160 POLITICAL LIFE -VIII 



equally patriotic and honest desire to aid in bringing 

 North and South together after the war led him to take 

 an extensive tour through sundry Southern States. He 

 had just returned from this tour and this reception was 

 given him in consequence. 



It had already been noised abroad that there was a 

 movement on foot to make him a candidate for the Presi- 

 dency, and many who knew the characteristics of the man, 

 even those who, like myself, had been greatly influenced 

 by him and regarded him as by far the foremost editorial 

 writer that our country had ever produced, looked upon 

 this idea with incredulity. For of all patriotic men in 

 the entire country who had touched public affairs Horace 

 Greeley seemed the most eminently unfit for executive 

 duties. He was notoriously, in business matters, the 

 easy prey of many who happened to get access to him; 

 the "long-haired men and short-haired women " of the 

 country seemed at times to have him entirely under their 

 sway; his hard-earned money, greatly needed by himself 

 and his family, was lavished upon ne 'er-do-weels and cast 

 into all sorts of impracticable schemes. He made loans 

 to the discarded son of the richest man whom the United 

 States had at that time produced, and in every way 

 showed himself an utterly incompetent judge of men. It 

 was a curious fact that lofty as were his purposes, and 

 noble as were his main characteristics, the best men of 

 the State men like Seward, Weed, Judge Folger, Senator 

 Andrews, General Leavenworth, Elbridge Spaulding, and 

 other really thoughtful, solid, substantial advisers of 

 the Republican party were disliked by him, and yet no 

 other reason could be assigned than this : that while they 

 all admired him as a writer, they could not be induced to 

 pretend that they considered him fit for high executive 

 office, either in the State or Nation. On the other hand, 

 so far as politics were concerned, his affections seemed to 

 be lavished on politicians who flattered and coddled him. 

 Of this the rise of Governor Fenton was a striking ex- 

 ample. Doubtless there were exceptions to this rule, but 



