The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-06-04

The following extract is taken from a
speech delivered at a political meeting in
Brooklyn, n. Y, by Hon. VIM. +. Rob-
inson, an lrishman, and graduate Of
Yale College. He says: "Over thirty
years ago, it was my good fortune to be-
come acquainted with Horace Greeley.
| was connected with the Tribune as as
sistant editor 10 or II years, afterwards
| was his lawyer for Il years. | ought
20 know him so as to be able to put a
proper estimate upon his character.
Son- -hings can be said Of Horace
hreeley which no l;beler even dare ques-
tion. lie is natural Democratic Re-
publican of the best type. Burns was
not truer Democrat, nor was Jefferson
a purcr Republican. | venture to say
that no man could detect change in his
cQuntcnance, whether Duke asked him
for information or an outcast solicited
aims. With him, above all men | ever
knew, rank and wealth are nothing man.
hood is the gold and mind the true no.
bllity. He is the ablest writer and jour
nalist chief among the giant intellects of
our day. His life is one of singular pur-
ity and simplicity He never iorgets his
friends. His word once given, and you
can stake your life on its performance,
and his monogram. written on his face
and in his heart by the Almighty, and
inscribed BY himself, on every step of
his career from the dawn of early child
hood to the noon of honored manhood is
honesty. His charity is unbounded. l
can convey no idea of this trait of his
character. Hour after hour, and daily,
| have seen the destitute and heart-bro-
ken OF both sexes, the unfortunate out
casts and wanderers from all climes and
all classes, invade the ever-open door of
his charity; and never have | seen any
one Sc empty away while he had a
shilling, or could borrow one. | often
looked on with amazement, knowing his
antipathy to whiskey and tobacco, as l
haze seen some poor creature, whom he
had known in earlier days, staggering to
his desk and asking for relief, which was
not denied, even under the certainty that
1t would be left in the first bar-room. |
have seen his hat ful! of protested notes
on which he had lent money, and when,
as his lawyer, | have demonstrated with
him Tor taking such paper, he usually re-
piled that any one would lend on good
paper. 1t was those that could not bor-
row elsewhere, and on paper negotiable
nowhere that complimented him with
their business.
lie is singularly pure and modest
man. In thirty years of pretty intimate
acquaintance, | never heard him use a
word that would bring the slightest fut-
ter OF crimson 20 the purest cheek that
womanhood ever unvailed to society. |
do not believe that he ever told or could
be induced to listen to vulgar story.
And this almost superhuman purity of
character is perhaps what has made him
such favorite among talented and re-
fined women. For although woman was
the cause of our losing Eden, she brought
with her more than man did of its puri-
ty, and its loss would have been intoler-
able if Adam had failed to bring her
with him.
But there are things in his character
about which people differ, or pretend to
differ. Even those who concede to him
the great virtues [ have mentioned pre-
tend to deprecate his election to the
Presidency through fear that he lacks
sound judgment, executive ability, inan-
cial skill, and discrimination of character.
How wofully they are mistaken who seem
to see tho shadow Of those suspicious his
election and brilliant administration will
show. | have had some experience among
public men for many years at Washing
ton | have known intimately most of
the illustrious American statesmen of the
second generation-Clay, Webster, CAL
houa, Benton, Crittenden, Mangum, and
others-and | never knew any one whose
judgment was more keen and unerring,
whose ideas sf executive management
were more enlarged and liberal, whose
knowledge of finance and political econo-
my was clearer or more extensive, and