Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1872-09-28
Greeley's Speeches.


We had occasion, the other day, says the Bal
timore Gazette, to speak Of the manly attitude
which Mr.. Greeley has assumed before the
American people. 1t is intrepid aud it is I'M
equivocal. With the command Of press of
enormous circulation and conceded influence
through which, were he inclined to use it, he
could, in written words Of power, address hun
dreds of thousands of his countrymen-he vol
unfairly abdicates his journalistic function, and,
measuring accurately the exactions Of the posi-
ton to which he aspires, he scorns all indirec-
ton, and meets his lslow-citizens face to face.
1t is not of this that we care to speak to-day,
but of the character of the utterances which,
in his new attitude Of candidate, issue from his
lips. 1t would be the merest atfectation and
the grossest injustice if we were to withhold
our appreciatiye tribute to the marvellous abil-
ity and dexterity which his addreSses-none of
them elaborated, and some of them purely i'm
promptu-exhibit. He seems to know how to
say the right thing in the right place, and what
higher praise can there he than this? If any
one wishes TO estimate accurately the merit of
Mr. Greeley's speeches, let him contrast them
with those of the Administration leaders who 90
before him or follow in his wake. We wish
we had the chance of comparing or contrasting
him with his competitor, but that is denied us.
But the adverse orators Burnside Butler &
Co.-must suffice. Their speeches, full of per-
sonal vituperation, or what is quite as offensive
personal adulation, of ridicule or denunciation
of Mr.. Grecleys imputed peculiarities, or Of
obsequious apology for General Grants repu-
ted infrmities. OF his speeches we can truly
say that no word Of personality, no denuncia-
ton or diSparagement Of indiv iduals has eSca-
ped his lips. No one would know that such
a person as General Grant breathed on this
earth. This abstinence from the low
practices of partison oratory is not more
marked than his close adherence to the discus
sion of principles. Whether he speaks to the
stern fanatics Of New England-as he did
hopelessly in Maine and Vermont-or sympa-
thetically to the Democrats of Pennsylvania,
and Ohio, and Kentucky, there is no stepping
down from the high platform on viii oh he
feels candidate for the Presidency ought to
stand Aside, too, from this matter of dignity
Mr.. Greeley, in his speeches to varied auditO-
ries, at different mcridians, exhibits singular
dexterity And here let us note, with excusa-
Die complacency, that it is perfectly manifest
that the Democratic candidate-for so we Of
Baltimore, when he was endorsed choose to
speak of him-evidenty speaks with more
boldneSS, more asSurranc ofSympathy in Dem
ocratc regions-in New Jersey, in Pennsyl-
vania, in Southern Ohio, and, most of all, in
Kentucky than in the narrow valleys of Yer
mont, where Ralicalism is entrenched, or in
Maine or in Massachusetts, When Mr.. Gree
ley crossed the Hudsan on his way westward
he began to breathe the Democratic atmoS-
phere and it has circle round him and en-
braced and solaced him ever since. Every
speech that he has made is better than the last
New Jersey was the initiate trial ground
Here, not face to face, but nearly SO, he and
his competitor were in a certain sense confront
ed. Mr. Greeley, private citizen yet, attends
an industrial exhibition in that wonderful com
munity- miniature New York
He looks on the works of art and products oil
industry, and speaks of them modestly and
apprecatively, as one who knew what he was
talking about, and every handicraftsmsn with
in reach of bis voice was cheered. Within a
week there is a kindred exhibition-more,
however, of stock than Of industrial fabrics
and thither from his cottage on the sea and the
congenial society of Murphy, and Bliss, and
Leet, the President is driven or drives. The
crowd cheers, the dlers gaze, the stock-owners
wonder If his presence will do them any good,
and with lack-lustre gaze he looks around, and
says not one word, for the simple reason he had
nothing to say. " lie was dressed says one
account, not by any means unfriendly, " in a
full suit of black, smoking a cigar. with a very
red face lthe result of sea-shore sunburn, but
be did not say word !" Such is the contrast
on which we are compelled to pause.