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 olumbus 
 and Columbia 
 
 A Pictorial History of the Man 
 and the Nation 
 
 EMBRACING A REVIEW OF OUR COUNTRY'S 
 PROGRESS, A COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA, 
 A NEW LIFE OF COLUMBUS AND AN ILLUS- 
 TRATED DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT COLUM- 
 BIAN EXPOSITION 
 
 Four Books in One Volume 
 
 BY THE FOLLOWING DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS 
 
 Book I 
 
 BY HON. JAMES G. BLAINE 
 
 Secretary of State 
 
 Book II 
 
 BY J. W. BUEL 
 
 Distinguished Author and Traveller 
 
 Book III 
 
 BY PROF. JOHN CLARK RlDPATH 
 Noted Historian 
 
 Book IV 
 
 By HON. BENJ. BUTTERWORTH 
 Scc'y Columbian Commission 
 
 EMBELLISHED WITH OVER FIVE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS, MAPS, CHARTS, DIAGRAMS, 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS IN OIL COLORS BY THE GREAT MASTERS. 
 
 HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CO., 
 St. Louis, Mo.
 
 Copyright, 1892, by H. S. S^MITH. 
 (all rights reserved.) 
 
 **^, The illustrations in this work from original drawings are protected by copyright 
 and their reproduction in anv form is unlawful, and notice is hereby given that persons 
 guilty of infringing the copyright thereof will be prosecuted.
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Progress and Development of the Western World. 
 
 THE MARCH OF HISTORV— Genius of the ancients— The present compared with the past— Develop- 
 ment of government — Rise of the in(ii\-idual. decline of the king — The triumph of detnocracy — The 
 \-ice of absolutism — Invention of the art of printing — First fruits of the printing press — Guttenberg 
 and Coster the ministers of a higher civilization — Discover}- of a process for making cheap paper — 
 Fruitage of a vanished world — Swift messengers of a better time — Democracy of the de Medici — 
 Lorenzo, the magnificent — The unanointed king — Pre-eminence of intellectual leadership — 
 Economv that made his countn.' grtater and happier — Patriotism and generosity of Lorenzo — 
 Degeneracy of his successors — Foreshadowings of a new and higher form of government — The 
 two greatest sons of Italy — Gates of welcome fiung open in another hemisphere— Laying the founda- 
 tion stones of liberty — Columbus the worthy aftermath of Lorenzo — A tribute to Columbus — 
 \Vhv the earlier discovery of America was of small consequence — The glory of his first voyage — 
 Partition of the new world — The Cavaliers and the Roundheads — Growth and differences of the 
 colonies — Evolution of the great republic — The corner stone of equal rights — Rise of the Western 
 Republic — The lesson that Napoleon learned from America — Results of the French Revolution 
 — How it operated to America's advantage — Weakness of Napoleon in not trusting to the people — 
 Xapoleon's retrospect of his deeds — The tnaterial betterments that he lefl as a legacy to the world — 
 All nations marching towards a democracy — English monarchy a shadow on dress parade — 
 America for Americans — Patriotism and virtue of our people — Liberty and the pursuit of happiness 
 — The evils of unrestricted immigration — Anarchy a crime of the alien — Welcome to the honest 
 and deserving — The corner stone of religion, and a ke\stone in the temple of morality — Condem- 
 nation of the thirst for foreign titles 33-'>4 
 
 PARX II 
 
 COLUMBUS AND THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ADVERSITIES OF COLUMBUS AND HIS ENVIRONMENTS— Spirit of the Inquisition— Chivalry of 
 Spain — A marvellously superstitious age — IntolerancL- and bigotry — Nativity of Columbus — The 
 Colombo family— Among the Mediterranean Pirates — Fury of predatory Moors — Columbus is 
 ship-WTecked — The Arch-Pirate — Columbus a sea-rover — His marriage— The paradise of Porto Santo 
 — A pest of rabbits Brilliant conceptions boni on Porto Santti — Marco Polo's travels— Early 
 beliefs respecting the size and shape of the earth — Previous discoveries of America — .Story of tlie 
 Zenis — Identification of the lands found by ancient explorers — Strange relics cast up by the sea 
 — Toscanelli's commendation — Some wonderful stories 
 
 cii.\t'Ti:k II 
 
 SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS NAME LEADS COLUMBUS TO SERIOUS REFLECTIONS— His trip to Iceland— 
 The Scandina\-ian Sagas— Columbus in .search of assistance — The appeal to Genoa — The self- 
 sufficiency of Columbus — His visit to Portugal — Sumnii>ned before a Portuguese Junta — Perfidy 
 of King John — Voyage by the Portuguese — King John's ships assailed by demons — Anger of 
 the King — Bartholomew sails for F^nglaml to solicit aid -Return of Columbus to (ienoa 
 
 2 (17 
 
 ^5-74 
 
 75 Sa 
 
 20B5221
 
 18 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 COLUMBUS PROCEEDS TO SPAIN— War for the expulsion of the Moors —Columbus halts for food at 
 a convent — Graciously entertained by the Franciscan Father — Feudalism in the middle ages- 
 Helpful counsel of Father Perez— Resolution of Columbus to appeal to France— Persuaded to 
 present his requests to the Spanish sovereigns— Seeking royalty in the camp— Second marriage 
 of Columbus — He secures an inter\aew %vith the archbishop of Spain — Brouglit before Ferdinand — 
 The Congress of Salamanca— The Thraldom of Prelacy— Columbus before the Spanish Junta — 
 Rejection of his schemes — Renewal of his appeal to King John — Surrender of Granada— Second 
 rejection of his proposals 83-92 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MATERIAL HELP FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE— Columbus retires to the convent of La Rabida— 
 Epistolarj- appeal of Father Juan to Isabella — A Journey through winter's snows — Extraordinary 
 devotion of the Prior — Surrender of the last Moorish stronghold — Columbus summoned before 
 Isabella — Conditions stipulated by Columbus — Indignation of the Commissioners— The sun goes 
 down upon his hopes — Daybreak of joy over the mountain of despair — The Queen sends a 
 messenger to recall Columbus — The Queen concludes terms with Columbus - Ships and sailors ordered 
 to be impressed for the voyage — Traditions of horrible spectres of the unknown sea — A panic in 
 Palos^Consternation among the sailors — The Pinzon Brothers — Equipment of the first expedition — 
 Ships engaged and the men who composed the crews^Expectations of Columbas 93-105 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DEPARTURE FOR THE UNKNOWN WORLD OF THE SEA— Sorrowing friends take their leave— Auspicious 
 beginning of the voyage- Out on the raging sea — Dangers of fact and fancy —Fears of Portugal's 
 interference — The flames of Tophet — Cowardice of the seamen — Signs of approaching land — Deflec- 
 tion of the needle gives rise to fresh fears — Spectres of the imagination — Impeded by a sea of 
 vegetation — A false cry — A growing prejudice that develops into mutinous spirit — Additional 
 e\ndence that land is not far off — Promise of reward — Land 1 Land I — A delirium of thankfulness — 
 A light seen flitting along an un^^nown shore— Who was the first real discoverer? ic6-ii2 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LANDING ON THE SHORES OF THE NEW WORLD— A marvellous vision— Ceremonies of occupation - 
 
 The prayer of Columbus — Intercourse \rith the natives — Descriptions of their appearance and 
 customs — Believe the Spaniards to be visitors from Heaven — Beastly abuses of the Spaniards — 
 Belief of Columbus respecting his discover^' — Natives kidnappe 1 to servx- as guides — Columbus' 
 adventure with a horrid monster— The lust for gold — Avarice and cruelty of Columbus — Discovery 
 of other Islands — Landing on the shores of Cuba — An excursion into the interior — Something about 
 the natives — A \-isit to native \-illages — An embassy to a chief — Products of the countr\- — Marvellous 
 tales — Results of a \-isit to the cacique — The mythical gold country- of Babeque — The desertion of 
 Pinzon — Wonderful stories about imaginary people — Capture of a native woman — Communica- 
 tion with the natives of Hayti — Cu.stoms and hospitality of the Haytians — A visit in state from the 
 cacique — Exchange of valuable presents — Loss of the Santa ,l/(zr/a — Generous help of the natives — 
 Christianity and Haytian religion — A jisplay of Spanish arms— An entertainment provided by the 
 satives — Determination to found a colon)' in Haj-ti — Building of fort La Nati\-idad — Columbus 
 counsels the colonists — AfiFectionate parting between Columbus and Guacanagari — The departure 
 for Spain 113-134 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A MEETING WITH THE DESERTER— Golden \-isions of Columbus— Alternating hopes and fears— Mis- 
 givings as to Pinzon's purposes — Pinzon's storj- — A fight with the natives — In quest of the country 
 of the Caribs — In the calm latitude — A terrible storm — Separation of the vessels — Despair suggests 
 vows of penance — A melancholy lottery- — A package which the ocean refuses to give up — In sight 
 of the Azores — Saved at last — A shirt-tail procession Trouble w4th the Portuguese — Departure 
 from the Azores — Another terrible storm — Demons of Satanic hate — Vows of penance — Safe in the 
 providence of God — Arrival at the estuary- of the Tagus — Reception by King John — A princely 
 entertainment — Columbus has an audience with the King — The mad designs of John — Scheme 
 to rob Columbus of the fruits of his discoveries — .\rrival at Palos 135-146
 
 CONTENTS. 19 
 
 CHAITER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 RECEIVING THE PLAUDITS OF A GRATEFUL NATION- -Joyfi'.! demonstrations in Pales— Meeting 
 between Columbus and the Father of La Rabida— Return of Uie Plnta, and disgrace of Pinzon — 
 The sad story of a perfidious and ambitious man — Transmission to the King of reports of the 
 discoveries— Coinniunicatioii with ihe I'opi.— Columbus' journey to Seville — Extraordinary demon- 
 strations — The scene in Barcelona — A wonderful procession— Columbus in the z.cnith of his glory — 
 Splendors of the Royal Court provided for his reception - Columbus tells the story of his voyage to 
 Ferdinand and Isabella — His clreams of yet greater triumphs — His ambition to reclaim the Holy 
 Sepulchre — A glance at the conditions that surroun<led him — Dazzled by stories of wealth in the 
 kingdom of Catliav — A glory that dimmed the lustre even of royally — Ciranted a new coat of arms- 
 Decision of the question. Who was first to sight land? — Disappointment of a poor sailor— Other 
 things to be accomplished — Preparations for a second voyage — The moral of the standing egg — 
 King John chafing under Icet opportunity — How the Pope settled a grave question — A rush of 
 volunteers — Letters of agreement between Columbus and his sovereigns — The fleet appointed to sail 
 from Cadiz — A battle of intrigue and diplomacy — Spain obtains the decree of possession .... 147-164 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EQUIPMENT OF THE SECOND EXPEDITION— Beginning of the troubles which envious rivalr>- created 
 — .\dventurers of every kind joiu the expedition — The jealousy of Fonseca rebuked by Isabella — 
 A representative of the Pope accompanies Columbus — Vicar Buyl and Friar Perez — Other dis- 
 tinguished members of the expedition — Great demonstrations made at the fleet's departure — Out on 
 the wide sea — Discovery of an Archipelago^ Visit to islands of the West Indies — Among the Caribbee 
 natives — Butcher-shops where human flesh was sold — A horrible sight among Carib cannibals 
 — Some of their dreadful customs — Mvth of the .\mazonian islanders — Government and home-life 
 of the Caribs — Lost in the gloomv forests — A fight with the natives — Captives who were waiting 
 their turn to be eaten — A native boy having the face of a lion— Other discoveries — In search of 
 the colony left at La Xatividad—.\ visit from four caciques — Discoveries that aroused great fears — 
 Story- of the massacre of the garri.son — Relics of the murdered Spaniards — Depravity of the colonists 
 cause their destruction — A tale of almost inconceivable lust and avarice — Particulars of the 
 massacre — The native chief falls in love — An elopement with a queen 165-182 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 COURAGE THAT OVERCAME ALL ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES— Awakening to new conditions— Dis- 
 appointments of the Cavaliers — An expedition to the gold mines — Welcomed by the Indians — The 
 gold district of Cibao— A report calculated to deceive the sovereigns — Comments of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella — Columbus recommends enslavement of the natives — Enforcing Christianity 
 through bondage — Columbus sends home a cari,'o of slaves — The lust for gold unsatisfied — Sedition 
 shows its horrid head — Overcoming the mutinous spirits — The star of Columbus begins to wane — 
 Anxiety over Portugal's acti\-ity — Return to the gold mines of Cibao— Fertility and beauty of the 
 Royal Plain — Pass of the Hidalgos — Triumphal and pompous entrance into the native villages — False 
 security of the Indians — Construction of Fort St. Thomas - Abuses of the Garrison— Outrages per- 
 petrated upon the natives —Chief Caonabo arouses the Indians to vengeance — Afflictions that 
 came upon the colonists— .-^ horrible condition of affairs— Preparations for another expedition to the 
 interior — A perfidious act severely punished 18^-196 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 PURSUING THE GOLDEN IGNIS FATUUS— Columbus renews his quest for tlie kingdom of Cathay- 
 Visit to a nitive village— Exploring the coast of Cuba — The gold country of Babeque — Other 
 discoveries— .\ fight with the Indians — Generosity of the Cubans — A curious method of fishing 
 --Reports of people with tails— Startled by spectral figures in the forest— Prester John the 
 Magnificent — Delightful anticipations dispelled by harsli eveutjj— .V great mistake — Discontent 
 among the sailors — A cacique teaches the law of the Golden Rule — Religion of the natives — Col- 
 umbus tells the natives of the splendors of Spjiin- A cacique pleads for permission to accompany 
 Columbus- Stricken down with a strange illness — The unfaltering care of Father Juan— Meeting 
 between Columbus and his brother — A remarkable story of adventure — A sad disappointment . . 197-206
 
 20 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 FIRST SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS— The outrages of Margarita— Horrible abuses practised on the 
 natives — Rebellion of JIargarite and Vicar Buyl — They depart for Spain — A bloody retribution — Mas- 
 sacre of a garrison — Murder of the beautiful Catalina — Confederation of the Native Chiefs-Siege 
 of Fort St Thomas — A brave man's self-denial — A hazardous enterprise — Strategic capture of Caonabo 
 by Ojeda — A battle and repulse of the natives — A communication to their majesties — The first ship- 
 load of slaves — Hostilities renewed — Use of blood-hounds in running down and killing the natives — 
 A furious charge of Spanish cavalrj- — An appalling spectacle — The relentless grasp of Spain . . . 207-218 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 ENSLAVEMENT OF THE NATIVES TO GRATIFY SPANISH GREED— The insatiate desire for gold— Terrible 
 exactions demanded of the natives — The Indians compelled to pay exhorbitant tribute in gold — The 
 pitiless hardships imposed — The Columbian defamers at court — Circumventing the calumniators — 
 Isabella orders the slaves to be returned — A criminal finds a native wife and fortune — The arrogance 
 of Aguado — Efforts to supersede Columbus — A dreadful hurricane — Opening of gold mines of great 
 value — Departure of the vessels for Spain — Pressed back to the Caribbean Islands — More evidences 
 of Cannibalism — In the clutches of an Amazonian princess — Starvation and a mutinous spirit — 
 The Admiral in danger -Death of Caonabo at sea — Arrival at Cadiz 219-22S 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RETURN OF COLUMBUS FROM HIS SECOND EXPEDITION— The fickleness ot fame— Columbus prepared 
 to meet his accusers — He proceeds to Burgos to meet the Sovereigns, carrying trophies of his expe- 
 dition — Reception of Columbus by Isabella — Presentation of the Indian captives — Marriage of 
 Dona Juana — The urgent needs of Columbus — Return of Nino with false reports — .\ wakening to sad 
 conditions — Proposals for a third expedition — Dependent on the Queen's bounty — Columbus executes 
 his will — His charitable bequests — .\rrangements made for the third voyage — The enmity of Fonseca 
 — The griefs of Isabella— Two relief ships despatched —Columbus knocks down an insolent Jew — 
 Effects of this display of anger 229-235 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE THIRD EXPEDITION -Purposes of the third voyage— Horrible suffering in the 
 calm latitude — Alarms of the superstitious crews — Discovery of the South .\merican Continent — 
 Wariness of the natives — A spat with the Indians — The mouth of the serpent — A terrible tidal wave 
 — Out of the mouth of the serpent into the jaws of the dragon — Landing on the Continent — An 
 excursion to the interior — Entertained by a chief — On the borders of Paradise — A profitable inter- 
 course with the natives— In the land of pearls — Return to San Domingo— Columbus a physical wreck 236-243, 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CONDUCT OF THE COLONISTS DURING COLUMBUS' ABSENCE— Fortress of the Golden Town- 
 Famine among the Spaniards — Collecting the tribute — Founding of San Domingo — Anacaona, the 
 poetess Queen — .\ visit to the Queen — Wonderful reception by beautiful women — A fair\' scene — 
 Presentation of the Queen — A grand banquet — Don Bartholomew falls in love — Eating the Iguana 
 lizard — A fatal sham battle — Poverty and crime at Fort Isabella — The natives forced to labor for the 
 Spaniards — A system of fortifications — Effects of converting the natives to Christianity — Baptism 
 of a chief — A. chief's wife debauched by an officer — Destruction of a chapel — Conspirac}' of the 
 natives discovered — Capture of fourteen caciques — Execution of two chiefs — The rebellion of Roldan 
 — Stirring up the natives to make war on Bartholomew - .\rrival of the supply ships — A conspiracy 
 to massacre the Spaniards —Destruction of Indian villages— Capture of the rebellious chiefs — A 
 terrible condition of affairs 244-256 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF ROLDAN ASSUMES DANGEROUS PROPORTIONS— His quarters in the sensual par- 
 adise of Xaragua — The rebels unexpectedly re-enforced — Roldan's duplicity — .\lluring inducements 
 — Temporizing with a rebel — Colunibus-deeply distressed — Ojeda's expedition to South America — A 
 fight for the hand of the native princess — The execution of Moxica — Columbus superseded by 
 Bobadilla — Fettered with his brothers he is cast into a dungeon — Brave in the hour of adversity 
 — Columbus sent to Spain loaded with chains — His reception by Isabella Substantial token of his 
 confidence — .\ touching inter\-iew with the Queen — Deposed from the governorship of Hispaniola — 
 Columbus is superseded bv Ovando — Dreams of conquest and the reclamation of Jerusalem — 
 Magnificence <of Granada 257-26&
 
 CONTEXTS. 21 
 
 CHAITER XVIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 PREPARATIONS FOR A FOURTH VOYAGE— Purposes of tbt- lust expedition— Disappointment and chaprin 
 of Don Diego — Departure of the fleet — Refused permission to land at Hispaniola — A fearful tempest 
 -Destruction of the ships of Ovando, and loss of Bobadilla and Roldan — Providential escape of 
 Columbus — Resumption of the voyage — weapons, implements and costumes of the Guanajans — 
 Stories of a great nation —Meeting with natives of Central .■\merica — Voyage along the coast of 
 Honduras — Frightful appearance of the Indians — Safe from the storm — Magicians of the Darien 
 Coast — Death threatenings of a waterspout — Columbus exorcises the spirits of the storm — A moment 
 of extraordinary peril — .\ visit from a treacherous chief — .\ military post established — Plot to burn the 
 ships and destroy the Spaniards— Perilous undertaking of two Spanish spies^Visit to the palace 
 of Quibian — Surrounded by human skulls— Attacked by the chief's son— A desperate expedient — 
 Battle with the Indians — Massacre of eleven Spaniards — .\ marvellous escape —Escape of the 
 Indian prisoners — Suicide of a body of captives — Extraordinary exploit of a Biscayan — Relief and 
 rescue of the beleaguered garrison — Departure from Veragua — Columbus sees a vision — Prostrated 
 by disease 269-281 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE ILL-FATED EXPEDITION— .Accumulating misfortunes— Crazy condition of the ships 
 — A letter reflecting the -Admiral's despair — The ships grounded on the coast of Jamaica — A desper- 
 ate situation — A brave man found for the occasion — Mendez undertaUes an ocean passage in a canoe 
 — A journey of incomparable hazard — Successful accomiilishnient of his mission — ,\ meeting of 
 the crew — Secession of De Porras— Conspiracy to kill Columbus — The bravery of Bartholomew — 
 Indians forced to attempt a passage to Hispaniola — Horrible cruelty of the mutineers — De Porras 
 compelled to return to the shore — He incenses the natives by acts of violence — The Indians awed by 
 an eclipse of the moon —Another meeting dispelled by the sight of a ship — Hope of release gives place 
 to despair — De Porras prepares to attack Columbus — A battle with the mutineers — Valor of Don 
 Bartholomew — Defeat of the rebels and capture of De Porras — Relief at last — The retuni to San 
 Domingo — Columbus joyfully received 2S2-39I 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 ABUSES AND HORRORS UNDER OVANDO'S RULE— The revenues of Columbus are wasted and he is 
 left j)enuiless— Story of the adventurers who accompanied Ovando — .Affairs on the island during the 
 absence of Columbus — Hard labor and famine decimate the colonists — The Indians reduced to 
 slavery under the lash — Pitiful tales of their hardships — Dying by the wayside — Invasion of Xaragua 
 — Inhuman atrocities — Groundless complaints — Hospitable reception by Queen Anacaona — The 
 damnable plot of Ovando— A frightful massacre of the defenceless natives — Persecution and 
 death of Cotabanama — Retribution that only brought the Indians to more dreadful punishment — 
 Columbus sails for Spain — His efforts to find redress for his wrongs — Too weak to walk he is borne 
 on a litter from his ship — Though failing rapidly, his ambitious spirit still aspires to other achieve- 
 ments 292-300 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS — The world's lack of appreciation- The true measure of greatness— A 
 victim to envy, malice and avarice — The friends that remained steadfast to the end — Persistent 
 efforts to recover the rights of which he had been basely defrauded — The mendacity of Ferdinand — 
 Day after day of vain pleading brings the Great .Admiral nearer his grave — The last sad hours of 
 Isabella — Poor heart, broken with an accumulation of unbearable griefs, she lays down the crown^ 
 Her death and sepulture — Columbus thus loses a great friend — He is now only a broken-down old 
 man, who is no longer an object of interest — A pathetic appeal to the honor of a perfidious king^ 
 Hope long deferred maketh the heart sick — The last golden dream of the dying .Admiral — Death of 
 Columbus — The infamous tactics of Ferdinanil prove successful — Pompous funeral ceremonies, a 
 poor ilumb show of kingly ingratitude 3°l~3JO 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 CAREERS OF THE COLUMBIAN DESCENDANTS —The perfidy of Ferdinand continues— The heirs of 
 
 Columbus are denieil the rights aiiil biiufits conferred by will -Presentation of the claims of Don 
 Diego— Advantageous marriage of Diego — He is permitted to wear the title of Admiral — Conten- 
 tion over the govirnorvliip ,,f the West Indies — The courts decide in his favor — He departs for 
 the Indies and ,a.t^umes the \-ice-rovalty — Fonseca's war against Diego— Death of Don Bartholo- 
 mew—Introduction of slaves from Africa— Career of the other descendants — Death of Don I.uis— 
 The ancient house of Cuccaro ,>"~3J8
 
 22 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART III— COLUMBIA. 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 EPOCH OF DISCOVERY AND PLANTING. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 REVELATION OF A NEW WORLD — M_ysteries of the Globe — Strange theories of ancient geographers — 
 Probable passage from Europe to America in ancient times— Colonization of the northeast by 
 Norsemen — Voyages of Leif Erickson — Reckless character of the Norse Sea-rovers — Other traditions 
 of early discovery — Dim conceptions of the earth's sphericity — The theories and experiences of Sir 
 John Maudeville — Tyranny of church and feudalism — Ci\'ilization of the Peru-\nans and Mexicans — 
 Horrible ceremonies of the Aztecs — Whence came the first settlers of America? — Effects of com- 
 merce on civilization — The quest for gold 321-333 
 
 - CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CABOTS AND THEIR FOLLOWERS— Immediate effects of the Columbian discovery— Discovery of 
 North America by Cabot — A second voyage — Discoveries of Sebastian Cabot - Land of the mid- 
 night sun — The rights of first view — Illiberality of Henry VII. — Da Gama discovers a sea route to 
 India — Interference of the Pope — England's divorce from Rome -Adventures of the English gold 
 hunters — The piracies of Drake — Fatal voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert— Sir Walter Raleigh in 
 America -Founding of the first settlement — Conflict with the natives — Cruelty of the English — Mas- 
 sacre of the English at Roanoke — Birth of the first white child — Political dissensions in England — 
 Gosnold's efforts to settle New England— Discoveries and colonization • 334-349 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 VOVAGES OF THE FRENCH AND DUTCH— The country of New France— Discoveries of Cartier— Kid- 
 napping the Kingof Hurons — A colon}- of desperate criminals — Rober^-al's search for a northwest 
 passage — An asylum for persecuted Huguenots — A dreadful vengeance — First French settlement in 
 America — The country of Acadia — Voyages of Henry Hudson 350-359 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT — Adventurers who accompanied Columbus— Vespucci, 
 Pizarro and Ojeda— Ponce de Leon in Florida — Wounded in a battle with Indians — Cortez in Mexico 
 — Marvellous panorama of the Mexican capital — Voyage and death of Slagellan — Through the 
 swamps of Florida — The chivalrous expedition of De Soto 360-368 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ENGLISH COLONIZATION— Fortunate locations of the English— The London Companj'— Captain John 
 Smith — Story of the English Puritans — Voyage of the Mayflower — Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers 
 —Sorrowful famine scenes — Early settlements in New England — Roger Williams, the liberal relig- 
 ionist — His influence with the Indians — Rivalry- between Protestants and Catholics— Sir Geo. Calvert, 
 Lord Baltimore — Settlement of Marj-land — Colonization of North Carolina — Founding of Charleston 
 — First settlement in New Jersey— William Penn — Policy of the Quakers — Penn in council with the 
 Indians — The rapid building of Philadelphia — Savannah founded as an asylum for the poor .... 369-386 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 VIRGINIA — Settlement of Jamestown — The courageous and adventurous character of Capt. John Smith — 
 Introduction of negro slavery — Importation of wives for the settlers— Revolt against Berkeley — 
 Outrages of a profligate monarch — Bacon's rebellion — The first college in .\merica 387-392
 
 CONTENTS. 23 
 
 CHAITKR VII. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS— Captain Miles Stamlish in New Enjjlund— Treachery of the Indians— The bigotry 
 ami intolerance of the Puritans — Founding of a woman's republic — Setting up the printing press 
 — Confederacy of the colonies — Persecution of the Quakers— The two regicides — King Philip's war — 
 The siege of BrookfieUl — The fight at Swansea Church — A memorable battle — Rebellion against 
 Andros — Dreadful episodes of the Indian wars — Destruction of Schenectadv — Appalling outrages 
 committed by Indians — The terrible experience of Mrs. Dustin in captivity — How she killed ten of 
 her captors — The massacre at Deerfield — The Salem witchcraft delusion — War of the Spanish 
 succession 393-408 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 NEW NETHERLAND— The Dutch Puritans— Conflict between the Swedes and Dutch— Invasion of New 
 Sweden by Stuyvesant — The Dutch conquered by the English— Tyranny of James II. — Rebellion and 
 piracy — Queen .■\nne's war — The negro riots 409-414 
 
 CHAin'KR IX. 
 
 MINOR COLONIES AND THE PEQUOD WAR— Burning of an Indian village— The captives sold into 
 slavery — The Bible as the Constitution of the State — Theft of the charter — Resistance to Governor 
 Fletcher — Founding of Vale College — .\n experimental theocracy in America — The parliamentary 
 patent — Prosperity attends the colony in Maryland — Wars between Catholics and Protestants — Dis- 
 tractions and oppressions — Civil and religious rights in the Carolinas 415-422 
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 EPOCH OF INDEPENDENCE, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 THE OLD THIRTEEN — First attempts at colonial union — Beginning of .\merican Independence — Popula- 
 tion of the colonial states — Persecution of the Moravians — Society in the states — Educational 
 advantages —The log school house and the screw printing press — Means of travel aud commu- 
 nication 423-430 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR— Conflicting territorial claims -French mis.sionaries— Explorations 
 of La Salle — His assassination— Jealousies between France and England — The issues of war — 
 George Washington's mission— .\ reniarkaiile journey — The founding of Pittsburgh— Beginning of 
 the conflict — Washington attacks the French— An .American union proposed — Battle before Du 
 Quesne — Death of Braddock— A bloody defeat — Exile of the .Acadians — The attack on I'orl IMward 
 — Siege of William Henry— Capture of Louisburg — Assault on Ticonderoga — Exploit of Major Strabo 
 — Capture of Niagara — Battle of Quebec — Death of Wolf and Montcalm — Pontiac's conspiracy- 
 Effect of the French and Indian war 431-452 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE- A remarkable change of political feeling— Arbitrary' claims 
 of Great Britain — The foreshadowing of Rebellion— Political character of George III. — Specific com- 
 plaints against England— Taxation willioul r<pri.ientation —Excitement produced l)y the Stamp .Act — 
 The British ministry— The torch of rebellion lighted— The fien,- .speech of Patrick Heiirv — As.sem- 
 bling of the first colonial congress — Imposition of oilier oppressive duties— The Boston massacre — 
 A violent resentment of the tea tax — Suspension of commercial intercourse with England 453-463
 
 24 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 FROM CONCORD TO QUEBEC— The ride of Paul Revere— First volley of the revolution— Battle of 
 Concord — The capture of Ticonderoga — Battle of Bunker Hill— The fires of patriotism blaze up 
 on a thousand hills — Washington appointed to command the American army — Activity of the 
 patriots— Assault on Montreal — Wounding of Arnold 464-470 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE YEAR OF INDEPENDENCE— Attempt to drive Howe out of Boston— Anniversary of the Boston 
 massacre — Evacuation of Boston — The conflict begins in other sections — Siege of Charleston — Dawn 
 of independence — Principles of the declaration — Thomas Paine's patriotic services — England tries to 
 •conciliate the Americans — Battle of Long Island — Dark prospects following defeat — Discouragements 
 of the American cause— Capture of the Hessians 471-480 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION— Critical position of Washington — Washington outgenerals Com- 
 wallis — Battle of Princeton — A series of engagements — Tryon's invasion of Connecticut — Exploit 
 of Benedict Arnold — Sympathy of France— Secret help of the French people — The Marquis of 
 Lafayette— The capture of General Prescott — Battle of Bennington— A remarkable stratagem — 
 Defeat and capture of Burgoyne — The captive is hospitably entertained -Battle of the Brandy wine — 
 The fight for Germantown — Attack on Chew's house — Sufferings at Valley Forge — Franklin 
 negotiates an alliance with France — In hot pursuit of the British — Battle of Monmouth — Outrages of 
 Guerillas and Indians — Heroic acts of the Bradys — The valorous deeds of the Wetzel brothers — 
 Some marvellous adventures — Reverses to the American cause — Battle at Brier Creek — Unsuc- 
 cessful attack on Savannah — Heroism of Paul Jones — Naval battle between the Serapis and 
 Bon Homme Richard 481-501 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AMERICA WINS THE BATTLE -The siege of Charleston— Depredations of Tarleton- Bravery of Francis 
 Marion — Death of Baron de Kalb — Battle of King's Mountain — The treason of Arnold — Capture 
 and execution of Andre — Execution of mutineers — Career of Arnold as a British officer — A girl 
 attempts to kill him — Battle of Cowpens — Defeat at Guilford Courthouse — Battle of Eutaw Springs 
 —The intrepidity of Wayne — Campaign against Cornwallis — Siege of Yorktown — Surrender of Corn- 
 wallis — Demonstrations of joy — England acknowledges American independence —Evacuation of 
 New York — Concluding scenes of the war — Washington's farewell — His address before Congress . . 503-519 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATION- Powers of Congress— Trials that confronted the new government— The war debt 
 
 — Territory of the great west— Adoption of the dollar and its decimal 520-524 
 
 BOOK THIRD. 
 
 EPOCH OF NATIONALITY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE NEW CONSTITUTION— Failure of the articles of confederation— The constitutional convention— 
 The question at issue— Birth of political parties in America— Patriotic suspicions— Obstinacy of 
 certain states — A digest of the constitution -A criticism of the constitution — Criticism of the con- 
 gressional system — Election of the first President 525-531
 
 CONTEXTS. 25 
 
 CHAin'ER XIX. 
 
 PAGB 
 FIRST THREE ADM INISTRATIONS — The inaviijuratioii of WiLshington— Embarrassments of the govern- 
 
 meut Antagonism between Jefferson and Hamilton — l-irst acts of Congress — yuestions of 
 etiquette - The- burden of a national debt — The linancial genius of Hamilton -A war with the 
 ' Miami Indians -Disastrous defeat of Gen. Harmer — Fatal rout of Gen. St. Clair — Indignation of 
 Washington — Daniel Boone on the dark and bloody ground — Troubles of the second administra- 
 tion— Political ilissensions in the cabinet — TIk whij-kLV insurrection -Wayne's victory over the 
 Indians— Washington assailed by incendiary slanders— The Algerine Pirates — Washington's fare- 
 well address— John .\dains. the second President War witli France Naval duel between the con- 
 stellation and Insurgent -Napoleon's friendship for .\merica— Death of Washington— Peace and 
 prosperity — The .sedition and alien law - Character of Jefferson — The Louisiana purcliase — Results 
 accomplished by the Jefferson administration— War with the Barbary states— Duel between Burr 
 and Hamilton — Burr's scheme to make himself a dictator— America sulTers between cross-fires — Right 
 of search and seizure -Robert Fulton's steamboat 532-558 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND— James Madison— Free trade and sailors' rights— Harrison's victory 
 over Tecumtha — Conjurations of a prophet— First gun of the war of 1812- Shameful surrender of 
 Hull — Engagement between the Constitution and Guerriere — Capture of the Frolic — Other battles 
 on the high seas — Expedition against Canada — Defeat and massacre at Raisin River — Gallant 
 defence of Fort Stephenson — Perry's victory on Lake Erie — Defeat and death of Tecumtha -Jack- 
 son's campaigns against the Indians— .\ nmtinous spirit quelled — Capture of Toronto — Battle 
 between the Chesapeake and Shannon— Bloody Lundy's Lane— Defeat of the British— Capture 
 and burning of Washington— Bombardment of Fort McHenry — Political dissensions — Battle of 
 New Orleans — Engagements on the seas — A treaty of peace —Effects of the war — Founding of a 
 negro free state • 559-574 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 MIDDLE AGES OF THE UNITED STATES— .\dministration of James Monroe— Trouble with Hayti— 
 Re\-ival of buccaneering — Contention between Democrats and Federalists— Suppression of the 
 Seminoles — The intrepidity of Jackson — Money crisis of 1819 — The Mis.souri compromise — Destruc- 
 tion of the West Indian Pirates — The Monroe doctrine — Visit of Lafavette — Career of J. Q. .\dams 
 
 Difficulties over Indian titles— Death of Jefferson and Adams — The Masonic excitement — The tariff 
 question— Adoption of the system of protection -Other issues before the nation^ackson the 
 military- hero — His election to the Presidency— The Jackson administration - Threatened secession of 
 South Carolina— War with the Cherokees and Creeks— A bloody massacre — Bank of the United 
 States— A financial panic— President Jackson's farewell— Financial crisis of 1837 — Independent 
 treasury bill — Complications with Canada — Election of Harrison— His administration -His death, 
 and accession of Tyler — The Webster-.\shburton treaty — Dedication of Bunker Hill monument — 
 The anti-rent party— Rise of the Mormons -Killing of the Smiths 575-6oo 
 
 CHAPTER XXn. 
 
 WAR WITH MEXICO— The republic of Texas— Remember the .\lamo !— .■\nnexation of Texas— The cam- 
 paign of 1S44— First use of the telegraph— Questions which led to the war with Mexico— Begin- 
 ning of hostilities— Death of Major Ringgold— Preparations for the .struggle — Storming of Monterey 
 — Conquest of California— Bombardment of Vera Cruz— March of the victorious army- Battle of 
 Cerro Gordo — Storming the heights of Chapultepec — A campaign of unexampled brilliancy — 
 Attack on the .American hospital— Closing strokes of the war— Settlement of the boundary dispute - 
 Discovery of gold in California— Excitement caused by Sutter's find— Birth of the free soil part)- — 
 The slavery question again agitated— Henry Clay's omnil)Us bill 601-618 
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 
 THE FILLMORE ADMINISTRATION— Compromise acts of 1S50— Effect on the 'Whig Party— Filibusters 
 in Cuba — The Newfoundland fisherj- dispute— Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot — North Pole expedi- 
 tion-Everett's reply to England— Election of Pierce — Pacific railway project — Pern,-'s expedition to 
 Japan — Walker's raid in Nicaragua— .Xn extradition dispute — Question of annexing Cuba— Efforts 
 to extend slavery Border warfare— Bitter campaign of 1S56 — The Dred Scott decision— Johnston's 
 campaign against the Mormons — Laying of the ocean cable 619-628
 
 26 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK FOURTH. 
 
 EPOCH OF WAR AND GREATNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ANTECEDENTS OF THE CIVIL WAR-The great tragedy of American historj-— The capture and execution 
 of John Brown — The conventions of iS6o — Anger of the South over Lincoln's election — The Seces- 
 sion of South Carolina —Disunion spreads apace — Formation of the new confederacy- Seizure of 
 public property in the South — Close of Buchanan's administration — Abraham Lincoln — Siege and 
 capture of Fort Sumter — First blood shed in the great civil war — The question of difference 
 between South and North — Construction of the Constitution by disunionists — Slave ownership and 
 what it involved — The tariff chosen between agriculture and manufacture — Effects of sectional 
 literature 629-642 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT— The uprising in the North— Events in tlie Shenandoah Valley— First 
 battle of Bull Run — Defeat of the Union forces— Operations in the West — Death of General Lyon — 
 Battle of Belmont — The defences of Washington — Seizure of Mason and Slidell — Capture of Forts 
 Henry and Donelson — The battle shock at Shiloh — Evacuation of Columbus — Duel between the 
 Merrimac and Monitor — Capture of New Orleans -Battles of luka and Corinth — Defeat of Sher- 
 man — Battle of Murfreesborough — On to Richmond— Appointment of General Lee as commander 
 of the Confederate Army — Desperate fighting before Richmond — Terrible loss of life — Battle of 
 Anlietam — Another advance on Richmond — Battle of Fredericksburg ' . 643-662 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 DECLINE AND OVERTHROW OF THE CONFEDERACY— Additional calls for troops-Emancipation procla- 
 mation— Operations for the reduction of Vicksburg — The Confederates driven inside their defences- 
 Surrender of Vicksburg — ^Cavalry raids — Battle of Chickamauga— Battles of Lookout Mountain and 
 Missionarj- Ridge — Invasion of Missouri — Quantrell's raid — Attack on Charleston — Death of Stone- 
 wall Jackson — Battle of Chancellorsville — Invasion of Pennsylvania — Battle of Gettysburg — Riots 
 following the Conscription Act — Raids of General Forrest — Disastrous results of the Red River expe- 
 dition — Sherman's march to the sea — Defeat of Hood and capture of Atlanta — The trail of 
 destruction — Capture of Charleston — Closing battles of the war — Carolina raids — Farragut before 
 Mobile — Bombardment of Fort Fisher — Damage inflicted b^- the Privateers — Sinking of the Alabama 
 by the Kearsarge — Battles of the Wilderness — Before the outposts of Richmond — Battle of Win- 
 chester — Capture of Petersburg — Retreat of Lee's army -Surrender of Lee — Capture of DaNns— 
 Closing events of the war — Financial measures to meet the expenses of the war -The National Bank 
 Act — Patriotic utterances of Lincoln — His second inauguration — Assassination of Lincoln —Univer- 
 sal grief of the nation — Accession of Andrew Johnson — The amnesty proclamation — Execution of 
 Maximilian — Laying of the Atlantic Cable — Purchase of Alaska 663-702 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 EPOCH OF RECONSTRUCTION — Setting up of provisional governments — A second amnesty proclama- 
 tion—National peace convention — Amendments to the Constitution — Impeachment trial of John- 
 son— Election of Grant— Black Fridaj- — Settlement of the Alabama claims— The burning of Chicago 
 — ^Troubles arising from carpet-bag rule — Defeat of Greeley— The Modoc Indian war— The Credit 
 Mobilier scandal — Trans-continental railway lines — Death's harvest among the great — The Centennial 
 Exposition — The Sioux war— The Presidential election of 1876 — The Joint High Commission — 
 Happy passage of a great crisis 703-720
 
 CONTEXTS. 27 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 PACE 
 PERIOD OF RECOVERS— Administration of President Hayes— The great railroad strike— War with the 
 Nfz I'erces Iiulians -Demonetization of silver — The Resumption Act— Tlie yelluw fever plague — The 
 fishery dispute — Life savini; service — Specie resumption— The campaign of iSSo — Refunding the 
 National debt — Grant's tour around the world — The decennial census — Life of Garfield — Civil ser- 
 vice reform — .\ disruption in the party — Stalwarts and half-l)ree<ls — Assassination of Garfield -Trial 
 and execution of Guiteau — Succession of Arthur — The Star Route Scandal— Great inventions- The 
 telephone, phonograph and electric light— Edison, the wizard — Great feats of engineering — The 
 tariff question — Both sides presented — The prohibitorj- tariflf — Presidential campaign of 1SS4 — 
 Dedication of the Washingtoa monument 721-744 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC RESTORATION— Election of Cleveland— Vain effort to introduce civil service reform 
 — Memorial literature of the war — Death of Gen. Grant — Demise of other eminent men — The 
 United States Supreme Court — Roscoe Conkling — Organization of labor — Anarchy in Chicago— The 
 Charleston earthquake^The pension list — The Inter-State Commerce Bill — issues of the campaign 
 of 1888 — Election of Benjamin Harrison 745-759 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE PRESENT — Administration of Harrison -Epochs in our National life — Celebration of the institution 
 ( :'the Republic — The great civic display — Threatenings of war with Germany — The Johnstown flood 
 — .Assembling of the Pan-.\nierican Congress— Renewal of the tariff dispute — The McKinley Bill — 
 Excitement over the rulings of Speaker Reed — The silver question — The eleventh census — The New- 
 Orleans riot — A war threatened with Chili — A serious situation — Murderous assault on the crew of 
 the Baltimore — Completion of the story 76o-777 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 
 
 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION— Cost of preparation— Invitations to all the nations of the 
 earth — Development of great industrial expositions — The Columbian Fair to surpass all previous 
 efforts — Char.acter of the displays on exhibition - Mission of the exposition — tTrcat object le.'^suns — 
 The world's congress — The problems to be solved — Higher aims of the administration — Little things 
 that have advanced civilization — Tributes to the men who have benefited the world — Com- 
 memoration of the supreme event in historj- 7S1-786 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A HISTORY OF ANCIENT FESTIVALS —The culmination of American history— .\n occasion for self-gratu- 
 lation — Origin of National Celebrations -First intimation of democracy — Religion and War — 
 Earliest forms of festival celebration— Observances among the Peruvians— Egyptian festivals — 
 Offering a maiden to the God of the Nile — Fairs of farther India and Mexico — Rules 
 governing the .Aztec Fairs— Exhibitions among Greek and Romans — Jewi.sh feasts — The Olympian 
 games — Exciting spectacles in the arena — .•\ttichment of the Greeks and Romans to their festivals — 
 Exciting and dangerous sports of the Greeks— The chariot race -Women at the games — 
 Rewards to the Wctors— Honors for which Kings contested— Roman festivals and bloo<ly shows — Dif- 
 ferences between the Greeks and Romans —Exhibitions in the Circus Maximus — .Audiences of extraor- 
 dinary size — Description of the great military spectacle of the Ludi Maximus — The Venatio. or 
 hunting show — Slaugljter of wild .inimals — Gladiators in the arena — Desperate combat.s — Massacre 
 of Christians — Martyrdom of a humane Monk — Abolition of the games . . "87-800
 
 28 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. PAGB 
 
 GREAT FAIRS OF MODERN TIMES— Gods of the ancients— The aspirations of man— Metamorphosis of 
 the warrior — History of the earliest fairs — Union of church and state — Great fairs in the far East — 
 Great industrial exhibitions -Expositions in France, Austria and England — The Crystal Palace — • 
 First world's fair in America — Rivalry between France and England-— Magnitude and results of the 
 exhibitions — Centennial Exposition — Its cost and receipts— The French fairs of 1885 and 1889 . . . 801-810 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PURPOSES AND EFFECTS OF INTERNATIONAL FAIRS-The struggle for supremacy— What constitutes 
 true glory — Origin of the Columbian Exposition — The voice of Public desire — Creation of the 
 Worlds Fair Commission — Cost of the Exposition — The Exposition Buildings — Extent and 
 character of the Grounds — Appropriations made by the several States — Countries that have made 
 appropriations for exhibits —Nations that will participate — Wonders of the Exposition — Marvellous 
 surprises that will meet visitors — Exhibition of the Columbian Caravels — Description of some of 
 the remarkable things that will hz shown — Exhibits by the Government — The World's auxiliary 
 congress— A marvellous pyrotechnic display— The heavens on fire — Niagara Falls in flames — 
 Bombardment of the the skies — A deluge of meteors^Spectacles of sublime beauty — The American 
 flag spread across the sky in coruscations of fire — Programme of the Dedication ceremonies . . 810-821 
 
 GUIDE TO THE CITY OF CHICAGO AND THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 
 
 823-832
 
 
 ' W'^j'ic s'< Vi^sjtxv- ^"*^ 'N'<fc.*'k'»'Ji *<*{ •oi>'' 
 
 <'A>j:A\«A\Xvv.i;(j,/,% >j! 
 
 
 i{?5K«;' 
 
 SiS>5?A!WS«-»«-». 
 
