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_From the “Chicago Inter-Ocean.”_
IN the death of Henry W. Grady, which occurred yesterday, journalism,
the South, and the whole country suffered serious loss. He had come to
occupy a large place, and one which cannot be filled. He was a
connecting link between the old and the new South, with his face toward
the East, albeit the shadows of the setting sun could be clearly
discerned in his discussions of the vital questions of the day. His life
seemed just begun, and big in the promise of usefulness. Two years ago
he was known only as a journalist. He addressed the New England Society
of New York on the evening of December 29, 1887. That speech made him
famous. Since then his name has been a household word. For him to be
stricken down at the early age of thirty-nine is little if any short of
a public calamity.
It is a dangerous thing for a man of serious purpose to win renown as an
after-dinner speaker. Post-prandial oratory is generally a kind of
champagne, as effervescent as it is sparkling, but Mr. Grady struck a
vein of thought at that New England banquet which had in it all the
earnestness of patriotism. A Southerner with a strong sectional flavor,
his influence, as a whole, was broadening. He never rose superior to the
prejudice of race, but it may well be doubted if any Southerner could do
so in these days without cutting himself off from all influence over his
own people. There is nowhere visible in the Southern heavens the dawn of
the day of equal justice, irrespective of race. In that regard Mr. Grady
was neither better nor worse than his white neighbors. But with that
exception his patriotism had largely outgrown its provincial
environments.
Mr. Grady was a native of Georgia. His father seems to have been a
follower of Alex. H. Stephens, for he was a Union man until the final
test came, when he took up arms for the Confederacy, meeting death for
the cause of his reluctant espousal. A graduate of the University of
Georgia and later of the University of Virginia, the son had the best
education the South could give. His newspaper life began early and was
never interrupted. For several years he was co-editor and co-proprietor
of the Atlanta Constitution, confessedly one of the leading newspapers
of the country. Previous to his connection with the _Constitution_ he
was the correspondent of the _Inter-Ocean_ and the New York _Herald_.
Both as editor and correspondent he excelled. Both as editor and orator
he has at different times spoken eloquently of both Abraham Lincoln and
Jefferson Davis his point of view being intermediate, and that fact,
rather than any conscious vacillation, explains his seeming
contradictions.
A few days ago the Southern people stood with uncovered heads by the
grave of Jefferson Davis, the most conspicuous representative of the Old
South, and now, before they had fairly returned from that funeral, they
are called upon to attend the obsequies of the most conspicuous
representative of the New South. These two notable men present much the
same blending of resemblance and contrast, as do the evening and the
morning stars. Certainly Mr. Grady, young, enthusiastic, and patriotic,
was to the South a harbinger of brighter, more prosperous days.
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