Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-06-18
Greere,,s Letter TO seyvarf.

pired that GREELEY had, some years ago
written him letter Withdrawing from th:
list of bis supporters. This letter having
been the subject of much comment. and it
contents perverted to the injury Of the wri
ter, GREELEY demanded it for publication
and after some delay it was sent to him
Here ii il, s telegrapbed to the associate
press:
NEw YORK, Saturday, Nov. IL, 1854.
Goc. !Ss,eard, Dear SIR The election i.
over and its result sufficiently ascertained i
seems 10 Inc fitting time to announce Il
you the dissolution OF the political firm o
Seward. Weed. & Greeley, by the Withdrawal
of the junior partner. Said withdrawal tC
! take effect on the morning after the frs
Thursday in February next, and as it may
seem great presumption in me TO assume
that any such firm exists especially since the
public was advised more than a year ago by
an editorial in the EoeHiRg Journal formally
reading me out of the Wing party, that L was
10 longer esteemed useful or ornamental iu
the concern, you will, am sure, allow me to
indulge in some "reminiscences which seem to
be fit for the occasion.
was poor young printer. an editor OF a
literary journal, q very active and hitter
-
known out Of my own ward committee, when,
after The great political rsvulsion of 1887,
was ono day called 10 the CITY Hotel, where
two strangers Introduced themselves as Thur
low Weed and Lewis Benedict, of Albany.
They told me that cheap campaign paper
of peculiar stamp at Albany had been re-
solved upon, and that had been selected to
edit il. The announcement might well be
deemed fiattering by one who had never even
sought the notice of the great and who was
not known as partisan writer, and eagerly
embraced the proposal.
They asked me to liz my salary for year.
| named $1,000, which they agreed 10, aud
did the work required to the best of my abil-
ity. Ii was work that made 10 figure and
created no sensation, but loved it and did
it well When il was done you We're Cover
nor and dispensing offices worth from 5000
to $4,000 per year to your friends and COM
patriots. And | returned to my garnet and
my crust and 10 desperate battle with pc
cuniary obligations heaped upon me by bad
partners in business and the disastrous events
of 1887.
l believe 1t did not then occur to me that
some one of these abundant places might
have been offered to me without injustice. :
now think it should have occurred to you.
If it did occur to me | was not the man to
asL, you for it. l think that it should not
have been necessary. | only remember that
no fIienfs at all inquired as to my pecuniary
circumstanCes-that your friend, but not
mine, Robert e. Wetmore, was one of the
chief dispensers Of your patronage here. and
that such devoted compatriots as A. 81. Wells
and J. b. Hooks were lifted by you out ofpau-
perism into Independence, as | am glad l am
not; and yet an inquiry from you as TO my
needs and means at that time would have
been timely, and held forever in grateful re-
membrance.
In the Harrison campaign of 1910, was
again designated to edit campaign paper
published it also, and ought to have made
something by it in spite of its extremely low
price. My extreme poverty was the main
reason why l did not; it compelled me to
hire presswork, mailing, DC, done by the
job aud high charges for extra work nearly
ate me up. At the close L was siili without
property and in debt. But this paper had
rather improved my position. Now came
the great scramble of the swell mob of coon
ministries and cider suckers at Washington
| not being counted in. Several regiments
of them went on from this city, but no one
of the whole crowd, though | say it, who
should not, had done so much towards Ger
Harrisons nomination and election as yours
respectfully. 1 asked nothing, expected
nothing, but you, Gov. Seward. ought 10 have
asked that / might be postmaster of New
York. Your asking wOuld have been in yair,
but it would have been an act of grace nei-
tler wasted nor undeScrved.
| soon after started the Tribune, because
was urged 10 do SO by certain of your friends
and because such a paper was needed here
was promised certain pecuniary aid in so
doing; il might have been given Inc without
cost or risk TO nle. All / ever had was
loan by piecemeal of 1000 from James
Cogshall-God bless his hoDOred memory!
did not ask for this. l think it is the one
sole case in which | ever received pecu-
mary favor from a political associate. l am
very thankful that he did not die till he
was fully repaid. And let me here honor
one grateful recollection. When the Wing
party under your rule had Offices to give,
my name was never thought of; but when
in 1912 and 1913 we were hOpelessly out OF
power, | was honored with the party nomin-
alton for State Printer. When we came
again to have State Printer to elect. IS
we'll as nominate, the place went to Weed,
As it ought. Yet it was worth Something TO
know that there was once time when it was
not deemed too great sacrifice 10 recognize
me as belonging TO your household.
If new Office had not since been created
on purpose 10 give its valuable patronage 10
II. J. Raymond, and enable st. john TO
show forth its Times as the OF gan Of the Wing
State administration. | should have been
still more grateful. In 1913 your star again
rose and my warmest hopes were realized in
your election to the Senate. was no longer
needy and had no more desire to be recogni-
zed by General Taylor. l think had some
cllimso forbt a-ance from you. What | re.
ceiyed thereupon was most humiliating
lecture in the shape of decision in the libel
case of Redfeld and Pringle, and an obiiga-
ton to publish it in my own and other
Journals of your supposed firm. l thought
and still think this lecture reedlessly cruel
and Notifying. The plaintiff. after using
my columns TO the extent of their needs or
desires, stopped writing and called on me for
the name Of their assailant. / profered it
to them--a thoroughly responsible name.
They refused TO accept il unless it should
prove to be one of the four or five best men
in Batavia. When they had known from the
first who it WAS and that il was neither of
them, they would not accept that which they
had demanded. They sued me instead for
money, and money you were at liberty to
give them TO your hearts content.
| do not think you were at liberty to hui
initiate me in the eyes of my own and your
public as you did. Ii | nm not mistaken
this Judgment is the only speech, letter, OF
document addressed to the government in
which you ever recognized my existence. ]
nope may not go down TO posterIty as en-
balmed therein. l think that you exalted
your own judicial sternness and fearles,ness
unduly at my expense.
think you had better occasion for the
display of these qualities when Webb threw
himself untimely upon you for pardon,
which he had done all man could do to de
merit. / have publicly set forth my view OF
your and our duty. With respect 10 fusion,
Nebraska, and party destinations, will not
repeat any of that. l have referred also to
Weeds reading me out of the Wing party,
my crime being, in this as in some Other
things, that of doing to-day what more poll
tic persons will not be ready to do till to-
morrow. Let me speak of the late canvass
L was once sent to Congress for ninety days
merely to enable Jim Brooks to secure seat
there for four years. 1 think / never limited
to any human being that would have liked
to be put forward for any place. but James