The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1881-09-01
WHERE GREAT MEN LIE BURIED.
soae Reuarks Hsmer, Dante and Others
Aprepss Of Pean.

s.Where the tree falls, there let it lie- This
is the true sentiment with which to regard the
resting-place of the illustrious dead If the
principle involved in the proposal to transfer
PENIS remains to America were once to find
general favor, there is no saying to what ii
might lead. The contest over the birthplace
of Homer would be nothing to the struggles
which might arise over the mortal remains of
the worlds undying heros. But for Shak-
speare's curse, who can say where his bones
would now he laid, and yet who could really
wish that his resting place should be other than
that which he chose himself in the quiet church
beside the Avon. Dante still sleeps at Raven
ma, though Florence-pdrri ForeAfid mdeer
aaoris, as his epitaph bitterly calls her-might
almost be excused her passionate longing for his
remains, if il were not for the sounder sentiment
which forbids the violation of his tomb. COlum-
bus, after several migrations, lies buried in
Havana, and Spain might strive with America
in the vulgar contest for his dust. There are,
il is true, one or two notable instances which
make the other way. But the scene lately en-
acted ut Rome is hardly an encouragement to
those who would traffic in dead mems bones,
nor can we think that the transfer of Napoleon
remains from st. Helena to Paris was a prcce-
dent which healthy sentiment would have any
desire to follow. The gaudy rocco mausoleum
at the lnvaides, with its tricks of cOlored light
and darkened passages, is after all but poor
exchange for the simple tomb in the lonely At
lantic island. The cumberous pile may crafty
Partisan taste, but sorts ill with the truer sent-
ment, as broad humanity itself, which be-
longed to the original resting-place of any man
whom the world has reckoned among its great
ones
In truth, the place where the great man is
first laid is as much part of his history as any
thing else which concerns him. To take the
remains of Penn to America, there to be laid
under pile of modern magnifeance, would be
simply to add a monstrous falsehoOd to his real
and genuine history. He was an Englishman,
and he rests in English ground. He chose his
resting place for himself, and there he is
rounded by his two wives and by five of his
children. To divide those whom death has
united after nearly two centuries of peaceful
rest would surely he little short of sacrilege.
Moreover, William Penn's history really belongs
to England, even more than it does to America.
In England he lived and died, and to what he
did and suffered in England belongs whatever
of glory or obloquy attaches to his name. 1t
was in England the sect to which he arlently
attached himself has its rise, and the contro-
verses in which he took 50 large n share were
of wholly native growth. II in England.
too, that the great dispute as to the uprghtness
of his character and the simplicity of his motives
arose-a dispute which is said to have embittcr-
ed the last days of Macaulay. With what jus
tice can such u man he claimed for Peunsyl-
vania, or even for American If he had died in
America and been buried there, no donbt his
remains would have been justly held in honor,
and no one would have grudged Pennsylvania
her possession. But Penn lies buried in Eng
land, and we cannot doubt that the truer and
sonnder sentiment of America will repudiate the
unhallowed proposal to disturb the tranquility
of his grave.-Losd0n Times.