 *2?iS 
 
 ^ 
 
 [ist of [lldstr^tions. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Emblematic chapter heading 35 
 
 New inventions contrasted with the old 37 
 
 Gutenberg and Faust discovering the art of printing 38 
 
 New inventions contrasted with the old .... 39 
 
 Home of the de Medici 41 
 
 Norsemen celebrating their discovery of the New 
 
 World 44 
 
 The Puritans 47 
 
 Homes and birtli-places of great Americans ... 49 
 
 Benjamin Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI . 50 
 
 Napoleon and Marie Louise at Fontainbleau . . 53 
 
 Distinguished Union Generals 55 
 
 The last of monarchy in the New World — Exile of 
 
 Dom Pedro from Brazil 56 
 
 Distinguished Confederate Generals 58 
 
 Castle Garden, the gateway of immigration to 
 
 America 59 
 
 Farragut engaging the Confederates in Mobile Bay 61 
 
 Emblematic chapter heading 65 
 
 Columbus a castaway 68 
 
 Norse navigators in Narragansett Bay 72 
 
 Columbus in his study 73 
 
 Nicholas Zeni 74 
 
 Landing of Leif Erickson in Vinland 76 
 
 Coat of anns of the Colombo family 77 
 
 Dream visions of inspiration 78 
 
 Angel of ambition 79 
 
 Columbus before the Portuguese Junta 80 
 
 The fabled Roc 81 
 
 Father Perez inviting Columbus to the convent . 84 
 
 Columbus at the convent of La Rabida 85 
 
 A golden day-dream of Columbus 86 
 
 Comforting angels 87 
 
 Isabella 88 
 
 Columbus introduced to the King 89 
 
 Columbus' interview with I'ather Perez 94 
 
 Father Perez journeying to Santa Fe 94 
 
 The night journey to Granada 95 
 
 Army of Isabella before Granada 95 
 
 The surrender of Granada 96 
 
 Court of the Lions, in the Alhambra 97 
 
 Queen Isabella in her armor 98 
 
 Columbus recalleil by Isabella 99 
 
 Columbus in private audience with the Queen 100 
 
 Monsters of the haunted sea 102 
 
 The fleet of Columbus 106 
 
 Watching the departure 107 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Columbus discovering the deflection of the compass loS 
 
 Vision of the spectre haunted sea no 
 
 The San ia Maria 112 
 
 Landing on the shore of San Salvador 114 
 
 Adventure of Columbus with an Iguana .... 117 
 
 Shore scene on Isabella Island 119 
 
 The cross of possession 120 
 
 Hospitable reception by the natives 121 
 
 The Cuban Chief and the Spanish Embassy . . 122 
 
 Landing on the coast of Hayti 125 
 
 State visit of a Haytian Cacique 127 
 
 The natives following the returning boats . . . 128 
 
 Loss of the San/a Jlfaria 130 
 
 Guacanagari taking his leave of Columbus . . . 133 
 
 The caravels at sea 134 
 
 Columbus' coat of arms 136 
 
 Spaniards repulsing the natives 137 
 
 In the calm latitude 138 
 
 The storm 139 
 
 Effects of the great storm 143 
 
 The shores of Hayti 146 
 
 Columbus received by the dignitaries 149 
 
 Reception of Columbus by Ferdinand and Isabella 153 
 
 The Columbus procession through Barcelona 151 
 
 A glorious dream — and the reality 155 
 
 Christopher Columbus 156 
 
 Columbus rebuking his critics 159 
 
 Columbus receiving the thanks of his sovereigns 161 
 
 City of Seville 162 
 
 Flag-ship of Columbus 164 
 
 Fonseca a protestant 1 efore the Queen 167 
 
 Departure of the second expedition 168 
 
 In the bay of Cadiz 170 
 
 Cannibal cabin in Guadaloupe 172 
 
 Savage attack of the Caribs 175 
 
 Columbus visited by four Caciques 176 
 
 Destruction of the garrison 181 
 
 An expedition to the gold mines 185 
 
 Columbus before the mutineers 190 
 
 Overlooking the Vega Real 192 
 
 A waterspout 196 
 
 Natives supplying the Spaniards with fruits . . . 198 
 
 In the Queen's Gardens ... 200 
 
 Rebellion of Margarite and Vicar Buyl 208 
 
 Massacre of the Spaniards 210 
 
 Caonabo at the head of his anuy 211 
 
 A ilesperate adventure 214 
 
 (29)
 
 30 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Terrible slaughter of the natives 217 
 
 Anacaona, Queen of the Caribs 220 
 
 De Torres before the Sovereigns 222 
 
 The hurricane 225 
 
 Building of the Satita Cruz 225 
 
 A native woman strangling her pursuer .... 227 
 
 Columbus presenting the brother of Caonabo 230 
 
 Columbus executing his will 232 
 
 Columbus knocking down the Jew 234 
 
 Columbus recapturing the French prize .... 237 
 
 Fury of a great tidal wave 259 
 
 Natives bringing presents to Columbus 241 
 
 Anacaona and her retinue of maidens 247 
 
 Burning of natives for the crime of sacrilege . . 251 
 
 Arrival of the supply ships 253 
 
 Cruel destruction of Indian rillages 255 
 
 Roldan making recruits 25S 
 
 Execution of Moxica 261 
 
 The sight that met Bobadilla 262 
 
 Bobadilla casts Columbus into a dungeon .... 262 
 
 Columbus sent to Spain in chains 264 
 
 Columbus received by Isabella 265 
 
 Fury of the great storm 267 
 
 Destruction of the fleet 270 
 
 Columbus exorcising the waterspout 274 
 
 Reception of Columbus by a chief 275 
 
 Assaulted by the chief 's son 277 
 
 Massacre of Spanish boatmen . . . .- 279 
 
 A perilous undertaking 2S0 
 
 Bartholomew defending Columbus 2S5 
 
 De Porras driving the canoemen overboard . . . 2S6 
 
 Indians awed by an eclipse of the moon .... 2SS 
 
 Columbus' return 291 
 
 Natives slaving at the placer mines 293 
 
 Perishing from starvation 294 
 
 Dance of the Xaraguan maidens 296 
 
 Anacaona's retinue 297 
 
 Slaughter of the Xaraguans 298 
 
 Massacre of the Spaniards 299 
 
 Statue of Isabella at Madrid 304 
 
 Sepulchre of Ferdinand and Isabella 305 
 
 Columbus, after Capriola, 1596 305 
 
 Portrait of Columbus in the Madrid gallery . . 306 
 Columbus, aft;er a painting made b%' order of Isa- 
 bella 307 
 
 Death of Columbus 308 
 
 House in which Columbus died 309 
 
 Columbus monument in Mexico 310 
 
 Monument to Columbus in Genoa 312 
 
 Columbian monument in Madrid 314 
 
 Monument projected for Palos 316 
 
 Monument projected for Havana 317 
 
 Justice 318 
 
 Emblematic department illustration 321 
 
 Norsmen on the coast of America 323 
 
 Killing of Thorwald 324 
 
 A Norse sea king 325 
 
 Map of Vinland 327 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Aztecs sacrificing to the sun 330 
 
 Aztec calendar stone 331 
 
 A Phoenician ship 333 
 
 John Cabot on the shore of Labrador 335 
 
 Fleet of Frobisher 338 
 
 Drake crowned King of California 340 
 
 Queen Elizabeth 341 
 
 Ruins of Roanoke 343 
 
 Massacre at Roanoke 344 
 
 Baptism of Virginia Dare 346 
 
 Capture of the English supply ship 347 
 
 Cartier on Mont Real -51 
 
 Cartier enticing the Huron King 352 
 
 Rober\'al searching for a northwest passage . . . 353 
 
 Avenging the murder of the Huguenots .... 355 
 
 Dining room of the French colonists 357 
 
 The Half-Moon in the Hudson 359 
 
 Balboa claiming the Pacific 362 
 
 Indians furiously attack the Spaniards . . . . 363 
 
 Hernando Cortez 364 
 
 Death of Montezuma 365 
 
 Death of Magellan 366 
 
 De Soto landing in Florida 367 
 
 Route of De Soto's expedition 368 
 
 Captain John Smith 370 
 
 Signing the compact 372 
 
 Dealing out the five kernels of com 373 
 
 Map of early settlements in New England . . . 374 
 
 Roger Williams in council with Canouicus . . 375 
 
 Roger Williams among the Indians 377 
 
 Lord Baltimore 378 
 
 Leonard Calvert colonizing Marj-land 379 
 
 Map of the Atlantic States 3S1 
 
 Map of New Jersey 382 
 
 William Penn 3S3 
 
 Map of Philadelphia and vicinity 3S4 
 
 James Oglethorpe 386 
 
 Map of the Chesapeake 5S8 
 
 Importing wives for the settlers 389 
 
 The war ship Guinea enforcing submission . . . 390 
 
 Samoset welcoming the English 394 
 
 Treaty between Caner and Massasoit 394 
 
 A scold gagged 396 
 
 The first printing press in America 397 
 
 First Church in Hartford 398 
 
 Map of the scene of the first King Philip's war . 398 
 
 Map of the scene of the second King Philip's war 399 
 
 Map of the scene of the third King Philip's war 399 
 
 The fight at Swansea Church ■ • • 400 
 
 Indian attack on Brook field 401 
 
 Destruction of Schenectady 402 
 
 Mr. Dustin covering the retreat of his children . ^04 
 
 Jlrs. Dustin killing her captors 405 
 
 The old witch house in Salem 406 
 
 Trial of a witch at Salem 407 
 
 Peter Stuyvesant 410 
 
 Queen Anne 414 
 
 Scene of the Pequod war 415
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 31 
 
 Captain Mason firing the Indian village .... 416 
 
 The younger Winthrop 416 
 
 Gov. Fletcher's voice drowned by drum beats . 417 
 
 Training day in the olden time 420 
 
 Persecution of the Moravians 425 
 
 Primitive New England school 427 
 
 Printing the Boston Xews-I..etter 42S 
 
 Marquette and Joliet on 'the Mississippi 432 
 
 La Salle descending the Mississippi 433 
 
 .Assassination of La Salle 434 
 
 Half-King making a treaty with the English . 435 
 
 Washington fired at by a savage 436 
 
 Washington attacking the French 437 
 
 Battle ground of the French and Indian war . . 439 
 
 Map of the scene of Braddock's defeat 440 
 
 Death of Braddock 441 
 
 Map of Acadia 442 
 
 Exile of the .Acadians 442 
 
 Siege of Fort William Henry 444 
 
 Map of Louisburg 445 
 
 Ruius of Ticonderoga 445 
 
 Exploit of Major Strabo 446 
 
 Bloody Run 447 
 
 General James Wolfe 448 
 
 Map of vicinity of Quebec 44S 
 
 Death of General Wolfe 450 
 
 Exposure of the conspiracy 451 
 
 George the Third 456 
 
 Benjamin Frank'.in 458 
 
 Procession in opposition to the Stamp .\ct . . . 459 
 
 Patrick Henry addressing the Assembly .... 460 
 
 Samuel .Adams . 463 
 
 Paul Revere's nde 465 
 
 General Nat. Greene 465 
 
 .\llcn demanding the smrender of Ticonderoga . 466 
 
 Map of the \-icinity of Lake George 466 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill 467 
 
 Closing charge at Bunker Hill 468 
 
 George Washington 469 
 
 The attack on Quebec 470 
 
 Map of the siege of Boston 471 
 
 Map of the siege of Charleston 472 
 
 The attack on Fort Moultrie 473 
 
 Thomas Jefferson 474 
 
 -Adoption of the Declaration 475 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Long Island 477 
 
 Scene of operations about New York 478 
 
 Plan of the battle of Princeton 480 
 
 Death of General Mercer 482 
 
 Exploit of Benedict .Arnold 483 
 
 Place of the barricade 4P4 
 
 Marquis of Lafayette 485 
 
 Capture of General Prescott 486 
 
 Bennington battleground 487 
 
 The alarm at Fort Schuyler 4S7 
 
 Burgoyne's camp on the Hudson 4S8 
 
 Scene of Burgoyne's invasion 488 
 
 Surrender of Burgoyne 489 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Gates' headquarters 490 
 
 Battle of Gerniantown 491 
 
 Sceui of the Valley Forge encampment .... 492 
 
 In camp at Valley Forge 493 
 
 The cavalry charge at Monmouth 495 
 
 Death of James Brady 497 
 
 Escape of Lewis Wetzel 498 
 
 Defeat of the Americans at Brier Creek 500 
 
 Paul Jones boarding the Serapis 501 
 
 Washington's headquarters 502 
 
 Scene of operations in the South 504 
 
 Rendezvous of Marion and his men 505 
 
 Scene of .Arnold's treason 506 
 
 Capture of Major .Andre 507 
 
 Sergeant Champe's departure 509 
 
 .A girl's attempt on .Arnold's life 510 
 
 Charge of the .Americans under Greene 513 
 
 Plan of the siege of York town 515 
 
 .Americans capturing a redoubt 515 
 
 Surrender of Cornwallis 515 
 
 Washington's farewell to his generals 518 
 
 John .Adams 531 
 
 Washington taking the oath 533 
 
 Washington and his cabinet 535 
 
 General Harraer defeated by the Indians .... 536 
 
 Surjjrise of General St. Clair 537 
 
 The Indignation of Washington 53S 
 
 Capture of the whiskey tax collectors .... 541 
 Engagement between the Constellation and In- 
 surgent 545 
 
 Jefferson going to his inauguration 549 
 
 Chief Justice Marshall 552 
 
 Duel between Hamilton and Burr 554 
 
 Robert Fulton 557 
 
 James Madison 559 
 
 Indian Prophet and General Harrison 560 
 
 Scene of Hull's campaign 562 
 
 Capture of the Frolic 563 
 
 Fort Meigs 5^4 
 
 Perry leaving his flagship for the Niagara . . . 565 
 
 Defeat of the Indians 566 
 
 Duel between the Chesapeake and Shannon . . 568 
 
 Attack on Oswego 5^9 
 
 Battle of New Orleans 573 
 
 Confirming a treaty between whites and Indians 576 
 
 Death of General Thompson 590 
 
 View of Salt Lake City 599 
 
 Meeting place of the first Texas Congress . . . 602 
 
 Capture of a Mexican battery 60S 
 
 Incident of the battle of Monterey 607 
 
 Hoisting the flag on the Rocky Mountains . . . 6o3 
 
 Escape of Santa .Anna 610 
 
 Storming of Chapultepec 612 
 
 Sau Francisco in 1849 614 
 
 Place where gold was discovered 615 
 
 Clay. Calhoun and Webster 6l3 
 
 Warfare on the border 630 
 
 John Brown's Fort 63'
 
 32 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 John Brown besieged 632 
 
 Alex. H. Stephens 633 
 
 Jefferson Davis 633 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 634 
 
 Lincoln's early home 635 
 
 Lincoln's first cabinet 636 
 
 Attack on Fort Sumter 637 
 
 Flag and Cockades 638 
 
 Attack on the Massachusetts troops 639 
 
 Horrors of tlie Fugitive Slave Law 640 
 
 Sinking of the privateer Petrel 641 
 
 General G. T. Beauregard 644 
 
 Battle of Bull Run 645 
 
 Death of General Lyon 646 
 
 A monitor and blockade runner 647 
 
 Surrender of Fort Donelson 649 
 
 Battle of Shiloh 650 
 
 Fight between the Monitor and Merrimac . . . 652 
 
 Heroism of Colonel Rogers 654 
 
 Augur's Brigade passing through Manassas Gap 655 
 
 General T. J. Jackson 656 
 
 McClellan's defensive lines 657 
 
 Part of Maryland raided by Confederates .... 658 
 
 Battle of Malvern Hill 659 
 
 General Joseph Hooker 660 
 
 Storming the bridge of Antietam 661 
 
 General Wm. T. Sherman 664 
 
 A railroad battery 666 
 
 A charge at Missionary Ridge 667 
 
 Attack on Charleston 668 
 
 Lee and Jackson before Chancellorsville .... 669 
 
 Jackson before the battle 670 
 
 Battle of Chancellorsville 671 
 
 Seat of war, Harper's Ferry to Suffolk 672 
 
 Plan of the battle of Gettysburg 673 
 
 Repulsing a charge at Gettysburg 674 
 
 Pickett's charge at Gettysburg 675 
 
 Forrest leading his rough riders 677 
 
 Map of Dalton and vicinity 67S 
 
 Death of General Polk 679 
 
 Map of Atlanta and vicinity 6S0 
 
 Map of Sherman's march 681 
 
 General Joseph E. Johnston 682 
 
 Admiral Farragut 683 
 
 Naval battle in Mobile Bay 684 
 
 Sinking of the Alabama 686 
 
 From Richmond to Appomattox 688 
 
 General Phil Sheridan 689 
 
 Sheridan's ride to Winchester 690 
 
 Lee's army on the retreat 691 
 
 Lee signing the conditions of surrender .... 693 
 
 Last meeting of the Confederate Cabinet .... 694 
 
 Assassination of Lincoln 697 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Grand military parade in Washington 699 
 
 Execution of Maximilian 701 
 
 Triumph of faith and genius 702 
 
 Laying the Atlantic cable 703 
 
 U. S. Grant 706 
 
 Grant's home in Galena 707 
 
 Horace Greeley 711 
 
 Charles Sumner 713 
 
 Joseph R. Hawley 714 
 
 Alfred T. Goshorn 715 
 
 President Grant closing the Exposition 716 
 
 Heroic death of Custer 718 
 
 Thomas A. Hendricks 719 
 
 James A. Garfield 725 
 
 General Winfield Hancock 726 
 
 From canal-boy to the Presidency 728 
 
 James G. Blaine 729 
 
 Roscoe Conkling 730 
 
 Assassination of Garfield 731 
 
 Chester A. Arthur 732 
 
 The Brooklyn Bridge 737 
 
 John A. Logan 743 
 
 Grover Cleveland 746 
 
 Grant's funeral train 747 
 
 Birth place and tomb of General Grant 748 
 
 New tomb of General Grant 749 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher 751 
 
 City of Valparaiso 774 
 
 Decoration Day 776 
 
 Emblematic head illustration 781 
 
 Administration Building 782 
 
 Government Building 783 
 
 Fish and Fisheries Building 784 
 
 Building of Manufactures and Liberal Arts . . . 785 
 
 Sacrifice of a virgin to the Nile God 7S9 
 
 Foot race of Grecian athletes 791 
 
 A chariot race in the Colosseum 793 
 
 Race course in the circus maximi 796 
 
 Criminal fighting with a hungrj- lion 797 
 
 Duel between gladiators 799 
 
 Tilting tournament in the Middle Ages 802 
 
 Horticultural Building S03 
 
 Woman's Building 804 
 
 Machinery Hall S05 
 
 Electrical Building 806 
 
 Art Palace 807 
 
 Transportation Building 808 
 
 Mines and Mining Building 809 
 
 Agricultural Building 812 
 
 Bird's eye view of the Columbian Exposition 
 
 Grounds 815 
 
 View of State Street and Palmer House, 
 
 Chicago 822
 
 3ie 
 
 3/ 
 
 (33)
 
 
 ' * > 
 
 
 
 splendor from the rui 
 Greek column or to 
 
 ^^^«l.• 
 
 7 #^ Progress and Development 
 
 of 
 
 in The Western World. 
 
 By JAMES G. BLAINE. 
 
 \ 'FHE stately march of histor}- reveals 
 with equal clearness, and develops 
 with equal majesty, two distinct and har- 
 monious truths — the indepen- 
 dence of the individual and 
 the unity of the race. Letters, 
 architecture, the arts of peace 
 and of war have characterized 
 all civilizations. In the stabil- 
 ity of her institutions 
 China has not been sur- 
 passed. In the skill of 
 her mechanics EufApt has 
 not been reached. Mod- 
 ern imajjination recon- 
 structs an unparalleled 
 ns of Assyria. Nineteen centuries have not added to the grace of the 
 the strength <>f the Roman arch. No proverb has supplanted the 
 (35) 
 

 
 36- COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 patience of Job or the wisdom of Solomon. Our liighest aspiration is to combine, never 
 to excel, what Matthew Arnold might call the sense for beanty in the old Greeks, the sense 
 for organization in the old Romans, the sense for righteousness in the old Jews. No poet 
 has plucked from Homer his laurels. No brush has stolen a tint from the fame of Apelles. 
 No chisel has chased a line of loveliness from Phidias. INIoses and Solon have never been 
 surpassed in statesmanship, or Alexander in military science and skill, or Plato in phil- 
 osophy, or Cicero in eloquence. 
 
 UP TO THE KEiGHT, WHENCE FREEDOM SURVEVS THE WORLD. 
 
 Human faculties show a very small range of difference through the centuries. The 
 pendulum of human powers from age to age sweeps through the same arc. The distinc- 
 tive trait of modern times is that the achievement of the highest is brought down to the 
 service of the lowliest, and thus the impress of value is stamped upon the individual human 
 being. 
 
 The development of the modern world is towards all men, and not towards one man. 
 To build up the marvels of antiquity the few led, the many followed ; the few ruled, the 
 many were driven. The toiler was not considered. He was a beast of burden. He was 
 used and he was sacrificed. He had no voice in affairs. He was built into the walls of 
 cities, his blood outlined the boundary of nations, his labor wrought the luxury of kings, 
 but himself had no civic existence. As a man to be considered or consulted, a man whose 
 happiness oi health or wish was to be taken into the account, he was not. 
 
 Through the turbulent centuries the individual man has forged to the front. He is 
 still in the heat of struggle, but he has tasted power, he has tested his strength, he knows 
 that the world is his. The old Greek thought that philosophy demeaned itself by stoop- 
 ing to uses. Now man stands with a flaming sword at the gate of all science and demands 
 the watchword "use !" No plan or project has any claim on success except through the 
 conviction and consent of the masses. What was the luxury-, the convenience, the amuse- 
 ment, the occupation of the nobility is now in the home and the workshop and the common 
 talk of men. The roads, the aqueducts, the temples, the statues, the masonr>' and the 
 music, the painting and the palaces, go on as best they may, striving to rival, not hoping 
 to surpass, the old ; but the builders are not slaves. They are men. They are free. They 
 have will, opinion, choice, responsibility, ambition, gratification. In this chiefly consists 
 the superiority of the present, and it is the noblest of all superiority ; for man is greater 
 than anything man can do. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF DEMOCRACY. , 
 
 Yet this was but a necessary evolution. In the weak beginnings of the race all the 
 combined strength of the inferior must be concentrated on the upbuilding of the superior, 
 that the slight superiority may be preserved, increased, transmitted. By slow action and 
 reaction through countless ages, civilization has risen out of the welter of barbarism and 
 animalism — slaver)- ministering to power, power in turn ministering to humanity through 
 slavery — till to-day we stand, not indeed on the heights of heaven, but in full sight of a fair 
 land. Power has become infiltrated with morality. Authority is held to strict account. 
 The rights of weakness are recognized if not always respected. Tyranny is at any moment 
 liable to successful resistance and is nowhere so strong as not to be somewhere open to scoff 
 and sneer. The vice of absolutism pays to liberty the tribute of explanation, if not of 
 hypocrisy. ^Militan,' rule seems to be still prevalent and autocratic, is onerous and pervad- 
 ing, yet undergoes every moment, however slightly and silently, without obser%-ation and 
 without disturbance, an organic change into public opinion.
 
 Si.W INVKNTIONS CONTRASTF.n WITH THE OLD. 
 1.— Th^ flp>t p*i««<»nKrr irnlii. 2.— Thp fnM c-xpn-^v :t. Tin- otniln;; alr-<<)il|i. 4.- ftiillonn. .V- Thn-o ilrrk nroiNlpn ivnrNhtp. rt.— Tho IntMt Imn-rlKd. 
 T.— A pUMviiffer »lp«miT. ". — Kultnirpt fir»t Almiuloiii. 'i \V<>«M|fii niniioii uf (lif IMIi ii*nltir>'. lu.— .MimIitii kiim thiil Ihmw-* a 'K)t>-|Mmn<l |>nijivtll« 
 twelve mile*. 11.— Klliit-loilc rllle. ISf.— Swilonal vU-w of uiugtulia- iMIe. 13.— Tbo uiivll and Hktlgv. n,— The steam trip-baiiiimr. 
 
 f37)
 
 38 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 After the long trance of the Dark Ages, when poetry and art and learning and thought 
 were reawakened by the light touch of antiquity, and faced the sun of a new day whose meri- 
 dian we have not yet reached, there awoke also another, a giant, not from sleep but to 
 new life — "Triumphant Democracy." It was not recognized. No man knew of its 
 coming. But the world all unconscious was presently astir with preparation of the paths 
 for its victorious feet. The renaissance, the revival of painting, of art, of letters, is a 
 revival, a renaissance, a renewal of the old. But the reawakened mind was not to be 
 ^ content with following the 
 
 paths of the ancients, in 
 which it must always fol- 
 low, never lead. New paths 
 were struck out, of which 
 the ancient never dreamed, 
 in which the modem world 
 has no rival, whose miracles 
 eclipse the mysteries of 
 the past only to unfold 
 greater mysteries in the 
 future; whose end lies even 
 now beyond the utmost 
 stretch of imagination. 
 And every shining path 
 leads to the fireside of the 
 humblest home, to 
 the weal of the 
 smallest child, to 
 the health and the 
 ,.., happiness, the 
 p u r i t }• and the 
 strength of Trium- 
 phant Democracy. 
 
 It seemed a little 
 thing that men 
 should be playing 
 with blocks in a cor- 
 ner of Germany. 
 Men had been play- 
 ing with blocks and 
 making pictures for 
 centuries, the known 
 
 GUTTENBERG AND FAUST DISCOVERING THE ART OF PRINTING. 
 
 world over. But suddenly some one conceived the idea of multiplying pictures from the 
 same block, and the art of printing was caught forever. 
 
 BLESSINGS UPON THE PRINTING PRESS. 
 
 There is no reason discoverable why this should have occurred in the middle of the 
 
 fifteenth century any more than in the fourteenth or the thirteenth. Other centuries 
 
 and other countries had gone as far in the preliminary processes as had Central Europe of 
 
 the fifteenth century. The Renaissance had set all the keen intellects of Italy hunting
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ r ■t'-ff^ 
 
 -F!'^!.^ 
 
 ■.^iiel^ti/l&jiiM^. 
 
 tBOWl 
 
 '-■V 
 
 ♦^m.- . i 
 
 
 ■ -v^^^.> 
 
 NKW INVHNTIONS CONTRASTKD WITH THK OLD. 
 
 l.-OW flnir*' coach, a.— Interior of u tlrawlnit-nKiin car. a.— The (••li-|ih<iiH-. -I.-Tlif i<honotfni)<li. 'i.-Tlir tch-Kraph. ti.-TlM' flnti |iiintliiK p 
 7.— Hoi" |>rrfrcllng pr»i«. 8.— Bob-WII mule car. ».— Kleclric strwt car. Id.— Hurvmtlng orllli wylhc niiil ulcklr. II.— Ibiiililiirtl miiirr unil lilnilrr. 
 
 (39^
 
 40 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 among the dusty heaps of rubbish in the darkest corners of remote monasteries for the 
 precious manuscripts of the old writers, and thus the wealth of the best days of Greece and 
 Rome was seized and opened to the air and the light. But the distribution of these manu- 
 scripts had no part in the purpose of the mechanics who invented what we mean by the art 
 of printing. It was Italy that was devoting herself to the collection of these rags of lost 
 literature, ever}- rag of which was cloth of gold, and Italy had been doing it for a hundred 
 years before Guttenberg in Maintz, or Coster in Haarlem, or some other obscure workman 
 or workmen in the cold north, made that turn of the hand which proved to be the most 
 important turn — change, invention, discovery — ever recorded in history. It was no frag- 
 ment even of the grandest of the old Pagans, of whom perhaps the Costers and Guttenbergs 
 had never heard, which the printing press proffered as the first fruits of its mission. It 
 was the Bible ! 
 
 Whether by a "fortuitous concourse of atoms," or by "that disposition of unknown 
 causes which we call accident," or by that intelligent non-human arrangement of human 
 affairs that seems to imply an unseen intelligent power which most men delight to call God 
 — the invention of paper preceded the invention of printing. Men had been playing with pulp 
 as they had been playing with blocks, for many centuries ; but it was only in the second 
 half of the fourteenth century that manufactories of paper were set up and the use of paper 
 for all literary purposes was established in Western Europe, and it was not till the fifteenth 
 century that paper finally superseded vellum and left the latter but a curiosity and a luxnr}-. 
 Thus, in the marvellously ordered march of humanity, by the time that man had discovered 
 the way to print with rapidity he found already provided for the printing press a cheap and 
 abundant material on which to print. And when the cheap paper had supplanted the costly 
 parchment, and the quick printing press had supplanted the slow and costly copying by 
 human hands of ever^' page of manuscript that made literature and letters, lo ! the brightest 
 intellects among tlie scholars of their time had already collected and furnished to this new 
 art a store of the best manuscripts from the best writers of the preceding ages, and thus were 
 preserved from all further danger of loss the choicest gems of the past for the adornments 
 and service of the future. The priceless treasures of culture, the fruitage of a vanished 
 world, had been stored safe in mouldy monasteries until they were given over to the more 
 lasting safety of the printing press for a world that was not born. 
 
 We have not made finer pictures, we have not even printed with more elegant type, or 
 constructed more beautiful books than the men of that da\' ; but we have brought the 
 multiplication table to bear on the printing press, and every morning the laborer may 
 carry to his work with his dinner pail a newspaper bringing him the last words from the 
 ends of the earth; a work of art — a work of arts, which it would have been impossible for 
 the fourteenth century to perform, and which it would have taken the lifetime of a man to 
 record; a work of art which enables the daily toiler to be a more competent judge of the 
 trend of the day's events than any king of antiquit}' could become by all the swift messen- 
 gers that his wealth or power could command. It is the invention of printing that has 
 brought the king, man, to his own. 
 
 DEMOCRACy OF THE DE MEDICI. 
 
 It would be impossible to give the most cursory survey of civilization in Europe during 
 the century that witnessed the discover}- of America without descrying the figures of the 
 House of Medici, a house which occupies in histor\' the unique position of being Royal 
 without title; popular, in a day of well-nigh absolute monarchies; autocratic on no authority
 
 COLUMBUS AXn COLUMBIA. 
 
 41 
 
 but the good will of the people; democratic, yet goveming with no divided sway. Cosiino and 
 his more eminent son, Lorenzo the ^lagnificent, were Potentates in every sense of the word, 
 vet thev held no fixed offices and only " the likeness of a kingly crown had on." Unauointed 
 by that oil of consecration which certifies the Divine Right of Kings, they bore only the 
 seal of eminent ability which constitutes Divine Right to the People. 
 
 One cannot be a day in Florence without being aware of the royal presence of these 
 men of the people. Yet on the \ery threshold of modern biography their origin is so 
 obscure that even the name is uncertain and unexplained. Among the ancient Guelphs, 
 the Ghibellines, the Hapsburgs, the Savoys — and numberless names that have strayed 
 down from a hazy past, the Medici name stands luiderived. The popular tradition is that 
 sundry early Pieros, Giovannis and Lorenzos, having acquired wealth and distinction as 
 druggists, or doctors, applied to tlic rricrniir^- Pnpc t' ,r n rnat-r.f-arnis, and that lie in derision 
 re com m ended 
 them to take their 
 own pills for 
 heraldry! The 
 decision which he 
 made in mocker}' 
 they accepted in 
 seriousness, as be- 
 fitting the dignity 
 of their occupa- 
 tion and their 
 family, and hav- 
 ing, it must be 
 admitted, the un- 
 deniable right of ' "^ 
 success, to do so. 
 
 And now wherever in Florence is a de 
 Medici, living or dead, stone palace in 
 the city, or villa in the suburb or 
 farm-house in the country, or chapel 
 in the church, or monumental stone 
 or triumphal gateway, there, car\'en 
 in the grey granite or on the white marble, or brilliant in red and gold, is sure to be found 
 the de Medici pile of pills — whose flavor Americans ought especially to recognize, since the 
 glor>- of the de Medici is purely a popular glor>-. Whether by pills and potions, or 
 bv trade and commerce, the distinction of the family so long as it remained distinct 
 was a distinction of peace rather than of war, of character and not of blood. They 
 could fight and the>- could plot, but their preeminence was their intellectual leader- 
 ship. Thev were the true Grand Dukes, advisers of the people, princes, not of the blood, 
 but of trade and connnerce, of arts and letter."- and manners. .Vma.ssing vast fortunes in 
 peaceful paths, in trading, farming, mining, banking, it was all b\' way of ministering to 
 the comfort and convenience of men and not to their miscr\-, by adding to the wealth of 
 Italy, not to its destruction. 
 
 Fair farms still lying along the fertile valleys and climbing the sunny hills roundabout 
 Florence attest Ivorenzo's love of nature, his taste in scenery, his skill in agriculture, hi.> 
 
 DK MEDICI.
 
 42 COLU^IBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 shrewdness in business. At Poggio Cajano, driving out from Florence, he rested in his 
 simple little rustic villa, or walked in his fine old park watching the Tuscan Mountain 
 peaks piercing the brilliant Italian skies. But, as the Scotch say, " he was all there" — 
 his eye to business as well as his eye for beauty. Availing himself of his neighborhood to 
 market, he fed so high his lowing kine and worked so vigorously his cheese tubs and presses 
 that he presently monopolized the cheese trade of Tuscany, and drove the cheese trade of 
 Lombardy from the market. Like a large-minded, economical Yankee fanner he appended 
 his pig troughs to his cheese factories and kept herds of hogs to fatten on his whey. 
 The four centuries have not taught men how to turn waste into pork more deftly, or 
 even how to improve the race of swine, or the quality of the cheese. The mulberry- 
 trees which, taught by his multifarious traffic with other countries, and ever eager to 
 make experiments, he planted lavishly, were so successful that the silk trade is said to 
 have been threatened with panic and the price of silk was permanently lowered therebv. 
 
 PATRIOTISM AND GENEROSITY OF LORENZO. 
 
 The wealth which Lorenzo amassed in increasing the wealth of his countrj', he was 
 lavish in expending to her advantage as well as his own. Not only a lover of letters, but a 
 writer of no mean capacity, he was always first in recognizing and cherishing the genius of 
 his own day and in stimulating the discover}' and recover)' of works of genius in the past. 
 Wherever a scholar-traveler stood ready to run to the ends of the earth for a treatise of 
 Quintilian, a line of Plautus or a paragraph of Cicero; whenever a teeming brain was fain to 
 write its " poems for eternity" in nave and choir and tower and turret; wherever a youthful 
 Angelo was to be cherished into a sculptor, or a fier\' Savonarola conciliated into a friend, 
 there Lorenzo was found with open door and open purse and open heart. Like his father, 
 he devoted vast fortunes to the adornment of his native cit\' with palaces whose stately 
 majest)' still testifies to the nineteenth centxir}' of the terrors which confronted, as well as 
 of the generosity which ennobled, de Medici citizenship. For three centuries the history of 
 the city was interwoven with the stor\' of their house, and their name has been glorious 
 in Florence for four hundred 3'ears. 
 
 But the de ]\Iedici did not found a republic; the later de ^ledici could not even main- 
 tain the magnificence of their illustrious predecessors, but passed, by marriage alliances, 
 into the mob of ordinary kings, or degenerated into the oblivion of titular Grand Dukes of 
 Tuscany, courageous or cruel or common-place, whose sole magnificence is in their tombs ; 
 while the Tuscany which they had found prosperous and vigorous, they left weak from the 
 constant drain of taxation, dispirited from the oppression of vicious laws, a demoralized and 
 decadent country'. 
 
 FORESHADOWINGS OF A NEW AND HIGHER FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The de Medicis did not found a republic, had no conception of a real republic. The 
 Italian municipalities were the successful but slight attempts of the people to govern them- 
 selves. They were the foreshadowings, but not the models of the colossal republic that 
 came after them. They prepared the way for republics, but no great nation could be 
 organized to permanent prosperity or even to vigorous life on such republican principles as 
 gave to the free cities of Italy a long and brilliant career. The de Medicis emerged from 
 obscurity at too late a date to establish a dynasty and create a kingdom under the world-old 
 laws of kingdoms and dynasties; but at too early a date to organize a republic under the 
 new world laws of republics. Their republic though not a kingdom, was republic only in 
 name — was nearer a tyranny than a republic. Cosmo, the father, .solved "the strange
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 4:j 
 
 problem of becoming absolute ruler of a republic that was keenly jealous of its liberty, 
 without holding any fixed office, without suppressing any previous form of government, 
 and always preserving the appearance and demeanor of a private citizen." But that was 
 not the problem whose solution the world was seeking. The son Lorenzo, cherishing 
 already the modern idea of the ci\-il equality of States, and taking as the basis of his foreign 
 policy that idea of unity which in our day under the patriot kings of the dynastv of Savoy 
 has changed Ital\- from a "geographical expression" to a European power — left no founda- 
 tion for the future, because he had no idea of constitutional government by representative 
 assemblies, of the regular and orderly progress of the popular purpose through legislative 
 debate and resolve to authoritative and respected execution. 
 
 Standing exactly on the line of cleavage between the old and the new, Lorenzo fur- 
 nishes us with a clear and definite picture of the struggle between them : of the circle 
 within which the victones of the old time have not yet been surpas.sed, and of the limita- 
 tions which must ever have hampered the new world-drama upon the old stage. Bv reason 
 of his intellectual enlightenment, he gave his name to his age as truly as did Augustus of 
 Rome, or Elizabeth of England ; but it was a name and an age of literature, of art, of per- 
 sonal sovereignty, not of a fundamental transfer of human power from one man to man. 
 
 What can be effected by one man through sheer mental superiority and its attendant 
 advantages of wealth, tact, and influence, that was accomplished by Lorenzo in his brief 
 but brilliant hour. It was a brief and brilliant failure because he had not conceived and 
 could not formulate those principles which underlie all successful social self-government on 
 a large scale. With his death, the curtain fell upon Europe as the arena of humanitv's 
 highest effort at organization, and the scene shifted to another world arising out of the 
 western waters. 
 
 "The old order cliangeth giving place to new." 
 
 THE TWO GREATEST SONS OF ITALY. 
 
