Year: 1872




THE DECORATION OF FEDERAL


GRAVES.


To-day has been set apart for deco


rating the graves of the Federal soldiers


who fell i'm the late war. We presume


the National Cemetery will be visited


to-day by many of our citizens, who VIII


pay that respect due the gallant dead.


Horace Greeley, in a speech at Nicks-


burg last summer, expressed the bellei


that the day would soon come when the


grave Of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall


Jackson would command as much


respect as those of the Federal


dead. We believe this happy era


for which patriots yean is rapidly APP


preaching. The passage of the amnesty


bill, the defeat of the kuklux and civil


rights bills viii do much toward hasten


ing the day which Horace Greeley so
ardenty desires. Already the feelings of
the Southern people have been softened.
Magnanimity touches the heart. Cruelty


and oppression inspires hatred and re-
sentiment Give the South repose;
cease to make her people the victims of
oppression and outlawry; let parental
government extend the hand Of affec-
tion, kindness and brotherly love, and
the true, the brave, the generous of the
whole country, will alike lay garlands
on the graves Of the Confederate and
Federal soldier. True herOism is hero |
ism, no matter in what cause it shone;
no matter on which side the merits of
the struggle lay as political contests
no matter what party or which side was
in the wrong, no just and magnanimous
man will withhold his homage from the
noble men who gave theirlives to a cause |
they believed to be just and righteous
one. 1t would be a narrow bigot-
~ indeed, that refused to honor
heroic qualities, whether found in Con-
federate or Federal soldiers during the
late war. ''Pericles, the illustrious
Athenian, whose genius shed immortal
glory over his country; whose states
manship advanced her power; whose
heroic spirit led her brave sons to battle
against overwhelming numbers, and
whose eloquence so moved his country
men that they compared it to thunder
and lightning, was chosen to pronounce
an Grafton in honor of those who had
fallen in the early part of the PelopO-
nesian war. Standing before his
countrymen assembled to hear him
in the presence of all that
was most imposing in Athens
her scholars, her statesmen, her ar
tists-he declared it to be debt of JUS
tice to pay superior hOnOrs to men who
had devoted their lives in fighting for
their country When the American
people lift themselves above the filth Of
politics, and seek to forget the passions
engendered by an unfortunate war, the
sentiment Of the great Athenian will
pervade the popular heart, will beat in
Il common sympathy for the martyrs
who stood unmOved in the presence of
danger, confronted death for the sake of
either preserving the Union or securing
the independence of the South. In
Elmwood may be found the re-
mains of Trice, who married the
daughter Of the late Hume F.
Hill. Young Triee was the pilot of
steamer ON the Mississippi river,
who stood at his post unshrinking in the
midst of the tempest of flame that
wrapped the Inflated vessel which he
guided. So soon as it was discovered
that the vessel was on fire, the passen-
gers rushed to that part of the deck
which the flames had not yet reached.
The order was given TO head the vessel
for the shore. ''The flames spread their
fury toward the spot where the faithful
pilot stood. The vessel was rapidly
the shore. The captain
called out to the pilot to standat the helm
for five minutes. He replied that he
would. And he did. The flames scOrch-
ed him, but he did not yield his iron
grasp. When the shore was reached, all
on board rushed for their lives. Not one
persisted. But that heroic Triee was
seen standing at the post Of duty,
scorched and blackened by the fire which
swept around him with destructive fury.
Who would not honor such a man? So
Of those who have fallen in defense of
their country. They perished for others.
Pericles was right. 1t is a debt of
justice to pay superior hOnOrs to
their memory" And let it not be
forgotten that the war in which
lhe Athenians had fallen, whose mem
ory Pericles wished to honor, was just
such a civil war as our own. Horace
Greeley is the modern Pericles, for he
mas already expressed a desire to see the
day when his countrymen will respect
alike the graves of Lee and Mcpherson.
We commend the beautiful custom of
decorating the graves of soldiers, and I
iiOpe the National Cemetery to-day will
lie made as fragrant as an Orange-grove
with the sweet flowers which loving
hands have scattered as a tribute to the
Gallant dead