-------
_From the “Manchester, N.H., Union.”_
THE death of Henry W. Grady, the brilliant journalist and eloquent
orator, will be sincerely deplored throughout the country. It is
especially untimely, coming as it does as the saddest of sequels to a
tour which promised much in the beginning, and which, in all save this
ending, more than fulfilled the expectations of his friends. His
brilliant speech in Boston was his last great effort, and it will long
be remembered as one of his best. In it he plead, as it now proves, with
the lips of a dying man, for true fraternity between the North and
South. Had he lived, his burning appeals would have moved the country
deeply. Now that it is known that the effort cost him his life, his
words will have a touch of pathos in them as they are recalled by the
men of all parties and all sections to whom they were so earnestly
addressed. But even this increased effect given to his last appeal to
the North will not compensate for the loss of such a man at this time.
Henry W. Grady was distinctively the representative of the New South.
Too young to have had an active part in the great struggle between the
states, he came into active life at just the time when men like him were
needed. His face was set toward the future. He belonged to and was
identified with the progressive element which has already accomplished
so much of positive achievement in the Southern States. He was a
Southern man, recognized as a leader by Southern men, but with a breadth
of mind and purpose which made him a part of the entire country. Under
his leadership the South was sure to make progress, but its rapid march
was to be to the music of the Union, and with every step the North and
South were to be nearer together than at any previous time since the
adoption of the Constitution. But his part in the great work is ended.
His passionate voice is stilled and his active brain is at rest at a
time in life when most men are entering upon their most effective work.
Had he lived, a brilliant future was already assured to him, a future of
leadership and of tremendous influence in public affairs. But his
untimely death ends all. Others will take up his work as best they may;
the New South will go forward with the development of its material
interests, old animosities will fade away and the North and South will
gradually come together in harmony of spirit and purpose, but the man of
all others who seemed destined to lead in the great movement will have
no further share in it. The South will mourn his early death most
deeply, and the North will throw off its reserve sufficiently to extend
its sincere sympathy, feeling that when such a man dies the loss is the
nation’s rather than that of a single state or of a group of states.
------------------