New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-23

that IL WOulu preserve CtiNdiu POi0"-.
royal memories! In that faith there was MOTH
ing of wildnesS or of weakness. That has been
precisely accomplished which the egyptian
builder designed Here are the names Oh kings
long ago very dust of very dust when are
known to-day to the schcol-boys OF strange
land, and are printed profusely upon sheets oI
paper by processes Of which the dettest hgyp-
tian mechanism never dreamed. This love OF a
nernetuated memory among men may not nave
been wise one; yet it was as intelligeht as II
was strong. What it undertook IL accom-
nlisbed. with none of those simpler but surer
methods upon which we rely.
THE savants OF three thousand years hence
will have no occasion to devote their ingenuity
TO an explanation of symbols which set tor'h
the greatness and goodness OF Washington
The printing press has made all things PLAIN 10
tbe end of time. Hereafter no language can
become dead, no expression archalcal, no 1acC
ohscu1e ar uncertain for want OF precision IN
making I'D its cOntempOraneous record. Geo-
oranbical discoveries and colonization having
enualzed human information, aDd facilities for
travel having brought the ends OF the world to-
oetber. what ia known to one is known to ALL
and what is known to our own universal gen
NN~--N 49,
IN infinite succession. There will be no mole
lost arts Antiuuarianism will be mere matter
of collecting and preserving There Will be no
mora myth =. there will be no more tradition;
there will be no more symbolic writing; and
the monuments which we bnlld VIII Dc only W
Left our cbildren's children know, not that our
great men were worthy of reverence, but that
we knew their greatness and were worthy or IT,
II must have occurred to more than one spec
tator of Yesterdays ceremonies that II the
world has become less enthusiastic III Its estl-
mate of its heroes. it has gained something III
the intelligent respect with when IL regaruS
them. We have outgrOwn apOtheOsis, and even
the nYetence of it, We do not make Washing
ton n demigod. With all his rare virtues,
nublic and private, we are content to regard
him as thoroughly human. We state our
concention of his merits with studied simplicity.
We call him neither the Strong Bull nor the
Son of the Sup-L;Od. We talk neither IN prose
nor in verse Of his translation TO the skies, and
wehave no mythology in which to give him such
n Mace as the Roman found at once for julius
Caesar. We call cities and streets by his name,
a. well as steamboats,, but not the stars. Ours
ia n homely reverence deep enough to be IN no
need of hyperbole He was OF the country, and
so We call him not by this fantastic title or tho
other. but simply, but with wholesome respect,
it's Father. Thus advances that idea of Uni
versal Humanity and OF Universal Fraternity
upon which the Republic, which owes SO much
TO Washington, is builded.
Yesterday another Observance served TO re-
mind us of Washington. We refer to the final
dedication of the statue of Major Andre. The
execution of this unfortunate man is an episode
by no means agreeable of our Revolutionary bis
tory. vet we should not fear to have Washing
toms relation to the matter perpetuatcd upon
any pilar, no matter how long 1t might be dcs-
tined 20 endure. There was an antique
frmncss in the resolution which he displayed,
of which the next and all succeeding ages
ought not TO nc ignorant and when they read
of him, as we read OF AIistldes OF OF Cato we
do not fear to have it known that, with heart
ms tender rs a wOmau's, he was not false to
that immutablc justice OF wlich he wns ,hen
and there the constituted reT rescntgt'yc. And
with this thought, az we now glance BACK 10 he
infancy Of naiOns, and then forward to den
probable destiny should there not come another
OF immediate present responsibility Obehsks
and statues are the fortune OF the few, but II is
given to all m-n to deserve them. Oh the many
who will DO forgotten, scarce handful Will be-
considered worthy Of remembrance. OF the
enormous majority, when it is consigned 10
Garth and il earth itself, the world will take no
heed. Celebrity, notOriety, and Obscurty will
tumble into one common tomb. but the actions
of the Just are their own memorials, and will
1--we forever in fair though anonymous rcDute.