The sun., 1873-01-31
A Tragedy wrhout n Parallel.

GREELEY is uuaccountablc to the public.
The parties who persist in dragging into
universal notoricty thousand painful
Incidents OF Mr.. GRrELEY's last days are
unknown, as are the reasons why thuy
would diminish the small pittancc le't to
his two young daughters. Between the
heirs aud legatecs under the two wills
there seems to hc no longer any difference.
II is believed they have agreed upon terms
Of settlement; but for causes that remain
n mystery the struggle before the Surro-
gate OF Westchcster county is still kept up,
and revelations respecting the dead are
forced which seem to be unnecessary. The
people look on in nstonishment; but after
all IL is but continuing 10 strike ut him be-
yond the grave the same kind Of blows
that brought his life tc It's mtimely ana
most shocking end.
We doubt IL there was ever I'm human
experience more tagical story than that
OF the enforced insanity and death Of
Horace GREELEY. Those who knew him
arprecintvcly and well, knew that his ma
ture was exceedingly delicate and scnsi-
tive, aud that he was liable after any cx-
traortlinary trial to fail into n state of
suffered from such an attack after the de-
feat at Bull Run, but BY rest, sympathy,
and judicious medical treatment lie was
presently restored. In somc respects the
symptoms, though OF q less aggravated ma
ture, were similar to those manifested be-
fore his death, and we are accordingly pre-
pared to credit the opinion that in the lat
ter part of October and the first OF Novem-
btr, in consequence OF the protractcd
strain OF excitement, disappointment, and
anxiety to which h. was then subject, lie
was to some extent thrown on his balance
-~.-d AZ, uia' nVrhtiIe ot MS uiit1 iutCr-
rupted. We cannot admit, however. that
at first he was insane in the one ease any
more than in The other. His intellect was
not overthrOwn-ccrtainly not previous to
his removal TO DIR. CHoATE's private mad
house-but the equilibrium between emo
tion and Judgment in his mind and the
power of justly approaching the relations
of things were disturbed. There was m
interruption OF nervous aud bodily health;
but We have no doubt that sympathy, the
warmth Of n home, the afrcctionatc care of
friends, rest, and sklrul medical oversight
Mt the beginning would in due time have
restored him to viGor and usefulness. But
another course was tnlicu resulting in
positive insanity and finally in death.
The burden which chiefly crushed down
Mr.. GREELEY was the belief that hr had
ruined himself and the Tribune, had bank
rupted his fellow stockholders. aud c,-
pecially Mr.. SAMUEL SINCLAIR. This idea
ha brooded upon constantly and expressed
il with touching monotony. u seemed to
have commenced with him about the time
of the Pennsylvania election: aud whether
II was fixed in his mind by others or was
the result of his own observation, II finally
converted itself into kind of nonomnuia
Mr.. SINCLAIR was the publisher Of the Tti-
bine, and as now appears, wnS bankrupt at
that time, and must in reality have been SO
FOR considerable period, not from any
failure in the business Of the paper, but
from the effect of other operations of his
own This fact was evidently not known
to Mr.. GREELEY, who, knowing Mr.. SIN
CLAIR as the occupant of superb summer
residence costing some $!00,0W upon the
Hudson RIVER, had OF course supposed him
10 be opulent; but about the lst Of Octo-
Der he seemed To have learned the con-
irdry, and TO have laid upon himself and
upon the defeat OF his Presidential can
vass, which had now become probable. the
responsibility for the approaching financial
collapse of his friend and publisher. and
Tor an imaginary collapse of the Tribune.
Exhausted aud depressed rs he was by his
tolls, his anXicties, and his domestic grief,
Mr.. GREELEY WAS stll further broken
hown by the conviction that the tribune
was likewise bankrupt, and that ne himself
md his unsuccessful candidacy had pro-
duced the disaster. This was the blow that
shook his reason and planted in his
thoughts the delusion that everything was
ruined, and that his own fruitless ambition
was the origin Of such n calamity. We
have no doubt that il the various fatal
agencies which brought about his ultcrior
arrangement and his death could be sepa-
rated and compared with each other, the
fixed idea TINT he had ruined his friends
Rnd the Tribune, from whatever source il
was communicated to his mind would he
found To have been the most effective and
most incurable of them all.
Another blow was struck by Mr.. WHITE
law RID, the managing editor of the
IrtbuRc and though Mr.. REID certainly
could have had no such intention, and only
exercised his ordinary judgment, this blow
went TO the heart Of its unconscious and
hnintended victim. The public will re-
member the card which Mr.. GREELEY pub
lished announcing that he had resumed
his duties as editor. 1t did him honor. 1t
was simple and manly in language, and
though sobered not broken in spirit; and
certainly there was nothing insane about
It, Bat in the same paper in which that
card was published MIR. REID inserted an
article entitled Crumbs OF Comfort" de-
signed to be iocose, but hideous in its i'm
prOpriety, representing Mr.. GREELEY as
having been accustomed to he sent for TO
promote Handalolis jobs at Washington,
md as having been regarded MS a sort OF
Office broker for redInosed politicians,
worthless blatherskites, and political beg
Ears. This article was generally taken as
insulting TO those who had supported
Mr.. GREELEY for President; but we have
reason to know that no one viewed
Ii with more displeasure than Mr.. GREE.