Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-12-05

| human operations and makes life con-
tinual surprise. l cannot attempt here and
now to unfold the life or state the worth of
Horace Greeley. Such an attempt would
on the one hand be premature aud on the
olher unnecessary. Premature, because
| the traits and lessons of a great life can
! best be reviewed when the grief and eX-
element have ceased. This work ought to
be done, and / trust will be done, IN the
utterance Of public memorial and service
| which will demand and receive much wider
hearing than can give it. To speak Of
Horace Greeley's worth Is unnecessary. 1t
| has already been done. There have
been but few instances in our
history where the expressions Of regret and
regard have been 30 spontaneous, 50 uni
versat and so similar. These eulogies that
| pour in SO thick and fast from every part of
the land are not made up of artificial rhet-
oric; they are genuine. The tears are as
freely shed to-day by country firesides and
| in distant cities as beneath the shadoWiDg
drapery of this house from which he is so
soon to go out forever. They represent
the invisible sympathy, the peoples thought,
and are twined about the peoples heart,
bearin witness to a career of honest pur-
pose.
And why this reyerenial regard for the
memory of Greeley? 1t Is not, sure, his
mere intellectual ability, large and unde-
niable as it was. 1t is not because he was
| high official, for Horace Greeley held no
| official station. The will of the people ex-
pressed through the electoral college to-day
| decides that he should hold no such station.
To-day tha viii Of God elects him to a
place from which all human ones look small
and dim. Why is it, thenP 1t is the mag
netism of simple goodness. Mr.. Greeley's
heart was as large as bis brain. His love
for humanity was Inherent. He touche1
all sides of humanity, 80 to speak. The
hundredS of poor toil-worn men
who yesterday pressed through the
crowd to take q last look st
that worn countenance vera moved by no
mere curiosity. They came there not to
gaze upon the face of the great journalist or
politician, but because he had always been
the poor mans friend, the sympathetic
champion of working men, who had strug-
gled through their experience and never
| forgot their claims. Ali his public acts were
directed by the same impulses, aud 1t en-
listed him In the service of very many
causes. Not only did it inspire his life
long war with oppression, vice and wicked
ness of every kind, but 1t made him I'M
speakably generous. Perhaps he erred on
tue side of mercy against justice, but If q
man must err at al, that is o good side TO
err on.
Whatever may have been the mistakes Of
hin who lies dead before US there was no
mistake In the main current OF principle
which characterized his life, and therein is
a lesson for Us also. How faithfully he did
his work and led his life, it is superhuOus
for me to say. It was an eminently pracd-
Cal one. What various interests of art, Of
labor, of education, of temperance, Of do
mestic polity, Of freedom, go mourning for
dim TO day. Welding the mighty
power of the migbtiesL engine Of the
Times, placed in the editorial chair that he
was, it Is no light thing to say that, howev
er strongly, some may think severely, be
used is pen as the instrument Of his
thoughts aud ponciples, be never debased
il as stimulus Of impurity or made it the
vehicle of single social wrong. While
Horace Greeley rad many antagonists, be
had few if any enemies, and may l not
without violating any Of the proprieties of
his occasion, express my satisfaction that
while political differences lay sealed within
these enclosed lids the highest T9p-esenta-
tive Of the nation to-day here bows his
head in honor Of the thinker, the worker
the patriot aud the man. (A5temp ei
applause which was suppreSSed.)
| The. address was followed by an earnest
PRAYER and another hymn, CANCELS ever
bright aud fair" Rev. Mr.. Chlpin pgo-
nounced the benedictlon, and the cnoir
sang a most beautiful and touching chant,
10, what Is lfe?"
The procession started from DR.. Chap
ms church, en- route TO Greenwood Gene
terry. 1t was the most imposing fIneral pro-
Cession. both in point of the number aud
representative men in the body, ever wit
messed in this city. The line Of route WIS
down Fifth avenue to Fourteenth street,
and down Broadway TO the South ferry
was lined with not fewer than one hundred
thousand persons. A large number Of
stores and public buildings were draped in
msurning.
Order of the Procession.
The procession moved down Fifth ave-
nue. in the following order, the police h2v-
ing previously cleared the roadway from
curb 10 curb: Mounted Police; Broadway
Squad; Superintendent Kelso; Mayor Hal;
Inspectors Dlks and Wslling; Fourth Pre-.
cinct Police; Capt. Ullman; one hundred
members of the Fire Department under
command of Engineer Shay; Rev. DR.. Hull
man, officiating clergyman at the grave; the
Pail Besrers-Cheif Justice Chase, Senator
Trumbull, Thurlow Weed, j. Chamberlin,
Rev. DR.. Bright, Wm. Orton, %. W. Bruce,
Sinclair Tod5ey, Dudley s. Gregory, 81. j.
johnson, Hon. VIM. NJ. Evarts, John E.
Williams, Senator Fenton, Hon. Ersstus
Brooks, Robert Bonner, r. n. Hoe, Peter
O. Baker, j. G. Lightbody, Charles SboFrs
snd John Z. Storrs; the HeaIse; Misses Ida
and Gabrielle Greeley and other mourn
ers in carriages; the President
of the United S.ates, Vice President Coz
fax and Vice President elect, Henry Viii
son, in an open Landau, surrounded by so
policemen ss guard Of honor; Gov. HOff-
man and Governors Of adjoining States;
the Tribune editorial and repoTtOIial staff;
typographical SOciey; Union League Club;
members of the Common Council; heads
of departments and distinguished officials
from adjoining cities IN carriages, two deep
10 the number Of l20; members Of the Lib
eral Republican General COMMITTEES and
Union Republican General Committee;
Tammany Hall Gepe al Committee;
Simeon Cameron Association, Sens of
Temperance; delegations from Areadian,
Lotos, Farmers and Rural Clubs and
American Institute; citizens generally. The
| carriages, three abreast extended squares.
Dudley S. Gregory, one of the pail bear
ers, was the man who loaned Mr.. Greeley
the thousand dollars with which he started
the Tribune.
The Spectators.
No music was iu the line but the pro-
csssion as it slowly moved down the ave-
hue presented a magniacently imposing
| appearance, The door steps of all the
| houses along the avenue without exception
were thckly crowded, and the windows
and balconies were full. The hotels, club
houses and public buildings Of all kinds
presented a sea Of human faces. The gath
ering was greater than the multitude which
| welcomed the Grand Duke Alexis or
watched the funeral of Abraham
! Lincoln. From DR.. Chapin's
| church to Madison Square, distance Of
| just mile, the ayenua was nearly blocked.
! On the outer edge of the sidewalk the crowd
were hnddled two and three deep. Ontha
| walk within there was barely room TO pass.
| Madison Square and on the space before
| the Fifth Avenue ho5el the COncourse was
still greater. All along Broadway from
| Fourteenth street, through which the process
| sion nOVad 70 II anil IN ferry there was a