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VI

LINCOLN AND HORACE GREELEY

A HITHERTO UNCOMPLETED CHAPTER OF AMERICAN HISTORY

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WHEN I was a child, my heart many times was deeply moved by heated discussions at our frontier Ohio home between my father and callers who approved and attempted to defend American slavery. I say "attempted to defend," for to me it seemed only a feeble effort upon their part, as we sat by the crackling fire, for my father-whom I adored—was a master in argument and he never was so vehement and irresistible as when denouncing slavery. And during the long winter evenings, as I listened to those backwoods debates, the emotions which swept over my youthful soul were like surging billows that dash upon a stormy ocean beach.

A few years later, while I was only a lad, for one silver dollar I sold to a neighbor some choice young fruit trees, which it had required more than three years of care and labor to produce. That silver dollar was larger in my eyes than was the "big, round moon." But far greater than the joy and pride of being the rightful owner of such wealth was my delight at being permitted to invest that dollar in a year's subscription to the New York Weekly Tribune. And during the year that followed, whenever the exacting duties of a toiling farmer boy would permit, I feasted mind and soul upon the literary pabulum which filled the columns of that great antislavery oracle, chiefly from the pen of Horace Greeley, the most gifted and influential journalist of his day.

Thus early I learned to revere the name of Horace Greeley and unconsciously to imbibe the spirit with which he de

nounced human slavery and assailed the propagandists of that institution. The Tribune was the Bible, and Horace Greeley the prophet of the abolition movement. And what was true of me was true of the multitudes throughout the nation who were constant readers of the Tribune and who were becoming more and more antagonistic to the institution of slavery. By his matchless force of intellect, and the authority of truth, he held undisputed sway over the hosts that gathered to his standard. Many were led by their hostility to slavery into a spirit and attitude of hostility to the Constitution, and the government which gave that institution protection. Only a limited number, however, of the antislavery people were borne to such extremes. Those who were more conservative, sought with diligence for some method by which their disapproval of slavery could be made effective in accordance with the provisions of the national Constitution. The movements of those antislavery forces were like the mobilizing of a great army, and the leader of leaders in those movements was Horace Greeley. His masterful editorials in the Tribune were like the bugle blasts from a great commander calling the hosts to battle.

In their efforts to obey those calls to duty the people rallied around divers standards. In the midst of political chaos the standard of slavery restriction was lifted up and, as by magic, the republican party came into being, standing upon a platform of but one distinctive plank-the prohibition of the extension of slavery into the Federal Territories.

To an alert, enthusiastic lad those early movements were of thrilling interest, and not less inspiring was the later crystallization of that young party into effective cohesion. In the vicinity where my lot was cast, not one phase of this movement escaped my attention; and in 1856 a tall tamarack flagpole stood in front of our house, holding aloft our starry banner to bear witness to my interest in the efforts for the election to the Presidency of Colonel John C. Fremont, the gallant young "Path Finder" of California. The nomination

of Fremont was very largely the result of the efforts of Horace Greeley, who never tired of sounding the praises of his chosen hero. Not less industrious and effective was Mr. Greeley in work which lay between the unsuccessful Fremont campaign in 1856 and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

It would be natural to suppose that after these many years of heroic struggle to secure the election of an antislavery President, Mr. Greeley would ever be found in loyal support of the administration, to the election of which he had been so large a contributor. But the history of the administration of Abraham Lincoln never will be fully written until the story of the strange and unfortunate course pursued by Horace Greeley toward him is told with greater fullness than it yet has been given to the world. In giving that story, I wish to bear witness even more fully than yet I have done, to my great admiration for Horace Greeley and to my loyalty to his leadership.

In the early stages of his administration I was not partial to Abraham Lincoln. His nomination as the republican candidate for President was my first great and grievous political disappointment. My ideal of an all-around American statesman and leader was the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, the idol of the antislavery forces and Governor of my native Ohio. The tremendous personality of Governor Chase, his heroic proportions, his majestic bearing, immense intellectual force, and sterling integrity were well calculated to win for him the admiration and loyalty which it was my delight to contribute in unstinted measure. When I saw him on the platform I was thrilled by his magnificent measurements, his wonderful voice and his words of rare wisdom; and knowing as I did his great ability, it seemed to me that he was chosen of God to be the nation's standard-bearer. And I was heartbroken when I first learned that Abraham Lincoln, of whom we then knew so little, had been chosen as our candidate for President; and although I supported Mr. Lincoln with hearty en

thusiasm, making more than one hundred speeches for his election, I was not quite satisfied with his conservative policy respecting slavery during the early months of his administration. Therefore, I was prepared to judge of the infelicities between the President and the great journalist without partiality for Mr. Lincoln or prejudice against Mr. Greeley. These infelicities should be known and remembered by the American people that better counsels may prevail during the future of our history.

Why should there have been infelicities between two such men as Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and Horace Greeley, leading journalist of the nation? Each had been a poor boy toiling for his daily bread, and with meager advantages for development. Each espoused the cause of the Whig party when he came to man's estate. Each was a man of great generosity of nature. Each was constitutionally, and in sentiment, thoroughly opposed to slavery. Each held the other in high esteem. They had been associated for a brief period in Congress in 1848, and Mr. Greeley had recorded his high regard for Mr. Lincoln at that time. Mr. Greeley listened with keen attention to Mr. Lincoln's Cooper Institute address on February 27th, 1860, and not only spoke of it in the Tribune in terms of highest praise, but published the address in full for nation-wide distribution. And so high was the estimate Mr. Lincoln placed upon Horace Greeley that early in his administration he declared that Mr. Greeley's earnest support of his administration would be more helpful than a hundred thousand soldiers.

It was

Why then should there have been infelicity between these two great Americans I ask again? It is inadequate to a fitting characterization of that infelicity simply to declare it to have been unfortunate. It was more than unfortunate. wrong, radically, avoidably, culpably wrong, and Abraham Lincoln was not the perpetrator but the innocent victim of that wrong. This is my unequivocal and unqualified testimony after the lapse of more than half a century, and this

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