Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-04-30
F.@m the Baltimore Gazette
W hat n Decade Does.

- There seems to be mania just no
Cor anniversaries, and if. instead
Ii looking back over a single year, we il
II du ge in the retrospect of a centur,
! or decade, or modest IuStFunl. l
retroactive enthusiasm bears d direC
,f relation to the lapse of time II
u longer the merrier. We have low t
l. deal with decade" the recent con
e memoration of which has its peculiar
II tiles
' On the 18th instant, ten years ag
q last Wednesday, MIR Lincoln was mul
+, dered III IA Washington theatre, au
Il the pu lie heart stood eti in horror
2 Even those who had Ia battle oppose
1 us Invading armies, or peacefully else
! whtre autlgonIzed his policy, felt tia
/ under tie circumstances it Was IL ms
, fortu e, and wert ready to d. ustIc
/ io the relatively aniabie features o
1 ais character. 1t Was an event. Il Jrag
rdy, and certainly the party which ii
= tIte ldo,Ized, or pretended t. lGoItZ,
Mr.. LlucOIU. went INTO the very eos
. .asy OF grief over bis fresh gtavc
Ihty We're ready to Immo!dIe his ei.e
Llt> upon ii, len years have rolIPC
ny, and whaf Low Not thought oi
the martyr, OF ii d Thought, Que of I'll.
most IhcoDgruOus grote> queneSs. w
read, for Instance, IN the report Of tnt
Be cher cas". that 10y the SIDE of the
Judge, listening ~ the tale of folly
and Of crime, sat Col. Robert L. Lin
/ coio, winch made people thInk We
qnote) ''tnnt Iu2t ten years ago his
oainted father was kiiled Betcber
nd Iilt"n, a they locked, if they d.d,
cn the Colonel, We e once more one in
spirit, and the tabitau would itxe
. been effective. but theu Mr.. Full
te'tnu asked IL sharp question, aud
| Betcuer htumuered, aud The mem
o'y Of Abraham Lincoln sank out OF
sight heneath the !! TX tetid wax. Is
Of the Brooklyn scandal. But What
We mean Is this There was no com
memur0tiOn OF the day, no rtyeren-
! tlal reference 10 it, OF to the man.
| 1 lt flag pole of the New York Union
! League vas, We are told, as bare OF Il
/ half masted flag as OH the day LIZ
! sank to honored rest. Philadelphia
may have wept, il ohe thought it would
not offend the living Cte sar, but We arr.
not advised OF the fact
Not, however, that there was actual
sileuce, for there was not bu@ what
was sald was anything but reverentIal
II WAS III UuiS IdotIIOD. anu IuorS =,
! those, not reverent or Impressiblt,
who may, we fear, be tempted TO
smile at 1t. If so happens that tn
l4th of April was lot only the teut.,
anniversary of the L nrotn mEruer,
but the hundredth of society III PM
adelphIa which makes the DO lst tnat.
for ninety out OF the hundred Years It
had been engaged IN violating the
Constitution aud laws. aud helping
runaway negroes To escape. TO Il Wu>
due the uuaveugtd d murder OF a MARY
land citizen nearly thirty years ago.
They, too, had their centennial. TheE
were the anoiiti. ,hiats, "pure aud
simple. They long antedated Lin
coin. They were the survivors OF
Pennsylvania Hail, where there cam"
near being hece.t pln0 of autI slavery
ties forty years ago. The Hutchinsous
sang, DIR. Elder harangued, Frederick
Douglass tullowed-alI silent OF thu
martyr of 1866. Vice President Vii
son, poor, restless old gentleman, talk
ed about tue g. new pro-siavery cru
sade, and then We read quoting as W..
do, from II sympathetic Journal. the
New YORK Trjhu,4e
After remarks 10y EIizur Wright
aud Professor j. III Ltugston, oi
Washington, Abby Kelly Foster mad
bitter attack upon thy memory cf
Abraham Lldcoin, announcing th 1t she
was an iconociast and meabt u tear
down an idol. More slaves were re-
turned, she declared, during LILcoina
admins tratlon tLau during any OF hIa
predecessors. Every fact connected
with his career as President, whlc,. !
tended to show that he acctded to !
emauc p.tIOu us a matter of policy ana !
,-o' of principle, she dragged into uu- |
we'come and Inappropriate promI
nehce, the object being apparently to /!
hhyw that uOUody but the original Ut
compromising AbulItIouIsts deserved |
any gratitude or confidence from the
negroes.
Aud this in Philadelphia. an3 it wss !
listened to lii sllepce, II not IN sympa |
thy-i;4 lii, cit3 Nnere just Ten year
ago gentlemen 81 h1nored historical
line*g" and II Gh social position wtr.
mobned aud beaten almost t. deat1
Decarl>v thy t:.nHght aUd dared 10 Say
that LlEcu.U wI, ho5 the greatest aud
the best
But We a:e compelled to go furthet
aud brIug 20 t1e attention of ouI
readers bot only positive for Mr..
of the mattyl : decade, but negative
one quite AS offensive. That in 1850
Good Iri,iay had good deaf of d,.,-
cretlou about it Not only was il tn"
day wien Mr.. Lincoln was eujoyi'a !
the refined drama of which Lone
DundrearyS is the hero, but i,
VAS the time OF great froic |
amid the ruins of fort whose ve1y
wreck showed how impregnable it was
A Jolly par y went from New York |
to rt'ra.se the Federol fig on Sum |
ter Poor General Andersou--on Who's !
Iuueral ia New York Presi lent Grant, |
though hear at hand, did not deigu to |
lUoh--w Is tiIert, aud rockingham /!
aud Bradbury, aud CHAD v.cl. a.,,i !
George THOMSON, "the English IL
fGrmer," and Theodore Tiltuu anu th.' |
R-v. Henry Ward Beecher- al brett
r5n in the band of succs ssful blood /
mongering GA their way back they !
orgal.zed, 1t seern5, club TO be called |
"The Sumter Brothers aud Sisters,
and It's tenth anniversary was ceie-
brnted in Brooklyn last Wednesday, /!
with wines and song, and dance, aud |
yet not word was said or an aud bic |
memory cherished Tor The poor muir
dered President of ten years back.
There were, however, absenfees |
from this love feast. Two light
winch had shown so brightly on the /
b rth of ''the brothers and sister of !!
Sumter" were III eclIpse-one or thu !,
other never to emerge from it. The !
Gemini OF 1865 bad shot wide apart /
Beecher, it seems, through the intir |
ance of one of his lawx r., who l.
''brother of Sumter" was invited /
though just then he was otE elwi>e
''engag d." but TiIton WIS not ever
b.dd~n! Aud TINS is It with the pot
try OF history, not the great msrbIr |
statues that live forever; this is it with
Lincoln, forgotten eveu by bis wor-
shippers, and Beecher and bis crew
dlscredited, that, in the strict sense of
the words. the whirligig of even SO
short time rs ten Years does bring
''strange revenges."