His fellow countrymen wakened to realize that the great tribune of the
people had left the country poor. His own city rose as one man, in mood
of profound grief and affectionate admiration and sympathy. His body lay
in state in our city hall the long day through. The poor poured by in
unending column, to pay their last tribute to a man who had never
betrayed the people. The funeral services were attended by the president
and vice-president of the United States, the president-elect, and
numerous officials and citizens of distinction. Mr. Beecher made one
address and then Greeley's pastor, Dr. Chapin, spoke. Men forgot the
wreck of his political fortunes and the tragedy of his later career. He
expressed the ambition of his life in the wish "that the stone which
covers my ashes may bear to future eyes the still intelligible
inscription: 'Founder of the New York Tribune.'"

A Universalist in his religious faith, Horace Greeley believed that
right was stronger than wrong, good more powerful than evil, and that
there will be in eternal ages no endless perdition for the evil ones of
earth, but that God and all the resources of His power and love will
here or there compel every knee to bow and every will surrender to the
will divine. He earned the right to say at the end of his noble career,
"I have been spared to see the end of giant wrongs that I once deemed
invincible in this country, and to note the silent upspringing and
growth of principles and influences which I hail as destined to root out
some of the most flagrant and pervading influences that remain. So,
looking calmly, yet humbly, for that close of my mortal career which
cannot be far distant, I reverently thank God for the blessings
vouchsafed me in the past; and with an awe that is not fear, and a
consciousness of demerit which does not exclude hope, await the opening
before my steps of the gates of the Eternal World."