Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-05-30
NO.. 33
A SINGULAR PROPOSITION.

There was a striking scene in the Pres
byterian General Assembly at Saratoga
yesterday, when a delegation from the
ed The venerable DR.. William Brown,
of Fredericksburg, VT, made an address
conveying the traternal regards of the
Southern church, and then branched off
into somewhat remarkable discussion of
the relation between the two bodies.
While affirming disposition toward re-
union with the South, be pointed out
some of the difficulties in the way, among
them being, he was compelled to admit,
remaining bitternessssof feeling engen-
dered by the war, and that "a meeting of
brethren from the respective sides might
not find everything agreeable" Contin-
uing, according to the report in the AL
bany Argus, he said:
Last year this body voted to attend en-
masse the grave Of President Lincoln.
That was all right, but would you, if you
met at Lexington, Va, be willing to visit
in the same manner the graves of General
Lee and Stonewall Jackson? Cries of
'yes," and loud applause You have at
the North an eminent soldier, who has
twice been elected President of this great
Republic, and came very near achieving
what the great Washington never at
tempted We have at the South states
man, whatever may be the charges, whom
many among cur people admire, and who
has also been placed in the highest posi-
ton. Would you in the time to come,
when nothing remains on earth but their
foT 1lrhro Iox fo
the General Assembly one year pay its
tribute to the grave Of President Grant
and the next year that of President Da-
Wis? This suggestion was received in
silence.
This is certainly strange talk; an6s6f
represents the true spirit and sentiment
OF The Presbyterian Church South, there
is no occasion or surprise that reunion
has so long been deferred, and, We may
add, it affords little hope of a speedy con-
summation of a plan Of union. The re-
marks of DR.. Brown are those of religi-
Gus Bourbon, if we may use such term.
the test questions he submits are one
sided and unfair. 1t was only just and
right that the Presbyterian Assembly
should visit the grave Of the President
hluCOlu, lOT uG Represented IIOL d SeCllOn
or a faction, but the Federal Govern
ment, the whole country and the whole
people 1t would have been as mani
testify proper and unobjectionable had the
assem- bly,, meeting in the vicinity, visited
the grave of President Washington, or
Polk, or Tyler, or any of the dead and
| gone Chief Magistrates Likewise, no
| fault could have been found for paying
a similar tribute TO the grave Of General
Lee or General Jackson, for, whatever
we may think of their political course,
the whole country is ready to acknowl-
edge the purity ana virtue of their lives,
and the church would pay homage to
their Christian character, not to their po'
litical or military achievements. 1t
would be appropriate to honor the mem
ory OF President Grant in the same way
were be ''among them that sleep" But
cannot DR.. Brown and his colleagues see
the difference between such an act and
bonoring after like fashion the memory
of Jefferson Davis? Whatever may be
the estimation in which he is held by
the people of the South, they certainly
can present no tenable reason why the
people of the whole country should exalt
him to special honor.-TToy Times,
1871.