The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1873-01-30
Our Battle Flags-What Mr.. Sum-
ncr Really Means.

The easy and airy Indignation that has been
excited on account of Senator Summers bill rela-
ting to the names of battles now printed in the
Army Regis:sr, aud inscribed on the regimcntal
flags of the United States, seems To us quite rs
unnecessary as the resolution itself. If Mr.. Sum-
ncr had been a man of ordinary tact anu discre
ton, he wonld not have offered the hill at time
like this, when it could not fail To intensity the
hostility which his recent political course had
excited against him. And yet there is much to
be said in favor of it. While the rebellion main
tanned itself III arms, and every incitcInent to
courage and sacrifice was needed, there was good
reason, or at least more obvious one than now
| remains, for bl:zoning the flags of the Republic
with the inspiring list of battles But when
those who had been foes confessed defeat,
and the flag hoated in undisputed security and
authority over them, over us, the emblem Of
reunited country, they became again our fellow
citizens. Ii We would have, as we have 81 freely
protessed, a cordial Union, why insist upon forev
waving in the faces of the Southern people
reminder of their treason and its failure.
There are many soldiers and sufferers of the
late war, who, under the influence of a sincere
and intense, bnt nevertheless % narrow view of
the situation, cannot be won frnin regarding the
Southern people as constant enemies. Others
jealous beyond reason respecting the honor due
them, as if they feared that they should suffer any
abatement OF distinction, as If their fame were
not part of the imperishabe record of the conn
trys history. And there are also, il may be
said, a school Of small politicians in Washington
who keep themselves aiioat, or try to do 81, by
poning the i,alouses of ,ba ci,ss.s of solJ;ers
~. har., ~ ,,.n,;.,saI tn. ' -" ~. ..n.; y. s
cable q friends of th. snIJ;ers VIII" rxa Iw d.
terously representiug that so,nshodx sls: don,t
love them rs we'll AS tbev do. To tb;s and they
do NOT scrnnl. to n;sr.nr...nt ,h. f.a,. ,,h.na
or II will serve their turn Tb:s L;,i nro,,ns.d nv
Senator Simmer Is a case in no;nt w. "not. 4
in or,ler that its purnart n,., hs .,,rI, ,,nJ.r
stood:
are il enacted. &c. That the namas of hatt,es
with fellow citizens shall mot I've c"n,;nu.d in th.
Army Register or placed ON the Reo;msntaI cnI-
ers Of the United States.n
Ii will he observed in the first p,ace that tI.re
il nothing in the pronosed act which fir were
nasscd will canse To he erased anv ,a,na of ,
hattie or any bloosi stain unon any Stat, ren,en.
tai fiar. The Cnit,.l STATES cn1Id ,jn this IL II
would For aught that this hill uropoo.s the
sp.intered lanes of the old Massachusetts second
Regiment. aud the emblazoaed flap on one of its
fragments, may stay in their glass case in the
Doric hall till they nlonlder into dust There is
nothing in this resolution to canse to be washed
out the blood Stain upon the !" Port Hudson, ON
the flag of the Seventy-thrsl United States Colo
red Infantry-where that flag NAV now be- The
two stances narrated with such elooueuce by
Col. Quincy, in the House Of Representatives,
last Thursday, fOnly to illustrate what further
measures the astounding proposition of fhe Senator
from Massachusetts, will necessitate,r and to
show that the proposition advanced by Mr. Sum-
ner is "one which every Union soldier through