Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-01-17
CEMETERIES.

The reports ofthe commissioners appoint
ed-under the act of March II, 1867, to In
vestigate the transactions relating to certain
cemeteries are herewith presented.
The work at the Gettysburg cemetery is
progressing but with less expedition than
was contemplated, in consequence of the
difficulty Of procuring such blocks of marble
as were required for statuary.
The appropriation Of three Thousand dol
lars to the cemetery at Ahtietam has been
withheld, as it appears from the act of in
corporation by the Legislature of Maryland
and the resolutions of the board of trustees,
that the rebel dead are to be inferred within
the enclosure and to be honored with the
same memorials as the Union soldiers who
are there buried
The custom has ever prevailed to special
ly honor those in death who won special
honor By meritorious lives. The monu-
ments reared to the memory of departed
worth bear ample testimony that our people
have not been unmindful of this custom.
But where were such memorials ever erec-
ted for men whose actions were infamous,
and who perished in an ignoble cause Who
would glorify the treason of Benedict Ar
mold with such monuments as have arisen
to the memory of Washington Who would
0hEG 10 AloUiL NlIG AOyGN nGaAb VI btltN nhiAOI
by proposing to lay, side by side, in the
same sepulchre, the body of the assassin
Booth and that of Abraham Lincoln? No
loyal man would take the heaFtless Wirz
and the other demons that presided over
the prison dens of cruelty, starvation and
death, and the executed c0nspirators against
the nations chief, and deposit them in the
same tomb with the patriotic men who sac
ri6ced their lives In battling for tthe right
against the wrong. Yet il Is proposed
that the loyal States construct cemeteries
for their heroic dead, and then desecTate
them by the burial therein of those who
prosecuted against the country agwarfare
which Tor its diabolieal ferocity is without
parallel it the history of civilization, and
even to erect monuments to their memory.
Garry out this purpose and what induce
ment can be hereafter offered to the loyal
citizen to fight against treason, when he
feels assured that should he fall in battle the
traitors grave viii be honored equally with
his own?
The cause of the Union was holy one,
while that which opposed it must have been
its converse To one side alone the glory
belongs. This was not a war of nations but
of treason against loyalty. 1t was contest
of rebels who would have drained the life's
blood of the government which had nurtur-
ed and protected them, against its patriotic
sons who fought to save it from destruction:
1t was war carried on by the defenders and
promoters of oppression against the friends
and lovers Of liberty and their country s in
tegrity. l
While there is no reasonable objection to
giving decent sepulture eyenato the rebel
dead, those who consider them deserving Of
honorable testimonials may bestow them.
It is our duty to render honor only to whom
we believe honor is due. M 81
TO. DECEASED SOLDIERS OF THE
MEXICAN WAR. ~
The commissioners appointed under an
act Of the Legislature, approved April %,
1858, ito contract for, and superintend the
erection of a monument to the memory of
citizens Of Pennsylvania who were slain or
lost their lives in the late war with Mexico,
have contracted for the erection of q nonr-
ment, ina prominent portion eftbe Capitol
grounds, and the work is progressing as
rapidly as circumstances will IpeHmit The
appropriation of Sc, 000s to which. the COM
.F