One of the brightest men in America passed away on Monday. Henry W. Grady, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, Georgia’s leading paper, and which has come to be regarded by many as the ablest paper in the South, had within a very brief period impressed his personality upon the current history of the nation. Five years ago he was little more than locally known. Being a guest at a dinner of the New England Society at Boston, he made a speech which was the happiest inspiration and effort of his life. It was the right word spoken at the right time. It lifted him at once to the dignity of a national figure. It was the greeting of the New South to the new order of things. It touched the great heart of the North by its warm tribute to the patriotism and faithfulness of the martyred President, Abraham Lincoln, being the first Southern utterance which did full justice to the memory of that great man. It was not a sycophantic nor an apologetic speech, but the voice of one who accepts accomplished results in their fullness, recognizes all the merits of his opponent, and bravely faces the future without heart-burnings or vain regrets. Mr. Grady’s speech was published in almost every paper in the land, in whole or in part, and, to borrow an old phrase, “he woke up one morning and found himself famous.” Since then all that he has written, said or done has been in the same line of patriotic duty. He has been no apologist for anything done by the South during the war. He never cringed. He was willing that he and his should bear all the responsibility of their course. But he loved the whole reunited country, and all that he spoke or wrote was intended to advance good feeling between the sections and the common benefit of all.
Mr. Grady was a partisan, but in the higher sense. He never descended to the lower levels of controversy. His weapon was argument, not abuse. And he was capable of rising above his party’s platform. He could not be shackled by committees or conventions. He nervily and consistently proclaimed his adhesion to the doctrine of protection to American industry, although it placed him out of line with his party associates.
THE SOUTH’S NOBLE SON.
From the “Rockland, Me., Opinion.”
The whole country is deeply grieved and shocked by the announcement of the death of Mr. Henry W. Grady of Atlanta, Georgia, which occurred last Monday morning. The land was yet ringing with the matchless eloquence of his magnificent speech at the merchants’ dinner in Boston, when the news of his illness came, closely followed by that of his death. The press of the country was yet teeming with the applause of its best representatives, when the voice that evoked it is stilled in death, and one of the most brilliant careers of this generation is suddenly and prematurely closed. Mr. Grady caught a severe cold during his visit to Boston, and grew ill rapidly during his return journey. On his arrival home, he was found to be seriously ill of pneumonia, and the dread disease took a rapid course to a fatal termination. Mr. Grady was one of the most popular men in the South. He was an eloquent orator and brilliant writer. He was born in 1851 in Georgia, graduated at the State University and also took a course at the University of Virginia. On coming out of college, Mr. Grady embarked in journalism and devoted a comfortable fortune to gaining the experience of a successful newspaper man. Under his management the Constitution of Atlanta, Ga., has gained a very large circulation. Mr. Grady has persistently refused to accept office. He won National fame as an orator by his speech at the Pilgrims’ dinner in Brooklyn, two years ago, and has been in great demand at banquets and similar occasions ever since. His eloquence was of the warm, moving sort that appeals to the emotions, his logic was sound and careful and all his utterances were marked by sincerity and candor. He has also no doubt done more than any one man to remove the prejudices and misunderstandings that have embittered the people of the North and South against each other politically, and to raise the great race problems of the day from the ruck of sectionalism and partisanship upon the high plane of national statesmanship. The South has lost a brave, noble and brilliant son, who served her as effectively as devotedly; but his work was needed as much and quite as useful at the North, and his death is indeed a national misfortune.