" We shall look
back upon a past. We shall have a truly national existence. It will be
but natural, as it will be most wise, that we take heed of those
elements which have ever been so potent in strengthening national
character. One of these has been briefly hinted at above. Yet it may be
undesirable to perpetuate the memory of events in which the whole
country cannot participate, which will not for the remainder of this
century be thought of by one section without shame and confusion of
face, and which will only tend to keep alive the sad old jealousies and
hates. We shall be very loath to place our monumental columns upon the
fields of Antietam and Gettysburg. We should not tolerate them upon the
slopes of Manassas or the bluffs of Edwards' Ferry. When the war is
ended, and the best guardian of our internal commerce is the loyalty of
the returning citizens to their old allegiance, we shall do wisely to
level the earthworks of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. In the city where
mob-violence is crushed under the force of armed law, no one cares to
keep for a day the crumbling walls and the shattered barricade, though
they may have witnessed heroism as splendid as Arcola or Wagram, for
they witness also to a wickedness and a terror which all would gladly
forget.
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