From the “New York Christian Union.”
The death of Henry W. Grady, at Atlanta, on Monday of this week, was a loss, not only to his own section, but to the country. Although a young man, and not in political life, Mr. Grady had already acquired a national reputation. It is only three years since he delivered the speech at the New England dinner in this city, which gave a sudden expansion to a reputation already rapidly extending, and made his name known in every State in the Union. Mr. Grady was a typical Southern man, ardent in his love for his own section, loyal to the memory of those who fought in the struggle of a quarter of a century ago, but equally loyal to the duties and the nation of to-day. Warm-hearted, generous, and of a fervid imagination, Mr. Grady’s oratory recalled the best traditions of the Southern style; and the sincerity and geniality of his nature evoked the confidence and regard of his audience, while his eloquence thrilled them. His latest speech was delivered in Boston two weeks ago, on the race question, and was one of those rare addresses which carry with them an immediate broadening of the views of every auditor. Among the men of his own section Mr. Grady was probably the foremost leader of progressive ideas, and his death becomes for that reason a national loss.
A GLORIOUS MISSION.
From the Albany, N.Y., “Argus.”
All who admire true patriotism, brilliant talents, golden eloquence and ripe judgment, will regret the untimely taking off of the gifted Southern journalist and orator, Henry W. Grady, in the very zenith of his powers and fame. His eloquent address at the annual banquet of the Boston Merchants’ Association is still fresh in the minds of those who listened to him or read his glowing words in the columns of the press. It was the last and grandest effort of the brilliant young Southerner. It was the defense of his beloved South against the calumnies cast upon her, and the most lucid, convincing exposition of the race question ever presented at a public assemblage. Impassioned and heartfelt was his plea for Union and the abandonment of all sectionalism. These closing words of his address might fitly be inscribed upon his tomb: “Let us resolve to crown the miracles of our past with the spectacle of a Republic, compact, united, indissoluble in the bonds of love—loving from the Lakes to the Gulf—the wounds of war healed in every heart as on every hill—serene and resplendent at the summit of human achievement and earthly glory—blazing out the path, and making clear the way up which all the nations of the earth must come in God’s appointed time.” The words were all the more emphatic and convincing because they were spoken in the presence of an ex-president whose entire administration had been consecrated to such a Union of all sections, and who accomplished more in the grand work of obliterating the last traces of sectional strife and division than any other man who sat in the national executive chair.
Well may the South mourn over this fervid advocate of her honor, her rights, her interests, and regard his death a public calamity. Eloquence such as his is rarely given to men, and it was devoted wholly to his beloved land. It has done more to break down the barriers of prejudice and passion than a decade of homilies, dry arguments and elaborate statistics could effect. His was a most glorious mission, the bringing together in the closest bonds of fraternal love and confidence the sections which partisan malice, political selfishness and unconscionable malignity would keep apart. Whenever he spoke, the earnestness of his convictions, expressed in the noblest language, impressed itself upon the intelligence of his hearers. His last appeal, made, as he described it, “within touch of Plymouth Rock and Bunker Hill, where Webster thundered and Longfellow sang, and Emerson thought and Channing preached,” melted away the most hardened prejudice and enkindled in the New England heart the spirit of respect and sympathy for the brave, single-minded people of the South, who are so patiently and determinedly working out their destiny to make their beautiful land the abode of unalloyed peace and prosperity. Journalism will also mourn the loss of one of its brightest representatives. Henry W. Grady shone in the columns of his newspaper, the Atlanta Constitution, with no less brilliancy than he did as an orator. Under his guidance that paper has become one of the brightest in the land. It will be difficult for the South to supply his place as patriot, journalist and orator. He was an effective foil to the Eliza Pinkston class of statesmen in and out of Congress.