The Grand Haven news., 1865-05-24
From the New York Tribune.
THE DISPOSAL OF BOOTHS BODY.

wv hen trSt nearu OF the secret ana
mysterious disposal of Wilkes Booths
body; That il bad been mutilated and
thrown into the Potomac; that il had been
buried in spot Of which only two living
persons had any knowledge, and much Of
the same kind Of startling narrative, / pre-.
sumed the stories were mere sensations,
and waited patiently for the develop
ment Of the facts. tx
| did not, and could not, believe that
the Government, or any of It's represent
alives mt Washington, would sanction
such barbarous and inhuman procedure
as the persecution Of corpse; but dill
gent inquiry and information from various
sources have compelled me to the opinion
that much Of what has been said of the
disposal Of Booths body is only too true.
The high official responsible for this
National disgrace need not name, as !
have had occasion heretofore in these col
umus to refer TO the utter hearllessness
and inhumanity on the subject Of the ex-
change Of prisoners, and as he is known,
and, so far as can learn, universally de-
tested by the people who only wonder he
is still kept in position which he daily
abuses and degrades.
No one more than / was filed with
shuddering horror at the murder Of our
great and good President; no one found
II more difficult 10 realize that so infa.
NOUS crime had been committed.
Yet il was not singular, when we came
to reflect upon it. The murder of our
martyred Chief was but the legitimate
result of the influence Of Slave Power, of
the teachings and promptings of the Se-
cessionists both North and South.
For four years the assassination of Mr..
Lincoln. was Urged directly and indirectly
as the highest duty, as the most sacred
obligation of any and all true friends of
the South. a.ts4e .e. 5ae
The desperate actor alone had the nerve
to do what almost every Secessionst open
ly advised and earnestly urged as thing
needful TO be done. He was little less
criminal than thousands and tens 0!
thousands of others whom, few weeks
since, we were anxious not only to forgive
but TO honor and adulate.
Booth, after all, was only tool in the
hands of more cunning and wicked, bot
less impulsiye and courageous men. He
was, as has been said not SO much
monster MS the creature of monstrous
idea. He was but an agent in the per-
petration of murder of which all the
Southern leaders and sympathizers were
particeps criminis. His was no vulgar
murder, prompted by hope of gain or feel
ing Of revenge. 1t was the outgrowth
of wild and morbid mental condition,
Of an extraordinary fanaticism, nurtured,
strengthened and fully developed BY the
peculiar institution in the midst of which
he had been reared.
But no matter what his crime; were il
even hundred times more horrible than
it was, the treatment of his corpse is stain
upon our National cscuicheon, stigma
upon our humanity as people, that we
must remove as soon as possible.
Great God, was it reserved for the
model Republic in the nineteenth century
to reproduce the horrors of the Byzantine
Empire; to lapse into the barbar.ies Of
the Middle Ages; TO regenerate the cruel
ties of the Spanish InquisitionG
There is something absolutely astound-
ing, entirely incomrrehensible in the
course adopted towards the remains of
the Presidents assassin. Booth once
dead. justice is satisfied, and even malig-
nity must be also. There is no excuse,
no pallation under Heaven for the secret
interment and degfation Of the lfeless
clay. Booth committed murder, and by
the severest construction of the law paid
the fullest penalty by bis death.
1t is common apborism, Noble spir-
its war not with the deadR Is great
country; is the noblest and freest, and
most enlightened of Republics, at the
very moment IL has passed through ter
rible ordeal Of blood, and come out purer,
brighter, more glorious than ever, au ex-
ceplion to the apborism ! is it privileged
alone to persecute what it has fatally pun
ishedi !
Let this foul blot be wiped out at once
In the name of common. justice and
common decency let the body OF Booth,
wherever il may be buried, be given up
to bis brothers or his mother. They may
not have asked for il, because in the wild
excitement of the hour they have feared
TO crave even so small boon.
But can any one suppose that Booths
mother, to whom, il seems. he was ever |