Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-31

49,
ton received by him, Gen. LEE said:
l think it wiser, moreover, not to keep
open the sores of war, but to follow the
example ofthose nations who endeavOred
to obliteratethe marks of civil strife, to
commit to Oblivion the feelings il engen-
dered.
And even CHARLES SUMNER, in May,
1862, offered the following resolution
in the Senatei
RESOLVED, That in the efforts now making
for the restoration of the Union and the
establishment of peace throughout the
country, il is ineXpedient that the names
of the victories obtained over our fellow
citizens should be placed on the regimen
tai colors of the United States.
It is certainly true that the very
minute the war closed there was a
general anxiety for universal pqnpilia-
ton, and that the whole past should
20 the utmost be buried in amity and
fraternity. . And, if it was possible
there should be any distinction among
the good people of the country, this
desire was most intensely felt and
most earnestly expressed by officers
and soldiers Of the two great contend
ing b~elligerents. What could he less
desirable than flags, memorials and
monuments, Haunted in the faces of the
combatants, and intended to perpetu-
ate r~ecOllections more or less pitt6r
70 all, of a civil war which there were
abundant reasons why all should de-
plore. 1t was felt to be a great mis-
fortune to the country, under such
circumstances that there should be a
horde of politicians, an army of con-
tractors, a body of shoddyites, a mass
of malignants, the lockers on, and
Vultures and debris of the war, who
now rose up to further their selfish
ends by ~Obstructing a complete pacif-
cation. No man can doubt that but
for this we should have had the bless
ings of the most perfect accord and
peace of all our sections and peoples
within a twelve-mOnth, and that at
this day we should have been far adj
vanced on the road to ultimate pros
perity. 1t is fortunate at last that q
! stage of progress has been reached in
which we may hope these evil infuen-
ces are so far at an end, and the resolve
of the country for peace has become
so determined, that we may trust an
adjustment and settlement has come.
| There has not been a moment when
| the South was not with almost unani-
nous voice anxious for it. The Age,
commenting on the proposed Gettys-
burg assemblage, and with reference
to the delay of ~pacifcation, says:
The word given out by the Radical
leaders was keep up the war" They
AVE now kept il up nearly five years,
after the surrender of the South and its
armies; and they will keep il up, if they
can, for fifty years, and bequeath il as a
good inheritance to their Radical progeny.
The Radical politicians are like the ras-
cally doctor who did not instantly pull
the thorn out of the patients foot, because
| he would then get well Immediately, and
want no more 'doctOring." We havedOnc
and we shall do all We can to get the pe0-
4 pie to dismiss the vile political
I duacks whose selfish aim is 20 keep open
the sores of civil war. They have been
healed promptly in other countries. which
were not cursed with such a crew Of sell
fish, prOfligate, unpatriOtic miscreants as
J the clique of Radicals who rave now, for
some wears, ruled their party in Congress.
! The eFelt civil wars of England were end
J ed by a prompt and complete reconcilia-
1 ton. A marriage united the rival houses
7 - Na-V- aWl v.onaHa nwI oil fIas- 80
tisians. The restoration of Charles the II
was attended by acts of oblivion that
covered nearly all cases. The most strik-
ing instance of modern times was the pa
! cihcation of France by Napoleon, as first
Consul. AllisOn's history says: ''The
rapid and complete paciticatiOn Of La
Nendee by Napoleon proves how much
the long duration Of its bloody
and disastrous war; had been owing to the
cruelty and oppression of the Republican
authorities" Still more to the point is
the account given by the Marchioness de
Ia Roche Jaquelein, who shared to the last
the fortunes of the ROyalists in La Ven
dee. She says Nothing could exceed
the attention Shown 10 the Vendeans lib
Grated from prison, or applying for am
Hcsty; n it was even forbid, on pain OF
three days imprisonment, TO call them
! b~rigands, IN the quaint language OF the
day, the representatives ordered that they
shonld be called erring brethern 0reres
egares.y7
Would to Heaven the language QI
experience might be needed, and the
lessons of wisdom treasured up by all
our people. 1t is not by meetings on
battle grounds, and the revival OF
painful recolleetions, which are neees-
STATED by such an assemblage, that
any good is at present to be done to
the country. 1t is impossible by
meeting ON common ground, which
would be more crowded with specula.
tors, adventures and shoddy, than by
the impoverished officers and soldiers,
the victims of the fray, that fraterni-
cation should be accomplished. The
many hearts, panied with the retro
spect, would rather seek the sanctua.
ries of silence, and strive forever to
forgive on both sides, what, on neither
they can ever forget. They need mel.
ther conventions, nor monuments, MOI
volition, to bring to their mind what
is already so indelibly inscribed on
the memory as to be imperishable
1t is sufficient without external aids
that the recollection cannot be oblite-
rated. The Age concludes as follows:
The battles of the war will live in the
memeryo of this generation, and history
will carry them down to future genera
tions, and they win become subjects OF
common interest TO the whole country.
The historical retrospect that We made
inst now recalls TO us how the wars oi
York and Lancaster are painted with
grand impartiality by the great English
dramatist in his series Of historical plays.
No doubt in Shakespeare's day the de-
scendants of the men who fought at B0s-
worth field looked on as complaeently as
we do at Richard the III and Henry OF
Lancaster, fighting it with b~roadswords
on the stage. Mr.. Boxer or Col. FitZga-
raid may~yet put "Gettysburg " ina play.
It is worthy Of the best illustration that