Year: 1872




| From the New YORK Tribune.l


| Horace Greeley.


| The melancholy announcement OF the death O
the editor and founder of the Tribune though for
| few days his family and intimate friends have
admitted to themselves its possibility, falls upon
us all with the shock of sudden calamity He
had reached, indeed. ripe old age, but time
had not laid its withering touch upon him; his
splendid constitution easily bore the strain o
enormous labor; his mind was as fresh and strong
and suggestive in the prime of life his generous
impulses were unchiled by disheartening expe
rience Through the trying campaign which has just
closed his physical vigor his tact his intellectual
activity surprised even those who knew him
best, and seemed to promise many years OF use
fulness. Looking at what he might yet have &C
complished, we wonder at the mysterious dis.
pensation OF Providence that takes him away
while his faculties are still unwearied. Remember
ing what he has already done, we stand
with bowed head beside the open grave,
and thank the Good Master who has
permitted his servant to complete so much
OF his great labor, and to reap so many OF It's fruits
For, after all, though detraction and dsappOint-
ment and domestic sorrow may have clouded his
last days, this was the happy ending Of a noble
career. my life," said he, some years ago.
''has been busy and anxious, but not
joyless. Whether it shall be prolonged few
or more years l am grateful that it has
endured so long, and that it has abounded In Op-
portunities for good not wholly unmprOved, and in
pulses OF human nature" The record do Of % what he
has done for the industry, the education the gen.
eral culture and the social Improvement Of his
country, well as the story OF what he has accom-
plished in guiding Its political destinies we may leave
10 an impartial posterty It is too soon, perhaps
to Judge correctly how great has been his share in
moulding the public sentiment which dictates
laws, chooses Presidents, creates armies and con-
trolls public events but it is certain that no history
of the most critical period in our national life
ever be written in which Horace Greeley shall not
be conspicuous figure. Enormous as his personal
influence was in politics for the better part OF a
generation, il was not upon tlis that in his latter
years he looked back with the greatest satisfac
ton. That he had shaped the course OF admins
trations, directed the purposes of parties created
great organ OF opinion, taught statesmen to SIT
at his feet and senates to listen for his
which he would have measured his
success. The vanity Of wealth, the unreality
he estimated them all at their true value. The
noblest career, In his eyes, was that which is given
up to others wants. The successful life was that
which is worn out in conflict with wrong and woe.
The only ambition worth following was the ambi-
tion to alleviate human misery and leave the world
alttle better than he found it. That he had done
this was the consolation which frightened his last
days and assured him he had not lived in vain


He was young man when he took his stand by
| the suffering and oppressed. He was old when he
saw the downfall Of the barbarism against which
he had batted for quarter OF a century. Hon0rs
turn in this long contest but his sturdy never
faltered and his heart never failed. He took pa
tiently the buffetings Of adverse fortune and
with sublime courage above disaster Tor there was
no selfish impulse in his labor, and he knew thai
though he spent himself the work must go on to Its
final triumph. When the victory came he might
have held up his hands and cried out with Simeon
lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart II
peace.n But 1t was granted him to see even more
than the destruction OF slavery. He was 10 i'm
press upon the policy of the renewed and purified
Union something OF his own generous and elevated
character. to give an impetus to principles des
tined to work grand reforms at no distant time to
preach the political gospel Of brotherhood and good
will and to win before he left this world the esteem
| of thousands who had been his bitterest enemies.
With no vain estimate OF his personal share
he realized how much had been accom-
pshed by the warfare in which he had taken so
great part; he trusted that the agencies which
he had founded would perpetuate his influence
after he had passed away. Conscious, as In his
secret heart he must have been, that when he was in
his grave his name would prompt men to kindly ac-
tons and to noble thoughts would moisten eyes that
never saw him, and bring culver to strange lips,
reward OF his fidelity and sefsacrice .so.n he he
wrote, looking calmly yet humbly for that close Of
my mortal career which cannot be far distant,
reverently thank God for the blessings vOuchsaied
me in the past; and, with an awe that is not fear,
and consciousness OF demerit which does not ex-
clnde hope, await the opening before my steps Of
the gates Of the eternal world"


1t is not for us, in the first hour Of our loss, to
dwell long, here, upon his character, or catalogue


his virtues. To his associates and disciples the be-
reavement Is grief too personal to leave them
| heart for making eloquent phrases. Although for
several months we have missed the in.
spiration Of his presence and the guidance
OF his wise counsel, his spirit has never
ceased to animate those chosen to continue
his work, and the close bond of sympathy between
the chief and his assistants has never been broken


those OF rs hm who hss haye bore T MIN


sympathy but Of tried affection. We leave hi


praises to the poor whom he succOred, to the
l0wly whom he lifted up to the slave whose bach
he saved from the ash to the oppressed whose
| wrongs he made his own.