WHAT HENRY W. GRADY REPRESENTED.
From the “New York Commercial Advertiser.”
What undoubtedly interested and fascinated people most in the late Henry W. Grady was the fact that he represented an order of genius now almost extinct in our country, and yet one in which some of the favorite episodes of its history are entwined. The orator who appealed at once to the reason and the feelings was beyond question the foremost power of our early national century of history. He was not predominant in the councils which founded our government, nor in the first decade of its administration; because the duties of that period called for the calm deliberations of statesmen rather than the arousing of voters to action. As this era of national infancy drew to its close, and the gigantic problems, destined at a later day to involve the nation in civil war, came forth into sudden prominence, the orator became the central figure of the national stage. The rank and file gave their allegiance to their chosen oratorical leader. He spoke in their behalf in Congress; he defined in all political gatherings the will and purposes of his constituents; and not less powerfully was his influence exerted to shape those opinions and purposes. Indeed, the speeches of Clay, Calhoun and Webster, and at a later day of Douglas and Lincoln, are better understood when regarded as shaping public opinion than as following the popular will already formed. The speeches of these leaders supplied the need which is now met by the newspaper editorial in journals of influence and public spirit. Like the newspaper of this later day, the American orator of half a century ago was quick to note a change in the trend of public sentiment, and at his best fearless in leading the movement even before the popular mind had given assent.
The civil war brought to a close the epoch in which flourished this interesting and impressive figure of our earlier politics. To-day, partly because of the greater diffusion of news and intelligence, partly by reason of the more technical and analytical character of the national problems which confront us, he has quite disappeared from the political stage. One need only recall the congressional or campaign speeches of our ablest public speakers to appreciate the truth of this. It was Mr. Grady’s good fortune that he, equipped with the keen insight and fervid eloquence of our old public leaders, was placed in an epoch and a community where the reconciling of the North and the South called for just these powers. Presently, when the wave of closer commercial intercourse and the better mutual understanding shall have swept with unprecedented rapidity over the whole nation, the feelings which made such mediation necessary will be quite dead. But the work of the men who led the way is not likely to be forgotten.
A FAR-SIGHTED STATESMAN.
From the “New York Star.”