The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-04-28
GRANTS BIRTHDAY.

The significance in the fact that General
Joseph Wheeler was the orator on the
occasion OF the celebration OF Grants
birthday anniversary in Pittsburg yester-
day IS found in one Of his closing re-
marks. Two names" said General
Wheeler. will go down in ages side by
side, Grant the leader. magnanimous in
victory; Lee, than whom no greater ever
survived defeat"
General Wheeler was a Confederate
officer and no more intrepid soldier
fought the South's battles More recent
ly he drew his sword in defense Of the
stars and Stripes. and he gave a good
account Of himself on the battlefield Of
Santiago. Now. of all men in the Union,
he is selected 10 deliver an appropriate
address in celebration of the birthday
anniversary of the leader of the Northern
forces during the war between the
States. In that address he paid a high
tribute 10 the character and achievements
Of General Grant in war and in peace
but coupled with Grants name the name
Of Lee. and passed these two famous
men down TO postcrity side by side. The
aHusion was not distasteful to his North
ern audience, but they received it in the
same spirit in which it was offered.
IL had been often predicted that the
time would come when the heroes of the
South would be regarded by the people
Of the North not as rebels and traitors
as the Northern partisans had frequently
dubbed them, but as heroes and patriots,
brave and chivalrous and honorable, who
fought for their rights and who made
sacrifices for principle such as the world
had never witnessed. And that prophecy
has been fulfilled. There are partisans
and prejudiced men at the North who
do not concur in this view. but they are
the rare exceptions. The great body of
the Northern people are proud of Lee
and the men who fought with him and
Of the splendid record which they made.
The Southern Confederates who fell in
that strife are the nations honored dead,
and there is no more distinction between
those who wore the blue and those who
wore the gray than there is between the
soldiers Of the North and the soldiers Of
the South who fell in tho late war with
Spain. and those remains are now buried
I'm the national cemeteries under The
shadow Of the flag of the Union.
1t is a wonderful thing that this should
be. History gives US no parallel. only
a few years ago this country was torn
by a civil war and for four years there
was a desperate and bloody struggle. The
strife between the North and the South
and the feeling on either side were more
intense, perhaps. than any strife had ever
been between two foreign powers at war.
Yet to-day the country is thoroughly
reunited under one Has, sectional preJu-
dice has almost entirely disappeared,
there Is no strife between the North and
the South. and brave deeds that were
done by the men on either side are the
proud heritage OF q common country.
There is in this an inspiration. The
thought is particularly grateful when
taken in connection with tho harangues
OF politicians who declare that the ex-
istence Of the republic is threatened. The
republic which has stood the shock OF
that awful contest will hardly be shaken
l,, the yocfferatiOn of stump sneakers.