circulation of the Tribune altogether, an attempt was made to bribe the carriers to give up their routes; fortunately this succeeded only in the cases of two men who were likewise carriers of the Sun In the next place, all the newsmen were threatened with being de prived of the Sun, if, in any instance, they were found selling the Tribune. But these efforts were not enough to gratify Beach. He instigated boys in his office, or others, to whip the boys engaged in selling the Tribune. No sooner was this fact ascertained at the office of the Tribune, than young men were sent to defend the sale of that paper. They had not been on their station long, before a boy from the Sun office approached and began to flog the lad with the Tribune; retributory measures were instantly resorted to; but, before a just chastisement was inflicted, Beach himself, and a man in his employ, came out to sustain their youthful emissary. The whole matter will, we understand, be submitted to the proper magistrates."

The public took up the quarrel with great spirit, and this was one reason of the Tribune's speedy and striking success. For three weeks subscribers poured in at the rate of three hundred a day! It began its fourth week with an edition of six thousand; its seventh week, with eleven thousand, which was the utmost that could be printed with its first press. The advertisements increased in proportion. The first number contained four columns; the twelfth, nine columns; the hundredth, thirteen columns. Triumph! triumph! nothing but triumph! New presses capable of printing the astounding number of thirty-five hundred copies an hour are duly announced. The indulgence of advertisers is besought for this day only;' 'to-morrow, their favors shall appear.' The price of advertising was raised from four to six cents a line. Letters of approval came by every mail. "We have a number of requests," said the Editor in an early paragraph, "to blow up all sorts of abuses, which shall be attended to as fast as possible." In another, he returns his thanks "to the friends of this paper and the principles it upholds, for the addition of over a thousand substantial names to its subscription list last week." Again: "The Sun is rushing rapidly to destruction. It has lost even the groveling sagacity, the vulgar sordid instinct with which avarice once gifted it." Again: "Everything appears to work well with us. True, we

have not heard (except through the veracious Sun) from any gentlemen proposing to give us a $2,500 press; but if any gentlemen have such an intention, and proceed to put it in practice, the public may rest assured that they will not be ashamed of the act, while we shall be most eager to proclaim it and acknowledge the kindness. But even though we wait for such a token of good-will and ev.npathy until the Sun shall cease to be the slimy and venomous Instrument of loco-focoism it is, jesuitical and deadly in politics and groveling in morals—we shall be abundantly sustained and cheered by the support we are regularly receiving." Editors wrote in the English language in those days. Again: "The Sun of yesterday gravely informed its readers that 'It is doubtful whether the Land Bill can pass the House.' The Tribune of the same date contained the news of the passage of that very bill!" Triumph! saucy triumph! nothing but triumph!

One thing only was wanting to secure the Tribune's brilliant success; and that was an efficient business partner. Just in the nick of time, the needed and predestined man appeared, the man of all others for the duty required. On Saturday morning, July 31st, the following notices appeared under the editorial head on the second page:

The undersigned has great pleasure in announcing to his friends and the public that he has formed a copartnership with THOMAS MCELRATH, and that THE TRIBUNE will hereafter be published by himself and Mr. M. under the firm of GREELEY & MCELRATH. The principal Editorial charge of the paper will still rest with the subscriber; while the entire business management of the concern henceforth devolves upon his partner. This arrangement, while it relieves the undersigned from a large portion of the labors and cares which have pressed heavily upon him for the last four months, assures to the paper efficiency and strength in a department where they have hitherto been needed; and I cannot be mistaken in the trust that the accession to its conduct of a gentleman who has twice been honored with their suffrages for an important station, will strengthen THE TRIBUNE in the confidence and affections of the Whigs of New York.

Respectfully,

July 31st.

HORACE GREELEY.

The undersigned, in connecting himself with the conduct of a public jour nal, invokes a continuance of that courtesy and good feeling which has been extended to him by his fellow-citizens. Having heretofore received evidence of kindness and regard from the conductors of the Whig press of this citv

and rejoicing in the friendship of most of them, it will be his aim in his new vocation to justify that kindness and strengthen and increase those friendships. His hearty concurrence in the principles, Political and Moral, on which THE TRIBUNE has thus far been conducted, has been a principal incitement to the connection here announced; and the statement of this fact will preclude the necessity of any special declaration of opinions. With gratitude for past favors, and an anxious desire to merit a continuance of regard, he remains, The Public's humble servant, THOMAS MCELRATH.

A strict disciplinarian, a close calculator, a man of method and order, experienced in business, Mr. McElrath possessed in an eminent degree the very qualities in which the editor of the Tribune was most deficient. Roll Horace Greeley and Thomas McElrath into one, and the result would be, a very respectable approximation to a Perfect Man. The two, united in partnership, have been able to produce a very respectable approximation to a perfect newspaper. As Damon and Pythias are the types of perfect friendship, so may Greeley and McElrath be of a perfect partnership; and one may say, with a sigh at the many discordant unions the world presents, Oh! that every Greeley could find his McElrath! and blessed is the McElrath that finds his Greeley!

