W. R. Hammond, }
Hon. Patrick Walsh was introduced by Mayor Glenn, and said:
ADDRESS OF HON. PATRICK WALSH.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Fellow-Citizens: We are here to pay a tribute to the worth and greatness of the departed—to him who did so much for the prosperity of the great and goodly city of Atlanta; to him who did so much for Georgia and the South, and to him who did so much for the restoration of peace and good will among the people of all sections of our common country.
The most gifted and useful public man of his day has passed away in the person of Henry W. Grady. I will refer briefly to him as an editor before he electrified the country, and won plaudits from his countrymen by the magic of his winsome eloquence.
I met him for the first time about twenty years ago at a meeting of the Georgia Press Association in the city of Augusta. Although he had not reached his majority, he was the proprietor and editor of the Rome Commercial, which was his first newspaper venture. He was then a striking and manly youth, and gave promise of a career of prominence and usefulness in the field of journalism. He moved from Rome to Atlanta and was engaged for a few years in editing the Herald, one of the brightest and most enterprising newspapers in the State. He acquired reputation as a correspondent during the period of reconstruction, and subsequently represented one of the leading journals of the North as its special representative in Florida during the memorable campaign of 1876, when the returning board of that State negatived the will of the people. Mr. Grady gave the country graphic and truthful pictures of the evils which the South endured. He strikingly depicted the wrongs imposed upon our people and exposed the usurpation of those placed in authority by the aid of the general Government. During that sad period of the South’s eventful history, he rendered signal service to the people, and the principles which he advocated, with a steadfast devotion and an exalted patriotism.
His reputation as a journalist is identified with the growth and prosperity of that great newspaper, in the upbuilding of which he took such a conspicuous part. The Constitution stands as a monument to his ability as an editor. His versatility as a writer was something phenomenal. There was no subject within the range of the press that he did not discuss with a grace and facility that were captivating and with a clearness and vigor that were convincing. His imagination glowed with luminous thoughts which were clothed in the diction of polished rhetoric. Without disparagement to the living or the dead, he won the first place in the ranks of Southern journalists.
I speak of Mr. Grady as an editor. Others will speak of him as an orator. Oratory was a natural gift with him. It was born in him. Where others struggle to win success, he, by reason of his genius, reached the mountain top, and from this great eminence spoke to the ear of the Nation and captured the hearts of the people. He achieved greatness by reason of his vigorous mentality, and his fame as an editor and as an orator is voiced by the sentiments of admiring but sorrowing friends in all sections of the Union. He has been stricken before his time. Already the first of his generation, if his life had been spared his opportunity for greatness would have broadened and given him in “the applause of listening senates” a field for the exercise of those great gifts with which he was so richly endowed. He died too soon for his people and for his country. But his name and his fame will be an example and an inspiration to practice and perpetuate the principles of government in the advocacy of which he yielded up his life.
“With charity for all and malice toward none,” he went about among his countrymen doing good. It was his mission to help the poor and to aid the deserving. Every good work received the support of his impulsive heart and noble soul. His last speech was an impassioned and eloquent plea for a peaceful solution of that great problem which the South and the South alone can solve. It was not to oppress, but to elevate the colored man—to enable both races to live in peace, and work out their mission in the regeneration of the South. What he so eloquently said in Boston represents the firm conviction of his Southern countrymen, and his death but emphasizes the truth and force of his position. The South is free and the intelligence and courage of her people will preserve her and her institutions for all time from hostile and inferior domination.
The South mourns the untimely death of Georgia’s brilliant son. The North deeply sympathizes with us in the death of him whose last public utterance so feelingly touched the patriotic heart of the people, and the response comes back from all sections of a re-united people and a restored Union. Few men have accomplished so much for the unification of public sentiment on questions of grave import, and there is no one who has accomplished more for the material development of his beloved South. He is dead, but his works will live after him. His name is enshrined in the hearts of his grateful countrymen, who are saddened and bowed down with unspeakable sorrow.