^" 3-r, :i;x^^ v^ \ % ^0- ' . ^ ■ • A ' -^i {<--t^ ^■^-0^ o. -.V V \ o. -,,.♦■ .0-^ X ^^^ ^' ■» -r, f^,^ .-h" \' V o c^^' .^:.^=v V .sv ^' - o"^- f. , * ^4 ^^ x''- *- ■/ c- o 't- r ' " " ^ o ^. •\" ^^.i. ^. A^-' ^'/^ b' -^ i^.-^ ^' .0'^ o V ,0^ •■f- ,0 ■^-0^ :^'C:lfM-: "^v ~^' .0' ,H O. «- . . O V, o. ,0" sv".!'. ^;> x^ -. o. '^' -V^ '^_ ,V A^ ^'' "^o^ ."-twr-S^ -^K >vi:B': vO .#■ ^0- .J^ b ^„ ^^'q < •fe& 4- 4- V 'M HORACK (IRIvKLIvY POST, Xo. 577, C;. A. R. 52 rxioN SnlAKj;, I Ni;\v York, June i, 1SS9. 1 Cdi.. I,. ^I. I.awson: At a sjKcial iiieetiiiLi of this Post, held after listeiiini^ to your i-lo(|uc-nt oration at the .tjrave of Horace (irceley, at (yreenwood Cenie- terw on the .^otli nil., it was, on motion of Senior X'ice-Coniniander Alirahani I'ietrh. unanimously voted that you he re([uested to furnish the Post with a t'o])y of the same for ])rintin.iL,^ in suitabU' form as a souvenir of the oci-asion. I trust that you will find it couNenient to eom])l\- with the wishes of the Post at ;in I'arly date. Vour.-^ \ery truly, (^I'ORc;!-: IP MooRi-;, 1-'ka\k S. Taft, Coiiniiandri . .Idjittaiit. 102 Broadway, I Ni'Av York, June "v 1.SS9. 1 Cdmmandkr C.ko. IP MooRH, //oiarr (irecley Post, (i. . I. A'.: I feel highly honored hy the recjuest contained in yom- \-ahusl: Tin-: judoinciit of tlie people is almost always rii^ht when it aeeords piiblie honors to a eitizen in rceo^L^nition of his abilities or achievements. Yet, when it is soni^ht to \eriiv the possession of really oreat qnalities bv any man, the best c\-idence is to be furnished b\- those who, in exercising- the same \()cation, haye encountered him in the close and tryino- contact of the work-day world. In that relation what eminent man of our time and countr\- has left a more endearint;' memory than the ])rinter-editor around whose tomb we stand ^ The i^reat distinction which he attained did not change liis kindl\- nature ; the renown which he won induced no haui^htiuess. In his demeanor towards his co-workers there was uoth- iuL^- of that assumed loftiness and reserxe with which inferior men seek to mask their weakness and their mediocritw The ])osition of ])ower and influence secured by self-denial and through years M p m of toil at the case and in the sanctuin did not render him indifferent to the rights of his fellow- printers or forgetful of their trials and labors. Though it may be said of him that he was quick to reprove and hot in rebuke, his anger was but an incident of a harassing and lal3orious pro- fession ; and I doubt not many of you can recall occasions when his great heart brought ready apology for hasty words. It is most fitting that von — veterans of the Union armies, and in large part veterans also of the foremost of arts — should have shown your pride in the fame of your illustrious friend by adopt- ing his name. It is meet, too, that you should link with such an abiding token of respect the im- pressixe custom of repairing hither, at this season of consecration and of beauty, to hallow his grave with flowers, with eulogv, and with the most ex- alted of all the honors which the living can bestow upon the dead — the re\-erent ])resence ot brave men bearing the flag which they defended in a great and victorious war. Let these Memorial Day pilgrimages continue until the last comrade of your Post shall himself !ft t #. be at rest under the haiiucr he loved and wliieli Horace Greeley, by his jxatriotisni and his Renins, eontrilnited so ninch to make in ver\- truth more richly fraut^ht with the blessint^s and the ho])es of mankind than any standard that was ever borne by any army or anv navy on any sea or any land in all " the tides of time." A generation has well-nigh passed away since Horace Greeley died and was buried here. His eventful life ended in the great metro])olitan centre in which he exerted so dominant an influence dur- ing all of the tragic period of our National history. His career ])resents the most eager, the most posi- tive and the most industrious personality that has been exhibited on this continent since the Colonies became States of the Federal Union. It may be claimed that we of to-da}' fail to estimate fnlly his power in the solution of the great prob- lems of which his life was a part, and that we dis- cern but imperfectly his intelligent, hnmane, and heroic course — a course that knew no timidity. It has been assumed by many that, in the steady march of time and being near to his career as we are, we begin to forget his nnicjue character from fe ^ SJ iff m