 The same " time-spirit " which set one Italian at the head of Europe in point of art and 
 learning, set another Italian at the head of the world in bold speculation regarding the 
 unknown. The same Italv and the same vear of our Lord that bore Lorenzo to the eates 
 of farewell, flung wide open the gates of welcome in another hemisphere to a man who, all 
 unwittingly, planted with his flag-staff the seeds of the greatest republic this planet has \et 
 known. What the restrictions of time and place had never pennitted even to the dreams 
 of the one lofty mind, that, the equally lofty but utterly different aspirations of the other 
 made possible — a colossal republic whose foundation-stone is Libertv constitutionallv 
 organized by the popular will adequately educated and legally expressed. 
 
 On April 8, 1492, at the early age of forty-three, Lorenzo left his so-called republic to 
 crumble into swift ruin and pas.sed into the unknown world. On the third of August, of 
 the same year, Christopher Columbus set sail for a world which to him was far more 
 problematical, more consciously unknown than, in that day of ecclesiastical faith, was the 
 spiritual world to his great contemporary-. 
 
 Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, discovered America in 1492. Thus we were 
 taught in the trustful days of childhood, and though modern research, whose scientific motto 
 seems to be "Whenever you find a fact challenge it," has had its tilt at everv item in the 
 lesson, it remains after the fray as before it, practically true that Christopher Columbus was 
 born in Genoa and discovered America in 1492. It may indeed prove that the shabb\- 
 little house, well inscribed in Cogoleto, monumentally honored, fifteen miles out from Genoa,
 
 44 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 and not Genoa itself, is the true birth-place of Columbus. It may be that Columbus was 
 not the family name, but the nomme de guerre conferred by his comrades, or adopted by 
 himself, or b}' some earlier member of his family. It may be that a thousand mariners, 
 hundreds of years before Columbus discovered America, had been assiduously landing on it, 
 had built their towers and left their traces and sailed away again. It ma)- be that Columbus 
 did not of his own will and wit discover America, but, ^„ ^ 
 
 heading wildly and desperately westward for the East '^l §t^^% ^^ ^>j^ 
 
 Indies found America in his way, and being obliged either ^' 
 
 to ground on it, or go under it, discovered it per force. Sf^ ''" 
 
 ,5^ It may be 
 argued that 
 Columbus was 
 not moved b>- 
 any thirst for 
 disco\'ery, o r 
 for adventure, 
 or desire for 
 
 the solution of a problem, or for. the answer to a question, or for the acquisition of any 
 knowledge whatever, but was chiefly bent on acquiring a factitious fame b>- appro- 
 priating the maps that he found in the archives of the office to which he was appointed, 
 
 NORSEMEN CELEBRATING THEIR DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 4.3 
 
 and followed out their suggestions and designs to his own glory. It may be or it 
 may not be that posterity will relinquish the heroism of Columbus and count him a 
 vain and captious, if persevering and pertinacious, man. But that time is not yet. 
 We do not go into the arcana of history to decide or even to discuss disputed ques- 
 tions. They are investigated elsewhere and their ultimate answer must perhaps await 
 still further revelations from some yet undiscovered or undeveloped recess. But for per- 
 manent settlement, for history's possession never again to be lost except in the wreck of 
 worlds, America was discovered in 1492; and the figure at the prow pointing westward, the 
 figure on the first shore with knee bent on the longed-for soil and eyes upturned in 
 gratitude to heaven, is the figure of Christopher Columbus. 
 
 A TRIBUTE TO COLUMBUS. 
 
 Amerigo \'espucci is the name on the forehead of the New World. Numberless Norse- 
 men rest in nameless graves; but on this the four hundredth birthday of the historic conti- 
 nent, the name which is in all hearts and on all tongues as the discoverer, is his whose face 
 looks calmly down from the walls of the Council Chamber in the Palazzo IMunicipale at 
 Genoa, and whose marble figure fitly embowered in the palms of the Piazza Acquaverde 
 receives forever the kneeling tribute of this New World — Cristoforo Colombo. 
 
 That the name of Columbus should be immortal while adventurous sailors from 
 Europe visited these shores for four centuries before he was born, and yet remain without 
 fame and without tribute, is not the caprice of fate, but the inherent logic of events. The\- 
 had been on the New England coast and left undoubted evidence of their presence, but no 
 result for humanitv. Their discoverv was a mere chance adventure. It came to nothinir 
 because the time was not ripe. The Old World did not yet need the New; was in no wav 
 prepared for it. America would have been useless to Europe for she could not then colo- 
 nize this new great wilderness. Europe was still in the Dark Ages; many parts had not 
 emerged from barbarism. She was not sufficiently advanced in letters, or in arts, or in 
 mechanics to take proper advantage of the discovery, and therefore the discoverv came to 
 naught; was practically no discover^-. The facts of landing and gazing and seeking are pre- 
 ser\-ed only in rambling records; for records among the Norsemen in the eleventh centur)- 
 were but cnide songs and wild narratives. 
 
 Columbus was no chance comer. The time was full. He was not premature; he was 
 not late. He came in accordance with a scientifically formed if imperfect theorv, whether 
 his own or another's — a theory which had a logical foundation and which projected looical 
 sequences. 
 
 Europe was not only fully prepared, but culture had been pushed to the point of enthu- 
 siasm, until it nia\- be said that Europe was awaiting the event. Indeed it would not be 
 far wrong to maintain that the next step in order was the expansion of the people, fore- 
 shadowing a new experiment in colonizing and settling new lands. Had the discover\- 
 been earlier it would have been fruitless. Had it been later the generous patrons might 
 have passed away. It could not have been later because mind reawakened, refreshed, alert, 
 was striking out in all directions. Had not Columbus discovered America in 1492, a hun- 
 dred Columbuses would have discovered it in 1493! 
 
 Columbus played but small part in the drama after he had enacted the first and greatest. 
 His first daring voyage involved all there was in the discovery for the world; all the glorv 
 that lay in it for him. His subsequent voyages were labor and heaviness, regret and pain. 
 Like too many men who are foremost in a signal field, he met detraction and calumnv,
 
 46 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 persecution and penalties; and the life, distinguished by the great event of modern times, 
 
 closed in sadness, if not in ignominy. 
 
 Swarms of discoverers followed him, striking shore from Labrador to Brazil. The 
 
 <}uest of gold, the thirst for riches, the love of adventure, stimulated all maritime Europe, 
 
 and a thrill of romance, a stir of travel, a tumult of ambition was aroused, the like of which 
 
 had not been seen for three centuries; not since the crusades had poured Europe into the 
 
 Holy Land. Western Europe was literally alive with this quest of a golden grail. Wild 
 
 Tcntures were the order of the day, and if the great majority ended in privation and pain 
 
 and death, still the number pressing on from the rear filled all the gaps and swelled the 
 
 ranks. 
 
 PARTITION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 Yet for North America in the first century nothing was done except in voyaging, in 
 discovering, in making certain. There were so many places to settle that a choice could 
 scarcely be made. In South America, gold being found, especially on the Pacific coast, 
 there was large emigration. But in the North, where the higher civilization was to be 
 planted, the seventeenth century had opened before any foot-hold was obtained for emigrants. 
 
 The first large tangible political eflfect proved to be the transfer of power by the mari- 
 time nations of Europe to this country, and colonization on a grand scale went forward. 
 Ambition was excited; greed of gold was stimulated; the lust for dominion grew, and the 
 partition of the New World was the result. England, France, Spain and Portugal mainly 
 ■divided it in their eager conquests. Italy, which gave the discoverer, made no claim, 
 planted no colonies. Spain, the strongest, most powerful and most ambitions, foster-mother 
 of the New World by the aid and sustenance she had given Columbus which made the 
 discover}- possible, took, as was proper and natural, the leading share territorially. After 
 some conflicts France took the second. It had not yet been developed that France was not 
 adapted to carrv on successful colonization, and she strove hard to plant her standard and 
 achieve her title to a dominion which, if retained, would have made her the most powerful 
 nation in Western Europe. England came in third in territorial expanse, and was almost 
 exceeded by little Portugal, whose brave spirit of adventure at that time far out-reached 
 its territorial limits in Europe, stretched forth to Asia and Africa and thought little of 
 holding, though by uncertain tenure, the vast area of Brazil. Between the capes of Virginia 
 and the rocky coasts of New England the centre of English adventure and civilization was 
 set. Virginia liad its first settlement in 1607; New England had its first settlement in 1620, 
 and the English race in its rival divisions was transferred to the New World. New Eng- 
 land and all its generations exhibited one type; Virginia and all its generations exhibited 
 another type. And they still remain. English by descent, both of them, they yet differ 
 as much as did the Puritan and the Cavalier in the reign of the First Charles. What vast 
 effects flowed from this difference, subsequent history tells ns -differences in settlement, dis- 
 tinct types of inhabitants, different fields of ambition and of effort. Time did not bring 
 them together. It rather drew them wider apart, and the recent rebellion of the Southern 
 States can be distinctly traced to the settlement of \^irginia by Cavaliers and of New Eng- 
 land by Roundheads. England held her colonies until they secured their independence — 
 never shifted, never surrendered, never abandoned them, and she laid broad and deep the 
 foundation of the power which distinguishes the United States above all other nations: 
 the spirit of broadened liberty in institutions, of intelligent freedom in the individual. 
 
 For nearly two and a-half centuries, with various vicissitudes not necessary to recount, 
 these four maritime countries held to their divisions of America, planted colonies, intro-
 
 48 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 duced their own peculiar civilization, transferred their own culture and their own languages. 
 Over them all, the sovereignty of Europe was extended. 
 
 As the colonies grew, differences developed in the governing powers, and at the end of a 
 centur}- and a-half, wars of ambition among the home governments had induced a change 
 of rulers. In time, France, that held from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the middle of the 
 continent and thence down to the mouth of the ^Mississippi, was compelled to retire fiom 
 .\merica and abandon the most magnificent empire of modem times. The three other 
 Powers went forward, and in the last half of the eighteenth centurj' England had increased 
 her possessions ; Spain held her own, and Portugal was still owner of the Brazils. 
 
 EVOLUTION OF THE GREAT REPUBLIC. 
 
 Three hundred years had been spent in trying to fasten upon the New World the insti- 
 tutions of the Old — so slowly grind the mills of the gods. It was not till the last quarter 
 of the eighteenth century that England, who never surrenders, surrendered to her 
 own, thus losing the mortification of failure in the proud reflection that she alone could 
 produce the race that could conquer her ! It was not till the last quarter of the eighteenth 
 centur\-, three hundred years from the time that Columbus set foot upon the islands of the 
 Western Continent, that the spirit which had ineffectually struggled in the fifteenth centur\-, 
 broke its bonds in the Wilderness which had become a civilization, and formulated itself in 
 an organization whose corner-stone was the equal right of ever\' man to life, liberty and the 
 pursuit of happiness. This was the port for which Columbus sailed, though he did not 
 know it. Not the gold of nations or the glory of kings — pride of possession or pride of 
 power, made the discovery of America worth while; but the tremendous impulse and oppor- 
 tunity it gave to mental activity, its wonderful loosening of the old shackles, and the impos- 
 sibility of riveting them again on the new soil, and the field thereby furnished for building 
 the eternal instinct of human freedom into a beneficent and self-perpetuating system. 
 
 To the men who went through our war of independence it was a long and severe strug- 
 gle. In history, in the records of the ages of revolution from barbarism to monarchies, and 
 from monarchies to self-sovereignty, the change came in a moment. But it should never 
 be forgotten that to this glorious day of blossoming all the preceding days of humanity's long 
 season had lent their sunshine and their rains, the ripening of their warmth and the resting of 
 their frosts. It should never be forgotten that humanity, which in its development — abso- 
 lutely free yet absolutely within certain rigid lines which it calls laws — had been forever 
 building up, forever hedging around, forever pulling down the mountain peaks and ranges 
 which it calls kings and dynasties, had by such processes reached a stage in which its con- 
 scious constituent atoms believed themselves able to range into order and conser\'e energ\- and 
 direct progress without the medium of kings and dynasties. But the dynasties had settled down 
 too heavih', too wideh-, to be easily removed. Europe was clamped with the rivets of ages. 
 Her institutions were fixed, rigid, needing all available strength for their dislodgment and 
 upheaval, leaving no strength to spare for training and fastening new institutions in their 
 place. Thus, by no man's hand, the hour was pointed for leaving European liberty to its 
 own working, European ser\'itude to the slow corrosion of the air that should presently be 
 quickened by ozone wafted from a new atmosphere, enveloping a new State founded under 
 wholly changed conditions. 
 
 Then it was that the New World opened wide its golden gates — a virgin hemisphere — 
 and invited the experiment of self-government on a scale commensurate with its importance. 
 The new Spirit brooded over the waiting land and presently to the continent for whose dis-
 
 • <** , 
 
 •. ■"Vil '- 
 
 :>)..,''^'''(i) WeLsferi Birfljplact. ■ *^«\ 
 y SMotjficello, theljo'it cf rP cy^ 
 
 
 ^^^^. ^^i l,^% 
 
 If, (3) Mourjf Vernon, Wastiiaqroti'.^ 3 
 ' ' lasf reiider.ce- 
 
 © Wasfji Huron's Birfliplace 
 © Lir;colr;s Birfljniace 
 © Lincoln's lasf residence- 
 ® Garfield's Birfliplace. 
 |J © Tl;e "Hermirac^e'; residence of 
 
 Jackjcq- 5> 
 
 :Mi'\ 
 
 HOMES AND BIRTHI'I..^. 
 
 L,Kh.VX AMliKlCANS.
 
 50 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 covery Italy had lent the patient explorer and Spain the vital snccor, England brought her 
 contingent of a sturdy race, and the Great Republic was born. Not unto us alone the glory 
 but to all those before us who lived and labored and failed; to the millions who showed 
 what was not the way, and by a thousand paths of exclusion led us to the promised land. 
 
 RISE OF THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 
 The Great Republic — the iiifint Repulilic — lifted its head weakly, but proudly, among 
 
 the nations of the earth — so 
 little, so weak, that its safety 
 la\ m its remoteness. For its 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AT THE COURT OF LOUIS XVI. 
 
 remoteness had Columbus discovered America ! 
 
 Cradled in the Wilderness, too far off to excite 
 
 fear in the monarchies, too poor to tempt cupidity, too weak to elicit antagonism, it waxed 
 
 strong, almost unobserved. But from the first it had a moral force clear to seeing eyes. 
 
 When Franklin went to the Court of France, the Court petted him as a toy philosopher; 
 
 but there was another vision in France to which the real future was unfolded. This new
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUiMBIA. 51 
 
 nation in the West was a beacon light to every aspiring spirit in Europe. France responded 
 with a quick thrill of freedom. She had so long been cni'ihed under her Bourbons that the 
 reaction seemed portentous. Her revolntion came, like ours, with blood, bnt, nnlike onrs, 
 was drowned in blood. The trampled slaves of despotism, stimulated by the success of 
 America, turned upon their tyrants and became frenzied with the fierce joy of finding that 
 they could turn — that they too could trample. The awful stress developed all the dignity 
 that is in kings, all the horrors that belong to a mob; and France, weary of blood and weak 
 from its loss, threw herself into the arms of Napoleon. 
 
 Like the Bourbons he was a Ruler, but unlike the Bourbons he was a strong Ruler ; 
 milike the Mob's, his was an organized Rule. His childhood was passed under the light of 
 the American Revolution. His serious young eyes watched that successful resistance to the 
 established order. He had learned the weakness of dynastic sovereignty, the strength of 
 popular sovereignty. In a certain sense it was not only the island of Corsica but the New 
 Republic in America that contributed Napoleon to Europe. 
 
 It is difficult for us to imagine tlie amr-zement, consternation, wrath and repugnance 
 produced in the niling class by the apparition of this unheralded, unclassifiable, overpower- 
 nig phenomenon, rising from the ranks of the people, approaching without permission the 
 ranks of the kings. The Western Republic had dethroned her king, but he was three 
 thousand miles away from her and she was three thousand miles away from Europe. 
 Napoleon was at the royal elbow mounting thrones, ordering kings to the ranks and the 
 rear in the ver>' presence of their astonished and delighted subjects. 
 
 RESULTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 The French Revolution had shown ICurope what dormant strength was in the people ; 
 but it was a strength violent in action, spasmodic, unorganized, made drunken with blood, 
 wild with revenge, cruel, brutal, revolting. The Bonaparte was of the people also, but he 
 had seen across the sea the power of organization, and no sovereign was a sterner represent- 
 ative of social order, of military marshalling, of law and equity, of church establishment 
 and even of regal splendor than this Democrat overturning the monarchies. Even in the 
 king business he outdid the king.s — fought harder for his sovereignty in war, wrought 
 better for his people in peace. He heeded the voice he had heard ringing across the waters, 
 *' Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and he sought 
 to win that consent by ministering to their comfort and their elevation and b\- making 
 them partakers in his glor\- when he thrust his horn against their tyrants. It was in their 
 cause that he attacked their enemies. 
 
 Napoleon's long captivity, which was the only answer Royalty could make to the 
 logic of his mind and his sword, led him for occupation and amusement to reminiscences 
 which cast manv a curious side light upon points which would have been lost in the full 
 glare of continuous prosperity. "If my son lives he will be something. As to those con- 
 temptible little States I would rather see him a private gentleman with enough to eat than 
 sovereign of any of them." What was the Duchy of Parma to a man who had jostled 
 kings aside with a cheerful promptness, and felt the great mistake of his life to be that he 
 had not jostled them more? " It only rested with me to ha\c dcpo.sed both the King of 
 Prussia and the Emperor of Austria. The Duke of Wiirtzburg frequently insinuated to 
 me that the only means to secure the good faith of Austria would be to depo.se his brother 
 
 Francis and place the crown upon his head I was wrong in not having 
 
 accepted the offer. Nothing would have been easier to execute." 
 
 " Perhaps my greatest fault was not having deprived the King of Prussia of his throne,
 
 52 COLUMBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 
 
 which I might easily have done. I could have dethroned the King of Prussia or the 
 Emperor of Austria upon the slightest pretext as easily as I do this " — stretching out one of 
 his legs. 
 
 For the minor kings he had but an easy tolerance as "good plain men;" but for the 
 Bourbons he could hardly conceal his contempt. He had met them on their own ground. 
 He refused to waste any money towards getting them into his hands. "I despised the 
 Bourbons too much, and had no fear of them." "What signifies now? Under the 
 Bourbons France will never be a first-rate power. There is no occasion to be afraid of 
 her. She will always be an inferior power under that house of blockheads." 
 
 WEAKNESS OF NAPOLEON IN NOT TRUSTING THE PEOPLE. 
 
 "Louis wTote me a long letter after Marengo, in which he said I delayed for a long 
 time to restore him to his throne ; tliat the happiness of France could never be complete 
 without him .... and concluded by desiring me to choose whatever I thought proper, 
 which would be granted iinder him, provided I restored to him his throne. I sent him 
 back a very handsome answer that I was extremely sorry for the misfortunes of himself 
 and his family ; that I was ready to do event-thing in my power to relieve them, and would 
 interest myself about providing a suitable income for them, but that he might abandon the 
 thought of ever returning to France as a sovereign, as that could not be effected without 
 his having passed over the bodies of five hundred thousand Frenchmen !" 
 
 Europe thought she knew what France wanted better than France herself knew, and 
 set Louis hard down on the French throne. And France, as soon as she could get breath, 
 drove him off and kept up the hunt till the last Bourbon — and perhaps the most honest of 
 all, though a bigot — yielded up his breath, a private and no king. 
 
 It was not till Napoleon broke with his past that the future broke with him. Touch- 
 ing the earth he was strong. Standing on the thrones he became weak. But his stride to 
 the thrones was a haughty stride. When in an evil moment, under the allurements of "a 
 dynastic" ambition, he decided to dismiss his wife of the people and assume a wife of the 
 princes, it was to no "little duty tyrant of Italy" he applied, but to the haughtiest and 
 highest of the royal houses. ]\Iurat was wiser than the Emperor, and protested that his 
 true alliance was with the people, not with the crowns, that his true power was in himself, 
 not in borrowed strength. But Napoleon could not withstand the temptation to order 
 himself a bride from the powers that hated and scorned him. He forsook the reality of 
 superiority for a taunt — nay, he went further and taunted the kings with their mesalliances! 
 When the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of George III, married the Prince of Hesse Hom- 
 berg. Napoleon scornfully declared that "The English royal family mix themselves in 
 with little petty princes to whom I would not have given a brevet of sous-lieutenant I" 
 
 The English royal family, with a brutality which stains the histor}' of the English 
 nation, could chain their captive to a scorched rock in a torrid sea, but his scorching 
 sarcasm no waters could quench. And the royal family of England has gone on "mixing 
 in" and in with Battenbergs and Campbells, with railroad directors and New York business 
 men — touching so low down the standard of ro\-al rank that it may one day rise to newness 
 of life by reason of its standard of plebeian strength. 
 
 NAPOLEON'S RETROSPECT OF HIS DEEDS. 
 
 When Napoleon's short but strenuous work was done; when he had shaken the mon- 
 archial idea in Europe from centre to circumference, and forever shattered the peculiar 
 sacredness, the direct divine rightness which sanctified a throne, and sat in his soli-
 
 NAPOI.KON ANIl MARIK I.OUISE AT FONTAINKBLKAf.
 
 54 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 tude reflecting on his successes and his failures, his thought showed him, with all his 
 weakness a son of his time. He had destroyed with his irresistible sword, but he saw 
 clearly that his true glorv lav not in his destruction, but in his construction. He claimed 
 from the future his harvest of glory froni the seed he had sown of our planting ; from the 
 consent and progress and organization, the service and the rights of the masses ; not from 
 the sweep of his battles, but the scope of his benefits. "At least," he cried, when 
 Europe had combined and crashed him, "they cannot take from me the great public 
 works which I have executed, the roads which I have made over the Alps, and the seas 
 which I have united. They cannot place their feet to improve where mine have not been 
 before them. The)' cannot take from me the code of laws which I formed, and which will 
 go down to the latest posterity. All my exertions were directed to illuminate the mass of 
 the nation, instead of brutifying them by ignorance and superstition. 
 
 " If my government had remained in Spain, it would have been the best thing that had 
 ever happened to Spain. Instead of a feeble imbecile and superstitious race of Bourbons I 
 would have given them a new dynasty that would have no claim on the nation except by 
 the good it would have done it. For an hereditary race of asses, they would have had a 
 monarch with ability to revive the nation, sunk under the yoke of superstition and 
 ignorance." 
 
 Looking at the march of his time this great Democrat declared : "In fift)- years Europe 
 will be either Cossack or Republican." The fifty years have gone by and Europe is neither 
 Cossack nor Republican. Nor is the prophecy utterly false. The path of humanity on 
 this planet is as slow and as swift as the path of the planet in the heavens. 
 
 Our republic worked its way along towards the close of its first centennial birthday 
 with the seeds of dissension, division, dissolution in its bosom. When liberty was fashioned 
 into its corner-stone, slavery lay alongside, incompatible but not disallowed. The incom- 
 patibility increased till the whole fair structure was threatened. Undoubtedly the negro 
 race was civilized by American slavery as it could have been in no other way, but the white 
 race was demoralized. The white race, not the negro race, rose in rebellion against slavery 
 and abolished it. Thus the last stone of stumbling and rock of offence was thrown out of 
 our path and there remained nothing but the healing of wounds, a renewal of strength, 
 a growing tmity of feeling, and we discover to-day a vigor, a prosperity, a progress, an 
 attainment which has never before been seen ; a hope and an aspiration which embraces 
 all the ages and all the races in its scope. 
 
 THE NATIONS MARCHING TOWARDS A DEMOCRACY. 
 
 Under this unflickeriug light Europe is slowly advancing her own way in the experi- 
 ment of self-government. France, the France of the Bourbons, of the bloody Revolution, 
 of the autocratic Napoleon, has taken upon itself the disposition of its dynasties and is the 
 republic of Carnot, the great, friendly respected republic of two and twenty years' standing, 
 of Parliamentar\- assemblies, and popular ballot and constitutional right ; changing its gov- 
 ernment by orderly, regular, legal and peaceable elections — a great Power among the 
 nations on equal footing with the empires. 
 
 The Tuscany of Lorenzo, the Genoa of Christopher Columbus, the Rome of Sixtus IV 
 and Leo X are united — on the lines of Lorenzo's ambition but on a larger scale and on 
 loftier principles than he ever divined — into the nation of Italy, whose chosen head is 
 Umberto, perhaps the most conscientious, the most high-thinking, the most hard-working 
 of her citizens, whose one purpose is the dignity and the welfare of his countr}'. Italy holds 
 her shrines in proud and fond exhibition for the world's sacred pilgrimage of art and
 
 DI.ST1MjI-1>1II-.1i l_
 
 56 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 religion. Her Palaces of Cosimo and Lorenzo, her treasures of art and antiquity belong to 
 the world by the divine right of spiritual descent ; they are the common heritage of cul- 
 ture, tenderly, reverently cherishing the past — as vitally ours as they are the royal heir- 
 looms of Savoy. Her polity goes hand in hand with our Great Republic towards the future. 
 The country which Columbus discovered — a wider nation than the area of the combined 
 nations of Europe — gives greeting and the right-hand of hearty feilowshijD to the country 
 which produced Columbus. 
 
 The thinking men, the aspiring Castelars, of Spain and Portugal, dream of a republic, 
 
 THE LAST OF MONARCHY IN THB NEW WORLD— EXILE OF DOM PEDRO FROM BRAZIL 
 
 and have even cautiously and carefully attempted an experimental popular government, but 
 the time is not yet ; their people have not trained themselves to so great a change. But 
 the wise men of Spain are at the helm and are guiding their gentle young Queen and her 
 infant monarch along the true paths of constitutional government and national prosperity. 
 One by one, however, the colonics in America have fallen off from Spain and have peace.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 57 
 
 ably become an integral part of the nation which Isabella helped to found, till now, on our 
 four hundredth birthday, Spain bears no sway on these continents and holds no more in 
 this hemisphere than the islands where Columbus first set foot. 
 
 "The House of Braganza has ceased to reign," proclaimed Napoleon. The House of 
 Braganza, driven from Portugal bj- a man of the people, fled to South America and estab- 
 lished a new and larger Portugal upon the imperial estate of Brazil. Intelligent, learned, 
 patriotic, beneficent, Dom Pedro won for himself a place in the hearts of his people that 
 should have held him in life and death — would lia\e held him but for fear of the future, 
 of a lordship less paternal, and, therefore, otiierwise intolerable. Every ocean breeze came 
 heavy laden with Republicanism, and over every mountain and down ever)- royal water- 
 course came the tidings of peaceful compact in thrift and commerce and all industrious 
 traflSc. and mutual sympathy and benefit, by the nations of the hemisphere — and Brazil 
 could not endure her leading-strings, even held by so thoughtful and loved a hand. She 
 determined not to await a tyrant for the struggle, but gave to her kind old emperor her 
 blessing, and bade him go. The House of Braganza was not used to such sort of dismissal, 
 suspected treachery and violence beneath it, and made a sudden farewell to Brazil — a hurried 
 flight by night. The House of Braganza ceased to reign, and went back to Portugal to 
 die. Except the inconsiderable colonies of the Guiauas, the whole southern continent is 
 held by its inhabitants in their own possession and control. 
 
 ENGLISH MONARCHY A SHADOW ON DRESS PARADE. 
 
 The government of the British Islands is an absentee land-holder in America. But 
 England has gone steadily along the path of her history from the days of Runnymede, till 
 her monarchy is but a dress parade at home ; and the shadow of a dress parade stretching 
 three thousand miles westward is an exaggerated and rather grotesque phenomenon. 
 
 On this continent England's dependencies are scarcely more than dependencies in 
 name, and the tie is a sentiment. Because a man's quickest and frankest foes are the>' of 
 his own household, our resentment of English insolence, our wrath at English injustice, 
 our disgust with English stolidit>- and brutality, are more easily aroused, more widely and 
 keenly felt, more savagely expressed than in the case of any other nation ; but so also is 
 our respect for English honesty and enterprise, for Scotch shrewdness and acuteness, for 
 Irish wit and wannth, and for the courage common to all. The crimes, vices, weaknesses, 
 and antagonisms of other nations are veiled from our people by a foreign language; but 
 among our wide nation of newspaper readers and writers even,- loose arrow shot from any 
 reckless and foolish English newspaper finds prompt lodgment somewhere, and as prompt 
 a return fire; so the air is often darkened with weapons that sting but do not slay; while 
 always underneath lies the constant sense of connnon history, traditions, understanding, 
 aims, which promises well for tlie ultimate and perpetual harmony of the great nation of 
 the masses, and the mas.ses of the great nation, who are working intelligently towards 
 the same goal. Our differences are the relics of barbarism, (^ur agreements are along 
 the pathways of peace and righteousness. 
 
 The America of to-day belongs to Americans, and Americans, with a thousand fight- 
 ings and no fears, are all friends, .^inong the other nations of the world, we have no 
 natural ally, no natural foe. The armies of Europe are the enemies of Europe, but they 
 are not ours. Her standing armies are the moth that corrupts, the thief that steals the 
 substance of the people; but they do not threaten us. Our mission is peace. Our only 
 threat to Europe is the menace that to other fonns of government, supported onh- by the 
 insupportable burden of enormous standing armies, must iniiere in the spectacle of a great
 
 DISTINGUISHED CONFEDERATE GENERALS.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 republic resting on the will of its people, the pride of its people, the reason of its people, 
 with no standing army save a little police force — not enough to protect a single city if the 
 strength of that city did not dwell in the honor, the virtue, and the love of its citizens. 
 
 LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. 
 The source of our rejoicing on tlic four lunuhcdlh birthday of our countr)- is that here 
 the lowliest citizen may by energ>-, industry and thrift, self-denial and self-control, live m 
 
 7>^ 'j^x _^ jj^ ! 
 
 CASTLE GARDEN, THE C.ATEWAY OF IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA. 
 
 his own liouse, cultivate his own garden, earn and eat meat ever)- day, educate his children 
 in reading, writing, the rudiments of geography, arithmetic, grammar, histor>' and music; 
 read a newspaper, wear decent and comfortable clothes ever>- day, and fresh and comely 
 clothes during his Sunday rest; may take a holiday with wife and children when he chooses, 
 may have a share in the government of his nation, state, town, having thus a voice ia
 
 60 COLUMBUS AND COLUIMBIA. 
 
 assessing and spending as well as paying his taxes; may worship God as he pleases, where 
 he pleases, and if he pleases, answering only to God for his course and never forced to sup- 
 port a church establishment in which he does not believe. 
 
 We rejoice because we believe this material comfort and peace and consequent inde- 
 pendence to be the foundation — not the source, but the proper basis of intellectual and 
 spiritual growth. In a world where matter is the matrix of mind, where the animal 
 is the shrine of the spiritual, the animal must best serve the spiritual when it is in 
 so good a condition as to cause no undue deflection from intellectual tendencies. 
 In spite of the many and marvellous instances of mind lording it over weak and defec- 
 tive matter, it remains indisputable that matter should be the willing and capable servant^ 
 of its master, mind, and that time spent in subduing the unnecessary discomfort and over- 
 coming the unnecessary weakness and incompetence of the body is time wasted. The 
 ultimate, natural, and designed dominion of the human being is not over its own defects, 
 but over the hitherto uncontrolled forces of the world. Just in proportion then as the con- 
 dition of all the people is more comfortable than the condition of the people in the old 
 world, in that proportion the discovery of America by Columbus was successful. Our 
 belief that success in this respect is not followed or attended by failure in the spiritual or 
 intellectual forces is founded on facts that are not at issue. Beyond controversy our one 
 hundred years of self-government show not only a larger number of homes more comfort- 
 able, better furnished with the appliances of a higher civilization than the homes provided 
 for a people governed not by themselves, but by others; but they are also in the way of 
 showing an intellectuality as commanding, a morality as high and prevailing, a religion as 
 spiritual and as pervasive as can be furnished to a church by a bishop, to a State by a king. 
 
 THE EVILS OF UNRESTRICTED IMMIGRATION. 
 
 Indeed, our chief danger to-day lies in our unparalleled and over-mastering success. 
 Its stoT}' is told ever)'where. Our wealth is a proverb. The Republic is a visible and per- 
 petual object lesson in the great task, the great mission of self-government. But its pros- 
 perity is also greatly misunderstood. The wretched of other lands rush to enjoy its benefits 
 with no conception of the training, the character, the self-denial requisite to the perform- 
 ance of its duties. The rich and powerful of other lauds do not hesitate to unload upon 
 its ample shoulders their burdens of pauperism and crime •which they have created and 
 which they would gladly see us share. The idle, the seditious, the malodorous and mal- 
 content, the demagogue and the desperado mistake liberty for license and flock hither to 
 fatten on the honest earnings of better men than themselves, thinking that robbery and 
 revolt are permitted industries in this free land, that treason may be approached and even 
 committed with impunity, and that a republic is Anarchy. 
 
 Not by such practices did we reach our high estate. Not on such principles were the 
 foundations laid by our fathers. Italy did not present to civilization the American con- 
 tinent, England did not furnish to civilization the American Nation, that a government 
 might be instituted among men which should derive its just powers from the dissent of 
 the ungovernable ; not even that the miserable of the earth might find an asylum. The 
 one is wholly antagonistic, the other purely accidental to our great movement. Liberty is 
 the first law of a lasting republic, but it is Liberty under order, Liberty with equal justice. 
 The poor and the oppressed of other lands are welcome; but they are not welcome to prey 
 upon our own thrift, to violate our laws, to swell and not to share our burdens. Intelligence, 
 industry, morality, honorable ambition are welcome to our hospitalit\' and our citizenship, 
 but not ignorance, pauperism or crime. Let the dead bury their dead. America is for the 
 living.
 
 62 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 This continent was discovered for humanity's benefit on a larger scale than the relief 
 of individual distress. It is a stage large enough for the enactment of a drama which engages 
 the world's attention — the capacity of man for self-government. 
 
 America justifies her birth-right only as she — not relieves merely but — uplifts, enlarges, 
 strengthens the individual man in the widest organized community. Her peculiar glory- 
 is in the masses — their intelligence, their comfort, their domestic happiness and dignit}^, 
 their right thinking and right acting, their recognition and due discharge of respon- 
 sibility, their freedom from unworthy aijibition, their adoption of intellectual, moral and 
 spiritual aims. If in this she does not excel all other nations, America will have been 
 discovered in vain and Christopher Columbus might well have died in the little grey house 
 at Genoa-Cogeleto. Great men, prodigies of thought, poets, philosophers, inventors, 
 generals, preachers and scientists — the republic hails them all. She believes that her 
 system tends ultimately to their multiplication and enlargement ; but such natures break 
 all bonds everywhere, and come to the front by virtue of inborn and irrepressible 
 energy. No continent need be laid bare for them. They force their own field. 
 It is the weal and opportunity of the masses, helpless except in combination and organiza- 
 tion, for whom America was kept intact and virgin from shore to shore — tenanted by no 
 man and no race that left an institution to hamper the future. 
 
 THE CORNER-STONE OF RELIGION AND A KEY-STONE OF THE TEMPLE OF MORALITY. 
 
 The opportunity laid upon us is matchless; but matchless also is the responsibility. What 
 our fathers delivered to us, that should we deliver to our children, not only undiminished, 
 but increased, enriched by our experience and by the rapid and wonderful developments of 
 science. A marvellous ingenuity is smoothing the rough ways of the world. A scientific 
 theology is pointing out the footprints of the Creator to common sense. The brotherhood 
 of man, the fatherhood of God, is becoming the comer-stone of religion, as revealed in 
 Christ and as clearly traced in human history. Upon the conscience of every man and 
 every woman in this country is laid the weight of obligation to certify the success of our 
 great experiment — to certify the adequacy of the individual to self-direction. Every man 
 who falls below his highest, harms not only himself, but lowers the standard of his country. 
 Every man who values wealth more than honesty, rank more than character, amusement 
 more than improvement, ease more than refonn, to that extent falls short of the perfect 
 citizen. Everj' woman who abuses the freedom of American womanhood by abandoning 
 herself to unfaithfulness lends the powerful incitement of her personality to the slavery of 
 the past and to the failure of the republic. Every woman who leaves the duty and decorum 
 of her native land and prostitutes her American name to the scandals, the vices, the social 
 immoralities and moral impurities of foreign cities not only compasses her own shame, but 
 mars the fair fame of the republic. It is only by surpassing the world in all chivalry and 
 dignity, in all modesty and purity, in the integrity of our business, in the virtue of our 
 homes, in the rectitude of our intelligence, in the aspiration of our intellectual life under 
 the absolute control of moral righteousness, that we can meet the responsibility of our con- 
 tinental empire, beautiful for situation, unparalleled in resources, impregnable in founda- 
 tions, unconquered in history and we believe unconquerable!
 
 PARX II. 
 
 (oI(in)b(is 3Dd l^ie f^eW l/iforld. 
 
 BY J. W. BCJEL
 
 Columbus and The New World. 
 
 By J. W. BuEL. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ADVERSITIES OF COLUMBUS AND HIS ENVIRONMENTS. 
 
 
 ■>.^v\ 
 
 STORY of Columbus is at once an 
 epic and an elegy ; a narration of bold 
 conception, persistent courage, heroic at- 
 tainment, mingled with the gall of national 
 ^^ ingratitude, and the malevolence of personal 
 jealousies. The adventures of the Homeric Ulysses were not more illustrious with \alor ; 
 the afflictions of Niobe were not more tearful with despair. East and west of his life there 
 were bitterness and shadows : radiant Hope tip-toeing on the pedestal of wondrous accom- 
 plishment, and Faith bowing with grief before envious and invidious rivalr>'. No character 
 in the world's history was ever more highly honored for chivalrous achievement ; none more 
 maligned by perfidy or oppressed by the spitefulness of malice. He was a product of the 
 brave days of old, yet was he a victim to the spirit that gave birth to intolerance and perse- 
 cution ; for the heroism that sought a reclamation of the holy sepulchre ; that produced 
 Ruy Diaz Campeador (the Cid); that measured lances with Mohamuied-al-Xasir on the de- 
 cisive and bloody field of Las Navas de Tolosa, was twin brother to that purblind theopathy 
 that established and energized the Inquisition. 
 5 ^^5)
 
 66 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 If we consider the slavishly superstitious, the intolerantly bigoted, the audaciously 
 savage age in which he lived, which was characterized by the most desperate impulses, we 
 will be prepared to understand and to appreciate the disposition and proclivities of Colum- 
 bus ; to applaud his courage, and to condone his vices. For he was not without human 
 frailties, as will be shown, but these were national — mediaeval — rather than personal ; errors 
 of the times rather than passions peculiarly his own. His was an age when so-called civili- 
 zation saw no wrong in banishing Jews and confiscating their property to convert it to holy 
 purposes ; which believed that true piety and loyalty to God were best manifested by burning 
 heretics at the stake as awful examples, or by torturing the impious until they confessed the 
 vice of their unbelief; "for," as answered Torquemada, "were it not better to sanctify men 
 through afflictions of the flesh than that they be suffered to continue in their evil ways to 
 the loss of their souls and their damnation through all eternity ? ' ' 
 
 Cruel as these horrific measures were, and barbarous as these beliefs appear to us now, 
 they were not the results of human depravity or moral debasement ; so far from this being 
 true, the people were wondrously devout, and it was the intensit\' of their religions, pietis- 
 tical fervor that led them to adopt extreme methods for the conversion of all men to the true 
 faith, for they honestly believed that this would alone secure for them salvation and a beatific 
 condition after death. ' ' What, ' ' argued they, ' ' is the suffering of the body on this earth, com- 
 pared with the results that affect the endless life in that world to come? " They accordingly 
 accepted literally that divine injunction which demanded, or required, the sacrifice of eye or 
 hand should they offend, and gave it that broader significance which to them justified a sac- 
 rifice of the sinful by any means howsoever cruel. 
 
 Though we cannot excuse the slaveiy that tormented for opinion's sake, yet it is not 
 entirely just to hastily condemn the spirit of the masses, whose pious convictions gave crea- 
 tion to the Inquisition ; for no single Church bears all the odium of persecution, any more 
 than any cue people is chargeable with the crime of bigoted intolerance. There have been 
 transition periods in the life of all beliefs, and of all denominations, during which the domi- 
 nant sect has shown jealousy and injustice. When the time shall come that such a spirit is 
 dead, then may we conclude that there is no diflference of opinion, and that the lion and the 
 lamb have laid down in perpetual truce, and universal, enduring peace hath possessed the 
 world. 
 
 With this understanding of the animating ambitions of the times, I beg the reader will 
 regard the beliefs and acts of Columbus, since to present a faithful history of his life it is 
 necessary to record many facts which would otherwise put to shame the merited fame which 
 he won, and the results which left us such a glorious heritage — Columbia. 
 
 NATIVITY OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 As the greatest men in the world's history have, as a rule, risen from obscurity, Colum- 
 bus, who perhaps conferred the largest benefits upon mankind, was not an exception, but 
 rather a conspicuous exemplification of the assertion. For, so lowly was his birth that little 
 information has been preserved respecting his youth, while his nativity, like the place of his 
 final sepulture, must forever remain a question of contention. The time of his birth is 
 equally a matter of conjecture, various dates being assigned between the years 1435 and 1448, 
 though the preponderance of evidence points to the former, which we shall accordingl)' adopt. 
 Cuccaro, in Montferrat, and Savona, pretend to the honor of his birth, but the place that 
 with best reason claims his nativity is Genoa, which was probably also the birthplace of his 
 father, whose name was Dominic Columbus, the Latin orthography, or Colovibo, as it is
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. G7 
 
 written in Italian, or Colon, as it is called in the Spanish. Dominic married a lassie named 
 Susana, who was daughter to one James Fantanarossa, of the \illage of Bassago, who brought 
 him a small income, but so inadequate to his needs that immediately after marriage he 
 moved to the neighborhood of Genoa, where he set up in a small way as a wool-comber, 
 employing one workman and a single apprentice. The house in which he thus began busi- 
 ness, which was at once residence and shop, was just outside the limits of the municipality, 
 and it was here that Christopher was boni, and also his three brothers, Bartholomew, Pelli- 
 grino, and James afterwards called Don Diego. There was also a daughter, who married a pork- 
 butcher named Bavarello, of the vicinity, but her name and place of nativity are unknown. 
 
