The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-11-22
HORACE aREELY.

More than any other man living OF
dead, Horace Greedy was the father Of
Abolitionism. From his prolific brain
sprang the inspiration which led to the
final overthrow of the South and the
deliverance, freedom and enfranchise-
ment of the black man. His whole
life, grand in its magnificent success
was devoted to the work of striking
the manaces of slavery from the limbs
of the negro. But after this heroic
task was accomplished, he dipped his
cleaning and keen scimeter into the
oil of concord-his war against the
South was ended-and he strove with
all the earnestness of his better nature
to heal the wounds which had been
made.
When our fallen President Davis
stood before the bar of the Federal
Court in Richmond, and was required
to give bond in the sum of 100000,
the question was put: "Who will be
your bondsman?" "I will be his bonds
man." was the thrilling reply that
came from the lips of Horace Greeley.
We do not pretend to say that Hor-
ace Greeley was right in his long and
persistent war against slavery in this
country. Perhaps, he was not. Ger
tainly he was bitterly opposed at every
step by all our people. But with him
it was clearly conscientious work and
the result proved it successful. During
his few remaining years, however, after
the close of the war, lie displayed only
the characteristics of grand moral
hero-that superb type of the hero who
could be just and magnanimous in the
hour of triumph.
We know of no man in American
history whose character commands
more admiration than that of Horace
Greeley. And when the national Dem
ocratic party accepted him as a stand
ard bearer for President it made a
record of supreme disinterestedEess
that will last forever as one of the
proudest episodes in its glorious history.
1t brought the partisan animosities and
ambitions of an entire generation, and
buried them all at the feet of the man
in the grandeur of whose integrity and
patriotism they trusted. All the bick-
erings and buffetings of the past, all
hopes of present party triumphs Were
laid there upon the altar of patriotism.
The fact that Greeley was not elected
the fact that he was rejected by the
North only showed the decay of politi-
cal virtue in that section; and the fact
that the negroes repudiated him in the
South only proves that there is another
race besides the ancient Jews capable
of crucifying their Savior. Here is a
specimen of the backest of black in
gratitude. 1t was enough to make the
great soul of Horace Greely cry out in
agony as did the blessed Saviour upon
the Gross, "My God my God! Why
hast thou forsal1en me?" Here was
a race whom he had delivered from the
night of two hundred years of bond
age stabbing him in the heart and
crushing out the vital spark that illum-
ined the glory of his ripened and ma
tured manhood, and mellowed the
completion of his immortal lifetime
work. Well might he turn to this
African race of ingrates, and, like
Caesar when he saw the hand of his
pr0tege and bosom friend lifted against
him, eXcIaim: Get tn Brute /"
If this race for whose emancipation
he had devoted his entire life and all
his marvellous talent had turned upon
him, existence here had lost its illure-
ments, his life was stupendous failure
the great heart of Horace Greedy was
broken, and reason fled from one of its
proudest thrones.
The Greeley movement in 1872 was
an abortion, not because it ought to
have succeeded, but because the reli-
ance upon the gratitude of the negro
for their benefactor was misplaced, and
the American people were unable to
rise to the grandeur of Greeley's theory
of politics at the time embraced in the
talismanic words of "shaking hands
across the bloody chasm." 1t was a
dark day for American magnanimity,
Justice and fraternity when the light OF
Horace Greeley went out.