, 1872-12-14
WASHINGTON.
Horace Greeley's Memory---A
Journalistic Analysis Of
the Man.
His Place in Fame---Anecdotes
and FOints---Tribute to the
Defeated.



! GREELEY's PROBABLE FAME.
| At this time, there seems to be some organ
| 1zed effort to collect al that beara upon Horac
Greeley's career, and the incident Of his deatl
ls still overshaaowing in this Capital.
The rank Of great Office will always supersed
the greatness Of greater men in private station
and when other men passed up to the Presiden
cy, the greater Captain vas subordinate an
subject to power, and so must stand re1atiye1
in superficial history. To aim at tho sceptr
and miss it, and then return to ones broom, ha
often been the fate Of the real Kings Of men
but posterity in bulk is great gulled constitu
ency. It still believes that Washington's behav
ior on the subject Of the little hatchet Was th
making OF him, and leaves the past, general
speaking, to its own jury and verdict
Greeley WAS q beaten man for the Presi
dency; he was ambitious Of that Office be
cause he considered it 8 place Of greater in
fuence usefulness, and majesty, than his Owl
bench !; and so it might have been for q mon O
his wide knowledge, wide acquaintance, and ex
traordinary popularity. He probably knew thit
country from it's seedlings and traditions out tt
its vaguely-revealed desert interior, mora full,
and recently than any being amongst ug,-soI
der, or traveller, OF head Of department. be-
cause he was the editor Of the era, to whom al
its yagrancy and exploit came earliest to report
With this knowledge, he might well have mis
taken himself for man Of administration also
and yearned to cleanse the country Of the op.
presBions he knew to be, and to correct it Of
errors which prevailed by their audacity or mems
obtuseness. But he lost that prize Of authority,
and lapsed to citizenship again, so that what il
sometimes called the vulgar world will lose him
more and more as the country fills up and events
multiply. To his profession, however, he will
always be dear, and tho scholarship Of history
will often look beneath the Visible currents OF
pageantry to raise his efigy.
H1s ENCOURAGEMENT.
I knew Mr. Greeley but little, and that
chiefly as one OF the first and most hearty en-
couragers ever had. Amongst his endowments
for the gratitude Of his dag and generation,
nothing stands out more nobly than his constant
Endorsements Of tho better efforts OF the peo-
ple. He was a s. gigantic bull in the intellectual
and commercial stock market,-the editorial
Vanderbilt, ready to bet that thing would
succeed; that it must pan out well; that it had
merit in it and must go. Ca ira might have
been his motto. The whole country is covered
over with Monuments of his faith. h1cCormlck's
reapers buzz his praises as they shear the har-
vest-felds. He told Mayor Joseph Medill to 60
to Chicago and wait there, and this rindicates the
wise advice to "Go Vest" I met tAdolph Sntro,
the tunne1-makor of Nevada, tho other day,-a
man who is paying ont from $780, 900 to $50 ,00os
month in wages, and who, if he succeeds, will
have rovo1utionized siIver-mining in this coun-
try, and he said: "Ah! I have lost my friend!
Everybody was laughing at me, and it looked
o1aa5 hen Hor~co Exroatar rnr1o
day reading my book. He asked no questions
what public opinion had to say about it. He
said: That is great project, and believe in
you!'"
I can say, in like manner, that when returned
from long absence in Europe, and moved into
what VAS then that most uncharitable den, New
York journalism, Mr. Greeley xsad rather loose
story OF my composition, an4lsent me word,
through Charley Halpine to kssb at tho same
business. When wrote f9 awhile upon the
Ifibttne, and the majority of{ squads around
the Office we're profoundly moved at the temerity
Of q new man venturing to appear there, Greeley
gave my work his signet more than once and,
during the last campaign, wherein I never saw
him nor addressed him, he pickedou Of another
paper little song anonymously sent there BY
ne, and had very nearly spoiled me for life by
me that might have been . poet.
There is nothing moro refreshing than the 11n-
solicited commendation Of the great upon the
Lesscr,-the watchfu magnanimity which ranges
the whole field to say to the struggling vines and
settings: s'There is growth in you'll" And, in
monderful contrast to Gree1ey;s width and
warmth of encouragement where he had all the
power, was the stinted and parsimonious well
come OF many Of the chaps around him.
10 form o mutual admiration society in the
New York Tribune was second nature, and, in
Iced, in small-fry newspaper-circles in New
York generally. After the war, the war-corres-
oondents came in from the field, and drowned out
most Of those young chirps. The newspapers
II New York City are generally furnished with
aews and opinions by people from other places.
HIS JUSTICE.
Mr. Greeley's Justice within his Office has been
by people employed there. He was q
nan who refused to be bored, and, as the Trib-
me WAS often supplied With people Who followed
he presumptions Of the paper too literally, and
1ore their hair long, and talked wise nonsense,
Greeley got, after awhile, to be on generally
'ad terms with his own young men. He avoided
beginners there, and people who were Of gush-
and ~ snc5 10" ana
MEASURE Of his great career? But to masculine
,eings who ate strong meat, like Richardson,
Ripley, Reid, and Meeker, he was q colleague
when he chose to be; and. to the great world Of
gas patient and inquisitive.. Newspaper-men
re, aa q general rule. the best men to each
'ther in the world; generous, gre-
;arious, and boyish; but. in work
lines, it is q very practical school;
nd the writer who ho1sta his jib and sails in for
compliment every day, saying "Did you read !
~ article on the adaptabiiity Of beans as q mo-
iVe-poWer 2" ia q preposterous bore. Hence,
se hear a great deal OF soft impeachment OF
Sree1ey's sourness and injustice.
HIS GENTMITT.
He VAS not q gentleman IN the delicate sense, !
or he had too much to do but he had good |
eal of the real attachment which Dickens affects |
or out,e people: scapegraces, brilliant fellows |
Ethout stability, and people who are never |
Zorthless and yet always shift1ess. OF these, /
falpine was an extraordinary instance. He was |
splendid type OF Levers Irishn1an, without |
eep feelings OF fixed principles, but with tai
nts,. humor, facility, and . beau1ing face.
ireeley "carried him" for years, helped elect |
i'm to a position where he could have saved |
200, ,0e0, and at last had the Office saved for his
snily's advantage utter the man died. called
It. Greeleys attention to this one day, and he
aid, to my surprise:
g. I never snw fellow who had 30 litt1e idea
hat thero could be such things as principles in
his life Us Halpine! !"
"You appeared to believe in him, Mr.
treeley ?"
"Oh! no. It wasn't that. He wouldn't let I
le believe in him. took the same interest in
i'm that would in delightful heatben. Ha
rs euough.Of care to make me- attached to ]