 1834, he placed his family, his fur
niture, his household goods and chattels on a canal
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
boat specially chartered for the journey through
the canal and down the Hudson. The only rail
road then in operation in the State of New York
was the IncUned Plane Railway, as it was called,
frora Schenectady to Albany, which had just been
opened. The travelers left the boat to try it, and
" a most dangerous bit of railway It was, too,"
said Mr. Butler afterwards. Then at Albany back
they went to the canal boat and so down the Hud
son to the new home in New York City.

CHAPTER V
LIFE IN NEW YORK  FINANCIAL STRESS-
LOSS OF HEALTH  ^JOURNEY TO EUROPE
 VICTORY OVER REPUDIATION IN
MICHIGAN  TRAVEL IN THE
SOUTH

A BUSINESS location In New York was
easily chosen In Wall Street, then, as now,
the centre of the financial interests of the
city. The selection of a house was more difficult,
for settling comfortably in New York was not a
simple matter, even in what seem to us now the
" primitive days " of the thirties. It was then a
city of two hundred and fifty thousand people,
with its wholesale business Interests clustered be
low the present City Hall Park, its uptown retail
shopping centre on Canal Street, and Its fashion
able residence quarters stretching indecisively west
ward, eastward, and northward, in a manner most
disconcerting to one desirous of predicting the fu-
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ture. Mr. Arthur Bronson lived at 97 East
Broadway, between Market and Pike Streets, in
a " select locality, far frora the theatre of business."
The Brick Presbyterian Church, now at Thirty-
seventh Street and Fifth Avenue, was then on the
site of the present Times Building at Nassau
Street and Park Row.
Many considerations tended towards the choice
of a downtown residence. A house on Green
wich Street, near the foot of Rector, a locality
not much in favor now for gentlemen's resi
dences, was for a tirae considered. Pioneer In
stincts prevailed, however, and a life on the fron
tier, nearly as far north as Washington Square, was
decided upon. Expenses as compared with Geneva
seemed enormous. Board and rooms In good lo
cation could not be obtained for a family for less
than thirty dollars a week, a ruinous outlay for a
Geneva income. Houses rented at about six hun
dred dollars a year when new and In good situ
ations. In such a house, on Bleecker Street, op
posite Depau Row, the family life began In New
York. It was saddened at the outset by the loss
of the second son — Arthur Bronson Butler — born
just after the arrival In this city.
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
The law business In New York was, from the
first, successful. As counsel for several financial
Institutions, as representative in the making and
protecting of investments for many raen of prora-
Inence, and as an agent of chartered banks and
corapanies to the westward, even as far as the Mis
sissippi, Charles Butler rapidly became established.
He valued this worldly prosperity largely as It
gave him means for serving those in need. Even
In his first busy raonths in New York, he was the
zealous advocate of the cause of the insane poor,
urging that they should be cared for by the State
Instead of by the Counties, drawing a bill for the
erection of a State Insane Hospital, and raaking
efforts for its passage through the State Legisla
ture. He became a founder and a devoted mem
ber of the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church, and
soon identified himself with many local and other
interests. To New York University he gave a life
scholarship, and to Union Theological Seminary,
whose interests he afterwards served so faithfully,
he pledged an endowment. To colleges in South
Carolina, in Ohio, in Illinois, he made generous
contributions. To Princeton Theological Semin
ary, then somewhat pressed for funds, he gave
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
assistance. To help the struggling missionaries in
the West, to further the extension of the Ameri
can Tract Society, to raise a fund for the printing
of books for the blind, was for him as natural as
to aid his own church and the objects close about
him. The first few years of his residence in New York
had no marked vicissitudes. His office and his
house both escaped the great fire of 1835. Busi
ness responsibilities crowded upon him. He be
came president of the great investraent and realty
corporation known as the Araerican Land Com
pany, counsel for the Trust and Banking Com
pany of North America, and for banks in Arkan
sas, In Michigan and In Ohio. The future seeraed
to open before hira, serene in its proraise of a well
filled, placid life, secure in labors and rewards.
Into this clear sky of prosperity In 1837 came
clouds of disaster. The financial crisis which he
had foretold years before proved a terrible strain
to all the interests he was protecting. Every bank
in New York suspended specie payments ; every
financial agreement was unsettied ; notes of raen
of undoubted standing went to protest every day.
The existing banking systems were for a time
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
completely overthrown ; the whole machinery of
exchange broke down. Mr. Butler's private
means were Impaired, but what distressed him
raost was the prospect of sacrifices for the inter
ests he represented, in which his friends had be
come involved. " I am surrounded," he wrote,
" with troubles and perplexities and cares. I see
no way to relieve ray friends from the responsi
bilities they have incurred for me. But in humble
dependence on the Divine blessing and will I
shall endeavor to do my duty fearlessly and thor
oughly, and to bear up under the crosses and
losses, the trials and perplexities, incident to ray
life here, without raurrauring or coraplalnlng."
In 1838 came other trials. Little Charles, the
youngest son, died. Mrs. Butler fell ill. As a
crowning stroke his own health, never up to this
time very vigorous, utterly failed. His lungs
were affected and a sea voyage was prescribed.
There was great difficulty in leaving. " What
will be the consequence of my absence," he wrote,
" to property and financial affairs cannot be pre
dicted. It does not seem possible to anticipate
any other result than absolute bankruptcy. The
utmost efforts have hitherto only so far succeeded
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
as to keep along the principal debts until the time
set to return." Yet the journey had to be under
taken, and with heavy hearts the husband and wife,
with their first born and only remaining child, lit
tle Ogden, and with William Allen, the eldest son
of benjamin FrankHn Butler, then a boy of thir
teen, set sail on the seventh of July, 1838. They
planned, though doubtfully, to return almost at
once, but were absent nearly a year and came back
to find little left of their modest possessions, al
though efforts had been made to avert such dis
aster by Mr. Butler's brother, by his partner, Mr.
Campbell Bushnell, and by his friend William E.
Jones, who afterwards married Mrs. Butler's sis
ter Caroline.
Traveling in Europe in 1 83 8 had pleasures and
annoyances unknown to us of this generation. It
was leisurely. The voyage over, on the Liverpool
packet ship Pennsylvania, took twenty-one days,
and the return on the Burgundy, also a sailing
vessel, twenty-two. On land the travel was by
rail In some parts of England — eleven hours
from Liverpool to London — and by post on the
Continent. Modern travelers have lost some
thing in the passing of the post chaise. It was
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
not econoraical — twenty-five cents a mile, besides
the cost of the hired or purchased chaise, being
the ordinary rate — and it was not speedy — one
post, five railes, in forty minutes being the legal
speed — but it gave to the traveler a pleasing
sense of command over the enterprise of journey
ing and of proprietorship In the scenery. To the
sick man this slow raoveraent gave strength. The
eager interest of little Ogden, then six years old,
helped the recovery. One of the child's letters
to his grandfather at Stuyvesant has in it such a
note of vitality as to be worth recording here :
" I ara in the great city of London," he wrote,
"just corae back from Belgium & Paris. One
evening we went out & we saw the circus & we paid
five francs & we went in. There was a clown all
dressed up & he kept turning somersets all the
while over & over & over till he got to the end,
the clown ran away & In came a little girl, dressed
very nicely, & she stood upon a horse, & she per
formed things that I did not see how she could
do it. We went into the garden of the Tuilerles,
they have a palace in them, there were two gar
dens right before the palace & they had flowers &
fountains & trees & statues & I often walked
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
there, there was a high iron fence all around with
spear heads which were gilded & made it look
splendid. We went into the king's palace & saw
pictures & one of them was old Dr. Benjarain
Franklin introduced to the French King & his
faraily, we saw a thousand soldiers there & they
used to parade every day near the palace & we
lived close by. The King of France ain't so
handsorae as the Queen of England but the
houses are handsomer. We saw a high monu
raent made of brass painted green & up on top of
It was Napoleon, he fought a great many battles
& always conquered, but at last he was conquered
himself at Waterloo. We went to this battle
field. It was In Belgium, there was a high mound
there, & a Belgic lion on top of It & a great
many soldiers were buried under it, we walked
over the field and picked up several gun bullets.
I have seen raany things here that I never saw
in Araerica, kings and queens and castles and
abbeys. I liked the Tower of London, I saw the
ax that cut off Anne Boleyn's head who was a
queen. We have very foggy weather here & to
day I went to the window & said ' see the raoon,
see the raoon,' but it was the sun round like the
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
moon because the air was so thick. I went out
to take a walk today & I went down to the place
where King Charles was beheaded at Whitehall.
I amuse myself by playing ball with ray cousin
Willy & playing king & queen. I have read in
the history of England about the kings & queens
& in the history of France about the kings &
queens of France & in the history of Scotland about
their kings & queens. I like to read history very
much & read about what has happened. When I
get home, grandpa, I mean to tell you all about
the things I have seen in every city & country &
Island that I have been In. I will come & see you
as soon as I get home If I don't get shipwrecked.
But if I get shipwrecked, then I don't know
what, — you must excuse me."
When in Paris it seeraed advisable to consult
Sarauel Hahnemann, the great German physician,
founder of Homeopathy, then at the zenith of his
fame. Hahnemann was eighty-three, a fine-look
ing man, of distinguished presence. He received
his patient with great formality, Inquiring with the
utmost minuteness into all symptoms, and in
structing his handsome French wife, who acted as
his secretary, to record the answers with extreme
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
care. He then assured his patient that he would
consider the case, and the consultation ended with
a formal leave-taking, the patient having first, in
accordance with Instructions, deposited a gold piece
on the raantel. The next visit, and the next, and
the next, were like the first. The expected pre
scription and treatment never came ; but there
were always the careful Inquiring Into syraptoras
the rainute recording of the answers, and the gold
piece on the raantel. At last Mr. Butler said that
he should like to have the physician's final advice
and prescription, as the time had corae when he
must return to New York. Hahnemann remon
strated that this would be at the risk of his life ;
and when demands of business were urged, he
rose in wrath and closed the record book vio
lently, saying : " If you care more for your busi
ness than for your health, more for your raoney
than for your life, I will have nothing to do with
you. " What the treatraent might have been,
had the consultations continued long enough to
get it, was never known.
Fortunately, however, the seemingly Imperative
call to return home was not at once obeyed. The
journey Included a littie of England, a brief stay in
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
Holland and Belgium, some weeks In Paris, a leis
urely trip In France, two months In the minor Ital
ian cities, and three months in Rorae. It gave op
portunities for seeing the raonuments of the past
and the great cities of the Continent. Yet it was
characteristic of Charles Butler's mind that Eu
rope, with all its treasures, interested him chiefly
as a place in which great men and great woraen
had lived, or were living. As little Ogden liked
to read about kings and queens, so his father
cared for men and woraen of force — kings and
queens in the worlds of religion, of affairs, of pol
itics. The letters speak of seeing Lord Brougham,
Viscount Melbourne and the Duke of Welling
ton ; of spending an evening with Mr. Grote, the
historian, and of there meeting Mr. Hume, a
member of Parliament. In Geneva he was inter
ested In meeting Merle d'Aubigne, and among
others, in Rome, Cardinal Mezzofanti, the famous
linguist, who addressed him in a language that he
did not understand. Somewhat taken aback, Mr.
Butler said that he did not speak Italian, where
upon the cardinal replied : " Ah ! I addressed
you in Cherokee, but I can speak English If you
prefer." 173

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Republican and protestant as was Charles
Butler, the pomp and state of royalty in England
and of the Roraan Church in Italy aroused his
interest, though not his sympathy. The gracious
young Queen Victoria had then just ascended the
throne. " Yesterday," wrote Mr. Butler, " we
witnessed the Prorogation of Parliament by the
Queen in person, and to us siraple republicans it
was a splendid pageant. The Queen is very
popular, as Indeed she raay well be, with the
people, being a young and handsome girl of fine
spirits and liberal principles. We have seen her
many times under favorable circumstances, the
last time being on Sunday at her chapel, to which
we were admitted by special Ucense. It seems
strange to us, all this pomp and circumstance and
finery, and we think that our plain republican and
economical institutions are more to be desired.
I hope the day will never come when we shall
have a splendid government machinery composed
of gold-laced livery and of empty pageantry such
as we have witnessed here."
In Italy, Pope Gregory XVI. then occupied
the papal throne. The elaborate ceremonial of
this office, like that of the throne in England, had
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
for Charles Butler the Interest of a study. He
witnessed the placing of St. Peter's chair : " The
Pope was brought In on the shoulders of six
attendants. He was seated, splendidly dressed.
In a magnificent chair, highly gilded. He was
carried to a chair placed for him near the head of
the church, beyond the high altar. While thus
borne along, I observed that he sat in a listless
manner, with his eyes closed, and his head inclin
ing to the right shoulder, and as he passed he was
constantly raaking the sign of the cross in the air.
He was attended by a splendid retinue of cardi
nals, bishops, high officers, temporal and spiritual,
and priests, by a bodyguard composed of the nobil
ity of Rome, and also by a Swiss guard. The dress
of the cardinals and high officers and of their attend
ants, the rich uniform of the guard of nobles, the pe
culiar costume of the Swiss guards, the gorgeousness
and pomp and circumstance of the ceremony
which succeeded, the fine rausic, the strange mix
ture of religious and military parade and show,
altogether presented one of the most impressive,
curious and splendid spectacles I ever witnessed.
I could not divest ray mind of the idea that the
ceremony was one of worldly splendor, and that
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
it had no affinity to the soleranlties and rites of
religion, and that the object was more to honor
the Pope than to raake known the glorious gospel
of the Son of God."
He witnessed also the Blessing of the Candles In
St. Peter's : " The Pope was engaged In blessing
the candles, by taking a candle In his hand, and
giving it to one of the priests. The number blessed
was very great, probably a thousand. There was
an immense concourse of people, and the magnifi
cence of the ceremony greatly exceeded that of the
placing of the chair. The Pope and cardinals and
all the officers and attendants were dressed raore
richly, and the attendance was greater. After the
Pope had finished the blessing of the candles, a
procession was forraed, the Pope was carried
in his chair as on the former occasion by four
teen persons dressed in red silk gowns, pre
ceded by the cardinals and the high officers
of state, and followed, also, by a numerous and
splendid retinue of bishops, officers, and priests,
each of whom carried a large wax candle which
was lighted. The procession passed around the
high altar, when the Pope resumed his seat, and
the candles were extinguished. The celebration of
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
mass then followed In which the Pope performed
part." On Ash Wednesday carae a great ceremony in
the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican : " First the
Pope took off his cap and his head was sprinkled
with ashes by one of the cardinals ; then In order
they approached, presented their heads to be
sprinkled, and he upon them all In turn per
formed this act of humility." A letter of later
date described a Consistory : " To-day we went
to the Vatican to witness the cereraony of the
Pope's conferring the cardinal's hat upon two new
cardinals. The ceremony took place in one of
the galleries of the Vatican near the Sistine Chapel.
There was a crowd of people. Shortly after our
arrival, the Pope entered from the opposite end,
dressed In rich crimson robes with his pontifical
hat, and took his chair upon the platform. The
cardinals and attendants, as usual, were in rich
robes. Presently the two cardinals-elect entered,
advanced to the Pope, kneeled down, kissed his
feet and retired. Shortly after they advanced sep
arately, and kneeled down before the Pope when
he placed the hat upon the new cardinal's head,
accompanying the action with remarks which we
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
could not hear. The hat was then removed, and
the cardinal rose, kissed the Pope, and retired.
He then passed along to the cardinals, and sa
luted each one with a kiss. After this the choir
comraenced singing the Te Deum, and a proces
sion was formed Into the Sistine Chapel. Here
the Te Deura was sung with great power, and then
the two new cardinals took a place at the door,
and the old cardinals on passing out kissed them.
This was a very interesting part of the ceremony,
and It was pleasing to see."
Just before Easter came the ceremony of
the washing and the feeding of the pilgrims :
" We went about seven o'clock and found a large
collection of pilgrims In the Chapel. Some priests
seated at a table were receiving and examining
their credentials and giving them certificates as
they passed. The pllgriras who had just arrived
after being duly received were taken Into the
bathing roora, where they were seated on a bench
placed against the wall around the roora, and a
cup of water was provided for each one. Then
coraraenced the operation of washing their feet.
There were thirty of the pilgrims, of different ages
and countries, all of them very miserable, dirty-
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
looking fellows. Among the persons who per
formed the task of cleansing them were cardinals,
priests, princes, and gentlemen of the first respec
tability. Lord Clifford, an English nobleman,
was particularly active in the duty, and so was Dr.
Wiseman, an eminent and learned Catholic priest
and head of the English College. The washing
was thoroughly done, after which the pilgrims
were taken Into the supper room, where they were
joined by some two hundred who had been previ
ously received, and were supplied with an abun
dant supper. They were waited on by the nobility
and gentry, who seeraed to be particular In their
attentions to their guests. After supper they
were put to bed by their servants. The same
offices were rendered by ladies of the highest
respectability to female pilgrims in another apart
ment." Finally, at Easter, a great celebration of Mass
by the Pope in St. Peter's, the veneration of the
relics by the Pope and cardinals, and the bene
diction in front of the Church closed this series of
impressive ceremonies. There were other things
In lighter vein In Rome, such as the Soiree at the
Duchessa Torlonla's. " We went at about half-
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
past nine and reached the house by ten. The
rooms were crowded, and I should think there were
at least a thousand persons there. In the large
Salon an opera was perforraed ; in another roora
there was dancing ; In another roora card parties.
The cardinals and priests were among the principal
actors at the card tables. At one table playing
with three gentlemen was the Princess of Denmark,
a large, stout lady. The young Prince of Russia,*
a youth of twenty years or thereabouts, son of
the Emperor Nicholas, was there. The company
was fashionable, sprinkled with stars and ribbons
and coronets."
Such were some of the scenes which were of
interest to the traveller, as an observer of this
older civilization. As a whole, the phenomena of
power and majesty most impressed his mind and
aroused his criticism. All these phenomena were
sumraed up for him In St. Peter's, that marvellous
edifice whose grandeur never failed to Irapress his
imagination, whose dominance never failed to sug
gest a questioning apprehension of the spiritual
power which It symbolized.
George Washington Greene was at this time
* Afterwards the Emperor Alexander II.

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Araerican Consul at Rorae. He was a grandson
of Gen. Nathaniel Greene of Revolutionary fame,
and was an accomplished historical and classical
scholar. His guidance added great Interest to
sight-seeing and to the study of the antiquities.
The friendship formed with him was continued
during the remaining years of Professor Greene's
life and extended to the merabers of his family.
Other scholarly Americans were visitors at Rome
during this winter of 1838-39, and Mr. Butler
always retained a lively recollection of a visit to
the Forum with a group of Bostonians. Among
them was Dr. Charles Lowell, the father of James
Russell Lowell, who, standing on that historic
spot, declaimed one of Cicero's orations against
Catallne. For one member of the party the lengthening
of the stay beyond the time originally set resulted
in an unlooked for experience. In the autumn It
was decided to send William Allen Butler home
after his little vacation. He was placed under
the care of John Van Buren, son of President
Martin Van Buren, his father's forraer partner at
Albany. They erabarked at Liverpool, on the
stearaer of the same name, and came near to real-
181

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
izing the " don't know what " of little Ogden's
shipwreck. The steamer battled with persistent
and violent head-winds for ten days, until Its sup
ply of coal ran short. Then the captain turned
the Liverpool about and ran for a harbor of safety,
which he found at Cork. The danger over, this
change of plan was of advantage to the youth,
since it gave him the opportunity to travel with Mr.
Van Buren In Ireland, and to spend some time
with him In London. Finally he rejoined his uncle
Charles in Paris and went with him to Italy, re-
raalnlng with hira until he returned to New York.
The journey ended in the suramer of 1839.
Charles Butier came back with iraproved health,
though few of his friends would then have pre
dicted for him sixty years more of vigorous and
active life. He immediately took In hand the
readjustment of his own affairs and, with the help
of his partner and friends, slowly re-established
the various Interests which had been imperilled
during the financial storm.
In 1843 he was caUed upon to undertake that
great work in defense of State credit for which his
name should be held in lasting honor. This
public service was a contest waged In Michigan

OF CHARLES BUTLER
and Indiana against the great peril of repudiation
which then threatened. It Is too much to say
that to Charles Butier alone were due the estab
lishraent of State responsibility for bond Issues
and the creation of that sentiraent which raakes
the raaintenance of State credit a raatter of honor
to every right-minded citizen. Yet it Is but just
ice to record that he was their early, zealous and
successful public advocate ; that it was his wise
counsel that led sovereign States to pledge them
selves In defense of financial honor ; and that
the fight he waged in the years between 1 843 and
1853 won a victory for State honesty. To us
now resting In the certainty of an established fin
ancial raethod, and of a firra and universal bank
ing systera, it seeras strange that such a fight
should ever have been necessary. In settled
security one easily forgets the struggles of pioneer
years. It was not a contest against intentional
dishonesty raerely that Mr. Butler waged. His
work was creative as well as corrective. He la
bored to urge legislatures not only to fulfill ex
isting financial laws, or recognized obligations,
but also to originate such a body of financial law
as would of itself compel assent and obedience.
183

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
In 1840 the problems of State indebtedness
were complicated by two conditions. The first
of these was the lack of any general systera of
banking which could give opportunity for secure
deposit of funds and for convenient exchange.
The United States Bank had been abolished and
nothing In its place had been devised. There
were few recognized and stable financial institu
tions anywhere in the country. Wild cat banks
In the remoter cities and towns — forced to be
" wildcat " banks because domesticated Institu
tions, to follow out the figure, had no recognized
position by a well-ordered financial hearth-stone
— issued " money," good only in the county,
sometimes only in the town of its issuance. Even
in the larger cities of the newer States business in
stitutions were unstable. In the absence of a
general system each State established a raethod of
its own and gave privileges far beyond the bounds
of prudence. Great disasters, such as the failure
of the Planters' Bank in Mississippi, were a nat
ural consequence, and universal distrust followed.
When therefore the newer States needed raoney,
there was no machinery for supplying it from the
more settled regions. Hence sprang up all sorts
184

OF CHARLES BUTLER
of private devices for deposit and transference of
funds, based upon no uniform plan, wasteful and
insecure in operation. As a result, in the process
of borrowing, the western States paid enormous
comraissions. They could ill afford to lose these
large suras of money and were but slightly inclined
to repayment when they recalled the hardship of
the borrowing conditions.
The second difficulty to be overcome was the
lack of a settled principle of State responsibility
for debts. The whole raatter of State Indebted
ness was then a new problem. Prior to 1820
State debts were hardly known In this country. In
1 830 only six States * — New York, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio —
had any Indebtedness represented by stocks and
bonds, and these States had issued certificates
representing only thirteen millions of dollars. In
1840 nineteen States and Territories f out of
twenty-six had contracted debts which amounted
to nearly two hundred millions of dollars. This
* Debts and Stocks of the several States. Compiled by A. C.
Flagg, Esq., Comptroller of the State of New York, in American
Almanac, 1840, p. 103.
f State Debts, C. F. Adaras, in North American Re'vie'w, 1 840,
p. 316. 185

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
enormous burden — for the entire population of the
United States in 1 840 was but seventeen millions
— necessitated the creation of a sound sentiment
as to State responsibility and in some States the
estabhshraent also of a body of financial laws
adapted to these new conditions. A sovereign
State could not be sued like an individual ; and It
was a slow process, first, to educate Its citizens to
a sense of the responsibility devolving upon them
in consequence of this exemption, and, second, to
lead them to embody this sense of responsibility
In legislative enactraents. To bring the legislatures
of the newer States to understand this obligation,
an apostle was needed to preach a gospel of fi
nancial honor.
Such an apostle was Charles Butler. Certain
Western States were In a difficult situation. Eager
to build up their cities and towns, and stimulated
by the distribution among them, under President
Jackson, of the surplus moneys of the United
States, * they had undertaken vast systems of In-

* The law authorizing this apportionment was passed June 23,
1834, and the actual distribution was completed January i, 1837.
The amount divided among the States was ^37,468,859.97. 
Amer'ican Almanac, 1838, p. 133.

