The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-09

passed beyond the sphere oil temporal trials
or triumphs.
A distinguished citizen of Massachusetts,
in the course of an elaborate article entitled
1.-The Governmt Mt and the Railroad Corpora
tions, in the last number of the North Ame-
1tcdn ReCte1o, in characterizing the people of
Pennsy ylvania, says:-
'1 hey are not marked by intelligence. They are
in fact dull unDterestiDg, very slow, and very per-
seveTiDR. These are qualities, however which they
hold in common with the ancient Romans. And they
possess slso,.in marked degree one other eharac-
erstic Of that classic race the power of organiza
ton end through it OF command They have always
decided our Presidential elections they have always
in their dull heavy fashion, regulated our econom
ica IOlicy; their iron have in truth proved
IRON masters indeed, when Viewed by other locali-
ties through the medium of the protective system by
them imposed Not open to argument, not receptive
Of ideas, not given 10 flashes Of brilliant execution
this state none the less knows well what it wants
and lnows equally well how to organize to Sc
cure it,"
The author of this paragraph would proba-
bly, have found little to commend in the cha
racter and career of Mr.. Covode, who was
born in the noun famous wilds of Western
Pennsylvania many years before that State
had provided common schools for its children,
and his childhood and youth were passed in
toll on a farm and in a woollen mill. He
had not studied the writings of Kant,
Fichte, or Hegel, or even made himself
familiar with those of Carlyle or Emerson.
But, ignorant as he may have been of
the doctrine of intuitve perceptions and
the body of transcendental philosophy, he
had, without these aids, attained such a
knowledge of the uses of material nature and
the springs that animate, impel, or restrain
men, as made him the welcome and trusted
counsellor when maturing their grandest pro-
jects of men far more learned, brilliant and
distinguished than himself. His letters con-
tain no quotations. from classic authors, but
are replete with evidence of his sagacity,
insight into the motives of men, and mascu-
line and matured judgment.
Mr.. Covode was born in Westmoreland
county, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of March,
1908. That his parentage was humble will be
inferred from the fact that his grandfather,
Garrett Covode, a native of Holland, was
when child kidnapped in the streets of Am
sterdam by sea captain, who brought him
to Philadelphia, and, under then existing
laws, sold him into bondage as "redemp-
toner, in which condition he was held for
some years after coming to manhood He
was subsequently employed as domestic SER
wants in the household of General Washing
ton. He died in 1926 at the advanced age of
ninety four years. The mother of Mr.. Covode
was Quaker, and it is among the traditions
of her family that two of her ancestors, to-
gether with person named Wood, prepared
and published protest against the decision
of William Penn recognizing the legality of
African slavery. This protest is said to have
been the first anti-slavery manifesto pub
lished in this country.
The first public office filed by Mr.. Covode
was that of justice of the peace 'for Ligonier
and Fairfield townships" to which he was
appoint ed by Governor Wolf before he was
twenty four years of age. Then, and in this
humble Office. it was that his neighbors be-
slowed upon him the s0briQuet of honest John
Covode. His Office, to which angry litigants
were summoned, was in truth court of con-
ciliation, in which, regardless of the emolu-
pleasure in adjusting by compromise disputed
claims between his neighbors and soothing
their ex ASPIRATION.
In 1916 he was nominated by the Whig con-
ferees of the counties of Somerset and West
moreland as the candidate of that party for
State Senator. The district was largely De-
mocratic and he was defeated, although he
received several hundred more votes than any
other candidate on the State or local ticket
At the next senatorial election he was again
nominated, and such was his personal popu-
larity that though both counties gave large
Democratic majorties for the general ticket,
he came within fifty votes of election. In
1854 he was nominated for Congress by the
Wings of the Nineteenth district, consisting
of Westmoreland, Indiana and Armstrong
counties. His competitor had been returned
at the preceding election by a large maj ority,
but Mr.. Covode led him 2757 votes; and was
returned. This was the Thirty fourth Con-
gress, and he was reelected to the Thirty
fifth, Thirty sixth, and Thirty-seventh.
On the 9th of March, 1860, Mr.. Covode in
troduced a resolution providing for a COM
mittee of five members of the House 'for the
purpose of investigating whether the Presi-
dent of the United States or any other officer
of the Government has, by money, patro-
mage, or other improper means, sought to in
fiuence the action of Congress 8, or any COM
mittee thereof, for or against the passage of
any law appertaining to the rights of any
State or Territory" etc.
b Few who were engaged in the political
struggles of those days will forget the in =
dustIy, energy, and ability with which Mr..
Covode conducted the investigation ordered
by this resolution, or the influence his elabo-
rate report had upon the public mind. The
report was a thorough exposure of the COR
ruptappliances by which the Kansas-N Nebraska
legislation had been secured, and was soon
i'll the hands of every Republican speaker or
writer in the country.
Mr.. Covode was twice married, and had
three sons by his first marriage, all of whom
he gave to the country upon the breaking out
of the war. George, the eldest, rose by
gradual and well-won promotion to the rank
of colonel, and was killed while leading his
regiment at the battle of st. Marys Church,
in 1864. The youngest, Jacob, pined for
more than eighteen months in the loathsome
and pestilential pen provided for Union
prisoners at Andersonville. He still lives,
broken and prematurely old man. Mr..
Covode's industry and enterprise had mean
while secured him an ample competence, and
with his sons he was ready to devote this, too,
to his country; and while bankers and capl-