by unmistakable implication a declaration that they did not recognize the authority of the President of the United States; and it is a fact not generally known, that this omission in the service was supplied by the minister’s regularly announcing, “A few moments will now be spent in silent prayer.”  Who can doubt the character and burden of this voiceless petition, when it is understood that it was the successor to an audible appeal—­which General Butler suppressed—­to Heaven for Jefferson Davis and the success of his cause?

* * * * *

Another of the General’s strongest characteristics is his firm faith, his ardent hopefulness.  Never have I known him despondent as to the final result of this war.  He believes it to be a struggle for principle and right, and therefore his confidence in the ultimate success of our arms never falters.  Frequently disheartened myself at our apparent ill-fortune, I have listened to his cheerful predictions and expressions of unflagging trust, and have come away strengthened and confident.

After our return to the North, an ex-mayor of Chicago was introduced to the General at the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York.  It was just at a time when our cause looked very gloomy.  The Mayor was evidently much depressed by the indications of national misfortune, and in a tone of great despondency asked the General,—­

“Do you believe we shall ever get through this war successfully?”

“Yes, Sir,” the General answered, very decidedly.

“Well, but how?” asked the Mayor.

“God knows, I don’t; but I know He does, so I am satisfied,” the General replied.

And in this reply was contained an admirable expression of that earnest faith in the inevitable triumph of good over evil which forms so prominent a part of his nature.

* * * * *

In this short sketch I have either entirely avoided or merely hinted at the traits which have given General Butler a world-wide distinction.  His wonderful energy, his sagacity, his courage, his great executive and administrative ability, and, more than all, the marvellous comprehension, which, at the firing of the first gun at Fort Sumter, enabled him to grasp the subject of this Rebellion in all its magnitude and bearings, and in the means and measures for its suppression, are attributes made familiar to the world as “household words” by his unprecedented administration in New Orleans.

The story of the years of experience crowded into those eight short months of our sojourn in that city is worthy the pen of our country’s ablest historian, and would fill volumes.

To relate all the instances of General Butler’s kindness and generosity, his forbearance and magnanimity, while in New Orleans, would require more than all the space between the covers of the “Atlantic.”