186

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ternal improveraents. In raany cases these had
cost raore than had been anticipated and raore
than new States could then afford. The half-
completed improveraents, though full of promise,
brought very little Income, and the Interest on the
bonds was a terrible burden. The people felt,
too, that they had just cause of grievance. Their
bonds had been sold at a discount ; they had been
cheated, as they thought, in getting the money ;
they were ready to let the bondholders take the
improvements from which the State had received
so little benefit, and to quit themselves of the
responsibility. This we now call Repudiation ; *
the word, as well as the fact, is left to us as a
legacy frora those years of trial. Yet among
the legislators at that time few were intentionally
dishonest. They were Inexperienced In financial
matters of raagnitude, rather than defrauders. In
most of the States, when once a plan for the es-
* " The word Repudiation, in the sense in which it is now com
monly used, was first adopted in the State of Mississippi. It occurred
for the first time, we believe, in the message of the Governor of
that State, in January, 1841, in which he adverts to the plan of
repudiating the sale of certain of the State bonds, on account of
ftaud and illegality ." Debts of the States, by Benjamin R. Curtis
(afterward Judge of the Supreme Court), in North American Re
'vie'w, January, 1844, p. 130.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
tablishment of State credit had been perfected,
honor triuraphed.
For this mission Charles Butler had the ad
vantage of special fitness and of special training.
His mind was naturally constructive. He was
always ready to consider new conditions and to
frame new plans. He trusted men, and he
labored, therefore, not so much to persuade them
to a course of action as to explain fully the occa
sions for action. To this habit of mind he added
candor, sincerity and suavity. Quite as iraportant
as his special fitness was his special equipment.
From the time, twenty years before, when, as
clerk in the Albany law office, he had acted as
raessenger for the little bank at Sandy Hill and
sent the kegs of specie to and fro in haste to stop
the " runs," through the years at Geneva, where
he had been connected with the largest financial
Interests of that section, to his later days of greater
responsibility, he had been a student of financial
questions. It was a fortunate day when the logic
of selection picked hira out for this special ser
vice. Michigan, the youngest of the States which had
been created, had become disabled by the organ-
i88

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Ization of too expensive a systera of internal ira
provements In the construction of railways. The
plan was to construct three parallel lines across
the peninsula. These were called " the North
ern," from the foot of Lake Huron to the mouth
of the Grand River on Lake Michigan ; " the
Central," from Detroit to St. Joseph, and " the
Southern," frora Munroe, at the head of Lake
Erie, to New Buffalo on Lake Michigan. For
the construction of the Central and the Southern,
the State had issued bonds to the araount of five
ralUion dollars. A million and a half dollars'
worth of these bonds had been sold to bankers
and capitalists at par, and for this portion the
State had received its raoney. The reraainder,
two-thirds of the whole issue, had been sold to the
Morris Canal and Banking Company of New
Jersey on credit, payable in instalments, as the
money should be required by the State to meet
the expenses of the railway construction. A few
instalments had been paid, and a portion of the
Central and Southern lines had been completed,
when the Morris Canal and Banking Corapany
failed. It had sold its bonds to the United States
Bank, which, to sustain its then waning credit,
189

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
had given them over to bankers of Europe and
had obtained large advances upon them as security.
Then the United States Bank failed also. The State
of Michigan was left with a debt of five million
dollars in bonds, with Interest, due to innocent
holders, for which bonds It had received very little
raoney, and through which It had obtained only
half completed works producing no revenue. The
State was poor, and it defaulted on the interest of
its bonds. It seeraed to the people of Michigan
a condition of excessive hardship. They were
willing to turn over to the bondholders the
Improvements for which the bonds had been
issued, but they had not yet come to feel
the full obligations of the coramonwealth. On
the other hand, until these late years of financial
trial, no State had failed to meet its obligations ;
and as Michigan was not the only one thus em
barrassed, it seemed to those concerned that the
time had come for a deterrained effort to re-estab
lish State responsibility.
Thus It came about that in January, 1843,
Charles Butier went to Detroit to represent the
Interests of the bondholders to the Legislature at
Michigan. It had been a severe season and tra-
190

OF CHARLES BUTLER
veiling to Michigan in winter was no holiday
pastime. "I have no heart for this journey," he wrote
to his wife, just after starting, " though I have
entered upon it. I do not think even the ad
vantage to ray brother will compensate for it.
It raay even make things worse and protract
settlements. But I shall go." In great part this
decision was due to his anxiety to relieve his
brother who had corae to his assistance in the
years of stress, and was liable for endorsements
to what was, for those days, a troublesome amount.
The Farmers' Loan & Trust Corapany by whom
these endorsements might be forced, also held
Michigan bonds, and urged Charles Butler to go
as mediator. For hiraself he made no bargain
for compensation, but went to the legislature as a
free man, seeking only justice.
" I ask myself," he wrote, " what Is to be
gained by all this journeying through the snow
and the perils of winter, this loss of the comforts,
privileges and blessings of home, this separation
for so long a time from wife and dear children,
when at best we have so short a time to live to
gether. Let us make it a point to pray for each
191

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
other daily, as we ought, and especially on Sunday
evening to pray for each other and our children.
And I would like to have you go on with the
New Testament with me in course, reading a
chapter every evening before going to bed, com
mencing this Sunday evening, January 8th, with
the fourth chapter of Acts. Thus we can keep
up communion with each other. Ogden and
Emily are never out of my mind. Kiss Ogden
for rae, and be sure to kiss dear little Emily a
good sweet kiss right on her right cheek for me.
Good-night, dear wife and children. May Holy
Angels guard your bed."
It will be a shock to some New Yorkers to be
told that in 1 843 the proper way to go from New
York to Albany and the West, in the winter, was
by way of Boston. One could go up the North
River in suraraer, but the Hudson River Railroad
had not yet been carried through. One could,
indeed, go by boat to Bridgeport on Long Island
Sound — fifty-five miles in six hours ; thence by the
new Housatonic Railroad to West Stockbridge —
ninety railes in seven hours; thence to Albany.
Charles Butier first tried this route, but break
downs and detentions stranded hira at Bridgeport.
192

OF CHARLES BUTLER
So he spent the Sunday quietly there and then
carae back to New York and started again, taking
the boat raeekly for Boston, about twenty-four
hours' journey, and thence going to Albany by
rail. Beyond Albany It was rail to Rochester ;
then to Niagara by stage ; then across the river
on the ice, and so on by stage and cart through
Canada to Detroit. Writing to little Ogden he
told the story In light-hearted fashion :
"On the way to Detroit I rode nearly two hun
dred miles in an open wagon night and day ; and
the last night we were out our wagon broke down
about two o'clock in the morning, and we had to
walk a long way through a dreary country to a
miserable log-house tavern of one roora. There
we had to wait till daylight and then take a dirt
cart to go into Detroit. The driver put on two
horses tandera before the cart and took me and
another passenger with our luggage which just
filled It up, and we started on. The road was
very rough and had during the night frozen hard
and the horses were very restless, not liking to
draw such a strange kind of vehicle ; so we ' rode
in random,' as the driver said, fast as the horses
could go, and the cart jumped about like a parched
193

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
pea ; and I expected every moment to be tipped
out ; and I thought I should die frora the shak
ing and the laughing ; and ray fellow-traveller,
poor man, a Mr. Doughty, was almost killed by
it; and the people stared and laughed when they
saw us driving along In such style and at such a
rate. But we got through safely and for that I am
thankful, though I cannot help but feel home-sick."
These were perils for a man not in robust
health : but they were soon forgotten in the Inter
est of the business for which he had come. He
had a creative work In finance as well as a persua
sive work in morals to accoraplish. He came to
Michigan prepared to urge the consideration of a
problem which he was willing to believe was one
that, as Mr. Schoolcraft said to him, " they had
rather failed to solve than wished to evade." The
State had legally Issued these five millions of
bonds for which It had received less than three
millions of dollars, and to represent which It had
now only unfinished railway lines producing no
income. The entire valuation of the State of
Michigan in 1843 was $27,696,940.00, so that
this debt, if paid in full, would require nearly
one-fifth of the whole wealth of the State. The
194

OF CHARLES BUTLER
yearly taxation for State, county and township
purposes was $427,310.00, to which the interest
on these bonds. If paid in full, would add
$300,000.00, raaking in all an Intolerable bur
den. At this tirae the new State of Michigan was In a
wild condition, most of it covered with dense for
ests requiring excessive labor to subdue it for pro
ductive use. The early settlers here, as In other new
regions, came Into it without capital, depending
upon health and strength to raake homes for them
selves. From their scanty means they had to make
all local improveraents, and they had very little
money to spare for the general purposes of the
commonwealth. They had never expected to
assume this State burden, for the railroads. It had
been supposed, would pay at once the interest, and,
in time, the principal of the bonds. " Now they
were confronted," to quote again the words of
Mr. Schoolcraft, "rather with the labor of Ixion
than Sisyphus. It Is the labor of a fixed and not
of a changing position." It is not strange that
the easy remedy of Repudiation seemed to them,
as it had seemed to the people of Mississippi, the
only way of escape. 195

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Mr. Butler wrote daily to his wife, keeping her
minutely informed of the progress of his business.
The letters present the man and the struggle most
graphically. Detroit, January 28, 1843.
"Yesterday and to-day have been very, very
busy days. It is a regular campaign. The au
thorities from the Governor down have received
me with the greatest cordiality. I arrived here
in the very nick of time, neither too early nor too
late, and they all say it will do good. I will not
be too sanguine, for there are many difficulties in
the way, which no one can understand or appre
ciate who Is not on the spot. On Monday morn
ing I am to meet committees of the Legislature.
This morning I had a long, uninterrupted confer
ence with the Governor and went over the whole
ground. Yesterday I conferred with no less than
twenty persons on the subject. Talking is my
special business, and of that I shall have a great
deal to do."
Detroit, Saturday evening, 4th February, 1843.
"I shall send you next week my raessage to
the Governor and the two houses of Legislature,
196

OF CHARLES BUTLER
and you will then see how I stand and what
ground I have taken. It has excited a great deal
of interest, and I bid fair to be quite a lion, or
rather a stripling, bearding the lion in his den. It
is queer business all round, for a Legislature here
is a queer body, and they have queer notions of
matters and things. I entertain strong hopes of
success, but cannot possibly predict what the re
sult will be. I find many old friends araong the
raerabers of the Legislature. I have really laid
myself out to bring about soraething, and they
give me credit for urging sound doctrine and in
sisting on reasonable terms. Still, the idea of any
one coming here and insisting on Michigan ful
filling her obligations is monstrous in the estima
tion of some ; It Involves the honor and dignity
of a sovereign State ! My communication was
read in the Senate with profound attention, and an
extra nuraber of copies ordered to be printed
unanlraously. In the afternoon, however, they
reconsidered, and, by a majority of one, decided
not to print. The raain argument was that they
did not want it to go to the people without an
antidote. The legislature Is a very impulsive
body, and no reliance can be placed on a large
197

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
majority. I shall have to see every man, and to
omit one may lose the bill. Mr. Taylor and Mr.
Farnsworth, my coadjutors, keep entirely in the
background and are not known at all in the
preralses. I, coming all the way from New York,
through the mud, on purpose, can say and do
things which no one here would dare to say and
do without being charged with treason. It is now
precisely twelve o'clock at night, and I will lay
aside all business cares for the coming Sabbath."
Friday evening, February 24th.
" I have but a moment to say that God seems
to be prospering me In ray business here. The
Senate by a vote of 14 to i have passed a bill
which I had prepared in the very form in which I
had prepared it ; and it will pass the House next
week, as I hope, by a unaniraous vote. It is won
derful. Patience, hearty good will, and hard
work, night and day, have brought it about." . .
" My prospects " (he wrote a few days later) "are
not so bright as they were on Friday. I then
thought the trouble was over, but in the House
it has just begun, I fear. Deraagogues and repu-
dlators there are who resist every honest measure,
198

OF CHARLES BUTLER
but the hearts of all men are in the hand of God
and He turns them which way He will like rivers
of water." Monday evening, February 27th.
"It is now eleven o'clock and I have had an
other hard day's work. The prospect now is that I
shall carry my business through triumphantly and
settle a great question, to the honor and prosper
ity of a great State, and secure a great object to
the bondholders. And I ara confident that I say
but the siraple truth, and what Is apparent, that it
would not have been settled if I had not come ;
and that no one else could probably have effected
It in the same way. I have as much as I can do to
follow it up, being obliged to go and see every
man and talk It over with him plainly and fully.
You could have seen rae this evening In a room
with half a dozen merabers seated around a table,
laying down sound principles of deraocracy in re
lation to the payment of the public debt and the
maintenance of the public credit; telling them
that whereas a good citizen should be ready al
ways to lay down his life In defence of his country
against an Invading foe, so he should always be
199

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ready to give up his property to preserve and
defend the honor of his country and pay Its
debts." Detroit, March 7, 1843.
" In the morning of Monday It was ascertained
that the enemies of the bill had been so active
during Sunday that they had a fixed majority. I
and my friends went to work, and In the after
noon, when the bill came up, there was a very an
imated debate pro and con. I had not conceived
of such violent opposition, and at times it seemed
as If the bill would certainly be lost. We carried
one question only by a vote of 25 to 24. We
finally carried the bill by a vote of 28 to 20. To
day it is In the hands of the Governor for his signa
ture, and Is safe. But I have scarcely ever in my
life passed through a more exciting scene. The
question was. In fact, repudiation or no repudia
tion ; and the debates were very exciting. Gen
eral Cass turned out in the evening to hear. The
opponents of the bill appealed to passion rather
than to reason, and in the course of the evening
the yeas and nays were taken seven times. Thus
has ended my mission here, after six weeks of

OF CHARLES BUTLER
toll and anxiety, and In the result I recognize the
hand and blessing of God."
Great was Mr. Butler's joy in the triumph of
his cause. All danger seeraed over on that Mon
day night when the bill passed the Senate ; but
on Wednesday a new and unforeseen peril threat
ened the raeasure. The history of the new crisis
and Its outcome is given In a letter written from
Toledo on March i ith :
" The bill was sent to the Governor for his
approval on Tuesday at noon. I then felt that
the crisis had passed, and that the bill was safe. It
never entered my mind that the Governor could,
or would, veto it. It was a question of policy
to be settled by the Legislature, and It did not
involve any constitutional principles. On Wed
nesday raorning the Governor had not returned
the bill, and a good deal of solicitude began to be
expressed. This was increased by the declaration
of Bush and others that Governor Barry would
veto the bill. Still its friends did not yield to any
serious fear. In the afternoon I was in my room,
about half-past two, and had just finished a letter
to my brother Franklin, giving an account of the

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
results of my mission, rather a crowing letter, too
(I shall never crow again till I get out of the
woods !) when Mr. Wells, the commissioner, a
friend of the Governor, and known to be intimate
with him, came In with a good deal of anxiety
depicted in his face, and said that he called to see
rae about the bill, and that soraething raust be
done right away. I expressed my astonishment
and inquired whether the Governor had any hesi
tation on the subject. He replied that he was
not authorized to say that the Governor would
not sign the bill with the tax clause in, but unless
that clause was stricken out he thought the bill
would be in danger. He then urged me to con
sent to this alteration. If the tax clause was not
stricken out it would ruin the Governor and the
party, and I ought not to place thera in such a
position. I replied that this was the only feature
of the bill worth saving, that the Governor raust
take the responsibility, and that I had rather have
the bin vetoed than signed without the tax clause.
Mr. Wells left me, saying that if I changed my
mind I must let him know within half an hour,
as the time was passing.
"After he had gone I could not but muse on the

OF CHARLES BUTLER
uncertainty of all human affairs. Here was I,
after having secured, as I supposed, beyond any
question, the passage of a bill which would reflect
honor on the people and do justice to the credi
tors of the State, rejoicing in the victory and re
posing on my laurels, when lo ! a veto ! I was
almost driven in desperation to take ground with
Clay against the veto power altogether. A little
reflection, however, brought rae to ray senses
and to ray knees. I had forgotten God in this
business, and taken to myself the praise which
belonged to Him and to Him alone. Surely,
every man is vanity, as the psalmist says. Such
a rebuke, such a break down, I had never before
realized. But, my dear wife, when I arose frora
that prayer I felt such calraness, such content-
raent, such submission and resignation to the will
of God as to be willing, I had almost said desiring,
that He would cause the Governor to veto the
bill and thus humble my pride, self-confidence
and conceit Into the very dust.
" I thought, however, that duty to my employ
ers and duty to an upright cause and a sincere de
sire to proraote what I certainly conceived to be
for the true interests, moral, political and financial,
203

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
of Michigan, required of me to use all honest
means to prevent so great a disaster and injury to
these interests as such an event would produce.
I never estimated the moral force of the veto
power, for good or evil, as I did then, and as I
shall ever hereafter, when any great question is
involved. I knew that Governor Barry was an
honest, just and prudent man, and that he would act
cautiously ; but I saw In the fact that his most
confidential friend and adviser regarded a veto in
evitable, unless I consented to strike out the tax
clause, the strongest evidence that such was the
raeaning, if not the conclusion, of his raind. But
I went out to see what I could do."
So prompt and effective was his work In stir
ring up the friends of the bill that :
"In the course of the afternoon and evening
the Governor had a series of calls from his per
sonal and political friends, who remonstrated with
him most plainly against so suicidal an act, and I
had reports from Houghton, Purdy, Hall, Wake
field and others, of the results of their various in
terviews. As time was pressing, this being the
afternoon of the last day of the session, the gen
tlemen had no time for corapliments. It was
204

OF CHARLES BUTLER
plain talk all round, and I was amused at the re
port which an eye-witness gave of Judge Bell's
mission. When the Judge entered, the Cabinet
were in session deliberating on the bill, and he
addressed himself directly to the Governor, ' talk
ing to him like a father.' As the Governor is
probably ten years older than the Judge, it struck
rae with huraor.
" After tea the Cabinet again met to deliberate
further, and I went to the Capitol again to see
how things stood. I found very great excitement
pervading both Houses and an increasing con
fidence that the bill would be vetoed ; and It was
said that, even If vetoed, it would be passed
through the House by a constitutional majority
of two-thirds. Perhaps the wish was father to the
thought. It was evident, however, that the cur
rent was setting with overwhelming force against
the veto. The enemies of the bill had made ex
traordinary efforts to bring influence to bear upon
the Governor through his trusted friend, Mr.
Eldrldge, the Secretary of State. They said that
his signing it would be a deathblow to his admin
istration and to the ascendancy of the Democratic
party in the State, and he had, no doubt, been
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
brought to believe this. The counteracting in
fluences, however, in support of an honest and
just cause, were too powerful to be resisted, and
at nine o'clock in the evening the Governor
signed the bill. This result was brought to me
confidentially In the Senate chamber, where I was
patiently awaiting the veto message, the raoraent
it occurred. It was soon circulated araong the
members and the congregation of bystanders who
were lookers-on in Vienna. Well was it for Gov
ernor Barry and for the honor and credit of the
State of Michigan that unwise counsels did not
prevail with him ; that God so overruled things
that he was kept from falling into a snare and
inflicting an irreparable injury upon his own char
acter and upon the character and good name of the
State. And thus ended this chapter and this
day of the 8th of March, 1843, ^^ 10 o'clock
p. M., when I left the Capitol."
The fight was won. To the struggling people
of Michigan the taxation In prospect seemed an
overwhelming burden. But, under the provisions
of this law, the State regained financial stability.
The issues of bonds, funded wisely by Charles
Butier's bill on the basis of the values actuaUy
206

OF CHARLES BUTLER
received, were honorably cared for. The Central
Railroad was sold to a company for two millions
of dollars, the Southern to another company for
half a mllUon, and the finances of the State have
never since been In question. Of far greater
value, however, to the Commonwealth and to the
country was the victory gained for public honor
and honesty.
An extract from a confidential letter by the Au
ditor-General of Michigan, Hon. C. J. Ham
mond, to Mr. George Griswold, of New York,
shows Mr. Butler's part In the struggle from an
outsider's standpoint :
" I avail myself of the opportunity presented
by the return of Charles Butler, Esq., to say what
simple justice to him requires you should know.
You wUl be advised by him of the result of his
mission raore perfectiy than the Uralts of a letter
wUl permit me to do. Of his agency in produc
ing this result I cannot say too much. He has
accomplished all that raan could do and more
than almost any other gentieraan you might have
selected. You are aware that when the present
executive took the gubernatorial chair repudiation
was ready to burst forth, and If they had been led in
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
that direction a large raajority of the people of this
State would have followed. In his first raessage
the Governor gave tone to the then forming pub
lic sentiment, which led to the legislation of 1 842.
In his last annual communication to the Legisla
ture he advanced a step and public opinion sus
tained hira. But raany even of our most valuable
citizens had not dreamed of taxation, and the Ex
ecutive did not think public opinion would war
rant a present enactment erabodying that princi
ple. Although it was fast approximating to that
high and honest stand, still It seemed a task be
yond the power of any man to lead a majority of
the representatives of the people to that point, at
this tirae. Mr. Butler, by his address, araenity
of manners and powerful arguments, has succeeded,
and has procured an enactment based on high raoral
and political principles ; one that reflects great
credit on him and, I think I raay justly say, great
credit on the State. Discretion wUl require that
the agency of Mr. Butier In producing this result
should not be trumpeted. Our people are jealous
of foreign and out-door influence, and the people
should have all the credit that can be bestowed
upon them consistently." 208

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Hardly had this enterprise been concluded
when another had to be undertaken. For the
protection of the financial interests and of the In
vestments made by the American Land Company,
of which he was president, and whose fortunes
were identified with those of almost every Wes
tern State, Charles Butler had to visit Mississippi
and Louisiana. He went directly from Detroit,
as soon as his work in Michigan had been com
pleted. His errand to the South, though dealing
with financial matters of importance at the mo
ment, did not involve great questions of state
policy as had the visit to Michigan, and It need not
here concern us. But his notes of traveling ex
periences, and his views of affairs In the South are
of interest to us now that sixty years have passed.
Travelling In the West and Southwest was a
serious matter In the Forties, when the fastestmall,
night and day, required ten days from New
Orleans to New York. It was raade especially
arduous for Charles Butler by his steadfast refusal
to travel on Sunday. To the average stage driver
and route agent the subordination of business re
quirements to this religious sentiment never
seemed quite reasonable, and a readjustment was
209

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
effected each succeeding Saturday with infinite dif
ficulty. Difficult or easy, however, it was always
brought about, and the records of the Sundays —
sometimes spent In a town where a preacher of
some note was heard, more often in a little log-
cabin church on the prairies, where Mr. Butler
would himself assist at the Sunday School services,
— are full of interest. A characteristic letter of
about this period, though not written on this jour
ney, gives so graphic a picture of one of these days
of rest that it is inserted here :
" The Sabbath is nearly gone, and though dis
tant a thousand miles. In a strange land and
among strangers, yet have I been with you in
spirit. I have had a horae feeling, and you and
our dear children have been not only the subject
of my repeated prayers, but the subject of my al
most constant thoughts. I left Terre Haute yes
terday in a private conveyance for CrawfordsviUe,
expecting to get through to spend Sunday there
with my friends in the college, and calculating a
good deal on the interest and pleasure of such
an arrangement. But the distance was greater
and the roads worse than I had anticipated ,- and
by sunset I was yet twenty-eight miles frora the

