THE ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1128, 26 June 1867, Page 6

THE ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN.

NEW Yobk, March 30. A eehaheable episode Las arisen in Congress. It was brought about by the acrimonious personal antagonism which has existed since the beginning of the Session between Mr. Bingham and ex-General Butler. The other day Butler accused Mr. Bingham of having the blood of Mrs. Surratt upon his hands, [to the great astonishment of the whole Republican party, who are rather desirous of keeping this little family scandal to themselves. Butler is an enfant terrible of their ranks. He blurts out all their secrets, revives all their intcrnecine disputes, and. has altogether damaged their prestige within, the past few weeks more than all the Democrats put together. Mrs. Surratt, it will be remembered, was one of the persons hanged by order of a military commission for alleged complicity in the murder of President Lincoln. The evidence against her was weak, and facts which, have subsequently come to light have all but demonstrated her innocence. She was, indeed, the mother of one of the conspirators; but there is no proof that she knew anything whatever of their plans. The Republican party strongly desire to keep the Surratt affair out of sight. But their new ally in the House has dragged it forth, and a very surprising story has been laid before the public. But there is some thing more mysterious than, this to be accounted for. The diary has been handed over to the Judiciary Committee, which is collecting evidence for the impeachment of President Johnson, Eighteen pages of it have been cut out with a knife, 210 one knows by whose hand. The abstracted pages contained that portion of the diary which narrated the events pycceiltnj the assassination, and consequently they would be of the greatest importance in clearing up the question who were the originators and abettors of the plot. Butler says that in the latter part of the diary there is a sentence within a few hours before Booth died. It rans . "I have endeavoured to cross the Potomac five times, but failed. I propose to return, to Washington, and give myself up, and clear myself from this great crime." How could he clear himself? By denouncing others? That is Butler's insinuation, and I need scarcely ada that by the " others " Butler means President Johnson. The insinuation is base and cowardly ; but it does not affeet the credibihty of the rest of the statement. These areßutler's own words: "If we had only the advantage of all the testimony, Mr. Speaker, we might have been able to find who it was that changed Booth s purpose

from capture to assassination ; who it was that coulcl profit by assassination, wlio could jiot profit by capture and abduction of the President, who it was expected by Booth would succeed to Mr. Lincoln if the knife made a vacancy." Butler's statement, made in the House of on the 20th instant, is that Mrs. Surratt was perfectly innocent, and that the proofs of her innocence were in the hands of the Government or the prosecution at the time of the trial. "When Booth was shot, a diary was taken from his pocket by Conger, the otlicer in command of the detachment which discovered him. In this diary," says Butler, — " Booth had set down day by day his plans his thoughts, his motives, and the execution of liis plans. Everything else found in his pockets —a tobacco pipe, a pocket compass. ;i a spur— were produced during the trial of Mrs. Surratt. but the diary was withheld. At w hose direction was this done ?" These words assume that Booth's diary ■would have proved Mr. Johnson's complicity in the plot, and yet it is admitted that Butler never saw the missing pages. But the questions he put in the House ought to be answered by some one. Who mutilated the book, and for what reasons? Why was it so Studiously kept back at the Surrat trial? on this second point Mr Bingham was able to give the House a little information. He acted as JudgeAdvocate at the trial, and he was acquainted with all the circumstances connected with it. He states that lie " never saw any memorandum of any kind of J. Wilkes Booth, or any writing indicating any plan by which lie was to carry out his projected conspiracy." No one doubts Mr. Bingham's word, and the only conclusion is that the Government withheld the diary for its own purposes. What those purposes were we are left to conjecture. I have heard it said that the book came into the possession of the Government in a mutilated condition, and that Wilkes Booth himself cut out the mysterious pages. This is not believed by the Democratic party, at any rate, and their journals insist with great energy ■upon an explanation. Decidedly, the Eadicals do not thank Butler for having raised this din about their ears. "This matter ought never to have come here at all, and now it ought not to go any further," said Tliaddeus Stevens yestcvday. But the public will not forget it.—Times, April lltli.