CHAPTER X 



THE GREELEY CAMPAIGN 1872 



HAVING finished my duties on the Santo Domingo 

 Commission, I returned to the University in May 

 of 1871, devoted myself again to my duties as president 

 and professor, and, in the mass of arrears which had ac- 

 cumulated, found ample occupation. I also delivered 

 various addresses at universities, colleges, and elsewhere, 

 keeping as remote from politics as possible. 



In June, visiting New York in order to take part in a 

 dinner given by various journalists and others to my 

 classmate and old friend, George Washburne Smalley, at 

 that time the London correspondent of the "New York 

 Tribune/' I met, for the first time, Colonel John Hay, 

 who was in the full tide of his brilliant literary career and 

 who is, as I write this, Secretary of State of the United 

 States. His clear, thoughtful talk strongly impressed me, 

 but the most curious circumstance connected with the af- 

 fair was that several of us on the way to Delmonico's 

 stopped for a time to observe the public reception given to 

 Mr. Horace Greeley on his return from a tour through the 

 Southern States. Mr. Greeley, undoubtedly from the 

 purest personal and patriotic motives, had, with other 

 men of high standing, including Gerrit Smith, attached 

 his name to the bail bond of Jefferson Davis, which re- 

 leased the ex-president of the Confederacy from prison, 

 and, in fact, freed him entirely from anything like punish- 

 ment for treason. I have always admired Mr. Greeley 's 

 honesty and courage in doing this. Doubtless, too, an 



169 