 The first several years of Dominic's married life were spent in the house in the Genoese 
 suburbs, but he aftersvards rented the building to an innkeeper, and moved into a somewhat 
 more pretentious house which was located at No. i66 jMulcento Street, where he continued 
 the business of weaver, but with indifferent success. It is maintained by many of Christo- 
 pher's biographers that he was descended from a noble family that had been scattered by 
 domestic dissensions, such as were verj' common among the Italians in the early centuries, 
 and ver\- good evidence is presented in support of this claim. While the occupation of wool- 
 comber represented a great condescension in one who had been derived from the noblesse 
 rank, we know that Christopher had a grand-uncle who held an admiral's commission in the 
 ser\-ice of Rene, duke of Anjou, which was the most illustrious of all engagements in that 
 da\-, and was open onh' to those who had some rightful claim to distinguished ancestrv-. 
 But that Columbus was a descendant of the great Lombard family, as his most enthusiastic 
 admirers declare, there is exceeding doubt, amounting to denial. 
 
 That Dominic was a kind father, and thoroughly appreciative of the importance of 
 education, is attested by the fact that when Christopher, his eldest child, had reached the 
 age of ten years, instead of putting him to ser\-ice, where he might be helpful towards in- 
 creasing his slender income, which indeed little more than sufEced for the support of his 
 now considerable family, he sent him to the University of Pavia. Since the branches which 
 distinguished that famous school were natural philosophy, astrology- and geograph\-, the 
 conclusion is irresistible that young Christopher must have had some previous instruction to 
 qualify him to enter upon such advanced studies. At this university he continued for a 
 period of three years, though there were intervals in his attendance during which he was an 
 assistant to his father in the factor}-, so that he acquired a fairly good knowledge of the trade 
 and might have afterwards followed it, as did his brothers, but for an incident that lifted his 
 feet from the dull path of obscurity and planted them in the road that led to ineffable glor>', 
 of which we, more than his own coinitr\inen, are the chief beneficiaries. 
 
 AMONG THE PIRATES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 
 
 Young Christopher did not improxx- his advantages lo their utmost, for he was more 
 diligent with conceits for wider fields of adventure than in application to his te.xt-books, a 
 condition which brought him into antagonism with his teachers, that resulted either in his 
 expulsion, or voluntary, but sudden and secret, withdrawal from the school. We may, 
 'without injustice to his memory, infer that he was guilty of conduct which led to his 
 peremptory dismissal from the university, since history tells us that he ran away and took 
 engagement on a vessel lying at the port of Genoa, as a cabin boy. To a youth full of 
 animation and a courageous spirit, the dashing waves that beat up in restless flow against 
 the nigged beaches, and poured their monody of complainings at confinement in his ear, 
 there must have come a longing to .sail away behind his little world that kissed the horizoa 
 scarce five leagiies beyond the green hills of the shore.
 
 68 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBUS. 
 
 To one of such a temperament as Christopher later revealed, there must have been an 
 incentive to adventure in the wild stories of heroism on the sea, when every day had its 
 savage incident of battle with pirates ; and when every sailor who came to Genoa sat on the 
 quays, the centre of admiring crowds, telling his hair-breadth escapes, and mo\-ing youthful 
 ambition b}' descriptions of strange lands visited between where the sun rises up out of the 
 ^Mediterranean, aud the blue mountains of the west, where he sinks down in dreamy slumber. 
 All around him there were memories of valorous examples, for the fiery ardor of the 
 Crusaders had not yet burned out. Fresh glories were being won b)- brave spirits that dared 
 the fury of predatory Moors, whose ravages spread over the sea, and whose gilded crescents 
 tipped lofty masts in bold defiance of the cross. Fortune and fame seemed to await the 
 courageous, who while fighting for religion made spoils their reward, and thus the Mediter- 
 ranean was become a sea of 
 battle, a rendezvous for the 
 desperate, the daring and 
 the adventurous. 
 
 History has not preser\-ed 
 the facts connected with his 
 first maritime ser\-ice, yet 
 our small knowledge respect- 
 ing his conduct, gathered 
 from intimations made in 
 subsequent letters to friends, 
 leads to the belief that he 
 shipped with a crew most 
 likely bound upon some 
 piratical enterprise in the Levant. This suspicion is founded 
 upon two incidents, the particulars of which are so vaguely 
 hinted at in his letters that they afford good reason for the 
 belief that he was connected with Archipelago Corsairs. 
 He admits having participated in at least one bloody en- 
 gagement, and concerning another De Lorgties, his most 
 flattering biographer, says : "In one of the combats, which has not been retraced by history, 
 he received a deep wound, the cicatrix of which, though long forgotten, reopened towards his 
 latter years, and endangered his life." On another occasion he was engaged in a naval fight 
 which resulted in the destruction of his vessel, and left him struggling in the water with 
 only a spar between him and death. With good fortune, however, he contrived to reach the 
 shore in safety, providence having reserved him for a noble purpose. This last adventure is 
 not well attested, and may be an apocryphal account by some essayist on morals not thor- 
 oughly veracious, yet the story is not an improbable one. But as Columbus refused to his 
 death to make any statement concerning his Mediterranean ser\-ice — when he had every 
 reason to do so had it been patriotic — and since the commerce of that sea in his time was so 
 joined with piracy as to leave the two professions scarcely distinguishable, honesty compels 
 the presumption, if it does not confirm the belief, that several years of his life were spent 
 with his superiors exatting tribute from merchantmen, and also in waging war against 
 Moorish freebooters who infested the Levant. 
 
 Of the distinguished relatives of Christopher there were two who might have naturally 
 led him to the adoption of such a career. One of these, who is known to history as the
 
 COLT-MBUS AM) COLl'-MBIA. 09 
 
 elder Columbus, uiost probably a graud-uucle, bore a captain's commission from I^uis XI. 
 of France, but went so far beyond the limits of recognized duly as to win for himself the 
 title of Arch Pirate. He is represented as a man of almost unexampled recklessness, and 
 as being noted no less for his cnielty than for his boldness. Another kinsman, supposed to 
 have been also a grand-uucle, was Colombo el Mozo, who.se fame as a pirate rivals that of 
 the elder. After achieving a wonderful renown by acts of incredible valor in the wars of 
 the Genoese Republic, he fitted and armed a considerable fleet of his own and sailed against 
 the \'enetians, many of whose ships he destroyed after possessing himself of their cargoes. 
 Subsequently he went against the pirates that patrolled the African coast in quest of prizes, 
 and delivered such decisi\-e blows as to practically break up the industry in that section, but 
 only to transfer it, however, to other parts of the sea. 
 
 COLUMBUS BECOMES A ROVER IN OTHER WATERS. 
 .\fter continuing for some \ears in a subordinate position, ha\ ing attained to manhood, 
 Christopher became such a competent navigator that he obtained command of a vessel and 
 as such sailed out of the Mediterranean, on cruises to lands of the north-east, especially 
 to Spain, France and England. The known facts concerning his early life are so meagre 
 that we must rest upon the very few and brief disclosures made in his " Book of Proph- 
 ecies," and the.se are scarcely more than the merest intimations of a very few of his 
 acts, so that we cannot present his career either chronologically or with any attempt at 
 
 completeness. 
 
 About the >ear 1470, Christopher took up his abode in Lisbon, whither his brother 
 Bartholomew had gone a year before, having quitted his trade of wool-carding to become a 
 cosmographer. The inference is gained from this known circumstance, that Christopher 
 and Bartholomew had joined interests and were pursuing the same studies and with prob- 
 ably identical ambitions ; for Christopher, besides being a navigator, began drawing charts 
 at a fairlv early age and these were no doubt used by Bartholomew in illustration of his 
 theories respecting the constitution of the system of worlds. It was this study that un- 
 doubtedlv led to his conception of the earth's shape, and his belief that the India of Marco 
 Polo might be reached by a voyage towards the west. 
 
 MARRIAGE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Columbus, as we shall henceforth call him, was only a short while in Lisbon before he 
 saw a most bewitchingly beautiful lady while attending mass in the Church of All Saints, 
 and immediately lost his heart to the fair enchantress. He directly souglit an introduction 
 and at the first inter\-iew rejoiced to discover that his attentions met with favor, which 
 encouraged him to press a lover's suit. It was not long after his meeting with the lad>- that 
 he heard from her lips the affecting stor>' of her life. Her name was Dona Felippa de 
 Perestrello, one of three daughters whose father had once been a grandee of both fame and 
 fortune. He had been a successful navigator, a large ship owner, and had rendered such 
 valuable services to Portugal that Prince Henry rewarded him with the Governorship of 
 Porto Santo, a fertile island near :\Iadeira, off the north-west coast of Africa and on the 
 route to the Canaries. A flourishing colony was here established by his endeavors, and large 
 estates set in cultivation which were bestowed upon him as jjermanent grants from the 
 crown. It was on this beautiful and prolific island that Dona Felippa and her sisters were 
 born, and here they spent their girihood amid surroundings dreamy, luxurious and ecstatic. 
 The breath of perpetual summer was here redolent with the perfume of flower, and fruit, 
 and wildwood, where an orchestra of gorgeously-plumaged birds filled the sensuous air with 
 unceasing music, such as wakes the heart to blissful realization, and makes life as sweet as
 
 70 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 a delightful sleep vision. Ten years, nearly twenty years, thus passed in the splendors of 
 contentment before trouble invaded this bower of arcadian delight, and drove them from a 
 garden which peris might have envied. In an e\'il hour a number of rabbits were imported 
 into the island, without thought o^ the hann which these innocent-appearing animals might 
 work, but the}- directh" propagated with such amazing fecundity that in an almost incred- 
 ibly brief time they became pests which resisted ever}- effort for their destruction. Prolific 
 as were the crops, so great was the destruction of these animals that the raising of an}- kind 
 of veo-etable became an impossibility and the colony was finally forced to abandon the island 
 to escape starvation. Signor Perestrello, who in the meantime had invested all his means 
 in Porto Santo, thus found himself literally brought to povert}- through the ravages of rab- 
 bits, and removing to Lisbon, with the small remnant of his fortune, died shortly after his 
 return, leaving his children to the care of some wealthy relatives of that city. 
 
 This narrative, following the facts as recorded by nearly all of the Columbian biog- 
 raphers, ma}' be amended to advantage by opposing to the general statement the theory 
 that since Bartholomew Monis de Perestrello colonized Porto Santo as earl}- as 1420, he must 
 have died upon the island, leaving his government to Pedro Perestrello, his son, who was 
 father to the beautiful Dona Felippa, otherwise she must have been too old for a fair wed- 
 ding, and could not have been the lovely woman that captured our ambitious Genoese 
 navigator at first sight. But whatever the facts, it is true that after a reasonably long court- 
 ship Columbus married Felippa, who, though possessed of small patrimou}', brought her 
 husband no mean distinction, for she was one of the first ladies of Lisbon, and was of great 
 advantage in extending his acquaintance among influential people, particularly the nobilit}*. 
 
 BRILLIANT CONCEPTIONS BORN ON PORTO SANTO. 
 We do not know how long he remained in Lisbon pursuing his profession as a cosmog- 
 rapher, but certainly the period was not great, for his restless ambition would not permit 
 him to continue a quiet employment, and thus we learn of voyages projected and performed 
 by him to other lands ; but these were unsuccessful, because he retired to the uninviting 
 estates of his wife on Porto Santo, which povert}- alone would have induced him to do, and 
 there his first child, which he named Diego, was born. 
 
 In this singularly quiet retreat, whence the first colonists had been driven by a pest of 
 rabbits, Columbus conceived bolder schemes than had ever before moved him to ambitious 
 undertakings. In poverty his mind found relaxation from the worriments of his fonner 
 surroundings, and intensified his aspirations. His passion for the glory which feats at anns 
 invest gave place to projects that contemplated beneficent results to all the world. Here 
 he read with renewed interest the works of Ptolenn-, the first geographer, of Aristotle, 
 Strabo and Pliny, and studied with the keenest zest Cardinal Aliaco's " Cosmographia,'' 
 in which science, superstition and absurd conceits were equally blended, to the confusion 
 of truth. But his reflections and aspirations were most largely promoted b\- the travels of 
 Marco Polo, and of Sir John IMandeville, whose narratives of adventures in the far east, in a 
 kingdom called Cathay, and in the wonderful country of Tartaiy, stirred him with a new 
 ambition, and lifted him from his impoverished surroundings to a realm of idealism — of 
 dreamy splendor. 
 
 Before reading the astounding revelations of Polo and Mandeville, picturing a land of 
 fabulous wealth and royal aggrandizement, Columbus had arrived at a theory respecting the 
 earth's shape, and had become convinced of its sphericit}-. Now his resolution became 
 suddenly fixed to confirm this belief and at the same time to find a water-wav to the rich 
 kingdom of the Tartar Khan.
 
 COLI'MRrS AND COLIMBIA. 
 
 ■1 
 
 EARLY BELIEFS RESPECTING THE SIZE AND SHAPE OF THE EARTH. 
 
 It was given to Columbus to ilLinonslrato, but not to orii^inatc, the tlieory of the globu- 
 lar shape of the earth. Indeed, in this concept he was anticipated by writers of antiquity, 
 just as he was preceded by voyagers to the Western Hemisphere many hundred years before 
 his time. .Vristotle and Strabo were in accord respecting the cartli's sphericity, and only 
 difTered in their estimates of its size, the former being far wrong in his underestimation of 
 the circumference, while the latter's computation was very nearly correct, viz., 377°. 
 Mariuus, of Tyre, a geographer of great renown, of the eleventh 
 centur>-, also believed in the rotundity of the eartli, and fixed its 
 circumference at abotit 450°, while Ptolemy, in the twelfth centur>-, 
 disputed the claims of Marintis only by reducing the actual cir- 
 cumference about one-fourth. Columbus inclined to the belief of 
 Ptolemy, estimatiitg, as he did, that only one-seventh of the earth 
 was water ; and this supposition led him to believe that Cipango, 
 of Marco Polo, was not more than three thousand miles westward 
 of Portugal, whereas the real distance to that coimtr\- — believed 
 to be Japan — is little short of fifteen thousand miles. 
 
 If Columbus was, as represented by nearly all his biographers, 
 a student of the ancient writers, or geographers, he must have been 
 impressed by the many allusions made by these to lands hing far 
 westward of the Pillars of Hercules (straits of Gibraltar). Virgil 
 is supposed to have referred to .such lands in the sixth book of 
 the .-Eneid : "Jacet extra sidera tellus," a free translation of whicli 
 may read : " Beyond the horizon lies a country." 
 
 In Strabo's De Situ Orbis (1472) is to be found a clear expres- 
 sion of belief in the existence of a large countrj' beyond the Atlantic, 
 which he savs may possibly compare with Spain or India. Besides 
 the general views advanced by Ptolemy, there must have met the 
 attention of Columbus the conflict of theories between that great 
 Alexandrian geographer and Pomponius Mela, in which the former 
 urged that discoveries be pursued east and west, while the latter 
 maintained that better results would follow lines of exploration 
 north and south, for by this philosopher, as well as by Columbus 
 himself, the world was supposed to be pear-shaped. As early as 
 the fifth centur\- Macrobius, a Roman, declared that the earth 
 was composed of four continents, two of which remained to be 
 discovered, and this theory had several distinguished disciples pre- 
 ceding the Columbian age. Similar views, but somewhat more 
 specific, and pointing towards a new world beyond the Atlantic, were 
 expressed by Roger Bacon, .Mbcrtus Magnus and \'incenzius, all before the fourteenth centur>'. 
 
 PREVIOUS DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 
 
 In addition to the theories which gave creation to tlio idea of a western continent long 
 before the time of Columbus, there were not wanting evidences supporting the claim that this 
 unknown conntr>- had been many times visited and described. A story was told, first b\- an 
 anonymous writer, in about 1482, and afterwards repeated and adopted by several creditable 
 authors, to the effect that a Spanish pilot named Sanches, while attempting a jxissage 
 between Madeira and tlie Canaries, w,i< ililx. n (,nt of his course by a storm and landed ou
 
 72 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 the shores of an island said to have been Ha\ti. Subsequently this pilot came to Lisbon 
 and found lodgment with Columbus, to whom he related the facts and in whose house he 
 died. It is also declared, by not a few reliable writers, that John Costa Cortereal made a 
 voyage westward and reached the ice-boimd coast of Newfoundland in the }ear 1463, and 
 was followed thither by his brother a year later, on which voyages, however, they both per- 
 ished. Niccolo Zeni, or Zeno, towards the close of the fourteenth centur}', started on a voy- 
 age from Venice in quest of new lands beyond Hercules' Pillars, and after sailing among the 
 islands of the west for nearly one year, became pilot to an island chief named Zichmni, 
 ■where he was some time afterwards joined by his brother, Antonio. Four }-ears later Nic- 
 colo died in a conntr)' called Frieslanda, but Antonio continued in the ser\-ice of Zichmni 
 ten years longer, at last returning to Venice, bringing not only an account of a strange world 
 
 NORSE NAVIGATORS IN NARRAGANSKTT BAY. 
 
 beyond tlie Atlantic, but also maps, letters, etc. , referring to the country. It was not, how- 
 ever, until 1558 that a descendant of the Zenis discovered these valuable documents and 
 caused them to be published, accompanied by a narrative of the voyages. After a thorough 
 study of the subject, the following names have been identified on the Zeni map, as follows : 
 Egronelant, Greenland ; Islanda, Iceland ; Estland, the Shetland Islands ; Frisland, the 
 Faroe group ; Markland, Nova Scotia ; Estotiland, Newfoundland ; Drogeo, coast of North 
 America, about Labrador; Icaria, Ireland. Long anterior to this (270 B. C.) there was an 
 account, incorporated in ancient geographies, of a voyage by the Grecian na\-igator, Pytheas, 
 to unknown lands of the far west, and a map was drawn by Lelewel showing the discoveries 
 of P_\theas, upon which is represented tlie island of Atlantis, and the shores of a country 
 which correspond with Brazil.
 
 CULLMIiUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 73 
 
 Aiiioiii; otbcr voyagers wiio are said to have visited the new world before the time of 
 CoUiinl.nis was a Pole natued John Scolvus, or Kolno, who, while in the service of Den- 
 mark, in 1476, was on the coast of Labrador ; and a Dieppe navigator named Cousin, who 
 while bound for some point on the coast of Africa, was blown far out to sea and reached 
 South America in 1488. And on a chart prepared by the Pizigani brothers, dated 1367, there 
 appear islands which may be identified with Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries, and also two 
 islands, called respectively " Antilla " and " De la man Satanaxio," wliich are undoubtedly 
 the same as Cuba and Hayti, while sonu- knowledge of the two Americas is implied. 
 
 STRANGE RELICS CAST UP BV THE SEA. 
 
 Besides these testimonies supporting Columbus in his belief that land, or India, might 
 be reached by .sailing directly westward, there were other evidences, though less convincing. 
 On more than one occasion pieces of wDod, rudely carved, had been picked up on the coast 
 of Madeira, and on the shores of the Azores had been found \er>- large pine trees of an 
 imkuown species washed up by the sea. Columbus had also been told that on the isle of 
 Flowers there had been found on the strand the corpses of two men of a race which none of 
 the islanders had ever before seen. But this stor\-, like that told bj- 
 Martin Vincente, of finding a piece of car\'ed wood more than thirteen 
 hundred miles west of Europe ; and of .\ntonio Leme, who claimed 
 to have discovered a large island five hundred miles west of Madeira, 
 is undoubtedly apocryphal, and comparable to many preposterous 
 stories current at that day. Historians seem to be unmindful of the 
 fact that there is no ocean current sweeping the American shores 
 tliat would carr\- objects to the Azores or Madeira ; and if there was 
 such a current bodies of men would not be preser\'ed, even in salt 
 ■water, for a time necessary- to drift them such a distance. Some have 
 thouglit that long-prevailing winds from the west might have wafted 
 these curious relics of a land beyond the Atlantic to the shores 
 where they were found, but this supposition is as improbable as the 
 story of St. Braudan, then current, having visited an island to the 
 west that was peopled by demons and the ghosts of men drowned at sea. 
 
 But absurd as were many of the tales told by the superstitious and uuveracious sailors, 
 they doubtless had more or less effect upon Columbus, who was not dispo.sed to reject the 
 improbable when it might be turned to his advantage, either in strengthening his own 
 faith, or helping to spread belief in a western passage to India in others. 
 
 The age in which Columbus lived was not one of unbounded libert\- of either speech 
 or conscience, and a degree of circumspection was necessan- in putting forth anv theon*- that 
 controverted the opinions of the times, for otherwise public avowal was likelv to be followed 
 by public condemnation. For this reason Columbus acted with a di.scretion which showed 
 that he was no less adroit than opinionated ; appreciating the influence of scientists, and 
 having already learned the-views of Paul Toscanelli, the most distingui.shed Italian .scientist 
 of that time, through a letter which the latter had written to the King of Portugal, Colum- 
 bus made bold to crave an expression of Toscanelli's opinion respecting his scheme Proba- 
 bly the result wa.s what he had anticipated, but whatever may have been his expectations, 
 in a rea.sonable interval Columbus received from the distinguished Florentine a copv of the 
 letter written to Portugal's King, bearing date of June 25th, 1477. in wliich comnumicalion 
 the probabilit\ of reaching India b\- a voyage to the west was stated, and in a subsequent 
 letter the project advanced by Columbus was connncnded.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Toscanelli, besides being a great cosmographer, astronomer, mathematician and astrolo- 
 ger, was a man of vast influence, who found a hearty welcome at the pontifical court of 
 Rome, and who was chief adviser to the King of Portugal on subjects connected with 
 geography and navigation. When, therefore, the views of Columbus received the endorse- 
 ment of a man of such eminence as Toscanelli, and in which there was a concurrent 
 
 expression from Canon Fernando Martinez, 
 he had obtained a recognition that justly in- 
 creased his enthusiasm and determination, be- 
 sides serving him greatly in converting others 
 to similar opinions. Nor did Toscanelli con- 
 tent himself with submitting proofs adduced 
 from his own knowledge as a cosmographer, for 
 so interested was he in confinning the theories 
 of Columbus, that he added to his letters the 
 concurrent testimonies which he had gathered 
 from records and correspondence with na\-i- 
 gators, and thus materially assisted in leading 
 others to embrace the beliefs which Columbus 
 was seeking means to demonstrate. These 
 opinions of leading scientists of the time 
 served to renew interest in older sea tales in 
 which unknown islands were represented as 
 having been seen by shipwrecked mariners 
 and super-pious bishops. It was this excited 
 condition of the public mind, no doubt, that 
 prompted Antonio Leone, of Madeira, to 
 seriously relate to Columbus an account of 
 his voyage a hundred leagues to the west and 
 his having sighted three considerable islands, 
 upon which, however, he did not land. 
 
 Others pretended to having seen islands 
 suddenly rise out of the sea, and as m\-steri- 
 ousl)- sink from sight again, while there was 
 a legend, now often recounted, to the effect 
 that on one island in the far west seven 
 bishops had taken refuge in their flight 
 (whether by ship or wing is not related) from 
 the Moors and found thereon seven splendid 
 cities, presumably with all the comforts to 
 which they had before been accustomed. 
 But the evidences of previous discoveries of a western continent, and the belief entertained 
 by many that Cipango, of !\Iarco Polo, might be reached by a voyage to the west, in no 
 wise detracted from the honors won by Columbus, since results rather than accidents, the- 
 ories and unimproved chances, concern us most. Many men saw apples fall from a tree 
 before Newton observed such a natural accident, yet it was reserved for him to discover in 
 a falling apple the law of gravitation. And if America had been visited, however often, 
 before the time of Columbus, the honor and glory were nevertheless reserved to him of 
 making the discover}' valuable to mankind. 
 
 NICHOL.\S ZENI, THE VENETIAN MARINER.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ^ 
 
 SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS NAME LEADS COLUMBUS TO SERIOUS REFLECTIONS. 
 
 EFORE the end of tlie year 1477 Columbus had 
 become so enthusiastic in his determination to sail 
 in quest of eastern lands that he returned with his 
 family to Lisbon, and having obtained a ship he 
 ailed in a northwesterly direction, b\- England, 
 along the Scandinavian shores, and thence west to 
 Iceland. Here he tarried a while with Icelandic 
 bishops, from whom it is reasonably supposed he 
 obtained infonnation of the discover\- of Vine- 
 land by the Northmen — the Viking Navigators — 
 as early as the year 985. It is certain that the 
 stor>- of discoveries and settlements on • the 
 American shore — then called Vineland — was pre- 
 ser\-ed in the Scandinavian Sagas, and all the 
 attendant circumstances of the voyages of Herjulf- 
 son, Leif Erickson, Thorwald, Thorstein and 
 Thorfinn were familiar through repetition of the 
 histon,- around the yule logs of the Icelanders, 
 where it was customary to recite the Sagas. 
 
 What he learned in the land of Ultima Thule of Ptolemy — Iceland — served the more to 
 indelibly impress Columbus with the truthfulness of his theory; besides which specific infor- 
 mation, he had observed, through the philosophic inst'r.ct that was in him, the length of time 
 it took the sun to traverse the length of the Mediterranean, and calculated time and distance so 
 as to detennine an arc of the earth and thus measure its circumference. There was practicallv 
 a unanimity of opinion at this period as to the hemispheric shape of the earth, thouo-h 
 several of the most distinguished scientists of the age had advanced the theor>- of its sphe- 
 ricity ; but not a few cosmographers, and nearly all ecclesiastics, ridiculed as preposterous 
 the idea of the earth being other than a plane capped with a dome, the edo-es of which 
 marked the horizon, beyond which were darkness and possiblv nameless thinf^s. To coun- 
 teract so general an opinion, not wholly disconnected with pious faith, Columbus was for a 
 time distressed for opportunity to explain his theory before influential bodies. 
 
 It is no discredit either to Columbus or the Church to venture the suspicion that, in 
 order to obtain audiences which other means appear to have denied him, he now assumed a 
 degree of religious devotion and intense piety which had not previously characterized his 
 life, and that his purpose may have been to gain the confidence of ecclesiastics throuo-h 
 whom alone, he justly reasoned, could he reach the ears of those whose assistance he required. 
 That Columbus was a strong Catholic, by conviction as well as bv birth, is undeniable but 
 at this time of his life there are appearances of eflTorts at zealous demonstrations not before 
 noted, and a purpose may have been behind i!
 
 76 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Against this suspicion, however, may be opposed the equally reasonable conclusion 
 that long brooding over his scheme had developed in him a belief that he had been divinely 
 commissioned to carry the gospel of Christ to the uttennost parts of the world, to lands 
 whereon the feet of a Christian had never pressed. This belief is even intimated in one of 
 his letters, in which he refers to himself as having been designed to fulfil a prophecy of 
 Isaiah. It is possible also that he may have been urged to this conviction b)' reflecting 
 xipou the interpretation of his name, in which there appeared to be a foreshadowing of the. 
 Divine intent operating through him. The family name, Colombo, signifies in the Latin a 
 
 LANDING OF I,EIF ERICKSON ON THE SHORES OF VINELAND IN 9S5. 
 
 dove^ indicative of purity, innocence and simplicity, and the Colombian coat-of-anns accord- 
 ingly bore a device of three white doves on an azure field, beneath which were the Christian 
 .graces, faith, hope, charity. The word Colombo also expresses na\-igation, love for the sea 
 or the keel of a vessel ; by which combination it was easy for Columbus to conceive that in 
 his surname there was prophetic signification of an inspired man, destined to earn,- the gospel 
 of purity and simplicity of heart acro.ss the ocean waters to unknown lands. 
 
 But as if to reinforce the interpretation of which the word Colombo was susceptible, he 
 had been baptized in a church dedicated to St. Stephen and christened at that moment 
 Christophorus, which, as De Lorgues says, was a name most appropriate for the functions
 
 COLUMBUS AXI) COLUMBIA. 
 
 he was to discharge among men. This latter signifies a disciple of Christ, or one who bears 
 the cross ; hence, he who spreads the gospel. To one so visionan,-, so enthusia.stic, so qnick 
 to tnibrace an opinion, and so tenacious of his beliefs as was Cohniibus, the conclusion is 
 unavoidable that he must have been deeply impressed by the coincidence of his ambitious 
 conception and llie si!L:^nificatiou of buth liis faniilx- and l)ai)lisina] nauKs. 
 
 COLUMBUS IN SEARCH OF ASSISTANCE TO CARRY INTO EFFECT HIS PROJECT. 
 
 The chronologA' of Columbus' acts cannot be detennined, and hence the diversit\- of 
 -tatement of his biographers as to the time and place when he first made an appeal for national 
 a.ssistance in furtherance of his scheme. By some his voyage to Iceland is represented as 
 having been made before his sojourn on the island of Porto Santo, and in pursuance of in- 
 fonnation gained at the pontifical court of Rome, where, among the Vatican archives, it is 
 declared reports were found detailing the American discoveries of Norse navigators. Others 
 represent him as perfonning this journey after the rejection of his proposal to the Portuguese 
 sovereign. In this confusion, arising from irreconcilable dates and indefiniteness of circum- 
 stances, we can do no better than attempt to relate the facts in the order in which thev appear 
 to have most probably occurred. 
 That Cohnnbus was sensibh 
 impressed with a belief in - 
 power bestowed by special dis- 
 pensation of Providence is 
 clearly indicated by the se- 
 verely independent, command- 
 ing spirit which he exhibited 
 when appearing before the 
 senates and courts with o\er- 
 tures for aid in carrying his 
 projects into eflfect. It may be 
 reasonably inferred, from more than a single circumstance, that he made his first appeal for 
 assistance before the Congress of Genoa, that being his native city, and the republic of 
 which he had helped to perpetuate when threatened by the arrogance of Venice. But 
 to his arginnent and appeals the Genoese Senate returned only evasive replies, pleading 
 such excuses as a depleted treasury, danger of the undertaking, and the probable profitless- 
 ness of such a discover^' even if made. 
 
 But, inspired by dreams of golden accomplishment, hope still lured him forward to per- 
 fect his schemes, and from Genoa Columbus went directly to the republic of St. Mark, 
 where he laid his proposals before the Venetian Senate, hoping to make Italy the beneficiar\- 
 of liis enterprise ; but the council scarcely deigned to hear his appeal ; nor did it give any 
 audience to his views and arguments. Thus rejected, Columbus went to Savone, at which 
 place his father was now living, and where he remained only one year, but in wliat engage- 
 ment we do not know. Thence he returned again to Lisbon, and spent the next few > ears 
 Irawing charts and studying the works of philosophers and historian.s. In the meantime his 
 'ie\oted wife, Felippa, died, leaving to him the care of Diego, who was now probablv ten 
 years of age. But the rejection of .senates and the loss of relatives in no wise abated his 
 ardor, for he was sustained in all afflictions by remembrance of sacrifices borne by Christ, 
 and an inncxiblt- bt liif in the inspiration of his designs. 
 
 THE SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Patiently abiding his time, Columbus at length thought lie saw an opportunity for a 
 
 C(J.\i Ul- ARMS Oi lUii CuLi'.MBu lA.MliA.
 
 LlKEAM VISIONS OF INSPIRATION. 
 
 (78)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 79 
 
 successful presentation of his purposes and desires before the Court of Portugal, as King- John 
 II. began to manifest a disposition to extend his dominions. But at no time would Colum- 
 bus descend from his lofty dignity, which bore the effrouter}' of an affected superiority, and 
 this seemingly supercilious air, which was really a self-consciousness of inspiration, increased 
 the natural difficulties which attend an audience at court. He had acquired the character 
 of a visionary-, and when at length he was pennitted to appear before the King, there was 
 little to predispose him to royal favor. Perhaps he would not have been admitted to the 
 King's presence had it not been for the antecedent relations which he bore towards Don 
 Henry, John's father, as the son-in-law of Porto Santo' s governor, and husband to a woman 
 who had been intimate with the best society, court and others, of Lisbon. Instead of find- 
 ing Cohunbus obsequious, which usually characterized the conduct 
 of those seeking the royal favor, King John directly detected 
 in the applicant a spirit of self-complacency and assurance truly 
 astonishing, which was further aggravating to the monarch by 
 the extravagant conditions accompanying tlie application. In 
 the inter\uew Columbus entertained no doubt that he .should 
 discover new countries rich in treasure and vast in extent. To 
 his intense imagination everything was so real that he fancied 
 himself already returning from a long voyage, bringing the most 
 glorious fruits of discover}', for which ser\'ice he esteemed himself 
 as the equal of any potentate however powerful, and entitled to an\- 
 reward however great. Therefore his demands were made coninien- 
 surate with the deed he was about to accomplish. He would not 
 only accept nobility for himself, but required that hereditary honors 
 be bestowed upon his family ; that he be commissioned as high 
 admiral of the ocean, and receive a tenth part of all gains resulting 
 from the expedition, the same to descend in perpetuit>' to his de- 
 scendants. 
 
 The extraordinary' conditions which Columbus thus imposed 
 gave ofTenca to John, which was increased by his peremptory' refusal 
 to accept anything less ; but when the King was so far indulgent as 
 to refer the matter to a commission, instead of instantly dismissing 
 him as a presumptuous dreamer, Columbus felt certain that, what- 
 ever the outcome of the official inquiry, his plans had produced a 
 strong impression upon Portugal's ruler. 
 
 COLUMBUS BEFORE THE PORTUGUESE JUNTA. 
 
 The council, consisting of Diego Ortiz Cazadilla, Bishop of 
 Ceuta ; Roderigo, the King's physician, and a Jewish cosinographer 
 named Joseph, upon a.ssembling summoned Columbus to explain more fully his theories and 
 purposes. This opportunity was embraced to his greatest possible advantage, in which the 
 great navigator set forth liis beliefs and all the reasons upon which liis detenninations were 
 based. His arguments seemed to prevail witli Roderigo and Joseph, but tlie Bishop of 
 Ceuta opposed, in the most violent manner, e\er}- thcon- that Columbus had advanced, 
 and every- conclusion that he had reached, and emphasized liis objections bv declaring that 
 Portugal's treasury was in no condition for testing tlie wild vagaries of an enthusiast while 
 Moorisli infidels were threatening the nation. 
 
 The harsh language of the Bishop inflamed Pedro de Mencses, Count of Villareal, who
 
 80 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 was also Knight of the Order of Christ, who, having the liberty of the assembh', replied in 
 a spirited manner to the Bishop's bigoted reflections, among other things saying : " Would 
 it not perhaps be to refuse God, to reject this oflTer? " and closing with these impressive 
 words : ' ' Soldier as I am, but influenced thereto by a voice from heaven urging me on, I 
 dare to foretell to the sovereign who would attempt this enterprise a happy success, which 
 will produce a greater power and a vaster glorj- in the future than were ever obtained b>- the 
 most celebrated heroes or the most fortunate monarchs." This speech was cheered in a 
 manner indicative of its eflfect upon the assembly, but the Bishop, to counteract its effect, ex- 
 pressed himself as unfavorable to Columbus for the ^| j 
 carrying into execution of the undertaking, and '^| 
 thus he obtained a rejection of the conditions 
 THE PERFIDY OF KING JOHN AND HIS COUNSELLORS. 
 King John, though probably indisposed, tor 
 personal reasons, as already intimated, to enter- 
 
 =fe%^>?^-l/'"l 
 
 _^gg^ tain the pro- 
 
 ^_ posals of Co- 
 lumbus, w a s 
 nevertheless 
 deeply affected 
 b\- the strong arguments which he had heard 
 advanced before the Junta, and being covetous 
 of new empires called his counsellors about 
 him for advice as to how he might take 
 advantage of the theories and information which Coltimbus had expounded, in the -^erit)' 
 of which he implicitly believed. It is astonishing, and in no degree complimentar}- to 
 human justice, and least to a church bishop and King's confessor, that at this council the 
 Bishop of Ceuta should be chief adviser, and that his recommendations should be as un- 
 worthy as his opposition to Columbiis was unjust ; through the advisings of this prelate 
 King John sent a messenger to Columbus inviting him to reappear before the commission, 
 
 COLUMBUS BEFORE THE PORTUGUKSE JUNTA.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 81 
 
 which had not yet been discharged, and to present the fullest details of his project, 
 together with all charts that he had prepared illustrative of his theory, and such infonna- 
 tion as he was able to give ; alleging as a motive for this request a desire of the coniuiissioa 
 to reopen the examination of his application and the evidences of its feasibility. 
 
 Believing in the honesty of the King and his counsellors, and greatly encouraged by 
 this mark of interest, which to his roseate imagination foreshadowed an acceptance of the 
 conditions named in his application, Columbus made a prompt response to the invitation 
 and supplied the charts and infonnation desired. 
 
 Having obtained possession of the maps, papers and evidences supporting the theory 
 upon which Columbus based his ambitions, by the further advice of the bishop King John 
 secretly prepared a vessel, and placing it under the command of his most experienced pilot, 
 who was equipped with the infonnation thus perfidiously secured, despatched it, ostensibly 
 upon a \oyage of discover)" down the coast of Africa, upon a west- 
 ward expedition in quest of the kingdom of Cipango, and in pursu- 
 ance of all the plans submitted by Columbus. The bishop had re- 
 commended this graceless act with the venal intent of enabling the 
 King to enrich himself without incurring any pecuniary obligations 
 to Cohnnbus, whom he would rob under the highwayman's excuse 
 that his arrogance and conditions made it impolitic to grant his 
 application. 
 
 KING JOHN'S SHIP ASSAILED BY DEMONS. 
 
 The ship which the King had thus provided proceeded first to 
 Cape de Verde islands, whence, after revictualling, the voyage into 
 the great unknown was begun. For a few days fair progress was 
 made, but as the distance increased alarm grew, and when directlv 
 a terrible storm assailed the vessel, fear turned to panic, and above 
 the rush of wind, rattle of lines, and dash of sea, there rose mad 
 cries of distraction and prayers of despair. In ever\- cloud there 
 lurked a demon, every billow was the lair of monster infernal, 
 while on the \vinds rode, like charge of cavalry', hosts of spectres 
 diabolic, a marshalling of hellish powers that held master\- over the 
 boundary- of ocean waters, and resented with destruction invasion of 
 that haunted realm. With one accord, master and crew turned about 
 their vessel with only a faint hope encouraging them, and returned 
 to the Portuguese port whence they had sailed. 
 
 Ver)- soon after the cowardly voyagers regained the shore and made report of their 
 failure to King John, to protect themselves from well-merited ridicule the oflScers and sailors 
 began traducing Columbus as the author of a scheme most absurd, and which thev had been 
 so foolhard\- as to so demonstrate. 
 
 News of this swaggering and contumely was not long in reaching the ears of Columbus, 
 who now for the first time learned of the King's perfidy. With scorn and anger at the 
 shameless conduct of both King and commission, Columbus resoKed to quit a conntrv in 
 which venality seemed to predominate as the cap-sheaf of all the national vices. But King 
 John did not accept the report of the voyagers as conclusi\e evidence of the claim that 
 Columbus was a crazy adventurer. So far from entertaining such an opinion, he regarded 
 the negative result as due to cowardice rather than as affording a proof that the plans of 
 Columbus were no more than the conception of a dreamer. Indeed, the longer he contem- 
 6
 
 82 COLUMBUvS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 plated the possibilities and probabilities of such a discover>- as might be made by a voyage 
 westward, the more iucliued did the King become to lend substantial aid to the enterprise, 
 and to make atonement for the perfidious act which he had committed through advice of his 
 confessor. Resolved at last what he would do, King John sent a letter of apolog>- to 
 Columbus, in which he also pledged the resources of his treasury- in support of the enter- 
 prise. But in a spirit of lofty indignation, Columbus peremptorily and haughtily refused 
 all overtures and continued his preparations for a final removal from Lisbon, whose court 
 he publicly denounced for its despicable treacher\'. The King, learning of his intentions, 
 desio-ned to restrain and compel him to the undertaking, but this conspiracy reaching the 
 ears of Columbus he quietly disposed of the small property which he held in the city and 
 took secret passage, with his son Diego, in a vessel bound for Genoa. 
 
 It was in the latter part of 1484, as all authorities agree, that Columbus took his depar- 
 ture from Portugal, and it was probably towards the middle of that year when he arri\'ed at 
 Savone, where his father had taken up his residence some considerable time before. By 
 some of his biographers, notably De Lorgues, it is declared, that on this visit to his native 
 country Columbus made one more appeal to the Senate of Genoa for assistance, but with no 
 better success, and possibly with less encotiragement, than attended his first application. 
 But doubt as to this act is substantially based upon the character of Columbus, who being 
 imperious and .still impressed with a belief in his inspiration, as already explained, could not 
 easily forget the indifference of the Senate to his original proposals ; besides, just before 
 quitting Lisbon he had sent his brother, Bartholomew, to England to lay before Henry VII. 
 plans and purposes of his proposed expedition and to solicit the aid of that monarch, upon 
 tenns which had been offered to John II. Hence circumstances point to the conclusion that 
 his object in repairing to Italy was two-fold, viz. : to visit his father, who was now greatly 
 aged, and to seek there a temporary asylum from the designs of Portugal's King. And this 
 belief is increased bv the fact that his stay in Savone was certainly not less and probably 
 more than one year, at the end of which time he turned his eyes towards the Christian 
 monarchies, among whom he confidently believed he would, through God's help, find a 
 patron who woidd give him all necessary aid to demonstrate the beneficent problem which 
 he had proposed.
 
 CHAPTRR III. 
 
 COLUMBUS PROCEEDS TO SPAIN. 
 
 j,HAT could have prompted Columbus to proceed 
 to Spain at the conclusion of his visit to Savouc 
 only Providence can answer. He had no friends 
 in that country, so far as history acquaints us, if 
 we except a young married sister of his wife, liv- 
 ing at Huelva, and if he went there in further- 
 ance of his ambitions, his hopes must have 
 been poorly supported, for in no other nation 
 were the conditious apparently so imfavorable to 
 the accomplishment of his ends. For years a 
 fierce war had been carried on in a vain effort to 
 expel the Moors, who held the fairest portions of 
 Spain despite the thunderbolts of Europe to 
 drive them back into Africa. But the king- 
 doms of Aragon and Castile had been united b\- 
 the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, in which 
 **- , ' consolidation of Christian interests the country 
 
 was hopefulh- anticipating a victory that would destroy the last vestige of Islamism in 
 Spain. But the treasuries of Aragon, Castile and Leon were nearly exhausted, while the 
 two annies were upon the point of engaging in a decisive battle before the splendor-crowned 
 capital of Granada, into which the Moors had been driven as their last resort. 
 
