The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-04-29
THE MARKING or AN ERA

The most notable incident OF the day.
and one Of the most notable incidents Of
the generation was what happened at
Savannah. Ga. on Wednesday last when
two companies Of United States regular
infantry marched at tho head OF the pro-
cession that was 10 decorate the graves
Of Confederate soldiers and fred the Gus
tomary salute 10 the dead over their
graves. 10 was most notable
event when the President Of the
United States permitted Con-
federate badge TO be pinned on his
coat and wore It openly before many
thousands OF people. But that. and many
Of the incidents OF surprise and good ma
tmo and desire not to offend was be-
lieved TO have great part in Mr. Nc
Kinley's act.
This. however, IS an event OF an entirely
| different nature II was deliberate and
fully intended, and must, Of course, have
been sanctioned by the superior authori-
ties, and even by the War Department,
which could not have authorized IT with
out getting the consent Of the President
himself
| Il was not so intended OF course. but
logically It can mean but one thing and
that IS the concession by the government
| Of the United States that the Confederate
cannot tender honors 10 those who have
| been traitors to It without confessing 20
standardization. and so this act must
lead by inevitable sequence to an official
admission that the Confederate soldier
was not a rebel. but a soldier making
war at the command OF a lawful govern
ment which had the misfortune to be I'M
successful. but upon which 10 stigma or
stains Of any sort whatever rests.
1t has been foredoomed for many days
that this would be the verdict Of impair
tial history. but it was hardly antici-
pated that we were so near to a conces.
sion OF it by the United States govern
ment itself. And while the suggestion Of
it viii be most distasteful to those who
still nourish the embers Of sectional
hatred and bloody war. the calm. thought
full patriotic men of the country at large
will rejoice that the authorities Of our
| government are rapidly approaching a
| position that will know no difference be
tween Blue and Gray and that will count
valiant Confederate soldier as being as
much entitled TO the honors OF the United
| States government as a Union soldier is.
| There IS but one circumstance connected
with the career of the Confederate sol
der that tends to debar him from that
! place in the appreciative judgment of
| mankind to which his heroism and de-
voted spirit entitle him, and that is the
| connection of African slavery with his
| contest. Without going into the con-
! troversy as to whether the war was
| fought to maintain African slavery or
| whether il was not. it is an unquestiona-
bic fact that slavery was the melting
cause that led the Confederate soldier
TO assert his constitutional rights and
offer the logged resistance to coercion
that he showed. Mankind is gradually
assigning slavery its true part i'm the
drama. and the day IS not far distant
when the poet and the novelist will paint
the Confederate soldier ps a man moved
to his part By slavery. it IS tire, but once
engaged In 1t, unmindful OF slavery or
anything else except the maintenance Of
those rights which are a part of all free
and intelligent citizenship, and Fhe asser-
ton of those impulses OF the man which
inspire every one entitled to call himself
a man. to resistance of Illegal coercion
and restraint Slavery will not be heard
Of much longer. but tears will well up
in tho heart I'm an cver-increasing
flow as men learn how the devoted Con-
federatc soldier suffered without reward
and died rather than be dishonored.