The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-08-26
CENTENNIAL SENTIMENT.


# fact in decimal arithmetic which, by Itself
70 proves nothing. That at the former date tn
il representative men Of about three millio,
= colonists of the British Government SHOULD
It formally cut loose from the unkindly sway
9 allegiance, rule and authority of the materna
!, household is nothing especially remarkable a.
!, historical fact That, having thus severed
9 the family connection, the colonists
q fought through a long war rather
+ than return to that allegiance which
: they ceased to owe or feel, is fact by
no means new in history. That in that wal
, of secession the colonies were helped by
all the foes of Great Britain, but notably by
France, the strongest, the most valiant, the
most formidable, and the most resolute of
those foes, is nothing strange in human ma
ture, or novel in history. That owing to such
help, joined to the valor and virtue of the
Continentals, owing to the wars on another
hemisphere, in which Great Britain was en-
gagged, and owing to the low value set by
prominent and ruling Britons upon their
colonies, the latter succeeded and estab-
lished new representative and indie
pendent government is not at all singular or
in any way remarkable The British Gov
eminent had its hands full across the Atlantic
and could only spare few ships, a score or
two of regiments, and a few millions of pounds
sterling for the Trans Atlantic exigency. The
affront causing the war was sheer wantonness
and folly, the like of which could not happen
in twenty centuries. The conjuncture of cir
cumstances and accidents, according to all
the calculation of probabilities, could not oc-
| cur again in thousand centuries. The re-
suit was that the colonists, by foreign help,
made good their assertion that they were and
ought to be independent. They SO declared
themselves in 1776, and now that declaration
has been made good by nearly century of
successful independence and self-government.
July 4, 1776, can scarcely be reckoned as
the era of successful parturition, since the
pangs Of separation were not ended until |
several tedious, dismal, bloody and wretched |
years were passed. But by common consent |
we have assumed that as our national birth
day, and next year on Independence Day will |
be completed FULL perfect and rounded CEN
fury OF national life The occasion is to be
celebrated with pomp and circumstance, by
the concerted will and action of almost all
the forty millions who constitute the Rspub-
lie which has risen, fourished, waxed and
multiplied from the rebellious colonies of
1776.
This is all very we'll. Although a single
century is but small fraction of the average
life of nations, it is still notable fact in the
history of the human race that the American
Republic has lasted a hundred years and
during that time has grown from handful
10 power of the first order.
1t is very we'll that the American people
should celebrate this triumph of their free in.
,titutions and call the whole civilized world
% be witness to the fact that people can
iourish, multiply and become powerful with
nut king, without peerage, without prvi-
eyed classes, without State church. and
With no other cementing bond of union than
common love of political liberty.
Yet all politicians, all aspirants, all schem- c
rs, all tricksters and all self-seekers may as q
yell understand that our coming Centennial =
can not be made the means of pro-
noting mercenary, or partisan, or political, or
ersonal ends and purposes 1t belongs
qually to all sections, all parties, all races,
Il religions and all classes. Any attempt to Il
lake it the tool and implement Of the Radi- r.
Il party will be reproved most Indignantly i,
y the American people of all parties. {,
Any attempt to make it Illuminating to any b
ass. Of any section, of any faith or of any te
ationality will be promptly and most emphat- b.
ally condemned. 1t must be national and D.
or it must be mockery and
ost ridiculous failure. If its commissioners, A
tents and representatives shall find them
Ives belonging chiefly to the party in power,
them remember that they stand on slip
Try places, and that no partisan partialit yon .,
cir part will pass without rebuke and con- ne
WI
We are not of the opinion that the Centen- 10
al will be the occasion for gushes of fra ne
rnal sentiment between the people of the M
'rth on one side and the people Of the South
the other. We shall distrust all that seems ia
show fully restored friendliness, forgive Of
SIS and fraternity. We know something of wi
. period required to obliterate sectional We
atiment and animosity. We know how ~
my scores of years there has existed a III
airy between the people Of the North and oil
,se Of the South. We know that GU
an in the war of the first revo- a s'
ion, while Northern and Southern oh
'els stood shoulder to shoulder on many it
NAL and bloody fields, there was still SIN
sp and earnest sectional feeling. The SEN :.
lent is more than hundred years old, and
even another century will remove it. In yes
te of anything we may do or say, this old orc
ipathy will endure, modified variously by H. ~
,umstance, mitigated by culture and inter- Yo
but still alive. It may lie dormant for viii
9 intervals, but it is ready to spring from an
lethargy as virulent and as active as it was 81. 80
The ranks of Washington's army. wel