Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1860-06-30
The much Talked of Letter Of Greely
to Seward.

The much Talked Of Letter of Greel,
to Seward.
The following is the letter from Mr.
Greely to Senator Seward, which ha
been in controversy between the 11i
bu'ae and Times.
New YORK, Saturday., J
Nov, II, 1854.
To Gov. SEWARD The election is
over and its results sufficiently ascer
tanned. 1t seems to me a fitting time
70 announce to you the dissolution Of
Seward, Weed & Greely, by the with
drawal Of the junior partner; said with.
drawal to take effect on the morning
after the first Tuesday in February
next, and as it may seem great pre-
sumption in me to assume that any
such trm exists, especially since the
public was advised more than a year
ago by an editorial rescript in the Eve-
'as'ey Journal, formally reading me out
OF the Whig party, that I was esteem
ed no longer either useful or ornamen-
tai, you will, I am sure, indulge me in
some "reminiscences which seem to be-
tit the occasion.
l was poor young printer, an edit
or of a literary Journal, a very active
and dlligent whig in small way, but
not seeking to be known out of my
own ward committee, when, after the
political result of 1887, I was one day
called to the City Hotel, where two
strangers introduced themselves as
IhUrlow Weed and Levi Benedict of
Albany: They told me that cheap
political paper Of a peculiar stamp at Al
bany had been resolved upon, and that
L had been selected to edit it. The
announcement might we'll be deemed
fattery by one who had never even
sought the notice Of the great, and who
was not known as a partizan wri-
ter, and eagerly accepted their pro-
posals. They asked me to fix my sal
ary for year. manned 81 900, which
they agreed to, and did the work to
the best of my ability. 1t was work
that made no figure and created nc
sensation, but I loved it, and did it
well. When it was done you were
governor, dispensing Offices worth from
$4,000 to $4,000 per year, to friends
and compatrlots, and l returned to my
garret and my crust, and by desperate
labors, battled with pecuniary obliga-
tlons heaped upon me by bad partners
and the disastrous events of 1887. /
believe that it did not then occur to me
that some one of these abundant pla-
ces might have been Offered to me
without injustice. now think it sho'd
have occurred to you. If it ever did
occur to me, was not the man to ask
for it. l think it should not have been
necessary. [ only remember that no
friend at all inquired as to my pecuni-
airy circumstances that your friend,
but not mine, Robert @. Wetmore, was
one OF the chief dispensers Of your pat
ronage here, and that such devoted
compatriots as A. H. Wells and John
Hooks were lifted by you out of pau
perism into independence, as I was not;
and yet, an inquiry from you as to my
needs and means at that time would
have been timely and held ever i'll
grateful remembrance.
In the Harrison campaign of 1910 |
was again designated to edit cam
paign paper. published it as we'll as
[ could and ought to have made some
thing by it, in spite Of its extremely
low price. My extreme poverty was
the main reason why / did not. It
compelled me to hire press-work, mail
ing, &C., by the job, and high charges
for extra work ate me up. At the close
I was still without property, and in
debt, but this paper had rather improv-
cd my position.
Now came the great scrabble Of the
swell mob of Coon Minstrels and Cider
Suckers at Washington, 1 not being
counted in. Several regiments of them
went on from this city, but no one of
the whole crowd, though l say it, who
should not, had done SO much towards
Gen. Harrison's nomination and cleo.
ton as yours respectfully. / asked
nothing, expected nothing; but you,
Gov. Seward, ought to have asked that
L might be post master OF New Y ork.
Your asking would have been in vain,
but it would have been an act Of grace,
neither wasted nor undeserved
I soon after started the tribune, be-
cause l was urged to do so by certain
of yonr friends aud because such pa
per was needed here. I was promised
certain pecuniary aid in SO doing. 1t
might have been given me without cost
or risk to any one. All I ever had was
loan by piece-meals of 1000 from
James Coggeshall. God bless his hon
ored memory! did not ask for this.
think it is the one sole case in which
I ever received pecuniary favor from
a political associate. I am very thank
full that he did not die till be was fully