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[159] me in an honorable warfare, or even in the prosecution of a rebellious war in an honorable manner, shall call upon me for protection against the nameless horrors of a servile insurrection, they shall have it; and from the moment that call is obeyed, I have no doubt we shall be friends, and not enemies.

The possibility that dishonorable means of defence are to be taken by the rebels against the Government I do not now contemplate. If, as has been done in a single instance, my men are to be attacked by poison, or, as in another, stricken down by the assassin's knife, and thus murdered, the community using such weapons may be required to be taught, that it holds within its own border a more potent means for deadly purposes and indiscriminate slaughter than any which it can administer to us.

Trusting that these views may meet your Excellency's approval, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,


The letter of Governor Andrew was not written for publication: whether the reply of General Butler was written for that purpose, the reader can judge for himself. To the surprise of the Governor, both letters appeared in the public prints shortly after the reply of General Butler was received by him. General Butler gave as one reason for the publication, that the Boston correspondent of the New-York Tribune had referred to the correspondence in one of his letters to that paper; and stated that the correspondent had received information concerning them from the Governor's private secretary, (Colonel A. G. Browne. This charge was emphatically denied by the secretary, in a letter addressed to General Butler, and he also obtained from the Tribune correspondent a letter denying, in the fullest and broadest sense, that he had given him the information. Copies of these letters are on file in the executive department in the State House.

The letters of Governor Andrew and General Butler are interesting and important as an exhibition of the sentiments of the two gentlemen respecting the proper course to pursue in regard to the slave population in a rebellious State, and also as to what was the proper course to pursue in the exigency which then existed. The Government had called for troops to proceed without delay to Washington, which was threatened by

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