New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-05-31
THINGS TO LEARN.

individuals decorate loyal graves, but the
Nation does not It's Government is busily en-
gagged in remembering and rewarding men OF
the other sort. Those who helped to make
these graves at present make and execute laws
for the country. The Union soldier steps out OF
places of public trust, and is called an offensive
partisan; the more intense partisanshlp OF the
| soldier on the other side is not offensive, and
he steps in. 1t is twenty-one years since the
| armies were dsbanded; children then unborn
can vote this year, and children who knew
nothing then of the war or its causes now cast
a large share of all the votes. Why should they
bear resentment "
| There is the trouble. Shallow brains are
filed with the notion that there must be per-
| sonal resentment, an unforgving hatred be-
hind any resolute resistance to the men who
rebelled and their ideas. One of the noblcSt OF
all loyal soldiers, in his personal treatment OF
defeated foes, was the general whose resting
place on the banks of the Hudson so many MIL
visit to-day. But to.his last hour he was one OF
the sturdiest and sterncSt in resisting every at
tempt to put the Government into the power OF
those who TO his mind. were the less fit to have
any part in 1t for their very sincerity In beliefs
which made them rebels. Thousands applaud
the disloyal gush of the traitor Davis. But If
anybody submits that they are not the men to
govern the country, he is thought resentful and
unforgiving by persons whose patriotism is OF
the skimmed-milk variety.
Still, the truth remains the truth and the
new generation will have to learn it, even if it
costs heavily. 1t is the truth that those who
caused these decorated graves were thoroughly
Il
they are yet. They were willing to rule the
country them and are now. But they were not
willing to be governed by majority then, and
to IL is day they defy the Constitution and
break the laws in order to put down majority
and keep their power 1t is not pleasant
lesson, but it has to be learned. Those were
not the patriots Of 1861 or 1864 who wanted
peace without submission to the Constitution
and the laws, and those are not the patriots
of 1856 who put down the laws
IN order to uphold the party of re-
belion. He who defends perjury and bribery
in Ohio, and he who apologies for assassination
in Mississippi or Virginia, has just the same
place in American history, when all is done,
with those who fired on Sumter and surren-
dered at Appomattox.
General Grant said, I" Let us have peace" but
never by surrender. Peace between loyal citi-
zens in a Republic, and those who break the
laws in order to have their own way, there
never can be. When the objects of rebellion
are really and forever laid aside; when men
no longer conspire to break down American
industry by free trade, or to deny to American
workers that freedom which ia their birthright;
when law is at last obeyed and the rights of
citizens white or black respected in all the
States alike; when it is no longer called an
honor to have broken ones oath and been a
traitor; when it is no longer called ere
form" to turn out faithful Union veteran md
to put in the man who shot at him, there will
be peace. Until that time the voters of this
Nation have something yet to learn.