 Columbus, after arriving at Palos, with his son Diego, being poor in purse and ill-pre- 
 pared to procure better entertainment, repaired to a convent dedicated to the Order of St. 
 Francis, and called, in honor of the Virgin, Santa Maria de la Rabida, which stood on a 
 high Irill overlooking the sea, somewhat more than a mile from Palos. Over this coin-cnt 
 there presided the good bishop Juan Perez de Marchena, who had been counsellor and con- 
 fessor of Queen Isabella, and who was also a man much esteemed for his great learning, as 
 well as for his exceeding urbanity and gentleness of heart, which greatly endeared him to 
 the queen. He was both a cosmographer and an astronomer, who preferred the solitude and 
 holy communion of the convent to the glittering pomp and obsequious homage of ser\ile 
 parasites that characterized life about the royal court. In the compan>" of such a man 
 Columbus found congenial companionship as well as a wann welcome, for the good bishop 
 lent an eager ear to explanations of his theories and an unfolding of his plans, pregnant as 
 they were with mighty possibilities for the advancement of both church and state. 
 
 In all the long discussions between Columbus and the prior of La Rabida there was 
 unanimity of opinion respecting the shape of the earth, and the probaljility of reaching 
 countries of the far east by sailing westward ; but the means for demonstrating this belief 
 doubtless became a subject of dispute. That the Spanish stivereigns would extend the 
 necessary- aid was problematic, considering the condition of the country at that time, when 
 
 (Si)
 
 84 
 
 COLUIMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the energies and hopes of both Ferdinand and Isabella were directed in channels leading 
 away from all commercial enterprises. 
 
 FEUDALISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 In the ]\Iiddle Ages next to sovereign power was feudal wealth and influence, and 
 ever\'where in Spain picturesque sites were adorned with castles defended by moats, and 
 walls, and brazen gates, the homes of rich barons, noble dukes and successful robbers. 
 These lordly representatives of feudal timocracy kept bands of anned ser\'itors to protect 
 them from invaders of their own kind, and even maintained fleets for carrying products to 
 other ports, and sometimes to engage in adventures for spoliation on the high seas. Among 
 the most celebrated of these lords, at the time of Columbus' ^•isit to Spain, was the Duke 
 of Medina Sidonia, who was one of the most illustrious nobles of Europe. His castle was 
 as well fortified and as impregnable as Gibraltar ; his wealth was equal to that of a king- 
 dom, and the splendor of his court and equipage rivalled that of Caesar. So enormous 
 were his riches that more than once was his King a borrower from his bounty, and a hun- 
 dred war vessels, manned by his vassals, was his contribution to Ferdinand in his war 
 against the Moors. To this great duke did La Rabida's prior refer his guest in a letter of 
 warm commendation, and with this influential introduction Columbus made a journey to 
 tlie battlemented castle, full of hope, perhaps joyfully sanguine of the result. But dis- 
 appointment followed his every 
 footstep, to confront him in the 
 2 splendid halls of the rich and 
 .ui- powerful lord. At first, excited 
 by the boldness of his visitor's 
 proposals, and captivated by the 
 eloquence and force of his reason- 
 ing, which seemed to force con- 
 viction upon his willing ears, 
 the duke was prompted to ex- 
 FATHER PEREZ OFFERING THE HospiT.\LiTiEs OF LA RABiDA. tcnd thc aid desircd uutil re- 
 flecting that his sovereigns might object to such an enterprise being undertaken as a private 
 project, he finally dismissed the subject from his mind, leaving Columbus no other resource 
 than to return to the cloisters, where alone he had found encouragement and help. 
 RESOLUTION OF COLUMBUS TO APPEAL TO FRANCE. 
 By the solicitation of the generous prelate Columbus was afterwards induced to make 
 his proposals to the Duke of Medina Celi, who was also a rich and powerful noble, some- 
 what famed for hospitalib.-, but his appeals met with such decided refusal that, mortified 
 by rejections of his requests, and completeh- discouraged b}- his unfavorable reception 
 at the hands of those who were most able to help him, Columbus resolved to quit Spain and 
 repair to the Court of France, the throne of which was then occupied bj- Anne, wife of 
 Peter II., who ruled as regent of Charles VIII. during his minorit>\ 
 
 France appeared to Colum.bus as presenting an inviting field for the advancement of his 
 mighty enterprise. Under Louis XL she had made mar\-ellous advances, for he had crushed 
 out feudalism and substituted autocracy for anarchy ; at the same time, while centralizing 
 his government, he gave every possible encouragement to commerce and industiv". Besides 
 this directive spirit of higher civilization Louis bestowed great favors upon the universities, 
 and had enlarged the borders of France to almost their present dimensions, and on his death- 
 bed, in 1483, begged that the policy of his administration be continued by his successor.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 85 
 
 
 W'^''''^' 
 
 Charles VIII. was only thirteen years of age when his father died, and was poorly fitted 
 both by youth and training to assume the duties of an active ruler ; so that Anne, his aunt, 
 Duchess of Bourbon and sister of Louis XL, was declared regent, and for nine years acted, 
 by the king's last instnictions, as guardian of Charles. So prudently did she manage the 
 govennnent that she destroyed the last vestige of feudalism, asserted the power of France 
 against Brittany, practically placed Henry of Richmond on the throne of England, and by 
 other brilliant successes received the title " Madame la Grande." Her anny was the largest 
 in Europe, her treasure the richest, and her ambition for the glory of her country the 
 greatest ; the circumstances and conditions, therefore, seemed to particularly favor Columbus 
 in France, and his resolution to appeal to that court was for a while 
 so firmly fixed that all the persuasive powers of Father Juan's ^ \ Pl^ 
 eloquence were scarcely sufficient to divert him from this purpose. 
 
 Several years had passed between the time that Columbus first 
 appeared before the hospitable door of the La Rabida Cotuent, and 
 when he returned dejected, care-worn and covered with the dust of 
 travel from his unsuccessful 
 visit to the Duke of Medina 
 Cell ; but he was not discour- 
 aged, for there was still in him 
 a feeling of inspiration which 
 urged him on like a good 
 angel guardian, by reminders 
 of how others had suffered be- 
 fore gaining the great end of 
 their beneficent missions. 
 
 Scarcely was his hunger 
 satisfied at the generous board 
 of the convent when Colum- 
 bus unfolded his plans to the 
 bishop of presenting his pro- 
 posals to the French Court, 
 and recited his reasons for ex- 
 pecting a favorable response. 
 To these Father Juan opposed 
 all his influence, and eloquently collmbcs .\n-d his son .^t the convent of la rabida. 
 
 pleaded with his guest to reserve his intent until other chances for giving the glory 
 of his discoveries to Spain were tried. Thus persuading Columbus to remain for a 
 while at the convent. Father Juan summoned a learned ph\sician of Palos, named 
 Garcia Hernandez, who promptly responded and added his inducements and encour- 
 igements to those of the Franciscan Father. Several other influential persons of Palos 
 directly appeared at the convent and joined their efforts with those of Hernandez and the 
 prelate in devising means for gaining the attention of the Spanish sovereigns and securing 
 their assistance in promoting the project of Columbus. 
 
 The result of the long and frequent consultations at the Convent of La Rabida was not 
 without substantial, though not immediate, benefits. When the time for his departure from 
 the monaster)' was at hand Columbus received from Father Juan a sum of money and a 
 cordial letter of earnest recommendation addressed to the Prior of Prado, Ferdinand de Tala-
 
 A GOLDEN DAY-DREAM OF CuLUMlil; 
 
 (86)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMRIA. 
 
 87 
 
 vera, who was then confessor to Ferdinand and Isabella, whose mediation it was believed 
 wonld jjive him a favorable reception at conrt. Not beinsj in a condition to properlv pro- 
 vide for his son, Colnmbns left Diego in charge of the charitable Franciscans, who gener- 
 ously clothed, fed and educated him for a ninnber of years. 
 
 SEEKING ROYALTY IN THE CAMP. 
 
 Columbus set out hopefulh- for Cordo\a, and arriving at the court confidently presented 
 his letter, but instead of meeting a cordial reception the prior haughtily, even disdainfully, 
 scnitinized him, nor would even give ear to his representations. 
 
 At the time of Columbus' visit to Cordova the Moors, who once held dominion over 
 the entire Iberian peninsula, had now been driven by the victorious Spanish to make their 
 refuge in Granada, about the borders of which an exultant arm\- was eagerly pressing. The 
 city of Cordova was therefore the centre of military activity ; trumpets filled the air with 
 their blaring notes, companies of cavaliers rode through the streets full annorcd, and all the 
 chivaln- of Spain was in unifonn. 
 
 It may with justice be admitted that destiny looked wnth favor on Cohnnbus in recom- 
 mending him to such a personage as the queen of Castile. Isabella llji-i.^-^ - ^.;^- 
 
 
 11 
 
 'M^- 
 
 
 was now in the prime of womanhood, being in her thirty-fifth year. 
 As a woman she was beautiful, the effect of which was increased 
 by a dignit}' and grace that became her as a sovereign. Hti 
 temper was amiable, her judgment prudent, and as a wife slu 
 subordinated her royal prerogatives to love and dut>-, for her afftr 
 tion for Ferdinand was sincere. Though her rights as queen ot 
 Castile and Leon were unabridged by marriage, she nevertheless 
 diligently sought to assimilate her will and purpose with that ol 
 her husband, though .she could not fail to perceive that of tin 
 united kingdom she was at once the light and glor\'. 
 
 Not less than the King was I.sabella concerned in the nation" ^ 
 ambition to e.xpel both Moors and Jews from Spain ; and liei 
 enthusiasm in this effort prompted her to spend much of her tinu 
 in the Spanish camps, inspiring her soldiers to deeds of valor. In 
 sunnner the court was held at Cordova, but in winter the King and 
 Queen repaired to their palace at Salamanca, at which place Coluni 
 
 bus was first able, after a delay of man>- months, to meet an\ 
 
 of the dignitaries of the royal household. His first acquaintance of advantage was with 
 Alonzo Quintanilla, comptroller of the treasury of Castile, who gave a patient audience to 
 Columbus, and who became a valuable convert to his views. Through the comptroller 
 Columbus was introduced to Antonio Geraldini, ambassador of the Pope, and to Alexander, 
 his brother, instnictor to the princes and princesses, both of whom became deeply impressed 
 with his theories, and lent him their heartiest encouragements. 
 
 SECOND MARRIAGE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 Though Cohnnbus had made j^rogrcss in the diffiision of his plans, and won over to his 
 project the sympathies of many distinguished persons in Spain, whose iuflnencc with the 
 sovereigns was pronounced, opportunity for presenting his application to either the King or 
 Queen was still wanting. In the meantime the money charitably given by Father Juan was 
 expended, and pressing want gave him no other alternative than a return to his jiro'ession 
 of cartographer for a living. In the year which had now elapsed in ])ersistent cffiirt to gain 
 the attention of the court the mind of Columbus was diverted b\ a love episode, which
 
 88 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 proved that amid all his deep concerns his heart was not so absorbed with ambitions for 
 glory but that it was still susceptible to the influence of a woman's eyes and blandish- 
 ments. In Cordova there were many beautiful senoritas ; in fact, the city was famed for 
 the comeliness of its ladies ; fair graces that wore the smiles of Venus, the fonn of Diana, 
 and the ravishments of Helen. To one of these, Dona Beatriz Enriquez, Columbus surren- 
 dered, and lived with her for many years, but whether this union was consecrated by 
 hymeneal bonds is a question which historians have vainly debated ; but true it is, that 
 when, in 1487, this lady bore him a son, Columbus not only acknowledged its paternity, 
 but had the child christened Fernando and bestowed upon him ever aftenvards the same 
 marks of legitimacy that he did upon his other son, Diego. Indeed, Fernando filled a 
 larger part of his father's life than did Diego, as he was entrusted with the most important 
 
 concerns and became his father's biographer, transmitting to all ages 
 the stor)^ of Columbus, his defeats and triumphs, and at the last hour 
 was by his bedside to receive his blessing and to close his e}'es for 
 that final rest which he had won by the most distinguished services, 
 but which had been least requited. 
 
 COLUMBUS OBTAINS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ARCHBISHOP OF SPAIN. 
 After years of waiting, years of disappointment, years of alter- 
 nating encouragements and humiliations, it fell to the good fortune 
 of Columbus at last to meet, through the courtesy of Ouintanilla, 
 the great archbishop of Toledo, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, 
 whose influence at the Spanish court was ascendant, in so much 
 that he was principal counsellor of the King and Queen in all 
 matters concerning either peace or war. In some respects he 
 resembled the most distinguished of French cardinals, Richelieu, for 
 he was at once soldier and statesman, and, being dignified with age, 
 liis manners were also chivalrous and captivating. The first 
 audience which Columbus had with this gi'eat ecclesiastic was not 
 entirelv satisfactory, as a proposal of his scheme brought upon 
 Columbus the archbishop's suspicion that the theories submitted 
 contravened the doctrines of the church, and that an assertion of 
 the earth's sphericit}- was rank heresy. But he was not so bigoted as 
 to be wholly obdurate, or iniper\'ious to reason, and before the 
 eloquence of Columbus, pleading his anrbition to spread the gospel 
 of Christ among heathens of iniknown lands, he was compelled to 
 manifest the greatest interest. We may well imagine the zeal of 
 the adventurer in this, one of the many supreme hours in his career. He must have ap- 
 peared as one inspired to the sedate cardinal, whose intelligence could not fail to apprehend 
 the cogency of the argument, and the sincerity of the advocate. Glimpses also of the 
 magnificent prospect held forth and lighted by tlie torch of Columbus' imagination were 
 caught bv the venerable Mendoza, and he yielded to the appeal in so far as to promise that 
 he would procure for Columbus a hearing before the Queen. 
 
 In fulfilment of his agreement the archbishop did introduce Columbus at court, but 
 instead of meeting Isabella he was ushered into the presence of Ferdinand, whose cold, 
 c>-nical nature was not improved by lack of decision, and an illiberality that bordered on penu- 
 riousness. It must also be remembered that an audience with majesty is an ordeal through 
 which one may pass onl\- by an exhibition of mingled courage and humilit>- — tlie courtli-
 
 coLr:\iBrs and Columbia. 
 
 81) 
 
 ness of a knight combined with llie awe of a peasant. But notwitlistanding these disquiet- 
 ing conditions, which might render tlie most resohite nenous and misgiving, Cohunbus, as 
 if encouraged bv some occult power, in proof of his claim to have been sent of Heaven to 
 perform a wondrous work, poured into the King's ears matchless arguments in support of 
 
 ARCHBISHOP MENDOZA INTRODUCING COLUMBUS TO FERDINAND. 
 
 his theory, and pictured in words of extraordinan- zeal and confidence the kingdoms which 
 must lie beyond the line where the horizon ki-^st-s tlu- c\])anding .sea. 
 
 THE CONGRESS OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 In one particular the interest of Ferdinand was aroused. The recital of Columbus 
 
 had covered his exixrience at the court of the King of Portugal, and Spain was at enmity 
 
 with Portugal, which rendered Ferdinand sensible to any plan which promised to embarrass 
 
 John. Therefore, in so far as the prospect of advantage was opened b\ tiie proposals of
 
 90 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Columbus, the Spanish monarch was willing to extend his assistance, if b)^ so doing he 
 might anticipate the Portuguese in reaching India by a western route. But over this 
 selfish incentive the coldness and parsimony of his disposition prevailed ; but instead of 
 dismissing Columbus, he withheld final decision until opinions of the learned men of 
 the kingdom, as to the feasibility of the project, could be obtained. 
 
 In pursuance of the expressed intentions of Ferdinand he appointed a commission of 
 several learned men of Spain to consider the theor>- and proposals of Columbus, at the head 
 of which was placed Ferdinand de Talavera, whose chilling reception, as alread\' described, 
 gave small hopes to Columbus of a favorable determination ; Rodrigo Maldenado de Tala- 
 vera, Mayor of Salamanca, and a cousin of the archbishop, was appointed secretary' of the 
 congress, who shared with his distinguished kinsman the bigotry- and prejudice which he had 
 evinced at the first meeting with Columbus. 
 
 The congress which Ferdinand thus called together convened at Salamanca, which was 
 the seat of all Spanish learning, but still distinctly mediaeval and intensely ecclesiastical. 
 The chairs of its great university were occupied by the most learned scholastics of Europe, 
 and on its registry were sometimes enrolled more than eight thousand students. But church 
 influence dominated everything in Spain ; the professorships were held b}' priest, bishop, 
 or cardinal, so that all instruction was poured through the sieve of ecclesiasticism, and 
 only that which could pass through the meshes was accepted as tn:e. Thus we perceive 
 that in the time of Columbus both the intellectual and moral life of Spain was subordinated 
 to the purposes of the church. So supreme was prelacy that not even Ferdinand and Isabella 
 could free themselves from the thraldom which it had imposed. This being the intellectual 
 condition of the nation, the professors of its greatest university were ill-prepared for 
 original investigation, and the Junta which had been assembled was not more advanced 
 in thought, nor liberal in their views, than the mass of the religious monitors of that age, 
 who took scrupulous care that science should not invade thfe precincts of the church. To 
 pass the established bourne, to trench upon unexplored realms, to venture a scientific ex- 
 planation of the simplest phenomenon of nature, was to startle and shock the whole con- 
 servatism of ecclesiasticism. 
 
 COLUMBUS BEFORE THE SPANISH JUNTA. 
 
 The assembling place of the congress was the Dominican Convent of St. Stephen, and 
 the time very early in Januan,', 1487, but the members of the commission cannot be deter- 
 mined, as the records were long since destroyed, if, indeed, they were ever preserved. When 
 Columbus was called to present his arguments before this leanied body of scholastics, he 
 surely could not extract inspiration from the promises which their ever}' aspect revealed. 
 
 But notwithstanding all the discouragements which confronted him, Columbus arose 
 before his critics in the large conference hall of St. Stephen, firm, determined, statuesque. 
 The occasion had arrived when his supremest nature must be exhibited ; when all the 
 powers of his mental endowments must be brought into display ; when diffidence and doubt 
 must give way to pluck and persistence ; when courage and confidence must be harnessed 
 bj' the will to ride through the ranks of prejudice and all opposing environment. With this 
 undaunted spirit Columbus addressed the bearded Junta. At first only the Dominican friars, 
 composing a part of the audience, gave him respectful attention, but as he progressed his 
 zeal grew vehement and words of startling import fell in streams of eloquence from his lips. 
 Gradually he began to make an impression, favorable upon the least bigoted, but antag- 
 onistic to the greater number, and these latter flung at him, by way of interruption, puerile 
 objections to his theories, opposing, with weak derision, the evidences presented of a world
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 91 
 
 beyond the gloomy ocean. The Scriptures — as they have been used alike to defend and 
 impeach in ever>- great moral question that has arisen to divide societj- — were appealed to 
 in disproof of the claims of the Genoese navigator. Texts were quoted by the dignitaries, 
 each smiling, after the manner of his kind, to think how the upstart philosopher was 
 brought to bay b\- the levelling stroke of authority. The Book of Genesis served the 
 opposition, while others quoted the Psalms and the prophecies and the New Testament 
 writings as conclusive evidence of the falsit}' of Columbus' conclusions. But these 
 being controverted, the Junta, who were also church fathers, introduced opinions of St. 
 Chr^'sostom, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory, St. Basil and St. Ambrose in proof 
 of the flat shape of the earth, and that circumnavigation was therefore impossible. Lactan- 
 tius Firmiarus, who wrote in the fourth century', was also appealed to, whose opinion that 
 the earth is a plane was piously and elaborately set forth in a work which he entitled De 
 FaUa Sapientia — an insight into deceptive things. 
 
 A REJECTION OF HIS SCHEMES. 
 
 Columbus confidently quoted, in support of his theory of the earth's sphericity, such 
 classical authorities as Pliny, Strabo, Seneca and Aristotle, and also read nian\- passages 
 from the Bible which appeared to refer to other lands than those then known. And thus was 
 the conference turned into a commission of disputation, which resulted, as it had begun, in a 
 division of opinion respecting the earth's shape. Some there were, chiefly the Dominican 
 monks, who believed the world to be globular in fonn, but these opposed the claims of 
 Columbus, that India might be reached by a voyage westward, by declaring that the 
 ver>' fact of the earth's rotundit}^ would prevent the possibility' of a ship's returning if it 
 ventured beyond the equatorial line ; for, said they, the globe being spherical, must fall 
 away in all directions. How, therefore, they argued, could one who had sailed beyond the 
 rim, down the convexity of the world, be able to sail back up the slope, which must be like 
 ascending a hill? Terrestrial gravitation was not known at this time even by Columbus, so 
 he could only offer a refutation of this argmnent by reciting his own experience in a voyage 
 along the coast of Guinea, below the equator, where he observed nothing to prevent a ship 
 from sailing north or south. 
 
 But while some of the assemblage were converted to his views, notabh- friar Diego de 
 Deza, professor of theology-, Columbus was vehemently opposed by an overwhelming 
 majority of the council, who submitted their report in writing to the King and Queen, 
 declaring that the project was "vain and impossible, and that it did not belong to the 
 majesty of such great princes to determine anything upon such weak grounds of in- 
 formation." 
 
 While the commission was resolving the evidence, and before a verdict had been 
 reached, the Spanish Court left Salamanca, first proceeding to Cordova and thence to the 
 seat of war in Granada, leaving Columbus waiting for the judgment of the conference, 
 which, however, lie believed would be unfavorable. Upon announcement of the report 
 Columbus was much distressed, but his discouragement was directly relieved by a message 
 from the sovereigns, who in a few words gave intimation that, regardless of the finding of 
 tlie congress, they were not disposed to wholly abandon the project, and might give him 
 neccssar}- aid when the war, in which they were now engaged, terminated. 
 
 RENEWAL OF HIS APPEAL TO KING JOHN. 
 
 With this small encouragement upon which to hang his hopes Columbus followed the 
 King and Queen, first to the siege of Malaga, where he was a witness to the surrender of 
 that stronghold, and thence, owing to a plague breaking out iu the captured city, to Sara-
 
 92 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 gossa, Valladolid, and to Medina del Campo. But heart-sick at length, through want of 
 opportunit)^ to press his project upon the Spanish sovereigns, he resolved to turn his atten- 
 tion towards some other countn,-. Under the pressure of want and disappointment he even 
 so far forgot the indignit}- put upon him by the Court of Portugal that he wrote to John II. 
 asking of that monarch if he was still willing to promote his scheme of discovery. A 
 prompt reply was returned, in which John addressed him as "dear and particular friend," 
 and invited him to court, promising to protect him against any suits, civil or criminal, that 
 might have been instituted against him. There is in this cordial letter of invitation and 
 assurance an intimation that Columbus had been guilty of some criminal act during his 
 residence in Lisbon, but if so neither histor}- nor tradition has preser\-ed to us the offence. 
 
 Almost directly upon the receipt of the letter from King John there came to Columbus 
 a communication from Henr)- VII. of England, requesting him to come to that countrj^ 
 under agreement to give Iiim encouragement and support. Columbus migh'- have accepted 
 one of these two kindly proffers but for the persuasions of Ferdinand de Talavera, who had 
 been appointed Archbishop of Avila, and, though a strong opponent to Columbus, was 
 instructed by Isabella to temporize with him so as to prevent his departure from Spain until 
 she could familiarize herself more perfectly with his theories and proposals. The new 
 motives which the adroit archbishop held out induced Columbus to exercise his patience a 
 while longer, and continuing with the court he saw the investment and final capture of the 
 city of Baza, and the surrender of Muley Boabdil, one of the Aloorish kings of Granada. 
 Another year was thus spent, and when at length he demanded, through Talavera, a 
 decisive repl}- to his request as to what the King and Queen would do with his proposals, 
 the same answer was returned, that the Spanish treasur}- was not in a condition to gi\-e 
 assistance to his enterprise. 
 
 Columbus was fairly overwhelmed by this disappointment, and first acquainting the 
 archbishop with his intentions, he quitted Seville, thence went to Cordova, and from that 
 city set out for the convent of I^a Rabida. In the meantime, by direction of the Queen, 
 another committee of scholars was appointed in Seville to in\-estigate and report upon the 
 feasibility of his schemes, which, after a brief sitting, confinned the conclusions of the 
 Salamanca Congress, thus seemingly destro}ing the last hope he entertained of assistance 
 from the Spanish sovereigns. 

 
 CHAPTER I\'. 
 
 MATERIAL HELP FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE. 
 
 KSPONDENT, forlorn, wean-, and withal indignant 
 tlie sorrow-crowned navigator bent his footsteps to- 
 wards the one asylum whose doors stood open to give 
 him a joyous welcome, and extend such comforts as 
 he had not found in the splendid but cheerless courts 
 (if kingly palaces, or baronial halls. If the Church 
 in her blindness branded him as an unworthy adven- 
 turer, it was no less the Church that greeted his return 
 from a barren mission, and assuaged his melancholy 
 with regalement of hospitable con.solement 
 
 The purpose of Columbus in returning to La 
 Rabida monaster)' was no doubt to take leave of, or to 
 provide for the future maintenance of his son Diego ; 
 but his reception was so cordial that he was persuaded by Prior Juan 
 to remain awhile and recruit his energies and spirits, which had been 
 nearly expended in his long and futile quest of aid at the Spanish 
 Court. The devoted Father, Juan Perez, not only administered to his physical requirements, 
 but infused Columbus with courage to bear with resignation the slights and disappoint- 
 ments which now weighed so heavily upon him. The Palos physician, Garcia Hernandez, 
 whose scientific attainments made his opinions particularly valuable, came to the monasten.' 
 with greater frequency now, and added his influence to that of the prior towards inducing 
 Cohunbus to renew his efforts with the Spanish Court, provided with further recommenda- 
 tions which they would endeavor to supply. But it was decided to await the resi'lt o." the 
 field operations in Granada, which promised a decisive victory for the Spanish anns. 
 
 When at length the time appeared auspicious, the Father Superior, whose fonner con- 
 fessionar\- relation to the Queen justified him in making a personal appeal for consideration, 
 ^\Tote a lengthy letter to Isabella, connnending the project of Columbus as one of extraor- 
 dinar>- importance, worthy of her majesty's patronage, and as one promising the mightiest 
 results, alike beneficial to the nation, to the world, and to the glor^- of God. But appre- 
 ciating the enmity, and above all the bigoted prejudice of the Court's coun.sellors, instead of 
 transmitting this letter through a church functionary, who might prejudice its effect, he con- 
 fided his communication to Sebastian Rodriqnez, who was not only a noted pilot, but a man 
 of polished address and with some experience in court etiquette. This devoted messenger 
 lost no time in making the jouniey by mule to the camp in Granada, where he delivered the 
 letter directly into the hands of Isabella, and received the thanks of the Queen for his ser- 
 vice. While the proposals of Columbus had been presented to Ferdinand, and by him twice 
 referred to a college of scholastics for investigation, the letter from Father Juan was the first 
 direct appeal to Isabella, and subsequent events proved that to this fact it is not unrea- 
 sonable to attribute the disappointments and delays which Columbus had for more than seven 
 years suffered. 
 
 (93)
 
 94 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 So captivated was the Queen by the prospects glowingly pictured by Father Juan, that 
 she sent Rodriquez back to the convent of La Rabida with an invitation to the prior to visit 
 
 her at the camp 
 for a personal 
 conference on 
 the subject of 
 his letter. 
 
 We may im- 
 agine the joy 
 with which Co- 
 lumbus and his 
 
 good friend re- 
 ceived the in- 
 vitation and re- 
 port brought to 
 them by the 
 pilot messen- 
 ger, in which 
 there appeared 
 hopeful signs of 
 an early con- 
 summation of 
 their ambition. 
 In the hurry 
 to respond to 
 
 the Queen's request, Father Juan borrowed a mule from his friend Jean Rodriquez Cabe- 
 zuda and set off at midnight, through midwinter's snow and bitter cold, for the new city 
 of Santa Fe, which was one hundred and fifty miles from Palos, where the sovereigns now 
 had their court. He made the journey in safety, though the route was infested In- marauders 
 and Moors, and though fatigued by the exertion, yet so anxiously 
 was his mind possessed with the mighty scheme of Columbus, 
 that without waiting for refreshment he immediately sought the 
 Queen's presence. She received him with ever>' manifestation of 
 the tenderest regard, and to his eloquent pleadings gave the most 
 encouraging audience and promises. At the conclusion of the inter- 
 view she charged the enthusiastic father to bring Columbus to court, 
 and that he might appear in more seemly garb than his impoverished 
 condition had previously permitted, she gave the prior an order on a 
 maritime broker in Palos for twenty thousand maravedis, * with 
 which to provide Columbus with a mule, a suit of clothes and neces- 
 sary travelling expenses. 
 
 CAPTURE OF GRANADA. 
 Prompt to respond to the royal summons, for he was felicitated 
 by the promise which the invitation implied, Columbus, with bound- 
 
 * The value of a maravedi is difficult now to fix. Webster defines it as a copper coin introduced into Spain 
 by the Moors, and as having a value equal to about one-third of a cent, .\merican money. De Lorgues, however, 
 estimates the value at .018 cent ; Helps, at .0154 cent, while others fix the value at from one-half to two cents. 
 
 COLUMBUS' FIRST INTERVIEW WITH FATHER PEREZ.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 '.to 
 
 ing heart, set out, through the vales and over the mountains of Andalusia, for the court of 
 
 Santa Fo, where he arri\ed in due season to be a witness to the surrender of Granada, the 
 
 last Moorish stronghold in Spain. 
 
 What a wondrous scene was there 
 
 presented, as the crescent banners, 
 
 that had for nearly eight hundred 
 
 years floated from the walls of the 
 
 inconceivably beautiful Alhambra, 
 
 were torn down and supplanted by 
 
 the cross-bearing flags of Ferdinand 
 
 and Isabella. This momentous 
 
 event occurred on Friday, the 30th 
 
 of December, 1491, and three days 
 
 later, Boabdil el Chico, the Moorish 
 
 King, bowed with subjection before 
 
 their Catholic majesties and de- 
 livered to them the keys of the city. 
 The occasion was now one of 
 
 such great national rejoicing that 
 
 the Queen could not give Columbus 
 
 a reception such as she had designed, 
 
 but referred him as a guest to 
 
 .\lonzo de Quintanilla, his friend, 
 
 who was Intendant-General of the 
 
 finances. Four days later, or on 
 
 the Feast of Kings, the two sove- 
 reigns made a picturesque proces- 
 sional entr>' into the far-famed city 
 
 of the Moors, at the gate of which 
 
 they were received b\- the arch- 
 bishops of Granada and a numerous 
 
 clerg\-, chanting hymns of thanksgiving. 
 
 The triumphal rejoicings were not yet concluded when Isabella sent a messenger smn- 
 
 moning Columbus before her, thus illustrating the favor in which she estimated his schemes 
 
 for exploration, and the decision she had 
 made in her own mind to promote his pur- 
 po.ses. The audience which followed was a 
 brief one, for scarcely giving him time to ex- 
 plain his plans, the Queen told Columbus 
 that she would accept his services and desired 
 that he attend upon a meeting of her connnis- 
 sioners, over which P^crnando de Talavera 
 piesidcd, to arrange the tenns. The im- 
 poverished appearance of Columbus, the re- 
 buffs which he had suffered, the long plead- 
 ings that had remained unanswered, might have been expected to render him anxious 
 
 to accept any conditions, and being a foreigner, with nolhiiiii but his theories to com- 
 
 FATHER JUAN'S NIGHT JOURNKV TO GRANADA.
 
 96 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 mend him, which two congresses had pronounced visionar>-, the commission anticipated 
 that he would gladly accept any terms, however illiberal. Imagine their surprise when 
 he submitted, as his proposals, these stipulations : That for his services he should at 
 once be raised to the dignity of viceroy; that he should be appointed governor-general of all 
 the lands, islands or continents he should discover ; that he should be honored with ^ 
 the title of Grand Admiral of the Ocean ; and that he should receive as a further re- 
 ward a tenth part of all the profits that accrued from results of his discoveries, the 
 same to be continued in perpetuity 
 to his descendants, and also the 
 dienities should be transmitted here- 
 ditarily to his family accordmg to 
 the laws of primogeniture 
 
 ..-fiSS^ M s> 
 
 SURRENDER OF GRANADA TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 When these imperious demands were received by the commissioners, they were not only 
 shocked, but so indignant as to give expression to their feelings, characterizing such proposals 
 as presumptuous in the extreme and insulting to the dignity and wisdom of their sovereigns. 
 But Columbus was as inflexible in his demands now as he had been before the Portuguese 
 Junta, and he stubbornly refused to relax his demeanor, or abate one tittle of the tenns 
 which he had submitted.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 07 
 
 His insistence, hedging his agreements, was communicated to the Queen in a report re- 
 commending a rejection of his proposition, the committee reinforcing their conchisions by 
 declaring that since the sclienie hud been twice before adjudged chimerical, its failure under 
 national patronage would expose their majesties to the mocker>- and dcrisiou of all Europe. 
 
 THE SUN GOES DOWN UPON HIS HOPES. 
 
 The report of the commission carried the matter before the highest counsellors of Fer- 
 dinand and Isabella, where it was fiercely debated, particularly by its opponents, who sneer- 
 ingly insisted that, as an adventurer, Columbus showed great foresight, for whatever the out- 
 come of his project, he would gain for himself titles which the nation 
 could not well afford to bestow upon an obscure foreigner, and the 
 honor of a distinguished position which had cost him no more than 
 a bold and persistent effort to obtain. But before these scoffers and 
 traducers Columbus had one valorous and devoted defender, Alonzo 
 de Qnintanilla, who against these arguments interposed his opinion 
 that the demands made by the great navigator were not exorbitant, 
 considering the ser\-ices that he was to render ; for if he gave new 
 kingdoms to Spain he was entitled to commensurate benefits, and if 
 the conditions as submitted were taken as an indication of insincerity, 
 he w'ould undertake to promise tliat Columbus would provide one- 
 eighth of the expenses for a like part of the advantages that would 
 be gained by the proposed expedition. 
 
 The circumstances under which Qnintanilla was able to make 
 this proposition are not exactly clear. By some it is maintained that 
 the offer was made upon his own responsibility, growing out of a 
 detennination to advance such a part of the expenses from his own 
 private funds in case the proposal met the sovereigns' approbation. 
 But by a majority,' of the Columbian biographers it is asserted that the 
 proposal was made in ptirsuance of promises given by Martin Alonzo 
 Pinzon, a rich shipowner of PaloS, who held frequent inter\-iews with 
 Columbus at the monaster^- of La Rabida, and who became an 
 enthusiastic convert and promoter of his scheme. 
 
 But for the time the persuasion of Ferdinand de Talavera pre- 
 vailed, for as Ferdinand expressed unqualified aversion to the proposal, 
 Isabella was brought to conclude that the terms were too illiberal, 
 and therefore with much reluctance abandoned the negotiations. 
 
 This conclusion was the severest blow that Columbus had yet 
 imagination and hopeful disposition had filled his days and nights with wondrous visions ; 
 alread\- he felt himself the discoverer of inconceivably ricli kingdoms, over which he was 
 ruler with princely authority ; and from the opulent revenues derived therefrom he foresaw 
 him.self able to gratify his one great central ambition, to equip and lead a vast anny against 
 the infidels of the Holy Land, from whom he woidd wrest the sacred sepulchre, and jilant 
 the cross of Christ in ever)- vantage place of the world. A sudden awakening from lliis 
 blissful dream to the melancholy reality of his true condition ; a wanderer upon the earth, 
 canning his beneficent scheme in his heart, like a peddler weighted down with a pack of 
 merchandise seeking a purcliaser, fairly broke his spirit, strong as it was, and left him to 
 gloomy reflection on the unappreciativeness of those in whose hands reposed the power to 
 advance the cause of Christianity and promote the welfare of humanitv. 
 7 
 
 COURT OK THK LIONS, 
 ALHAMHRA. 
 
 received. 
 
 His strong
 
 (98) 
 
 QUERN ISABELLA IX HER ARMOR.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 99 
 
 DAYBREAK OF JOY OVER THE MOUNTAIN OF DESPAIR. 
 
 With soul bursting with disappointinent, Cohiiiibus turned away from Granada, and set 
 out on his mule for Cordova, his mind resolved on taking an affectionate leave of his wife, 
 and then quitting Spain for France or England, whither the small hope left seemed to lead 
 him. Scarcely had he taken his departure, possibly before, when Luiz de Santangel, 
 receiver of the ecclesiastical revenues in Aragon, hastily sought the Queen, and with irre- 
 sistible eloquence pleaded with her to recall Columbus, and not to pennit, through ill con- 
 sideration and unworthy influence, the opportunity which he had offered her to magnify her 
 g\oT\- to go by unimproved, to the immeasurable gain of some other nation, which, with 
 
 P acute foresight, would be 
 '^^ certain to accept his pro- 
 posals. While Santangel was 
 thtis beseeching the Queen, 
 Quintanilla suddenly and 
 with great an.xiety, bent as 
 he was upon an identical 
 mission, appeared before Isa- 
 bella and added his per- 
 suasions in no less ardent 
 speech. The effort was 
 beneficently successful. Ris- 
 ing to the occasion, as if 
 God had miraculously in- 
 fluenced her to prompt and 
 decisive action, she declared 
 that she would undertake 
 the mighty enterprise for the 
 ^Ior>- of the crown of Castile, 
 and a moment later she des- 
 patched an officer of the 
 guards, commanding him to 
 lake all possible haste to overtake Columbus and 
 summon him back to court. Talavera had repre- 
 sented to her that the royal finances were too nearly 
 exhausted to undertake such an enterprise at that 
 time, even though the promise of success was flatter- 
 ing ; but the Queen, fired now with the same zeal 
 that had inspired her two enthusiastic counsellors, declared that if necessar>' she would 
 pledge her jewels for the funds required to equip the expedition. Santangel, however, as- 
 sured her this would not be nece.ssar>', as he was prepared to advance the money needed out 
 of the revenues of which he had charge, feeling certain that he could obtain the king's 
 authorization for the loan. Thus it was that the acceptance of Columbus' proposals were 
 brought about at a time when he had abandoned all hope of aid from the Spanish crown. 
 
 The messenger overtook Columbus about six miles from Granada, just as he had 
 passed over the bridge of Finos, a place celebrated by more tlian one desperate ami bloody 
 encounter between Christians and Moors, that served to make it almost sacred in the annals 
 of Spanish histon,-. So frequent had been his disappointments, and so distnistful was he 
 
 / 
 
 W 
 
 \^' 
 
 COLUMBUS REC.\LI-ED BY ORDER OF ISABELLA.
 
 100 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 of the motives of sovereigns, of which he had been many times the victim, that Columbus 
 hesitated about obe^^ng the summons, until persuasion overcame his first promptings 
 and he returned, though not without misgivings. Scarcely had he gained the outskirts of 
 Granada, ho\ve\'er, when his doubts were dispelled b}- the friends who came out to receive 
 him, and the magnificent reception accorded him by the Queen, who was now anxious to 
 
 \je4A^ "^ 
 
 COLTTMBUS IN PRrVATE AUDIENCE ^V^TH ISABET,I.A. 
 
 make some amends for the chilling conduct of the court towards hin: during the seven 
 painful years that he had been an applicant for its helpful recognition. 
 
 THE QUEEN MAKES TERMS WITH COLUMBUS. 
 Queen Isabella, holding in her exclusive right the crowns of Leon and Castile, hence- 
 forth became the patron of that great enterprise which gave to the world a new continent ; 
 and the measure of its magnitude now unfolding itself to her mind, she accorded to Colum-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 101 
 
 bus that deference which confident belief in his success appeared to her to warrant. But 
 Ferdinand, who held the crown of Araji^on only, continued both doubtful and suspicious, 
 and withheld his sanction, even exacting a return of any moneys advanced out of the 
 treasury of Aragon in aid of the scheme, and only gave his signature to acts of the Queen 
 through her intercession, not as a voluntary performance signifying his approval. 
 
 The articles of agreement and letters-patent conferring titles and privileges were signed 
 on the 17th of April, 1492, but it was not until a month later that Columbus took leave of 
 the Queen and started for Palos, which port had been detennined upon as the embark- 
 ing place of the expedition. In this interval there were daily conferences between Colum- 
 bus and his royal patroness, arranging the preliminaries and issuing orders, providing for 
 the equipment of the vessels. On the eighth of May, as a special mark of her favor, the 
 Queen appointed Diego, the eldest son of Columbus, who had lived at the monastery of 
 La Rabida for seven years, to the position of page to the Prince Royal, with a pension of 
 what was equal to about $150.00 annually. 
 
 Columbus left Granada on the 12th of May and proceeded to Cordova, where he took 
 leave of his wife, and then posted to Palos with all the necessar>' orders, among which 
 was one that required that municipality to furnish two caravels, armed and equipped, and 
 to place the same at the disposal of Columbus within ten days. His arrival at that city 
 was greeted by Father Juan with great joy, who continued to the end to encourage his 
 enterprise and to promote his comfort. 
 
 When it was learned that the schemes and theories of Columbus were about to be put 
 into execution, and that their demonstration was to be attempted b)' a voyage into the vast 
 unknown, the people of Palos were seized with a panic of unconquerable fear. From this 
 port not only were the ships to sail, but it soon became known that there would be an im- 
 pressment of sailors to make up the complements of the vessels, for few would volunteer their 
 services for what was regarded as the most desperate enterprise ever conceived by foolhardy 
 man. We smile at the fear of these simple people behind the setting sun of the nineteenth 
 centur}-, but in the darkness of ignorance that shrouded the middle ages we can find more 
 than enough to excuse the bravest hearts for quailing before the terrors with which storj-, 
 legend and imagination had invested the realm of the boiindless sea. 
 
