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_From the “New Orleans Times-Democrat.”_
HENRY W. GRADY, editor of the Atlanta _Constitution_, died yesterday,
after a short illness, from typhoid pneumonia, at the early age of
thirty-six. Perhaps no man in the South has been more often mentioned in
the last few years or attracted more attention than he. His famous
speech before the New England Society had the effect of bringing him
before the country as the representative of that New South which is
building up into prosperity and greatness.
Mr. Grady was a native of Georgia. His father was Colonel of a
Confederate regiment during the late war, and to that father he paid the
highest tribute a son could pay in several of his speeches. He had a
hard struggle at first, like nearly every Southern boy, but he fought
his way up to the top by pluck, energy and determination.
Mr. Grady’s first journalistic venture was, we believe, in his native
town. He ran a small paper there, moved thence to Atlanta, carrying on
another newspaper venture in the Georgia capital. In the course of
events this paper was swallowed up by the _Constitution_, then pushing
itself to the front of the Georgia press, and Mr. Grady was selected as
co-editor of the latter.
Under him that paper became one of the leading exponents of Southern
opinion, a representative of the progressive South, not lingering over
dead memories, but living in the light of the present and laboring to
build up this section.
Mr. Grady and his paper were always the defenders of the South, yet not
afraid to expose and condemn its errors and mistakes. He had the courage
to speak out whenever this was necessary, and when, some few months ago,
regulators attempted to introduce into Georgia, in the immediate
vicinity of Atlanta, the same practices as in Lafayette parish in this
State, Mr. Grady, through the _Constitution_, denounced it vigorously.
There were threats, but it did not affect the _Constitution_, which
insisted that the New South must be a South of peace, law and order.
We cannot at this time review Mr. Grady’s entire journalistic career. It
is sufficient to say that with his colleagues he built up his paper to
be a power in Georgia and the South. His ability was recognized
throughout this section, but it was not until his famous speech at the
New England dinner that his reputation became national.
When at that dinner, speaking for the New South he so well represented,
he pledged his brethren of the North the patriotic devotion of the
Southern people, he created a sensation. Some of the most famous orators
of the country were present, but without a dissenting voice it was
declared that Mr. Grady’s speech was the event of the day. It sent a
thrill throughout the Union. The Southern people rose to declare that
Mr. Grady had fully explained their views and ideas, and before his
eloquent words the prejudice which had lingered since the war in many
portions of the North disappeared. Perhaps no single event tended more
to bring the sections closer together than that speech, which so
eloquently voiced the true sentiments of the Southern people. A wave of
fraternal feeling swept through the country, and although the Republican
politicians managed to counteract some of the good accomplished, much of
it remained. Mr. Grady deserves remembrance, for in a few words, burning
with eloquence, he swept away the prejudices of years.
The country discovered that it contained an orator of whom it had known
but little, a statesman who helped to remove the sectional hatred which
had so long retarded its progress. Mr. Grady became at once one of the
best-known men in the Union. He was spoken of for United States Senator,
he was mentioned as Vice-President, and it looked as though he could be
elevated to any position to which he aspired; but he wisely clung to his
journalistic career, satisfied that he could thereby best benefit his
State and section.
Mr. Grady was not a one-speech man. He has made many addresses since
then, and while it is true that his other speeches did not create the
same sensation as his first, they were all eloquent, able and patriotic.
His career so auspiciously begun, which promised so much to himself and
the country, has been brought suddenly and prematurely to a close. Mr.
Grady was a young man, and we had every reason to believe that he would
play a leading part in the South and in the country. Although his career
is thus cut short, he had accomplished much, and the New South for which
he spoke will carry on the good work he began of uniting the entire
country on one broad and patriotic platform.
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