Under Mr. McElrath's direction, order and efficiency were soon introduced into the business departments of the Tribune office. It became, and has ever since been, one of the best-conducted newspaper establishments in the world. Early in the fall, the New Yorker and Log Cabin were merged into the Weekly Tribune, the first number of which appeared on the 20th of September. The concern, thus consolidated, knew, thenceforth, nothing but prosperity. The New Yorker had existed seven years and a half; the Log Cabin, eighteen months.

The Tribune, I repeat, was a live paper. It was, also, a variously interesting one. Its selections, which in the early volumes occupied several columns daily, were of high character. It gave the philosophers of the Dial an ample hearing, and many an appreciating notice. It made liberal extracts from Carlyle, Cousin, and others, whose works contained the spirit of the New Time. The eighth number gave fifteen songs from a new volume of Thomas Moore Barnaby Rudge was published entire in the first volume. Mr. Raymond's notices of new books were a conspicuous and interesting fea

tare. Still more so, were his clear and able sketches and reports of public lectures. In November, the Tribune gave a fair and cour teous report of the Millerite Convention. About the same time, Mr. Greeley himself reported the celebrated McLeod trial at Utica, sending on from four to nine columns a day.

Amazing was the industry of the editors. Single numbers of the Tribune contained eighty editorial paragraphs. Mr. Greeley's average day's work was three columns, equal to fifteen pages of foolscap and the mere writing which an editor does, is not half his daily labor. In May, appeared a series of articles on Retrenchment and Reform in the City Government, a subject upon which the Tribune has since shed a considerable number of barrels of ink. In the same month, it disturbed a hornet's nest by saying, that "the whole moral atmosphere of the Theater, as it actually exists among us, is in our judgment unwholesome, and therefore, while we do not propose to war upon it, we seek no alliance with it, and cannot conscientiously urge our readers to visit it, as would be expected if we were to solicit and profit by its advertising patronage."

Down came all the hornets of the press. The Sun had the effrontery to assert, in reply, that "most of the illegitimate births in New York owe their origin to acquaintances formed at 'Evening Churches,' and that 'Class-meetings' have done more to people the House of Refuge than twenty times the number of theaters." This discussion might have been turned to great advantage by the Tribune, if it had not, with obstinate honesty, given the religious world a rebuff by asserting its right to advertise heretical books.

"As to our friend," said the Tribune, "who complains of the advertising of certain Theological works which do not square with his opinions, we must tell him plainly that he is unreasonable. No other paper that we ever heard of establishes any test of the Orthodoxy of works advertised in its columns; even the Commercial Advertiser and Journal of Commerce advertise for the very sect proscribed by him. If one were to attempt a discrimination, where would he end? One man considers Universalisu immoral; but another is equally positive tliat Arminianism is so; while a third holds the same bad opinion of Calvinism. Who shall decide between them? Certainly not the Editor of a daily newspaper, un

less he prints it avowedly under the patronage of a particular sect Our friend inquires whether we should advertise infidel books also We answer, that if any one should offer an advertisement of lewd, ribald, indecent, blasphemous or law-prohibited books, we should claim the right to reject it. But a work no otherwise objection-able than as controverting the Christian record and doctrine, would not be objected to by us. True Christianity neither fears refutation nor dreads discussion-or, as JEFFERSON has forcibly said, 'Error of opinion may be tolerated where Reason is left free to combat it.'"

In politics, the Tribune was strongly, yet not blindly whig. It appealed, in its first number, to the whig party for support. The same number expressed the decided opinion, that Mr. Tyler would prove to be, as president, all that the whigs desired, and that opinion the Tribune was one of the last to yield. In September it justified Daniel Webster in retaining office, after the treachery' of Tyler was manifest, and when all his colleagues had resigned in disgust. It justified him on the ground that he could best bring to a conclusion the Ashburton negotiations. This defense of Web. ster was deeply offensive to the more violent whigs, and it remained a pretext of attack on the Tribune for several years. With regard to his course in the Tyler controversy, Mr. Greeley wrote in 1845 a long explanation, of which the material passage was as follows:-"In December, 1841, I visited Washington upon assurances that John Tyler and his advisers were disposed to return to the Whig party, and that I could be of service in bringing about a complete reconciliation between the Administration and the Whigs in Congress and in the country. I never proposed to 'connect myself with the cause of the Administration,' but upon the understanding that it should be heartily and faithfully a WHIG Administration. * * Finally, I declined utterly and absolutely, to 'connect myself with the cause of the Administration' the moment I became satisfied, as I did during that visit, that the Chief of the Government did not desire a reconciliation, upon the basis of sustaining Whig principles and Whig measures, with the party he had so deeply wronged, but was treacherously coqueting with Loco-Focoism, and fooled with the idea of a re-election."

Against Repudiation, then an exciting topic, the Tribune went