Worcester daily spy., 1872-12-02

MONDAY, DECEMBER =, 1878.
Horace Greeley.

The life of Horace Greeley has been written
several times, aud we have his own version of il
in the "Recollections of a Busy Life;" but il
viii now appear again in all the newspapers.
We shall do no more than give briefly the lead
ing facts of his biography. He was born in Am
herst. n H Feb. s, 1911, and, at the time of his
death, lacked little more than two months of
being so years old. He had the usual expert
ences of boys whose parents are in Strengthened
circumstances. Farm work and the common
school occupied him until the year 1926, when
he became an apprentice at the printing
business in the printing office Of the
"Northern Spectator" at East Poulney,
VT. His father had left New Hampshire,
in 1921, in search OF better fortune, and
settled in Vermont, at Westhaven. 1t appears
that his father and grandfather were not thrifty
persons. They were respectable people in per-
sonal habits and character, but they were al
ways "behind hand and allowed the circum
stances of life to keep them at a disadvantage.
According to the agreement, he was to have
only his board during the first six months.
After that he would receive his clothing and
$40 year. The Poultney paper, he tells us,
was intensely Adams and Clay
In 1880, his apprenticeship was ended by the
discontnuance of the paper. He left The place
and went TO Erie county, Pa, where his father
and mother weie then living in forest home"
made of logs, 1.-TWO miles away from any road"
where the shadow OF the great woods" op-
pressed his mother, and much work made her
life very hard. After this, he worked at his
trade, in jamestown, n. Y, and Erie, Pa. un,
til August, 1881, when he went to New York
city. Here he worked at his trade and made
some attempts TO establish himself in business,
until 1884, when he started the New Yorker.
This paper was made worthy of support; and it
secured a fair though not large circulation
In more thrifty hands, it would have
been made to yield a comfortable income.
But, Mr. Greeley, then and afterwards, showed
great lack of effective business faculty. In
1910, be issued a whig campaign paper, daily
and weekly, called the "Log Cabin" which had
great circulation but he failed to make it
profitable. Out OF this, however, and the New
Yorker, arose the New York Tribune, which
made its first appearance in April, 1S41. 1t was
sure of success from the start; Mr. Greeley
might have been its sole owner, as Bennett made
himself sole owner of the Herald, if his dis
astrous lack of business faculty had not made
this impossible. The Tribune was constantly in
trouble until MIR. McElrath took charge of its
finances, as Mr.. Greeley's partner.
Mr.. Greeley mad great ability as politica
eontroyersialst. This, and bis prominent posi-
tion at New York, as editor of q newspaper
which had a general and wide circulation, made
his reputation. He was intense as politician,
and the prominence he gained, gave him an ex-
aggerated notion of his own personal power
and Importance, which was The occasion of
some things in his career that provoked much
criticism during the last fifteen years of his lie,
and finally led him into the enormous blunder
Of breaking away from the republican party
and accepting a democratic nomination for
t he presidency. His influence was generally on
the side OF liberal and progressive views; but
some of his political movements were not eeS
to explain. New York paper states that he
was an ardent advocate OF the nomination OF
Abraham Lincoln, in the Chicago convention Of
1860. This is not true He was then a per.
sSlent advocate of the nomination of Edward
Bates of Missouri, and had nothing whatever tc
do with the movement which brought forward
and nominated Mr.. Lincoln. His ipfuence on
the action of that convention was very small
Some time must pass before an accurate and
candid recognition of what MIR. Greeley wal
as prominent parsonage in our politics, cat
become general He will be a figure in the po.
litcal history of our time, and there will be-
doubtless, just estimate of his character ana
influence. We wish he could have lived ten
years longer; for we believe he would have done
better work than ever before. The overwhelm.
ing defeat of his aspiration for the presidency
would have been followed by a whole.
some change in his mood, aud by condition
of mind which would have given his discus.
sions of public questions higher tone and a
greater value. But his work is finished, and
must go into history as he left it. The good he
effected will remain to bear witness for him
Hls faults and limitations should be pointed out
only for the benefit of others, and to stimulate
younger men to follow the highest ideals OF
character