New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-02-11
PUNERAL HONORS.

FUNERAL HONORS.
One of DR.. Southey's forgotten eciogucs oo
gins with, "Whom are they ushering from INC
"world, with all this long parade and pomp Oh
death 9"-and from the response IL appears
that the funeral is that of an alderman VINO
died worth his plum. Those of our readers VINO
bove n taste for such grimly brilliant displays
have found full descriptions in our columns Oh
the bonors paid upon this side of the ocean TO
tbe dust of George Peabody. For our own
mart as taste is licensed, we cannot but regret
that the obsedues of this excellent and gen
erous man were not conducted with something
less of parade, and with observances more IN
dicatve of his peaceful and private career
The stately shipofwar, the little fleet OF armed
vessels which foated in attendance, the thun-
derous salutes which poured from the
"adamantine lips' of gigantic ordnance, the
scenic arrangement of the chamber OF state
are we wrong in the suggestion that these are
not tributes which would have commended
themselves to the simple tastes of the departed
merchant could he have fOreseen themf Those
of his last thoughts which were not given to
the amelioration of the condition of the poor
were bestowed upon more than princely pro-
and a train of school children following
the bier as mOurners would have been lar
more appropriate than bristling regiments OF
infantry moving with the precision OF battle
array, as if they were following to the sepul-
cher master of the bloody art of war. 1t Is
a singular proof either of the poverty OF our
resources or the perversOn of our taste, that
we are unable to project and carry out public
displays even oH the more peaceful character,
without profusb and most inappropriate waste
of gunpowder. If Mr. George Peabody had
been the hero OF battles-rOyal by sea, or of
great and decisive engagements by land, the
etiquette of his profession would have required
his companions -in-arms to pay him the usual
professional tribute But the excellent man
was dealer in stocks. 1t would have made
no difference, we suppose, in the display, If he
had been poet.
If some stranger unacquainted with the
truth had seen "the funeral car" which was
used at Portland, a miracle of somber magnlil-
cence, fourteen feet long and seven feet WIDE
ten feet high, draped with black broadcloth,
and with black velvet, silver-fringed, decorated
with white tasses and black rosettes, and sur
mounted by a stuffed eagle. the whole being
drawn by six magnificent horses caparisOned
{" in black to their IF a stranger had
seen this, and heard the salvos laundering
from fort and arsenal; and If this observer
had been told that this was the funeral pa
geant of a distinguished man, would he for
moment have surmised that these were honOrs
paid to "a distinguished philanthrOpist !" Nor
would his wonder at the pomp without have
been lcssened by the pomp within-the great
hall from which the light of the blessed sun
was excluded, its walls black with heavy
hangings, its ceiling supporting a sable canopy.
while the inscriptions are a Latin scrap from
Sallust, and another Latin scrap from Ter
ence, with two more Latin scraps from nobody
in particular. The catafalque upon which the
bones of the old philanthropist were laid was
a marvel of upholstery. And finally, the
railway car which carried Mr. PeabOdy's re-
mains to his little native village was a more
mournfully magnificent vehicle than any which
ever before moved over the iron road.
There was not one of these honOrs. so they
had been appropriate, which the least genial
man would have grudged to the memory OF
the great and charitable merchant; but we
must be pardoned for thinking that to great
extent they lacked sObnety, and must have
been distasteful to deep and genuine feeling.
If ever a good man deserved hOnors not in
the least theatrical, as little as possible con-
ventional, that man was George Peabody. The
Greeks would have wreathed his coffin with
the brightest Of flowers and carried it upon its
last journey, with many song of triumphant
and hopeful significance.
We venture upon these remarks mainly be-
cause we deeply revere the character of Mr..
Peabody and fully appreciate the excellence of
his example. In an age of profuse generosity,
his imperial largesse, bestowed by his living
hand, dwarfs all the mortuary gifts in ecclesi-
astical history, and makes many celebrated
bcquest small by comparison. Men are not
common who, having spent long years in the
accumulation of wealth. devote their last days
to its lavish distribution Apart from the
great foundations which will preserve his name,
Mr.. Peabody will be remembered as almost
the originator of a new system of public mu-
nificenee. The miser dies with his gold greed
ily cutched leaving heirs to wrangle over 1t
and the law to waste it, and the next genera
ton will forget his name. Mr.. Peabody will
be remembered as one free from n frequent
infrmity of old age, who Invested himself of
millions, and went, comparatively poor man,
to the tomb.