New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-04-04
THE BEGINNING AND THE END.


the city yesterday; one was funeral, anu 'lo
other triumphant. The first bore to his grave
the mortal part of soldier of renown whose
fame is bound up with stormy chapter OF
his country's history. The other celebrated
the deliverance of race from bondage
The funeral cotege was tribute
of honor and respect to one whose name
is identified with the beginning of civil
war the triumphal procession cOmmemorated
the deliverance of millions of men, women
and children, through the fire and blood OF
that long struggle. 1t was fitting that much
of the pomp and circumstance of war should
attend Anderson to his grave, and that
the old flag which he defended so well
at Sumter should drape his coffin as he
was carried hence; and it is well that
the representatives of race redeemed
by the conflict begun at Sumter should COM
memorate with jubiation the day which clothed
them with the rights of citizens of the Repub-
lie. We do not need to look beneath the
larger meaning of these two public demon
strations it is not so much the man whom
we honor in him who fought at Sumter,
as the sentiment of which he was the
ilustration-the cause which he defended.
And though those who parade in honor
of the adoption of the Fifteenth Amend
ment may not altogether apprchend the great
ness of that event in American history, and
though they may bear upon them many traces
of their past rude estate, no large, honest soul
can contemplate their generous offering to the
day without thrill of pride and triumph at
the work which has been done for human
ity. 1t was by felicitous coincidence that
these memories should be crowded into one
day: they recall the beginning and the end,
the first and last chapters in the record OF
nation saved, race delivered.
1t is possible that we may too soon forget
to revere the memory of those who fell and
to honor the deeds Of those who fought well
in the struggle for the unity of the country.
The dark days when anarchy. dismembered
nation, and social chaos seemed nigh ut hand,
are soon forgotten; and the time when the
heart of the whole country, as the heart of
one man, was with the brave boys at
the front, seems almost like dream
ages old we live so fast. But, though
the old iTritatiOns of extreme national sections
may be soothed and disappear, and no vet
eran of the grand army be left to shoulder
his crutch and show how fields were won, it
will be always well for the nation that it keep
alive the smoldering fires of patriotism by a
recall of the self-denying sacrifices of the
brave men who did what they could to main
tain the integrity of the Union. A part of the
enduring fruit of victory was the absolute free
dom of the colOred race, whose humble tribute
to the greatness of the anniversary so singu-
larly mingled, yesterday, with the recOllec-
tons of Sumter, and the lurid beginnings of
a conflict whose end no man could fOrcsce.
Whatever may be true of this passing genera,
ton, men will not forget the great events
which lie between the opening and the
close of that struggle-between Sumter and
Freedom. Perhaps we need to stand off a
pace and look back on the pOrtentOus hstor-
ical figures which emerge from our national
life. Yet, justice need not wait for another
age to give place to that which belongs to the
great names and great events of the past de-
cade of American history. We may not have
monuments and pageants for these in all time
hereafter; but humanity will, in ages to come,
remember Sumter, Lincoln, Emancipation.