throats to give the gallant hero the reception which was so justly due him. The coup d'oeil presented on the General’s appearance was superb. Parquet, dress circle, and galleries united in most uproarious cheers, and men seemed almost beside themselves with demonstrative zeaL Handkerchiefs and hats were waved, and the uproar continued for several minutes. Silence being restored, Senator Morgan introduced Maj.-Gen. Butler to His Honor Mayor Opdyke, as follow*: SPEECH OF SENATOR MORGAN. Mr. Mayor,—It affords me the greatest pleasure to introduce to you the most efficient officer in the United States service, Maj.-Gen. Benjamin F Butler. [Loud and continued cheers.] Gen. Butler advanced towards the Mayor, who cordially took his hand and then addressed him as follows : SPEECH OF THE MAYOR. General Butler,—The gentlemen upon whose invitation you are here, have charged me with the agreeable duty of bidding you welcome to our city, and expressing to you the warm-hearted greeting, not merely of those present, but of every loyal heart in this loyal metropolis. Our citizens have long desired the privilege of testifying to you personally their great respect for your character, and their high appreciation of your public services. In their name I thank you .for having now accorded them this privilege. They have watched your public career during the present ■war with a constantly increasing interest and admiration. They saw you among the first to abandon an honorable and lucrative profession, and voluntarily take up arms in defence of a government you loved, although it was administered by those whose election you had earnestly opposed. They felt that ‘no stronger evidence could be adduced of an exalted patriotism. Your first theatre of military service was in Maryland, a State then trembling in the balance between loyalty and treason, and in whose metropolis soldiers of the Union had been assassinated on their way to the protection of the capital. At that critical period you were fortunately placed in command, first at Annapolis and afterward at Baltimore; and it is, perhaps, not too much to say that it was owing to your judicious management, in which you wisely blended moderation with firmness, that Maryland escaped the criminal folly of secession. At air events, you prrmipny subdued the outbreaks of treason in that State, and thus rendered it safe for our troops to pass through the city of Baltimore without molestation* You were next placed in command at Fortress Monroe, where you made the sagacious discovery that slaves were contraband of war. In view of the tenderness with which our Government and its military commanders had up to that time treated the institution of slavery, this discovery must be regarded as one of the most valuable of the war, and therefore one which entitles you to the public gratitude. It quietly but most effectively divested the ” divine institution ” of all its sanctity in the presence of war. From Fortress Monroe you were transferred to a wider field of usefulness, by being placed in command of the Department of the Gulf. Your friends knew that in a position so environed with difficulties as this, no ordinary commander could hope to acquit himself with credit. You soon found yourself, with a handful of men, remote from your base of supplies and from succor, in the metropolis of the Confederacy, where the population, with few exceptions, was intensely hostile to the National Government; and the moment they discovered the fidelity and ability with which you upheld the interests of the Government, all their intensity of hatred was transferred to you personally. They grossly misrepresented your acts; they wilfully misinterpreted your language; they heaped on you the vilest epithets, and in every conceivable way labored to cover your name with infamy. The rebel government and the rebel presa throughout the Confederacy took up the theme and repeated thes'e slanders with every variation that ingenuity could suggest. The rebel chief, in his annual message, even went so far as to brand you as an outlaw, and to decree your execution in case you should fall into the hands of his military forces. They also conferred on you, I believe, the exclusive honor of offering a large reward for your head. Nor were the malignant slanders I have referred to uttered only by the rebels. Their sympathizers at the North and throughout Europe joined in the refrain, and reechoed their bitter denunciations. Abuse from the bad, like praise from the good, affords presumptive evidence of merit. Hence, if our Government or its true friends had been ignorant of your policy, they might
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