The life and public career of Hon. Horace Greeley

Front matter

.HO,

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Introduction

USE OF BIOGRAPHY.

BIOGRAPHICAL sketches of great and good men have always been useful in the world. Indeed, no class of writings have had such vast influence in forming the character of the young, either for weal or woe, as these. Conquerors have been made by reading the lives of 'conquerors that have preceded them ; heroes, by reading of heroes ; and martyrs, clergymen, eminent business-men, and persons in all professions, have been inspired with that supreme devotion and energy to an object that has enabled them to overcome all obstacles, and achieve the same as, or even more than, those after whom they patterned.

Thus presidents of the United States have already been elevated to that high position by letting the people know who they were, what they had done, and their capacity for such an office. In this way our excellent Lincoln and our General Grant were ushered into a more elevated position than that of kings, because borne thither by a free and enlightened people.

The Creator, the Fountain of all good, seems to have acted upon this principle in giving us the Bible ; in which he has set before us, for our imitation, the character of Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, and many other holy men among the Old-Testa-

8 INTEODITCTION.

ment worthies. And we know indeed, from the New Testament, that the grand object had in view by the Holy One, in portraying their characters, was for our imitation. Hence we are expressly told, " "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience, and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope." Hence the writer to the Hebrews brings before us that host of " worthies," till the number seems to swell beyond his powers of description ; and he exclaims, "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail." All these were named, with their heroic deeds, for what ? — " Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the race that is set before us." In other words, seeing, knowing, what others have done, taking them as our examples, let us discharge our duty as they did ; let us " press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling." Deeply imbued with this principle of rising, of coming up to the highest round of the ladder of human perfectibility. Dr. Young said, —

" All can do what Las by man been done."

OONTEN"TS.

Chapter I. The Scotch-irish

PAGE.

Their Peculiarities. — Londonderry settled by Them. — Their Industry. — Their Diet. — Anecdotes of their Ministers. — The New-England Meeting-Houses 13

Chapter II. Parentage, Birth, And Childhood

The Name Greeley. — His Ancestors. — The Woodburn Family. — Horace supposed to be Dead. — An Early Reader. — His First School. — New- England Schoolhouses then.— School-Books.— His First Piece.— Always did his " Stint." — No Sportsman .

Chapter III. Horace Removes From New Hampshire

Horace's Father loses his Property. — The Old Greek Law. — Great Sacrifice. — Moves to West Haven, Vt. — Horace's Dress. — At School he aids the Other Scholars. — A Checker-Player. — He scours the Country for Books. — Visits his Friends in Londonderry. — Taken for an Idiot. — His Teetotalism. — He begins to be a Politician. — His Description of it later in Life

Chapter IV. Horace Becomes An Apprentice

Horace visits Poultney. — His Description by Mr. Bliss. — He is a Match for the School-committee Man. — He is employed. — What the Other Printers in the Office think of bini. — Horace in the Lyceum. — He boards at the Tavern, but won't drink. — What a New- York Physician said of him. — Anti-Masonry of that Time

10 CONTENTS.

Chapter V. Horace Travels, And Arrives In New York

Mr. Greeley moves to Penn"ylvania. — He leaves Vermont. — Visits his Father's Log-Cabin. — Visits Jamestown for Work. — Next goes to Erie — His Amusing Reception. — Goes to Work. — A Lady's Opii)ion of him. — He leaves Erie. —His Arrival in New York. — His finding a Boarding-House. — Gets into an Office. — Mr. We.«t's Opinion of him. — His Success as a Typo. — Works on " The Spirit of the Times." — Visits New Hampshire. — A Good Dinner 61

Chapter VI. Greeley Commences Business

Horace in the "Watch-House." — Greeley driven to New York. — "The Morning Post" fails. —He appeals in Vain to his Subscribers to pay.

— His Honesty and Integrity. — His Editorial Luxuries. — Interview •with the Wrathy Quack. — Horace's Poetry. — "The New-Yorker." — " The JeflPersonian." — "The Log-Cabin." — His Marriage. — His Wedding-Tour.—He cuts up Fashions and Opinions. — Hia Activity iu the Campaign of 1840. — He asked for no Office 74

CHAPTER VH.

HORACE GREELEY'S TEMPERANCE.