the time wlicii, still an inicoiitli boy, be became the oracle of his hamlet in New England, nntil he was everywhere recognized as possessed of a rare order of mind and erndition, completing his life as the a])()Stle of humanity, winning and holding the attention of thonghtfnl and patriotic men of all conditions and all countries up to the moment when America became a house of mourning at his bier. It is often said, in considering the life of a great man, conspicuous for achievements about which his surxivors may disagree, that the latter are not re- mote enough from his performances to assign him a ]}ro])er place in history; which means, I take it, that posterity will know more about the facts than the active participants in the events in which he was a leader or champion. This, I think, is a mistake, and the testimony of this Memorial Day is the e\idence of it. So, too, would it be a greater and more grievous mistake to say that Horace (irecley was a ]:)roduct alone of our American insti- tutions, or that, outside of a re])ublic he would not have existed as a mental potentate at all. vSuch is a common and cheap jdirase often used in con- M "W sidcriiig' llic cliaracler of tliose who have l)cen l^henoiiieiial in the f^rowth of this Western Conti- nent ; and I ho])e tliat, in the few moments I sliall detain von here, I mav l)e al)le to sliow tliat Horace Greeley would have been a s^reat man in an\- countrv, in an\- pro^ressiNe movement, and in anv age of which we have historic account ; in other words, had it been his destiny to participate in the recent National convulsions al^road for the l)etter- ment of tlie people at large he would in other lands have been on the same level with Cavour and (lari- l)aldi in Italy, with Daniel O'Connell and Parnell in Ireland, witli Kossuth in Hnngar\-, with Mid- liat Pasha in Turkey and with the luckless Arabi in Egypt. His whole life from his earliest boyhood exliibited a single ])urposc from which at no time did he swerve, and that purpose was to be a con- scientious and thorough publicist; which is ])crhaps the most accurate description of his career among the journalists, the statesmen, the ]K)liticians, the economists and the literati of whom he was a fore- most figure during forty years of the commercial and intellectual growth of New York. And who was this man wlio ke])t all America M w ao-o_t^- duriiio that era which witnessed the rise of the United States to the foremost place among the great ])owcrs of tlie world ? He was born in a hamlet called Amherst in New Hampshire, in 1811, and his father was a respectable farmer, Zacchens Greeley, of Scotch- Irish parentage. I shall not follow his boj-hood, early edncation, and apprenticeship, to which able biographers have done complete jnstice. Enough, be it said, that we discover from an examination of these books that truly "the child is father of the man;" that his early training was almost in a com- plete measure his own, although he had a mother of untutored but instinctive resources; that he was a devourer of books, journals, and even of almanacs, a tireless asker of questions, a perpetual debater of all subjects uppermost, a l)oy and a 3'outh crowding his mind with facts, until he became a reservoir of knowledge on taj) to the local seer, the clergyman and the professor of his town. This mental master}' of the circle in which the poor boy moved during years of distress and hardship, when there was never a sign of discontent nor the slightest shadow of dishonor, undoubtedlv must have made him con- & scions of the ])o\vcr wliich was witliiii, and wliicli, from the lime lie set out on lono- pedestrian pils^rini- ai^es in pursuit of cnipUwnient to the moment of liis defeat for the Presidency in 1872, never seemed to suffer any a])preciable diminution. His \()uth was an unvarying- round of study, industry and constant privation, ^-et of thorough indifference to the untoward experiences which marked this period of his life. He was endowed with none of the oraces of even the crude society from which he sprung, and his person was destitute of polish, charm or fascination ; but as he grew to manhood, it began to be perceived that his was no ordinary intellect, and that, added to an insatiable thirst for knowledge, he was gifted with a marvel- lous memory, a ready, a])t, and logical utterance, a subtile sense of discrimination, and a keen insight into the mysteries of life. Hence it was that he soon became the youthful mentor of the village of Kast Poultney, Vermont, in