The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-11-21
Horace Greeley.

Nearly all parties are agreed that the
editor OF the Tribune is prominently
the At man to be elected U. s. Senator
from New York this coming winter, in
place of Hon. Ira Harris, whose term
will expire on the 4th Of March. The
Herald, World, Netcs and Times, in
New York City, all support him, while
all four of them are really opposed to
him politically. They take the ground
however that some man of about his
views has to be elected, and they prefer
him because he has been honest and
consistent, and is able to do the State
justice. The present position OF Mr..
Greeley is truly enviRble to a man of
honorable ambition. He has never
stopped to conquer, and yet he
has signally, after the contest, we
may say, OF a lifetime, overthrown
his enemies, the most bitter of whom
were they of his own political house
hold, such as Weed, Raymond and Sew
ard. he is to-day the representative
man of the dominant party in New
York, and will, unless all indications
fail, aBsuredly be elected 20 the position
to which he aspires. And he will be
an honor to that position, as even his
opponents admit. He will bring to it
energy, capacity, and integrity, three
ingredients not often found In a poIiti-
clan. Mr.. Greeley has made blundera
enough during this war to sink any
other man to the depths of mid-ocean.
And II he had been man
of less moral calibre and less
moral influence among the people,
he would have sunk never to rise again,
But with all his blunders the country
never believed him other than disinter-
ested and patriotic. His letter of the
9TH of July, 1864, would have killed
men like Weed and Raymond beyond
all resuscitation. In that document he
really betrayed a despair of the national
ability to put down the rebellion, and
proposed terms which were little short
of ignominious. He advocated COM
promise by which we were to pay four
hundred millions of dollars to the South
for their slaves and call the contest q
drawn battle. The utter suicide Of
E4uGu u ID III" AO NOuDi
plain enough to Mr.. Greeley, but he
thought it was the best possible thing
at the time, and the country, be.
cause he was magnanimous and disin-
terested, forgave his error.
We could point out several such err
rors, before and during the war. We
need only mention that the famous ed,
itor of the Tribune, proposed at one
time to let the South secede peaceably
from the Union. And even at later
date, In a public speech, lie took the
ground that If, after a fair canvass,
and fair expression on the part
of the people of State, they
should really desire to secede from
tho Union, he knew no alternative but
to let them go. He even declared that
the contrary of such a procedure would
be In violation of that sentence in our
Declaration OF Independence which
says that =" all Governments rest on the
consent ofthe governed" And since
the close of the war, Mr.. Greeley has
offered to go on JEFF. Davis bond, and
every few days writes an article urging
that he be either tried or released al
once. He inveighs warmly against any
bloodshed on account of the rebellion
and advocates universal amnesty and
universal suffrage.
Such man is Mr.. Greeley. His re.
cord, as we have said, contains lead
enough, in one view of the case, to sink
half dozen ordinary men. The fac
that he is still above water, and that hi
rides the wave triumphant, is a signa,
illustration of the inestimable value o
a character with tho people for real
genuine, heartfelt sincerity and unselE
Ishuess. Atrickster could never havr
survived such mistakes. 1t takes
real peoples man, not counterfeiter
to live through them. That Mr.. Greeley
has survived them is indisputable, anC
that he is, despite them all, popular
man with the best people of the coun
try, is equally indisputable. We car
only say that we share the general feel
ing towards him, and that we shall re
joioe heartily in his election.