Horace will not drink. — Aids in forming a Temperance Society. — His Opinion of Cider-Guzzling. — Liquor used by Everybody. — Why Cities always go for Liquor-Selling. — Tiie Man in whom an Iceberg formed.

— Horace foreshadows a Prohibitory Law. — Sylvester Graham. — Died of Chagrin. — Mr. Greeley's Graham'ism. — Finds his Wife at the Graham Boarding-House.- On the Whole, he thinks favorably of eating more Fruit, and less Meat 104

CHAPTER VHI.

MR. GREELEY AND "THE TRIBUNE."

Mr. Greeley had tried his Fortune with Several Journals. — He starts " The Tribune" Alone. — Takes a Partner. — Their Adaptedness to Each Other. — "The Tribune" a Success. — " Fanny Fern's" Adventure to get a Copy. — "The Tribune" a Whig Paper. — It attacks the New- York City Government; also the Theatre-Goers. — Is pounced upon by the Other Papers — Mr. Greeley justifies his Course towards John Tyler. — He tells what he wanted "The Tribune" to be from the first. — How Candidates for Public Favor are used 118

CHAPTER IX.

"THE TRIBUNE" CONTINUED.

The Tribune" changed to a Two-cent Paper.- A Mob in New York. — Mr. Greeley's First Visit to Washington. — His Letter from Mount Vernon.— From Saratoga. — Margaret Puller and Mr. Greeley. — Mr. Greeley's Opinion of John Tyler. — Burning of "The Tribune" Building.— Mr. Greeley's Description of it afterwards 133

CONTENTS. 11

CHAPTER X.

MR. GREELEY IN" POLITICS.

Mr. Greeley a Politician from his Youth. — A Great Friend of the United- States Bank. — A Friend of William H. Seward. — Opposed to Gen. Jackson. — Greeley in the Harrison Campaign. — Deep in Politics . . 148

CHAPTER XI.

MR. GREELEY IN CONGRESS.

Elected to Congress. — Attacks the Mileage Fraud. — Mr. Greeley accused of Inconsistency. — His Explanation. — His Reports to "The Tribune" attacked. — He introduces the Mileage Bill. — Sticks to his Opinion of Gen. Taylor's Nomination. — Address to his Constituents. — Our Object not to extol him, but to tell what he has done. — Quotation from Mr. Greeley's Whig Almanac. — His Effort to save Money. —Mr. Turner's Resolutions. — Mr. Greeley's Reply.— Mr. Greeley not a Dead-Head.

— Facetious Discussion on the Mileage Question. — Second Address to

his Constituents 164

CHAPTER Xn.

MR. GREELEY AND HIS BEGGARS AND BORROWERS.

New York and Beggars. — A Few of the Sufferers. — Begging for Churches.

— Chronic Beggars. — Borrowers. — Not to injure the Needy. — A Case stated.- Borrowers of Strangers never pay. — A Beggar's Letter. — Church-Members Begging or Borrowing. — Associations can deal with Beggars better than Individuals can. — Does not condemn Borrowing wholly. — A Duty to lend sometimes. — Remarks 198

CHAPTER Xni.

MR. GREELEY AND SPIRITUALISM.

Mr

. Greeley discussed Many Subjects. — The Rochester Rappings. — He didn't desire a Second Sitting. — Interview with Jenny Lind. — Seance at Mr. Greeley's House. — He witnesses a Juggle or Trick. — He deals with theTrick. — He thinks the Devil would not be engaged in such Business.- Found he could spend his Time more Profitably. — Thinks we had better do our Duty to the Living. — Thinks Great Men wrote Better while living than since they died.— Their Communications Vague and Trivial. — Spirits proved to be Ignorant. — The Great Body of Spiritualists made Worse by it. — Spiritualists are Bigots . . .212

CHAPTER XIV.

LIBELS AND LIBEL-SUITS.

These Suits Numerous.- J. Fenimore Cooper's Character valued at Two Hundred Dollars.- His Nephew and himself the Lawyers. — Horace his own Lawyer. — Horace not allowed to plead his own Case and to have Counsel; but Cooper is allowed to. — Injustice and Absurdity of the

12 CONTENTS.

Law of Libel In the State of New York. — The Whig Editors only

Eroeecuted. — Editors do not claim Immunity to Libels. — Mr. Greeley's lOgic. — Base Fellows. — New- York Laws Worse than English. The Greater the Truth stated, the Greater the Libel. — Mr. Greeley did Much for the Press in this Case. — Wonderful Rapidity of Writing. — The Judge's Charge Worse than Cooper's Plea. — Mr. Greeley gives a most Humorous Turn to this Whole Libel-Business. — His Defence resulted in Good

CHAPTER XV.