OF CHARLES BUTLER
destined point. Night shut In upon us, and we
could scarcely grope our way through the woods,
and finally got Into a deep ditch, and were brought
up all in a heap. Whilst my companion held the
horses, I labored at the wagon and finally suc
ceeded in getting it out of the hole. Then we
started again, but at eleven we halted at a house by
the wayside, and succeeded In obtaining comfort
able lodgings for man and beast. The bed was
never raore welcome, nor was sleep ever sweeter
or more refreshing.
" To-day I attended the only raeeting in the
neighborhood, which was held at a small log
school house, beautifully situated in a grove on
the banks of a running brook. It was Interesting
to see the gathering of the people, on horseback,
on foot, and In wagons — the plain and honest
country people, men, women and children, —
women on horseback with their infants in their arms
— and now and then a man with his wife behind
him — an iraraense concourse of good-looking. In
telligent country people. The school house could
only accommodate the women, their children, and
half a dozen men — all the rest were seated on
benches made of rails, out doors under the shade

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
of the trees around the house. The minister took
his stand in the doorway, so that those inside and
outside could hear. It was a beautiful day, the
sun shining sweetly, the woods literally alive with
the birds, and the noise of the swift stream ming
ling with their music and the hearty singing of the
people together, made an occasion of unequalled
Interest. It was all nature and the God of na
ture ; the noble forest trees In their richest attire,
the green grass, the sweet shade, the large collec
tion of Sunday dressed rustic people, the primi
tive house of worship, the still more primitive and
solemn mode of conducting the service, the per
fect stillness which reigned, save the sounds of the
water and the birds, and of praise and prayer and
preaching — all seemed to be In unison with the
day. " What affected me deeply was the feeling of
gratitude that seemed to exist for such great and
distinguished mercies and blessings as they en
joyed. The preacher in prayer dwelt upon God's
goodness and mercy and blessings conferred upon
them, as compared with the condition of thous
ands and tens of thousands on the face of the
earth, and he took for his subject the 4th Chap-

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ter of Hebrews, " The rest which remains for
the people of God." He explained the subject
in a plain but most Irapressive and truly orthodox
way, and I could but feel that it was the siraple
preaching of the Gospel — it was angels' food.
"It seeras that itwas Communion Sunday and the
Sacrament was adrainistered, but how unlike such
occasions in our church. These poor people have
no Comraunlon service, and from the nature of
the case the mode of doing it raust adapt Itself to
their condition. The raale members were required
to take front seats out doors, the female merabers
the front seats In the house, and then the elements
were distributed, and the whole was conducted
with decorum and amid the most profound and
respectful attention on the part of the spectators.
I must confess that I have never partaken of the
Sacrament under raore Interesting circumstances,
and It seemed to me as If It might have been thus
adrainistered in the days of the apostles.
"After the Communion there was a baptism by
immersion in the brook. The whole congregation
repaired to the banks of the stream, and there,
after prayer and singing one or two beautiful
hyrans, the rite was perforraed. The loveliness
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
of the day, the beauty of the surrounding scenery,
and the sweet accompaniraents of the feathered
songsters, rendered this an interesting ceremony.
I am staying at a siraple country tavern — very
plain, but neat — and the landlord and wife both
good, quiet people ; the stillest place you ever
saw." The route from Michigan to the South was by
stage, wagon, and cart, via Toledo, Sandusky, and
Columbus, to Cincinnati ; thence by steamboat
on the Ohio and Mississippi to Memphis and to
New Orleans. To us now stage travel has a
romantic interest dear to the hearts of those who
love the stories of the olden time. Littie enough
romance was there In its actual conditions. It
was uncertain, expensive — ten cents a mile — and
distressingly uncomfortable.
" I left Sandusky," wrote Charles Butier, " on
the morning of the fourth, in the ' stage,' a small
buggy wagon loaded down with mail bags, drawn
by two horses, for the first seventeen miles to
Tiffen, which we accomplished in precisely seven
and a half hours ; then shifted to a ' spanker,'
drawn by four horses, for the ride to Marion.
This last vehicle was a large covered wagon, as un-
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
comfortable a thing to ride In as could well be de
vised, save the cover. Then we rode In a ' hack' to
Delaware; then In a lumber wagon thirty miles
to Worthington, where I arrived at half-past ten
last night, and where I was glad to stop frora
sheer exhaustion. I had ridden from Sandusky
to Worthington thirty-nine hours without stop
ping, nearly the whole distance in wagons at the
rate of two to two and a half miles an hour, the
seats having no backs and the roads as bad as
roads could be. I stayed over at Worthington
last night and got a good night's rest, and to-day
came in to Colurabus on horseback."
Stearaboat travel, of course, was much better.
" I have been very fortunate in the boat," he
wrote ; " she is a first-class boat from Cincinnati,
and the captain is part owner and has a first-rate
list of officers and raen. He appears to be very
careful and devoted to his business. Yesterday
afternoon he put a man ashore on the banks of
the river who was suspected of having stolen frora
some of the passengers. It seemed hard to leave
a man on these lonely banks to take his chance
of finding a place of refuge, but from the decision
of the captain In such cases there Is no appeal.
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Our captain Is a gentleman in every sense of the
word, and I like him very much. We have a
large number of passengers, every berth full, and
they certainly are a raost respectable class. I
have been surprised at their appearance and de-
portraent, so different frora what one raight have
expected on these waters. The barber, a loqua
cious Frenchraan, says that he never saw such a
load of passengers, ' such grave people — bar do
no business — so different last tirae — then great
raany loved to play, drink, gamble — now all
peace, quiet.' I could almost fancy myself on the
Boston boat were It not that the people around rae,
who are frora Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas,
Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Mississippi and
Louisiana, talk of Western plans and things alto
gether. Araong them are many religious persons
and they seem to give tone to the society of our
steamer. Having been now four days on board
we are getting pretty well acquainted, and there
are some whom I shall always think of with
pleasure. Thus the traveller is always falling In
with, and falling out with, his fellow pilgrims as he
journeys on through this wilderness of a world."
He was impressed by the majesty of the river
216

OF CHARLES BUTLER
which was in full flood, " bearing us swiftly with
it on its journey to the sea." He wrote : " We
have just been wooding, and I have had a fine
walk in the woods of Louisiana, and heard the birds
sing, and enjoyed the fine breeze and pure air. The
cotton tree is covered with raoss which hangs from
its wide-spread branches and has a beautiful appear
ance, like drapery. The banks are raore cultivated
as we descend the river. We see fine plantations
on each side, picturesque In appearance, the negro
houses whitewashed and so grouped as to give the
impression of a village.
" We passed General Jackson's plantation yes
terday afternoon. We are now in the sugar
country, and the plantations front on the river
and run back two or three miles perfectly level.
The cane is probably a foot high and the hands
are at work hoeing It. We have just passed
one plantation of Mr. Wade Hampton, on which
there are three thousand negroes employed. It is
one of the largest in the country, lies on both sides
of the river and presents a most beautiful appear
ance. The negro houses are arranged in a taste
ful way. I counted forty in one field, twenty In a
row, each house standing by Itself and having a
217

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
handsome yard around it in front and rear, the
houses all built on the same plan, painted white
and each house of good size. The raansion house
stands on the bank of the river a short distance
back and like all the houses of this country of the
better class Is built with a veranda all around it and
with shade trees all about It. The hands at work
in the fields looked like an army of men and I am
told the crop of this plantation coraes to a hundred
thousand dollars a year."
Aside from Its one blot of slavery, the southern
country made a great impression upon Charles
Butler's mind for its beauty and for the hospital
ity and open-heartedness of its people. His jour
ney led him by wagon from Memphis, Tennessee,
to Holly Springs, Mississippi.
" We stopped at Germantown fifteen railes
out," he wrote, " and had feed for our horses and
food for ourselves — Indian bread, Indian cakes,
delicious ham and eggs, and fresh milk. The
houses along the road are chiefly log houses ;
that is, two large log or block houses — logs hewn
or sraooth — standing entirely detached, leaving
an open space of fifteen feet in width between
them ; and then a roof covering both, thus leaving
218

OF CHARLES BUTLER
in the centre an open hall or covered way. The
one house is a sitting or sleeping room, usually two
beds and decently furnished, the other a family or
working room with beds in It also. Then, as
an appurtenant, and at a little distance from this
main or family mansion, is a large common kitchen
and eating room for the family and for the blacks.
Then at a still greater distance are sundry small
and common-looking log houses for the negroes.
"At one place where we stopped yesterday —
that of a substantial and wealthy farmer — It was
just twelve o'clock and the lord of the house was
passing from the main house to the log dining
house, perhaps forty feet distant, where was con
gregated a large number of black spirits and white,
big and little. I observed half a dozen little black
children, male and female, who were almost liter
ally naked; and even the large negroes were
miserably clad. As they carae up, ragged and
tattered, the little ones ran out and greeted them,
' Daddy, Daddy,' with as rauch fondness as our
children would greet us. They are very hospi
table; the moment we stopped a negro woman
came out with a large potato custard pie. They
all live very well here; hominy corn-bread in
219

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
every forra, potato custard — raade of sweet pota
toes with milk, sugar, eggs, butter and nutmegs —
hot muffins, rice, boiled and baked, potatoes cooked
In every form, apples, hot biscuits, bacon and
eggs are standing dishes. But, oh, what a stain
this slavery ! And yet the slaves as a general
thing are well treated here and public sentiment
frowns on any master who would abuse them ;
still they are neglected by many, shamefully, and
it cannot be otherwise, human nature being what
it is. " The country about Holly Springs is roman
tically and surpassingly beautiful. It is rolling,
with beautifully formed hills and valleys as sweet
as Arcadia. The town covers about as rauch
ground as he city of New York. Every house
has its littie plantation beside it. They have
good schools, good churches. But this slavery
mars the beauty of the whole scene ; It Is a dread
ful evil, and I am more puzzled to see how It is
to be removed than I ever was before. It Is a
mystery the solution of which God has reserved
to Himself; He wiU raake it plain in some way,
and He will remove the evU, I think, in due
tirae."

OF CHARLES BUTLER
This reads something like a prophecy in the
light of subsequent events.
" I have just seen a sight," he wrote later from
this sarae Holly Springs, " that wrung my very
heart and made me wretchedly unhappy. It was
a sale of negroes, big and little, husbands and
wives, men, women and children, all In the market
at auction. Oh, It was enough to make you weep
to see It. I could stand it but a few moraents.
Oh, ray soul, enter thou not Into their secrets.
Why is this so ? Is there no arra to stop it and
prevent husband and wife, parents and children
frora being torn from family life, and sold to
different masters ? It Is shocking to humanity."
It Is pleasant to recall that during the lifetime of
the writer of this letter the stain of slavery was re
moved, and that the South carae to its nobler
heritage. The Southern trip ended with a pleasant jour
ney through Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the busy
New York professional life was resumed.

CHAPTER VI
THE FUNDING OF THE BONDED
DEBT OF INDIANA

THE success which had crowned Mr. But
ler's work in Michigan attracted wide
attention. Other States oppressed with
debt, and other financial institutions holding State
bonds as Investments turned to this successful
advocate for assistance. As a general princi
ple It had been held that " since the State, being
a sovereignty, cannot be sued nor forced to pay
her debts to the holders of State bonds, it Is, for
that very reason, bound to act as a sovereignty.
Its honor must be sustained at all sacrifices, and
its plighted faith remain inviolate." This state
ment, here quoted from Governor Whitcomb, of
Indiana, had no opponents when announced as a
theory ; but it seemed of slight value as a refuge
to legislatures who faced the condition of a bank-

OF CHARLES BUTLER
rupt State. A raediator, skilled and sagacious in
financial raatters, was as much needed as a raoralist,
and in the winter of 1 845-6, Charles Butler went
to Indiana on behalf of the bondholders of the
State, for the adjustment of Its debt.
The situation was difficult. The statesmen of
Indiana, like those of Michigan, with the optimism
of pioneers, had undertaken a vast system of in
ternal improvements quite beyond the capacity of
the State to maintain or even to coraplete. Chief
among these public works was the Wabash and
Erie Canal, intended to connect the waters of the
Gulf with those of the Lakes and the Atlantic.
Water communication, seventy years ago, was, it
will be remembered, the main reliance of com
merce. The Erie Canal had proved a boon to
New York, and a like future was predicted for this
Indiana enterprise. It was to run — and was finally
completed — from Toledo on Lake Erie, south
ward ninety miles through Ohio, and three hun
dred and seventy-nine miles through Indiana, to
EvansvIUe, on the Ohio River. Its length in In
diana was about the same as that of the Erie Ca
nal In New York, and Its hopes seemed as bright.
But money for this enterprise had to be borrowed
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
upon bonds, in foreign markets, the United States
having then little spare capital. Unluckily, the ne
gotiations had, as in Michigan, been made through
the Ill-fated Morris Canal and Banking Company,
whose failure had involved the State in heavy loss.
Meantime other difficulties arose. The canal was
not completed ; the State was compelled to default
In Its Interest on the bonds, and offered no hope
of their payment.
In his raessage to the Legislature Governor
Whitcomb was almost hopeless. " The mighty im
pulse," he said," which seeraed to have been given
to her prosperity by the legislation of 1836, ex
hausted itself within a few years. So that by the win
ter of 1 841, under the influence of the reaction
which followed, the credit of the State was de
stroyed, and its finances were thrown into the ut
most disorder — In the history of the State the day
of adversity seemed truly to be set over against the
day of her prosperity — since then the public debt
has rested like a nightraare on the bosom of the
State, crushing the energies, and destroying the
hopes of the people. It has been for years a dis
turbing theme, and a fruitful source of bickering
and strife. The withering effects of It upon the
224

OF CHARLES BUTLER

moral, social, and pecuniary condition of the people
have been visible to reflecting minds as the sun at
noon-day, and could not fail to excite the deepest
solicitude. The anxious inquiry with all honest and
patriotic citizens has been. How can we ever
remove this difficulty and satisfy equally the
honor of the State, and the just demands of our
creditors ? And whilst their patriotism prompts
the Inquiry, their hopes are unable to suggest the
answer." He went on, though not confidently, to plead
for some settlement of the question. "For,"
he said, " it cannot be doubted that the addi
tional value which will be given to property, by
the settlement of the State Debt question and
the prosecution of the Canal, will add greatly to
the wealth and population of the State within the
ensuing ten years. Immigrants will no longer be
deterred from coming into the State by its doubt
ful and unsettled condition in regard to the public
debt. Land is certainly worth more per acre in
any of the new States whose credit is untarnished,
and who are determined to meet their obligations
when they have the ability at all hazards, than in
a defaulting State ; and evidence of the truth of
225

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
this remark is to be found in the notorious fact
that Immigrants shun the defaulting States."
Mr. Butler's letters to his wife depict the situ
ation clearly and not too hopefully.
Indianapolis, November 29, 1845.
" I have been incessantly engaged, night and
day, and hardly find time to eat or sleep. The
prospects are altogether discouraging, and almost
everybody says that nothing can be done. Poli
ticians, on both sides, are afraid to move. It is
really amazing to see what a paralysis hangs upon
this people. Everything is merged in the most
trifling local poUtics. The Governor Is a promi
nent candidate for the United States Senate, and
dare not open his raouth as he should, lest it
might affect his election to that office. His friends
are in the same predicament ; and so with all the
other candidates and their respective friends. My
mission is a hard one, and no mistake. Still, it is
not fair to judge altogether frora present indica
tions. I must take a week or raore to find out
how the land lies. It Is hardly possible but there
wiU be found sorae good men, and some men who
will take right ground. I must try my hand and

226

OF CHAR LES BUTLER
see what I can do. Perhaps the very discourage
ments which meet rae at the outset may be useful,
and prepare the way for ultimate success. It Is
certain that if the question is not now settled It
never will be ; the people will go into repudiation.
I have had two interviews with the Governor, one
at my roora and the other at his own house, and
they have been quite satisfactory. He is one of
the most cautious and timid men in the world ; at
the same tirae he is, I think, entirely honest and
would be glad to have right done. He told rae
what he should say in his message, and if he ad
heres to this intention it will be all T could desire."
December 7, 1845.
" The Sabbath has come to me as a thing to be
coveted. My spiritual nature was famishing and
wearied, and needed food and rest. I find that I
am engaged In a great undertaking, involved in
the most corapllcated and, perhaps. Insuperable
difficulties. I am fully persuaded that it is only
by addressing myself to the conscience of the
people, stirring that up, and bringing that to bear
that I stand the slightest chance of success ; and
this cannot be done in a day. A revolution, a
227

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
reformation, is required to be wrought. The
whole population has got to be, in a sense, made
over again before justice can or will be done to
the holders of the pledged faith of the State.
Who is sufficient for these things .'' I am sure I
am not.
" The difficulty in the way is radical ; it lies
at the very heart of the people. Such Is the
sentiment produced by the efforts of heartless,
unprincipled politicians that it has become a ques
tion whether it would be honest and right to pay
the debt ! No man dare take the responsibility
in the Legislature of advocating payment. The
Governor, even though he went very far for him,
yet dare not use the y^ordpay or tax. I consider
his message a great triumph and as preparing the
way for ray raission ; yet he has thrown the whole
responsibility on rae. I am preparing ray letter,
but It requires great labor and reflection. I have
to weigh every word and get It exactly right, or
else I shall stir up such a hornets' nest about my
ears that I shall be glad ' to cut and run ' out of
the Hoosler State as fast as possible.
" I mean to make an Issue between the bond
holders and the State in a way that the people
228

OF CHARLES BUTLER
shall understand It, and lay the foundation, I hope,
for future success If I fail now. I find rayself
backed up by a few good and strong men of both
parties, and a great change has certainly been
wrought since I came. The little leaven may
leaven the whole lump. I have reason, certainly,
to be encouraged with the indications around me,
and the revolution I speak of is certainly within
the power of Him who holds all hearts in His
hand. It Is a great question, intimately connected
with religion and morals, and that connection is
what I rely on. Last night I did not get to bed
till one o'clock. I ara run down with engagements
and scarcely get out of my room all day."
December loth, 7 p.m.
" I have only this moment finished my letter
to the Legislature. To-morrow, or day after, I
expect to read it in person at the bar of the House
of Representatives. I do not know how It will
be received. It will kill or cure. The letter is
very rauch complimented by the few to whom I
have submitted it, araong whom are the best men
I can find here ; they think it will save the debt
and the people. The fact is, the State Is on
229

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
the verge of repudiation, but they have not
known it." December ii, 8 p. m.
" I delivered my letter this forenoon to the
Governor, who transraitted it by special message
to the two Houses this afternoon. I was there,
and the Speaker, by the unaniraous consent of the
House, invited me to read it In person, which I
did. The lobby was pretty full, and they all lis
tened with profound attention. When I finished
— it took just an hour — they imraedlately ordered
a thousand copies to be printed for the use of the
House, which shows their estiraate, as one hun
dred is the usual nuraber. It seeras to have raet
with universal approbation. The Rev. Dr. White,
President of Wabash College, raet me as I came
out, took me by the hand, said that he had heard
the whole of It, and that it was a most able and
statesmanlike document. He seemed perfectly
delighted. The Governor was present, and
though he had, of course, read It through before
sending it in, yet sat throughout and listened
with the deepest attention. He and the Speaker
expressed great satisfaction, and said that the
230

OF CHARLES BUTLER
teraper and spirit of It were most unexceptionable,
and compliments are pouring In on every side.
Indeed, I am myself surprised at the manner in
which It has been received and the effect produced.
" My bark is now fairly launched, and though
I have scarcely a hope of Its weathering the adverse
blasts which I hear and see driving all around me,
yet I feel persuaded that I have done enough to
save the question in Indiana at another session. I
will send you the document Itself to-morrow and
you will read and judge for yourself All the com
pUments which I have embodied in this letter are
meant for you, my better half, and I hope they
will not make you vain. My head Is not quite
turned, but It aches terribly frora excitement, and
labor, and fatigue."
The letter * here referred to Is too long and too
technical to find a place in this memoir, but a few
extracts will show the temper of the weapon with
which Charles Butler fought his good fight in
Indiana :

* Letter of Charles Butler, Esq., to the Legislature of Indiana
in relation to the public debt. Indianapolis : Morrison & Spann,
December, 1846.

231

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
" I cannot close without availing rayself of the
occasion to present a few of the considerations
which belong to this great subject, involving, as
it surely does, the honor of the State and the
prosperity, interests and welfare of its eight hun
dred thousand population, and which, it would
seem, should prompt the Legislature to take im
mediate steps, to the extent of her ability, for the
relief of her foreign bondholders. It will be
remembered that they have held their bonds for a
long period, without receiving any payment from
the State, and the effect of such delay Is to render
their property comparatively valueless in their
hands. In many Instances parties have held on
without submitting to the enormous sacrifice which
a sale would involve, hoping for speedy relief from
the State ; and In such cases, if they can only be
re-assured by the payment of a small portion of
the accruing Interest, and by certain provision for
the future, It would save thera from ruinous sacri
fices and enable them to preserve their property.
" Next to the payment in full of all arrears. Is
t\\Q fixing the time when It wUl be paid; In other
words, certainty is the thing desired — it Is the un
certainty in which the whole subject Is Involved,
232

OF CHARLES BUTLER
and the consequent Inability of needy holders to
make any certain calculations, that adds to their
unhappiness, as in the case between man and man.
An examination would show that the bonds of In
diana, like those of Pennsylvania and New York,
are to be found extensively In the hands of trus
tees, guardians, retired and aged persons, widows,
and others whose object was Investment, and whose
reliance for support is on Income. Such, with
scarcely an exception. Is the class I represent.
"The State cannot be constrained to make pay
ment. In any manner, at the will of the holders of
her bonds, however pressing their necessities may
be; they are left to depend entirely for the fulfilment
of obligations, upon her own sense of honor and
justice. In the exercise of her sovereignty, she is
the sole judge of her own ability, and It might be
deemed presumption In anyone, even a creditor,
to question her Integrity and disinterestedness in
deciding on the question, however It raight disap
point his expectations, and however variant it
raight be from his own estimate.
"The highest evidence which can be given of the
reUance of those whom I represent, on the honor
and faith of the State, Is to be found In the fact
233

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
already raentloned, that they have continued to
hold the bonds frora the period of their purchase,
prior to the default of the State, down to the pres
ent tirae. It is true, they have been encouraged,
from time to tirae, by the soleran assurances of the
people of Indiana, speaking through their Execu
tive and Representatives, of their intention to do
justice to them as soon as they should have the
ability ; and especially by the eraphatic language
of the joint resolution, adopted by the Legislature
of 1844-45, which Is : ' that we regard the slight
est breach of plighted faith, public or private, as
an evidence of the want of that moral principle
upon which all obligations depend ; that when any
State in this Union shall refuse to recognize her
great seal, as the sufficient evidence of her obliga
tion, she will have forfeited her station In the sis
terhood of States, and will be no longer worthy of
their confidence and respect ;' and while they
ought not to doubt that such is the sentiment of
the people of Indiana, still they are painfully con
scious that tirae is running against them, that in
terest is accumulating, and that with the Increase
of debt the difficulties in the way of payment will
also naturally increase; and they are Impressed with
234

OF CHARLES BUTLER
the serious conviction that the neglect, or refusal
on the part of the State, to provide for the pay
ment of Its just debts, for an unreasonable length
of time, does Involve all the practical consequen
ces of repudiation to the holders of its obligations
and to the people themselves, and will be so re
garded by the world at large.
" The danger of this tacit or passive repudiation
is Increased with the delay ; for the longer It Is suf
fered to remain, the further removed It Is from the
tirae when the obligation was Incurred, and when
the sense of It was fresh ; and when we consider the
changing character of the population of all the new
States, it Is not surprising that the sense of obligation
should grow weaker and weaker with the lapse of
time. Nor Is it surprising. In this view of the sub
ject, that the most lively apprehension should be
indulged by persons situated hke those I represent,
nor that they should be Importunate with your Ex
cellency and the Legislature, to save them from
such a possible fate.
"In the communication which I have the honor
to raake, if I have expressed myself too strongly
on any point, or if I have seemed to fail in any
particular in the respect which is due from me,
235

