The Van Buren press., 1873-06-17
BURYING DEAD ISSUES.
What Henry Ward Bsecher Says Of
Decoration Day.
iChris,ian Union. 2sth. !

| fChristian Union, 28th.
It was announced from Washington a
week ago, that on Decoration Day the
friends Of all soldiers, Union or Confed-
crate, lying buried at Arlingtoa, might
visit their graves and adorn them with
flowers 1t seemed that the era Of good
feeling had really dawned, and all wise
and tender spirits said "Anen " But
next day it was reported that commit
tee of the Grand Army of the Republic
had siraightway FASTENED to the War De-
psrtment to inquire who is to control the
ground Oh that occasion, and to beg that
the insult might be averted. Various
journals Fastening also to condemn this
kindliness, it seems worth while to en-
quire whether there is any excuse fol
Withholding so simple courtesy.
We recognize, Of course. in the protest
Of these gentlemen, a staunch loyalty to
their notion of patriotism which is in IL
self admirable Their mistake, as II
seems to us, is a misapprehension OF the
conditions of the case both past and pres
ent They assert, and with truth, that,
after victory so dearly bought as oura,
there must be no laundering with the spir.
it which SO nearly ovsreame us, They
also assert, and with error, that honor
offered to our enemy's dead, or concilla
ton extended to them living, is such tam
pcring And here we take issue.
There are two aspects Of our late mel
ancholy war which we OF the North ought
never to forget, and which, practically
we hardly ever remember. One is the
fact that, as a community, we did con
sent to the growing oncroachmen,s
of slavery, of which war was the logical
and inevitable end Oars WAS q baser
sin than that of the South, For the
South had taught itself TO believe
that slavery derived its strength
from the Bible, and it planted itself on
the abstract right Of the patrarchal in
stituton Supple doctors of divinity
supplied it with scriptural argument. The
whole South rclgiously, was as solidly
orthodox as it was solilly slayeholding
In an enormous agricultural country,
where the masses could neither read nor
write, and where, naturally, the newspa
per had almost no part in the education
Of the people it was inevitable that few
orators and political managers should
control the community 80 that slavery
and the consequent secession were, to a
remarkable degree, the honest canse OF
the whole people. And with q splendid
courage and endurance they followed
their disunion flag to wounds and death
as simply and bravely as if it had been
the banner of the cross and they the old
crusaders. They werevery ignorant and
wholly wrong. bnt they died for the best
cause they knew--,hcir idea OF patriot
ism.
But we who believed slavery to bc
wrong. who could not lure our con
sciences TO Justify it, still accepted and
encouraged it through love Of gold and
desire of an ignoble peace We taught
the South that it could not demand what
VIC should not be found ready to give.
| And when, at last, slavery threatened our
national life, it Was the instinct OF self.
preservation rather than any nobler sen
| timent which prompted resistance. In
| that golden summer OF 1850 we went on
gathering and spending, and living luSu-
rious lives, careless Of the porteHts in
the SKY. In the early spring Of 1861, it
was not alone the enemies Of the Union
who doubted its power to preserve its
/ own integrity. 1t was its irlends the
Secretary of State, the commander-in-
chief Of its army, the great merchants
and great lawyers, alas, too often the
great preachers Of the great cities There
was nothing in the attitude Of the North,
almost up to the moment of the firing on
Fort Sumpter, to check the menace OF
the South There was everything to in
dicate tha, the Union would quietly fall
apart.
Because we are by no means innocent
Of the war, therefore, it behooyes US TO
speak temperatcy of our fellow sinners,
however we abhor our common sin. And
wo ought never to have forgotten. that
sharing their guilt, we could not shut
them cut from that redemption for which
we fought II the objects of the war
were not restored and regenerated
Union, but only the triumph OF late
aroused North over All insolent and def
ant South, then their cause was as much
better than ours as honest devotion to
an ideal, however much mistaken, is bot
ter than pure vindictyenees. We have
no moral grouRd to stand upon, but are
guilty OF our brothers blood, unless We
meant to make an offering to God OF our
national sin, and t. free them, with our
selves, from the body Of that death
We lose, then, the only harvest worth
the rcaping from the tears aud blood that
both sides so plentifuliy sowed, if we
will not see our brother in our enemy
and common country in the alien Sec
tions. Sober and discreet travellers in
the South, men like Bryaut aud the great
Chief Justice, not easily deceived, testify
that they have found everywhere kind
illness Of feeling which would be brother
illness if any answering kindliness en-
Icouraged it. If we are not yet lofty
enough TO forgive the living, who them
selves have something to forgive in us,
! let US at least respect thc heroism and
honesty Of the dead. They were OF our
race and of our kindred They were not
greatly different from ourselves Re
mcmberng that we invited, through COW
ardice or greed, the war that tuey plung'
ed us into through mad fanaticism re-
meuberins that only re united and no.
Die Union can justify the awful cost o.
bleod and agony, shall we refuse TO Ia,
I II r thx tnp IF ! hat at,