 HORRIBLE SPECTRES OF THE UNKNOWN SEA. 
 
 Science was but a puling infant, and the small knowledge that the world possessed 
 of physics and chemistry was born of the alembic by accident, with the hated .\rab as its 
 procreator. Thus science was regarded as the offspring of Satan, a hellish thing to be 
 abhorred by godh- men ; a malevolent product of fiend and Erinnys, whose development was 
 viewed with deadly alarm. The compass was scarcely yet become a guide to mariners over 
 the trackless seas, and horoscope was more potential with superstitious minds of the time 
 than all the philosophy of cosmographer, sage or scientist. In fact, cosmography helped to 
 create and spread belief in the existence of frightful things peopling the Stygian world of 
 the sea. Bevond the flaming gates of the west, where the sun sank down in his billowy 
 bed, there were whirlpools in which Leviathan sported, and there stood as sentinels over 
 the ocean's vast domain monsters more hideous in aspect, more appalling in size, than the 
 dragon that guarded the marriage apples of Juno. On the charts of some cosmographers 
 there v/as a representation of the sea. Marc Tcncbrosiim, around which were reputed to live, 
 in a wanton exuberance of horrific terrorism, such conceptions of a fearful imagination as 
 griffins, hippocentaurs, gorgons, goblins, hippogriffs, krakens, .sea-serpents, unicorns, sagit- 
 taries, minotaurs chimeras, hydras, and other prodigies of nature run riot with mon- 
 strosities.
 
 ARABIC CONCEPTION OF THE ?.:ONSTERS THAT HAUNTED THE SEA.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 103 
 
 But more direful, i^hastl\-, temf\iujj^ thau all these was the Arabic conceptiou of the 
 fearful daugers that beset the gloouiy oceau. Before this tropical iuiajjinatiou arose \he 
 o^iarled, horrent, portentous hand of Satan, out of a tenebrious waste of boundless waters, 
 with hooked claws, blood-thirsty maw, and purpose damning, to ^asp any luckless ship that 
 mitjht venture within his infernal dominion. And this belief spread quickly among all 
 maritime peoples, until pagan and Christian alike possessed it. To these conceits others 
 were added, being importations from comitries of the farther east, brought back by such 
 travellers as Mandcville and Polo, and received with confidence to swell the fears of 
 humanit\-. These pictured the air filled witli demons, clouds charged with furies, and 
 islands haunted with wraiths, who, holding the elements within their control, could at will 
 lash the sea into madness, provoke the wind into hurricane, arouse the lightnings of heaven 
 into wrath, and launch all these infuriate powers agai«st vessel and crew, overwhelming 
 \\'ith a destruction dolorific, tragical and harrowing, ever\- venturer w-ithin these forbidding 
 realms. 
 
 From these calamitous fears may not be omitted other beliefs no less terrorizing. The 
 sages of Salamanca voiced only the prevailing opinion of all Christendom when, in opposing 
 the plans of Columbus, they contended that even if the earth were round }et there could be no 
 life at the antipodes ; that along the equator was a wall of heat so fien,- as to be all-consum- 
 ing, a ven- hell of flame as unquenchable, as the sun ; while beyond lay a .sloping plain over 
 which was carried ever>- movable thing towards changeless fields of ice that gathered into 
 mountain peak around the southeni ]iok-. 
 
 A GENERAL CONSTERNATION SEIZES THE SAILORS OF PALOS. 
 
 Considering these general alarms, there is no surprise in the fact that when Columbus 
 arrived at Palos, with orders from Isabella to impress vessels and sailors for his expedition 
 into unknown seas, he found both ship-owners and seamen seized with consternation, and 
 not a single caravel in the harbor that was available for his service. They had attempted 
 to avoid the requisition by di.sappearing from the port. This condition of affairs caused 
 additional delay, and being reported to the Queen .she sent an officer of the royal guards to 
 exact a penalty of two hundred maravedis (nearly $3.00) a day upon even.- ship-owner who 
 should delay or refuse to execute the orders of Columbus. At the same time she issued a 
 pennit authorizing him to seize any sailor who might be found on the Spanish coast and 
 compel his services. But neither of these orders was effectual in facilitating preparations 
 for the vo\age, nor was any substantial progress made until extremity prompted the officer 
 of the royal guards to forcibly take possession of a caravel called the Piiita, the property of 
 two citizens of Palos, named Roscon and Quinten. These two owners became violent in 
 their abuse of Columbus, and the. entire town seemed to be upon the point of an uprising. 
 In this disturbed condition of the populace, which threatened serious con.sequences, Father 
 Juan appeared and e.xerted his influence to change the critical situation into one favoring 
 the schemes of Columbu.s. A man universally loved for his amiability and charity, his 
 opinions were equally respected because of his learning and piety. He strove to dispel the 
 fears of the .sailors by decrying the baseless superstitions of the age, and by appealing to 
 their courage in the name of the Church, which now called for their services. He promised 
 them God's blessings in the great work which foreshadowed the extension of Christianit\ 
 among heathen people, and declared that they should account themselves as elected by God 
 for the enlargement of His kingdom. After prevailing with sailors, the noble father sought 
 shipowners and used his persuasion to induce them to fulfil the orders of the Queen. 
 .Among those whom he best knew in Palos were three brotliers naiiud Pinzon — Martin
 
 104 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Alonzo, Francis Martin, and Vincent Yanez, — and to these he applied his exhortations to 
 letid Cohunbns snch vessels as would serve his need. The eldest of these, Martin Alonzo, 
 had, as many biographers agree, been introduced to Columbus during his long stay at the 
 monaster}- of La Rabida, and manifested such interest in his project as to acknowledge 
 belief in his theory and to give a conditional promise of assistance. Now, when Father 
 Juan brought the Columbian plans, so well formulated and promoted by the Queen, before 
 the elder Pinzon, that experienced navigator promptly offered his aid, not only as a mariner, 
 but in converting opinion from the prejudices that seriously threatened, even at this junc- 
 ture, the success of the enterprise. Through Pinzon, the Pope (Innocent VIII.) was even 
 brought to give his approbation to the scheme, and thus the Church, that at first Disposed the 
 enterprise, through the Spanish ecclesiastics, became a supporter of Columbus, though only by 
 friendly encouragement. Martin ne.xt secured the co-operation of his two younger brothers, 
 and the three presently signed an agreement w'ith Columbus under which they were to 
 provide another vessel, the Nina^ and to take service in the expedition, whilst the youngest 
 advanced one-eighth of the expenses, though under circumstances not exactly known. 
 
 The Pinzons were wealthy ship-chandlers in Palos, and their position gave them great 
 influence, especially among seamen ; and through their exertions the city was at length 
 induced to appropriate a third vessel, which bore the name of Gallcga. She was classed 
 as a carack, a large ship such as the Portuguese afterwards used in their trade with India. 
 She was old, and otherwise unfit for the service, but in the scarcity of ships, and the diffi- 
 culties that had already long delayed Columbus, he did not hesitate to accept her ; but as a 
 propitiation to God, and to place the vessel under His special protection, he changed the 
 name, in honor of the Blessed Virgin, to Santa Maria {Saint Mary), and made her the 
 flagship of his little squadron. 
 
 EQUIPMENT OF THE FIRST EXPEDITION. 
 
 The Pinzons gave their personal attention to the details of the equipment, but it was 
 not until the end of July that crews were obtained and the ships made ready for departure 
 on the long and perilous cruise. The expedition was composed of two caravels, Pinta, 
 commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon ; the Nina, in charge of Vincent Yanez Pinzon ; 
 and the carack, Santa Maria, upon which Columbus embarked as admiral. It has long 
 been a general belief that these were ver}' small and unser\'iceable vessels, hastily put to 
 sea and with imperfect equipment. So far from this being true, the three vessels were 
 among the largest that sailed the Mediterranean or visited the Canaries ; and while no 
 doubt ill appointed when they came into the hands of the Pinzons, these navigators were 
 too prudent and experienced to venture on so long a voyage without first putting their ships 
 in the most thorough condition. The vessels were also well provisioned for a year's 
 voyage, and supplied with the most effective fire-arms of that period, but the working 
 crews were composed of a rifT-raff of criminals and adventurers, anything but promising, 
 though over these most experienced and influential officers were appointed. 
 
 The records are sadly incomplete, but from what has been preserved we are able to 
 obtain a good idea of the composition of the fleet, though the exact number of men that 
 completed the force is not known. On the Santa Maria there sailed a nephew, by mar- 
 riage, of Columbus, whose name was Diego de Arana ; also Pedro Guttierrez, keeper of the 
 stores ; and Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovie, controller of the annament ; Rodrigo de Escovedo, 
 register of the proceedings, or royal notar>' ; Bernardin de Tapia, historiographer ; Pedro 
 Alonzo Nino, first pilot ; Barthelemy Roldan, Fernand Perez Matheos, and Sancho Ruiz, 
 respectively second pilot, mate and boatswain ; Ruy Fernandez, and Juan de la Cosa,
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 105 
 
 sub-officers, fillino^ various positions ; Luiz de Torrez, a Christianized Jews, held the 
 post of interpreter, for which his knowledge of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, 
 Coptic, and Armenian well qualified him. Juan Castillo, a gold and silver smith, from 
 Seville, was the official mineralogist, but his appointment to that position was unfortunate, 
 because he knew little or nothing about metals e.xcept in their refined state. There were 
 also two surgeons, called Alonzo and Juan, their surnames never having been recorded in the 
 proceedings certified to by the royal notary. .Among the crew was an Englishman who 
 pa.ssed under the patronymic of Tallerte de Lajes, which is not translatable, because it is 
 a double family name, thtis leaving the suspicion that he had adopted it to conceal his 
 identity ; there was also an Irishman, called Guillemia Ires, or, in English, Billy Rice ; 
 two Portuguese, and one native of the Balearic Islands — in all, sixty-six persons, not a sin- 
 gle one of whom, however, was from Palos. 
 
 On the other hand, the crew of the Pinta, numbering thirty men, were, with a 
 single exception, viz., Juan Rodriquez Bennejo, all from Palos, those whose names have 
 been preserved being Francis Martin Piuzon, brother of ^lartin Alonzo, the captain; his 
 cousin Juan de Ungria; Cristobal Garcia; Garcia Hernandez, the celebrated physician 
 and his nephew, of the same name, who sen-ed him as secretary. In addition to the 
 crew there were several passengers, who accompanied the expedition as ad\enturers, or 
 as representatives of commercial hotrses anxious to extend their trade witli the rich 
 countr>- of Cathay. 
 
 The Xifia^ being the smallest of the three vessels, had a crew of twenty-four men, 
 besides as many more passengers, who were willing to brave the dangers to earn the 
 great rewards which they thought would be reaped in case the voyage proved successful. 
 And it may be truthfully declared that every one who accompanied the expedition confi- 
 dently believed he would find a country where gold abounded in such quantities that 
 ships might be loaded with the precious metal, and thus each would return enriched 
 almost beyond the power to compute. This idea was therefore the dominant ambition 
 among all who ventured upon the voyage, save alone that Columbus e.xpected to win 
 honors more durable than wealth, though his, too, was an inspiration for the acquisition 
 of great treasures as w-ell.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DEPARTURE FOR THE UNKNOWN WORLD OF THE SEA. 
 
 ,ROM sorrowing friends on shore Columbus and his fol- 
 lowers took their departure amid bestowal of blessings, 
 waving of adieus, and cries that proclaimed the fear 
 the}- would meet them nevermore, while Father Juan 
 and Garcia Hernandez watched from the con\-ent win- 
 dow with anxious solicitude and prayerful hearts the 
 fading sails that bore away their friends toward a new 
 world. 
 
 And what a day on which to begin such a danger- 
 
 ST^^-'^'3'-&S'^-&< 
 
 stition 
 save it 
 
 ous voyage! 
 
 particularly 
 
 regarded as 
 
 sur\-i\-ed that 
 
 be the 
 
 hanging 
 
 Among all peoples of Christendom, and 
 among sailors, Friday has been always 
 a day of evil, and for ages has the super- 
 nothing begun on that day can succeed, 
 of a man; and so murderer's day is 
 
 belie\-ing that 
 
 haneman's dav. And vet Columbus chose it 
 instead of the day being accursed, it had been blessed by holy 
 sacrifice; by the crucifixion that brought redemption; by Godfrey de Bouillon's victor}-, 
 that delivered the Holy Sepulchre; by the recovery of Granada from Islamism, and the 
 redemption of Spain from the profaners of Christianit}-. So, at the early hour of three 
 o'clock on the morning of August 3d, 1492, the Columbian fleet raised anchor and under 
 a favoring breeze moved majestically out of the harbor, through the mouth of the Odiel 
 river, and soon the chiming bells from Huelva's steeple, fainter and fainter growing, were 
 lost on the ears of the sailors. 
 
 A sailing chart for the expedition had been prepared by the Admiral himself after 
 Toscanelli's map, which represented the kingdom of Zipangu as occupying the position of 
 Florida. This error arose from the estimate of a degree of longitude, which, as previoush' 
 explained, made the world of 
 nearly all the cosmographers of 
 the middle ages about one- 
 third less than its actual size. 
 
 The route, as marked out, 
 lay by the way of the Canar}- 
 Islands, thence with a south- 
 westward swoop directly west, 
 and over this wa}- the fleet 
 passed more than a thousand 
 miles further to find land, than 
 if the voyage had been made due west from Palos. 
 
 In the beginning the weather and wind were auspicious, but these favoring conditions, 
 instead of inducing encouragement, operated adversely upon the minds of the sailors, whose 
 
 (106) 
 
 THE FLEET OF COLUMBUS.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 1<»7 
 
 uneasiness crrew gj^^ter as the distance from their country increased. Towards the end of 
 the third dav out discovery was made that the steerino^ gear of the IHnla was disabled, and 
 examination disclosed the fact that the owners from whom the vessel had been impressed, 
 liad nialicioasly fi.xed the rudder so that it would break under force of the waves. Fortu- 
 natelv the accident occurred when the wind was fair, thoujjli the ocean was rough, and as 
 Pinzon was a resourceful com- 
 
 mander, he soon had the damages 
 repaired, and the vessels proceeded. 
 
 On the morning of the sixth 
 day the Canaries were in sight and 
 a landing was made at Gomcra, 
 where all the vessels were over- 
 hauled, several defects having been 
 detected, so that it was not until the 
 9th of September following that the 
 fleet got again under way. 
 
 DANGERS OF FACT AND FANCY. 
 
 Meanwhile, a serious danger 
 had arisen from the hostility of 
 Portugal. The news of the sail- 
 ing of Columbus had spread along 
 the Spanish coast, and soon reached 
 Lisbon. The reader will remember 
 how, through all his years of wait- 
 ing, Columbus had at intervals 
 renewed with the court of Portugal, 
 as well as with the court of Eng- 
 land, an intennittent correspond- 
 ence. It was evidently his intent 
 to hold tliese powers in reser\e 
 against the ultimate defeat of his 
 proposals in Spain. As soon as 
 King John heard how at last the 
 voyage of discover}- had been ac- 
 tually undertaken under the patron- 
 age of his rivals, his animosity 
 was so great that he resolved to 
 resort to the most desperate ex- 
 pedient to thwart the enterprise. In 
 pursuance of this despicable resolution, he hastily fitted and sent out an annament 
 to arrest, and if necessarj- to destroy, the fleet of Cohimhus. While his \esscis 
 were undergoing repairs at the Canaries, the admiral learned from a caravel just 
 arrived from Ferro, an island of the group, that the Portuguese fleet was making read\- to 
 put to sea in pursuit. This news induced him to hasten his departure, but scarcely had 
 he got under sail when an eruption of the volcano of Teneriffe threw the sailors into a 
 panic of terror, who .saw in the sliooting flames, and heard in the rumhliug explosions from 
 the iieart of the mountain, Tophet bursting through the sea in awful portentive of a honi- 
 
 FATHER JU.\N A.ND GARCIA HERNANnEZ WATCHING THE 
 DEPARTURE OK COLUMBUS.
 
 108 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ble fate to which they were being surely drawn. Columbus was finally able to assuage these 
 
 fears of his crews by explaining to them the frequent eruptions of Etna and Vesuvius, 
 
 which people had long ceased to dread. But for three da)'S there was a calm, during 
 
 which they had not progressed more than three leagues from their last anchorage, and all 
 
 the while expecting to see Portuguese ships heave in sight in pursuit. That they did not 
 
 appear is presented as an evidence in support of the assertion that Portugal did not send 
 
 a squadron to interfere with Columbus or his expedition. 
 
 When at length the good sea breeze swelled the sails again and the voyage into the 
 
 great unknown was renewed, loud cries of complaining fear broke from the sailors, who 
 
 now felt themselves adrift on the boundless flood where 
 
 "All delicate days and pleasant, all spirits and sorrow were cast ; 
 Far out with the foam of the present, that sweeps to the surf of the past ; 
 Where beyond the extreme sea-wall, and between the remote sea-gates. 
 Waste water washes, and tall skips founder, and deep death waits." 
 
 COWARDLY FEARS OF SUPERSTITIOUS SEAMEN. 
 
 Possessed of an extraordinary imagination, fortified by sincerity, Columbus appealed 
 alike to the courage and avarice of his clamorous and intensely superstitious sailors. He 
 
 assured them constantly of God's blessings, for that they had 
 been called in a most righteous service which must redound to 
 the glory of themselves in that life everlasting. But when their 
 religious fervor languished, Cohimbus told the men of wealth 
 which they would acquire in the land to which they were sailing, 
 where gold and precious stones so abounded that houses might 
 be built and streets paved with either. He undoubtedly believed 
 this to be true himself, and his own conviction was thus the more 
 effectively impressed upon those to whom he recited these .proph- 
 ecies of incredible treasure in the land to which they were bound. 
 Columbus, while chimerical in many things, was neverthe- 
 less subtle in contriving against the mutinous spirit of his men, 
 and his shrewdness is shown by many wise expedients. He had 
 delivered, with becoming gravit}-, an opinion that the countr}- of Zipangu would be 
 gained by a sail of something more than 700 leagues to the west, but lest his belief 
 prove ill-founded, and that the voyage might, if necessar>', be prosecuted much 
 farther, he kept two log books, in one of which a false reckoning was recorded, 
 representing the distance made each day as less than it really was, while the other was pre- 
 pared with great accuracy to serve as a guide for future voyages. The former was daily 
 exposed to all on board for inspection, while the latter was carefully preserved under lock 
 and key. The sailors were thus deceived into the belief that their progress was extremely 
 slow, and that the slope of the earth must accordingly be very small, if indeed it were 
 perceptible, and that a ship before the wind could in any event overcome it and return 
 
 to Spain. 
 
 BLESSED SIGNS OF APPROACHING LAND. 
 
 On the 14th of September, while the vessels were sailing in close company, a large main- 
 mast was observed floating on the water, evidently out of a ship considerably greater in 
 size than the Satita Maria. Columbus at once hailed the relic as a favorable omen, but 
 the effect on the sailors was panick)-. Here, indeed, was a part of a ship that had pre- 
 ceded them, but to their timid minds it came as a warning of the doom that awaited them ; 
 as a proof that no vessel could survive the dreadful dangers which lurked in cloud, wind
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 109 
 
 and wave in the region where damnation held dominion. About the same time Columbus 
 discovered that there was a variation of the masructic needle, which increased as he pro- 
 ceeded farther west, and while he tried to keep the knowledge of this fact from his crew, 
 the pilots soon detected it and then consternation was a hundredfold increased. What pos- 
 sessed the compass? Was it some in\isible power that was turning the needle from its true 
 direction in order to lead them into some whirlpool, or bring them within the influence of 
 other destnictive agency ? So serious did this phenomenon appear, that Columbus was 
 himself greatly disturbed by it, but he contrived an explanation ■vhich partially allayed alarm, 
 but it may be added that while the fact is now universally known, science has not yet been 
 able to detennine positively the cause. 
 
 Now the vessels entered the region of the westward trade winds, which urged them 
 along at an increased speed, naturally arousing new fears, but these were directly quieted 
 by the sudden appearance of two birds, one a Mother Carey chicken (petrel) and the other 
 a wagtail, which it was erroneously believed never \entured a great distance from land. 
 Following this supposed indication of an approaching shore, on the same night the crews 
 were again plagued to distraction in beholding a flaming meteor swiftly speeding across 
 the sky and plunging into the sea five leagues distant from the ships. The men at once 
 accepted this as a signal from heaven heralding their quick destruction, but Columbus 
 regarded it as a holy beacon, and as a presage of the certain triinnph which awaited the 
 expedition. 
 
 Thereafter ever)- natural condition was favorable to a happ\' passage ; the sk\- was 
 
 serene, the winds steady from the east, sending the vessels ploughing the waves in their 
 
 westward course, and the ocean was as peaceful as a babe sleeping on its mother's breast. 
 
 Under the balmy fragrance of the healthful air the mind of Colinnbus became roseate w'th 
 
 blissful reflections. "If we only had the song of the nightingale," he writes, "we might 
 
 well believe ourselves ashore ainong the wa\-ing groves, and near the flower-scented gardens 
 
 of Spain." 
 
 SPECTRES OF A COWARDLY IMAGINATION. 
 
 On the 19th of September a mist showed, on the sea undisturbed b\- wind, which 
 was taken as a precursor of land, and on the Friday following other evidence that 
 the shore lay not ver>- far beyond was presented by a mass of weeds into which the ships 
 thrust their bows. A booby bird came sailing by to increase the illusion, and many fishes 
 sported about the vessels, some of which were harpooned, affording a sportive divertisement 
 that was intensely animating. But the weeds became more dense and tangled, until they 
 grew into an imposing barrier to farther progress and aroused the sailors to a sense of new 
 dangers more appalling than they had before conceived. Here, thought they, is the 
 boundar)- of the world, the interdict God has placed upon the passage of mortals. Once 
 within the remorseless fingers of this verdant sea extrication will be impossible ; famine 
 seemed to show its hideous head ; thirst pointed its pale fingers towards their quivering 
 lips ; in this turgid lake of damned engorgement, green with the life of death, livid 
 with the slime of corruption, may be the hainit of the kraken, whose palpy arms could 
 embrace a ship to its destruction ; on this great prairie of the ocean must live the 
 hundred monsters that played such a part in the sea-tales of the age, browsing off an herb- 
 age that empoisoned ever\- other living thing. Under its slowly pulsing bosom there mav 
 be deadly reefs to grind away the bottoms of the ship.s, or .sandy bars to hold them until 
 stonn, lightning or waterspout could complete their annihilation. 
 
 But still. the ships drove on through this Sargasso sea of impediment, until at last
 
 110 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 a passage was accomplished, but with this abatement of fear a new alarm arose over the 
 invariable wind that day after day impelled them westward, until belief became fixed 
 that return was impossible. No reason that Columbus could command would ^nve the 
 crews encouragement ; despair was followed by a mutinous and murderous spirit ; many 
 of them being criminals, whose punishments were remitted to this service, they beo-an to 
 clamor for a \ictim ; to openh" murmur their seditions against Columbus, who mio-ht have 
 
 fallen before their vengeance had 
 not an adverse wind begun to blow 
 at the most auspicious moment, as 
 if to prove the unreasonableness of 
 their apprehensions. 
 
 On the 23d of September, Martin 
 Alonzo Pinzon mounted the high 
 stem of the Pinta and shouted 
 with joy, "Land ! Land ! I declare 
 my right to the pension." Others 
 were equally certain that they saw 
 land, whereupon there was an 
 excitement of uncontrollable delight 
 among all the crews, until in a 
 little while they perceived that 
 what was taken for land was only 
 a thick bank of clouds, and the 
 despondency which succeeded was 
 the greater for this momentary 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 Complaints of a violent character 
 were renewed, and Columbus be- 
 came, in the eyes of the sailors, a 
 braggart, humbug and fraud, whose 
 own nation would not recognize 
 him, who had deceived the Spanish 
 sovereigns, and whose blind per- 
 sistence would drive them to de- 
 struction. They accordingly favored 
 a submission to him of the alterna- 
 tive of turning back or being cast 
 VISION OF THE SPECTRE-HAUNTED SEA. ij^ito the sca. Tlic PiuzoHS were 
 
 cognizant of this mutinous spirit, but held themselves aloof from either encouraging or 
 reproving it, but this inaction proved how strong had grown their prejudice against 
 Columbus because of his refusal to turn aside in quest of islands which the Pinzons 
 believed lay near by, to the north. 
 
 A MUTINOUS SPIRIT. 
 From time to time cries of "land" were made, but everj- such annoimcement proved 
 delusive, and finally the long pent-up torrent of fear, envy, and hatred broke, in which 
 even the Pinzons joined. The united demand was for an immediate return ; all author- 
 ity was dissipated, the crews were now a mob, and before this maddened body of infuriate
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUxMBIA. HI 
 
 men Columbus was powerless beyoud the influence of his persuasion, which, however, com- 
 manded respect when his orders would have incited a swift vengeance. To these howling 
 caitiffs, therefore, he appealed, in the name of the holy image that was emblazoned on the 
 ro\al flag which floated from the mast of the Santa Maria, to their courage as men, to 
 tlieir cupidity as slaves of avarice, and at last begged them to renounce their evil purpose, 
 or give him three more days in which to seek the land for which the)- had set out amid the 
 prayers of their nation. This request was finally granted and the disaffected men went back 
 sullenly to their several posts of dut\-. 
 
 On the following day e\-idences that land was not far away began to multiply, while the 
 wind increased to push the vessels more rapidly forward. A green rush was seen b\- the 
 crew of the Santa Maria, and almost immediately after the look-out on the Pinta observed 
 two sticks which had been e\idently fashioned b)' human hands. Those of the Nina, who 
 were like vigilant in their watch, were favored by the sight of a green bush bearing 
 clusters of red berries, all of which several indications that land was near revived the spirits 
 of the crews, and good humor and delightful anticipations took the place of fear and 
 rebellious feelings. Seeing that the men were now in an amiable frame of mind, Columbus 
 ordered a h\-mn (the Salva Regitta) to be sung, and then, after discoursing to them on the 
 manifestations of God's protecting care throughout the vojage, elated them beyond 
 measure by predicting that land would be discovered before another night was ended. He 
 also charged them to be particularly watchful, and promised to reward the one who should 
 first, perceive the shore with the gift of his beautiful \-elvet doublet, which was trimmed 
 with gold lace and considered a thing of great value. This premium was to be given in 
 addition to a pension of ten thousand maravedis ($36.00), promised by the Queen to the 
 one who should first see the land of the new world. 
 
 Everv one on the three ships was now so excited with expectancy that there was no 
 desire to sleep ; each was anxious to earn the double reward, and all were alike curious to 
 catch a glimpse of the unknown shore. 
 
 LAND! LANDl 
 
 About ten o'clock that night, as Columbus was watching from the poop-deck of his 
 vessel, his searching eye caught the gleam of a moving light in the distance. Not fully 
 satisfied of his vision, he called two others to watch, and they also beheld the same glorious 
 beacon ; but then it faded and was seen no more. Word passed quickh- from ship to ship, 
 and the watch !)>• all became more vigilant. Sails were shortened, but wind and current 
 still gave them a goodly pace, and thus the\' pressed on until two o'clock in the morning 
 of Friday, October 12th, four hours after Columbus had seen the fitful light, when a cannon 
 shot from the Pinta, which was a leag^ie in advance of the Santa Maria, gave loud-\'oiced 
 proclamation of the discovered shore ; whereupon everyone fell down in worshipful attitude 
 and lifted their voices in holy praise and thankfulness. Juan Rodriguez Bermejo had been 
 the first to discover, through the haze of approaching morning, the high lifting banks of a 
 land on tlie western boundary of that gloomy ocean which had held the secrets of infinity, 
 and become in the minds of men the representation of a boundless immensity. 
 
 The men who had been moved by nnitinous disposition two da>s before were now 
 prostrate in homage before the commander whose life they had threatened ; from con- 
 demnation they lifted their voices in adulation ; from an intensity of depression, from a 
 prostration of dread alarm, they were suddenly become jocund, read\- to embrace all the 
 world, so great was their delirium of thankfulness. In avowing their obligations to Colum- 
 bus, they would also do penance for the crime of their evil machinations ; and having no
 
 112 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 better gift to bestow they would acknowledge him as the first discoverer of land, thereby 
 giving to him the fullest meed of honor, and refute the claim of the common sailor Bermejo. 
 And to the astonishment of all mankind, the pension which he manifestly did not earn, in 
 his thirst for all the glorj-, ambition-mad, he took to himself; a reward that in all justice 
 belonged to the poor sailor whose lot was so humble he could not defend his right. 
 
 What was the light that Columbus indistinctly saw? The Pinta was at least three miles 
 ahead, and none of her crew saw it ; may it not, therefore, have been flashes from some 
 taper on board that vessel ? Indeed, since the distance from land must have been at least 
 fifteen miles, no one from the ship's deck could have perceived an object on the flat shore 
 because of the convexity of the earth. It is also possible that the light which Columbus 
 saw emanated from a canoe which may have been passing from one island to another, as 
 it was a very common ctistom for islanders to carry fire upon a fire-place of clay laid in 
 the centre of their canoes. In fact, the fluttering light was not regarded by Columbus as 
 reliable evidence of the proximity of land until after a cannon-shot from the Nina gave 
 announcement of Bermejo's discover}-. And yet he claimed and possessed himself of the 
 pension, to which the poor sailor alone had any just right.
 
 CHAPTHR VI. 
 
 LANDING ON THE BOUNDARY OF THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 NDER the spell of a wondrous enchantment, a vision as 
 glorious as that which broke upon the vision of Sir 
 Galahad, revealing the Holy (irail of his pious 
 search, was the beatific view presented to the 
 longingly expectant crews when the light of morning 
 broke uiwn the scene ! There before them lay a 
 stretch of landscape marvellous for its diversity of 
 yellow sands, softly lapping surf, swelling undula- 
 tions in a stretch of opalescent mists ; flowery groves 
 that breathed a fragrance like incense to advancing 
 day ; blue waters of a lake peeping in gladness 
 through forests of lofty evergreens, while along the 
 beach, or resting in awesome admiration beneath 
 were a hundred specimens of 
 
 '*-.'■ 
 
 broad-sheltering trees 
 an alien race, tawny, sun-browned, symmetrical, 
 
 at 
 
 ' disapparelled, gazing with bewildering surprise 
 their celestial-appearing visitors. 
 
 In the fair view before them, whether it were the shores of Zipangu, or other lands of 
 the blessed, there was eagerness to press its bosom ; but with becoming precaution the ships 
 were first placed in a state of defence, and then each member of the expedition arrayed 
 himself in corselet, tabard and helmet, and with such weapons as match-lock, pike 
 and cross bow, prepared to take possession of the beautiful land. Columbus, however, 
 wearing the dignities of Grand Admiral of the ocean, and Viceroy of all the lands he 
 should discover, presented a spectacle which might well impress even those familiar with 
 court regalia and imperial vestments, for he clothed himself in the richest raiment pro- 
 curable in Spain, provided before his embarkation in anticipation of a meeting with the 
 Circat Khan of Tartary. Above the scarlet mantle that covered his shoulders, he bore the 
 royal flag, on which was emblazoned the image of Jesus Christ, and taking his position in 
 the bow of the first boat, started for the inviting shore. Immediateh- behind him came the 
 yawls of the A'ii'ia and Piii/a, bearing their commanders, each of whom supported royal 
 standards of Castile on which were displayed the letters F. and Y., initials of the sovereigns, 
 Hernando and Ysabel. 
 
 With lusty arms the rowers pushed the boats rapidly towards the shore, nearh- a 
 league from the anchorage, where a landing having been made,* with a solemnity befitting 
 so thankful an occa.sion, Columbus planted the standard of the cross and the flags of Sjiain 
 in the yielding sands. This done he lifted his voice in a j^rayer, only the first accents of 
 which have been prc.ser\-cd by history, while those about him fell upon their knees willi 
 oflerings of thanksgiving: "Lord Kternal and .Mmighty God! Who, by Thy sacred 
 
 * Billy Rice, the IrisUman, is said to have been first to leap on shore, carrying out the line with which to 
 make the vawl fast. 
 
 (113) 
 
 8
 
 LANDING ON THE SHORE OF SAN SALVADOR. 
 
 (114)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 115 
 
 word, hast created the heavens, the eartli and tlie seas, iiia\- Thy name be blessed and 
 glorified everywhere. May Thy Majesty be exalted, who hast deigned to permit that 
 bv Thy humble servant Thy sacred name should be made known and preached in this 
 other part of the world." Having thus made his obligation-: to God, he gave to the 
 island the name of San Salvador (Holy Saviour), and then took possession of it in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Crown of Castile. A large cross, made from 
 limbs of a tree, was next set up to mark the landing site, and then efforts were made 
 to communicate with the natives, who stood off at a considerable distance watching 
 with fear and trembling the actions of tlicir strange \isilors. 
 
 INTERCOURSE WITH NATIVES OF THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 By signs of amit>-, and a proffer of presents, Columbus at length induced some of the 
 bolder to approach, whom he so graciously received that their companions dirccth' came 
 forward, and an agreeable intercourse was presently established; but as their language was 
 not understood b>' any of Columbus' men, commimication was conducted entirely by means 
 of signs. By these, however, it was learned that the island upon which landing had thus 
 been made, was called by the natives, Guana/iaiii. Subsequent investigation proved that 
 it was one of a considerable group afterwards named the Bahamas. The imperfect knowl- 
 edge acquired by Columbus, and especially the indefinite description which he gave of the 
 island has been the cause of much dispute respecting the exact land which he first 
 discovered. While a majority of authorities maintain that San Salvador of modern maps 
 was the real landing place, others declare that, from the brief description given, Watling's 
 island is manifestly the land of first discovery; but the impossibility of settling this contro- 
 \ersy renders a discussion of the question out of place here. 
 
 The appearance of the people, which interests us most, is thus described b}' Columbus 
 in his journal: ''The men and women go naked as they were born into the world. They 
 are well shaped and with agreeable features. Their hair, as coarse as horse hair, falls over 
 their foreheads, and is left to grow in a long tail behind, but it is not crisp. These men 
 are in truth a fine race; they have lofty foreheads, and bigger heads than any natives I 
 have ever seen before in my travels. Their eyes are large and fine, their legs straight, 
 stature high, and their movements graceful. Some are painted a blackish color, but are 
 of the same tawny hue as are the natives of the Canary islands. Many are painted white, 
 red or some other color, as to the whole body, or the face around the eyes, and sometimes 
 only the nose. They have no weapons such as we have, and .seem not even to know the 
 properties of weaponry. " 
 
 But though simple in their manner, the natives had such weapons as lances made by 
 pointing pieces of cane with shark's teeth and obsidian. Some of the people were 
 obser\'ed to bear the marks of serious wounds, received, as they explained, in battles with 
 natives of neighboring islands who sought to enslave them. When confidence was estab- 
 lished, the islanders curiously inquired, by means of signs, if their \-isitors were not heaven- 
 descended, for in their simple faith they believed the vessels riding at anchor before them 
 were huge creatures of the air that had descended in the night, bearing to them celestial 
 passengers, the object of whose visit they could not determine. But familiar intercourse 
 reassured them, and before the day was ended they manifested the greatest curiositv to 
 know their visitors better, and evidenced their feeling of security by the freest commingling 
 and interchange of civilities, taking the fonn of active brrtcr of nets, fruits, cotton 
 yarns, parrots and occasional pieces of gold, for the attractive trifles that the Spaniards 
 had to give.
 
 116 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 FAMILIARITY FOLLOWED BY ABUSE. 
 
 On the following morning hundreds of the natives came off to the ships in canoes made 
 from the trunks of trees, some of which were large enough to comfortablj- carry as many as 
 fifty men, while others were so small as to scarcely support a single person. But the 
 islanders had such familiarity with the water that they appeared aquatic in their habits, and 
 to be capsized miles from the shore gave them no uneasiness, for they would dextrouslj- 
 right their crafts and bale them out with gourds with which every paddler was provided, in 
 anticipation of such accidents. 
 
 Observing that a few of the islanders wore small ornaments of gold in their noses, the 
 cupidity and avarice of the Spaniards was quickly excited, and with great eagerness Colum- 
 bus inquired whence came those pieces of the precious metal. The\' responded by inform- 
 ing him that somewhere south of them there was a larger island ruled by a king who 
 possessed immense quantities of gold, and whose drinking vessels were all made of that 
 metal. He asked some of them to accompany him upon a visit to that auriferous land, but 
 they refusing, in his anxiety to enrich himself and followers, Columbus hastened his 
 departure. Herein was the beginning of that long and painful story of the cupidity, 
 wandering and gold-greed with which the Spanish adventurers and heroes of the sixteenth 
 century were all inflamed. 
 
 Only one thing restrained the desire of the crews for an immediate embarkation to 
 pursue their quest for gold, and this was the condemnable passion of lustful appetite. 
 Before their unbridled and lascivious senses the Spaniards saw a people of modest manners and 
 a guileless disposition, and this they would violate by inaugurating an immorality to which 
 the natives were yet strangers. We cannot fail to reflect upon the astounding satire fur- 
 nished by the contrast of naked modesty and pure manners of this untutored island tribe 
 as compared with the lustful appetite, calculating avarice, distrust, latent cruelty, and 
 perfidious spirit of the Spanish mariners, products as they were of one of the oldest civili- 
 zations — a civilization upon which the forces of literature, art and so-called religion had 
 operated for nearly a thousand years. 
 
 BELIEF OF COLUMBUS RESPECTING HIS DISCOVERY. 
 
 Believing that the island upon which he had landed was one of the five thousand 
 described b>- I\Iarco Polo as lying in the sea off Cathay, Columbus regarded the natives as 
 a fraction of the great races of India, wherefore he called them Indians. But they bore none 
 of the characteristics observed in the peoples with which Polo came in contact. If how- 
 ever, they were a far outlying contingent of the natives of India, or Zipangu, they must be 
 serviceable in pursuing further discoveries, so Columbus took on board his ship (by abduc- 
 tion) seven of the most promising islanders,* whom he so diligently instructed that they 
 soon became intelligent interpreters, and with these, on the 14th of October, he renewed 
 his voyage. To more thoroughly acquaint himself with the size and productions of the 
 island, however, he sailed entirely around it, finding that it abounded with cocoanuts and 
 bananas — fruits never before seen by Europeans — and such products as yams, cotton, yucca, 
 and pine-apples. But he deemed it unsuited for colonization, because of its smallness, and 
 he turned the prows of his vessels to renew the quest for the mainland of Cathay, which he 
 hoped soon to gain, and there presenting to the Grand Khan the letter of friendship from 
 his sovereigns, gather the rich recompense of his success and then return in triumph to 
 receive the favors of Isabella and the plaudits of mankind. 
 
 * " I took some Indians, by force, from the first island I came to, that they might learu our language, and tell 
 what they knew of their countrj'." — Letter of Columbus to Don Raphael Sanchez.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 117 
 
 ADVENTURE WITH A HORRID MONSTER. 
 
 A few hours' sail from Guanahani brought the expedition in sight of a great cluster of 
 islands, more than a hundred of which his native interpreters named. One of the largest 
 appearing he approached, and finding the shores inviting made a landing and erecting 
 thereon a cross as a sign of Christian occupation, christened the island Si. Mary of tlie 
 Conception. ^,___ .^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^§r^ 
 
 Two other large 
 islands he 
 named respec- 
 tively Feruaii- 
 diiie and Isa- 
 bella. The lat- 
 ter was so full 
 of natural de- 
 lights that he 
 remained there 
 for two days 
 exploring i t s 
 beauties of 
 lovely scener>', 
 picturesque 
 groves, flowery 
 meads, and 
 fruit-bearing 
 trees. The air 
 was full of 
 sweetest fra- 
 grance and re- 
 sonant with the 
 voice of warb- 
 ling birds, no 
 less gorgeously 
 arrajed than 
 tuneful. The 
 natives were 
 verj' like those 
 with whom he 
 first came in 
 contact, but 
 they lived in 
 huts more artis- 
 
 ADVKNTURE OF COLUMBUS WITH AN IGUANA. 
 
 tically constructed, and possessed more ornaments of gold. On the island — betraying its 
 volcanic origin — was a considerable lake of cr\'stal water abounding with fish. While 
 walking along the shore Columbus was at first horror-stricken by die sight of a monster 
 lizard with annament of bristling scales, dreadful claws and hideous head. But instead 
 of standing upon the offensive, the creature retreated into the .shallow water, whither 
 Columbus pursued and killed it with a lance. It being of such remarkable size and
 
 118 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 repelling aspect he took off its skin, which he declares measured seven feet in length, and 
 preser\'ed it as an example of the frightful reptilian life of the new world. This lizard 
 was an iguana, common in the inter-tropical countries of America, where, despite its 
 iiorrid appearance, the flesh is so highly esteemed as to readil)- command twenty-five cents 
 per pound in the markets. It is not known to exceed five feet in length. 
 