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
either to your ExceUency or the Legislature, or
the people of Indiana, I beg once for all raost earn
estly to disclaim any such intention, and that you
will attribute it to my anxiety to represent faith
fully the rights and expectations of those who have
sent rae on this raission, and who cannot be pre
sumed from the relation they sustain to the State,
to entertain any other than feelings of the ut
most respect for its public authorities, and a sin
cere desire to see its credit established on the most
enduring basis, and its prosperity thereby secured."
To his son Mr. Butler wrote the next day :
Indianapolis, Deceraber 12, 1845.
Friday evening, 7 o'clock.
" I ara very busy. My letter to the Governor
will be printed to-morrow. I was amused at a re
mark of one of the plain country members, who
said to Mr. Wright that there ' was first a little
sugar, then a little soap, then sugar, and then
soap, and it was sugar and soap all the way
through.' Another said that I had ' raolassoed '
It well. You will think frora this it was a strange
document, but the critics were real Hoosiers and
' no mistake,' as they say here. At any rate, they
236

OF CHARLES BUTLER
liked it well — for maple sugar and soap and ma
ple molasses, you will understand, are three of
the greatest staples In this country. They don't
make much use of the soap, but they do of the
sugar and molasses, so I Infer from it that they
were pleased. Take good care of dear mother
and Eramy and Anna. I will see If I can find
anything curious for you In this country. I go
out this evening to the Governor's party. I go as
a raatter of business, to raeet with the people and
form acquaintances."
In later letters he wrote to his wife :
December 17, 1845.
" My letter has been referred to a Joint Cora
raittee of Twenty-four, to confer with me on the
whole subject, and this committee are now In ses
sion and adopting their preparatory organization.
In so large a committee there are, of course, friends
and foes, and the latter, I fear, are the strongest,
not in numbers, but In power. It is an easy thing
to make mischief and they are now trying, as I
understand, to erabarrass the question by object
ing to ray authority to act at all, which is quite
ludicrous, after receiving my communication and
237

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ordering i,ooo copies to be printed. This is
the beginning of trouble of which I shall have
enough, before I get through. But I mean, if
my life Is spared, to represent the bondholders
faithfully to the end. The people have now got
the matter presented to them In a form it never
was before, and they cannot prevent the effect of
It. I expect to-morrow to go before the Sanhe
drim In person, and the discussions are to be oral.
That Is, I am to be permitted to make my prop
ositions and accompany them with oral explana
tions, which give me a chance to say all I want to
say, and to lay all the reasons before thera. It
will probably be public also ; and the matter is so
novel and of such deep public Interest that every
body Is looking to the proceedings of the com
mittee with great curiosity and interest."
December i8, 1845.
"Your letter of the nth Inst, was received last
evening, just as I came in from my first meeting
with the committee. The question of authority
Is yet unsettled. They had a very violent debate
and fight over it. I decHned entering into any
conference with thera till they had settled that
238

OF CHARLES BUTLER
question, laying before them such credentials as I
could, and then I withdrew. The committee de
cided by a strong vote in favor of my power and
adjourned to meet to-morrow evening, when I am
to appear and enter on the discussion. This
morning the repudlators raised the same question
in the Senate and an angry debate was the result.
They finally adopted a resolution, by consent of
the friends of public credit, calling on the Gov
ernor for information. The Governor was pres
ent during the discussion and will send In the
raessage to-morrow. This will, I presume, settle
their point ; but then they will raise others, as fast
as possible. In the hope, by reason of the short
ness of the session, to bluff off all action."
December 21, 1845.
" I had the first conference with the committee
on Friday evening, and addressed them two hours
In connection with the proposition which I sub
mitted. I succeeded In making a decided im
pression ; they listened with the deepest Interest.
The result was better than I anticipated. It Is a
formidable business, I assure you, to address a
body of twenty-four men on so great and grave a
239

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
subject, and with the eyes of the whole State fixed
on us. Our raeetings are private. I ara allowed
a reporter and clerk, and shall have every word
reported. We meet again to-morrow evening. I
expect to occupy about three evenings this week,
and about three hours each evening, in order to
go over all the points and submit all my views."
Indianapolis, December 22d.
Monday evening.
" I closed a second conference with the Joint
Coraraittee this evening, having addressed them
just two and a half hours. The Impression was
evidently very favorable. The meeting was held
in the Senate chamber and was altogether inter
esting. The truth is, the subject is a very great
one with the people of Indiana, and this proceed
ing has given to It great prominence. All eyes
are now directed to the result of the conference
pending between the State and its public credit
ors, the latter represented by me. The moment
ous question of the public debt Is to be settled,
and the foundations laid for the future prosperity
and greatness of the State. The theme is a noble
one and the occasion extraordinary. Every even-
240

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ing thus far I have made converts In the corarait
tee to ray views, so that the friends of public
credit say they now consider the House safe, and
the only difficulty is in the Senate. I do not
know how this is, and can hardly credit it. In
the coraraittee we have a number of out-and-out
repudlators, violent and unreasonable men, and
yet they have listened to me with much respect
and attention. One only has abandoned the
coraraittee, and does not pretend to come. The
other twenty-three are there to a man, and a
minute." Tuesday afternoon.
" We meet again this evening, when I proceed
with the argument. To-morrow evening I ap
propriate especially to the consideration of the
bonds which it is proposed to repudiate, amount
ing to some $3,000,000 or $4,000,000. This
brings up the whole subject of repudiation, and is
the most important point involved in the discus
sion. It is profoundly Interesting, and I feel op
pressed with the weight and burden of it. On the
result depends the question whether the State will
or wUl not repudiate. The committee will decide
241

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
that question, probably. If they decide against
me, I shall then protest and ask to be heard at
the bar of the House ; and if the House decide
against me, I shall withdraw the proposals and
shake the dust from my feet and go home.
" The enemy will rally again. My committee
meet again this evening. The Governor helped
me this afternoon by a message to the Senate In
reply to a resolution. He and Mr. Bright go In
for rae strong, head and shoulders, and now I
have a strong teara, indoors and out. My room
is run down with people constantly, and to-day I
have done nothing but see company and make
one call on two ladles. One of them is the wife of
a leading Senator, whora I have not seen yet, but
who is dead against rae. His wife I got all right,
in an hour's talk devoted exclusively to the sub
ject, and she goes in strong for my plan. I made
the caU this raorning, and this P.M. the Senator
gave a vote in ray favor. So you see what a good
wife can do In an Important affair. This morning
he voted against rae. You raust know that In the
Senate they have had me on the coals for about a
week hot enough. The Legislature will adjourn
by the 15th of January." 242

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Christmas Eve, After lo o'clock.
"I have at this raoment returned frora the
fourth and last conference of the Joint Coraraittee.
I spoke with entire freedom for a period of three
and a half hours, and the committee listened with
deep attention and Interest during the whole time.
The theme was repudiation. That is the question,
raised distinctly in regard to from three to four
millions of dollars of the State bonds. I never
satisfied myself better in speaking than I did this
evening, and I was gratified to find my remarks
seemed to be received with decided favor. The
meetings are held in the Senate chamber, and
this evening the committee aUowed a number of
gentlemen to come In to listen to the discussion.
The mode of procedure Is for the chairman to
take the president's chair in the Senate and call
the committee to order; the minutes of the last
meeting are then read over, the names of the Joint
Committee called, and, if all appear, then the chair
man announces to me the organization of the
coraraittee and their readiness to have me proceed
with my remarks. The coraraittee occupy seats
directly in front of me and my address is to them.
Last evening I spoke about an hour and a quarter.
243

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
" Thus far every evening I have raade one or
more converts to our side, and this evening I was
informed by the chairman of the House Committee
that there was but one man on his committee
now wrong, and that one was Mr. Carr who has
been an out-and-out repudlator. Mr. Carr,
however, remarked, when I got through this even
ing, that he could not have believed that he ever
would sit so long and hear a speech, every word
of which rasped his feelings. Still he did it, and
evidently was greatly interested. I can hardly
credit it that such a change has taken place in the
House Coraraittee. A week ago it seeraed in
credible, nor do I now believe it. My friends
were completely down at the heel and thought the
Speaker had given them the worst committee he
could possibly have made up. I think it will
turn out a good coraraittee yet. There are seven
farmers on it and five lawyers and doctors. The
Senate is now the hardest body ; they have a set
of low blackguards in it who have, ever since I
came here, made a dead set at me, and are con
stantly raising questions. They want to prevent
all action, some from one cause and some from
another. They wish to stifle the moveraent, but
244

OF CHARLES BUTLER
it will go on by force of its own intrinsic, mighty
moral power, and I yet have hope. It is indeed
a missionary enterprise."
December 25, 1845, quarter past 11 P. M.
" This has been no holiday to me ; the Joint
Committee met this morning at nine, and again
this afternoon at three, and we have been hard at
work all day, diplomatically passing notes. What
the result will be I do not know. Governor
Whitcomb and Mr. Lane, the chairman, spent
some time with me this morning. I have yet
another proposition to be submitted in the morn
ing, which I hope will be accepted. It Is a des
perate business all around. Nobody can tell
anything about It, or form any correct opinion,
who Is not familiar with the whole ground. I do
not know that anything satisfactory can be done ;
and if it goes on, the danger is that It will be worse
than it now is. My speech last evening did good
and made friends, and stirred up enemies, and the
two parties are arranging themselves actively for
a real cat fight. They get so angry at each other
that I have to keep advising them to keep cool.
Yesterday P. M. they had a most angry debate
245

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
in the Senate, and I came in for a full share, one
Senator calling me a Wall Street broker, etc. ..."
Friday evening, lo o'clock.
" I could not find time to finish my letter and
send It off by the mall this evening, which I re
gret, as I fear you will not get it by New Year's
day. I am so driven night and day that I hardly
know how the time runs. This has been a day
of great excitement. In the first place, the Joint
Committee adjourned over to this evening at six,
to receive a final proposition from me — an ulti
matum. At the sarae tirae a desperate movement
was made in the Senate to revoke the powers of the
committee. The repudlators, it was feared, would
carry the point this afternoon, and my friends
were speaking against time, so as to prevent its
coming to a vote to-day. Just then, about 3
P. M., while the war was going on hot in the
Senate chamber and I was busy In ray room at
the hotel preparing my ultimatura, an alarm of
fire was given on the floor on which ray roora is
— third story.
" The fire was extinguished, but It made a ter
rible rauss and confusion aU the afternoon. It
246

OF CHARLES BUTLER
saved my friends, however, in the Senate, and this
evening I proceeded to meet the committee in the
Senate chamber, and to deliver my ultimatum in
person. You can have no conception of the in
terest felt on the subject ; the friends of the canal
and the friends of public credit all hanging in the
deepest suspense upon the Issue. The committee
had rejected my proposition yesterday, and now
they were apprehensive that nothing would or
could be done, and a feeling of despondency and
restiess gloora was creeping over them. I found
a large number of spectators present, to my sur
prise, expecting to have a secret session with them,
and entertaining doubts as to the propriety of
submitting my proposition to any except the com
mittee In private — for its rejection might be in
jurious, equally to the pubUc credit and the pubUc
creditors. I hesitated about going on, for the
step I was about to take Involved a great per
sonal responsibility. The result I had come to
had not been without inward groans and conflicts,
but it was the only chance, and the time had come
for a bold step that would settle it one way or the
other — for weal or for woe. I concluded to take
no exception to the presence of others, and pro-
247

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ceeded In Introducing my proposition with re
marks which occupied half an hour, and then
read and explained it. The effect was electrical ;
and if I can judge, it really routed the last hold
of the enemy. One man, a Senator who has been
exceedingly bitter and personal In his opposition
— so muc'n so that my friends have christened
him with the nick-name of ' Tallow Face ' — said
that he could not go against that.
" The friends of the canal and public credit on
the committee had not one of them anticipated
the proposition I submitted, and It took them by
surprise. It met their most sanguine expectations
— indeed, they had not dreamed that I would
make one so Uberal and fair — and they were over
whelmed, whilst the enemy scattered in every
direction. They may rally, however, again, for
it Is Impossible that it should pass in any shape
without a great fight. But I think I have placed
its friends on the vantage ground."
Saturday evening, 27th December.
" I add a few words at the close of the day and
week. I can scarcely realize that we are so near
the end of the year, and that this will not reach
248

OF CHARLES BUTLER

you till the year 1 846. I am so driven and hur
ried with important matters that I cannot think.
To-day the friends of the canal and the public
credit have been in a perfect glee — as though the
question were now settled, Indiana redeemed and
the canal finished. They already talk of Ulumi
nations, bonfires and cannon, but I tell them to
keep cool, the battle is yet to be fought."
December 28, 1845.
" I have been under such high pressure, both
mental and physical, the last week, that I felt the
need of the Sabbath very much. I have just been
interrupted by a member, coraing to talk about
the great business. I fear this day has been
devoted to it altogether by the members of the
Legislature. It excites such a deep and thrilling
Interest they can't talk or think of anything else.
And the time is so short that they say they must
keep at it on Sunday. I was amused last Sunday
when a Senator came to see and talk with me,
and I declined talking with him about It, and he
remarked that he thought ' that it was like lifting
the ox out of the gutter,' and that it was a work
of necessity and mercy ; and so. In truth. It is. I
249

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
have thought and felt so myself, and this rough
Hoosler is right.
" Governor Whitcomb came In this morning
and spent an hour with me on the subject, regard
ing It in its moral aspect. He goes in, heart and
soul, for me, and so does Mr. Bright. They are
In fine spirits, and It really looks as If Providence
designed that it should be settled. Still, I can
hardly realize it, and I do know that there must
be a terrible fight over it, for the opposition is
very violent and active. ' The lot is cast into
the lap, and the whole disposing thereof is of the
Lord.' It is with Him, and He only knows how
and when it is to end."
January i, 1 846, Thursday, 10 a. m.
" The day here is anything but a holiday.
The Legislature sits, the Joint Coraraittee sits,
as on any other day. It was the intention to In
troduce the report of the committee and the bill
accompanying it into the House to-day as an
auspicious coincidence — the beginning of the New
Year and of a New Era in the history of the
State. God has wonderfuUy blessed me and
prospered my labors. Still, I do not count on
250

OF CHARLES BUTLER
entire success. The time is too short for so great
a work. A wonderful change is coming over the
people and public sentiment is rolling In from
every quarter In favor of the settlement on the
plan last proposed by me, and the demagogues
are getting dreadfully frightened. My letter, I
find, meets the feelings of the people. They like
It, and It Is Interesting to read the comraents
of country papers on it. Mr. Chapraan, the
Senator who has been so violent and vindictive
against rae and the object, has been instructed by
an overwhelraing meeting of the Democrats in his
town and county to support the bill, and they
have rebuked hira terribly for his course.
" P. S. — I now close ray letter and go to the
bill to finish It. The bill and report will come
in to-morrow, 2d of January, and then comes the
tug of war. The time, I fear, is too short to
carry it." January 4, 1846.
" I returned an hour since from the evening
meeting, and then took a walk for exercise. On
my return to my room. Governor Whitcomb
came in and has this moment left, so that I shall
251

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
write you very briefly to-night. Mr. Beecher*
preached an admirable sermon, bearing on the
great question pending before the Legislature, to
a full house containing a large number of mem
bers. I was up till twelve last night at work on
the bill. It was reported yesterday to both
branches of the Legislature by the unanimous
consent of the committee. Still, I regard its final
success as involved In doubt The Legislature
has passed a resolution to adjourn two weeks
frora to-raorrow, and there does not seera to me
to be time enough to get so great a measure
through the Legislature. And yet there may
be. It is now the absorbing topic with all parties."
January 9, 1846, Friday evening, 11:30.
" I am almost fagged out with the excitement
and labor of the week, and cannot realize that It
is Friday evening. I console myself with the re
flection that In a few days more my work will
be at an end, as the Legislature will have closed
Its labors. A week from Monday next they ad
journ. My bill has been in the hands of a
select coraraittee for araendraent, and I have just
* Henry Ward Beecher, then pastor of Presbyterian Church at
Indianapolis. 252

OF CHARLES BUTLER
closed my labors with them and agreed to the
amendments. I cannot give you any idea of my
labors here. They are greater than anything I
ever before undertook and more various. I have
to talk with and see the merabers, have to take
care of the printers, superintend the press — for I
am printing a book on my own hook — attend on
coraraittees, keep in with the Whigs and Derao-
crats, counsel and advise both parties and all par
ties, and be all things to all raen. Above all, I
have to keep my temper, which Is the hardest
work of all. My friends give me a great deal of
trouble about the bill, some of them ; they quar
rel about the details and kick out of the traces.
I have had at least a dozen serious flare-ups,
among its friends, on one point or another ; then
I had to go to each one and reason with him, or
get them all together and make a speech to them.
Sometimes one thing, and sometimes another.
Yesterday the Democrats held their convention,
and to-day the Whigs.
" Well, I have had to manage with the leaders
of both to get them to go right on the State debt,
and last night I gave up almost in despair at the
result of the Democratic convention. They nomi-
253

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
nated Whitcomb again unanimously and by ac
clamation, but quarreled about the resolutions and
address on the State debt. However, it passed
off finally pretty well, and this raorning I waked
up feeling that, on the whole. It had done good.
To-day the Whigs held their convention and
nominated, and took decided ground on the State
debt, by way of gaining on the Democrats, and
to-night Whigs and Democrats feel pretty strong
on the subject, and things look better. Both
parties are pledged to the proposition, and my
hope is that now the Legislature will act. Still,
the time is short and they are afraid, and I think
the only form in which it can be carried will be to
agree that the act Itself shall be subraitted to the
people at the next election, to vote on law or no
law." Saturday evening, January loth.
" My bill Is set down for Monday certain, when
the discussion comes on. My friends are in the
highest state of anxiety and excitement, and can
hardly keep their senses. I have just closed a con
ference of two hours, with the Democratic nom
inee for Lieutenant-Governor, and had a sirailar
^54

OF CHARLES BUTLER
conference with Governor Whitcomb to-day, of
more than two hours, adjusting proceedings. Now
I have to go and look after my Whig friends, and
see how they stand. I never was quite in such a
fix as I ara here. The country papers, with one
or two exceptions, speak out manfully, and I am
encouraged by good men of both parties."
Saturday, lo January, 12 o'clock.
" It Is now exactly 1 2 o'clock, and Governor
Whitcomb has this raoraent left me. He called a
private caucus of the Democratic Senators this
evening, for the purpose of getting them to agree
to go as one man, for the Bill, and took very de
cided, indeed very earnest and pressing ground,
and told them that he was committed for it, that
it was a great and honest measure, and one which
the Democrats should go for as a party. That he
was willing to go to the stump on it, and to peril
his political fortunes on the issue, and wanted his
friends to take bold and decided ground, and go
shoulder to shoulder. That it was a question of
simple honesty, and they could not, as honest
raen, resist it ; they must go for it. It had a very
happy effect, and some of the most stubborn were
255

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
melted down, and came In at once and agreed to
go for it. They finally agreed to have another
meeting on Monday evening, and my hope is that
nearly all, if not all, the Democratic senators will
support it. The candidate for Lieutenant-Gov
ernor is equally anxious, and will attend the meet
ing on Monday evening and take the same ground.
If this movement succeeds, it will insure the pas
sage of the Bill next week. I have been all the
evening engaged with the Committee again on
amendments, and have now settled all so that on
Monday the battle will come off."
Sunday evening, January nth.
"It is now precisely I2 again, and I have this
moment parted from Governor Whitcomb, and
Mr. Bright, with whom I have been engaged the
last hour. As In Revolutionary times there are
no Sabbaths, so it seems to be here in ' debt pay
ing ' tiraes. Governor Whitcomb and Mr. Bright
work night and day, day in and day out ; the
Governor said he could not sleep at all, and as the
question may be decided to-morrow and must be
next day at the furthest, and the difficulties are so
great, that it demands the uttermost exertion from
256

OF CHARLES BUTLER
the friends of public credit to carry it, the Gov
ernor called a caucus this evening of all the oppos
ing Democratic members of the House to confer
with thera, and see if he couldn't get them to agree
to support it, and he and Mr. Bright discussed It
all the evening. The meeting had a good effect,
but they are very stubborn and the result is un
certain. They say It Is proper Sunday work, that
it is lifting the ox out of the gutter. To-morrow
— I raight say to-day, for It Is now twenty ralnutes
after 12 — the question will be taken, probably to
decide it. I cannot but adraire Governor Whit-
corab's decision and effort — he has taken the only
true ground. He is resolved that it shall go, if
any effort or influence of his can insure It, and he
is a host when he takes hold."
Monday Evening, 7 P. M.
" I threw down my pen this morning to go and
see the Governor. The day has been a busy one.
The bUl was put off till to-raorrow 10 o'clock, and
referred back to the Coraraittee, and is now In ray
hands for amendments. It will certainly come on
to-raorrow; its fate is doubtful. This even
ing the Governor has called all his Deraocratic
257

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
friends together to a caucus to confer with thera
again, and its fate will be sealed one way or the
other. He and Mr. Bright have just left me to
go to the meeting. The Governor seemed com
pletely worn out and complained of indisposition,
and I sent out for a bottle of champagne for him,
and gave him a glass, which he said tasted good,
and revived hira. I told him to take the bottle
along to the Capitol, which he did. You will
laugh at this, I am sure. I couldn't help laughing
myself. I shall in this carapaign lay up a fund
of laughter to serve me for a lifetime. It is
the queerest and still the greatest business I
ever had on hand. It Is a regular set-to, and calls
Into exercise the raost skillful tactics and diplo
macy. I think that the Governor, Mr. Bright
and myself make a strong team ; still we raay not
be able to carry It. We can only count on, as
yet, forty-five certain in the House ; we must
have fifty. It Is close counting, and of course
the result Is uncertain. Governor Whitcomb has
taken the most manly and decided course through
out, and more than sustained his pledges to me,
and so has Mr. Bright. I have no time to add
more." 258

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Monday night, 12th January, 1846.
" It is now half-past twelve, and Mr. Bright
has just come in frora the Democratic caucus and
reports that they have, by a very large vote, de
cided on passing the bill, with a proviso to submit
it to the people to decide at the August election
whether it shall be a law or not, the people to vote
directiy for it. This course of the Democrats will
ruin the party and put the bill in jeopardy, and
devolves on me a terrible responsibility. The
question with me is, am I at liberty to incur so
great a risk as the loss of the entire public debt by
this course ? Ought I not to withdraw my pro
posal, and thus let the bill fall to the ground ?
Suppose the people should vote against it ; that
would forever destroy the hopes of the bondhold
ers ; and as the members of the Legislature dis
trust the people, ought I not to distrust them?
The great objection that strikes ray mind Is that
it is impossible for the people in so short a time
to make themselves acquainted with the details of
the bill, and they will quarrel about the details."
Tuesday, 13 th, 2 P. M.
" The battle commenced this raorning at ten,
259

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
and Is now on. Have had six or seven speeches,
pro and con. The discussion is on the amend
ment to subrait it to the vote of the people at the
August election. I cannot predict the fate of the
araendraent ; I hope It will not prevail. If it
does I raay feel constrained to withdraw my pro
position altogether. I dare not risk the loss of the
whole." 7 P. M.
" The battle Is closed for the day ; the House
has just adjourned. The vote on the amendment
was taken and rejected, 4gto4i. This weakening
Insures the passage of the bUl through the House
to-raorrow. The debate to-day was very exciting,
and some good speeches were made on both sides.
Sorae very fine ones on our side, and sorae very
bad ones on the other side. The rainority are
very rauch excited, and a violent effort will be
made yet to defeat it on its final vote to-morrow.
The time Is very short and we may lose it. I had
made up my mind to withdraw the proposition
if they had added the araendraent. I dared not
take the responsibility of the risk Involved
in the subraisslon, though it might be small. I
260

