Page:Confederate Veteran volume 26.djvu/459

 THE MAURY. [Continued from page 373]

him to become a Frenchman and accept service under Napoleon, but he would not. He returned to England [after building colonies in Mexico and serving as Imperial Commissioner of Immigration-wmm] and opened in London a school of instruction in electric torpedoes; and Swedish, Dutch, and other officers went through his courses between June and August, 1866. The different governments whose officers received instruction rewarded him adequately. Even Germany, with Sweden and Russia, had sent agents to be instructed by Maury in the use of his electric torpedo for harbor, coast, and land defense. He wrote the Consul General of Wurtteniberg in June, 1866: "With small cost and short notice the mountain passes and strongholds of Wurtteniberg may be so effectually defended from invasion and attack as to drive an enemy back or keep him at bay. The operator need not be stationed near the scene; he may be at a distance of several miles when he discharges the exploding spark. He can by the same touch and instantaneously explode any number that may be required. He can at any time send a telegraphic message through his wires and feel that the powder is dry and assure himself that all is well,

"It looks mighty like American genius—Maury's—is at work in Germany's 'Berthas' and Von Tirpitz's U-boats, or submarines. It is known that they used the Wright brothers' ideas in their aircraft, and why not Maury's in the other two modes of warfare?"

"BEXJ.IMIX F. BUTLER AND JEFFERSON DAVIS." IIV E. POLK JOHNSON, LOUISVII.I.F., KV. lu the Veteran for July appears an article by H. T. Owen, of Richmond, Va., entitled "Benjamin F. Butler and Jefferson Davis," the chief interest of which is found in several re- markable statements. Describing the Charleston Convention of 18(10. at which Stephen A. Douglas was nominated for President, the writer, referring to the contests over the plat- form. sa^ that Butler offered one which was finally adopted. adding this statement: "He had written it four years before for the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati in 1856, and on it Buchanan was elected President, and he offered it now without omitting the cross of a 't' or the dot of an 'i.' " Unfortunately. 1 hao not at hand a copy of the platform adopted at Cincinnati and at Charleston, but shall take the lib- erty to believ* that Mr. t)wen has been misinformed until the contrary is shown by an examination of the two documents. lie further says: "I think it well to state here that Ben Butler wrote every platform for his party from Andrew Jackson in 18.^2 to (irover Cleveland in 1884." No more [political misinformation than the above statement was ever
 * rovvded into three lines of type. In the first place, Andrew

Jackson was not nominated at a convention for the presidency, tnd there was no platform adopted. His nomination was by leeu a delegate to a convention, had one been held. The irst national Democratic convention ever held for the nomi- lation of a candidate for President was held at Baltimore }n the 29ih day of May, 1844, when Mr. Polk was named for hat high office. There is a tradition that no platform was idopted, the candidates of the contending parties being deemed )latforms in themselves. Those who remember the contest for the presidency in 884, when Mr. Cleveland was elected, will readily recall that 3en Butler was one of the opposing candidates on the labor ticket, and it would be absurd to believe that he had written the platform of a party which he opposed. For years after the war Butler was the most venomous of Republicans and in the House one of the coterie of Thad Stevens and his followers, who sought to fasten the grip of negro equality upon the South. That in those years he appeared in a Dem- ocratic convention or wrote a Democratic platform is un- thinkable and cntirclv unbelievable. ADIEU. Bright be the stars that guide thee o'er the deep. Gentle the winds that lull thee to repose. Fond as a mother's kiss in infant's sleep. Soft as the fallen dew on folded rose. l"ar through the night where gleams the glittering trail Of that proud bark that bears thee on its wing. Protecting angels guard the swelling sail, . d o'er its path their loving pinions fling. Bright hours be thine where'er thy steps shall roam, Through vine-clad France or 'neath Italian skies, Wooed by the music of the Switzer's home, Where Alpine peaks in snowy grandeur rise. .dieu ! Adieu ! On every wandering breeze. That oft at eve shall to thy lattice steal. The poet wafts thee o'er the slumbering seas A true heart's prayer for all thy future weal. The harp sings mournful now in Southland halls. My spirit broods in sadness o'er the scene ; In mocking gleams the golden sunlight falls, .' d ruin glares through spring's bright robes of green. Yet 'mid the beauties of that blissful sphere Where laic the bridal blooms were twined for thee. Earth's rarest treasures crowd each passing year — Be all thy life harmonious minstrelsy. (This poem was written by Capt. Samuel H. Buck, of Xatchez, Miss., and dedicated to a dear friend, Mrs. Minnie McXairy Clifton, after her marriage and departure on a European bridal tour in 1869. She had been a belle of Nash- ville. Tenn. In this poem is exhibited that sentiment which is so typically Southern. Captain Buck was a soldier as well as poet. Born in Kentucky of 'irginia parents, he entered the Confederate army in April, 1861, as a member of Company .■, 1st Kentucky Cavalry, commanded by his kinsman. Col. (later Gen.) Ben Hardin Helm. After the battle of Shiloh lie was promoted to captain in the adjutant general's depart- iiKin and was on the staff of General Whitfield during the fighting around Richmond, Va. Early in 1863 he was sent by President Davis with dispatches to General Smith, com- manding the Trans-Mississippi Department, and was there assigned to duty on the staff of General Holmes, command- ing the District of .Arkansas. He was taken prisoner in the battle of Arkansas Post and sent to Johnson's Island. After being exchanged he served as assistant adjutant general on the staff of General Magruder, then in command of the Dis- trict of Arkansas, to the end of the war. He had an active part in tjiat brilliant campaign in which the Confederate armies under Gen. E. Kirby Smith destroyed the armies of Banks, Steele, and McCook, and when the war ended had participated in more battles than he was years old. He went to New Orleans in July, 1865, and resumed the study of law, but abandoned this for commerce and became prominently connected with the cotton business. He is now the senior
 * lie State of Tennessee, in accordance with the custom of
 * hat day. Then Ben Butler was too young in 1832 to have