The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-07 00:00:00

DECORATION DAY.

The return of the May flowers is promptly followed by
preparations for the annual ceremonies of "Decoration
Day." The thirtieth day of May has been selected for
the floral offering, and the order of General Logan sets
forth the character of the commemoration and the services
app,ropriate to it. He exhorts all departments, districts,
posts, and comrades of the Grand Army, wherever dis-
persed throughout the land, to unite in the proper observ-
ance of the day, and invites all communities and persons
whose prayers and aid sustained the nation's soldiers in
the dark days of the war "to lend their aid- and as-
sistance in strewing the pure 'garlands of spring
over the mounds which mark the country's
altar and fold in rest eternal our martyred
dead."' This is the plea of a soldier for the memory of
his fallen comrades. But it can add nothing to, the solem-
nity of the occasion. It can inspire the popular heart
with no fresh sentiment of patriotism. In the course of
time this annual order may come to be regarded as a mere
matter of form, and what was once the suggestion of a
new ceremony become the stereotyped announcement of
an established public fe;tival. This is the case with all
things that happen to meet the popular heart. They may
be never so humble in their origin, they may be due to the
suggestion of an individual or to the fraternal sympathy
of a sect or an association ; yet, if they meet any long-felt
impulse in the human heart, they are soon lifted out of
the exclusive charge or the few and consecrated by a
nation's care. This is one of the essential merits of
" Memorial Day." Its observance is a spontaneous
labour of love on the part of patriots all over the country.
It is the fulfilment of a self-imposed duty. The
suggestion for an annual holiday of that kind
came to a people who felt that the boisterous
character of most of our public celebrations
needed to be supplemented by something that would more
fitly express the deeper and more serious feelings of the
nation. It offered a service beautiful, touching, impres-
sive. It was the just tribute to the thousands of martyrs
who are sleeping in so many cemeteries and on so many
battle-grounds. It afforded a yearly occasion for recalling
the best memories of the war, and for renewing in an
earnest and solemn manner the noble sentiments it
inspired. A day which has these claims to the
favour and respect of a people will not go un
observed. Nor should the good sense and fraternal
spirit of the organisation to which we owe the day go un-
recorded. Had the Grand Army of the Republic no other
objects than the annual decoration of the graves of fallen
soldiers, this alone would establish its value to the coun-
try. The fear that it will perpetuate the passions and
animosities of the war rests upon an entire misapprehen-
sion of the character of the Ameriean soldier. The soldier
is proverbially the most generous of men. The vindictive
element in the defenders of the Union has yet to appear.
On-the contrary it is a matter of history that the earliest
efforts at reconciliation and harmony came from the sol-
diers on both sides. The northern soldiers fought with
vigour and determination while the war was in progress,
but were generous and forgiving victors. The home guard
were bloodthirsty in their cries for vengeance, but the
veterans fought for peace, and appreciated its value when
it came.—Boston, Advertiser.

An American paper says that the Paris street-boys
have invented a new game for petty gambling that will
probably be imported into this country. As it is prac-
tised in France there is a political significance in the re-
sult of the game, for Gavroche is a politician as soon as he
can toddle across a street. The game is known as Pl -
biscite, and is played in this way :—Two coins are placed
on each other and a marble is dropped on them in such a
way as to cause them to jump and turn, and the bet is
laid on " heads " or " tails " for both the coins. When
both the sous shew the eagle's head it of course indicates
the triumph of the irreconcilables, but if on the other
hand Napoleon's portrait is exhibited on both the pieces,
the supremacy of the empire is established.

LETTER FROM MR. PHILLIPS.—The following
is the letter of Wendell Phillips, which was read at the
meeting of the Indian Commission in New York held
recently :—" Boston, May 17, 1870. Dear Sir,--I deeply
regret that I cannot be with you on Wednesday, regarding
I th meeting as I do as one of paramount importance.
Evsry American ought to blush at this nation's treatment
of the Indians. Reckless, treacherous, and bloodthirsty,
we descend to all the cruel methods of warfare which we
charge the Indians with using—often an unjust charge—
only to find ourselves foiled after all, at our own game.
The hands of Sheridan are foul with Indian blood, shed
by assassins who acted under his orders and received his
approval. If he filched success by such baseness, ruffians
might fancy we had gained something. But after
dragging the flag through this infamy he is whipped by
his numerically contemptible foe. Still he is no worse
than others. Many of our frontier commanders have
shewn themselves miscreants—and worsted, out-generalled
miscreants at that. We have been obliged, after all the
shame they load us with, to buy that peace which their
clumsy swords, rusted with innocent blood, failed to
secure. Of course brave men are always just, fair and
merciful. lam for an immediate entire and permanent
change of our Indian policy. Make them citizens, hold
them responsible to our civil -law, and secure to them its
protection. Call home the cheats and cut-throats, who
only exasperate and abuse them. Treat them like men.
Do justice, it you expect to receive it. Shew them civili-
sation before you expect them to copy it. Were they
to-day the brutes some men fancy them, they could fairly
say, We have only imitated the examples you have set
us for a hundred years.' Let us reform this altogether.—
Yours, Wskunid, F, Tappan,"