fact its town encyclo- pedia. It was here, after the most rudimentary opportunities of the district school, followed by the largest range of reading possible in an intelli- gent commonwealth of New Ivngland, that he & : S ff la entered a priiitiiii^ office as an apprentice and laid the fonndation of his fntnre editorial career. From the age of fifteen to twent\' he was a wanderer on foot, carrying his hnmble pack over the hills of New Hampshire, crossing the dense woods of the Empire State, and penetrating the uncnt forests of Penns3'lvania, always in pnrsnit of the practice of his craft. And were these migra- tions, like those of the trader and the pioneer, that he might lay np riches? Not that — only that his snr])his earnings might go to save the encnmbered farm of his father. This self-abnegation and generosity were worthy and conspiciions features of his subsequent life. On the 1 8th of August, 1831, Horace Greeley, ha\ ing descended the Hudson from Albany, arrived in the City of New York with a capital of ten dol- lars. I will not recount the scoffs and jeers which greeted his uncouth a])pearance as he went from printing office to printing office in search of work ; how most unwillinglv and b}- a mere accident he was ])ut to the test as a practical typesetter and showed such a w(mderful intelligence, accuracy, and manual dexterity in setting uj) the difficult a^ - M pai^cs of a ])()lygl()t Testaiiiciit tliat his success as a printer was secured in the Metropolis. Nor need there l)e anv reference in detail to those busi- ness vicissitudes which ])reeeded his rise to the editorial desk. First a terse parai^raphist, he after- wards became an occasional contributor. In 1S34 the AvTt' ]v>'//vv' appeared with Horace Greele}- as its editor-in-chief. It was incomparably the best journal of its kind that had yet appeared in the Union. It almost instantly gave him a National reputation. He bounded into fame at once as a correct, vigorous, expressive and posi- ti\e writer, covering all branches of the literar}^ and journalistic art, entering at once upon a discussion of those subjects which became the grist of his ceaseless mill in after years, such as " Slaver^-," "Agriculture," "International Copyright," "Cap- ital Punishment" and "The Tariff." His editorship of the JrlfosoniiUi followed in i(S3ut all these ventures were merely ])reliminary to tlie great work of his life, the establishment of & - a w a iic\\s|)a}>er wliicli was destined to become the most jKJwerfiil political journal on the Western Hemi- s])here, the Aytc ]^()r/c Tribune, of which Horace (ireelev himself has written these memorable words: I'aiiK' is n va])()r, popularity an accident ; riches take wings ; the only earthly certainty is oblivion. No man can foresee what a clay may hrini^ forth, while those that cheer to-day may often curse to- morrow. And yet I cherish the hope that the journal I projected and estahlished will live and flourish long after I have mouldered into forgoUin dust, lieing guidcfl by a larger wisdom, a more unerring sa- gacil\- to discern the right, though not with a more unfaltering readi- ness to tni])race and defend it at whatever personal cost ; and that the stone- which covers my ashes ma\- bear to future eyes the still intelli- gil)U' insi-ri])tion, " I'ouuder of the AVu' Yoik 7'')ihiaic" . The Dihuiir appeared on the loth of April, iS.|i, and the subsequent thirty years of its exist- ence have been fraui^ht with momentous events. The gradual growth of the sectional alienation between the North and the South, the incorporation of Texas into the Union, the Mexican War and the military achievements of Taylor and vScott, the con- quest of New Mexico and Chihuahua by Doni])han and of California by Kearny and FreuKnit, the decay of the \\'hig ])arty, the rise and fitful life of Know-Nothingism, the foundation of the Republi- can party, the split of the Democracy into hostile fe- ■1^ facti(His, tlic Cliicaoo CfMueiition of 1860, the de- feat oi Williaiii II. vSeward in that l)()d\-, the nomi- nation and eleetion of Lineoln, the Civil War and reeonstrnetion — tliesc formed frnitfnl and almost daily themes for the nse of the most granitie and trenehant Knjdish that has c\er appeared in a jonrnal jMiblished in onr langnage. It is not too mneh to sa_v that, in the generation described, Horace Greelc}-, ])v the very gifts of a ])en known in all forms of modern controversy, was the most ])()werfnl as he was the most influential writer of his time. His diction, while