The New York herald., 1867-08-19
reduce tho cost and increase the consumption
OF every article that constitutes It,
The Book Writing HIsnia-Greeley.. Auto.
biography.

Tue Book Writing MRnia-Greeiey,. Auto.
biography.
All sorts Of people are rushing into print
The great the exalted and the notorious-and
why should not Philosopher Greeley Every
one Is anxious to tell the secrets OF his or her
life, 10 make confession after the manner Of
Rousseau, and why should not Greeley en-
tighten the world about his bran bread exist
ence, bis humanitarian experiments, his Sseive-
CANNON schemes, and his political dodges
Napoleon has written life Of Cesar to repre-
sent himself and Queen Victoria book to show
her love life Why should not H. G. publish his
"recollections" Ill-natured people might
suppose tina. Greeley's vanity has led him to
write this history Of himself; others that he
has done 1t to turn an honest penny, as the
balance sheet Of his radical business concern
shows poor income but we are inclined to
think that from the milk Of human kindness,
he wished to expose the errors and weaknesses
Of his life as warning to others. But what
ever the motive, we hope he will make clean
breast Of it Let there be no montal reserva-
ton. Let US know what women and what
politicians he has coquetted with and Tilted,
and of whom he has been the victim. The
love scrapos Of Horace must be very rich and
his political hirtations highly interesting.
We see by The first chapters OF his work thft
he has opened upon rich field. He COM
monces with the history of Ireland and
Scotland, and the wars between the Protest
ants and Catholics. Ho dwells also upon the
wars for the succession to the British throne,
and enters into details of the battles, as if they
were as fresh In his memory as the battle of
Bull Run. Persons disposed to be hypercriti-
cal might ask what oil this had TO do with
II. G.'s life or "recollections )" but we shall
not 60 into any such searching inquiry. He
will como by and 10y, doubtless, to the
germ of the matter, when the intro
ductory portion of the book will be
complete and nicely rounded of. 1t may take
him good while 10 reach that point, as. after
the history of Ireland and Scotland and the
wars we alluded to, be enlarges with much
gusto upon the early Puritan settlers of New
England. He evidently admires the character
aud habits of these people, and is very proud
Of being descended from them. Hero he shows
some vanity. Yet we fear he has degenerated
from the original stock in some respects, for,
though he may be as fanatical, he is not 80
cruel. They would have burned or hanged
JEFF Davis, but he was mainly instrumental in
liberating the arch traitor.
But whenever Greeley reaches the gist of his
story-his own "recollections"-we hope he
will give us in detail tho history of his own
precocious mind, the history Of his physical de-
of dress, art and manners, what he eat and
how and when lie cat, what time he got up in the
morning and went to bed, whether he said
his prayers, and everything else about himself
at that interesting period, as well as ABOUT his
father, mother, relatives and neighbors. Let
or white horse he rode without saddle; the
history Of that pig which was made fat and cut
up into bacon for the nourishment of the in
fant philosopher, and the history Of that COW
from the milk OF which he became 80 kind,
sleek and smooth. All this might be tedious
to the reading public if related of any one
else, but not so in the case OF such remark
able person. Unless he enters minuiely into
all these details, and thus makes perfect pic
ture, with full confession Of his weaknesses.
as Jean Jacques Rousseau did, we fear his
work will be as fat, stale and improbable as
is Beecher's new book. When man aims at
immortality he should not stick at trihes. Any
thing not done thoroughly had better be left
undone.