MR. GREELEY'S VISITS TO EUROPE.

Hi8 First Visit in 1851.— At the World's Fair of that Year, he is made Chairman of one of the Juries. He delivers the Address to the Con- Btructor of the Palace. — His Second Visit to the Old World. — He is arrested in Paris for Debt, and imprisoned 260

CHAPTER XVI.

HORACE GREELEY'S VARIETY OF CHARACTERS.

Mr. Greeley's Views of Working-Men. — Mr. Greeley as a Lecturer. — Mr. Greeley an Author. — The Work published — Addresses and Essays. — All for the Working-Men. — Mr. Greeley as a Man of Letters.— The Great Trees of Mariposa. — His Honesty. — " The Tribune " an Educator.— An Editor to speak reproachfully of Horace Greeley — what is he ? — What Whittier, the Quaker-Poet, said. — How much it implies. — " He who would strike Horace Greeley would strike his Mother." — Testimony of Rev. Dr. Bellows; of W. E. Robinson; of the Poet Whittier. — Remarks on Mr. Greeley s Letter of Acceptance of the Cincinnati Nomination.— On his Di-ess. — Of his Inconsistency. — Proposal to buy the Slaves.- Signing Jeff. Davis's Bail. — Comparison between Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley in their Chiklh^od and Youth: both Poor; both Readers; both loved by their l<"ellows; both excelled their Teachers

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF B. GRATZ BROWN .... 307

LIFE OF HORACE GREELEY.

Chapter I. The Scotch-irish

Their Peculiarities. — Londonderry settled by Them. — Their Industry. — Their Diet. —Anecdotes of their Ministers. — The New-England Meeting-Houses.

THESE have ever been, and still are, " a peculiar people. '^ Those who early settled New Hampshire, where Horace Greeley was born, were of this peculiar cast. They came from Ulster, in the northern part of Ireland (from which a very large number of our eminent men and " merchant princes " have come). They were of that blood which will tell wherever it is found. One of the six counties of this northern province of the " Emerald Isle " was Londonderry. The inhabitants were intensely Protestant, and generally Presbyterian. They were brave men ; and, when that city was besieged, they defended it against a besieging army till they slew nine thousand

2 13

14 LIFE OF HORACE GEEELjgY.

of them, until three thousand of their own number had fallen, till they \7ere reduced to such a state of starvation that a quarter of a dog was sold for five shillings and sixpence, and till horse-flesh brought one and sixpence a pound, a rat one shilling, and a mouse sixpence. Still they would not and did not surrender. May it not have been well said, then, that Presbyterians are a set and stiff people ? Every one knows what they are on the Scotch side, which makes half of their name : " for it behooveth a Scotsman to be right ; for, if he be wrong, he is forever and eternally wrong."

It was by this class of people that Londonderry, N.H., was chiefly settled. The first of these emigrants came in 1718 ; and a few of them stopped for a time in Boston, and founded the church to which Rev. Dr. Channing and the late Dr. Gannett preached, and for which Rev. Dr. Blaikie, of similar blood, has long been contending. But the greater part of them went directly to Londonderry, and to other towns in Rockingham County, N.H. ; and the others from Boston soon followed them.

There they lived as brethren and neighbors, — an industrious, hard-working people, willing to earn their living, and carrying out the declaration of the Bible (which was about all the book they had), — "-'If any ■^^ould not work, neither should he eat."

THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 15

Their industry was so remarkable, that they brought their spinning and weaving implements with them from their native land. They raised much flax, and made the first linen ever manufactured in New England.

Though the potato was of American origin, yet it was never cultivated to any considerable extent here till this colony did it ; and it has ever been a current report, that a farmer in the vicinity of Londonderry attempted to boil and eat the balls from the potatotops, instead of the potato itself, but, upon making the trial, declared them to be worthless. This wellauthenticated item makes a good offset to the farmer who boiled the tea for greens, and also declared it " of no value."