OF CHARLES BUTLER
have no tirae to add raore, I am too pressed to
think." January 14, 1846, 7:15 P. M.
" After a raost desperate battle all day we closed
this evening with a complete victory, 56 to 30.
The question taken last evening was reconsidered
to-day by a very large vote, and the bill was in
great danger, under a furious debate, until 6 P.M.,
when the vote was taken as above. At 3 P.M.
I had to make a further concession, which was
thrown In at the very crisis of its fate, and created
a terrible comraotion. To-morrow we shall have
another fight, and a final one, and then we have
to go through the Senate. The Governor and
Mr. Bright and several others have come in and
my room is thronged. My friends are In fine
spirits, but I do not yet count on success. The
vote of last evening was revolutionized so suddenly
this morning as to preclude certainty. I have no
time to write." January 15th.
" The bill passed through the house to-day by
a vote of 61 to jj, nearly a to i, after another
261

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
furious onslaught on me. The bill will be killed
in the Senate, In spite of every effort, by the un
reasonable and absurd notions of sorae Senators and
the shameful conduct of others." Friday, 7 P. M.
1 6th of January, 1846.
" At the close of one of the most exciting and
trying days of ray life, I ara happy to say that the
biU was ordered to a third reading In the Senate
this evening by a vote of 31 to 18. The de
bate was most violent and exciting, and the
conflict a long time doubtful. I had to yield to
some amendments again, which are to some ex
tent objectionable, but not fatal. The great
question is settled. The bill Is now, I think,
beyond danger. It will be concurred in by the
House to-morrow and signed by the Governor
on Monday, the last day of the session. The
Governor, by the way, was taken very sick this
morning in my room, and was obliged to go to
bed, and has been unable to leave It since. He
has been removed this evening into an adjoining
room, where he Ues very ill with a pleuritic at
tack. I verily believe that his labors and anxie-
262

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ties for this raeasure have made him sick. I
ara almost sick myself with a severe cold which
has come within the last thirty-six hours, and
just during the most trying crisis of my business."
The opponents of the bill resorted to many
political tricks to prevent Its passage. On one
occasion when a majority In its favor seemed
probable, the opposition tried to prevent a vote
by persuading Senators to absent themselves so as
to prevent a quorum. One Senator sent his
family off homeward In a carriage, protesting that
he meant to stay and do his duty by voting, and
the next moment slid off himself on horse-back,
by a back road, after thera. Three or four Sena
tors tried to escape in open wagons. In a pouring
rain, and were ignomlniously haled back by the
Sergeant-at-Arms. One grave and elderly Sena
tor was caught hiding on the back stairs of the
Capitol. At another time, the bill was saved
by a quorum secured at the last raoraent by a
Senator, who wished to vote against it, and, there
fore, insisted upon being carried on his sick-bed
to the Capitol ; so that, as Hotspur would have
said, " Out of this nettle, danger, was plucked
this flower, safety." 263

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
On January 17th Mr. Butler wrote:
Indianapolis, 17th of January, 1846.
" My labors have been crowned with coraplete
success. The public credit of Indiana is restored
and her bondholders provided for. The progress
of the measure, from its inception, has been won
derful and sure, but every step has been contested
inch by Inch, and every possible measure has been
taken to defeat it. The last and most des
perate took place on Thursday night, when
eleven Senators entered into a solemn pledge
In writing with each other, that If the question
on the passage of the bill was forced on them, they
would leave their seats in the Senate and break up
a quorum, and so defeat the bill. This pledge
was signed by eleven, taking in leading men in the
Senate, chiefly Whigs. A friend of the bill, an
honorable Whig Senator, happened to go into the
room where the caucus had been held at a very
late hour, and just as it had broken up. Taking
his seat by the table, his eye, unwittingly, rested
on the paper which had been signed and Incau
tiously left on the table. He seeraed not to notice
It, but read It over carefully, with the names, and
264

OF CHARLES BUTLER
when he retired from the room Immediately com
mitted to paper the substance of the pledge, with
the names of the Senators. While he sat near
the table, and after he had thus become possessed
of the facts, Mr. HoUoway (the Senator in whose
roora it took place) noticed the paper lying there,
and slyly put out his hand and turned It over,
Mr. Coffin not seeming to notice It. The detec
tion of this conspiracy gave our friends a decided
advantage ; they kept It strictly to themselves
and when the discussion came on, yesterday, they
watched the movements of the conspirators closely.
The latter interposed every possible obstacle and
araendraent, and bye and bye one of the leading
Senators got up, and in the course of his speech
alluded to the combination, which produced a
great sensation. He was called upon to give
naraes, the principal parties being the raost vocif
erous. The Senator on the floor said the infor
mation had been given to him confidentially by a
Senator who was within sound of his voice, and
with his consent he would give the names. Mr.
Coffin immediately arose and promptly cried out,
' / am the boy.'
" Of course this electrified the Senate and audi-
265

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ence, and he then told the story most inimitably
and let the cat out of the bag. Such a scene of
confusion and excitement followed as was both
amusing and distressing. The object of the expo
sition was to save those Senators who were really
honest, and knew nothing of the desperate inten
tions of the party, from being drawn Into thera,
and this effect it had, and saved the bill.' Every
amendment was voted down, and the bill passed
by a vote of 3 1 to 18, and to-day a larger vote,
32 to 15, and one friend out. Another exciting
passage occurred on Thursday afternoon. Mr.
Buel, a leading Senator In opposition, offered an
amendment, requiring one-half of all the bonds to
be surrendered and cancelled before the act should
take effect. This araendraent I was unwilling to
assent to, as it came from the extreme left, that is,
from the ultra-opponents of the bill, and the ob
ject was, of course, to defeat it. This amendment
was offered to the Senate bill, which they had un
der discussion when the House bill was reported.
This last bill was then agreed to be taken up
yesterday morning, and when It came up Mr.
Buel offered what was stated and supposed to be
the same amendment (it was notread) to the House
266

OF CHARLES BUTLER
bill. The discussion on it was very warm, and I
had, at the instance of Mr. Bright, told Mr. Lane
that he might agree to the proposition of Mr.
Buel, especially as It appeared that it would satisfy
nearly half the Senate, and disarm opposition.
Mr. Lane had just arisen to speak, as I had whis
pered it to him, and he announced it. It was re
ceived with a shout of applause and stamping and
clapping of hands, by the whole Senate, as a com
promise. " The reading of Buel's amendment was then
called for and behold, on hearing It, I found
that it required not half, but that every single
bond should be surrendered before the act should
take effect. It was so artfully drawn that a super
ficial reading of It left the impression that only
one-half was required. This led to another scene
of excitement, and when Coffin exposed the caucus
intrigue the history of this amendment was un
ravelled. The eneraies of the bill had all rallied,
on Buel's araendraent, Thursday afternoon, and
everyone of them said : ' If you will only adopt
that, we will go for the bill,' and when I finally
assented on Friday forenoon, it was to catch all
and take them at their word. They found. It
267

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
seemed, that the amendment offered on Thursday
afternoon did not go far enough to defeat the bill,
and the amendment offered yesterday was shaped
accordingly. It was handed to the clerk and not
read, with a remark that it was the same as had
been previously offered. The explanation helped
us, and put the parties to sharae.
"The Senators who were In the secret, when Mr.
Lane agreed to adopt the substitute, were elated
and shouted because they thought they had trapped
us, while the other part of the Senate were elated
because they received It as a compromise that would
secure harraony In the passage of the bill. The
error was corrected by a Senator, offering the very
amendment which had been first proposed, and
to which I supposed I had agreed, and then these
men (the leaders) all turned around and hotly
opposed it. It rendered thera so ridiculous that
they lost their strength, and though they fought
desperately to the last they were completely foiled.
There are a great many Incidents connected with
the progress of the bill equally exciting at times,
but it is impossible to give any Idea of thera on
paper. I rejoice that It is over. Since I com
menced writing a friend has corae In to Inforra me
268

OF CHARLES BUTLER
that the araendraents have been concurred In by
the House with only two dissenting votes. Every
body Is now friendly to the bill. On Monday
the Governor (who, by the way. Is very unwell
and in bed yet) will put his signature to it, and
that will be the last act In the business, and my
mission will be closed."
Indianapolis, 19th of January, 1846.
" I am happy to say to you that the bill to
redeem the credit of Indiana and finish her great
canal has this day received the signature of the
Governor. He signed it In bed In my presence,
saying that it was one of the raost gratifying acts
of his life. He is yet very sick and confined to
his bed, not being able to be removed to his own
house. The necessary tax bill, and all other need
ful bills to give effect to the measure, have also
passed. Thus my raission Is accorapllshed, and
God has srailed on me and on all my endeavors.
It has been the more remarkable because, as you
will see from my letters, I never counted a day
ahead on anything certain. Every day found
and left me uncertain as to the probable Issue. I
am sure now that the bill is passed, though it
269

THE LIFE AND LETTERS

seems like a dream. The friends of public credit
are overjoyed. They are now taking leave of me.
I assure you that I have becorae so attached to
some of these people who have stood by me
through thick and thin that I feel sorry to part
with them. I feel as if with them I have gone
through a protracted scene of trial and con
flict." The bill as finally passed funded the interest,
accrued and to accrue. Into new bonds to be issued
six years later ; divided all the bonds into two
equal parts ; and provided that the interest on one
half of these should be paid from taxation and on the
other half from revenues of the Wabash and Erie
Canal, which the bondholders * agreed to com
plete and to assist In managing through trustees
to be appointed by themselves and by the State.
This was not the proposition originally made by
* The canal was completed under this agreement at an addi
tional cost of over two millions of dollars, eight hundred thousand
dollars of which was subscribed by the bondholders and paid in cash,
and the remainder of which was paid from the proceeds of sales of
canal lands. It is an interesting proof of the integrity and ability
of the management by the Trustees of this great work that the
original estimate in 1845, for completion of two hundred miles not
then constructed was $2,010,000 ; the actual cost was $2,083,538.
270

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Charles Butier, and was accepted by hira only after
abundant assurances of good faith in carrying out
Its provisions. It was not remarkably favorable
to the bondholders, whose Interest payraents by
It were to be reduced and long deferred, and whose
principal was secured only by expected pros
perity ; and Its provisions led to the imposition
of a most unwelcorae and onerous responsibility
on Charles Butler, who afterwards becarae chair
man of the trustees of the canal, and who labored,
in season and out of season, for thirty years, rais
ing the money from the bondholders for the com
pletion of the canal, conserving its revenues, pro
tecting its interests, facing in the later years of the
task a hopeless struggle with never falling courage.
Yet at the time it seemed a fair arrangement, con
sidering the poverty of the State. Its most attrac
tive feature was that it virtually made the State
a partner with the bondholders In the mainten
ance of the canal. For by the terras of the act
the State did not part with its title but reserved a
residuary interest in the canal, and the right,
after twenty years, to pay the debt secured by the
canal property, and to resume the absolute right
of possession. 271

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Indiana was already bound, by its acceptance
frora the United States of the public lands granted
by Act of Congress, March 2, 1827, for the con
struction of this canal, to maintain It forever as a
public highway, and to assist the Trustees in every
way In so maintaining it. These considerations
influenced Mr. Butler In accepting the proposals,
especially as the act affirmed the responsibility of
the State, and thus built up one raore bulwark
against that wave of repudiation which then seemed
resistless. Its enemies, honest and dishonest,
fought it by every means known to the legislator's
art. Mr. Butler labored unceasingly night and
day, exhorting, persuading, entreating. He won
praise even from the enemy, so that the leading
paper of the opposition, though bitterly opposing
the bill, said of him : " The bondholders have
cause to congratulate themselves on the goodness
of their agent. He has conducted the negotiation
with admirable skill and temper."
The credit of the State for the time was saved.
One of her sons, just after this vote, said of this
action, in words that were then wholly true, though
the State In later years failed to live up to their
promise : " The career of the State was arrested
272

OF CHARLES BUTLER
by misfortunes which could not have been antici
pated ; and the losses, as too frequently happens
In similar cases, were in proportion to the magni
tude of her vast designs. There was, however,
yet left for her patient resignation under adversity,
and the broad path of honour ; most nobly has
she manifested the former, and pursued the latter.
Disappointed, deceived, defrauded, and for a time
prostrated by the heavy debt she had incurred,
yet she has asked no sympathy, no compromise
unless concluded in honour ; and now, at the first
moment of her abihty, adjusts the payment of her
debt, secures a place above reproach, and gives to
her sons a moral lesson far raore profitable to
thera than the fullest realization of her blighted
hopes." Indiana failed, later, to carry out In full the
terras of this settlement. Yet, despite this, it Is
doubtful if a greater service could at that moment
have been rendered to a sovereign State. It was
not only that to the then little State of Indiana,
with its eight hundred thousand people, all told>
had come financial relief Of far more Importance
was the moral stimulus given to the whole west
ern country. Credit was restored. Private busi-
273

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ness honor, which, as Charles Butler well said,
" languishes Inevitably when public honor weak
ens," was estabUshed. Emigrants poured into the
western States. Means for improvement, public
and private, were provided, and an era of pros
perity began for the whole region which to this
day has never had a serious check.
When the work of establishing the credit of
Michigan had been corapleted in 1843, Auditor
General Hammond, In recording the result and in
predicting the benefits which were to come frora It,
uttered a word of warning: " If the battle Is not still
to be fought, the victory achieved is still to be de
fended." In Michigan the victory was defended
through the subsequent years. The bonds of the
State were paid and no creditor called its faith in
question. It now seems altogether probable that,
in like raanner, the final issue of this transaction in
Indiana would have been as prosperous as its incep
tion was creditable had the State in its subsequent
action hved fully up to the spirit of its promises.
It had agreed, as we have seen, to do all in its
power to help the canal, which would. It was then
expected, when the bonds had been paid by the
revenues and the sale of the public lands, revert
"-74

OF CHARLES BUTLER

unburdened to the State, to be an asset as valuable
as the Erie Canal was then, or is now, to the State
of New York. But Indiana, influenced by a desire
for quick development, comraitted an econoraic
raistake, and then suffered itself to be led into a
raoral delinquency.
In New York State the Erie Canal had becorae
well established and prosperous before the railroads
came into being, and it has since been of Inestim
able value to the coraraunity. It has even helped
the railroads by building up local centres of distri
bution along Its route. Such might have been the
result In Indiana, for the Wabash and Erie Canal,
traversing the entire State, would unquestionably
have given markets to vast regions of territory,
and would, it now seems clear, have been an assist
ance to well located railroads as well as a useful
check in preventing wild schemes of railroad spec
ulation. But the State neglected the canal and
unduly fostered other competing transportation
routes. The bondholders faithfully performed
their part. As rapidly as possible they raised, and
honestly spent, the two million dollars required
to complete the canal. But they had a competitor
instead of a partner in the State. Railroads parallel
275

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
to the canal were chartered almost before the water
began to flow through its half completed sections.
In the years between 1846 and 1856 hundreds of
miles of railways, shrewdly designed to seize the
business which the canal was then creating, were
projected and promptly chartered. Most of these
railroads ultiraately proved a benefit. Had they
been chartered with wise discriralnation they raight
have Increased the value of the State's Investments.
In so far, however, as they injured the canal,
they were certainly harmful to the best interests
of the State. The trustees of the canal, who
were all farseeing men, devoted to the highest
interests of the community as well as faithful to
their duties as guardians of the property, put
forth their utmost efforts to sustain their great
enterprise, but it was strangled in Its infancy by
the network of railways.
Finding that the canal raight never be rerauner-
ative, Indiana, instead of assuming its moral obli
gations to reimburse the bondholders, dishonored
Its own promises, and abandoned its own residuary
interests in the canal. Against this desertion
by the State Mr. Butier and his fellow trustees
made a struggle which continued for more than
276

OF CHARLES BUTLER
twenty years. A sovereign State could not be
sued, and its responsibility could only indirectly be
established by the courts. The interests of the
canal could, however, be legally defended, and
were so defended in certain famous actions, notably
that of " Gapen v. Trustees of the Wabash and
Erie Canal" the issue of which, though tech
nically a defeat for the defenders of the canal
interests, has proved of legal and economic ser
vice. With a constancy which approached hero
ism the trustees labored In every way to save
the State from impairing the credit it had
gained in Its early action, and in this course
they were upheld by many citizens of Indiana.
But politicians waged war against them, and suc
ceeded In getting law after law, from 1852 onward,
passed, declaring the determination of the State
not to pay the debt. Finally, In 1873, by an
amendment to its constitution, Indiana prohibited
itself from ever fulfilling Its moral — and as many
thought its legal — obligations, by resolving that
no law or resolution should ever be passed by the
General Assembly of the State that should recog
nize any liability for these bonds.
This later faithlessness of the State, however,
277

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
serves rather to emphasize than to discredit the
courage, perseverance and Integrity with which
Charles Butler and the other trustees of the
Wabash and Erie Canal served the higher inter
ests of the commonwealth for nearly a generation.
The danger of State Repudiation, which in 1 845
seemed most Imralnent, passed as a national haz
ard. With a few local exceptions, due to special
circumstances. State responsibility became firmly
established. To this result the services detailed
in this chapter contributed in great measure, and
for them not alone Indiana and Michigan, but
Illinois and many other States of the Union as
well, owe a lasting debt of gratitude to Charles
Butier.

CHAPTER VII
JOURNEYS IN EUROPE  FAMILY AND HOME
LIFE  SERVICES TO NEW YORK UNIVER
SITY AND TO UNION THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY

THE work done In Michigan and Indiana
led to journeys for conference with for
eign bondholders, alraost half of whom,
in each case, were English capitalists whose repre
sentatives, the Barings, Rothschilds and others,
were prominent in the financial world.
The voyage in 1 846 was by steamer, twenty-
four days frora New York to Liverpool.
" What a blank life on shipboard seems," wrote
Charles Butler, " and what a blank it really is.
We have a limited number of cabin passengers,
quiet, orderly people, and glide smoothly over the
sea. Now and then a school of porpoises comes
bounding along to enliven the scene a little. As
to ray daily habits, they are regular enough — rise
279

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
at any time between four and six, wrap my dress
ing-gown around rae, rush on deck aft where the
men are at work, throw off my coverings, and
enjoy four buckets of pure salt water well put on
by sorae hardy old salt. This done I retreat to
my stateroom In a fine glow, rub down thorough
ly, and If It be early turn In again and get a nap.
We breakfast at nine, and I arrange to take time
before breakfast to read a couple of chapters in
the Bible In course, one In Psalms and one in
Isaiah, read a few pages in the Memoirs of Rev.
P. Griffin, and get a little exercise on deck be
fore the breakfast hour. After breakfast we lounge
about on deck with books, and talk, until twelve,
when the lunch is served. That done we have
another space to fill up, occupied in doing noth
ing, or looking at the calm and gentle sea, and
breathing the sweet and healthy air, till half-past
two, the regular dinner, which takes up a good
hour and a half. Towards five or six o'clock a
fine breeze springs up usually, and this infuses
something like life into the company again and an
effort is raade to do soraething. Then follows
the sunset and with it the bell rings for tea.
*' After tea we dispose ourselves on deck, look-

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Ing at the stars and ' wishing,' until ten or eleven,
and then one after another turns in until at last the
deck is quite deserted. Another Sunday has come
and Is nearly past, and we are only one-third the
distance across the great Atlantic. Mr. Balch gave
us an excellent sermon from Matthew 7th, 13th,
' Enter ye In at the straight gate.' It was the first
time I ever attended religious services on board a
ship. They were held on the raain deck. Seats
were prepared for the cabin and steerage passen
gers ; the steps were brought out, covered with
flag bunting and formed quite a neat and appro
priate pulpit. A choir was found among the steer
age passengers, and responses among the cabin pas
sengers, so that the entire service was gone through
with to an interested congregation. What a place
of worship — the blue and boundless ocean beneath
and around us, the blue and boundless sky above
us — fit temple In which to worship Him who made
them and who made us.
" There are upwards of a hundred steerage pas
sengers and many poor and friendless creatures
among them. My sympathies have been very
much enlisted for a poor sick child about two
years old, belonging to an Irish woman on board.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
As she seeraed to be entirely destitute and ne
glected, I visited her child, found the poor thing
very feeble, gave it something to help it, and for
a day or two it seemed to be doing better. Yes
terday morning I was carrying it some prunes,
and was met by the mate, who said the child was
dead. As it lay in Its mother's arras It seemed
quite dead. I had it removed, procured a warm
mustard bath and placed the child In it. It re
vived, and has seemed to improve since ; but it is
still very feeble, and my apprehension Is that It
cannot live through the voyage.
" It is really distressing to see the miserable
provision made for these steerage passengers.
There are many decent and respectable persons
among thera, but a large share of thera are obliged
to live and sleep on deck, and this woman with
her sick child must sit or lie about on planks and
barrels. We shall have a distressingly long voy
age out from present appearances, and I already
dread the return voyage."
The kind attentions and hearty hospitality re
ceived in England were much enjoyed. The first
Sunday on land was spent with J. Horsley Palmer,
Esq., at Fulham, near London. " I have stolen

OF CHARLES BUTLER
away from the corapany," wrote Mr. Butler, " to
devote a few moments to you. We were brought
out yesterday afternoon by Mr. Palmer, and find
ourselves enjoying delightful hospitality In the
most elegant and at the same time homelike
manner. I went to church to-day with the family
morning and evening, and was gratified to hear
the Bishop of London preach a good serraon In
the morning and read the service in the afternoon,
while the curate preached the sermon. Accord
ing to the English custom, a number of the neigh
bors dropped in after the service, and there was
quite a collection in the grounds.
" The house is beautifully situated on the banks
of the Thames, and a magnificent lawn extends
in front to the river. The Thames is thronged
with steamboats and other craft, plying up and
down so quietly as to occasion no disturbance.
It is a panoramic view. The lawn is embellished
with the most splendid trees, among which I rec
ognized the horse-chestnut, the sycamore, the
oak, locust, elm, willow and poplars, of huge size ;
also lime trees, forming an extensive arbor, and
every possible variety of shrubbery and flowers.
There are two green-houses or conservatories. In
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
one of which there is an exquisite collection of
plants and flowers, in the other grapes and fruits.
In the garden nectarines and peaches, trained on
the wall and loaded down with luscious fruit
of large size ; pears trained In the same way, and
the English mulberry, a very large and rich fruit.
Two extensive kitchen gardens contain the vari
ous kinds of vegetables and garden fruits. The
tide was out, and this gave me an opportunity to
get a walk on the beach. The house fronts on
the river, and the lawn, on the riverside, is de
fended by a stone pier, to the top of which the
tide rises. The paths through the grounds are
laid out beautifully ; but what Is most striking Is
the velvet-green grass lawn which only an Eng
lish gardener does raake In perfection. We have
fruit in abundance from the garden, and on Sat
urday we had for dinner a haunch of venison frora
Richmond Park, which the Bishop of London
sent over for the occasion — his lordship being a
neighbor, and being entitled, by virtue of his
office, to venison from the royal park. It seems
the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is next to the
royal family in dignity, Is brother-in-law of Mr.
Palmer, and resides near him, but is now absent.
2S4

OF CHARLES BUTLER
"We dined to-night at seven and the dinner, like
that of yesterday, was superb. After dinner we
withdrew to the drawing-room, where the coffee
was served, and after that tea on the table poured
out by Mrs. Palmer. At half-past nine we were
called Into the dining-room, where the house ser
vants, twelve in number, six men and six women,
were assembled, and Mr. Palmer read a prayer,
all kneeling, and then we went to our rooms. This
is ray first Sunday on land since I left the United
States and I feel as if I were almost a heathen.
There is no Sunday at sea, especially when the
wind blows, and though this place is as quiet and
sweet as can be, yet even here the habits are so
different from what I have been accustomed to
that it does not seem like a Sunday In our country.
If ever I feel more homesick on one day than an
other it is on Sunday, for the associations of home
are so strong on this day as to engross my feel
ings and make me yearn to see you and our
dear children."
On this journey, Mr. Butler was especially im
pressed by the efficiency of the business methods,
the frankness and comfort of the home life, and
the beauty of the cultivated English landscape.
285

