MEMORY OF MR. GREELEY.
Mr. CAUTHORN, from the special committee appointed under Mr. Hardesty's resolution of yesterday, submitted and read the following:
Mr. Speaker: The Select Committee appointed to take order on the occasion of the death of Horace Greeley, have instructed me to make the following report:
In connection with our fellow citizens, we deeply deplore the loss by death of so great and so good a man as Horace Greeley. The sad news has found its way, not only to every city, town and hamlet of his native continent, but on the globe, is only limited and confined by the bounds of civilization and intelligence. His life is not only a lesson but an example which commends itself to every aspiring mind in coming years, and is full of hope and promise. He commenced life poor and unknown, he left it rich and with a fame world wide. For thirty years he has occupied a prominent position before the American people, and that peculiar field of labor that invites criticism and censure. Yet during all those thirty years of journalistic pre-eminence, he has maintained a reputation unspotted and without reproach. No man of his time has impressed his peculiar views upon the institutions of the country more fully or completely than Horace Greeley. Nearly every principle advocated by him, no matter how unpopular at first, finally received the sanction of the people. And his devotion to principle regardless of popular feeling is the highest evidence of his honesty and worth. Many designing demagogues cling to dominent political parties for self-aggrandizement, but not so with Horace Greeley. His convictions of right and wrong determined his course, and he worshipped at the shrine of duty with an Eastern idolatry. He was the friend of the slave when friendship for him was a political crime. But regardless of self, he followed his conviction of right, and labored for his enfranchisement through good and through evil report, until at length he witnessed the full fruition of his labors in the complete triumph of his principles.
Horace Greeley is the first person who, after a lifetime spent in political strife and discord, in the short space of a political canvass, overcame the prejudices of his political opponents and received with great unanimity their indorsement and support. His death is a striking illustration of the uncertainty of human life. On the first of May last he was nominated by a respectable convention of his fellow citizens in Cincinnati for the highest office on earth. On the 12th of June last his nomination was indorsed and ratified by the Democratic party of the great State of Indiana, and on the 7th of July last was ratified and indorsed by the Democratic party of the nation in convention assembled at Baltimore, and on the 6th of November he was voted for by more than 2,000,000 of his fellow citizens for President of the United States, and on this day he was to be voted for by the chosen electors of the people for that high office, but instead thereof his mortal remains are to be committed to the cold and silent grave. In his death our country has lost a distinguished citizen, the world an accomplished man, science a follower, literature a friend, philosophy a star, and labor a devotee. In memory of such a man we might do many meaningless things. We might shroud this hall in black, and resolve to wear the feelingless crape. But we prefer page: 171[View Page 171]to let each member in his own way manifest and express his respect and regret, and recommend the adoption of the following resolution:
RESOLVED, In respect for the memory of Horace Greeley that this House do now adjourn until to-morrow morning.
JOHN E. RUMSEY, Chairman,
HENRY S. CAUTHORN,
JOHN O. HARDESTY,
JOHN T. RICHARDSON,
C. A. RUSKIRK.
The report was concurred in, and the-resolution adopted unanimously by a rising vote; and the Speaker ordered the adjournment accordingly.