They were so frugal and economical, that they used to walk barefooted, carrying their shoes and stockings in their hands till coming near the church or to where they were bound, when they put them on : and one old bachelor was said to be so neat, that when he arrived at the " meeting-house, if his shoes were dusty, he wiped them with his white pocket-handkerchief.''

They did not use tea or coffee till about the year 1800. Borrowing and lending were very common among them ; though buying and selling were almost unknown. If they killed a calf or a pig, it was usually lent out to the neighbors, to be repaid wheu they did a like deed. Women did their full share of the work both in the house and on the farm. They were a strong, long-lived race, and generally reared large families.

Though they were, as we have stated, a rigid race of religious men and women, yet they were full of glee and mirth ; and though they always read the Bible morning and evening with family prayer, and though the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism was their solemn creed, which all their children were compelled to learn, yet no people were ever more full of fun than these stiff Presbyterians.

The Rev. Mr. Morrison — a Presbyterian name among them to this day, and one of their lineal descendants — says, " A prominent trait in the character of the Scotch-Irish was their wit. No subject was kept sacred from it. The thoughtless, the grave, the old, and the young, alike enjoyed it. Our fathers were serious, thoughtful men ; but they lost no occasion that might promise sport. Weddings, huskings, log-rollings, and raisings, — what a host of queer stories" is connected with them ! Our ancestors dearly loved fun. There was a grotesque humor, and yet a seriousness, pathos, and strangeness, about them, which, in its way, has, perhaps, never been equalled. It was the sternness of the Scotch covenanter, softened

THE SCOTCH-miSH. 17

by a century's residence abroad amid persecution and trial, wedded to the comic humor and pathos of the Irish, and then grown wild in the woods among their own New-England mountains."

Many quaint anecdotes are told of their clergy, while they were the strictest sect of religionists in the world. Thus it is related that a British officer, during the " old French war," one Sunday morning entered the meeting-house in Londonderry in such a shining uniform, that he attracted the attention of the young misses, standing as he did in a conspicuous place, far more than the solemn sermon of the good old parson, Rev. Matthew Clark. The old man bore it as long as he could ; but perceiving that he was not inclined to be seated, and that so much attention was given to his superb dress, at length he stopped, laid by his sermon, and, addressing the officer, said, " Ye're a braw (brave) lad ; ye hae a braw suit of claithes, and we hae a' seen them : ye may sit down." As though suddenly shot, the officer dropped into a seat.

Rev. E. L. Parker, in his history of Londonderry, gives the following specimen of William Clark's pulpit peculiarities. His subject was Peter's assurance that he would not deny his Master. " Just like Peter, aye mair forrit (forward) than wise, ganging swaggering aboot wi' a sword at his side : an' a puir ban' he mad' o' it when he cam' to the trial ; for he

2* only cut off un cliiel's lug (ear), avC he ought to hae split down his head.'*^

We are told (we have referred to their strictness in family religion) that the first minister of Londonderry, upon hearing that one of his flock was neglecting family worship, repaired to his dwelling the same evening that he learned the sad news. It was late, and the family had retired : but he roused up the head of the family ; asked him if the report he had heard was true, and if he had omitted family prayer that evening. The man said he had. Then he made him call up his wife and perform with her the neglected duty before he would leave the house.

They were a singularly honest people ; and this may in some measure account for the fact, that now, while the opponents say all manner of cruel things about Horace Greeley, they all say he is honest. They had a law, if a man found any thing on the road, he should leave it at the next tavern. In 1774, one John Morrison found an axe, and did not leave it at the next tavern, nor make proclamation, as the law directed. The session convicted him ; though John contended that the axe was of so small value, that it would not pay the expense of proclaiming, &c. So he stands there recorded on the town-record of 1774.

