The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-05-01
Mental Peeuliarities OF Horace Greeley.

Tribune, says of his former chief:
1t is not easy to reconcile the fine
common sense which Mr.. Greeley pos
sessed, and which is so evident in his
political and other public works, with
the almost infantile simplicity which he
sometimes exhibited, when beset by the
impecunious and designing. L attribute
many of his mistaken charities to i'm
patience of interruption. But there were
other and larger swindles practised up
on him, which remain to this day q
mystery, unless we assign them, as l
am inclined to do, to a kindness of
heart, which long intercourse with a
thankless world had failed to impair.
His nature must have had two sides.
Tell him story of wrong, of injustice,
of dishonorable conduct, of selfish false
hood, and he was in arms instantly, and
made comment upon the narrative in
which English of the choicest and En-
glish not quite so polite were piquantly
mingled. But tell him story of want,
of suffering, of a woman in trouble, of a
man subjected to undeserved embarrass-
ment, and if the tears did not come out
OF his eyes the money was pretty sure
to come out of his pocket. Nothing
moved him to wrath like lie. am
about to say what it is perilous, l
know, to say, at least in the uncharita-
BILE estimation of the public, of a news
paper man; but I am, for the
credit of the craft, compelled to
declare, as would do under oath, that,
to the best of my knowledge and belief,
Horace Greeley never printed any thing
which at the time of printing it he did
not believe to be absolutely true. He
may have erred, for to err is human.
He may have been misled by feeling, by
prejudice, or by passion; but he never,
in all his life, averred that to be fact
which he knew to be falsehood. Per-
haps to some readers this praise, for it
is meant to be praise, may seem to be
slight, whereas 1 offer it as the highest
tribute to his memory. He was not
trained in a truthful school. The Jour-
nalism of his youth was far from scru-
pulous, and, for that matter, neither was
the journalism of his middle age. News
papers are more careful now than they
once were. Public men were at that
time egregiously libeled with malice
prepense. Election returns were per-
sistently falsified, political questions
were deliberately misrepresented. Mr..
Greeley had his passions and prejudices
like other editors, and said things some
times in the heat of controversy which
it was necessary to retract; but was
there ever a journalist reader to
acknowledge his error? Indeed, was
there ever one who absolutely
took so much pleasure in adj
hitting his mistakes? Why shouldn't
he? 1t was truth always which
he was in pursuit of-truth religious,
political, social, scientific. Is it won
derful, then, that he sometimes lost his
temper, when he found his opinions
misstated, his cherished belief ridiculed,
his convictions painfully reached by
long study and reflection treated as the
whim-whams of a national speculator,
his person caricatured, his habits belied,
the sanctuary of his private life invaded,
his reasonable ambitions ridiculed, his
services to much smaller men than him
self most ungratefully forgottenP 1
suppose that the word "ie,n which he
was accused of using altogether too
freely, had to him peculiar significance.
1t was short. 1t was also unmistakable.
Its use was the readiest and most con-
venient method of settling a dispute
which promised to be endless; it was a
saving of time, which was precious, and
of space in the newspaper, which was
more so. He had a faculty of applying
epithets to his antagonists which stuck,
and passed into the vocabulary of polit-
ical controversy. He could smite an OPP
ponent with phrase, and stop a contro-
versy which promised to be endless by
the adroit use of single phrase. He
used to deal in this way sometimes with
the long-winded, longitudinous and lat
itudinous correspondents of the Tribune.
He would append to communication
of half a column, which his love of
fair play had betrayed him into
printing, a couple of lines which
made havoc of the writer's facts
.or opinions, or of both. could give a
hundred specimens of his dry humor or
wit if either needed demonstration.
The sharpest or the drollest things
came out of his mouth with a wonder
full readiness and ease. For instance, a
woman had been sending to him verses,
some of which he printed and some of
which he did not. She employed a
friend to call upon Mr.. Greeley and to
hint to him that pecuniary remunera-
ton would be entirely acceptable. The
plainest of plain speakers settled the
matter at once. "Tell her," he said,
&c that we should be willing to pay her
something for not sending us any
more!" 1t seems hard, but really and
at bottom it was benevolent. That
phrase of his, SEQ West, young mani"
which has been so often quoted, was
after all the height of pitiful commiser-
alton, as it was also a condensation of
whole volumes of economical wisdom.
To get Mr.. Greeley at his best expires.
sion, it was necessary to make him
angry. Then every word was like the
blow of trained pugilist. He handled
with facts and specialized with figures
no longer. He never needed then to
employ the space in the editorial col
umns which was his, as matter of
course, if he pleased to occupy it.
One! two! three! and the luckless
object of his wrath fell, metaphorically
speaking, before him. Sometimes it
was only one! two! and sometimes, in
deed, only one!