Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-02-05
RURIAL OF THE CONFEDERATE
DEAD-MR. JOHN COyODE AND
GOV. FENTON

BEAD-MR. JOHN COXODE AND
GOV. FENTON.
From the New York Times, Jan. 50.
Hon. John Covode has written letter TO
Gov. Fenton, reproaching ham with con
siderable asperity for his recent letter ad
vising that the Confederate dead, killed IN
hattie, he gathered together and laid to rest
IN the cemeteries where the nation gives
burial TO its own dead soldiers. Mr.. Co
yode is shocked at the proposition. lie re-
hearses in touching and pathetic language,
the bravery, the patriotism, The suiierings
and the deaths OF two Of his own cons who
perished in the Union cause, aad thinks
that IL Gov. Fenion had suffered with him,
he would. like him, feel shocked and out
ragged by a recommendation to do honor 10
The authors Of their SORROWS and the workers
of their couutry's woes"
While we appreciate fully the feelings OF
private grief and resentment to which Mr..
Covode thus gives utteranoe, we cannot
help thinking that they are wholly oul oil
place. Resentment Of all wrongs may GER
tainly die at the grave. There is neither
Justice nor humanity in venting our indig-
nation upon the dead bodies of those who
have injured aud wronged ms, no matter
what may be the character or extent OF the
wrongs they have inflicted. We cannot
think that Mr.. CoyOde's feelings of grief
for the loss of his dead sons would be IN
the least assuaged by seeing the corpses oil
their foes rotting in the ditch, or exposed
to the foul birds and beasts that make cor
ruption their food That man must have
very hard naiure--mnch harder than we
believe Mr.. Covode's TO be-Who could find
soothing and consolation in such a spec
tacle, even IL his children had fallen VIC
Tins 20 private malice and murder.
But this il by no means such a case
Not man Of all the Rebel army, proOa-
bly,, had the slightest feeling of enmity
toward his sons, or toward single lndi-
vidual in the vast array of Union forces
against which they were contending. There
was nothing OF private feeling or OF per-
sonal malice in the whole of this great
transaction and feelings Of personal re-
sentiment have no rightful place IA any
thing that relates 90 the restoration of
peace. Most certainly they should not
have the slightest influence in excluding
the Confederate dead from such humane
and decent burial, as none but the veriest
sayages ever refuse 10 the foes they have
Mr.. Covode. 90 establish parallel between
the personal guilt Of the individual sol
ders Of the Rebel army and that of pri-
vate assassin, is credHabie neither TO has
Judgment IA a man nor his feelings ~
soldier Of the Union army; and his idea,
that national cemetery would be desc
grated 10y containing the bodies Of those who
fought in the Rebel ranks, ia puerile and
absurd.
Whatever personal feeling and party
ambition may prompt us 20 do or say now,
history will regard our great contest from
a very different point of view. IL will
treat it, not as having been prompted or
guided by private hate or personal animOs-
tiles, but as a war Of hostile principles and
Interests contending for mastery in the
control Of n common goyernment-a con
test in which both parties developed some
Of the highest AID noblest qualities of our
common race, and one which was disbgured
hy no more acts Of cruelty and wanton
sayagery, than the ether great civil wars
which have preceded il in the dark and
bloody history of the world. And through
il all. that same history will find nothing
10 record which will reflect more honor on
the Union cause, than the generous refusal
of those who won the victory to carry the
resentments of the fight beyond the por-
tails of the grave, and who gave the sacred
privilege OF impartial sepulture to the
brave men who fell on either side.
Mr.. Coy0de still further disfigures his
letter, and desecrates his own grief, by
holding over Gov Fenton's head party
menanCe for che opinions he had expressed
and che humane action he had recommend
ed. He warns him not to appear in the
National Republican Convention as Can
didate for Office" under penalty of being
deemed by the survivors Of the Union
arrRvD an intruder This is beneath even
Mr.. Covode's standard Of public spirit and
personal feeling. IL no man is 10 be &C.
cepted as candidate for Office by the Re
publican party, who responds TO any Of the
promptings of common humanity, who
Is capable Of feeling the griefs and
hurts of others az well as has own
and who will not consent 60 carry
his resentment and revenge beyond
the grave, where, with all Christian souls,
all reeentments end, we may bid adien 20 !
all hope Of peace, and of harmonious action
among the people of our common country, |
for great many years TO come. And II
this is she temper to be required for admis- |
sion 10 the Republican Convention as can
didates for office, the name of Gen. Grant |
may as we'll be az once Withdrawn.
Gov. Fenton's letter, which has afflicted
Mr.. Coyode, Is among the most admirable
and creditable of his public acts. itshows
that he is something more that a man Of
hatreds and resentments--that his ideas of
craftsmanship rest upon something more
solid and more honorable than the prompt
ings of passion, aud tina, he shares largely
that msgnanimous temper which has given
Gen. Grant so strong hold on the respect
and affection Of the American people.