A volume might be filled with the singular anecdotes of this " peculiar people ; " but it is not required

THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 19

for our present purpose. We add simply a sketch of the old, uncouth churches of New England such as Horace Greeley was compelled to attend in his childhood : of these New Hampshire had its full share : —

" Of these we have a distinct recollection : we mean tliose erected by the Puritans and their Presbyterian brethren. They were queer, uncouth things, having the large door in the side, and one at each end for ingress and egress. The aisles were wide ; the pews high, nearly square, with a seat on every side, and a low one for the small children ; a table for the man, then the head of the family, upon which to lay his psalm-book. The consequence was, that a part of the audience had to sit with their backs to the minister ; and, when the psalm-singing ceased, there was a clattering of letting down tables like the slamming of fifty doors. A gallery all round the inside of the house accommodated the boys and girls with a convenient resting-place, where they could whittle, whisper, pull each other's ears or hair, or behave decently, as they preferred ; but when Deacon S., the ti thingman, was in his place, most of them did the latter, lest they should get a switch from his birch.

" These ' meeting-houses ' had an abundance of windows, tier above tier, to let in the light of heaven unstained; for blinds, curtains, and ' painted glass,' were then among the things that were not : all this showing manifestly tliat the worshippers ' loved light rather than darkness.'

" There was no provision made for warming these liouses, save only as some old ladies carried footstoves, made of tin, and hooped round with wood, with a tin dish or saucer to hold live coals of liickory or oak (for good wood was then plenty) ; and these good old dames thus warmed their feet and those of the small children by placing them over these tin boxes, which had holes in their tops through which the heat ascended. Stoves then, for burning Lehigh and Lackawana, were not : indeed, these very heat-producing articles themselves had never been heard of. But the people were healthy ; and though cold, and often chilled, we heard of but few cases of bronchitis or throat-diseases as at present.

" When a lad, we have sat with our feet almost frozen, watching the old minister, who had officiated in the same desk forty years, as he turned over leaf after leaf of his manuscript, hoping (often almost against hope) that each would be the last. But what seems remarkable to us at the present time is, that no one staid away from the meeting (the name of church was then unknown, only as referring to the body of professors) on account of the cold ; and none were made sick by sitting two hours in a house built of wood, and not very tight, with the temperature (if we

THE SCOTCH-IEISH. 21

had possessed any thing to have measured it with ; which we did not, thermometers then being unknown, or at least unused in tlie country) ten or twenty degrees below zero. There was not half the consumption then that there is now. May it not be justly inferred, if we heated our churches now, and our dwellings too, as we did then, that consumption would be diminished one-half? Our present mode of heating must be changed.

" We could give some curious anecdotes of the wars of those days — like those between the ' red and the white roses ' — which prevailed between deacons, deacons' wives, and ' men of standing,' in families, when the question of putting in stoves came to be discussed. Then those terrible ' tempests in teapots,' as well as among tea and spirit drinkers ; for all ministers, deacons, and others drank spirit in those days, and all women (whose husbands could afford it) drank tea. We remember one case where Mrs. Deacon S. had fought against a stove, and Mrs. Deacon B. for one ; till finally, when Mrs. Deacon B.'s party prevailed, Mrs. Deacon S. was carried out faint, and, when she recovered, said that it was that terribly' hot stove that caused it ; but, though the stove was there, no fire had been made in it.

" The Old South Church and the Rev. Dr. Putnam's, we believe, are the only houses of worship, built after that antique fashion, now left. The Brattlesquare and the Stone Chapel approximate that form ; and how they came to escape a perfect similarity to them, built in the same age, is more than we can tell. Thus nearly all these old edifices have disappeared from New England ; and others, many of which are no improvement upon their predecessors, have taken their places."

It was in one of these " unsteepled houses," as William Penn called his " Quaker churches," that the ancestors of Horace Greeley heard the first pastor ! of Londonderry — Rev. James McGregor — preach, i and say the curious things above cited ; and also the following : " ' I can do all things.' Ay, can ye, Paul ? I'll bet ye a dollar o' that " (placing the dollar on the desk). " But stop: let's see what else Paul says: ' I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.* Ay, sae can I, Paul : I draw my bet." And he returned the dollar to his pocket.

Chapter II

The Name Greeley. — His Ancestors. — The Woodburn Family. — Horace supposed to be Dead. — An Early Reader. — His First School. — New- ( England Schoolhouses then. — School-Books. — His First Piece. — Al-

.- ways did his " Stint." — No Sportsman.