singularly direct and simple, was that of an intellectual giant, hurling boulders when his contem])oraries were tossing pebbles. Guided by a lofty aim in all public dis- cussion, truthful if not ])olitic, sincere when dissim- ulation would have made him a more successful pol- itician, in all the grave questions upon which he poured the light of his luminous intelligence, the Tjihiiur was the very lexicon of liberty. Its great battle against slavery was the fiercest struggle which has ever been fought, and triumph was its reward ; for while Abraham Lincoln, who, without the editor of the riihuiif could not ha\e been Prcsi- # dent of tlie United States, wrote with his own hand the Decree of Emancipation, it is to Horace Gree- ley that liistor}' will assign the credit of having ex- tingnished the institution of slaver}^ on this hemis- phere. But besides his fight against slavery Horace Greeley, after Henr}' Clay, was the most powerful champion of that distinctive polic}^ which was styled by the great Kentuckian " The American System." The other features of his public life — his elec- tion to and honorable service in Congress, striking always at corruption and tainted methods of ever}^ kind, vigorously maintaining the purity and inde- pendence of the ballot, disdaining servility to cliques and bosses, and far removed from that odious creat- ure of to-day, the fast-niultipl3'ing Mammon-wor- shi])pcr, his wide popularity as one of the most gifted men of the lyceum, his journey across the Plains and the Sierras, and his European expe- riences — are singular evidences of the variety and versatility of his busy life. When the War ended his daily watchword was universal amnesty, and in accordance with this hu- mane policy he prevented the trial of Jefferson Davis fe. M for treason by t^'oiiio; on liis hail l)ond for one luin- dred tlionsand dollars, assoeiatini;" with himself sueh stanch llnionists as (lerrit vSniith, Cornelins Yan- derhilt, Ani^nstns Schell, and John Minor Botts. Such action by these eminent citizens showed a drift of Northern sentiment which the Johnson Admin- istration dared not face, and thus by this mai^-nani- mous act was saved the barbarous spectacle of making bloody re]:)risals among the chieftains of the Confeder- acy ; and this was the keynote to Horace Greeley's entire life from the time when Lee surrendered his sword to Grant at Appomattox till the great editor was borric to his toml). For him the fight was over, the battle had been won, and fraternal love was the doctrine which he preached should thenceforth reign between the sec- tions. When nominated for the Presidenc\' in 1872 bv the Liberal Republicans and the Democratic party his platform was substantially the brotherhood of man, and this in a wonderful series of powerful and ])athetic addresses he taught from the rostrums of the Union. That cam])aign, disastrous as it was to him, brought him many supporters of National distinction from the Repu])lican party ; among them, ft '2 Ji iff li Charles P^rancis Adams, Carl vSclnirz, Chainiccv M. Depew, Frank Hiscock, Lyiiiaii Trunibull, Andrew G. Cnrtin, Salmon P. Chase, David Davis and Charles vSnmner. lUit his election was not to be, and he did not lons^' linger amoni;- the people who were too slow to fathom his snblime maj^nanimity, a people too hii^hl}' wronght by eai^'er passion to nnderstand the sweetness of a !;;'entle heart, and alas ! too soon foro-etfnl of a lifetime of devotion tohnman- ity nnsnr])assed since America was a wilderness. And as we panse to sa\' a last word abont this o-reat man, whose memory on the recnrrini^ dawn of each snmmer's season we keep screen with frai^rance and with flowers, we are reminded that the last of the great trio has l)nt jnst passed awa}', the last of the three mighty and benevolent giants, Horace Greeley, Victor Hngo, and John Bright, types of rare and rnggcd genins, whose fnrther reverence we may safel}- leave to the appreciative jndgnient of mankind. %. "- .^^^ v* 1°. o. ,^-r, , ^ , - c , ^ )v^ ^> <;^. > ^V- '^' A> „ « ^ 0' vO -->. - v^^ \ ^' C°'/^'" ^0^ .V c^ -^^^^ ^° .^>;>^^^ o. • "i-p* ."''--fie'- •^c"' ■'f/^'i.'-- -..■••-° „/ ..„ V ••■■• .s*\...°-. * = ■■■>' '-f .A 7 .'^/^/^^,^ N ,v .^^ ;'>i!^^^ "-^^c^* ^;;^a;^ %.„/ -'>#^-- -^^.Z • ■^9. .^' "o * - , ' r> .0 V Cj > »^ -A- X '"ri- k'/ : V- ;^ •<-V :r.^m' -V ^,-'-.''^'' •\ A' A^ , C - « <'. -1^ ^^^-^v .0- 0' V '.•,r'/ o ^>-^ i- .x^> -^ .-Jv^ ■X -x~' ',-v 0^ •v^-ni. ^^-^<^. V 0^ \-.v:. ^ '^. 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