Butler on a spree.
--The Northern press is not half satisfied with the brilliant achievement of Gen. Butler and Commodore Stringham off Hatteras. It wants them to keep at it, and never stop to eat, drink, or rest, night or day, until the entire South is ravaged. One of the leading Northern papers discourses in the following amiable strain:‘ What followed? "Did the intrepid Butler and the gallant Stringham" go on with the good work? Did they send their prisoners home and spread consternation along the coast? Did they strike at any one of a dozen important points that were defenceless before them? Did thy attempt to capture the enemy's shipping in Pamlico sound? Did they stampede the South Carolina troops from Virginia by burning a little coal and raising a smoke off the South Carolina coast? Did they press their advantage and obtain a foothold on the main land of North Carolina?
Not at all. The first thing we beard of Gen. Butler, he was in Washington and serenaded, and in the hands of the most superb and vociferous of blatherskites, Gen. Hiram Walbridge, of New York, and he was making a speech and receiving the glorifications of his sublime heroism and Cæsarian exploits by the populace. And the next thing he was in Boston. with the ‘"hub of the universe"’ revolving around him; and then he was enjoying a magnificent reception at his home in Lowell, where he made his appearance (‘"lo, the conquering hero come!"’) amid the braying of brass bands, and the roar of artillery; and he made another speech, acknowledging the honor — flattering reception — never effaced from his heart — proudest day of his life — and all that sort thing. Where he is just now we don't know, and, to tell the truth, if he is on a speech-making expedition, don't care. Charitable people will excuse him by saying he visited home to see his family. It happens that his family had been living with him all summer at Fortress Monroe, in a nice yellow brick house, surrounded by pleasant trees.--Stringham, too, had a reception, and made a speech at Brooklyn. Could not anybody less than a Commodore have served as an escort for the high-toned chivalry who were made prisoners at Hatteras? We are glad to see that Stringham is again as far South as Fortress Monroe. It is possible that he may reach Hatteras in time to prevent the rebels from retaking the position and mounting their ten-inch Columbiad. The panic along the Southern coast is quieted by the assurance, which the Southern press is enabled to give, that there is no danger, as "Bombasts Butler" and "Old Stringham" are "off on a big spree."
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