Show THE RETURN OF THE FLAGS CIVIL war is always a disaster it is 18 sometimes a necessary evila but its necessity is occasioned by the passions ambitious ambitions and designs of wicked or unreasonable men the resultant consequences of fratricidal strife are often worse than the loss and sufferings that accompany the struggle the malevolence blood thirstiness and indifference to the feelings of others engendered in bloody battle remain to a large extent when th the cruel war is over and are transmitted as a legacy to the next generation the feelings aroused in maternal bosoms are impressed upon their unborn offspring and the children who listen to the grievances of their parents grow up with sentiments of hatred td the foes of their fathers the great war of the rebellion was pregnant with evils to this country they have been manifest during the past quarter of a century they leave their taint today to day and this shows itself in most national questions the north N 0 rth and the south each exhibiting rancor a n or that ought to have been buried with the dead issues of the conflict the simplest occurrence the slightest I 1 word is sufficient to wake up the slumbering embers of discord and ten fan them into flames of hate most recent of this is the fuss made over ever the confederate flags applications having been made to the war department for the return to several states ol of flags captured or recaptured in the progress of the civil war it was thought advisable by the chiefs of that department to make a general return of such flags which were boxed up and useless to the government but would be regarded as precious relies relics in the states to which they originally belonged it was thought that agthe as the prevalent desire is to promote union discard sectional feelings and blend together the north and the south in full accord the flags captured from the confederates as well as those taken from the unionists and recaptured might be returned to the respective states without doing injury to the feelings ot of any and with the probability that it would do much towards allaying irritation in the south the president was consulted and he at once fell in with this view and endorsed the contemplated action of the war department then ensued a burst of animosity and bloody shirt spread eagle ism chiefly from the organization called the grand arm army of the republic Ke public which for unadulterated vindictiveness and reckless expressions of defiance and hostility has rarely been paralleled the red hot speeches of flannel mouthed orators rs of the north were lurid with the hues of battle and utterly devoid of charity forbearance and that fraternity which appears on the tae surface on occasions like decoration day the question then assumed an importance that was not expected to be attached to it the attention of the president was directed to its legal aspect and find finding mg no positive authority in law for the order to return the flags he arrested further action in thet matter and so the dusty tattered and battle worn bankers repose in the receptacles to which they were retired when first brought to the seat of government the president is accused on th the e one hand of undue regard for the people once in rebellion and on the other of clamor of the rampant war horses borses and radical demagogues who split the air with their expletives and abathe mas mag we do not view his bis action as ce censurable n su rable in the first place he moves in the line of thought of the best minds of the nation They they wish to sinji bine all asperities asperi ties to bind nd tp dp all gaping wounds to allay all irritation and ana establish harmony between all portions of this great republic it was in that spirit that he be approved of the movement to restore the flags but when he learned of the opposition he inquired more closely into the legal bearings of the case he found that he would not be sustained by any positive warrant of the law he therefore wisely called a halt in this we see no mark of weakness it would have been wiser and better perhaps in the beginning if he had found out the limit of his authority but having made an error if it may be so design designated atea he had the manhood to acknowledge it 1 this we consider a mark of manh manhood od and a sign of courage he is known to be a firm arm man an obstinate and leas 12 c courageous 0 1 bous man would have persisted sast e d iffa in h his I a mistake and been afraid to confess that he had blundered president cleveland showed his bis good feelings to the south bouw when appealed to in this affair and then bravely retraced hie bis stepa when he discovered that they were not fortified by law we do not understand that the return of the flags would have been any violation of law but as it could be construed as an 4 excess of law the executive of the nation said that it would be improper for him to go beyond the bounds of his prerogatives when objections were raised to ills action As to the return of the flags we think it might have been permitted without injury to any sensible and patriotic person unmoved by the bitterness of a bygone strife it is not in itself a matter of much moment but as an indication of the strong antagonisms which still exist and of the consequences that follow fratricidal strife we view it as highly significant and as evidence that a very small match and a slight degree of friction may sat set this alleged united nation on fire in every part resulting in a conflagration such as has no not been recorded in the history ot of the world |