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
On the Monday after the little " week end " visit,
the letters carry us back again to London, and to
solemn meetings of Directors. These proceed
ings appear a little slow and formal, as compared
with American methods of the present day, but
half a century ago America still had something to
learn In financial matters from England, and the
studies made at this time bore abundant fruit in
later organizing work at home. After a raonth
or two in England, Mr. Butler came back to
Araerica in a leisurely steamship.
Another journey to Europe was made In 1853
when Mr. and Mrs. Butler and their children
were accompanied by Mr. WUliam B. Ogden of
Chicago. A letter from London thus describes
a banquet In GuUd Hall :
"We went to the Lord Mayor's dinner last
evening, which was a most gorgeous banquet, and
to us green Americans a great novelty. The
places assigned to us were at the top of the table
and directly opposite to the Lord Mayor and his
lady and the cabinet rainisters, so that we were
within a few feet of the speakers. We raet the
Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl
of Clarendon, Lord John Russell, Lord Palraers-
286

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ton. Sir James Grahara, the Marquis of Salisbury,
Mr. Buchanan, the Lord Chief Justice of England,
the Lord Mayor, and the ex-Lord Mayor. All
were seated according to rank, William Ogden, as
ex-Mayor of Chicago, being placed among the
distinguished guests, next below the foreign min
isters. All the guests appeared In uniform, mak
ing a splendid spectacle in the finely lighted Guild
Hall." While on the continent they had the exciting
experience of being waylaid by a party of banditti on
one of the desolate mountain passes near Vlterbo.
An ambuscade had been formed into which the
foremost carriage unsuspectingly entered and was
quickly set upon and plundered. Just behind
came the carriage of our travelers which could not
possibly have escaped had there not appeared In
the most melodramatic fashion two rescuers on
horse-back, both Italians, and one a priest, who
galloped off for help, and succeeded in arousing
from some quarter the military guard which has
tened up and put the banditti to flight.
Mr. Butler was not able to prolong his own
stay beyond the first summer, but the advantages
for the children induced Mrs. Butler to remain In
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Europe with the faraily for over a year, studying
the languages, and giving to the three children
some acquaintance with the art and the historic
life of Paris. Mr. Butler hoped that he would be
able to return to them during the second summer,
but his multiplying business cares prevented.
At the end of this journey came one of those
incidents which never fail, however philosophical
may be one's turn of mind, to suggest a serious
ness In the daily happenings of life. It was " a
narrow providential miss of the uttermost calam
ity," as Carlyle phrased It. The party had taken
passage on the Arctic, but at the last moment were
led through Mrs. Butler's apprehensions of Sep
tember storms, to give up their staterooms and
wait for the next steamer. They did not know
from what a fate they had been saved until they
reached theBanks of Newfoundland, and the Bal
tic, on which they had sailed, was spoken by a
United States cruiser sent to search for any re
mains of the Arctic or its passengers, only a few
of whom had reached land to tell the story of its
loss. At New York there was another wonderful
escape. Charles Butler was waiting at the dock
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
to welcome his faraily. The steamer reached port
on a dark evening in October. The wharves
were but dimly lighted, and protected on the side
of the water only by a string-piece of timber.
They were crowded with carriages and carts ; to
avoid one of these as It backed against her, little
Anna, who was behind her parents, quite uncon
scious of her nearness to the water, gave a spring
which carried her over the string-piece. She fell
into the water, perhaps sixteen feet below as the
tide was near Its ebb and flowing out rapidly.
She gave one scream, " Father ! " and simultan
eously, as it seemed to the others who did not at
first understand the call or the situation, her
father, with his accustomed swiftness of compre
hension and action, sprang after the child.
In speaking of the Incident afterward he said
that it seemed to hira that the impetus of the leap
and the weight of heavy winter clothing were such
that the downward plunge would never come to
an end and that he was conscious that the tide
would make It almost Impossible for him to over
take the child whom he saw sinking for the second
time before he could reach her. But he was an
expert swimmer and caught her In time to throw
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
her head out of the water and on his shoulder.
Clasping her around the waist with his right arra
he charged her not to choke him by clinging too
tightly to his neck, and so he swam back with his
burden against the tide (which had carried hira
out some twenty or thirty feet) to the smooth
side of the dock. Here three fingers found a
lodgment in a knot hole. By this he sustained
himself until a rope was lowered from above. The
child was first drawn up. Then the rope was
lowered again, placed around his waist, and finally,
steadied from below by men who had secured a
small raft, he, too, was raised in safety to the
wharf A happy and thankful family group
gathered in the Fourteenth Street home that Oc
tober night after this second deliverance frora the
perils of the sea.
As the biographer read the records of these
days It so chanced that two letters, somewhat sep
arated In date, came to his notice at the same mo
ment. The first told of dinner parties in Lon
don. " I would be glad, If I could," Mr. Butier
wrote, " to give you a description of two dinner
parties I have attended, one at Mr. Holford's,
and the other at Mr. Baring's. For magnificence
290

OF CHARLES BUTLER
and costliness they exceeded anything I had con
ceived of Mr. Holford lives in Regents Park.
I suppose his dinlng-table had on It a hundred
thousand dollars' worth of plate, and everything
was in proportion. The wash basin, passed around
after the meats, was of silver and gold. Dear me,
thought I, how would an honest republican din
ner In Eleventh Street strike these men ? Twelve
servants, all in a row. In regimentals with powdered
hair and short clothes. But it is all nonsense and
more than nonsense."
The other letter gave this Incident.
" I ought to have mentioned that I spent last eve
ning with Miss Lynch at Carlyle's by special invita
tion through Miss DeHa Bacon. We found Mr.
and Mrs. Carlyle very interesting and pleasant. I
was very much dehghted with both of them."
The contrast was interesting — twelve powdered
flunkies in a row and Thomas Carlyle in his dingy
sitting-room at Chelsea. What Mr. Butier treas
ured as one of the choicest garnerings of his jour
ney abroad was a long-enduring friendship with
the grim old Sage of Chelsea, for whom he made
some small investments in New York which pros
pered continuously under his careful guidance.
291

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Fifteen years later, Carlyle wrote, soon after the
death of his wife : " I was a stranger, and I felt
that you took me up as a friend ; — and, sure
enough, you have throughout acted conspicuously
In that character ; caring for my interests with a
constant loyalty, sagacity and punctuality as if they
had been your own ; manifesting at all times the
qualities of a perfect man of business, and of an
altogether singularly generous, faithful and court
eous benefactor ; — in short, making good nobly In
all points, the reading we took of you here that
evening long years ago, — when, alas. It was still
' we,' not as now one only, who could recognize
good men and love thera ! "
Although Mr. Butler's life was one of such
activity, he had a love of home which came to
him from his ancestry, frora his family traditions,
frora his habits. During the adralnistra tions of
Presidents Jackson and Van Buren, when Ben
jamin Franklin Butler was Attorney-General of
the United States, Charles Butler was much at
the capital as a friend and as the trusted adviser
on important financial questions of both Presi
dents. He witnessed Inaugural ceremonies, balls
and splendid functions, and In some took part as
292

OF CHARLES BUTLER
an honored guest. But these get brief comment.
It is the domestic, rarely the official, life of the
nation's great men that we find recorded. That
which was really of interest to him was such a
scene as this of the farewell of Andrew Jackson,
when In 1837 he went home from Washington
after his eight years' tenure of the Presidential
office :
" The old President left yesterday, and I was
present at his last parting adieus to the members
of his cabinet and their respective faraiUes and to
a few of his intiraate friends. It was truly affect
ing to witness it. The old general, care-worn,
feeble, venerable, yet cheerful, kind and fatherly ;
every word he uttered was so appropriate and so
suited to each one he addressed. When Mr.
Mahlon Dickerson, the Secretary of the Navy,
who is, you know, an old bachelor, took hira by
the hand, and the General bestowed on him his
parting blessing, the Secretary was so affected that
his eyes filled with tears, and he could scarcely
speak ; but the General in his happy way added
that he hoped soon to have the pleasure of hear
ing that he was ' happily married ' which changed
the current of feeling and saved the worthy Secre-
293

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
tary, I have no doubt, from giving way to the
impulse of his heart."
Again, when writing to his son in 1844 of
scenes and experiences In Washington he gave
this charraing picture of an evening with President
John Tyler :
" I have just returned frora a visit to the Presi
dent of the United States, and I thought it would
interest you to receive sorae account of hira and
of ray visit. There are certain evenings appropri
ated to receiving by the President and family, and
this was one, and so I thought I would go and
pay my respects to the chief magistrate. A friend
accompanied me. We were introduced into the
drawing-room where there were quite a number of
visitors, ladies and gentlemen. We were received
by the President very kindly and were Introduced
by hira to his son, and by the latter to the ladies
of the family — the President's two daughters, Mrs.
Semple and Mrs. Waller, both young married
ladles, and both good-looking. In a few minutes
all the other company left, and I and my friend
were left alone with the family circle. The Presi
dent took a seat by my side, and requested all the
parties to draw up their chairs nearer the fire,
294

OF CHARLES BUTLER
which he said would be raore sociable, and then he
called on his daughter, Mrs. Semple, ' As we were
alone,' he said, to play a little on the piano. The
young lady very cheerfully seated herself at the
piano and then asked her father what she should
play. ' Oh, give us Rome,' was the reply.
She played it and sang the words. It was a
beautiful piece of music and (according to my
taste) adrairably sung. The President seemed
very rauch interested and when she finished, he
reraarked to me that he was very fond of music —
that it was soothing to his feelings, and that he
was particularly fond of hearing that piece, as It
was so melancholy. She then played and sang an
other piece, the name of which escaped rae — then
he said he would let her off with a third, and she
must sing, ' I would be a boy again.'
" She sang this sweet song and her father seemed
to be in ecstasies, and when she finished he re
marked to me that the sentiraent of it was very
pleasant to hira — that he liked to go back in mem
ory to the days of his boyhood, the happiest per
iod of his life — that he was much attached to his
native State, and delighted to rarable in the fields
— the churchyards — and in solitary parts, where
295

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
he could indulge his rausings and his tastes. I
told him that I was glad to find that he was so
rauch of a boy, that I had soraething of the same
feeling myself and liked to cherish it. ' Yes,' he
replied, ' it ought to be cherished. The feelings
and scenes and hopes of our youth are a source of
great happiness.'
" I confess I was rauch interested in his con
versation on this point, for it showed the heart of
the man, and it excited quite an attachment to him
in my own heart. Then we passed to graver
subjects, and he spoke of the cares and labors and
perplexities of his station — how wearing, exhaust
ing and troublesorae ! — and how happy he should
be to be relieved from them ! (By the way, the
people will relieve him frora thera as soon as they
possibly can !) Ah, thought I, what is it to be
President of the United States? Who would
desire it if it brings with it such troubles and
makes one so miserable ? After having a good
chat with him I took my seat by the side of his
daughter, and found her equally sociable and
agreeable. The President is remarkably easy and
pleasant in his manners, very polite and kind,
without the least affectation or constraint, and in
296

OF CHARLES BUTLER
conversation very frank. My prejudices were
quite removed, and I felt a good deal of sympa
thy for hira. On the whole, my visit to the
White House was agreeable and instructive, and
I must say that the reception and conduct of the
President and his faraily were such as raet exactly
my idea of a plain republican President."
It was also to his son that many pleasant details
of his Western journeys were written : as of the
" Prairie Schooners, as they call them, going Into
the city loaded with wheat or fruit, come from a
great distance, sorae of them more than two hun
dred miles, and long on the road. They call thera
Prairie Schooners because, with their swelling can
vas tops, they look like schooners coraing over
the prairie. Generally they have six or eight
yoke of oxen to draw the wagon. It is a sight to
see fifteen or twenty of these great baggage wagons
coming along together ; they look more like a
caravan of the East than anything I have ever
seen. We stopped one of them and bought some
peaches to eat along the road."
He would write of the prairies carpeted with
flowers of all colors, across which they could ride
for days without a road to guide them, meeting
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
no person and seeing no inhabited dwelling ; or
of " Big Thunder, a famous Winnebago Chief,
who lived and died here a few years ago (this was
In 1 842, on the prairies west of Chicago), an In
veterate enemy of the white men, who kept plun
dering his countrymen and taking their lands from
them. He was an Indian of great size and a noble-
looking fellow. Just before he died he directed
that after he was dead they should place him in a
sitting posture on the top of a beautiful raound In
a prairie overlooking a grove, with his blanket
around him and his war club in his hands, and
surround hira with a paling, so that with his face
to the east he could keep the watch. For, he said,
there would be a great battle fought on that field
between the Indians and the white men. The
Indians would come up out of the woods and the
white raen over the prairie, and he proraised that
he would keep a lookout. If the white raen
should win he would be forever silent; but If the
Indians, then he would give a shout. They bur
ied him just as he said, and there Big Thunder
sits, with the paUng built about him, with his
blanket wrapped around him and his war club in
his hands, looking out upon the wood. Your
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OF CHARLES BUTLER
Uncle William saw him twice, the last time only
two years ago."
Again he wrote of the farm at " Fox River "
which he wished to buy for his son. Years later,
indeed, the farm grew Into a reality, though in the
mysterious Providence of God It became rather a
tribute to the loved memory of his son than a
possession to be enjoyed with him.
In the midst of distractions and cares the father's
heart always went back to his home. " I shall
make it a special object," he wrote to Mrs. Butler
amid the toil of a western journey, " to take care
of all the widows and fatherless whom I may meet
on my journey, and do all I can to proraote their
comfort and happiness, remembering always that
I have a wife and children whora I love, whom I
may never see again ; and remerabering that she
and they may be left widowed and fatherless, and
believing In the superintending care and provi
dence of our Heavenly Father that He will raise
up for them those who will take Interest in them
in the day of their need."
Of the earlier homes, that at Geneva made the
deepest impression on Charles Butler's affections.
" When I revisit these scenes," runs a letter writ-
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ten to Mrs. Butler from Geneva long after the
setthng in New York, " where you and I com
menced our joint pilgrimage, where so much has
been suffered and enjoyed, the houses, the people,
the trees, the shrubbery and the flowers around
me seem like familiar friends ; reminding me of
the past ; bringing to view the good and the evil
of our existence, the light and shade, the joy and
sorrow. I never saw Geneva look so beautiful;
and our house and garden — how could I ever have
consented to give up a spot so lovely, where so
rauch might have been enjoyed with a contented
heart ; — but I will check myself against a breach of
the commandraent, and hope God will forgive rae
if I have coveted my neighbor's house and gar
den. I feel as If I had a right and Interest in It. I
claim proprietorship In the trees, the shrubbery,
the flowers and the garden Itself in all its parts. I
say to the trumpet creepers, to the noble honey
locust, the lofty ailanthus, and the branching wil
lows, ' You are mine, for I planted you there '; and
as I walk through and retrace the work of my
hands I can hold converse with the things around
me as If they were creatures with life and reason.
I see in each a child which I once idolized."
300

OF CHARLES BUTLER
With such longing for the old associations and
for the sights and sounds and fragrances of nature,
city homes could never fully satisfy Charles Butler.
The earUest one in Bleecker Street had been sold
in the distressing year of illness. The next one
in Eleventh Street gave place, after some years,
to that hospitable house in Fourteenth Street, still
remembered by many who were interested In the
civic, philanthropic, religious or educational move
ments which had their inception within its walls.
Later still came the removal to Park Avenue,
where the remaining years of his useful life were
spent. But city homes were after all to Charles
Butler, mainly places from which influences might
radiate, and his heart always clung to its early love
for the trees and the birds and the flowers.
With this passion, his son Ogden was In fuUest
sympathy. The young man — a youth of high prom
ise, who had graduated with honors at New York
University, and who bade fair to carry on the family
name, and the family tradition of useful service — did
not come to full strength In his first years of man
hood. For his sake in 1 8 53 his father purchased the
estate, then known as Evergreen Farm, at Scarsdale,
which later, with the improvements inaugurated by
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Ogden, and carried out by himself and by his father,
developed Into the charming country seat to which
the old colonial name of " Fox Meadow " was re
stored. But the joy of possession was followed
quickly by an overwhelming sorrow. Ogden's
health had never been robust, and in the winter of
1855-6 it failed rapidly. The spring days brought
longings for the country horae, to which in May
he was reraoved. He was able to take a few
drives through the farra, to look at the vineries
and greenhouses which he had begun to build, and
to feel the fresh air of the coming summer. Then,
on the 6th of June, 1856, with the promise of the
fiiUness of this life unfolding before hira, he passed
into the next, his last words, of resignation and
even of cheer, helping to sustain those around
him. " Alas," wrote Thomas Carlyle, on learning of
his friend's great loss, " I can too well understand
what a blank of utter sorrow and desolation that
sad loss raust have left in your household, and
In the heart of everybody there. Your one son,
and such a son, cut off In the flower of his
days, so raany high hopes, for himself and for
others, suddenly abolished forever 1 It Is hard
302

OF CHARLES BUTLER
for flesh and blood : — and yet it must be borne ;
there is no relief from that ; and all Wisdom, out
of all ages, bids us say, ' Good is the will of the
Lord,' — though that is so hard to do. You do
well not to slacken in your labor ; to keep doing,
so long as the day is, the duty of the day. I know
no other remedy so sure of ultimately helping in
all sorrows whatsoever. Let us work while it is
called to-day. In a very little while we too shall
follow into the silent Kingdom the loved ones that
have already gone ; and one divine Eternity will
hold us all again, — and as God may have ap
pointed for them and for us. Surely He will have
appointed Well! " This was the one consolation
most suited to Mr. Butler's habit of mind. He
took up his work with earnestness, and so, at last,
the wound was healed through service.
The records of many institutions In New York
City bear witness to his long-continued and active
interest. He was one of the founders, in 1 83 5, of
the New York Half-Orphan Asylum. He suc
ceeded James Boorman, who was the first Presi
dent of the Board of Trustees, and continued in
that office until his death. To New York Uni
versity he gave also more than sixty years of con-
303

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
tinuous service. On January 6, 1830, a repre
sentative conference of citizens was held at the
rooms of the Historical Society at which a docu
ment was presented, entitled, " Considerations
upon the Expediency and the Means of Estab
lishing a University in the City of New York."
At this first meeting the presiding officer was
Hon. Morgan Lewis, a distinguished citizen In
war. In law, and In politics, once a Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and
afterwards Governor of the State. The first
Council of the University was organized In Oc
tober, 1830, and Albert Gallatin became Its presi
dent. The charter was obtained in April, 1831.
The Institution was founded In a liberal spirit.
The earliest documents show a comprehension of
the whole subject of University needs, and a grasp
of the problems to be solved in higher education,
which would be noteworthy even now after the ex
perience gained in three-quarters of a century. It
was intended to Include at least four faculties — a
faculty of letters, of science and arts, of medicine,
and of law; — and it was planned to provide for uni
versity education on a broader scheme than was at
that time In practice, or even In organized theory
304

OF CHARLES BUTLER
in this country. Even the schools of pedagogy,
which we are accustomed to think the conception
of recent years, were anticipated In a professorship
of " The PhUosophy of Education and the In
struction of Teachers."
In October, 1832, instruction was begun in
hired rooras in Clinton Hall ; five years later a
building was completed on Washington Square,
which long sheltered the institution. One by one
the proposed faculties were organized. The
Schools of Arts and Sciences were the first to be
In complete operation, with such men as Tayler
Lewis, John W. Draper, and Sarauel F. B. Morse
among the professors appointed in these earlier
years. In July, 1833, Benjamin Franklin Butler
presented a " Plan for the Organization of a Law
School in the University of New York," which
he had prepared, with the aid of John C. Spencer,
David Graham, and William Kent, at the request
of the authorities of the University. This able
paper has served as a basis of law school work to
such an extent as to justify the statement that its
authors were virtually the founders of the law
schools of the United States ; for there was then,
it may be recalled, no University law school in
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
this country, though lectures had been given by
Chancellor Kent as Professor of Law at Colum
bia. The school was tentatively opened in 1838,
with addresses by its founder, who was to be senior
professor, and by William Kent and David Gra
ham, the associate professors. The official duties
of Mr. Benjarain F. Butler and the financial weak-
hess of the University prevented Its continuance
at that time ; twenty years later it was perma-
nendy opened, still raodeled closely on the origi
nal lines.
Many raen have aided the University In Its life
of three-quarters of a century, yet it reraains as a
monument to the devoted labors of a few. Among
these Charles Butler was one whose long term of
service, whose courage in seasons of depression,
and whose counsel In tiraes of perplexity, have
made his name most honorable in the history of
the institution. From the first day of his en
trance Into the Council In 1836, to the day of his
death, he gave to the University unwavering sup
port. It will not be possible here to recount his
constant, complex and modestly rendered services.
They were of especial value in at least three criti
cal periods. The first of these was in 1839, when
306

OF CHARLES BUTLER
he had just returned from Europe. The Univer
sity, like all other enterprises not secured by ample
endowments, had passed through a season of
financial stress In the panic years of 1837 and
1838. The result was a condition that looked
at the time very like bankruptcy. Charles Butler,
with a few others, came to the rescue, and though
not able himself at that time to contribute largely
from his own means, succeeded in raising a hun
dred thousand dollars, an amount which seems
small in these days of millions, but which was
then sufficient to extinguish the floating debt, and
to give the new Chancellor, Dr. Frellnghuysen,
a basis for his work.
The second critical period was in 1849 and
1850. Through the previous decade the Univer
sity had steadily grown in influence and In educa
tional stability, but its financial strength had in
creased so slowly that many of its friends wavered
in their faith. Charles Butler was then in active
professional life with seemingly every raoment
mortgaged to the Important business interests to
which he was adviser, but at great sacrifice he
took, in 1848, the temporary Presidency of the
Council. He was aided by such men as George
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Griswold, John C. Green, afterward President of
the Council, and the noble band who then formed
the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The task was
arduous, but happily was in the end successful.
It would hardly seem probable that the history
of so stable an Institution as New York University
should afford yet another opportunity for record
ing the courage and fidelity of a single member
of its governing board. Yet such a condition
came in 1881. The panic of 1873 overthrew the
well-laid plans for a large increase of the endow
ment ; the establishment of a system of free tui
tion In the undergraduate department, undertaken
frora a raotive of the highest philanthropy, proved
unwise both frora an educational and from a
business standpoint ; the failure of a great railroad
corporation seriously impaired the vested funds of
the University; and counsels of despair began to
prevail In the governing board. Before the more
courageous friends of the Undergraduate College
realized the situation a tentative resolution was
voted to suspend the School of Arts and Sciences
and to throw Its endowment over to the other
schools. Athough then seventy-nine, Charles
Butier resisted the proposal with all the energy
308

