The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-02-14
Good Taste.


chagrin at the failure of lis efforts to induce
the British Admiralty to send the Monarch
with the remains of the late George Peabody
to Boston. No stone was left unturned to in
duce Mr.. George Peabody Russell to decide
that the remains should be hurried through
Portland Immediately after their disembarka-
ton when they ascertained that the Admiralty
were not inclined to change their decision that
Portland harbor possessed superior advantages
over that of Boston. When, however, they
became convinced that their efforts to change
the pre-arranged programme were futile, they
put on the dignified air of the fox who asserted
that he was not partial to grapes. When
Prince Arthur arrived, therefore, they declined
to make tue spread that characterized the visit
of his elder brother in 1860, but decided to fall
back on Plymouth Rock and the Mayfower,
and let HIS Royal Highness come and 90 as a
stranger of distinction, without the round OF
balls, parties, military reviews and dinners
which marked the reception of the Prince Of
Wales.
We should not feel called upon to agitate
this subject if the press of Boston had not seen
fit to indulge in numberless little filings from
the Monarch would not visit that city. Even
the special reporters from Gotham, whose ad-
miration for the Club is so notorious, failing
to aud anything to find fault with in the cere-
monies at Portland, could not resist the temp
tation to give backward kick as they wendell
their way homeward. The Bostonians imme-
diately seized upon the opportunity, and IN a
long article in the Boston Transcript we find
the following:
Your occasional jottings yield to your New
York friends something of your mind concern
ing the successive funeral services of the noble
philanthropist, George Peabody. Now that
the last has taken place, it is to be hoped thai
the remains of the good man will be permitted
to rest in peace. The repeated Lying in State
suggests unpleasant considerations of the state
of the remains; while not few have thought
that their immediate transfer to their burial
place, after the befitting ceremonies of the
lauding, and with the quiet services of inter
ment, would have afforded less opportunity for
what has in some features seemed so LITTLE the
dictIt of. at least, good Judgment. The sur
prise at public ball of the officers of fleet
detailed for funeral service, and whose whole
business in that quarter was with their ships
and the purpose of their presence, is an event
not to be forgotten in any future history of fu-
neral rites; while the reported condition OF
many of the thousands present in Portland,
For the sake and in the name of a Christian
selt-respect, not to mention the due of the
memory of great and good man, we hope that
what we have lately read in these matters is
without foundation. And yet we have seen
no denial.
The occasion of these remarks is found in
the fact that upon the evening prior to the ar
rival of the feet one of series of private parties
was held at Fluent's Hall in this city, to which
the officers of the iron-clads lying in the har-
Dor were invited. The fleet arrived une xpect-
ed'y and the Mayor and Gen. Brown of the
Governors staff were notified and left the hall.
Does the writer of the article in the Tran scriDt
mean to say that prior to the arrival OF the re-
mains Of Mr.. Peabody the officers of the IRON
clads were expected to remain closely confined
aboard their vessels? We are well aware that
while the Mantonomoh and Terror were lying
at Boston the citizens of the Hub, many of
them the first families from Beacon street and
the Back Bay, focked on board, accepted the
Inequalities rendered them, and failed to re-
spond to the courtesies in any way; but that is
not the system in vogue in the Forest City.
As to the fling at the reported condition of
the many thousands present in Portland it
Is sufficient to say that it originated in the inn
aginatve brain of the reporter for the New
York Tribune, who, after having been most
corteously treated by all with whom he came
10 contact, from the Governor of the State
down to the bootblack of the Falmouth Hotel,
closed his account with statement that was
as untrue as it was disgraceful, and which has
been eagerly caught up by the Boston press.
In fact, so iaundiced are the Boston eyes that
they have to find fault with the ceremonies at
Peabody, in their own beloved State of Mas
sachuselts Read the following:
Then came the Governors of Massachusetts,,
New Ham pshire and Maina, accom- panied by
the "staff" of the former. l never saw a
"staff" before. 1t was painful thing. Such
consciousness OF responsibility must be a sad
burden. It must make existence almost intol
cradle. Either this "staff !" is much mistaken.
or else it is the principal support, not only of
the G ryernor, bnt of an enfeebled Common
wealth else.
What may have called out this satire upon
the staff of the Governor of Massachusetts,, we
donot know. AS for the staff of the Governor
3 of Maine, it is known to be composed of gen.
tlemen who held high positions in the army at
the close of the rebellion, and who bear upon
their persons honorable scars in their efforts
to maintain the honor of their country.