GREELEY, HORACE. 



367 



$525, the receipts $92. After four months Mr. 

 Thomas McElrath became a partner in the 

 paper, and at the end of the first year its suc- 

 cess was established. The cardinal idea of Mr. 

 Greeley, in the establishment of the Tribune, 

 was, the publication of a journal which should 

 be equally free from narrow partisanship and 

 timid neutrality. He took his stand on the 

 independence of the daily press. Avoiding 

 the fierce intolerance of party spirit, on the 

 one hand, and a tame servility to public opinion 

 on the other, he aimed to hold a position be- 

 tween those extremes, expressing his convic- 

 tions with frankness and promptitude on all 

 public measures, but not avoiding the exposure 

 of errors on the part of those with whom, in 

 the main, he agreed. "With these views Mr. 

 Greeley had completely identified his name 

 with the influence of his journal. To secure 

 its beneficent power was the chief purpose of 

 his life. No prize, in his estimation, was of 

 such precious worth as its efficient action ia 

 aid of sound and lofty principles, of the ad- 

 vancement of truth in religion and science, of 

 the liberal education, the material prosperity, 

 and the social happiness of the whole American 

 people. It would be too much to say of Mr. 

 Greeley, or of any journalist of our times, that 

 he had succeeded fully in attaining to this 

 lofty ideal of the mission of the daily journal ; 

 but it is certain that his views of the true char- 

 acter of journalism grew wider and loftier with 

 each year of his life, and that he struggled with 

 ever-increasing zeal to realize them. His as- 

 pirations in this direction found a voice in the 

 eloquent and often- quoted paragraph from his 

 autobiography : " Fame is a vapor ; popularity 

 an accident; riches take wings; the only 

 earthly certainty is oblivion ; no man can fore- 

 see what a day may bring forth ; while those 

 who cheer to-day will often curse to-morrow ; 

 and yet I cherish the hope that the journal I 

 projected and established will live and flourish 

 long after I shall have mouldered into forgotten 

 dust, being guided by a larger wisdom, a more 

 unerring sagacity to discern the right, though 

 not by a more unfaltering readiness to embrace 

 and defend it at whatever cost ; and that the- 

 stone which covers my ashes, may bear to fu- 

 ture eyes the still intelligible inscription, 

 ' Founder of the New York Tribune.'' " 



Mr. Greeley was elected to Congress in 1848, 

 to fill a vacancy, and served in that body from 

 December 1st of that year, to March 4, 1849, 

 distinguishing himself chiefly by his endeavors 

 to reform the abuses of the mileage system. 

 But he failed to make a marked figure in the 

 House of Representatives, and never afterward 

 was a member of any deliberative body, except 

 the late Constitutional Convention of New 

 York. The editorial chair and the lecture- 

 room were his proper spheres, and in these 

 he had the most influence, and exerted the 

 greatest power. It was more than twenty 

 years after Mr. Greeley had been a constant 

 writer for the newspaper press, before he ven- 



tured to publish a volume. This was his " Hints 

 toward Reforms" (1850), consisting chiefly of 

 lectures and addresses which he had delivered 

 before various literary associations within the 

 preceding six or eight years. They comprise 

 the maturest thoughts of the writer on the 

 conditions of social progress, and elucidate his 

 convictions on the leading topics of reform, to 

 which he had largely devoted the energies of 

 his life. His next work, " Glances at Europe," 

 relating some of his experiences in foreign 

 travel, was published in 1851, and was followed 

 in 1859 by his " Overland Journey to Califor- 

 nia," a record of his impressions from scenes 

 that were even then passing away, and which 

 have now for the most part given place to new 

 and improved relations. A work of more elab- 

 orate preparation was, " The American Con- 

 flict" (1864), relating the history of the recent 

 civil war, and tracing its causes to the influence 

 of slavery on the politics of the country. The 

 point of view from which this work is written 

 was, the conviction of the divine government 

 of the world by immutable moral laws, and of 

 the certainty of retribution as consequent upon 

 every compromise with evil. It is distinguished 

 for its fulness of detail, the fairness of its judg- 

 ments, and its acute analysis of the causes of 

 political events. Among his writings, the brief 

 volume on the principles of political economy 

 of which he was always the ardent advocate, 

 and the narrative of his personal experience as 

 a practical farmer, " What I Know about Farm- 

 ing," a work which, though its title has afforded 

 a vast amount of amusement to the would-be- 

 wits of the newspapers, is really a work of 

 decided merit, have met with a large share of 

 popular favor, and enhanced his influence 

 among the intelligent reading-classes. His 

 most interesting work is doubtless the " Recol- 

 lections of a Busy Life" (1869), in which with 

 inimitable naivete, he relates the successive 

 steps by which he advanced from the obscurity 

 of a country printing-office to his recent posi- 

 tion among the eminent men of the age. Mr. 

 Greeley had twice visited Europe: the first 

 time to testify before a parliamentary commis- 

 sion ; the second, to attend the International 

 Exposition in Paris, in 1855-'56. On this lat- 

 ter occasion, he had his only experience of 

 prison-life. A Monsieur Lechesne, a sculptor, 

 had sent a statue to the New York Palace Ex- 

 hibition, 1852, which had been broken and 

 destroyed. Hearing that Mr. Greeley was in 

 Paris, the sculptor caused his arrest, as a di- 

 rector and representative of the Crystal Palace 

 Association, on a claim for $2,500 for the broken 

 statue. As bail could not be readily obtained 

 in a strange city upon short notice, Mr. Greeley 

 had no alternative but to go to jail, and to jail 

 lie went. He was soon visited by Mr. Mason, 

 the American ambassador, and other friends, 

 and a lawyer was secured for him. It was 

 shown that the effects of the association were 

 in the hands of a receiver, and that Mr. Greeley 

 was not personally liable under the laws of 



