The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-23
sPIRxT OF THu PRESS.
Editorial Opinions ofthe Leading Journals
upon Current Topios-Compiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
THE FARRAGUT FUNERAL.

The obsequies of this gallant sailor-a
modest and really heroic man-have. in one
respect, been all that could be wished. The
neighborhood where he accidentally died.
without reserve or distinction of social or
political position, followed him as mourners
to the grave; his own pastor took the trouble
to hasten from distance to the scene, and
utter the grand words of the Liturgy over the
coffin as it sank from view; the gallant soldier
who fought bravely though disastrousy the
initial battle of the war was there; and within
sound of the ocean which he loved so well
our greatest sailor sank to rest. But let u.s.
in no unkindness, ask, was there not some
thing wanting? 1t seems to us there was a
great deal.
1t has always been O matter of wonder
why in this ocean-bounded land of ours.
there is such disparity in the honors paid to
our sailors and our soldiers either living or
dead If clustering brigadier dies of apo
plexy or some less reputable ailment in our
midst, regiments and draped flags and muf-
fed drums ostentatiously follow him on his
last march; and if he happen to be Cabinet
minister, and the friend, though forgotten
one, of an actual President, old cannon are
melted up and a commission goes to Rome or
Munich for a statue. The poor sailors death
is announced by scattering minute guns
not, as formerly, all over the world, but in
decrepit navy yards-by cheap bunting at
half-msst, and an instant quarrel for promo
ton. This is not so in the land of our ances-
tors. 1t did not use to be here. The ceremo-
nial of 1906 over England's sailor was rela-
lively as grand as that of 1852 over her SOL
dier Trafalgar and Waterloo knew no diff
ference; and Nelson, between his two lieute-
nants, Northesk and Collingwood, lies in the
crypt of st. Pauls and in a tomb meant for
Woolsey, not far from Wellington. With
us it was once the same. Hull and Decatur
and Bainbridge were drawn in triumph
through the streets of Philadelphia, and in
her graveyards, with Biddle and Stewart.
are appropriately entombed. At the gateway
of Trinity lie the remains Of Lawrence and
Ludlow, and Don't give up the Ship" was
once classic phrase. But by some inscruta-
bic process it is all fading away, and Farra-
gut-who, as we have said took New
Orleans, without which Grants slow vic
tories would have been fruitless. and.
lashed in the rigging at Mobile, ran greater
personal risk than our President ever did
Is buried with no recognition but such as the
newspapers gave him, and without single
member of the executive branch of the Gov
ernment pausing moment in his career of
summer recreation to honor him. Ex-Secre
tary Weiles was there-and it was graceful
act on the part of a grateful friend; and Mr.
q. Y. Fox, he who tinkered Fort Sumter and
perpetuated the Potomac blockade, but still
naval man true to his instincts; and Sena-
tor Wilson, ready generally to do an amiable
act and General Banks. But where was
Butler Uowell is not far from Portsmouth.
who did not take New Orleans? Where
was Boutwell,, the New England men,
Der of the Cabinet, close at hand
Where was the Republican Governor
of New Hampshire q? Where was Secretary
Robeson, with railroads and gunboats ad
hJitan;: whore was the antecedent Borie;
where was Vice-Admiral Porter, who once
was Farragut's pet, and under whose fathers
flag, in distant seas, our dead hero gained
his first laurels; and, above all, where was
President Grant? The circle around which
he was swinging, from East to West and back
again, was nearly complete. The soldier of
Nicksburg at the grave of the sailor of New
Orleans and Mobile would have been, in its
way, as picturesque as Charles Napier looking
into the vault of Wellington. 1t is idle to
say that difficulties of transit prevented it.
Whatever railway and steamboat difficulties
may have sprung up since the summer of
1869, there would have been many one too
happy to speed the President on this pious
errand, had he been inclined to 90. We
hardly think, though the suspicion has more
than once darkened our mind, that we have
SO far sunk into ceremonialsm that a uues-
tion of official etiquette prevented this grace
full and decorous act. All we know is that
neltDef ne nor any OF MS CABINET were there
When in radical corner of Connecticut there
is to be frolic, and Beecher is to blow his
blast, and Hawley and Butler are to brawl
and Woodford is to make fulsome speech
our President finds time to go. But not to
the grave of Farragut
The absence of naval men of high rank on
this occasion, there being but one rear-admi-
raj, and the rest of the pall-bearers being
surgeons and paymasters and marine officers,
is accounted for, not satisfactorily we must
say, by difficulty created by recent act of
Congress Ca spiggot-saying piece of eco
nomy) curtailing expenses on such occasions
Are there no admirals or commodores or post
captains willing, for the honor of their pro-
fession, to make this journey of respect even
at their own expense; and is there no contin-
gent fund of the Navy Department to defray
this puny charge OF this we are very sure
that when the question of promotion in Ad-
miral Farraguts place comes to be cons-
dered, if the personal attendance of aspirants
is deemed important, considerations of ex-
pense will not be thought of. There will,
however, we imagine, be no room for compe
tition. The principle which led Grant to
oversaugh Meade and Thomas on shore will
promote his personal friend Porter at sea, and
he will not be thwarted, even though in doing
such an honor he actually insults the memory
of the dead by appointing an enemy to sue
ceed him.
WANTED, PROTECTION AGAINST IN