 But all the beauties or wonders of earth could not long retain the interest of Columbus. 
 He gave to them the tribute of a passing notice, but his mind was absorbed with an am- 
 bition for gain ; his thirst for gold was unappeasable ; his day-dreams were gilded with the 
 treasure which he set out to seek. Of this avaricious passion Barr}', the compiler from De 
 Lorgues, his most ardent Catholic admirer, thus w-rites : "In this voyage his (Columbus,) 
 object was less to observe nature than to acquire gold, in order to make Spain interested in 
 the matter of continuing the discoveries, by giving palpable proofs of their importance. 
 He sought gold, especially in order to commence the fund of the immense treasure he 
 desired to amass. The deliverance of the Holy Land and the purchase of the tomb of 
 Jesus Christ were always before his eyes — the supreme object of his ambition. He desired 
 then to collect, in order to convert them into gold, the spices of the Orient, the frontiers 
 of which he believed he had reached. But it was gold that he sought particularly. Everj-- 
 where he inquired diligently about the land of gold. The sight of the precious metal 
 exerted in him an ardent desire for it and an almost loving eagerness. Never, perhaps, did 
 a Christian desire gold for a like purpose. Not being able to find some as soon as he ex- 
 pected, he addressed himself to God, and besought Him to direct him to some and to its beds.'* 
 
 THE AVARICE AND CRUELTY OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 This, while intending to present Columbus as a man possessed of the holiest ambition, 
 actually represents him as one of the most rapacious, \-enal and greedy mercenaries of which 
 history gives us any account. How his conscience couid conceive and defend an aspiration to 
 purchase the Holy Sepulchre surpasses our comprehension. Such an ambition is a reflec- 
 tion upon the wisdom and power of God Himself, who for His own reasons suffered and 
 continues to suffer the enemies of Christianity to hold possession of that sacred shrine, 
 against which seas of blood have surged in vain. And the unholiness of his ambition is 
 emphasized by the cruel methods which he employed in his mad efforts to acquire riches. 
 The burning of villages, massacres of defenceless natives, the inauguration of ever\- iniquity, 
 and lastly the enslavement of helpless men, women and children, until his more merciful 
 sovereign cried out against his cruelties, whose heart would not permit her to profit by such 
 inhumanities — these are some of the results of his wanton greed, his impious lust, his 
 worldly aspirations. While remembering the glon,- of his accomplishment in discovering a 
 new world, let us not forget the ignominy of those acts by which the inoffensive, trustful, 
 guileless and affectionate natives of the West Indies were .converted into slaves, and 
 oppressed into the most debased savagers'. Not even the fanaticism of the age nor the 
 hypocrisy of his pretensions can excuse him of the crime of barbarous ferocity, of voracious, 
 blood-thirsty avarice, in which disposition he was in no wise different from the members 
 of his expedition. 
 
 Before leaving the island of Isabella, Columbus was told of a countn- somewhere to 
 the south-west which the natives called Cuba, and upon which it was declared there was 
 such an abundance of gold, that a warlike people from the north frequently invaded the 
 countr>' and carried off immense quantities of that valuable metal. To this exciting recital 
 was added a report that there were on Cuba many large cities ruled by powerful monarchs, 
 and that in ever)- respect the country was the most delightful and the richest in all the
 
 COLUMHl'S AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 ll'J 
 
 world. Or rather, it ma\- be better said, that Cohinibus so interpreted tlie .si<^n.s by which 
 couiiuunication was carried on ; but his imagination was at all times so energetic that he 
 painted the most connnonplace things with the colors of fanc\-, and this strong ideality 
 was constantly leading him into the by-ways of sore disappointment. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF CUBA. 
 
 Believing implicitly in the wild romance of Cuban grandeur and inconceivable wealth, 
 Columbus again spread his sails, on the 24th of October, for the shore of tliat gold 
 embroidered countr\- ; but at the moment of weighing anchor one of the interpreters, 
 obtained at Guanahani, leaped overboard and made his escape to .shore, despite every 
 exertion made by four sailors in a boat to o\erhauI him. Contrary winds also rose, fol- 
 lowed b\- terrible rain-storms, so that progress was greatly impeded. On the third day a 
 cluster of islands, now known as the Mucaras, was passed, and on the succeedii:g daj- the 
 shores of Cuba, at a point a few miles west of where the town of Nuevitas del Principe 
 now stands, broke into view. The most casual view gave conclusive indication that the 
 land was an extensive one, even continental in appearance. Bold promontories distin- 
 guished the shores, and a large river was observed winding its way through a rich valley 
 and emboguing into the ocean near the point where the shore-line was first seen. 
 
 The ships were nni into 
 an estuan.-, which sers-ed as 
 an excellent harbor, and 
 where an abundance of 
 crystal-like fresh water was 
 obtainable, and a landing 
 made. Immediately upon 
 going on shore Columbus 
 took possession of the island 
 (which he thought might 
 possibly be the mainland of 
 Zipangu, or Cathay) in the 
 name of the Empress Isabella, and in honor of the heir apparent, Prince Juan, he called 
 the country- Juanna, and the port where he landed San Salvador. 
 
 The landing of the Spaniards had attracted the surprise of many natives, who watched 
 with anxious curiosity from afar the strange beings and niar\-ellous boats that had thus 
 visited their shores ; but they in turn were obser\-ed, and also a small village of circular, 
 conical-roofed huts that lay half concealed in the deep .shade of a luxurious forest. When 
 the ceremony of occupation was completed, and a wooden cro.ss set up as a mark of pos- 
 session, Columbus, with several of his men, paid a visit to the village, which, however, 
 was deserted upon their approach. Kntering the abandoned huts he was much disap- 
 pointed to find^ therein the same evidences of poverty that distinguished the islanders of 
 Guanahani, and with no appearances of a better social condition. He foimd many fishing 
 nets, harpoons pointed with bone, car\'ed pieces of wood, and swinging couches made of 
 netting which the natives called haniacs, a name that sur\-ives with us in the slight change 
 to hammock. Proceeding farther towards the interior Columbus found a mar\cllous 
 diversity of beauteous landscape, groves of palm trees, abundance of bananas, a sensuous 
 atmosphere perfume laden, crystal waters, and great numbers <jf parrots and other beauti- 
 fully-feathered bird.s. He was fairly overwhelmed by the natural .splendors that lay spread 
 about him, but while believing this must be the mainland of Asia he could not account for 
 
 THIi DKUGHTFUI. SHORKS OF ISABELI..\ ISI,.\NU.
 
 120 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the primitive character of the people, who were evidently unacquainted with any of the 
 
 forms of civilization. 
 
 A VISIT TO NATIVE VILLAGES. 
 
 After many efforts, Columbus at length persuaded a few of the natives to approach and 
 receive presents from his hands, and intercourse once established, he was quickly surrounded 
 by swarms of islanders, who manifested desire for pacific relations by bringing quantities 
 of fruits to the Spaniards, as offerings of homage. By them he was told that the country 
 was an island, and near the centre were mountains of gold, while along the water courses 
 precious pearls and stones might be found in great numbers ; that the capital city lay not 
 
 far distant and was more beautiful than au)- other thing on the 
 island. This information fired the Spaniards with new desire and 
 they were all exceedingly anxious to begin the gathering of riches 
 which they believed were scattered about in inconceivable profu- 
 sion not many miles distant. 
 
 In this quest for the bag of gold that lies at the foot of the 
 rainbow, Columbus set out with his resolute followers in a westerly 
 direction along the coast, until another village was sighted at the 
 mouth of a river, before which the squadron anchored, and a visit 
 made to the town. The inhabitants fled with precipitation to the 
 hills, leaving their visitors in quiet possession, and could not be in- 
 duced to return and open communication. The houses composing 
 this village were more pretentious in size and architectural in ap- 
 pearance than those first visited, and within Columbus found 
 rudely car\^ed effigies and wooden visors of hideous visage, besides 
 harpoons, fishing nets and such other paraphernalia as indicated the 
 poverty and low superstitions of the natives, but there ^\■as neither 
 gold, silver nor precious stones. 
 
 The promise of reward being again disappointing, Columbus 
 set his sails once more and proceeded along the north coast until 
 he reached an extensive headland, to which he gave the name of 
 Cape of Palms, and which is but little more than one hundred 
 miles from the southern point of Florida. Here he met with some 
 natives who told him that just around the promontory a large 
 river emptied into the sea, while a short distance beyond, no more 
 than four days' journe}', lay Ciiba/iacan. At the mention of this 
 THE CROSS or POSSESSION, ^jqt^^ Coluuibus was much excited, because he now believed that 
 the resemblance in pronunciation between this word and Kublai Khan was evidence that 
 he was approaching the capital of that Cathajan monarch. Unfortunately, as was long 
 afterwards ascertained, the expression Oibanacan, in the native language, signified the 
 
 centre or interior of the island. 
 
 AN EMBASSY TO A CHIEF. 
 
 The anchors were weighed and the voyage of discovery was continued, but no river 
 
 was to be seen, and now, believing that he had misunderstood his informants, Columbus 
 
 returned to the mouth of the Rio de los Mares and renewed intercourse with the natives 
 
 whom he found anxious to barter, and pacific in disposition. In the belief that gold 
 
 abounded somewhere in the vicinity, he ordered that nothing but pieces of that precious 
 
 metal be accepted in exchange for articles which the Spaniards had to trade, but the 
 
 anxiety of the natives and the vainness of this measure soon convinced \\va\ of the extreme
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 121 
 
 scarcitv of sold thereabouts. But oue Cubau wa.s seeu supportiuj^ a piece of silver froui 
 his uosc, who, heconiiug a great object of iuterest, told Columbus that four days' jouruey 
 in the interior was a large city in which lived a mighty emperor, who, having learned of 
 ihe white visitors, had sent messengers to invite them to visit his capital. This news was 
 most encourag- 
 ing, and that 
 he might dis- 
 play the cour- 
 tesies of civiliz- 
 ation, Colum- 
 bus chose a n 
 embassy of four, 
 composed o f 
 the polyglot 
 J e w, Rodrigo 
 de J arez, a 
 Guanahani 
 native, and a 
 Cuban guide, 
 who were pro- 
 V i d e d with 
 many presents, 
 such as hawk- 
 bells, glass 
 trinkets, and a 
 variety of other 
 gew-gaws. Be- 
 sides the offer- 
 ings, they were 
 bearers of let- 
 ters addressed 
 to the Grand 
 Kahn, convcy- 
 i n g profound 
 considerations 
 of the Spanish 
 sovereigns, and 
 expressions of 
 desire to estab- 
 1 i s h amicable 
 
 relations with the .-Asiatic potentate whose kingdom Columbus believed had been reached. 
 During the absence of the embassy, which Columbus knew must occupy several days, 
 he employed the time making careful examination of the adjacent country and its produc- 
 tions. Finding the river, near which the ships were anchored, navigable for considerable 
 crafts, he ascended it several miles and was rewarded by finding many valuable woods, 
 such as cinnamon, nutmeg, rhubarb, and, what was more gratifying still, a tuber which 
 the natives baked in the fire and ate with great relish, and which the Spaniards found 
 
 illi; NATIVES Ul- CI A.
 
 122 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 equally palatable. This proved to be the potato (derived from the native name batata\ 
 little valued at the time, but, as Mr. In.-ing observes, a more precious acquisition to man 
 than all the spices and pearls of the east. 
 
 The farther he proceeded, however, the more marvellous grew the tales of native 
 wealth, until even the incomparable credulity of the Spaniards became heavily taxed. 
 The Indians told, with deceptive gravity, of places in the country where people wore 
 bracelets of gold and necklaces of fine pearls ; but some of these marvellously rich natives, 
 they declared, were noted equally for their astounding aspect. One race, living in the 
 district of Bohio, had only a single eye placed in the centre of the forehead, and were 
 extremely fierce. Another people 
 whose principal capital was called 
 Kaniba, had the heads of dogs. 
 They were not only brutal in ap- 
 pearance, but even more so in dis- 
 position, for they were cannibals 
 and took special pleasure in drink- 
 ing the blood of their enemies. 
 There was also an island named 
 Mantinino, in the midst of a large 
 lake, inhabited by women only, who 
 frequently fought with men on the 
 main shore, and who tortured their 
 prisoners with fiendish cruelty. 
 
 We are impressed by the simi- 
 larity between these traditions and 
 those of several Central African 
 tribes, which are so nearly identical 
 that the coincidence seems to point 
 unmistakably to the same origin. 
 Can this Tact be taken as an evi- 
 dence of the ancient existence of a 
 between the West Indies, South America 
 Is it a link in the chain of proof that 
 of waters was at one time bridged by 
 of Atlantis, as Plinv declares? 
 
 land 
 
 connection 
 Africa ? 
 stretch 
 Continent 
 
 THK CUBAN CHIEF AND SPANISH EMBASSY. 
 
 RESULTS OF A VISIT TO THE CACIQUE. 
 
 At the end of six days the embassy returned with a most interesting but extremely 
 disappointing report. They had found the capital city, not more than thirty-six miles from 
 the coast, but instead of a place abounding with riches, they discovered it to be a village 
 composed of some fifty huts occupied by nearly one thousand naked or half-clad people. 
 Instead of meeting a mighty monarch, known as Kublai Khan, by Marco Polo, they were 
 introduced to a tall Indian chief, whose throne was a block of wood ver\' rudely carved, 
 and who could provide no better feast than cassava bread, bananas, cocoanuts and water. 
 The Jew turned his tongue to all his vocabularies, but without success. The guide, how- 
 ever, was able to make himself understood and succeeded in explaining to the chief that 
 the Spaniards were children descended from the sun, who were anxious to establish a 
 friendship with his people. By this introduction the Cubans were made worshippers of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 123 
 
 their visitors, and after exchaii.trinfi^ some parrots, cotton-yarn, cassava and frnits for 
 trinkets, several desired to accompany tlie embassy on their return to the ships, but only 
 one man and his son were permitted this privilege. 
 
 During the interview with the native chief the ambassadors observed what they 
 regarded as a curious ceremony, in somewise connected with religions worship : — Numbers 
 of the natives, young and old, carried about dried leaves which they rolled up in the 
 fonn of a tubule, and applying fire to one end, inserted the other in the mouth, and after 
 sucking it they expelled great quantities of smoke. These rolls the natives called lohago^ 
 whence is derived the word tobacco^ which the leaves thus rolled together, forming a 
 cigar, proved to be. Another yet more important discovery was made in the finding of 
 Indian corn, from which the natives made a fairly good bread, but on account of their 
 inability to separate the kernel from the shell, they preferred cassava. A transplantation 
 of this most useful grain to Europe quickly followed, however, and has given such beneficent 
 results as are only equalled by the cultivation of the potato. 
 
 But though the Grand Khan of Columbus" imagination turned out to be only a naked 
 chief, and the palatial city of the conjectured Quainsay a miserable village of loud-smelling 
 huts, the reports of gold-abounding districts continued to lure the avaricious sailors. The 
 natives now declared that somewhere towards the east was a river with banks of golden sand> 
 to which people came ever)' night with torches to gather stores of the precious deposit, which, 
 however, was so plentiful that the gold was only valuable because of the vessels into which 
 it might be easily wrought. The country where this wealth of auriferous .sands was to be 
 found the natives called Babcque, and thither the expedition started with a covetous distrac- 
 tion, like that of a boy chasing a will-o'-the-wisp over a misty bog, and with the same dis- 
 appointments. All the beauties of the island, all its wonderful productions of forest, gro\'e 
 and field, all its opportunities for colonization and the spread of Christianity, alike failed l) 
 impress these adventurers, whose lust for gold subordinated every other ambition, and 
 destroyed even.' commendable impulse. 
 
 THE DESERTION OF PINZON. 
 
 From the 28th of October until the 19th of November this heartless quest for gold con- 
 tinued, Columbus all the while dreaming, awake and asleep, of mountains of the'precious 
 metal which he would presently find and therefrom load his vessels for an offering to the 
 Spanish sovereigns. But when disappointment after disappointment finally began to corrode 
 his hopes and dispel the illusions of his imagination, he grew morose, and this sullenness 
 of disposition also seized upon Alonzo Pinzon, who separated his vessel, the Pin/a, from her 
 companions, in order to make an independent search for the valleys, streams and mountains 
 of gold which they had been unable to find while sailing together. But he was no more 
 successful, and in rejoining the exjicdition, excused his act of desertion by declaring that he 
 had been separated from the San/a Maria and Nina by storms that had violently driven the 
 vessels after their departure from the anchorage before the river Rio de Mares. 
 
 In his chagrin at the failures which attended his many efforts to find the gold whicli 
 the islanders declared so often lay just a little way beyond, Columbus decided to seize 
 several natives, choosing the most comely maidens and young men, and carry them back to 
 Spain as specimens of the race occupying the new world of his discovery. In order to do 
 this he had to violate all natural rights, but this gave small concern to Spanish conscience, 
 an 1 from this initial step the enslavement ofthe.se powerless, hospitable and kindly natives 
 directly followed. 
 
 Columbus continued for several days along the coast of Cuba, naming the capes and
 
 124 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBLA 
 
 bays that he passed, until the 19th of November, when the Pinta deserted him during a 
 serious storm, and he put into the estuary of St. Catharine for safety. Here he seems to 
 have been recalled from his avaricious contemplation to a consideration of the beauties 
 which were spread around him in a boundless prodigality of efflorescence — flower, fruit and 
 forest ; a mar\-ellous versatility of nature — rippling streams, leaping cascades, warbling 
 birds of iris-wing, emerald lands, skies of azure, clouds barred with gold, soothingly sensuous 
 air, and all the delights that a blessed clime could afford. In making report of the countr)- 
 about this harbor to Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus sa\-s : " I often say to my people that, 
 much as I endeavor to give a complete account of it to your Majesties, my tongue cannot 
 express the whole truth, nor my pen describe it ; and I have been so overwhelmed at the 
 sight of so much beauty that I have not known how to relate it. " So proceeding, he dwells 
 upon the transparency of the waters, how the most exquisite shells coidd be seen at fi\-e 
 fathoms depth lying like jewels of Neptune on the pearly sands that formed the ocean's 
 floor, and then tells of gigantic forest trees, the trunk of one being fonned into a canoe 
 capable of canying one hundred and fifty persons. 
 
 SOME WONDERFUL STORIES ABOUT IMAGINARY PEOPLE. 
 
 After thus spending three days in a delightful examination of the coast about his 
 anchorage, which he named Puerto Santo (Holy Port), Columbus again sailed eastward to 
 the extreme limit of Cuba, and named the point Alpha-and-Omega. Instead of continuing 
 around the island and directing his course southwesterh", which would have brought him, 
 in a sail of one Inuidred and thirty miles, to the shores of Yucatan and thus gained the con- 
 tinent, he doubled the eastern extremit)' of Cuba, but turned directly eastward again until 
 another island burst upon his vision, which in his enraptured state he believed must be 
 Babeque, or Bohio, the land of gold. But the natives whom he had seized exhibited the 
 gravest alarms, for here they declared was the land of cannibals, of dog-headed men, of 
 Cyclops, and other monstrosities and terrors, which would devour any one that had the 
 temerity to land upon their shores. 
 
 No alarms, howe\'er, were great enough to repress the enthusiasm of Cohnnbus and 
 his followers, whose thirst for gold rendered them insensible to all dangers, but on account 
 of adverse winds a landing was not effected until two days after the coast was first sighted. 
 
 The new land which rose before the Spaniards was the beautiful island now known as 
 Hayti, or San Domingo, which they, on closer obser\-ation, perceived to be man-ellously 
 picturesque. The mountains in the central part rose to such a height as to be plainly visible 
 from the sea, and from these fell away verdant foot-hills, which in turn faded into lovely 
 valleys clothed with a luxuriant vegetation. Here and there Columbus detected columns 
 ■of slowly rising smoke, indicative of an industrial community thriving off the abundant 
 harvest yields of a highly-favored countr)-. 
 
 The two ships were put into a capacious harbor, large enough to accommodate a fleet 
 •of many hundred sail, to which he gave the name St. Nicholas, and by which designation 
 it is still known. Recently the harbor has been the subject of some diplomatic correspond- 
 ence between the representati\-es of our country and the government of Hayti, looking 
 towards the acquisition of coaling privileges by the United States. 
 
 CAPTURE OF A NATIVE WOMAN. 
 
 Upon going on shore Columbus found the island well peopled, and several towns, some 
 of considerable size, were visited, but the inhabitants took flight on the approach of the 
 Spaniards. The countr)' was well cultivated, and the roads connecting villages were in 
 good condition, so that with orchards, gardens, fields of grain, houses of a fair construction,
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 125 
 
 there were abundant evidences atte.stin<( the fjroat superiority of these nati\es over their 
 Cuban neiglibors. But they were surprisingly timid, notwithstanding their reputation for 
 fierceness, and being unable for this reason to open intercourse with them, Columbus sent 
 a company to pursue and bring to him some of the people, who had abandoned their 
 villages and taken refuge among the mountains. Diligent search for these refugees at 
 length resulted in the capture of one woman, who was entirely naked, but wore a gold 
 jjendant in her nose. 
 
 The admiral received his prisoner with signs of regard, and after providing her with 
 clothes, gave her presents of hawks, -bells and other gew-gaws, which soon won her thankful 
 admiration and made her condition such a pleasant one that she professed no desire to return to 
 
 LANDING IN ST. NICHOL.\S HARDOR. HAVTI. 
 
 her people. But Columbus placed her in charge of nine Spaniards and one Cuban inter- 
 preter, who conducted her to the village where she lived, which was some fifteen miles in 
 the interior, with the view of using her to open negotiations with the natives. The town 
 contained about one thousand huts and probably si.\ or seven thousand people, but even 
 this large population was terrified by the sight of white men, and all decamped with ]irc- 
 cipitation towards the hills. After great patience and many efibrts, the woman and 
 the interpreter induced some of the boldest to return, who, being conducted to the presence 
 of the Spaniards, exhibited ever>- sign of worshipful awe. The woman's husband was 
 among the first to approach, through her persuasions, and it was amusing to see his 
 demonstrations of amazement at the clothes and ornaments with which his proud wife 
 was invested.
 
 126 COLUMBUS AND COLUxMBIA. 
 
 A PLEASANT VISIT TO THE HAYTIANS. 
 
 The confidence of the Indians was at length obtained, and they conducted their 
 visitors in great state to tlie best houses of the town, where a splendid banquet of cassava 
 bread, fish, bananas and other native fruits was provided. After this introducton- cere-- 
 mony the freest intercourse prevailed. Columbus observes that the islanders now dis- 
 missed their fears and began to exhibit their generous instincts by presenting the Span- 
 iards with e\er\thing they thought might be desired by their v-isitors. They appeared to 
 have no knowledge of values, for their gifts w-ere made as if the act of giving afforded 
 ^eat pleasure. Their manner of life was innocent in the highest degree, as during the 
 W'hole time the Spaniards spent among the natives, not a single act of violence or 
 treachery was observed. It was also evident that there was a confraternity of interest 
 among them, since each was willing to share with his neighbor whatever he had, exact- 
 ing no equivalent, and in all respects exhibiting, by word and deed, a common brother- 
 Tiood not found to exist among so-called Christian people. Among them, also, the sacred- 
 ■ness of the marriage relation was obser\'ed, and monogamy prevailed, except that chiefs 
 ■were permitted to take a plurality of wives, the limit being twenty. There being no 
 <li\-ision of property, or separation of interests, the hannony of their relation was never 
 broken, and no disturbances of any character aflflicted these innocent and peace-loving 
 natives, save occasional invasions of other islanders, which was followed by temporary- 
 disquietude. 
 
 But while Columbus found Hayti or Hispaniola to be a most fertile island, and inhab- 
 ited by a prosperous and contented people with whom he had inaugurated a pleasant inter- 
 course, he was disappointed again in his expectations of finding the mountains and valleys 
 of gold, towards which his heart and hopes continually inclined ; so on December 14th, he 
 departed to renew the search for the golden kingdom of Babeque. He presently discovered 
 another island to which he gave the name of Tortugas, or Turtle Island, and coasted it 
 until he determined that its size was inconsiderable, though he observed that the island 
 was well watered by rivers and lakes, and that it supported a luxurious vegetation. 
 
 A VISIT IN STATE FROM THE CACIQUE. 
 
 After a cruise of three days, without important results, Columbus returned to the 
 coast of Hispaniola (little Spain), and put into a pleasant harbor which he named Puerto 
 de Paz, with the purpose to renew his explorations of the interior. The report of his 
 return was quickly noised abroad through the island, and on the iSth, one of the caciques, 
 or chiefs of the natives, came in state, borne as he w^as b>- four men in a wicker-work 
 basket, or what might be called a palanquin, and accompanied by his ministers, to pay 
 his respects to the Spaniards. Proceeding on board the Saii/a Maria, as Columbus was at 
 dinner, the cacique was conducted to the salon, where he bowed most courteously to the 
 Admiral, and accepted an invitation to dine, though he ate ver\- little. After the meal 
 was ended, as an exhibition of his amity and regard, the cacique presented Columbus with 
 a belt wrought of cocoanut fibre in a most artistic manner, and ornamented with thin 
 plates of gold ; in return for which the delighted admiral gave his imperial guest a coun- 
 terpane of many colors, a collar of amber beads, a pair of red buskins, and a glass flask 
 filled with orange-flower water, the fragrance of w-hich w-as very pleasant. After this 
 exchange of presents, the cacique took his leave, but his brother, perceiving the profit 
 that had attended the visit, came on board and so far forgot his dignity as to beg for 
 similar mementos of the white man's generosity, nor did his boldness go wholly 
 ■unrewarded.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 127 
 
 While lying in Puerto de Paz, Columbus was entertained by the natives with extrava- 
 orant stories of incredible wealth, one of whom declared that he knew an island not far dis- 
 tant where all the mountains were of gold, and the shores were of the same precious metal. 
 But such tales no longer had the effect they once produced upon Columbus, tliough he did 
 not \et abandon hope that he would arrive upon .some island where gold so abounded 
 as to enable him to load his vessels with it, and enrich him beyond the dreams of kings. 
 
 EXCHANGE OF VALUABLE PRESENTS. 
 On the 20th of December, llie anchor-^ were raised and on the same day the harbor 
 of St. Thomas was found and named, where upon landing before a large village, the 
 
 capital of the island, the natives 
 flocked about the Spaniards in 
 greater numbers than before. So 
 liberal were the islanders that they 
 gave more than tlieir white visi- 
 tors were able to receive, which 
 caused Columbus to re-strain their 
 prodigality by issuing an order 
 
 A STATE VISIT OF A CACIQUE, AT THE HARBOR OK HI liKl'O DE I'A/.. 
 
 forbidding any of his men accepting ainthing unless they bestowed something in return. .\t 
 this harbor, where Columbus remained .several days, spending much of his time on shore, 
 he was received by an emba.ssy from the UKJuarch of the island, the Grand Cacique Gua- 
 canagari, who despatched a messenger bearing as a present to the .\dmiral a delicateh- 
 wrouglit belt, to which were suspended colored bits of bone, and a face dextrou.sly car\ed 
 in wood, with the eyes, nose and tongue of beaten gold, accompanied by a pressing 
 invitation from the chief to visit his palace. 
 
 Not being willing to leave the .ships, as the weather appeared threatening, Columbus 
 sent his royal notary, and six men bearing many presents, to accept the hospitalities of
 
 128 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Guacanagari and to conve}- to him assurances of regard and an intention to visit him as 
 soon as the weather became fair. The Spanish embassy was recei\-ed with great ceremon>-, 
 and given even,- pri\-ilege to enjoy whatever the town or its people afforded, and upon 
 being conducted to the presence of the great chief they were made recipients of his most 
 bounteous favors. Receiving from the hands of the Spaniards the presents which Colum- 
 
 THE GENEROUS N.\TIVES FOLLOW THE RETURNING BO.\TS. 
 
 bus had forwarded, he invited them to remain over night in the town, but this the\- had 
 to decline in pursuance of orders requiring them to return on the same day ; whereupon 
 the chief delivered to them, as presents for the Admiral, several pieces of gold and two 
 large parrots that had been taught to utter several words of the native tongue, which were 
 curiosities that Columbus highlv prized.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 12!) 
 
 LOSS OF THE SANTA MARIA. 
 
 On their return to the ships the Spaniards wltl- accompanied by more than a thousand 
 natives, who followed after them in canoes with liberal gifts of fruit, curious native handi- 
 work, and a few pieces of gold, whicli they gave with freedom. Seeing that the latter was 
 held in greatest estimation, several of the natives declared, as an inducement to prolong the 
 stav of their visitors, that in a district called Cibao, somewhere in the interior, there 
 abounded great treasures of gold and precious stones, to which place they would gladly 
 pilot the Spaniards. 
 
 This report acted as fresh fuel to the flame of his avarice, and visions of Quainsas-, the 
 rich kingdom of Kubla Khan, and possessions of the wealth which had been tlie basis of 
 his ambition, again rose in luring grandeur before the longing eyes of Columbus, and he 
 became filled with desire to gain that glittering region. 
 
 But the tropical winter was at hand and tempestuous weather became an interposing 
 barrier to his aspirations. 0;i Christmas Eve, when the anchors were weighed to proceed 
 on a voyage around the island to a point nearer Cibao, the sky was serene, and with a feel- 
 ing of security Columbus retired to sleep, leaving his subordinate officers in charge of the 
 Saii/a .\fan'a. It appears that tlie helmsman soon followed the example of the Admiral 
 and went to sleep, leaving an inexperienced cabin-boy at the rudder, while the other officers, 
 lulled into a false security by the calmness of the sea, fell likewise into drowsy unconcern. 
 The vessel directh' entered a current that swept rapidly through channels about the islands, 
 by which she was carried with full sail upon a sand-bar where she stuck fast and heeled 
 before the wind. The shock of grounding awakened Columbus and also his derelict oflficers, 
 who now rushed upon the deck to behold the result of their neglect and lend assistance in 
 repairing the misfortune for whicli they were accountable. The roar of breakers lent an 
 aspect of fury to the darkness of night, and the sailors became distracted with fear and 
 superstition. In this condition Columbus undertook to save his vessel by ordering a com- 
 pan\' of his men to take a boat and carry an anchor out astern, in order to warp the ship 
 from her perilous position. The men seemed prompt to obey, but the moment they launched 
 the boat they shoved off without the anchor and made with all speed for the Ntfia, which 
 was nearly a league distant. Pinzon, the master, discovering how they had deserted, refused 
 to receive them on board and ordered thena back to their duty ; but so slowly did thev 
 comph- that a boat from the Nina, with a relief crew, reached the stranded vessel in advance 
 of the returning deserters. Meanwhile, the breakers had thrown the Sa>i/a Maria still 
 farther upon the sand, where she lay careening and beating with great force. Columbus 
 ordered the masts to be cut away, hoping thus to relieve her, but his efforts were all in \ain. 
 The seams now opened, admitting the water, but the tide presently receded, leaving her fast, 
 yet safe for the time from the destructive force of the breakers. Had the .sea been tem- 
 pestuous all must have been drowned, but good fortune so far attended them that all escaped 
 to the Xiiia, and in the morning Columbus .sent two of his men, Diego de Arana and Pedro 
 Guttierrez, to the great chief Guacanagari, to acquaint him with their disa.ster. This sad 
 news moved the compa.ssionate cacique to tears, but he did not stop to ponder over the mis- 
 fortune. He immediately ordered great numbers of his people to go in canoes to the aid of 
 Columbus, and to implicitly obey his orders in securing the cargo and safety of the ship. 
 .\t the same time he despatched a messenger to the Admiral with expressions of his sincere 
 regret and to offer him " the whole of his possessions." 
 
 GENEROUS HELP OF THE NATIVES. 
 
 So efficient were the services of tlie natives, llial in a short while all tlie goods were 
 9
 
 130 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 taken out of the ship and carried to a secure place on the shore, where a guard was 
 placed over them by the chief, lest some of his people might be tempted to appropriate 
 some articles for which their fancy longed. No civilized magistrate could have done 
 more to assist and protect the interests of unfortunate friends than did this honest, gene- 
 rous-minded cacique. Nor was the virtue of his actions limited to himself, but extended 
 to all the natives, who appeared to be innocent of any thought of profit from the disaster. 
 "The svmpathies of the people for Columbus in his loss, and the reception he received 
 
 from the Indian sovereign, mitigated 
 the bitterness of the accident. In no 
 part of the civilized world would he 
 have recei\ed warmer or more cordial 
 hospitality." 
 
 But the loss was great enough. The Pinta was gone ; and now the Admiral's flag- 
 ship, with opened seams, lay prostrate on the perilous sands, quaking with each impact 
 of the sea ; shivering like a wounded creature at every blow of the hand that smote it 
 down. O thou Santa Afaria, thou famous remembrancer of the centuries ! The names 
 of none of those that sailed in search of the Golden Fleece are so well-preserved among 
 the eternities of history as is thine. No vessel of Rome, of Greece, of Carthage, of 
 Egypt, that carried conquering Caesar, triumphant Alexander, valiant Hannibal, or beau- 
 teous Cleopatra, shall be so well known to coming ages as thou art. No ship of the Spanish 
 Armada, or of Lord Howard, who swept it from the sea — no looming monster ; no Great 
 Eastern or frowning iron-clad of modern navies, shall be held like thee in perpetual
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. i;jl 
 
 reineuibrance by all the sons of luen. For none ever bore snch a hero on such a mission, 
 that has glorified all nations by giving the greatest of all countries to the world. 
 
 Touched bv the generous treatment which he received at the hands of Guacanatrari 
 and his subjects, Columbus pays them this beautiful tribute : " They are a loving, uncove- 
 tous people ; so docile in all things that I swear to your majesties there is not in the 
 world a better race or a more delightful country. They love their neighbors as tliem- 
 selves ; and their talk is ever sweet and gentle, accompanied with smiles ; and tliougli 
 they be naked, \et their manners are decorous and praiseworthy." 
 
 It may be with soberness asked : Was it better, in the eyes of God, to convert these 
 virtuous people from the happy innocence of their primitive condition, to the civilization of 
 the Spaniards, under which they have become the most degraded specimens of the West India 
 race, or to have left them to enjoy the blessings of loving confidence, contentment, honestv 
 and universal brotherhood which characterized them at the time of Columbus's coming? In 
 tnith, it does appear that these simple people had found Christ before they heard His name, 
 or saw the cross that the civilized Spaniards erected to teach them how He died. 
 
 A DISPLAY OF SPANISH ARMS. 
 
 To arouse him from the despondency of his situation, the cacique had the rescued goods 
 carried into three buildings prepared for the purpose, and then gave Columbus an urgent 
 invitation to accept the hospitalities of his capital. Since the voyage could not be continued 
 until the Santa Maria was repaired and floated, or her final loss determined, the Admiral 
 availed himself of the courtesies so cordially extended and went on shore, where he was 
 magnificently received. .A. banquet was then set by the native king, at which Columbus 
 and several of his officers were regaled with ever>' delicacy that the island afforded. At the 
 meal the cacique conducted himself with a dignity and decorum scarcely surpa.s.sed by the 
 most civilized potentates, and as if he had long been accustomed to entertaining distin- 
 guished representati\-es from the first powers of the world. 
 
 In return for the kindnesses received, Columbus invited Guacanagari and his ministers 
 to dine with him on board the JVina, which gave the cacique intense delight, and was fol- 
 lowed by an interchange of courtesies mutually profitable and pleasurable. A familiarity 
 thus became established, and Columbus had opportunity of displaying before the natives 
 some of the arts and instalments of power of Castilian civilization. The Spanish anus were 
 exhibited and the sailors were put through evolutions to show their military precision and 
 skill in the handling of arbalets, Moorish hand-bows, arquebuses, and the destruction that 
 might be produced by their artiller\' of falconets. Having demonstrated the effectiveness 
 of Spanish weapons, Columbus explained to the chief how he might make his island proof 
 against the invasion of Caribs, who were accustomed to make predator^' incursions into 
 Hispaniola for purposes of spoliation. The Caribs of the Bahamas and of South America 
 were indeed terrors to all the other West Indies islanders, who suffered constantly from their 
 depredations, and were not infrequently enslaved by them ; so that the suggestions of Colinn- 
 bus were hailed with great delight by Guacanagari, and his request for pennission to erect a 
 fort on the island was accordingly granted with gladness. On the other hand. Cohnnbus 
 utilized this privilege as a proof of priority of occupation against all claims which might be 
 thereafter made by other nations sending expeditions into these waters, for it was his intent 
 to recommend the island as possessing special advantages for succossful colonization. 
 
 AN ENTERTAINMENT PROVIDED BV THE NATIVES. 
 
 At the conclusion of the ver>- impressive exhibition made by the Spaniards, the cacique 
 provided an entertainment for his guests, which, though devoid of militar)- aspect, was none
 
 132 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the less interesting. The most athletic natives appeared and strove for honors in a tourna- 
 ment of wrestling, jumping, dancing, and in several unique games peculiar to the islanders, 
 in every way acquitting themselves in the most creditable manner. When the games were 
 finished, Guacanagari presented Columbus with a necklace of gold pellets, deftly united, 
 and a crown of the same material. He also gave his distinguished guest a small wooden 
 image, supposed to possess some potent influence, the eyes, ears and tongue of which were 
 made of gold hammered into thin sheets, and received in return a handsome mirror, an 
 ewer, wash-pitcher, a shirt, and pair of gloves. 
 
 The sailors, while not sharing in the gifts bestowed by the chief, profited equally well 
 bv exchanging with the natives hawks, -bells, glass trinkets, and other gew-gaws, for pieces 
 of gold, cotton and provisions. To this advantageous traffic was the added pleasure of the 
 reverential regard in which the Indians held their guests, esteeming them, as they did, as 
 beings so superior by birth that their advent must have been from the sky. 
 
 There was nothing for the sailors now to do but wander at will about the island and 
 enjoy its many blessings ; where pleasing and restful conditions abounded ; where ambition 
 was satiated by the prodigality of nature, the sensuousness of air, the mellifluence of flowering 
 sweets and delicious fruitage ; where the smile of peace, the laugh of content, the hand 
 of plenty, diffiised universal joy and made life a dream of pleasure. 
 
 Columbus was himself so impressed by the beauty and advantage of the.se surroundings 
 that he decided to effect at once a colonization of the island, and to this end he called for 
 volunteers to remain as a nucleus until he could return to Spain and bring additional force. 
 Much to his gratification, a considerable number indicated their willingness to accept the 
 conditions offered. They were the more ready to embrace this opportunity to spend their 
 lives in elegant ease, because of peculiar circumstances : the perils of a return voyage were 
 not without effect, especially since only one vessel, the Nina^ remained, and she the smallest 
 and frailest of the three ; but there was the more influential condition of intimacy which 
 had been established between many of the sailors and the maidens of the islands. We 
 may hope that a few at least of the connections thus formed were of the heart, and that 
 a consecration of these informal marriages was found in the ennobling emotions and senti- 
 ments that inspired them, without which the most sacred of human bonds is profaned. 
 
 A FORT AND COLONY ESTABLISHED IN HAYTI. 
 
 Forty-two men having signified their consent to remain on the island as colonists, 
 Columbus set about the immediate construction of a fort, in the building of which the 
 timbers of the stranded Santa Maria were used for a block-house and tower and her gims 
 were recovered and mounted to complete the equipment. The fort thus established, as well 
 as the harbor which it defended, was named in honor of The Nativity, La Natividad, the 
 command of which was given to Diego de Arana, who was also appointed governor. Among 
 the colonists were several artisans, including a carpenter, cooper, tailor, gunsmith, and also 
 a physician, and the comfort and necessities of the whole were carefully provided for by 
 leaving a quantity of wine, provisions, clothing and merchandise for barter, all of which were 
 stored in a natural cave of considerable dimensions over which the fort was built. Besides 
 these there was a liberal supply of small arms, which the colonists were cautioned to wear 
 against surprise from invaders, and there was also a quantity of seed to sow in the land. 
 
 Having thus secured the safety of the colonists, Columbus delivered a touching address, 
 in which he sought to impress them with the responsibilities which they were about to 
 assume as the first white settlers in the new world, and the deep sense of thankfulness 
 which they should feel towards God for the watchful care and tender mercies He had
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 1:33 
 
 shown them. He exhorted them to be diligent in the propagation of the Christian reli- 
 gion among the poor natives who had so hospitabh- received them, and to yield loyal obedi- 
 ence to the officers appointed over them. He connselled them particularly, in their inter- 
 course with the natives, to obser\-e the riglits of all, to practice a pious continence in 
 regard to women, to keep inviolate the bond of brotherhood in which their safet\ la\ , and 
 
 7/7777'Tl 
 
 V- 
 
 GUACANAGARI TAKING HIS LEAVE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 to remain within the jurisdiction of the cacique, to whose favors they owed so much and 
 who would extend to them his protection. 
 
 On the 2d of January, 1493, Columbus gave a banquet to Ciuacanagari and took 
 this last occa-sion of manifesting to him his appreciation of the many kindnesses which had 
 been conferred upon him and his men since landing on the island. He accordingly gave 
 the cacique a .scarlet mantle, a pair of buskins, a siher ring and a necklace of beads.
 
 184 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 After bestowing these gifts he embraced the chief with such tenderness that tears came 
 to the eyes of both, and amid such emotions the two parted. 
 
 A strong shore wind detained the Niiia imtil the morning of January' 4, when 
 the final partings occurred, and the brave little ship lifted her sails and started to traverse 
 the wide sea that separated her passengers from the shores of Spain. Many of these were 
 gladdened with thoughts of home and waiting friends, and there were others — natives of 
 Hispaniola — who had consented to brave the dangers of the ocean world for a sight of 
 that countr}' whence the Spaniards came, and which they believed must be some celestial 
 clime bordering the region of the sun.
 
 ;<iR-«.^^ 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A MEETING WITH THE DESERTER. 
 
 RAXD even to the fulfilment of his first ambition was 
 the discoxen- that would set liis name on the very spire 
 of Fame's temple, yet this supreme accomplishment 
 could not totally repress the sense of present danger. 
 How, then, can we estimate the misgivings, the hopes, 
 the passions which must have agitated Columbus when 
 the emerald banks of Hayti faded from his view, 
 and a \ast expanse of water spread awa\-, sug- 
 gesti\e of storm and peril that lay between him 
 and the shores of Spain? There was elation for 
 him, however, in the flattering belief that the colony 
 planted in the New World would pro\e a nucleus 
 around which would gather not onl\- a glorious pres- 
 tige, but from which would spread a great wave 
 of Christiauit}- and commerce ,to perpetuate his fame ; 
 and there was joy in the anticipation of vast accumu- 
 lation of gold, which he believed the colonists would 
 surely find on the island in quantities to load manv ships. 
 In this enrichment of his sovereigns he was to receive an eighth, which would enable 
 him to accomplish his primal ambition. Lifted into ecstas}- by his ever active imagina- 
 tion, while contemplating the golden sands and mountains of Cabique, a glorious \ision 
 filled his soul. The coffers of Spain were bursting with stores of gold, which inspired 
 Christendom with new resolution to attempt a recovery of the Holy Land. What the 
 Cnisaders through two centuries had been unable to accomplish, should now be done under 
 the gilded banners of Castile and Aragon. See the marshalling of a numberless host, 
 whose annors dazzle from afar like dew drops in the grass ; whose flaming falchions cleave 
 the sun and flash its lustre back in gleams scintillant. In God's name, under the legend 
 of the cross, he sees the marching ann\', hears the inspiring blare of tnunpet, and sights 
 the standards of Spain, beside which waves in glor}' his own banner, emblazoned with 
 devices that proclaim the splendor of his achievements : five anchors on a field of azure, 
 map of the sea, thrice turreted, crenelated tower, and rampant lion. Oh, what a brilliant 
 dream I Alas, there is no beauty like that of dying day, when the palaces of cloud-land are 
 set aflame with rays of a blood-red sun. There is no pall so great as when the fires die out 
 and leave banks of blackened clouds rolling on the bosom of threatening night. So, from 
 his dream of chivalr\- — of glory full attained — he awoke at last to find the vision faded, 
 and that all his hopes were dead. 
 