OF CHARLES BUTLER
of youth. Aided In the Council by William A.
Wheelock, William Allen Butler, and others, and
in the Faculty by Henry Draper and the other
professors, he successfully combatted this resolu
tion. A period of prosperity soon followed which
justified the predictions of his earlier days. He re
raained President of the CouncU frora 1886 to
the end of his life, and rejoiced in the successful
transference of certain Schools of the University
to the raagnlficent site at University Heights,
where the " Charles Butler Hall " stands as a
raeraorial to his long and useful labors.
Union Theological Seminary, to which Charles
Butler gave sixty-two years of active assistance,
was founded in 1835. -^ board of directors was
constituted consisting of ten clergymen and four
teen laymen, of whora Mr. Butler was one. The
first raeeting of this board of directors was held
In January, 1836, and the Seminary was opened
for Instruction In December of the same year, with
thirteen students, who met at the homes of the
President and of the professors. In Leonard Street,
Eldrldge Street, Nassau Street, and other localities
long since abandoned as residence quarters. A
building was planned and a site for it selected
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
between University Place and Greene Street.
" This locality," said Dr. Hatfield,* " was well up
town, quite on the outskirts of the city. Popula
tion had been speeding from what was then fa
miliarly known as Greenwich Village, along the
Hudson River, northward ; and, in like manner,
along Third Avenue, on the eastern side of the
city. A few improvements had been made along
the Bloomlngdale Road frora Its junction with
the Bowery Road, at Seventeenth Street, to the
House of Refuge, which stood at the starting
point of the old Boston Road, on the westerly
side of the present Madison Square, extending to
the present Broadway, and covering the site of
the Worth Monument. Union Place, now Union
Square, had just been opened, at the forks of
Broadway and the Bowery, but was still unim
proved. Eighth Street, and a few of the parallel
streets above, opened but a few years before, were
beginning to exhibit some evidences of substantial
improvement. With these exceptions, vacant
lots, unpaved streets, primitive roads and lanes,
open fields, and country seats, many of them
highly cultivated and of considerable extent, cov-
* Early Annals of Union Theological Seminary.
3 lo

OF CHARLES BUTLER
ered the island to the north, as far as the ancient
Dutch village of Harlem.
" The General Theological Seminary of the
Protestant Episcopal Church, some ten years be
fore had been erected far out of the city ; and
near it, on Twentieth Street, an Episcopal chapel
(St. Peter's) of small capacity, had been erected In
1832. Old St. Mark's occupied its present site
on Tenth Street, near Second Avenue. Two or
three mission stations. In advance of the popula
tion, were struggling for a foothold in the outlying
districts. Excepting these, not a church edifice of
any description was to be found on the Island, be
low the villages of Bloomlngdale and Harlem,
above Tenth Street. A new Presbyterian church
had just been erected in Mercer Street, near
Eighth Street, which for many subsequent years
was the ' Up-town Church ' of the denomination.
The stately structure erected for the University of
the City of New York, on the block below the
new purchase, had just been occupied in part, but
was not fully completed. Wooster Street had just
been extended to Fourteenth Street, and the part
above the University widened and called Jackson
Avenue, — a name shortly after exchanged for
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
University Place. The location was deemed quite
eligible, near enough to the business portion of the
city, and sufficiently remote for a quiet Uterary
retreat." The new Seminary had numerous trials in its
early days. "The period* from 1837 to 1850,"
said Charles Butler long afterwards, " was one of
extraordinary financial difficulty and vicissitudes,
— unparalleled. Indeed, In the history of the coun
try. The existence of the Seminary during all
these years was a struggle with poverty, and the
difficulties inseparable from poverty. The silver
lining to the cloud which hovered over us, dark
and threatening, especially from 1837 to 1842, was
visible only to the eye of faith ; and while faith
with sorae was weak and often wearied, yet with
others in the Board at this tirae It was not only
hopeful, but brUliant even In the darkest hour. I
can recall In memory, but cannot describe, the
feeling which pervaded and was reflected In the
countenances of merabers when called together to
consider what could be done to raeet impending
exigencies. These meetings were generally at
tended by the Professors as well, and were always
* Quoted from the MS. reminiscences of Charles Butler.
312

OF CHARLES BUTLER
opened and closed with prayer. There was a close
bond of union between the Faculty and the mem
bers of the Board. The tender sympathy which
comes ever from sharing one another's burdens
marked their deliberations, and was evidenced in
all that was said and done. Prayer and supplica
tion for Divine support and guidance were not
wanting. Nor were they fruitless."
It was in this dark period that the direction of
affairs in the Seminary Board was committed to
the two men under whose charge it reraained for
nearly sixty years. In 1840 Mr. Richard Towne-
ley Haines became President of the Board of Di
rectors, and Mr. Charles Butler Vice-President.
At Mr. Haines's death in 1870, Mr. Butler was
made President, and continued in this office until
his own death in 1897. Union Seminary has had
many men in its Faculty whom the Christian
world delights to honor, such as Edward Robin
son, Henry B. Smith, Roswell D. Hitchcock,
Philip Schaff, and William Adams ; but with these
it also holds in grateful reraerabrance the two men
who stood so long at the head of its Board of Dir
rectors. The proper support of the Seminary was
especiaUy a problem with Charles Butler. With
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
this object in view he called a raeeting at his
house in February, 1852. A coraraittee was ap
pointed of which he was raade chairman. A state
ment was Issued, and this was followed by an ap
peal which secured financial stability until 1870
and 1872, when the munificent gifts of Mr. Jaraes
Brown, Governor Morgan and others provided
for a liberal endowraent and a new building.
In 1890 Charles Butler gave a large sura of
money to New York University " as a tribute to
the raemory of my beloved son A. Ogden Butler,
who graduated from It In the class of 1853 and
who died In June of the year 1856, and also as a trib
ute to the memory of my beloved brother Benja
min F. Butler, who was the founder of the Law
School in the University and its first professor,
who died in November, 1858, in the city of Paris."
At the same time he raade a sirailar gift to
endow a Professorship of Biblical Theology in
Union Serainary, naming It in memory of the emi
nent Dr. Edward Robinson, who had been pro
fessor in the seminary and a valued friend for
many years. It so happened that the first ap
pointment to this Chair stirred up a notable con
tention between the advocates and the opponents
314

OF CHARLES BUTLER
of the " higher criticism " whose echoes are hardly
yet silent. It was characteristic of the broad-
minded man who founded the professorship that
although then nearly ninety, and corae to years
when conservatisra In most men has become a
fixed habit In life, he yet led the van on the lib
eral side of the contest.
What he was through all Its years to this insti
tution may be told in the words of Dr, Prentiss,
spoken In 1886 at the semi-centennial of Union
Theological Seminary : "Gladly too would I
speak of some of the living benefactors to
whom we owe so much ; not to please them,
for they have a better reward, but to give vent
to the grateful emotions that fill our hearts. Of
one of them, indeed, it would be a wrong not
to speak ; and ray words, I know, will find a
cordial response in all your breasts. I think
God has spared hira to raore than fourscore
years, to the end that in his person we might see
with our eyes to-day what sort of men planned
and reared this temple of sacred learning. In
your name, in the name of the Faculty, in the
name of the Board of Directors, I congratulate
the venerable President of the Board on being
315

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
permitted to keep with us this semi-centennial
anniversary. God bless him !"
In recognition of the long years of faithful ser
vice given to it, the New York University in
1887 conferred the degree of LL.D. on Mr.
Butier. He had previously received the same degree
from Wabash College In recognition of the dis
tinguished services rendered by him to the State
of Indiana.

CHAPTER VIII
LATER YEARS  PATRIOTIC SERVICES  FRIENDS
AT HOME AND ABROAD  ^JOURNEYS IN
EUROPE  FOX MEADOW  CLOSING
SCENES OF LIFE

IN many lives the sixtieth birthday marks the
beginning of gentle decline ; in that of
Charles Butler it marked the opening of a
full third of his career, — a period crowned with
honors, adorned with friendships, and filled with
usefiil services. As he reached threescore the war
of the rebellion had come to Its most serious stage,
and had created problems which were a matter of
much concern to far-sighted men. He was In
tensely loyal, and devoted rauch time during the
years 1863 and 1864 to efforts for sustaining the
government, in so doing co-operating with other
prominent men of New York, — some of whom are
stUl living.
New York City, though in the main loyal, con-
317

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
tained many citizens whose business interests and
political principles led thera to sympathize with
the Southern cause. In February, 1863, these
Southern sympathizers were in the habit of hold
ing raeetings In support of their cause at Delraon-
ico's, then at the northeast corner of Fifth Ave
nue and 14th Street. Many were sincere In their
convictions, but to patriots loyal to the Union it
was clear that their efforts meant disaster to the
best interests of the nation. To oppose thera and
to strengthen the Union sentiment, on the 14th
of February, 1863, Charles Butler caUed a meet
ing of citizens at his house, No. 13 East 14th
Street, a few doors only from the gatherings of the
enemy, to consider the situation, and to form an
organization in support of the governraent. The
house was filled to overflowing. Including halls
and stairways, with representative men of all oc
cupations and professions. Charles King, then
President of Columbia College, was chalrraan of
the raeeting. There was animated discussion as
to what could be done to support the government
against the rebellion. One feeling prevailed, to
which utterance was given In enthusiastic speeches
— a realizing sense that unity of action must be
318

OF CHARLES BUTLER
secured, and that all good citizens raust come for
ward in the nation's defence. To this end a club
was formed to publish loyal tracts and papers for
circulation in the city and In the army. This was
the " Loyal Publication Society," of which Pro
fessor Lleber, the eminent scholar and physicist,
became President, and which did valiant service in
the succeeding years.
This meeting also tended to strengthen a move
ment for a Loyal or Union League In the city,
which It was proposed to form then and there.
Seth Hunt made a thrlUIng speech In support of
this proposition. But it was learned that a raeet
ing with this object in view had just been called
by certain patriotic gentlemen, and it was at once
resolved to give hearty support to the Association
which they were preparing to organize under the
name of" The Union League," afterwards changed
to " The Union League Club." The services of
this Club in the war days are a part of the honor
able history of New York City, and a source of
just pride to many still living who were then its
members. Charies Butier was one of the earUer
merabers, and was prorainent In its councils. He
was chalrraan of a committee of twenty-one " for
319

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
the better accomplishment of the objects of the
Association In bringing Its moral influence to bear
directly and practically In aid of the efforts of the
National Government for the suppression of the
rebellion, and in the discountenancing of all dis
loyalty to the Government in this State and In this
City." Two events of the year 1864 he used to recall
In after years with peculiar Interest. One was the
organization by the Club of the 26th Regiment of
United States colored troops, to which the club
presented a banner when It took its departure for
the seat of war. This was comraemorated, twenty-
two years later, when sixty-six surviving merabers
of the days of 1 864 gave a dinner in honor of that
event. Another pleasant reminiscence of this year
was the visit of Goldwin Smith, and a breakfast at
which Mr. Butler presided, given to him by the
Union League Club. Goldwin Smith was most
warmly welcomed in the United States as one of
the few staunch supporters in England of the
principles of the Union.
Mr. Butler was an active member of the New
York Board of the American Union Commission,
which afterwards formed an organic union with
320

OF CHARLES BUTLER
the American Freedman's Aid Commission, and
did good service in caring for the suffering union
refugees of the south. He had the intense loyalty
which his life of steadfastness had made a part of
his whole character ; but he had also much sym
pathy for those at the South, to whom the horrors
of war had brought misery, and for those of the
newly enfranchised blacks whose iraraediate con
dition had been raade worse rather than better by
the new opportunity opening to them, so that this
work was peculiarly congenial to him.
Almost a quarter of a century of business life
was left to hira after the excitements of the war
time had passed away, a period crowded in its
earlier years, and filled to Its end, with important
responsibilities. He was for fifteen years Presi
dent of what was then an important western rail
road, was a member of the Boards of several other
railroads, and was counsel for corporations In In
diana, Mississippi and Illinois. Railways as in
struments in settUng the country always interested
him as did all other lines of development in the
west, to which in earlier years he had given so
much thought.
Mr. Butler's broadly sympathetic nature led
321

THE LIFE AND LETTERS

him to make many friends on his long journey
through the world. His rough expeditions to
the West (repeated several times annually during"
many years), as well as his visits to the South,
were cheered by the companionships which he was
ever ready to enjoy even in business connections.
His work with others during the stirring period of
the Civil War cemented many of his most valued
friendships. When obliged by advancing years
to give up business avocations, he threw himself
with added earnestness into educational and phil
anthropic work, where the common interest of
caring for the welfare of University and Seminary
students, or for the poor children of New York,
or of Westchester Country, aroused warm feelings
of personal sympathy on his part for his associates
which were as warmly responded to by them.
His life in New York was fiill of quiet social en
joyment and his journeys to Europe added to his
Ust of friends. Among his letters are many from
these friends separated by an ocean — some of
which throw additional light on persons or events
of more or less general interest.
In 1854 Mr. Butler had received from Mr.
Carlyle a letter introducing an English artist,
322

OF CHARLES BUTLER
Mr. Samuel Lawrence, who visited him during
the months of Mrs. Butler's absence in Europe.
The artist's enjoyment of this hospitality is ex--
pressed in a letter written by him at the time
to Mrs. Butler : " I have made several drawings
in that front room on the second story which
Mr. Butler has been so good as to let me have ;
but I hope you will not find that it has been con
verted into a dirty painter's studio, such as you
may have seen during your travels. The posses
sion of this room has been a source of great pleas
ure, giving me the companionship of one of the
most amiable men I have ever met with, doubly
valuable to me in this foreign country, though it
is odd to call that foreign which has in it so much
of my own England. Yet the aspect of the
streets in New York is rather French than Eng
lish, mainly owing to the trees, I think, which the
June sun has just now brought suddenly into full
leaf. This climate I find, so far, more variable
even than our EngUsh one ; but the one you are
now in (Italy) is the pattern one for splendor."
Another acquaintance formed through Mr. Car
lyle's introduction was with Hon. E. Lyulph Stan
ley, who first visited this country in 1 864. His llb-
323

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
eral principles and his generous sympathy with the
United States during the Civil War established a
bond of friendship between the two men in spite
of the difference of age. His letters were always
welcome for their comments on events of public
interest as well as for their items of domestic news.
A correspondence with James Anthony Froude
contains this prediction, which has interest in the
light of recent national events : " I am more and
more confident that the future of the Anglo-Saxon
race is with you and not with us." Of Mr. Carlyle
in December, 1878, he wrote : " Carlyle is wonder
fully well. I drove with him this afternoon with
sharp frost and the carriage-windows open. He is
83 years old"; and again a few raonths later:
" Carlyle is well. I drive two days a week with
hira. He cannot write and walks with difficulty,
but otherwise I see no change In him. He thinks
continually of death and, I suppose, wishes for it,
but his Intellect is as much alive as ever. Bret
Harte Is in England on a lecturing tour. He
comes next week to stay with me. I am sorry to
see such fine faculties frittered away on platforms,
and the delicate edge taken off them. Goethe
says that a man has no sooner shown the power
324

OF CHARLES BUTLER
of doing anything considerable than the world is
in a conspiracy to prevent him from doing it.
Bret Harte suffers from the world, and not from
worldllness, of which few men have so little."
Mr. Froude wrote often of his literary work, as
in 1876 : "I am on the point of bringing out a
book on Caesar, which Scrlbners will republish.
An author is the worst judge of his own work, or
I should say I had never done anything so good
before. I suppose the critics will undeceive me."
At another time he sent words of friendly sym
pathy : " When a family has been so happy and
united as yours the departure of successive mem
bers of it only endears more entirely to each
other those that remain. Life which in its public
aspect is so meaningless and poor. Is full behind
the scenes of tenderness and sweetness and pur
pose. The worthlessness of the political results
of It seeras to say that it is a school of personal
character, and that we must wait to know Its real
meaning until our education days are over."
The historian has been severely criticized for
the use made of the papers entrusted to his
charge by his friend. But his purity of purpose
Is shown by a letter dated February 28, 1883 :
325

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
" I am going on with my strange task of editing
Carlyle's memoirs. His wife's letters will be pub
lished in a few weeks. I do not know whether
there will be an American edition or not. The
subject is so entirely personal and domestic that
your people may care nothing about it. But they
contain a perfect picture of Carlyle — lights and
shadows both."
As will be still remembered, shortly after Mr.
Matthew Arnold's return from America, a fraud
ulent newspaper communication represented him
as an unamiable critic of this country. His real
feeUngs are expressed in a letter which he wrote
at once : " My dear Mr. Butler, if you could
have heard us all talking over in these last few
weeks America and our friends there you would
know what are the recollections which we do
really entertain of you and how impossible it is, I
do not merely say that I should print a vicious and
insolent criticism of America, but even that such
a criticism should come Into my head. You and
dear Miss Butler stand first among those who
cause us to feel gratefully and affectionately
towards America ; but really we met with so much
kindness there that the kindness Is now all that
326

OF CHARLES BUTLER
we remember. We have come back to the harsh
east winds of our spring ; and though the ther
mometer is about 45° all day and never falls
much below freezing at night we are colder than
we ever were in America. Still I should like you
to see our flowers, grass and birds. A thrush in
a bay tree on our lawn has actually hatched and
brought out her brood."*
Quite the most characteristic letters are those
from Thomas Carlyle. A letter of Mr. Butler's
had once missed its delivery and Carlyle explains
in this delightful manner : " Two letters now with
such precaution and a third enclosed (which
should have been the first and only), a.\l to get me
persuaded to take a Uttle money out of your hand.
There is no doubt the mistake occurred at this
door ; the letter first sent contains our postman's
visible signature with the word ' refused ;' there is
where the one hitch was ; everybody else has done
his best with perfection and success. One might
almost cry and laugh both over such a thing.
The truth is, this long while back — young fools

*Mr. Arnold's relations with Mr. Butler are alluded to in ««Let-
ters of Matthew Arnold," by George W. E. Russell. New York:
Macmillan & Co. Vol. II., pp. 263, 290.
327

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
being In the habit of bothering me about auto
graphs and other nonsenses, provoking when you
have to throw a shIlUng into the fire along with
them — there has been a standing order that no
foreign letter is to be accepted unless the hand
writing be known. That is the whole mystery.
I no doubt saw that letter. It would be tran
siently shown me ; but I had not the least recog
nized It ; and so (probably in very great haste,
and sunk araong my own paper clippings) had
negatorily shaken my head, and sent the beneficence
home again. In a most astonishing manner as If it
had been a maleficence! Nothing more tragi
comical happened lately. Forgive me, dear sir,
and laugh with me in spite of the trouble you
have had."
Carlyle was at this time hard at work on his
Life of Frederick the Great, and responded to
Mr. Butler's sympathetic interest In the task with
cheerful grumbling : " I am In these months par
ticularly held down, and indeed more laden than
you can conceive with that Intolerable load of
Prussian rubbish (which has raany times seemed
as If It would choke the life out of rae before I
got done with It): let this be my excuse for aU
328

OF CHARLES BUTLER

shortcomings ; if I do live to get honestly out of
this sad whirUng abyss of Brandenburg dust and
ashes, I promise to be an idle and better boy for
the remaining days appointed me." It Is Inter
esting to note in this correspondence, which con
tinued until Carlyle passed threescore and ten,
how the ruggedness of the Scotchman appealed
to Mr. Butler, as, on the other hand, the dignity
and tenderness of Charles Butler appealed to
Thomas Carlyle.
In the summer of 1 866 the health of the young
est daughter made a voyage to Europe desirable,
and it was decided that all the family should go
except Mr. Butler. They sailed on a Saturday
in June. With characteristic devotion and tend
erness he wrote to Mrs. Butler the next day :
" You left only yesterday, and yet It seems a great
while since that event happened, and I begin to
address you in a foreign land. At this moment
you are afar off ' on the sea,' where Dr. Prentiss *
* Dr. George Lewis Prentiss was for many years the pastor of the
Church of the Covenant, comer of 35th Street and Park Avenue,
New York City. He was succeeded in the pastorate by Dr.
Marvin R. Vincent, who subsequently became a professor in the
Union Theological Seminary. The Church of the Covenant vras
afterwards consolidated with the Brick Presbyterian Church, cor
ner of 37th Street and Fifth Avenue. 329

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
remembered you and each of your party, in
his prayer this morning ; some of you going for
health, and some for duty to the church.* In
looking around in the church I could not distin
guish any member of the family or any branch of
It. Every place seemed to be vacant and every
body gone. I alone remained, but the sermon was
a most comforting one. It was one of Dr. Pren
tiss's exquisite discourses, treating of the mercy of
God in all His deaUngs with the generations of
men, and to every individual member of the hu
man family ; how immeasurably His mercy and
His goodness to us exceeded His severity and
His chastenings, and what occasions of gratitude
we had in every moment of our earthly existence,
if we would but count them up. After service I
walked down to the house to look into its deserted
halls where there are no longer the familiar and
sweet voices, and always welcome, of beloved wife
or child to greet me. All is quiet and voiceless.
" After spending a little time yesterday afternoon
at the house, I went down to the office, but there
seemed to be a strangeness even there. I spoke
* Dr. Henry B. Smith and his wife were with Mrs. Butler. Dr.
Smith went as delegate to the Evangelical Alliance.
33°

OF CHARLES BUTLER
to no one at the service this morning. I did not
feel equal to it. I felt like writing to you and
giving you this little diary of the first day and
night after your departure, knowing that to you
and to our dear girls it will possess some interest,
as it will be doubtiess the first intelligence you will
have from home after your arrival in Paris. I send
you Bryant's last beautiful poem, just published
(The Death of Slavery) ; and so with love
to all, and commending you all to God's pre
serving care and goodness, I am your affectionate
husband." The house in 14th Street was rented, and Mr.
Butler went to stay, during the absence of the fam
ily, at the hospitable home of his old-time friends.
Professor and Mrs. Botta. " I am writing," he
said in a letter to his daughter, " in my own room,
which is very pleasant always, and perfectly quiet.
I have the Healy portrait of your grandmother
hung up over the mantel to face the bed. The
crayon portrait of Ogden by Lawrence hangs on
the wall near the head of my bed ; on my right and
under It the group photograph nicely framed ; the
easy chair under that. Then I have my library
table on which I write, with my papers on it, as
331

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
you were accustoraed to see it in the library In
1 4th Street. Other things, too, surround rae, all
reminders of home and of you all, and when sit
ting or standing In my room these dear, familiar,
and loving faces are ever before me — only outward
expressions, however, of the sarae within rae pho
tographed on ray heart."
In a New Year's letter to his wife he wrote :
" Already one-third of the winter Is gone, and
here we are at the last of Deceraber, the light of
the old year just flickering in Its socket, and the
new year just ready to break In upon us. These
short and wintry days and these holidays affect
me strangely. I seem lost to myself, because I
raiss my household gods, and Christmas and New
Year's seera all strange to me. I do not think
that I shall make many calls on New Year's. I
feel as If I had neither right nor cause to make any,
and yet it may be right, and there may be cause.
If your next letters assure me that you are all well
and everything comfortable, and our dear child
improving, I shall surely not feel cynical, but shall
feel happy and thankful and shall go about and see
our friends and wish them, too, a Happy New
Year. 332

OF CHARLES BUTLER
To-night I am writing In my room and all
is quiet and pleasant around me. Professor and
Mrs. Botta have gone to hear Ristori In " De
borah." Ristori wanted them to come and see
her In that character, and sent them tickets for her
private box, as she has frequently done before.
To-morrow evening, which was the only evening
she could give them, they give her a reception,
which is to be very general, so that I shall then
see again this great muse of tragedy. She seems
to be a very uncommon character and is highly
esteemed. Mrs. Astor gave her a reception,
which is the only one she has accepted besides
Mrs. Botta's. Ristori was dressed very plainly
but very richly — no jewelry about her, and her
face is one expressive of great intellectual talent
and seriousness. She bears a very fine private
character. I have seen her since, very informaUy,
with her chUdren, and shall raeet her at breakfast
before she leaves the country. She is the most
natural and unaffected person you ever met with,
and extraordinary success and flattery seem to have
made no Impression. She speaks of her remark
able gifts as having been given to her by Provi
dence. She has a wonderful simplicity and
333

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
naturalness of character. Botta took her one day
to the Girls' School in 13 th Street, where she was
greatly delighted. One of the little girls sang,
and Ristori was so affected that she caught her up
and kissed her and recited some beautiful things
to the children. She was so interested in the
school that she visited it a second time and brought
the Marquis and her friends."
The stay in Europe was longer than had been
designed, as the family sought health successively
at Paris, at Divonne, and in Italy. Upon their
arrival In Rome the father wrote to his daughter
rejoicing In their pleasure : " I am glad that at
last you were permitted to leave for a more
genial climate to enjoy objects and scenery of the
deepest interest. Your ideals will to some extent
be realized. History will be illuminated to your
mind by the familiar things around you as you
walk among those grand old ruins of ancient Rome,
the Rome of the Caesars ; and as your eye rests on
the crumbling columns standing in the Forum
your imagination will repeople the spot with grave
forms of the senators who occupied it and sat with
stolid Indifference while the Barbarians were thun
dering away at the gates of the city. You must
334

