The Story of the Sun: New York, 1833-1918O'Brien, Frank Michael
History
The Story of the Sun: New York, 1833-1918
O'Brien, Frank Michael
Sun (New York, N.Y. : 1833)
These three men were exceedingly unlike each other, yet each of
them possessed extraordinary professional talents. Mr. Raymond
surpassed both Mr. Bennett and Mr. Greeley in the versatility
of his accomplishments, and in facility and smoothness as a
writer. But he was less a journalist than either of the other
two. Nature had rather intended him for a lawyer, and success
as a legislative debater and presiding officer had directed his
ambition toward that kind of life.
Mr. Bennett was exclusively a newspaperman. He was equally
great as a writer, a wit, and a purveyor of news; and he never
showed any desire to leave a profession in which he had made
himself rich and formidable.
Horace Greeley delighted to be a maker of newspapers, not so
much for the thing itself, though to that he was sincerely
attached, as for the sake of promoting doctrines, ideas, and
theories in which he was a believer; and his personal ambition,
which was very profound and never inoperative, made him wish to
be Governor, Legislator, Senator, Cabinet Minister, President,
because such elevation seemed to afford the clearest possible
evidence that he himself was appreciated and that the cause he
espoused had gained the hearts of the people. How incomplete,
indeed, would be the triumph of any set of principles if
their chief advocate and promoter were to go unrecognized and
unhonored!
It is a most impressive circumstance that each of these three
great journalists has had to die a tragic and pitiable death.
One perished by apoplexy long after midnight in the entrance
of his own home; another closed his eyes with no relative near
him to perform that last sad office; and the third, broken down
by toils, excitements, and sufferings too strong to be borne,
breathed his last in a private madhouse. What a lesson to the
possessors of power, for these three men were powerful beyond
others! What a commentary upon human greatness, for they were
rich and great, and were looked upon with envy by thousands
who thought themselves less fortunate than they! And amid such
startling surprises and such a prodigious conflict of lights
and shadows, the curtain falls as the tired actor, crowned with
long applause, passes from that which seems to that which is.
Louis J. Jennings succeeded Raymond as the editor of the _Times_, and
acted as such until 1876, when he returned to England, his desk being
taken by John Foord. Jennings went into politics in England, and was
elected a member of Parliament. He also wrote a life of Gladstone and
edited a collection of Lord Randolph Churchill’s speeches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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