In the politically charged days of late 1860, as Abraham Lincoln was preparing to take over as president and South Carolina was threatening secession, there was one New York writer who saw nothing wrong. “If the Cotton States shall become satisfied that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace,” he wrote.

The writer was Horace Greeley, and his paper, The New York Daily Tribune, remained one of the foremost advocates of accommodation with Southern slaveholders up to the Civil War. It was this accommodation that led to his split with his colleague Charles Dana, an early, fierce opponent of slavery who went on to buy The New York Sun and edit it from 1868 until his death in 1897.

So what do modern New Yorkers think of Greeley’s opposition to the “radical” Republicans who sought to oppose secession?

Apparently, a great deal. There are two larger-than-life-size statues of Greeley in New York City. One can be found in Greeley Square, the other at City Hall.

Yes, Greeley did change to fit the times. He belatedly became a champion of the Union cause. But there never would have been a Union cause if it had been up to Greeley.

Greeley also made famous the expression “Go West, young man,” as anti-New York a saying as was ever repeated (it was actually coined by an Indiana journalist). Greeley’s advice to flee the city for the barren wastelands on the other side of the Hudson did untold damage to New York, although it probably helped Indiana, never mind Los Angeles. Greeley himself was a native of New Hampshire.

Why keep these particular bronze icons in a city with so many places for the pigeons? With New York in a budget crunch, there’s a better use for them. Melt them down for scrap metal. Or, better yet, sell them on e-Bay. There are no doubt a few deep-pocketed marks out there nostalgic for the days when New York was a haven for Southern sympathizers. The city could salvage $5,000, not to mention its pride.