Conflicting claims.
It would seem an easy matter to settle the conflicting claims of the various Yankee candidates for the Presidency. Whichever of them can show the biggest pile made out of the war ought to win the game. Tried by this standard, Butler, alias the Beast, is clearly entitled to the Chief Magistracy.--He has stolen more money than any other three Yankees together, and is believed to be now the richest man on the continent.--Who ever heard of a gang of pickpockets failing to place the biggest rascal among them at the head of their association?The North has conducted the war on purely thieving, robbing, and plundering principles, and Butler is in all these respects its representative man. Let modest merit have its reward. Whilst other Generals have been making a great fuss about gunpowder and glory, he has been quietly and unobtrusively picking pockets and robbing disloyal citizens. Lincoln, Chase, and even Fremont and Cameron, are not to be compared to the great thief of Yankeedom.--Let Butler the Beast have his reward.
