The sun., 1893-06-01
Tho uonors Paid to jefferson Davis.


With imposing ceremonies tho body Of
tho former President OF the Confederate
States has been brought for reinterment
TO the city, which was the capital and the
stronghold OF the Confederacy. The dem
onstration OF affection and respect. In
which large proportion OF our Southern
brethren have takon part. must be recog-
nized as proof that the Confederate cause.
though lost Is still beloved: and that the or
Qanizers OF secession are believed by many
Of their children to have deserved success.
although they we're unable to command 1t.
But tho most remarkable feature Of the
occasion has passed unnoticed namely,
that the honors to the memory OF JEFFER-
soN DAVIS have provoked no word Of pro-
test from tho North. although they were rem
dered at the very time when we commcm-
Grated those who died to uphold tho Union.
The spectacle presented at Richmond
will bo appreciated by tho historian who
contrasts the present position OF the
beaten party In the war OF tho rebel
lion with tho treatment OF the van
Qulshed In other civil wars. Tho time
never came In the history Of Rome when
the sympathy and admiration felt by many
OF the people and by q large part of the
senators for BRUTUs and CAssIUs and ether
resolute focs of CRsarlsm could be pub
licly avowed. More than q century elapsed
after tho battle of Phillppi before the pen
OF TACrTUs could disclose even by innuendo
the stubborn hostility Of the defeated. The
republican ideas which triumphed in tho
English Commonwealth. and were staed at
tho Restoration. recovered only a trace Of
f-r TIA, IN a fhn Inx
has yet to dawn when English public opinion
will tolerate tho erection OF statue to
OLIVER CROMWELL in Westminster Abbey.
Nothing could attest more strikingly
tho enlightenment and magnanimity
Of the American people than the
fact that Northern men can view with
out remonstrance or i'll will the de-
votion Of their Southern brethren to the
memory Of the statesman in whom was in
carnated the effort to subvert the Union.
Such patience. such indulgence. such will
ingness to make allowances. such compre-
hension OF another's point OF view. is with
out parallel In the experience Of nations.
In the North it Is SO absolutely true that
the war Is over. and that all animosities
which 1t engendered arc effaced, that no ir-
ritation is excited by the reluctance now
and then exhibited by Southerners to for
get the dissensions of tho past. and to re-
member only that they are now the hon-
ored and trusted citizens OF reunited
country. To feel irritation Is impossible. in
view OF the awakening Of the Northern
mind to O keen sense OF the difficulty OF de-
Gliding whether, as O matter of strict ira
ditional right. tho attempt at secession
could not be justified. Among the signs of
this awakening. and of the curiously be-
lated preponderance of CALHoUNs views OF
the Constitution over WEBsrER's. may be
mentioned the testimony OF tho grandson
Of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. who. in his history
OF the JEFFERSON and MADISON Admins
trations. points out that the first states
man to proclaim In the House OF Repre-
sentatlves the right OF State to secede
was JOSIAH QUINCY Of Massachusetts,.
That was fact which New England had
forgotten in 1861.
1t was really the doctrine of State rights.
carried. indeed. thirty years ago to an
extreme inconsistent with the safety and
development of free institutions on this
continent. and to that extent condemned
by the arbitrament Of war. but still a doc
trine. when soberly applied. Of deep and
vital moment to the republic. which is
honored at Richmond in the person of JET
HRRsoN DAVIS. No word. therefore, OF re-
buke. but only Of regret that war was need
ed to mark the limitations OF the principle.
will be heard from those who felt that unity
was an even more essential guarantee Of
American liberty and progress.