New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-07-06
TIE CELEBRATIONS.

All over the country East and West, North
and South, the ninety ninth anniversary of the
nations independence was celebrated yestcr-
day with unusual enthusiasm. All the reports
received indicate that the day was more gen
orally observed than it has been at any time
since the war. Not that there has been re-
turn to the practice which pretty nearly died
out twenty or twenty-five years ago, of
having in almost every town and vii
LACE a local celebrations, with process
siOns military parades, meetings of civic
societies, orations and all the cOAcomltants
Of a popular demonstration we seem to have
passed beyond all that but there have been
notable gatherings in two or three places, and
where there has been no organized celebration
the people seem to have abandoned themselves
to thoroughly hearty and perhaps boistcrous
commemoration of the anniversary As usual,
it is followed by long sad list OF casualties,
and we awake this morning to melancholy
sense of the results of recllcssness, negligence,
and carelessncss. Perhaps we shall by and by
outlive the fiery explosives, the pcrvasve fire.
cracker and other spiteiul pyrotechnics with
which life is made a burden, just as we have
survived the period of the dreadful Fourth OF
July orations with their stereOtyped phrases
and stale rhetoric.
The most notable of the celebrations were
at PHILADELPHIA and at Atlanta, Ga, of which
we give full accounts elsewhere. The one at Phil
adclpllia. perhaps The largest and most enthusiasts
tic demonstration ever known i'll that city, may
be considered as III some sort fOTcrunner OF
the great Centennial celebration Of 1876, to
which it was III fact tributary. That at At
lauta was besides being a very imposing
demonstration, a very significant one, from the
fact that it furnished the best assurance of a
perfect reconciliation and restoration OF friendly
feeling between the two lately hostile sections.
The addrcs, Of the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens
was in an excellent spirit and full OF loyalty and
devotion to the Union. Its effect on the people
Of both sections cannot he other than bcnc-
fetal. 1t is gratifying to think that out OF all
the noise, the powder, and smoke, and fire,
the killing and manning of so many, and so
much useless destruction and waste we can
count something really gained in the way
of reconciliation and peace. This is
the best sign the day has given
us. No matter how boistcrously we have
celebrated it, or III how many weak and
silly ways We have given our enthusiasm vent,
the fact remains that we have found day
and IN opportunity upon which We can all
unite; a day that belongs with its memories
and associations to the South as well as the
North one on which we can forget that we
have been at variance, in remembering that
we are one family as a people, and one broth
erhOod OF States. a significant feature of the
celebration at Memphis Tenn, was demon
stration by colored citizens with addresses by
Gems. Forrest and Pillow. Throughout the
South the day was very generally observed
with tokens everywhere of increasing loyalty
and devotion to the Union.
In this city the Tammany Society had its
usual celebration, with an address from the
Hon. S. S. Cox on Home Rule. Mr.. Cox
doubtless found it easier to discourse upon
this theme than upon Hard Money, the