The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-04-20
Tne Centennial Celebrations Yester-


The one hundredth anniversary Of Licking
ton and Concord has come and gone No
patriotic American has reason 10 blush for the
manner in which it was observed. The emu
lous feeling between Concord and Lexington
is a more than pardonable rivalry, since it has
had an excellent effect in enhancing the inter-
est Of the occasion. No lover OF his country
would wish anything undone which has taken
place in either town, whether in the prepare
tons or the observnnces. The celebration in
each town has been more splendid and attrac-
tive than if that town had been the sole scene
Of the commemoration, and the occasion has
differed from ordinary celebrations Of the
kind like q natural day in which two suns
should rise in the east and diffuse their joint
splendor in the armament. Nothing occurred
in either place which we could wish away.
Each town was thronged with as great a null
titude as if the day had not been celebrated in
the other, and nothing occurred in either
which was not consistent with perfect good
taste and with the generous patriotism
which BELTS 50 remarkable an occa-
sion. The Grafton of Mr.. Dana at
Lexington aud that Of Mr.. Curtis
at Concord were alike admirable, and we
should sincerely regret to have missed either.
Had there been but ono celebration instead
Of two the country would have lost some
thing which it will delight to bear in memory
for the next hundred years. The statues Of
Hancock and Samuel Adams which were I'M
yelled at Lexington, with the truly admirable
remarks of Mr.. Charles Hudson, were sim
gularly appropriate for that town, in which
those distinguished patriots slept during the
early part Of the night of the 18th Of April.
and whose capture by the British troops would
have been infinitely more important TO the
British cause than the destruction Of the
stores at Concord. Had the celebration
taken place ct Concord alone the honor paid
to those great patriots would not have been in
such perfect keeping, and would probably
have been omitted altogether. If, on the
other hand, the celebration had been at Lex
4 ington alone, the statue of the typical
minute man, which was unveiled
with the exquisite remarks Of Mr..
Emerson, would very likely have
been left out which would have been
great loss and omission, involving failure
to recognize the sturdy virtues Of the Massa-
chusetts yeomanry, whose uncalcula,ing
valor made that great occasion what it was.
All honor, then, both to the people Of Lex
4 ington and to the people of Concord, whose
noble emulation has made this interesting
celebration doubly resplendent.
\ The contest between these ancient and
honored towns is something very different
\ from the petulant, carping spirit which would
fix different date for a centennial celebra-
ton Of the first resistance to the British
Crown. The priggish assertion Of other
dates for those memorial observances evinces
spirit sadly out Of harmony with the pa
triotic sentiment Of the country. If the views
Of these carpers had been adopted there
would have been no celebration at all. They
have merely evinced their inability to discrim-
mate between the substance of history
and its lrippery The importance Of his
/ torcal events, in any just estimate, is meas
ured By their fruitfulness in important con-
sequences. The occurrences which shallow
sciolists put in competition with the resist
ance which took place with those Of April 10,
ITS, were followed by no consequences
which weighed feather in the struggle for
independence. But the events celebrated
yesterday electrified the country and brought
the controversy between the colonies and the
mother country to q swift crisis. As conse-
suence Of the affair at Lexington Cont
mental army was promptly gathered in the
vicinity Of Boston, and within sixty days the
battle Of Bunker Hill attested the resolution
Of the colonists to resist to the utmost Ii
was direct sequence Of the events COM
memorated yesterday tina. Washington was
appointed ommander-in-Chief Of the Cont
mental forces and the Revolution put on q
stable footing. How idle and impertinent,
then, is the petty carping spirit which, in this
hour Of commemorative rejoicing, tells the
country that it has made a historical mis-
take and that this great act Of patriotism
should have been done at q different date, and
in commemoration Of some petty and forgot
ten affair which had no influence on subse-
quent history Men who are in full patriotic
sympathy with this interesting occasion could
not descend to such cavils. The honorable
rivalry between Lexington and Concord is not
exposed to this censure, because both sides
alike recognize the just historical Importance
Of the day which virtually dissolved the
colonial tie. It would be wonderful indeed
If jefferson, II John Adams, if Washington,
IL all the chief actors in the Revolution mis-
took the supreme importance Of the events Of
April 10, 1875. II IS because that day was SO
pregnant in great consequences that emulous
townships in Massachusetts, contend for their
respective shares Of the honor.
II is just topic 81 congratulation that no
speaker yesterday, no set orator, 10 poet,
whether at Lexington Or Concord, uttered
one word which tended to revive the ancient
u !