Year: 1872




Horace Greeley.


The news or the death Of man SO univeusa,,v
known and who has so recently filed so large
q space in the public sight as Horace Greeley
is q visible shock to the whole community
Coming suddenly and Unexpectedly, 1t brings
to many people almost that sense OF per-
sona bereavement which is always felt il
the loss OF familiar presence, while to many
others who we're warmly attached to him it doubt
less comes as sorrow almost without mitigation
There are others, however, OF more selfpossessi0n
and calmer Judgment, who, knowing Mr.. Greeley
well, will look upon his death as a natural conse-
qucnce OF foregone conditions and one that can be
hardly said to be unexpected, and which, in
deed, was looked forward to as probable
in near future after the events of
the past summer. Among these persons are
TO be classcd no doubt, II not all medical men,
certainly all those in the least acquainted with Mr.
Greeley's constitution and the conditions OF hAs
life, for, these being given, the most natural con-
clusion was speedy death to follow all that he has
gone through during the last Summer. So far
Is an event which has its constant and common
parallel and that alone which makes 1t striking Ii
TINS seemingly sudden conclusion TO q remarkable
career at its most conspicuous period
one Of great strength, and had he lived as his
also would doubtless have lived 20 near o hundred
years OF age. His habits have also been strictlv
has never known any thing of those 'tIH ordinary ~
disorders to which most men are accustomed
he was CAPABLE Of immense wss
and immense wear and tear His weakness. then,
was not in the ''nobe entrails the vital organs
OF the trunk are called by an old writer but in tho
seat Of the intellectual nature. We recognize the
propriety OF the rule Of sparing anything like q
critical analysis of the character OF man who n
just dead, and it is no departure from this ruleI
we think to recognize the lact which Mr.. Gree
ieys dearest friend would not think OF ignoring,
eccentric qualities. The weak spot OF his constitu-
ton, and where disease fastened itself when cir
cumstances occurred which were destructive 0fa
healthy condition OF the seat OF the moral and in
telectua faculties, was the brain. Perhaps his very
pecuarties and eccentrcities the result OF an
original weakness IN The substance OF some por-
tion OF the brain, just as some men have a weak
spot in the lungs which always threatens them
with consumption. But, however this may be, the
fact is evident that, whether from natural causes
or too much use the brain in Mr.. Greeley was that
organ which, under excessive strain, would give
way. Those familiar with his life know that this is
not the first time death has threatened him from
the same cause.


The strain upon him for the six months from
May to November has been simply tremendous.
His desire to be successful in the canvass n0k
only intense, but In 1t was concentrated all the
l0nglngs, all the ambition, all the dreams OF his
life. inasmuch as success now would bring him the
qualification OF all that desire for distinction and
had moved and governed him. Whether he would
not have died all the same II he had been chosen
President will be curious question Tor the
physicians; but certainly that tendency to innam-
nation of the brain, which belongs to the larger
and to which he was peculiarly liable, was
inevitable under the strain and intense ex-
element Of r. the eSs ana h was az
that Mr. Greeley expected, even after the
State elections, to be chosen President; but
through the Summer. The reaction that followed
all these labors and all these hOpes-labOrs which,
unhappily, his great physical strength made him





hopes the intensity Of which not many men can
conceive-was necessarily very great. The brain
gave way; the Inflammation disOrganiZed his whole
system, and he sunk, as men OF less note so often
do, where chronic tendency to disease OF the
brain becomes, by some sudden calamity or great
emotion, an acute attack from which there is no
possible recovery.


in this country, perhaps in the word, whose death
would have produced q more profound sensation.
Few men have appeared In our history whose lives
characteristic of the peculiar influence of our
social and political civilization than his life
and character. OF obscure parenrage, hum
bic in circumstance without other education
than that limited and elementary kind which
is gained by severe effort the midst Of exhaust
the front rank OF highly intellectual profession,
tobecome the adviser and counsellor of the most
distinguished statesmen of his day. to be recOg-
nized as leader Of popular opinion, and to re-
ceve, finally, from large class Of his fellow citi-
him-a nomination to the Chief Magistracy Of the
country. Without family, money friends or any Of
the usual supporters by winch men are helpe0
into eminence Mr. Greeley won his place Of innu-
ence and distinction by the sheer force Of his in
teectua ability and the determination of his char
acter. BY good natural abilities, by industry. BY
temperance, by sympathy with what Is n0blest and
best in human nature and by earnest purpose,
the ignorant, frendless unknown printers boy Of
few years since became the powerful and famous
journalist, whose words went to the ends Of the
earth, affecting the destinies OF all mankind.


The great misfortune Of his life was its greatest
distlnction-his nomination at Cincinnati-a dis
tinction most unfortunate for him. not merely that
1t was the prOxmate cause OF his DEATH but that 1t
unquestionably served to render him less popular
or to show that he was less popular than he was
supposed to be- VINO can tell how much this also
may have served to shatter altogether that over.
worked brain