Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1886-03-05


into the personal defects, the motives
and the wickedness of his rivals"
Horace Greeley and the presidential
contest of 1872 are thus described: "No
other candidate could have presented
such an antithesis of strength and of
weakness. He was the ablest polemic
this country has ever produced. His
command of strong idiomatic controver-
sfal English was unriyalled. His facul-
ty of lucid statement and compact rea-
SoniHg has never been surpassed. With
out the graces of fancy or the arts of
rhetoric. he was Incompatible in di-
rect, pungent, forcible discussion. A
keen observer and an Omnivorous read
er. he bad acquired an immense fund
of varied knowledge, and he marshaned
facts with singular skill and aptness.
In an era remarkable for strong editors
in the New York press, embracing Ray
mond of the Times, the elder Bennett
of the Herald, Watson Webb of the
Courier and Enquirer, William Gull
len Bryant of the Evening Post, with
Thurlow Weed and Edwin Croswell in
the rival journals at Albany, Mr.. Gree
ley easily surpassed them all. His
mind was original, creative, incessant-
ly active. His industry was as I'M
swerving as his fertility was inexhaust-
ible. Great as was his intellectual
power, his chief strength came from the
depth and earnestness of his moral
convictions. In the long and arduous
battles against the aggressiOns of
slavery he had been sleepless and I'M
firing in rousing and quickening the
public conscience. lie was keenly alive
to the distinctions of right and wrong,
and his philanthrophy responded 10
every call of humanity. His sympa-
thies were easily touched by the suffer
ings of the famine-s stricken Irish and
by the wrongs of the plundered In
dams. Next to Henry Clay, whose
ardent disciple he was, he had done
more than any other man to educate
his countrymen in the American sys-
tenn Of protection TO home industry. He
had on all occasions Zealously guarded
the rights of labor, he had waged un-
sparing war on the evils of intempcr-
ance, he had made himself an oracle
with the American farmer, and his in
iuence was even more potent in the
remote prairie homes than within the
shadow of Printing House square. In
any reckoning of the present forces of
The century, Horace Greeley must be
counted among the foremost, intellect
ually and morally. When he left the
fields of labor in which he had become
lllustrious to pass the ordeal of a presi-
Dental candidate, the opposite and
weaker sides of his character and
career were brought into view. He
was headstrong, impulsive, and opin-
donated. He was a powerful agitator
and matchless leader of debate, rather
than master of government. Those
who most admired his honesty, courage
and power in the realms of his great
ness most distrusted his fitness to hold
the reins of administration. He had in
critical periods evinced a want both of
hrmness and of sagacity. When the
Southern states were on the eve of
secession and the temper of the country
was on trial he had, though with honest
intentions, shown signs of irresolution
and vacillation. When he was BETRAYED
into the ill-advised and abortiye neace
negotiations with southern commits
sioners at Niagara he had displayed the
lack OF tact and preparation which
made the people doubt the solidity and
coolhess of his Judgment. His method
OF dealing with the most intricate
problems of finance seemed exneri.
mental and rash. Mr.. Greely had
moreover, weakened himself by show
ing singular thirst for public Office.
IL Is strange that one who held a COM
handing station and who welded an
unequal influence should have been
ambitious for the smaller honors of
public life. But Mr.. Greeley had
craved even minor offices, from which
ne could have derived no distinction.
ana IN his own phrase, had dissolved
the firm of Seward, Weed & Greeley be-
cause, as he conceived, his claims tn
othcial promotion were not fairly recoc-
nized. This known aspiration added to
the reasons which discredited his nm
natural alliance with the democracy.
His personal characteristics. always
marked, were exaggerated and dis
torted in the portraitures drawn by his
adversaries. All adverse considera-
tons were brought to bear with irresis-
tible effect as the canvass proceeded. and
his splendid services and undeniable
greatness could not weigh in the scale
against the political elements and per-
sonal disqualifcations with which his
presidential candidacy was identified. },
Mr.. Blaine speaks thus of Mr.. TIlden.
Mr.. Tilden has been the subject of
vehement and contradictory judgments
His friends have well nigh canonized
him as representing the highest type of
public virtue; his foes have painted
him as an adept in craft and intrigue.
His partizans have held him up az the
evangel of q new and purer dispense
ton; bis opponents declare that his
ability is maued by selfshness and