The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-12-20

w came the ambassador at the
court of ST. James in 1905,
being named by President Roosevelt
to succeed Joseph II. Choate. He had
previously served three years in the
diplomatic service as ambassador to
France, 1889 TO 1892. under President
Harrison. He had twice been our spe-
cial representative at British celebra-
tons, in 1897 at Queen Victoria's jubi-
lee and again in 1902 at the coronation
of Edward VII. Presidents Hayes
and Garfield had offered him the en-
bassy at Berlin, but these offers he
had refused to accept. Y..
1t was only within the last months
of his tenure of office that a public
utterance by him caused anything like
a stir in this country. His address be-
fore the University College of Wales
on oct. 81 called attention to inconsis-
tencies in Jefferson's philosophy and
career, and Representative A. Mitchell
Palmer brought up the matter in the
house of representatives, bitterly at
lacking the ambassador for his re-
marks. Additional attention was at
tracted to the speech by the fact that
President Elect Wilson expressed ap-
proval of Mr.. Palmer's position. But
while members of the house were de-
manding that the ambassador be re-
proved he was already confined to his
room with what proved to be his last
illness.
All his life Mr.. Reid had been a thor
Oughgoing party man. His pubic life
began before the civil war, when he
made speeches for Fremont in 1856.
He was then nineteen years old. hav-
ing been born in the little town of
Xenia, O., in 1897. At that age he
was already a great admirer of the
New York Tribune and Of Horace
Greeley, with whom few years later
he was to be closely associated.
After being put through a prepara-
tory course by his uncle, the Rev. Hugh
Mcmillan, Scotch covenanter who
had settled in Ohio, young Reid enter
ed Miami university. His family was
not well to do, and as soon as the
young man was graduated he became
the principal of a school at South
Charleston, o. He saved enough
money in a few years to repay his
father for part of his college course
and to buy small paper in Xenia.
Almost the first service of his journal
was to support the candidacy of Abra-
ham Lincoln. He met Lincoln soon
afterward when the future president
came into Ohio on a stumping tour.
Reid gave up his own newspaper to
become the Columbus correspondent
for a journal in Cleveland and one in
Cincinnati. He soon took the city edi-
torship of the Cincinnati Gazette and
held it short time, until the possibili-
ties of gathering the news of the civil
war took him to the front He went
through the first Virginia campaign
and attracted country wide attention
by ten column account Of the battle
of Pittsburgh Landing, which no other
correspondent had seen.
In 1862 Mr. Reid went to Washington
as the GaZette's correspondent. This
proved TO be most important step, for
he soon afterward met Mr.. Greeley.
The latter took fancy to the young
man and offered him the position of
Washington correspondent of his pa
per. Mr.. Reid refused to leave the
Gazette, but consented to do the work
for Greeley in conjunction with his
own.
Joins the Tribune Staff.
When the war closed Mr.. Reid was
one of the first northern writers to
make tour Of the stricken southern
states. and in this he had the com
panionship of Salmon P. Chase. They
made wide study of the results Of the
war and this gave Mr.. Reid material
for his first book, which appeared soon
afterward under the title after the
War-A Southern Tour" He decided
to try his hand as a southern farmer
and took three plantations in Missis-
sippi. The venture failed, and after
making "A second attempt In Alabama
Mr.. Reid returned TO Cincinnati and
the Gazette as chief editorial writer
Then Mr. Greeley's invitation to come
TO New York was renewed, and the
young man accepted, displacing John
Russell Young as managing editor.
In 1872 came the nomination of
Greeley for the presidency. The Trib-
une was bound TO support his candi-
dacy, and Mr.. Reid, who had added to
his reputation as newspaper man by
his remarkable handling of the news
of the Franco-Prussian war, took the
lead in the campaign. The disastrous
defeat of the Greeley cause was a hard
blow to the Tribune and its new man
eger.
Broken in spirit, Mr.. Greeley return
ed to his duties. Samuel Sinclair, Mr.
Greeley's partner in the Tribune was
in financial straits, and he offered the
paper for sale to syndicate Of promi-
nent Republicans, who were to re-
habilitate It. William Orton headed
a. l. n.