OF CHARLES BU T L E R
go to the top of the capitol and get the view, one
of the grandest In the world ; from that spot you
look down upon ancient Rome which lies before
you and out upon the Apennines on the north
and east, upon Albano and Frascati on the south,
upon the Tiber and the Mediterranean on the
west. From no other spot in the world can the
eye take in so much of historic ground. You
should read Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome
while there on the spot. I hope mother will take
you to No. 7, Via San Vitale, where we lived a win
ter twenty-eight years ago most comfortably and
cheaply. Dinner for four at 9 Pauli daily. Charm
ing rooms, large and pleasant, with sunny eastern
exposure on the southerly slope ot the Quirinal,
with the RospigUosi palace in the rear, where we
often went to look at Guido's masterpiece, the
Aurora, in the ceiling. Your enjoyment in Rome
will be mine, for I shall be with you in spirit."
" I understand perfectly," he wrote later, " the
difference between Florence and Rome. The
grandeur, antiquities and the ruins of the latter are
oppressive to a thoughtful mind ; time is too short
to admit of prosecuting an examination into them,
for it is an endless chain running back centuries
335

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
into the dead past ; and the Papal government
partaking of the same effete character gives no
relief, but rather adds to the fatigue. To get
away from it to Florence where something of pro
gress Is evident and where there is so much to ad
mire in art Is a most refreshing change."
One of Mr. Butler's occupations during the
absence of his family was the care of his country
place. " Fox Meadow " occupies a delightful in
tervale in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New
York. The original " Evergreen Farm " had
been enlarged from time to time by the purchase
of adjoining homesteads. In one of these his ne
phew, Benjamin FrankUn Butier, Jr., with his fami
ly lived for many years. Other nephews and nieces
and friends occupied the other houses at times.
" Round Oak," the residence of his nephew, WU
liam Allen Butler, overlooking the Hudson at
Yonkers, was within an easy afternoon's drive.
This family environment added greatly to the en
joyraent of life at " Fox Meadow." The garden
and green-houses gave pleasure to friends both
summer and winter.
Mr. Butler wrote in 1867 : "The camelias pro
mise an abundant crop, though as yet we have had
336

OF CHARLES BUTLER
only about a dozen blossoms. I brought down a
handsome bouquet of flowers with some clusters of
grapes which I took to Mr. Wetmore and Mr.
Peabody last evening. They were delighted with
them. I had arranged with the florist to take
some of the flowers regularly, and he had been up
to see the conservatory, but I cannot make up my
mind to carry out the arrangement. You know
my love for the flowers, and the pleasure It gives
me to have them around me and to give them
away, and the pleasure It gives to those who re
ceive thera. Now that you are away they seem to
be about all I have left in the winter of my dis
content to cheer and to enliven both by asso
ciation and by sense."
" The wind Is howling," he wrote one day in
May, "but nature is most lovely. The Ulacs di
rectly opposite the window were never so beauti
ful, and have a fragrance quite overpowering.
The patches of shrubbery along the carriage road
are variegated with bloom, and the grass and the
evergreen trees are as green as plenty of rain can
make them. The apple trees are loaded and white
with blossoms, and the birds are plenty and sing
ing sweetly. I hear the lowing of cows just com-
337

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
Ing up from the pasture, and shrill cries of the
peacock, the cackling of hens, and the crowing of
cocks, and a robin that seems to delight In the
song that he is singing just by the window. I take
in a glirapse of Burgess's house, and the ' Wayside
Cottage,' and the garden and farm cottages, and
all the familiar scenes and sounds. And yet," he
added, with a touch of pensive sadness which per
vades these letters to the absent ones, " the hu
man voices and human flowers are not here, and
the heart cannot be satisfied with nature, however
lovely and beautiful it may be. It still longs for
companionship." One Sunday in June he wrote : " Just as I sat
down I caught a glimpse of Benjamin's carriage
returning from St. James the Less followed by
Mr. Tinker's. * The garden terrace stretched out
before me never appeared more beautiful ; the
grass, cut close, is very thick and velvety, and of
the deepest and richest green ; the walks in beau-

* Mr. James Tinker, formerly of Manchester, England, was the
American representative of the firm of C. M. Lampson & Co., of
London, England, and for many years held Mr. George Peabody' s
power of attorney in the United States, and assisted in his philan
thropic work. He retired from business in 1873, *"<! ^^ since re
sided in Hampshire, England. 338

OF CHARLES BUTLER
tiful order ; the border lined with roses and ver
benas ; the large vases filled with scarlet geraniums
and coleus leaves ; and all nature calm, quiet, and
fragrant. The trees and shrubbery have grown so
densely that the barn and stable and Fox Meadow
cottage are nearly hidden from view, and you see
only bits of them sufficient to indicate where they
stand. And now the gardener and all his family
(counting seven) have come in from St. James the
Less and passed up the transept * to the cottage,
all looking nice and orderly. I hear nothing but
the music of birds, the hum of insects, and the
rustling of leaves. I see Farraer Jones coming
deliberately along the terrace, to see about going
to the chapel this afternoon, I presume. Now he is
just going away, the subject of our conference be
ing arrangements for going down to the chapel at
a quarter after three for the Sunday-school Festi
val, which I decide shall take place on Saturday
next, the twenty-ninth, mother's birthday, which
comes next to yours, so that I regard the festival
as commemorative of both. I shall request Ben
jamin to represent rae on the occasion in the dis
tribution of strawberries and Ice-cream, books and
* An arched vinery connecting greenhouses on both sides.
339

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
bonbons, and In the address to the children. The
books and bonbons are to be given out in the gar
den at the suraraer house as last year ; the straw
berries and cream up at the Fox Meadow cottage
as last year, or under the maples in front of Ben
jamin's, as may be deemed best. Great expecta
tions among the children already, and they are
diligently preparing for the occasion. Now it is
quarter to six, and I have returned to the summer
house. Benjamin and Ellen and the children, in
cluding Rutgers Crosby and Mrs. Tinker, and
a friend of Benjamin's, are on the terrace beside
the transept watching one of the sweetest of sun
sets. After dinner I went down to the chapel in
tirae to speak to the Sunday-school, and invite
thera to the festival."
Again he wrote on a day in June :
"Ellen (Mrs. Benjarain Franklin Butler, Jr.)sent
up a note urging me to come to dine with them, and
I gladly accepted. They are delighted with their
' Wayside Cottage,' as they call It, and everything
goes on pleasantly with them. Ellen desired me to
send her special love to you and the girls. Inci
dents of Fox Meadow life, though unimportant
in themselves, may possess sorae interest to you
340

OF CHARLES BUTLER
who are so far off and whose thoughts are turned
this way more or less every day. If not every hour.
I took a short walk with Mr. Jones to look at
the wheat and rye fields which are truly beautiful
and give proraise of a heavy crop. On leaving
him I went down Into the garden to be there at
the sunset, which was clear and brilliant and soft
as you have often seen it here. Seated In one of
the large chairs on the terrace, I looked at the
swallows playing on the water and thought how
strange it was that I was there all alone to enjoy
a scene so lovely. I looked around and expected
to hear the sweet and familiar voices of loved ones
whose presence raakes home and whose absence
makes a void which is felt. The birds were thin
ning off, and going, I suppose, to their beds,
though I heard a few yet singing their vespers.
I thought of you at Acqua and questioned myself
what you were doing just now, and my heart
panted to see you all. Now all have gone out of
the garden and I am alone, and how quiet It is
and how lovely — Acqua cannot be more lovely."
Charles Butler loved nature In Its quieter mani
festations much as did Wordsworth, and vitalized
it with human associations. It raeant much to
341

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
him that his children also shared this love. " The
lovely souvenir that came in your letter," he
wrote one Sunday afternoon in February, 1867,
in response to a letter from Divonne, " lies before
me and I have kissed it. The color is perfect, a
bright yellow, and the leaf is a beautiful green.
" Long as there's a sun that sets,
Primroses will have their glory ;
Long as there are violets,
They will have a place in story."
Thus Wordsworth speaks of this sweet flower.
I can hardly beheve that you could have found this
gera out of doors, at the foot of the Jura moun
tains, in the month of February. I am sure it
could not have lived In our climate. I am glad
that you have found,in little Louis, a companion in
your occasional walks, and it must make him
happy to have you notice him. He needs society
and syrapathy as we all do, and none of us can do
without it. Providence has so ordered it. This
mutual dependence which every human soul feels
and Is ever yearning after is ever admonishing and
teaching us that our own happiness is found in
the endeavor to promote the happiness of others.
342

OF CHAR LES BUTLER
" The sun has hid his rays
These many days ;
Will drear}' hours never leave the earth ?
Oh doubting heart !
The stormy clouds on high
Veil the same sunny sky
That soon (for Spring is nigh)
Shall wake the Summer into golden mirth."
So sings Adelaide Ann Proctor, and I am re
minded of It on reading the account In your letters
of the many sunless and rainy days that hung
over you at Divonne. I was glad to hear, by the
way, the very latest report in your letter of the
7th of February, that on Thursday morning, a
fortnight ago last Thursday, there was a little
patch of blue sky showing Itself, proving that the
sun was shining and giving a silver lining to the
clouds. I hope you have since had many sunny
days to enliven and cheer you. The following son
net, by Jones Very, I think, is very beautiful, par
ticularly the last six lines :
NATURE
" ' The bubbling brook doth leap when I come by,
Because my feet find measure with its call.
The birds know when the friend they love is nigh,
For I am known to them both great and small ;
343

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
The flowers that on the lovely hillside grow
Expect me there when Spring their bloom has
given ;
And many a tree and bush my wanderings know,
And e'en the clouds and silent stars of heaven ;
For he who with his Maker walks aright,
Shall be their lord, as Adam was before ;
His ear shall catch each sound with new delight,
Each object wear the dress which then it wore ;
And he, as when erect in soul he stood,
Hear from his Father's lips that all is good.'
" I think you will carry away with you from
Divonne many pleasant recollections. The moun
tain scenery that you have had before you there is
probably unrivalled, and you have gazed so long
and so often on Mount Blanc and his fellow
mountains, that they will ever form a pleasant pic
ture in your meraory. To have seen them so
much during the winter is, I think, a great privi
lege ; and how faraiUar you will have becorae with
the geography of that country. Nyon, Coppet,
Ferney and Geneva will be as faraiUar to you as
Scarsdale and the region round about. I cannot
give you any useful hints about your journey
south to Italy. I hope that you will go by Mar
seilles and Nice and the Cornice, posting, which
344

OF CHARLES BUTLER

I advised you to do from Nice to Genoa, unless
you can secure a coupe In the diligence, and stop
over to suit your convenience and comfort. I
hope you will go directiy to Rome, and find there
good apartments and your cousins, Julia and
Emily and Will Wheeler. This will make It very
pleasant for you all, and it will be quite an epoch
to be in Rome together. How happy I should
be to be there with you ! And now, dear daugh
ter, good night. I am to get up early In the
morning to prepare for our Washington trip.
With love to dear mother and Anna and yourself,
each a portion, I am, your affectionate father."
The family returned safely in 1867 and the
home life was resumed. Mr. and Mrs. Butler
celebrated their golden wedding on October 10,
1 875, at " Fox Meadow." The day was clear and
bright and beautiful. The rooms were decorated
with flowers and autumn leaves. Mr. William
Allen Butler read a poem which he had written for
the occasion.* Auld Lang Syne was sung by the
guests who had assembled to offer their congratu-

*See "Nothing to Wear and Other Poems." By WiUiam
Allen Butler. A New Edition. Harper and Brothers. 1899.
(A Golden Wedding, p. 141.) 345

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
lations, among whom were four who had been
present at the marriage in Walton — Mrs. Butler's
two brothers and her sisters, Mrs. Wheeler and
Mrs. McCagg. It was also on this occasion that
Mr. William Cullen Byrant made his last visit to
" Fox Meadow." For many years it had been
the poet's habit to make all-day excursions to the
place with Mr. Butier in the spring to gather the
early flowers, of which he was so fond.
In 1 877 Anna, the youngest daughter, passed
away. Her health had long been delicate, and It
was her hoped for restoration that had been the
motive for the residence In Europe ten years be
fore. In the year following her loss the home
was again saddened by the death of Mrs. Butler.
In 1 88 1 Mr. Butler made a visit to Europe
with his nephew, William Allen Butler, who as
a boy had traveUed with him forty-three years
before on his first visit to the Old World.
Of the special object of this last trip Mr. Butier
wrote : " Before leaving Geneva, I went to visit
Divonne — at the foot of the Jura Mountains,
about ten miles from Geneva — where Eliza and
the girls spent some seven raonths for Anna's
health In 1866-7. Their letters from that place
346

OF CHARLES BUTLER
had made It very familiar to me. I have always
had the greatest desire to visit it, and how I hoped
and longed that the way might be openea to do
this while they were yet living — but this was not
to be. I had pretty much given up the expecta
tion that I could ever do It. The proposal last
spring to visit Europe seeraed an impossibUity.
In thinking of it, however, this feeUng In regard
to Divonne was revived and was the chief motive
In securing the assent of my mind to the adven
ture. How thankful I now feel to a gracious
Providence that spared to me health and strength
and reason to accompUsh this with so much of
comfort, and with Emily as my companion. To
visit Geneva, Monnetler, Divonne, names famiUar
to me as household words ; to look upon the
mountains, the valleys, the lakes, the rivers and
the wonderfiil scenery which on every side grati
fied their eyes and their imaginations ; to stand
where they stood, to see the things which they saw
and which reconciled them to their enforced ab
sence from home — it was an epoch In my life un
speakably impressive. Nature has voices which
touch the Inmost spirit of the human heart. It
seemed as If memory and association had Invested
347

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
the mountains and the landscape around me with
a Uving power. Need I say, dear sister, that to
the brim my heart was full with the memory of
what had been and never more will be. The loved
ones were not there to welcome me, but in ray
mental vision I could see them going in and com
ing out of the houses they occupied here, and
gazing with ever fresh interest on this scene of
grandeur and beauty which was to them an earnest
of the grander and more beautiful country to
which they have since gone, where they now re
joice in a happiness unspeakable and full of glory."
After Mr. Butler's seventy-fifth birthday he
wrote : " As I grow older and business cares press
heavily on me I feel the weakness that comes from
want of help, and though trying to curtail and limit
engagements and business the very effort seems
at tiraes fruitless. I shall not enter into any new
thing and shall labor to bring to a dose old
things." " Yet shall the righteous hold on his way," said
Job, " and he that hath clean hands shall wax
stronger and stronger;" and so was it In Mr. But
ler's later years. It was a privilege which raany of
the college students will long remember, to hear his
348

OF CHARLES BUTLER
parting words, as with form erect and eyes
undimraed, he was wont as President of the
CouncU of New York University to greet the
successive classes on the Commencement stage.
It was his custom, continued until he was ninety-
three years of age, to give a reception every spring
to the graduating class of Union Theological
Seminary. No one who heard them could ever
forget the simple earnestness of the words which
he spoke on these occasions to those young men
going out to be Christian ministers.
Charles Butler's life, like that of all those who
live to an unusually great age, was saddened
year by year as one and another of his family and
friends passed away; but his house was not left to
him utterly desolate, for one daughter remained
with him, and he retained even in old age the
faculty of making new friends. His interest was
unfailing in the younger men and women coming
on to take up the world's work where the older
generation laid it down. At his table one met
not only well-known men, but younger ones with
their reputations still in the making. He was glad
to have such men about him and he attracted
them to himself by his unusual personahty.
349

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
" He was always a finished gentleman," said
one of his friends, " not in mere polish of man
ner, but in the shining of a genuine kindliness
through his peaceful dignity ; and his fine cour
tesy was noticeable even in his intercourse with
children. Yet with all his suavity and peace and
real heartiness, he was positive In conviction,
definite in opinion, tenacious of purpose, and a
determined antagonist when his convictions were
assailed. As the years whitened his hair, his face
gained even raore of dignity. His manner, full
as always of thoughtful courtesy, while retaining
the touch of formality which had added to its
distinction, took on a softening touch of gracious
ness. He was fond of observing formal occa
sions and remembering his friends at anniversary
seasons In their lives. He was accustomed to give
a reception on his own birthday until the candles
on the birthday cake could scarcely be counted
by the children who were always honored and in
terested guests at " Uncle Charles' party " It
was the habit of a friend of many years' standing
to write greetings in verse — little " Valentines "
she called them — since St. Valentine's Day and
Mr. Butler's birthday came so closely together.
35°

OF CHARLES BUTLER

For the seventy-fifth birthday she wrote this
graceful poem :
" Oh Time, deal gently with my friend
Who gently deals with all,
And on his loved and honored head
Let blessings only fall.
In love to God and love to man
His days pass here below.
And so to reach the Home above
He has not far to go.
But distant be that happy day
That calls him from our view —
Heaven has so many souls like his
And earth, alas ! so few."
Fourteen years later this same lady wrote on
the occasion of the eighty-ninth birthday :
" Life is not measured by the flow of years,
But by high thoughts and noble deeds, whereby
The soul makes its own record and uprears
A monument whereon its age appears —
Not told in years, but deeds that glorify ; —
If by this law we count and measure thine,
How far they would outnumber eighty-nine !
For the ninetieth birthday his nephew, WUliam
Allen Butler, wrote this sonnet :
35'

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
C. B. February fifteenth, 1892. iEt. XC.
" What lavish wealth of years ! fourscore and ten ;
Yet not, for selfish ends, a treasured hoard ;
God's gift of lengthened life, in love outpoured.
And used, in service meet, for fellow men ;
The patriarch's crown, well won, well worn, to-day
Wreathes an unwrinkled brow ; the undimmed eye
Still keeps the radiance of the years gone by,
And the heart's youth, unconscious of decay.
Nine decades safely closed, the tenth displays
Its opening scroll, and lo ! the illumined page.
Athwart the sombre record of old age,
With Love and Hope and Joy is all ablaze :
As though an angel stooped from heaven to write 
' At eventide there shall be morning light ! " "
Never did he seem more genial In his hospital
ity nor happier In having his friends and relatives
about him than on these occasions.
To a wonderful degree Mr. Butler retained In
old age the mental vigor of his youth. It was his
life-long habit to copy upon a scrap of paper
any line, or sentence, or verse, that struck him as
worthy of reraembrance, and to place it on his
table where he could commit it to memory whUe
dressing. This custom he kept up until after he
had reached the age of ninety. A visitor who met
him for the first time in 1893, gives this descrip-
352

OF CHARLES BUTLER
tion : " In the soft light of the middle room
I got my first glimpse of Charles Butler. Six
feet, if an inch, — no less. Straight as an arrow,
and with no halt or Impediment to his step. A
face that would strike the casual beholder as a
wonderful compound of the characteristics of
Washington and Gladstone, yet with not the full
ness of either one — a face full of gentleness, dig
nity, and fascinating mobility. Partially bald,
only ; hair gray and falling straight as an Indian's,
and clipped evenly at the ends. The nose full,
Roraan, and wonderfully indicative of character
and virility. The eyes, well separated, dark
brown, beaming with kindliness, and clear and
bright as In a man of forty years. Mouth clear-
cut, decisive in its lines. With a plain walking
stick, which apparently was not used for support,
Mr. Butler advanced Into the reception room and
saluted his caller. It was Uke meeting a man of
middle age, overflowing with the natural graces
heightened by the highest culture and good feel-
ing. In this year Mr. Butler sat with his fellow
members at the thirtieth anniversary of the Union
League Club, making the first speech of the even-
353

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
ing. He began lightly : " You'd scarce expect
one of my age to speak in public on the stage " ;
but went on in language full of the deepest emo
tion to review the history and achievements of the
Union League Club. In this year also, bearing
easily his ninety-one years, he visited the Exposi
tion In Chicago, where he had the satisfaction of
meeting the son of the Reverend Mr. Porter,
whose labors in Chicago, sixty years before, he had
shared. He had the pleasure, also, strangely
enough, on this visit, of meeting a sister of the lit
tle child at whose funeral in the pioneer days, sixty
years before, these two men had performed the
last simple rites.
Through the next two or three years Charles
Butler's activities continued unabated. Then,
gradually, almost Imperceptibly, his physical force
began to decline. In December, 1896, while
attending an early morning reading by Ian Mac-
Laren* at Union Theological Seminary, he took
a severe cold, from the effects of which he never
*Rev. John Watson, D.D., of the Sefton Park Congregational
Church, Liverpool, England, of which his niece, Mrs. Alfred
Booth, of Liverpool, daughter of Benjamin Franklin Butler, was
an attendant, and by whom Dr. Watson had been accredited to
him. 354

OF CHARLES BUTLER
recovered, though his mental force and his gener
ous enthusiasm In all good works continued un
changed. The last letter in his own hand was
written to the treasurer of the church in his native
town of Stuyvesant enclosing a check toward the
fund for restoring the church building and for
assisting the congregation. Interest in which he
had never ceased to feel since the day three quar
ters of a century before, when he had sent to It
his first contribution. On the 13 th of December,
1 897, his life gently passed away. He was burled
at Woodlawn Cemetery in the family plot by the
side of his wife and the children who had preceded
him. " I cannot feel regret for him," wrote his friend,
E. Lyulph Stanley, " because so beautiful and so
prolonged a Ufe has ended peacefully. Among
the many more worthy tributes to his memory
which you will receive I can only add what Mr.
Carlyle said in giving me the letter of Introduc
tion : ' The truest gentieman I ever knew.' "
He had gone on to the perfect peace of God,
having well done his work on earth. " He had
been," said one, " for longer than two average Ufe-
times an exemplary Christian, a loyal citizen, a
355

THE LIFE AND LETTERS
kindly neighbor, an honest man; and In every
relationship, public and private, had borne the
white flower of a blameless life." He had served
his State, he had served his fellow men. " To
night," said Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall, President
of Union Theological Seminary, " I am as one
standing where two ways meet — a way leading
backward into the past of this Christian Seminary ;
a way leading onward into its future. By the feet
of a noble company has that way of the past been
trodden ; of men who having clear vision, stead
fast faith and godly courage wrought manfully,
not for theraselves alone, but for their successors
also. And of all who trod that way of the past
none was of clearer vision, none of godlier cour
age, none of faith more steadfast than he whose
long and honorable life has ended."
The life here recorded has told Its own story
and needs no words to point its moral. At the
siraple funeral services held In the Brick Presby
terian Church in New York an address was
delivered by his friend the Rev. Dr. Marvin R.
Vincent. His closing words may fitly end this
record :
" This Is not an occasion for raourning.
356

OF CHARLES BUTLER
What more could his best friends ask for hira.
He has rounded out to the full the tale of human
years. He has made the world the richer and
better by his life. He has deserved his honors
and has received them. He has come to the end,
and has been gathered to his fathers and to the
dear departed of his own household. In the com
munion of the Catholic Church, in the confidence
of a certain faith, in the comfort of a reasonable,
religious and holy hope, and at peace with God.
This morning we turn again to our old, daily
tasks, and the ferment and roar of the great city
fill the air as they did yesterday and will to-mor
row, but the task and the turmoil are alike over
for him, and his rest will be broken no more for
ever ; and as I think of that great and perfect
peace into which the long stream of his life has
eraerged, there corae to my mind the words of
one of those rich old Uturgies : * In the tabernacles
of shade and rest. In the harbor of life where
griefs, infirmities, groans and miseries fly, and
where the weary and terapest-tost rest together :
in the life that knoweth not old age, the good
things that pass not away, the delights that have
no end.' " THE END