Litchfield enquirer., 1880-04-15

icy of reconciliation was better than a nolicv ot hatred and revenge:s who was of such thorough integrity that all the forces of grav- ltatlon could not have fastened dishonest dollar to his palm; a man trained in the school or exact discussion, and with clear and defi- nlte opinions; not without practical knowl- edge of the conditions necessary to the ex- lstence of any party belief in justlce and righteousness, even in the minutest partic- ulars of policy. The people decided that he should not be their President, and to the will of the people his friends and supporters were compelled to bow; but having all my life made study of Presidents, with varying opinions of their qualifications and character, l am satisfied that the office ould have suf fered nothing from MT. Greeeys incumbency even in minor matters. Dr. Johnson used to astonish his friends by declaring himself to be very polite man. 1 believe that substan tially MT. Greeley would have made what may call courtly Chief Magistrate. He was sometimes harsh of speech, and when he dls- approved he did SO vigorously; but he was at heart perfect gentleman. and utterly incap- able of premeditated incivility. I am afraid It must be allowed that he was dreadfully de- fcient in department There was not an in tnitesinal grain of the Turveydrop in his nature. He had no high shouldered graces and could not, like Sir Archy McSycophant ''boo, and boo, and, boo" But he showed, all through the great canvass with which his name will be historically associated, not mere ly that speech-making ability which nobody had before thought him to possess, but also kindness, complaisance, and courtesy which were his before, but which were nat ursiiy more and more developed by the great occasion. E
 1t was hard that such man, in such great matter should have been so disappointed, and that the greater pain of his death should have been added to the comparatively insignificant pain of his defeat. Something there was of tragedy in it, but something also of reassur ance That he should have been named for the Presidency at all, was in itself triumph. That such vast number of his fellow citizens should have voted for him, was in itself vic- tory. If he had come back to his newspaper. strong in health, he could have amply held his owa against all corners, with the old cheerful courage and skill. It is to use no common place of conso,ation to say that his was bet ter fortune. After such "a busy llfe," it was we'll that he should cease from his labors. He died private citizen, and he was mourned for by the nation. He died after great fail ure, and his were the oBsequies of victor. He died plain Horace Greeley, and that per haps was better than to die President.
 In the office of the newspaper which he
 
 only of his kindness but of his singular man. ner of showing it. The men under him knew his ways and humored them. Those who sur vive have countless stories to tell of his good ness, of his appreciation of good work, and of his impatience of that which was not good; how he once being applied to for loan thrust his purse into the hands of one of his employ es and told him to help himself, but for Heav- ems sake not to interrupt his writing; how one night when the toll was heavy upstairs, he extemporized banquet of pie and cheese upon the composing stone; how he once rushed out of his sanctum into the editorial room to ask what fool wrote certain article, and how the fool answered the question in person. These are but trif1ing tales; but the reader may not be impatient of them, if they show that the great editor was loved as we'll as respected, and that urbanity of character is not inconsistent with perfect plainness of de- meanor and of speech