Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-12-12

those who believed they were not sim
cere. 1t was not to be wondered at
Upon the questions of war and slavery
the democratic party had miserable rec
ord. 1t had done everything to forfeit
confidence, nothing to deserve it. The
conversion, however, was not altogether
sudden. The year before leading poll
tician of the party, in the West, had told
them that the time had come to change
their base; and his words had met the
approval of many in the party. But
sudden or not sudden, = sincere or
not sincere = they could never go
back of the action of that conven-
ton held in Baltimore, in the year of
our Lord 1872. The deed was done, and
it was irrevocable, yet Horace Greeley
was charged with going over to the dem
Ocratic party, and that not the party of
the Baltimore convention, not the party
as we hope it is to be in the future, but
the old democratic party of 1861, and
of the years after-the party which OPP
posed the war-which gave moral sup
port to the SOuth-which it was believed
would gladly undo, if it could, what had
been done for human liberty. This was
the party Horace Greeley was said to
have deserted to. The preach
er affirmed that he could find no act, no
single word that ever fell from the lips or
the pen of Horace Greeley, to lend the
shadow of support to this charge. The
lesson of all this for us, said the preach
er, is to moderate the opinions of politi-
cal warfare to be truthful, to be just.
There were issues which might have
been made There were points vital
enough to demand the thoughtful atten-
ton of every man. 1t might have been
said that Mr.. Greely if elected would be
obliged to give Office to Democrats that
it was not wise. in the present state and
temper of the South-not yet pacified-
to restore to power its old ally, however
sincere their acceptance of the issues of
the war, it might have been said that
justice requires us to believe Gen. Grant,
since he has professed desire for civil
service reform, and that Mr.. Greeley if
elected would meet the same difficulties
which lay in the way of Gen. Grant.
And that as there had been cases which
made it eXpedient to re-elect the Presi-
dent, it was not wise or safe to put it
beyond the power of the people to do so.
These would lrave been fair issues. Nor
is it denied they were mentioned, but
Gus assaults upon Mr.. Greeley. When
he was nominated it was first said to be
the Joke of the season. Here was a man
who, but for his following conscientious
convictions of duty, might have been
Governor of the largest State in the
Union. Her august Senator in the Con-
gress of the United States, who could
have gone if he had chosen as minister
70 fny mt .bnr flnf f0
of etiquette had grown stiff by centu-
to the derision of his cOuntrymen, as a
clown and buffoon. Here was a man
who bad done more than any one man |
to make the Republican party; more |
than any other one man to make univer- |
sal liberty and universal suffrage posi- |
BILE to the nation; who had done his |
best to drive corrupt judges from the |
bench thieying receivers from their |
seats, and pecculating officials from
their places this man was held up as a |
renegade from his party, partner of |
and waiting only opportunity |
of power and office, to buy free men of |
their old masters, to pension traitors and |
assassins.
To-day Horace Greeley is buried. | |
dui tOlu. Sdlu tDe pIcdCuSI, tudt tic press
and the pulpit have poured forth glow
ing eulogies. They lay upon his coffin
the wreaths they would not put upon
his brow. Oh friends, to-day, Horace
Greeley, the man of masterly mind,
whose heart was as tender and loving
as child, toward all who are oppress-
ed; toward all afflicted; toward all in
poverty and want, was dead; crushed
under an ignoble weight of base calum-
n.y. He died of broken heart. And
the men who broke his heart were his
his long time friends. To-
day grave Senators have left their seats
in the Senate chamber, Judges left the
bench, the President leaves the cares
and duties of Office to attend his burial,
to pay their grief at his bier. With
fearful eyes and fearful hearts a nation
follows in thought the cortegc as it
slowly wends its way to the final resting
place of his body.
Horace Greeley S dead Yet he lives
in the hearts of his countrymen. He
will live in the admiring and grateful
reverence of generations yet to come,
for he belongs
To freedom now and to fame.
And of the few, the immortal names
That were not born to die.