AS was the case with nearly all who emigrated to New England in those early days, so it was with the ancestors of Horace Greeley, — " three brothers " first came over. The name has been variously spelled, like many others, — sometimes Greeley, then Greely, Greale, Greele ; but they seem to have all sprung from the same stock. One of these brothers is said to have settled in Maine, another in Rhode Island, and the other in Massachusetts. Horace Greeley descended from the one who settled in Massachusetts. His name is said to have been Benjamin, and that he resided in Haverhill ; was a farmer ; and died at a good old age, much respected. He left a son named Ezekiel, who was a prosperous man, and went by the name of " Old Captain Ezekiel." He lived ill Hudson, N.H. He was a stern-looking old fellow, dark as an Indian, and somewhat like one in temper. He never loved work, and never did much, but lived by his wits ; and it is said " he got all he could, and saved all he got." He was a Baptist, and a very " hard-shelled " one, we judge ; for he was called " a cross old dog," " a hard old knot," and yet was praised because he was rich and smart.

This Benjamin was the father of Zaccheus Greeley : and

" The boy had virtue by his mother's side ; "

though he, like his father, was not " too fond of work." He was famous for his knowledge of the Bible, and was a kind man, of gentle demeanor, and, though not as rich as his father, was called ^' forehanded" in the world. Though his father was what we have seen, yet his son lived to be ninety-five ; and the testimony of his neighbors was, '^ A worthier man than Zaccheus Greeley never lived." He also had a son named Zaccheus, who was the father of Horace Greeley.

Horace Greeley, in his " Recollections of a Busy Life," says, " My grandfather Greeley was a most excellent, though never a thrifty citizen. Kind, mild, easy-going, honest, and unambitious, he married young, and reared a family of thirteen children, — nine sons and four daughters.

" My own great-grandfather (named Zaccheus, as was his son my grandfather, and his son my father) lived in or near the verge of Londonderry, in what was in my youth Nottingham West, and is now Hudson, across the Merrimack.

" I never heard of a Woodburn of our stock who was not a farmer. My father — married at twenty-five to Mary Woodburn, aged nineteen — went first to live with his father, whose farm he was to work and inherit, supporting the old folks and their still numerous minor children ; but he soon tired of this, and seceded, migrating to and purchasing the farm whereon six of his seven children were born.''

Mr. Greeley adds (and this was published in 1869), *' The present township of Londonderry embraces but a fraction of the original town, whose hundred and forty-four square miles have been sliced away to form the several townships of Derry, Windham, and parts of others, until it now probably contains less than forty square miles. Its people nearly all live by farming, and own the land they cultivate. Three-fourths of them were born where they live, and there expect to die. Some families of English lineage have gradually taken root among them ; but they are still mainly of the original Scotch-Irish stock, and even Celtic or German " help " is scarcely known to them. Simple, moral, diligent, God-fearing, the vices of modern civilization have scarcely penetrated their quiet homes ; and while those who with pride trace their origin to the old settlement are numbered bythousands, and scattered all over our broad land, I doubt whether the present population of Londonderry exceeds in number that which tilled her fields, and hunted through her woods, fifty or sixty years ago."

The Woodburn family also came from Londonderry: so that Horace was Scotch-Irish in both his paternal and maternal descent, " as Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews." He has borne the following testimony to his great-grandmother Woodburn : " I think I am indebted for my first impulse toward intellectual acquirement and exertion to my mother's grandmother, who came out from Ireland among the first settlers of Londonderry. She must have been well versed in Irish and Scotch traditions, pretty well informed, and strong-minded ; and, my mother being left motherless when quite young, her grandmother exerted great influence over her mental development. I was a third child, the two preceding having died young ; and I presume my mother was the more attached to me on that ground, and the extreme feebleness of my constitution. My mind was early filled by her witli the traditions, ballads, and snatches of history, she had learned from her grandmother,

PAEENTAGE, BIRTH, AND CHILDHOOD. 27

which, though conveying very distorted and incorrect ideas of history, yet served to awaken in me a thirst for knowledge, and a lively interest in learning and history."

The father of Horace soon became tired of farming, as we have before stated, and removed to Amherst, N.H., and, with his saved earnings, bought a farm. In Amherst Horace Greeley was born on the 3d of February, 1811. Like many other children who have become eminent men, he was supposed to be dead. He did not breathe ; and one who was present at his birth says, " He was as black as a chimney." But He who sees the end from the beginning had work for this apparently dead child to do. He foresaw " The New-York Tribune " to come from him, and possibly the presidency of the United States to come to him.