Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-12-31
Horace Greeley on Henry Clay. Defeat in


1874.
From Mr.. Gree, ,ey's Autobiography in theNow
York Ledger.l
/ have admired and trusted many
statesmen; / profoundly loved Henry
Clay. Though a stakeholder. he was o
champion Of gradual emancipation when
Kentucky formed her first State Consti-
tuition in his early manhood; and he was
openly the same when she came to re-
wise it, half a century later. He was
conservative in the true sense OF that
much abused term; satisfied to hold by
the present until he could see clearly
how to exchange it for the better; but
his was not obstinate, bigoted conserya'
tism, but such as became an intelligent
and patriotic American. From his first
entrance into Congress, he had been q
Jealous and effective champion OF in
ternal improvements, the protection OF
home industry, q sound and uniform
national currency-those leading fea-
lures Of n comprehensive, benefcent
national policy which commanded the
fullest assent Of my Judgment and
the best exertions os my voice
and pen. l loved him for his
generous nature, his gallant bearing,
bis thrilling eloquence, and his lifelong
devotion to what deemed our country s
unity, prosperity, and just renown.
Hence, from tke hour Of his nomination
in May to that of his eefeat in Novem-
ber, gave every hour, every effort, every
thought, to his election. My wife and
then surviving child four third spent the
summer at farm house in rural town
ship of Massachusetts, while | gave heart
and soul to the canvass. ! travelled and
spoke much; / wrote, think, an ave-
rage of three columns of the Tribune
each secular day; and gave the residue
of the hours could save from sleep to
watching the canvass and doing whatever
| could to render our side Of it more effec-
tive. Very often | crept to my lodging
near the office at to 3 am, with my head
so heated by fourteen to sixteen hours
of incessant reading and writing that |
could only win sleep by means OF
copious efiusion's from shower bath ;
and these, while they probably saved me
from a dangerous fever, brought out such
myriads of boils that--though did not
heed them till after the battle was fought
out and lost--I was covered by them for
the six months ensuing, often fifty or
sixty at once, so that could contrive no
position in which to rest, but passed
night after night in an easy chair. And
these unwelcome visitors returned tc
plague me, though less severely, through
out the following winter. | have suf-
| fered from their kindred since, but never
as did from their young luxuriance in
that winter of '44-5.
Looking back through almost a quarter
of century on that Clay canvass Of
1874, / say deliberately that it should
not have been lost-that it need not
have been. True, there was much good
work done in it, but not half SO much as
there should have been.
There should have been $l,000,000
raised by open subscription during the
week in which Mr.. Clay was nominated,
and every dime of it judiciously, provi-
IDENTIFY expended in furnishing informa-
ton touching the canvass to the voters
of New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl-
vania. To put good, efficient journal
into the hands Of every voter who will
read it, is the true mode of prosecuting
a political canvass; meetings and
speeches are well enough, but this is
Indispensable Mr.. Clay might have
been elected il his prominent, earnest
supporters had made the requisite exer.
tions and sacrifices; and / cannot but
bitterly feel that great and lasting public
calamitics would thereby have been
| avertgd.