New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-21
A DISOORDANT VOICE.


National unity and disposition to forget sec
tional differences cannot be universal. The great
body Of the people both North and South are In
clined to put the Civil War and all that relates
thereto out Of sight and out of mind and turn
attention to the new and absorbing questions OF
American policy and development purely as
Americans. But there are some fvw persons who
can never forget prejudice and can never be
moved by an idea to rise above 1t. Just at pres
ent they are few and far between. but now and
then one appears to utter a discordant wall lest
he should lose the grievance which he has for
years rolled as n sweet mOrsel under his tongue
These people seem to be afraid that their fell
lows, in a burst Of noble patriotism. will forget
their hates, 80 that after the war Is over there
will be less political advantage In raking over
old sores than there has been heretofore.
One Of the discontinued Is 1.-THE Charleston
News and Courier" which does not approve of
the proposition to return to the survivors OF the
old Confederate regiments the battlenags now
preserved In the Northern State capItols and at
the War Department. 1t says:
II Is too late now to think OF returning the
bGttle-hags. Let them stay where they are
where they will illustrate forever the valor or
the men who fought under their tattered ana
serve 10 show the spirit Of those who kept them
when their return would really have meant
something Of brotherly regard and true National
spirit.
Why IL II too late now2 When was II ever
moro n propriate than at the moment when FOR
tho FIRST time the me2 who wore tho blue AMI
Nhc men who wore the gray stand shoulder to
shoulder in battle for their common country!
IL the return OF the flags was ever or Is ever To
he desirable. certainly il Is fitting now. when
the last supreme step OF reconciliation Is taken.
when the last possible disability OF the war Is
removed, when the soldier who renowned his
oath 10 the United States and fought against u
ia clothed once more In It's uniform md leads
It's troops. Think what that means Southern
friends who are inclined 10 cherish old resent
ments. The feeling Of the soldiers who fought
under Grant and Thomas Virginian who
could not forget that he belonged 10 the Nation
which had educated him ut West Point FOR its
service-was not enmity. They had ceased to
hold resentment against any OF the people whom
they fought they gladly saw the old Confcder-
ates In office: they were not trying 10 make
treason odious." but they did believe that mill
tary obligation should not he subject to renun-
citation and resumption. So for years that one
bar remained Now 1t has vanished. West
Pointers who fought for the Confectionery are
back In the old Army again. and not one single
complaint has come from Northern lips.
Is anybody In the South going TO act the petty
grumblcr In the face OF this last sacrifice OF
Army pride in loyal,y-a pride so noble that II
seemed to many a duty TO uphold It! To say
that 1t is 100 late to return the flags is to cherish
resentment against generous impulses Of today
because human nature did not develop those I'm
pulses years ago. If The News and Courier"
complains because shortly nfter the Civil War
the Federal soldiers were not yet prepared to
Danish all memorials OF their struggles. how
can It Justify itself for clngng thirty years
after to the tattered folds of its own bitterness!
II they were wrong then. doubly wrong now is
he who rejects their tardy advances.