al taste. It was conducted with a manly boldness. Its
tone gave dignity to political disquisition, though its manner was
sometimes dreaded by objects of its animadversion: if its censures were
occasionally severe, its approbation was the more highly appreciated: it
was a record of historical value; nor can I comprehend why, in this age of
universal reading in journalism, its career was closed. Its many volumes
must hereafter be ranked with the once famous _National Gazette_ of Robert
Walsh, and the _National Intelligencer_ of Gales & Seaton. Its
distinguished editor, satisfied that for so long a period he had performed
his part in the promotion of sound principles, with singleness of purpose,
in behalf of the city, the state and the nation, may have sought that
relief from mental care which is often secured by change of occupation.
When I cast a thought over the hours I have spent in reading the
_American_, I feel as Whitfield has expressed himself on a different
occasion, "I am glad, but I am sorry;" glad that I have had so long the
pleasure of being informed by its perusal; sorry that the opportunity no
longer exists.

In closing this short list of editors, I feel justified in deviating for a
moment in my chronology by a word or two on the character and death of one
whom I have ever considered the ablest writer we have had in our public
journals. He has been already incidentally mentioned. I allude to James
Cheetham. He succeeded as editor of Greenleaf's paper, calling it the
_American Citizen_. Cheetham was an English radical; had left Manchester
for this country, and was by trade a hatter. His personal appearance was
impressive; tall, athletic, with a martial bearing in his walk, a forehead
of great breadth and dimensions, and penetrating gray eyes, he seemed
authoritative wherever he might be. He arrived in this country at a period
of perplexing excitement in the times of Adams's administration and
Jefferson's entrance into the presidency. He found many to countenance his
radicalism, as Tennis Wortman, James Dennison, Charles Christian and
others--men whom we might call liberals, both in religion and in politics.
Accidental circumstances made me well acquainted with him, so early as the
summer of 1803. He was then universally known as the champion of
Jefferson, of Governor George Clinton, and of De Witt Clinton. He was a
most unflinching partisan writer, and with earnestness asserted the
advantages arising from the