Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1872-12-04
Death Of Horace Greeley.

The news came OH Saturday morn.
ing that Horace Greeley had died the
evening before at ten minutes before
seven o'clock. Wepublish elsewhere
a summary of the dispatches annOunc-
ing his death as well as u short sketch
of his life and career. Under the
strain of intensely exciting events
So common during the last few years
the public scnsibiliti:s have become
so callous, that the most eminent meu
in the land can die, their ras.;o"
away exciting but mome"tary emo.
ton and remark ; but the death of
Mr.. Greeley, followin. 80 closely
upon the presidential campaign, du-
ring Which for months his name was
III every mouth, is invested with 4
tragic interest that will preserve it
from sian immediate oblivion. The
evear, considering all the circum-
stances attending it, is an unusually
sad one. and occasions universal re-
gret among the people everywhere.
There is, indeed, q personal sympa-
thy amounting almost to compassion
felt by the public ut large towards
tho deceased journalist not usually
manifested III such occasions.
Amid the thousands of obituary
notices clIronicling the good and
great deeds of Mr.. Greeley, VIC would
offer our feeble tribute to his extern
sivc and varied talents, his large
hearted b%cncvolcncc and his untiring
industry, which last after all WAS
perhaps the greatest rs it certainly
was the most remarkable quality OF
the man. So indefatisablc and at
the same time so honest a worker has
rarely been seen before in our history.
To ascribc to Greeley greatness in
the higher acceptation of that term,
would be going beyond the real esti-
mate the world has placed upon the
man, since his warmest admirers do
not claim for him that force and
originality which belong alone to
genius. 1t was his marvellous COM
mand of facts acquired by the sever
est toll that made him such Il power
i'll the newspaper and in some respects
also in the literary world. We are
among those, however, who never
entertained any great admiration for
the style OF man Mr.. Greeley prc-cm-
Incntly represented. He was in MANY
respects u visionary rcformer, ut tho |
same time that lie took q most active |
part in the practical concerns of life.
Consequently there is q sort of wild
ness and lack of conference about his
career, which indicates u lack of that
stability and dignity Of character
which must belong to those to whom
we give Il confidence as guides and
conhSclors i'll public affairs. lie
leaned to socialism, to skcpticism,
and to almost all the loose isms which |
have risen to distract and dclnoralize
modern society. Yet his good sense
always prevented him from giving
himself up entirely to any of the
numerous forms of error which from
time to time claimed him rs their
advocate ami champion, and so,
standing always oI the confines be-
tween orthodoxy anu hetcrodoxv,
social. political and religious, claimed
by all parties, yet letting none feel
contidcn: in such claims, lie found
when the trial am that he cou Id |
rally to his support the whole strength
Of no party. But this is not the oc-
for censure, even were it really I,
deserved. We have seen the last of
good useful and patriotic man and ,
citizen. one whose place will not b
filled. lie goes to his grave,
and those who mourn deepest and
most sincerely. are the war-wastcd,
Inundated and suffering people of
the South. the people whom lie pur-
sued with long years of relentless
hostility, but who saw that of all |
their foes, this man was after all the
hearted, the most magnani- i
nous. Therefore it was. that through ,
all the fair Southern land, with bated
breath and subducd tone, the sad &
of his death passed from mouth [
to mouth. l.
While inexpressibly sad, and in {
some respects appalling, we cannot ]
regard the death of Mr.. Greeley rs I
lntimely. On the other hand the !
affection would seem to show the a
,and of Il Kind Providence. Willie {
lot all aged nan he was yet ripe in q
ears, having passed three score, and X
III his intellectual powers had reach p
d their full maturity. For forty Il
ears he had been working as few II
Guild work. as still fewer do. lie Z
Iad secured for himself name and in S
'ucncc at home and abroad. lie had n
cen the cherished scheme of his life, Il
lac abolition of slavery. completely p
"n>ummaieh. He had drawn to Is
himself friends from the ranks of =
wealth, honor and power. His party 81
bokcd to him as to an oracle, and he p
AL good reason to think it would Il
nbmlt itself in all things to his gui- +;
ancc. But looking to the Southland &
ecing its wretched. unhappy condi- II
the price of his own and his III
arty's success, he opened his heart C.
generous emotions, and said, we re
ave exactcd justice, let us not II
Tithhold justice 10Y that it is our I
urn to render il and with CHEEKY IN
'ords lie raised tho banner of uni. tt
crsal Amnesty, Fratcrnal Concord it
nj Good Will. The shock of the di
appointment which followed was Il,
'tensitied by his unboundcd faith nj
the success of the movement as III
'cl! as by the consciousness of the Ia
urity and sincerity of his motives. I'll
liich were 5" cruelty impugncd by in
IS old friends and associates. When nj
e saw himself thus deserted bv all Ii
with whom he had stood sbou,. be