 If he was transported by the anticipation of gains wliich lie believed must come from his 
 discoveries, he was dejected by harassinents tliat sprang from fear, doubts and dangers. The 
 one thorn of his misgivings was the contemplation of the results of Alonzo Pinzon's de.ser- 
 
 (■35)
 
 136 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 tion. Twice had reports been brought to him while on Hispaniola that the Pinta had been 
 sighted hovering near that land. As often did he send a boat in anxious search of the 
 missing vessel, but all efFoi-ts to find her had been vain. Two months had now elapsed since 
 the separation, and there was justification for the alann that Columbus felt. The Pinta 
 ma\- have been lost on some dangerous reef; the crew may have perished or been cast 
 upon some desolate shore. But there was }-et a graver fear. Pinzon had furnished a vessel 
 from his own means; he was a skilful navigator, and withal an ambitious man. Chafing 
 under subordination to a foreigner, he may have had a cunning purpose in abandoning the 
 expedition. His ship was the fastest sailer and the most seaworthy; might he not have 
 designed a scheme to rob Columbus of the honors of discovery and appropriate them to 
 himself; mav he not have sailed away for Spain bearing the first news of a world beyond 
 
 the sea, and conceived some specious 
 story to magnify his deeds and disparage 
 the Admiral, whose reputation a thou- 
 sand enemies had been vainly trying to 
 destroy ? 
 
 (^^)\ %^^^ 's«^£" ''^?\ \^^r^ ^'-^'- '" the midst of these gloomy 
 
 }y^\ rurua I ' i,lipw=w9 TxA S/./'ii} fc>iW\ i ^^s reflections Columbus was suddenly 
 
 aroused by a glad en,- set tip at once 
 by many sailors : "A ship ! A ship ! " 
 Looking towards the north, there, sure 
 enough, he saw the white sails of a 
 •^ ^-4/ : \-essel heading towards the shore of 
 Hayti, and a few moments later dis- 
 covered to him that the ship was none 
 other than the Pinta^ so long missing. 
 Turning about, Columbus pointed the 
 Nina towards a small bay, in which 
 both vessels soon cast their anchors, and 
 an eager scramble quickly followed, to 
 exchange welcomes and congratulations. 
 Pinzon paid his respects to Columbus 
 as soon as he could reach the Nina and 
 excused his desertion b>' a stor\' such as 
 might have been anticipated, though 
 manifestly lacking the prime element 
 of veracity. He claimed that vio- 
 lent weather on November 20th had driven him far out of his course, despite all 
 his efforts, and losing sight of the other ships he had spent the time, up to this meeting, 
 in a vain attempt to join them. For prudential reasons Columbus suppressed his feelings 
 and appeared to hear with satisfaction the explanations and apologies of his subordinate, 
 whose desertion he knew was inspired by selfishness and avarice, as already explained. 
 Besides this, it was presently learned that Pinzon had put in at one of the bays of San 
 Domingo, where he had opened a traffic with the natives, from whom he had obtained a con- 
 siderable quantity of gold, the half of which he gave his crew as a bribe for their silence. 
 B,ut even with this evidence of his pei-fidy, Columbus wisely chose to receive Pinzon 
 with appearances of gratification and pardon, since he was a man of wealth and influence 
 
 COLUMBUS COAT OK .\RMS.
 
 COLUMBUS AM) COLUMBIA. 
 
 lo7 
 
 in Palos, to wliom a majority of the sailors, being his countn men, were devotedly attached 
 and would not have brooked a deprivation of his command or his treatment as a mutineer. 
 
 During a stay of three days in the bay where the ships met, preparations were 
 completed for a return trip to Spain, but just before departure, many glittering particles 
 of mica were di.scovered in the mouth of the river Yaqui, near by, which were believed 
 to he ijold. and a considerable collection of the worthless metal was made and carried 
 
 on board the vessels for transportation to Spain. 
 In honor of the supposed fabuk)ns find, Columbus 
 named the river Rio del Oro. 
 
 A FIGHT WITH THE NATIVES. 
 On the gtli of January, departure was made 
 from the anchorage where the vessels liad met, 
 but owing to contrar)- winds on the followijig day 
 the ships put into a harbor where Martin Alonzo 
 Pinzon had lain some time before 
 trafficking with the natives. Here 
 it was leanied that Pinzon had 
 seized six islanders, among the 
 number being two beautiful girls, 
 whom he desig^ied to carrj' back to 
 Spain and sell as slaves. But 
 whether prompted by jealousy or 
 humanity, Columbus ordered them 
 released and conciliated the out- 
 raged natives by liberal donations 
 of hawks, -bells, beads, mirrors and 
 
 SH.\XIARDS REPULSING THK NATIVKS. clotllS. 
 
 Proceeding again from the place of this last detention, the ships rounded a promon- 
 tor\- and on the second da\- came to land where a new and more warlike tribe of aborigines 
 was discovered, which Las Casas describes as wearing long hair and decorating their 
 bodies with paint and feathers. They were well anned with war clubs, swords of hardened 
 palm-wood, and bows and arrows of fonnidable size, so that in many respects the\- resem- 
 bled the North American Indians. 
 
 Efforts to establish intercourse with these fierce islanders were not at first successful, 
 and some curious beliefs directly obtained among the Spaniards respecting their cannibal 
 propensities. At length, however, a party of sailors succeeded in bartering several trinkets 
 for a few specimens of the native weapons, but when they attempted to return with their 
 prizes the sailors were fiercely attacked in an effort made by the islanders to recover the 
 articles which they had exchanged. In defending themselves the Spaniards wounded two 
 of the natives, who retired sullenly, but with an exhibition of surprise rather than of fear. 
 T!iis rupture in what, for a while, bid fair for the establishment of amicable relations, was 
 repaired on the following day by peaceful overtures made by Columbus, who, distributing 
 a quantity of presents among the islanders, at length induced the cacique of these people 
 to visit him on board the Xifia, where he was most generously entertained, and requited 
 this kind treatment by sending to the ships a large supply of fruits and vegetables. 
 
 .Spreading his sails again, Columbus went in quest of the countr>- of the Caribs and 
 Amazons, and being variously directed by all the natives with wiioin Ik- came in contact.
 
 138 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 his course was in as many directions, until the sailors became bitter in their objections 
 to further explorations which prolonged their absence from home without bringing any 
 substantial benefits. In deference to their wishes, therefore, Columbus turned the prow 
 of his vessel eastward for the shores of Spain. 
 
 Up to this time, for a period of six months, the weather had been propitious, nor 
 did it yet become heavy, but the vessels now encountered trade winds blowing from the 
 east, which compelled them to tack and beat about until the sailors became confused 
 as to the point of their course. It was also directly discovered that the Pinta was falling 
 behind bv reason of the neglect of her commander to repair her foremast, which had 
 been broken during his independent cruise about Hayti. This caused Columbus great 
 delay, as he had to proceed under half sail in order to keep company with the laboring 
 consort. At the slow pace the vessels were now making the sailors were able to amuse 
 themselves by leaping overboard, swimming around the ships, and in taking great num- 
 bers of fish, which constantly played about the caravels in immense shoals. A large 
 shark was also captured, which lent excitement to the other pleasures of the sailors, who 
 fared sumptuoush- on fresh fish, and the flesh of the shark, which they declared was most 
 
 palatable. 
 
 A TERRIBLE STORM. 
 
 The last days of Januar}- slipped by with no more important incidents, and in the 
 
 doubtfulness of their course and position, Columbus and his officers began to debate as 
 
 to what part of the coast 
 
 of Europe they were 
 likely to strike, a sub- 
 ject rendered particu- 
 larly confusing to the 
 sailing officers by reason 
 of the false reckonings 
 made by him on his out- 
 ward \-o\'age. But e\-eiA' 
 prospect continued aus- 
 picious, with no dissatis- 
 faction save in the slow- 
 Februars- 12th, when a 
 ap- 
 
 IN THE CALM LATITUDE. 
 
 an 
 
 ness at which the vessels were moving, imtil the afternoon of 
 
 howling wind, swelling sea, and lowering clouds became nature's prophec\- of 
 
 proaching storm. 
 
 Before night set in a roaring tempest came swooping otit of the northeast and struck 
 the little vessels with a fury that threatened their destruction ; but Columbus had prepared 
 them for the battle by taking in all sail, thus leaving them to run before the blast with 
 bare poles. 
 
 The first onslaught of the wind was followed by a lull, in which the stonn gathered 
 up all its reserved forces and then repeated the charge with greatly increased rage, heeling 
 the ships and hurling mad billows in tumultuous impetuosity against their frail sides. As 
 darkness curtained the lashing waves the roar of the bounding sea was drowned \>\ a ter- 
 rific bombardment from heaven's artiller}^, and continuous flashes of lightning sent ter- 
 ror to the souls of the poor encompassed ones. The anger of nature seemed turned 
 against the ships that were bearing home with them report of a new world beyond 
 the evening gates of the sun, as if jealous of a discovery destined to turn the chivalr)- of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 U9 
 
 Europe from contemplating a rescue of the Holy Land, to the reclamation of another con- 
 tinent, where, thouj:;h over bloody highways, commerce and Christianity would march 
 together to higher attainments than they had ever before reached. Down in the ca\ernous 
 depths, or on the spray-capped crests of the billows, the cr\- of despair was mingled with the 
 voice of praver, but there came no other answer than wild dash of surge, deafening peal of 
 thunder, or blinding flashes riving the cimmcrian vault of rolling clouds where all the fiends 
 of fur>- appeared to be holding carnival. 
 
 And thus the dreadful night wore away in tumultuary distress, and iiiiiniin- hruke 
 with no pity for the horrified sailors. In the riot of wind and wave 
 the two vessels were separated, and the crews of each now con- 
 templated the destruction of the other. When light of day came 
 stealing down the east it was only to expose a sea lashing in 
 impetuous anger, and a sky black and ominous of death, with never 
 a rift anywhere in the dreadfulness of an awful surrounding. 
 The little ship, poorly equipped and sorely out of repair, had not 
 bonie these buffetings without serious impainnent, and before she 
 had weathered this first night of stonn her seams began to open, 
 thus multiplying the chances of her foundering and carrying all 
 on board into graves where wnnding sheets are not necessarj- to 
 corses nor the ser\'ice of sexton essential in the obsequies. 
 
 DESPAIR SUGGESTS VOWS OF PENANCE. 
 
 All prayer being unavailing, Columbus, still strong in his re- 
 ligious faith, had recourse to penance, feeling that his own and the 
 sins of those who composed his crew, must have brought upon 
 theuL God's wTath in the form of stonn visitation. First repeating 
 his vows before the image of the Holy Virgin, he prepared lots by 
 selecting dried beans equal to the number of tho.se on board, upon 
 one of which a cross was made ; then exacting an agreement that 
 he who should draw the marked bean would, if his life were spared, 
 make a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin of Guadaloupe 
 and bear thither a wax taper of five pounds weight, placed the 
 beans in a cap and the lottery began. Each one was to draw in 
 the order of his rank, and it happened that Columbus, being first, 
 drew the marked bean. A second vow was then taken, that he 
 upon whom the lot should next fall would make a holy pilgrimage 
 to the Chapel of Our Lady of Loretto. At this second drawing 
 the obligation fell on Pedro de Villa, who, being too poor to bear 
 the expenses of such a journey, Columbus generously offered to discharge liiem liimself. 
 A third time lots were drawn, he upon whom the sign should fall \owing to repair to 
 the Church of Santa Clara, at Moguer, where he was to participate in High Mass, and 
 spend the entire night in prayer before the altar. This lot also devolved uj^on Columbus 
 by his drawing the marked bean. But the obligations thus self-imposed were not vet 
 completed, for the stonn continuing, without any signs of abatement, tlie entire crew 
 regi.stered a vow that if all were spared, they would, at the first place of landing, proceed 
 in procession, with no other gannent upon their bodies than a shirt, to the nearest shrine, 
 and there offer up thank.sgivings for their deliverance. We cannot frame a rea.sonahle 
 excuse for such a vow, beyond the supposition that it involved mortification, and was
 
 140 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 imposed as a sign of extreme humility ; but whatever the reason, certainly the feelings of 
 those whom the half-naked sailors might meet at the shrine were not considered, and with- 
 out irreverence we may pause to wonder if such a display would have been pleasing to 
 the sight of the Blessed Mrgin. 
 
 But all this manifestation of deep piety failed to lull the storm beatings, or bring 
 peace to the angry waters, which continued to surge with a fury appalling in its intensity. 
 The fears that had beset the sailors now thoroughly possessed their Admiral, who, consider- 
 ing his destruction as inevitable, began, as best he could, to concert means for preser\-ing 
 the results of his discoveries. It is pathetic to follow the workings of his sublime intelli- 
 gence in the hour of his supreme peril and resignation to fate. The concerns of his own 
 life were of less moment to him now than were those of his children and patrons. The 
 somewhat consoling reflection came to him that if by any means a knowledge of his deeds 
 could be con;municated to their majesties of Spain, then his two sons, Diego and Fernando, 
 would receive from these sovereigns all the emoluments and honors stipulated in the con- 
 tracts under which he had sailed. To conceive the idea was to execute a plan, in pursu- 
 ance of which he hiirriedly composed a sketch of his voyage and the great -discoveries which 
 he had made, and wrapping the precious parchment in a waxed cloth, which in turn was 
 incased in wax, committed it to a water-tight cask, and cast it into the sea, hoping that 
 favoring currents might carr\' it to some friendly shore. To insure the deliver}- of the 
 packet, in case of its recover}- from the waves, he directed it to the Queen of Castile, and 
 appended a promissor\- obligation of a thousand ducats (equal to as many dollars of Ameri- 
 can money) to any one who should restore it unopened to her Majesty. 
 
 Bxit not yet content with the chance which he thus provided, Columbus made a copy 
 of the sketch, which he likewise enclosed in a barrel, but instead of entnisting it directly 
 to the sea fastened it securely to the poop of his ship, so that in case of wreck it might be 
 laorne upon the bosom of the sea until found by some passing vessel in the future. 
 A PACKAGE WHICH THE OCEAN REFUSES TO GIVE UP. 
 
 What a secret for the ocean to so long possess; what a precious thing for historians to 
 acquire. To this day has hope continued in its ultimate recovery, and since its precious- 
 uess cannot be computed, enthusiasts still picture the results of its restoration from the sea. 
 To find this parchment now, would be like the recovery of a letter written by Richard the 
 Lion Heart in the German prison, or the restoration of the original manuscripts of the Pan- 
 dects of Justinian; or the notes of Demosthenes for his great oration on the crown; or the 
 Hebrew Ark of the Covenant. 
 
 So valuable would be such a possession that reports of the finding of the cask have 
 been published more than once to excite the credulous, or amuse the wise. As late as 1852, 
 directly after that unveracious but universal historian — the newspaper correspondent — had 
 been born into the world, one of that inventive craft, whose business it is to create what 
 may not be discovered, contributed to an English paper an elaborate story- describing the 
 details of the recover.- of the barrel by the captain of a Boston ship named the Chieftain, 
 who, it was declared, found it embedcjed deeply in the sand on the coast of Africa. For a 
 while the fiction was accepted as tnie, and even Lamartine adopted it as a verity, only 
 to repudiate it later, howe\-er, when the hoax was exploded. 
 
 The pra\ers, vows and precautions which so long seemed unavailing, were followed 
 by relief towards e\-eniug of the third day, when, with the declining sun there appeared 
 promising streaks of light cleaving retiring clouds, and when night came on the mern,- stars 
 were revealed as if laughing with joy for the danger passed. But though the sky was now
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 141 
 
 serene, deep heavin<;s of the sea continued, renderinjj pro^i^ress slow and painful, while 
 anxiety for the safet>' of the Piula still deeph' concerned Columbus, whose dreadful antici- 
 pations were reflected by all of his crew. 
 
 On the morning following the subsidence of the storm, February i.slh, Rui Garcia per- 
 ceived by the faint light of breaking da\- the dark outline of an island towards the north- 
 east, and all on board the Xifia were quickly apprised of the discover)'. Manx different 
 opinions were hazarded as to the land thus seen, but the claim of Columbus, that it was 
 one of the Azores, was presently confirmed by a close approach to shore, when the charac- 
 teristic peaks of Santa Maria became unmistakable. But the sea was still .so turbulent that 
 anchorage could not be attempted, and for two days the vessel beat about, but stood off the 
 shore, and when the anchor was at last cast on the evening of the 17th, the cable parted, 
 compelling the Xina to lie to until morning. 
 
 SAVED AT USTI 
 
 It was a singular fact that landing was at length accomplished at the same islands from 
 which departure was made in the preceding autunm, and that it was the frailest of the three 
 vessels which succeeded in returning to these Portuguese possessions, out of the very throat 
 of the most violent stonn that had been known in the memory of man. 
 
 No sooner had the Xiha effected an anchorage in the mouth of an inviting bay, than 
 many of the inhabitants came out to welcome the voyagers, bringing such provisions as 
 the island produced, and were regaled in turn with astoimding stories of discovery and 
 ad\enture in the New World. 
 
 In fulfilment of the vow which the crew had solemnh- recorded in an hour of immi- 
 nent peril, Columbus, who was .suffering severely from an attack of gout, besides exhaus- 
 tion from exposure of a three days' unbroken watch, sent half of all his .sailors to a hermi- 
 tage not far from the anchorage to perform penance, while he sought a needed rest until 
 their return. True to their holy obligation, the Spaniards went ashore, barefoot and with 
 no more clothing than a short shirt, insufficient to hide their nakedness. Then, forming in 
 procession, the\' marched towards the chapel, where a priest was engaged to perform mass. 
 On the way, however, they were intercepted by a squad of soldiers, sent b\' Juan de Casta- 
 neda, governor of the island, to apprehend them for outraging the proprieties of all civili- 
 zation by thus exposing their nakedness to the rabble of villagers who followed close at 
 their heels with hootings and objurgations. The arrest, as some authorities maintain, was 
 not made until the Spaniards gained the chapel, and were in the act of performing their 
 vows before the altar, when the governor himself appeared and urged the .soldiers to obey 
 his orders, who then conducted the sailors to the garrison pri.son. 
 
 TROUBLE WITH THE PORTUGUESE. 
 
 The long absence of those of his crew who had gone t)U shore gave Columbus such 
 uneasiness that he moved his ship to a position commanding a view of the liermitage, 
 hoping thereby to ascertain the cause, and to be in a position to afford his men protection 
 in case it was necessary-. Scarcely had he dropped anchor again when the governor was 
 seen riding down the hill at the head of a troop of horsemen, who were able to approacli 
 sufficiently near the Nina to give a hail, and directly a boat was pushed out which con- 
 veyed the governor on board the vessel. .\\\ interview then followed in which Castaneda 
 infonned Columbus of the arre.st of his sailors, and that he had acted under commands of 
 the King of Portugal. This developed a serious condition of affairs, which Columbus 
 could not help regarding as a hostile act, and he accordingh' adopted vigorous measures to 
 resist arrest, believing either that Spain and Portugal were at war, or that jealousy had
 
 142 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 prompted King John to concert means for his destrnction. The defiant air of Castaneda 
 gave color of reason to either assumption, and prevented an understanding of the real 
 situation. The wind now increasing strongly off shore, Columbus was compelled to hoist 
 his anchor and move out to sea again, where for two da\s he was buffeted about in great 
 danger and with only half a crew to manage the ship. On the 22d the weather moderated 
 sufficiently to pennit a return to his first anchorage, where he was visited by a Portuguese 
 notary and ten priests. The interview which followed was of a more conciliator}- char- 
 acter, the officer explaining that the governor had taken the Spaniards for pirates, which at 
 that time infested every sea, but told Columbus if his commission and ship's papers were 
 regular, the sailors would be promptly liberated and proper apologies made. The misap- 
 prehensions and suspicions of both parties were thus relieved b}- an exhibition of the letters 
 patent ; those under arrest were set at libert}', and upon their return to the Nina Columbus 
 and the others of his crew proceeded to fulfil their vows, according to the conditions of 
 their self-imposed obligation. 
 
 ANOTHER TERRIBLE STORM ASSAILS THE SHIP. 
 ' On the 24th of February, the Admiral, ha\ing replenished his stores, and made some 
 ■necessary repairs to the ship, started again on his homeward voyage. For three days after 
 leaving Santa Maria the weather was fair, and such speed was made that he reckoned the 
 ' distance to Cape St. Vincent was not more than a thousand miles. Whoever studies care- 
 fully the movements of great enterprises, and discovering often at the ver>' crisis of the 
 thing about to be accomplished the opposition of adverse forces, marshalled as if in a bat- 
 talion, and bearing down vehemently to prevent by sheer hostility and elemental war the 
 completion of the work in hand, may almost become superstitious lest nature herself have 
 confederated with diabolical agencies to thwart and ruin the hopes of men. It seemed in 
 the present case that sky and sea and tempest, over and above the enmity of the human 
 race, had conspired in the last hour to prevent the success of the great enterprise, to hurl 
 back and send to the oblivion of ocean ca\-erns the glorious discoveries which Columbus had 
 made in the Occident. On the night of February 27th, the storm god swooped out of the 
 west again with fell furv in his breath, and struck the little vessel with such terrific force 
 that every timber in her groaned with the impact. Yet she rode before the blast without 
 ■material injury until the night of March 2d, when the gale increased to such violence 
 that in a trice the little sails still spread were burst and blown into tatters, while the vessel 
 was plunged so deeply into the sea that it appeared she could never rise. Great guns from 
 the heavenly ramparts boomed their responses to the hissing of fiery dragons vaulting 
 across the skies. Clouds boiled like thick vapors from witches' cauldrons until they seemed 
 to take on shapes of demons, v/raiths, monsters of hellish mien and Satanic hate, while 
 ■dashing billows leaped up and shook their white locks defiant of the powers of air. So 
 intense were the paro.xysms of infuriate nature tliat all the world appeared to be torn 
 asunder and chaos had grasped the sea in its withering hand. In the darkness that came 
 as a mantle to hide the destruction of the elements, hope nearly perished, and but for the 
 sustaining strength of pious faith Columbus would have abandoned him.self to the fate 
 which appeared inevitable. In this hour of dreadful peril he had recourse to the means 
 which seemed to avail him in an extremity scarcely more hopeless. Yielding to his soul's 
 impulses, he mentally resolved to perform new penances, and assembling the crew, as best 
 he could despite the plunging of the ship, he produced the cap of beans and bade each to 
 •draw one therefrom. Most strange coincidence, when the drawing was completed he found 
 the marked bean in his own hand again : whereupon he took a vow that if spared to gain
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 143 
 
 the shore he would make a pilgrimage in bare feet to the shrine of Santa Maria de la 
 
 Cueva (or Cinta), in Huelva. 
 
 SAFE IN THE PROVIDENCE OFGOD. 
 
 Whatever the cause, though de\uul persons will always consider it as a mark of pro- 
 pitiated deitv, when the morning of March 3d broke, there was visible along the horizon of 
 a leaden skv the shore of I'orlugal, agaiii>i which breakers wen.- da^liiiii; iiiMiiiil.iiii high. A 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE Okl-.Vr blUKM OF M.VRCU, I493. 
 
 cheer went up at this sight of land, but it was quickly hushed by a sudden realization of 
 danger that broke in frantic dashing of huge billows along the rocky shore. So all day the 
 Xif/a held to sea, bounding up and down on the great waves, until the following morn- 
 ing the promontory of Cintra, near Lisbon, was recognized, when an effort was made to 
 enter the estuary of the Tagns, which was accomplished some time in the afternoon. 
 
 The iiiliabitants of the town of Cascaes, and along the shore, had watched with i)aiiiful
 
 144 COLUAIBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 
 
 suspense the dangerous buffeting of the strange vessel, every moment, for many hours, ex- 
 pecting its engulfment, and when at last a safe anchorage was reached thousands of persons 
 came down to the bay and put off in boats to oifer welcomes and congratulations, which 
 chano-ed to praise and thanksgiving when they learned that the stranger was the A'ifm, with 
 Columbus and his followers, bearing tidings from a new world. Directly the anchor was 
 let go, Columbus despatched a letter to King John, who was then with his court at \'alparaiso, 
 thirty miles from Lisbon, requesting pennission to enter and refit at the port of Lisbon, and 
 asking protection during his stay in Portuguese waters, at the same time describing, in the 
 briefest wav, the discoveries which he had made. Before a reply could be received, how- 
 ever, Columbus became involved in trouble with Alonzo de Acuna, commander of a man- 
 of-war which lay in the road-stead, who peremptorily summoned the Admiral to report in 
 person the object of his entering Portuguese waters. To this command the Admiral returned 
 a defiant answer, but sent his commission bearing the autographs of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 which had the most pronounced effect. Thus learning his name, rank and mission, Acuna 
 immediately returned his profound acknowledgments and proceeded to pay a homage to the 
 returned explorer as flattering as one brave man may pay another. Launching his largest 
 boat, Acuna decorated it with bunting, in which Portugiiese and Spanish banners were 
 blended, and taking on board his militar\- band, paid a visit of imposing display to Columbus, 
 to whom he offered his services in the most generous spirit. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT THE ESTUARY OF THE TAGUS. 
 
 The excitement which followed fast upon the report of Columbus' return and discoveries 
 was indescribably intense, largely increased by the belief that his escape from the storms 
 that had prevailed with unexampled fury must be due to a special manifestation of pro\-: 
 dence in his behalf The people made haste to infonn him that no other such tempest had 
 occurred within the memory of man. Scarcely any shipping along the coast of Europe had 
 escaped destruction, in proof of which the shores were strewn with wrecks of vessels ; and 
 yet the Nina, small and frail as she was, had survived all the wrathful violence of wind and 
 waves, to bring back results of the grandest effort ever undertaken by an ambitious mind. 
 
 The friendliness and enthusiasm of those that had gathered about the estuar\- of the 
 Tagus was presently re-enforced by receipt of a message from King John, in which the 
 requests made by Columbus were not only granted, but he was complimented in the most 
 flattering words of praise, and urgently invited to visit the court at its sitting in Valparaiso. 
 The same messenger that handed this cordial communication to Columbus, also bore a 
 patronizing letter from the King, directed to his officers, ordering that the Admiral and his 
 crew be furnished without cost everything which they might require. 
 
 Recognizing the graciousness and apparent sincerity of t!ie King, Columbus was re- 
 solved to accept the invitation, and accordingly set out, accompanied by one of his pilots, 
 acting as aid-de-camp^ for Valparaiso. But scarcely had he started when he was met by 
 several oflftcers of the King's household, who had been sent to serve as his retinue and escort 
 him on the journey. Having started at a late hour, it was necessary for Columbus to pass 
 the night at Sacamben, where, to his surprise, a princely entertainment was provided for 
 him, at which the entire town united in demonstrations in his honor. 
 
 The reception which King John accorded Columbus on his arrival at Valparaiso was 
 as magnificent as would have characterized the welcome of the most powerful prince 
 in all Europe. The most distinguished ambassador may not sit, or stand with covered 
 head in the presence of royalty, but so great was his courtesy towards, and favor for 
 Columbus, that the King treated him with tlie most cordial consideration regardless of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 143 
 
 rank, and condiictinjj him to a seat directly before the throne reqnested the great navigator 
 to recite the story of his wondcrfnl disco\crics. 
 
 COLUMBUS HAS AN AUDIENCE WITH THE KING. 
 
 The interest of King Jolin was as intense as his regret was poignant, and he fol- 
 lowed the narrative of Colunibns as one might do who realized that he had lost a world 
 throngh his own folly ; when he made his first comment on the results of the discoveries, 
 it was to betray the jealousy and chagrin which disturbed his mind. Said he, " Voui 
 enterprise well deserves the praise of all mankind, but I feel the greater joy because, 
 according to the treaty which we concluded with Castile, 1479, and the Papal Bull of 
 partition, the discover)' of these new countries, and their conquest, pertain to the crown 
 of Portugal of right." To this unwarranted inference, which clearly exposed the King's 
 feelings, Columbus deferentially replied that he had not read the treaty and was not 
 infonned as to its nature ; but that acting under instnictions from the Spanish sovereigns, 
 which had taken the fonn of an order published in all the seaports of Andalusia, he had 
 carefully avoided trenching upon Portuguese possessions. At this, the King cut him short 
 by reminding him that the question would be settled without the intervention of his services 
 as umpire. 
 
 The inter\-iew thus tenninated for that day, and Columbus was given over to the 
 attention and care of the highest officers of the court, but on the following day, which 
 was Sunday, King John invited Columbus to another conversation, during which the 
 monarch asked many questions, manifestly with the view of informing himself as fully as 
 possible concerning the in'.abitants, soil, climate, products, landscape, and, above all, the 
 route to the new world, and the distance at which it lay ; to all of which questions a frank reply 
 was returned, and at the conclusion of this audience Columbus was dismissed and the King 
 summoned his Council for a conference. Wliat transpired at this deliberation can onh' be 
 conjectured, but nearly all authorities agree that a project for robbing Columbus of his 
 discoveries was discussed, and that some of the more perfidious counsellors even recom- 
 mended his assassination. But such a proposal is so monstrous that, in view of the 
 gracious attitude which the King publicly assumed to manifest his appreciation of Colum- 
 bus, as well as his subsequent generous conduct, the assertion appears preposterous. 
 Sinister designs may have been, and no doubt were, harbored against the Admiial by his 
 many enemies, some of whom were very near the Portuguese Court, but the King was too 
 chivalrous to entertain such iniquitous desire. He no doubt sincerely believed, in the 
 imperfect knowledge of geograpliy at the time, that some of the rights of Portugal, which 
 had been guaranteed to her by the Papal Bull, and accorded to the infant Don Henn,-, had 
 been infringed by the explorations of Columbus, but he was too shrewd a monarch to 
 believe that such right, if violated, could be preser\-ed through the assassinatioji of one 
 who was but an instrument or agent of the Spanish sovereigns. 
 
 But while opposed to personal outrage. King John was open to other proposals, one of 
 which flattered his expectations as appearing to provide a means for acquiring peaceable 
 possession of the new lands beyond tlie sea. The suggestion which found favor was that the 
 King should at once equip a powerful squadron, able to maintain itself against Spain, seize 
 the Portuguese .sailors who had returned with Columbus, who would serve as guides, and 
 thus equipped, send the fleet to the new lands to hold them against all claims of previous 
 discovery. In the event of rupture between Portugal and vSpain, King John could justify 
 his act by the treaty of 1479, and call upon the Pope to defend the Bull guaranteeing 
 certain rights to Don Henr>'. 
 10
 
 146 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 KING JOHN CONCEIVES A PLAN TO ROB COLUMBUS OF HIS DISCOVERIES. 
 
 This craftv advice so pleased tiie King that he immediately resolved to adopt it as the 
 basis of his policy. To enable him the better to carry it into effect, without at once 
 arousing the hostility of Spain, he abated none of his courtesies to Columbus, but 
 rather increased them. When the Admiral, therefore, expressed a desire to proceed to 
 Spain, King John offered him a large escort to conduct him thither by land ; but Columbus 
 desired to return to Palos first b>' water, so as to discharge his crew at that port, where 
 many of them lived, and accordingly declined the monarch's proposal. But that he might 
 not part from Columbus without further marks of his favor, the King presented him with 
 several valuable gifts and sent Don Martin de Morofia and se%-eral lords of the court to con- 
 duct him safely to his vessel. 
 
 The Queen, who was meanwhile sojourning at the monastery of Villa Franca, sent 
 word to Columbus to call upon her while on his way back to the coast, which he did, and 
 entertained her with recital of his discoveries and adventures in the new world. After the 
 interview with her Majesty he continued on to the Tagus, and on the following day set 
 sail for Palos, where he arrived in safety about noon, March 15th, after an absence from 
 that port of two hundred and twenty-five days. Thus was accomplished in the brief space 
 of seven and one-half months, the most important voyage, because most resultful, in all the 
 annals of mankind ; one which crowns the brow of civilization with the most imperishable 
 chaplet that fame has ever bestowed ; which, next to the salvation of the world, was the gift 
 of a new one, and thus next to the prophet stands the discoverer. 

 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 RECEIVING THE PLAUDITS OF A GRATEFUL NATION. 
 
 PIE cit\- of Palos, from whose quays the Cohim- 
 bian argonauts had set out on tlieir great mission, 
 stood smiling at a sea which, now tamed by 
 gentle breeze, lapped her feet with the affection- 
 'ate joy that a himter's hound caresses the hand of its 
 master. Across the wide expanse of fathomless waters 
 the declining sun stretched his fingers of wannth as 
 if to greet with congratulation and welcome the 
 mariner who had explored the lands kissed by his 
 fading beams. To howling stonn had succeeded 
 , the laughter of zephyrs, and dashing wave-beats that 
 heaved with fury against her rock-bound coast now fell 
 away like one ashamed of anger, and came stealing up 
 the beach leaving a lace-like tracery of foam upon the 
 shore. This peaceful scene of nature, where sea, and 
 sky, and landscape had blended in a harmon\- that 
 channed the sensuous appetites of man in the soft and sun-lighted climes of Southern Spain, 
 appeared like nature's preparation to receive with triumphal rejoicing the return of that 
 great Admiral, who, like Ulysses, had survived a thousand ocean perils, but who, unlike 
 that heroic Ithacan, had brought back his followers, and the stor>' of a new world found 
 where the sun falls into the sea. 
 
 When the white but tattered sails of the A^ina appeared in the offing, bearing towards 
 the gates of Palos, excitement in the city — whither the news of Columbus' return had pre- 
 ceded him — became unbounded. Many wondered what fate had befallen the Pin/a, but 
 in the general belief long entertained that all had perished, there was unspeakable jo\- at 
 the survival of even one vessel of the exploring squadron. So when the A'ina dropped 
 anchor before Palos, thousands flocked to the docks in their eagerness to meet friends or 
 relatives wno had .sailed with Columbus, or to hear the dread story of how they had perished. 
 One of the first to descry the incoming vessel was the faithful Juan Perez, the Father 
 f juardian of La Rabida, who had watched with true paternal concern for many days from 
 the upper window of the convent for the return of his friend. The Father's long deferred 
 hopes being at last realized, he rushed with, inexpressible delight towards the landing place, 
 where he received Columbus as he came on shore with wide open ann.s, and raised his eves in 
 thankfulness to heaven for the blessings of that hour, and for the gift from God, through his 
 instrument, of a new world. Rut faithful to the vows he had taken when jieril was 
 greatest, Columbus hastened to the chapel of Palos, there to return thanks and give praises 
 to heaven for the success which had attended his expedition, and for the Providence t!iat 
 had permitted his safe return.
 
 148 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. ' • 
 
 De Lorgues says that Columbus was not alone in his devotions before the shrine of the 
 Virgin, but that the sacrilegious interruption of their vows by the Portuguese Governor on 
 Santa Maria required its full accomplishment now, and that accordingly all the seamen, 
 bare-footed and in their shirts, from the cabin boy even to the Admiral, in the piteous garb 
 of shipwrecked mariners, went in procession through the streets of Palos, to the chapel of 
 La Rabida, and there offered their supplications in unison. 
 
 RETURN OF THE PINTA, AND DISGRACE OF PINZON. 
 
 While at his de\-otions Columbus heard a crj- of joy raised outside of the chapel, and 
 rising from his knees, learned with rapturous delight that the Pinta had been descried, and 
 was now making her way across the ba)' towards the mouth of the Odiel. The pilot of 
 the Pinta was the first to reach the shore, who in response to the urgings of Columbus gave 
 report of the circumstances that had attended his ship after her separation from the Nina. 
 The sails of the Pinta had been rent in tatters by the irresistible blasts of the stonn, while 
 her rudder was crippled by the powerful impact of heavy seas. Thus, practically help- 
 less, she was driven into the Ba}- of Biscay. For a while she appeared to be doomed to 
 certain destruction upon the breakers, but Pinzon, with his usual skill and apparently 
 providential help, succeeded in casting an anchor which happily held her off the shore, where 
 the vessel rode for more than a day before he considered it safe to make an effort to put into 
 the harbor of Bayonne. On the 8th of March the storm had sufficiently subsided to permit 
 of Pinzon bringing his shattered bark into the harbor, where, considering his situation, and 
 believing that the Nina and her crew had undoubtedly perished, he proceeded to assert his 
 claim to the honors and fame of the expedition. Accordingly, he ventured to compose a 
 letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, setting forth the principal incidents of the voyage, as he 
 chose to relate them, and of the finding of the Indies, in which he claimed to have been 
 the principal discoverer. This communication he despatched to the Spanish Court at 
 Barcelona, and then put to sea, arriving at Palos within a few- hours after the return of 
 Columbus. Having heard this report of the actions of Pinzon, Columbus expressed his sur- 
 prise that the commander had not as yet come on shore, to which the pilot replied that dis- 
 covering the Nina safe in the anchorage of Palos, Pinzon was greatly surprised and cha- 
 grined, and believing that his bad faith would soon be revealed, had taken his boat and 
 gone privately to shore. Effort was made then to find him, but he kept himself in privacy, 
 detennined not to meet Columbus, pondering over the perfidv which he had exhibited, 
 and which was soon to break upon his head in the fullest power of smitten conscience. 
 
 In a few days there came in answer to his communication sent from Bayonne a letter 
 from the sovereigns, who, hearing of the Admiral's arrival, and perceiving the falsity of 
 Pinzon's heart and purpose, upbraided him for his conduct and forbade him to come into 
 their presence. The proud spirit of the captain gave way under this stroke. He sank 
 under the unspeakable grief and mortification which this rebuke inspired, and in a few days 
 died, as ever}- one believed, of a broken heart. 
 
 The defection of Martin Alonzo Pinzon is not without many examples in history-, and 
 considering the avaricious and condemnable ambitions of the age, as well as the attendant 
 circumstances, his attempt to supplant Columbus may be partially condoned. It must be 
 admitted that to him was due, in a large degree, the success of the expedition. Being one 
 of the first in Spain to appreciate the plans of Columbus, he not only used his influence in 
 his behalf to create favorable public opinion, but aided the enterprise with great liberality. 
 Not only did he contribute a vessel from his own means, but he embarked with his brothers 
 and friends on the expedition, thus hazarding both his property and his life in the enter-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 149 
 
 prise. These circumstances, thoiiti^h receiviuof no consideration at the time, were subse- 
 qiienth' generously regarded by Charles \'., who, in recognition of the eminent services 
 which Pinzon had rendered, granted liis family the rank and privileges of nobility, and 
 also conferred upon them a coat of arms emblematic of the great disco\-ery. 
 
 The first fonnal act of Columbus was to send a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella 
 annoimcing briefly his 
 arrival at Palos and thc 
 success of his enter- 
 prise. While awaiting 
 a reply thereto he was 
 the centre of public 
 interest and was as- 
 sailed by a thousand 
 inquiries concerning 
 the new world from 
 which he had just re- 
 turned. For a greater 
 part of the inter\-al he 
 was the guest of Father 
 Perez, to whom fell tlu 
 pleasant task of sayiny 
 Mass and o fFe ring 
 thanksgiving for the 
 return of the expedition 
 and the glorious work 
 that had been accom- 
 plished. After this the 
 sailors were for the 
 most part discharged, 
 many of whom ha' 
 their homes in the towi 
 or neighborhood, and 
 few, as will be re 
 called, were under con- 
 viction for high crimes 
 at the time of their de- 
 parture. But such wa- 
 the temper of the public 
 mind in thankfulness 
 for the great discoveries 
 made that their punish- 
 ment was not only remitted, but they were converted into men of historic renown. It was 
 thus for a few days that Columbus passed the time in the Monastery of La Rabida, con- 
 versing with the Fathers of St. Francis and outlining his plans for the future. He also 
 availed himself of the opportunity to .send letters to his wife at Cordova, and to transmit 
 a communication by messenger to Genoa, bearing the good news to the people of his 
 native town, and a.sking his venerable father, and his brother (iuiacomo, known in history 
 
 • I'.-n: lAklKS.
 
 150 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 as Don Diego, to come at once to see him in Spain. Nor did the discoverer and his friend, 
 Father Perez, fail to forward a petition to the Pope, praying the issnance of a Papal 
 ordinance establishing a line of demarcation north and sonth one hundred leagues to the 
 west ®f the Azores, thus dividing the seas and land, and providing that west of this line all 
 new discoveries and possessions should belong to Sj^ain. This petition of the Admiral 
 was used as the basis of the famous Papal Bull issued bj- Pope Alexander VI. on the 
 3d of May, 1493. 
 
 Having attended to these preliminaries, Columbus proceeded to Seville, where he 
 received the first communication from their Majesties, containing a request for him to repair 
 at once to Barcelona for a personal interview. As he had been in expectation of such a 
 command he immediately set forth on his journey, which was destined to be the most mem- 
 orable personal event ever witnessed in the Spanish peninsula. The route of the Admiral 
 lay through the provinces of \'alencia, jMurcia and Castile, the fairest portions of Spain, 
 and the journey developed into a 1;riumphal procession commemorated in song and story for 
 more than a century afterwards, and which may be heard in Spain to this day. The route 
 all along was thronged with people, who gave themselves up to transports of jubilant 
 demonstration. Crowds of .shouting people followed after the procession, eager to get a 
 glance at the greatest man of the age, and moved with equal curiosity to behold the strange 
 being's and wonderful things which he had brought with him from the Indies. 
 
 A WONDERFUL PROCESSION. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Spanish sovereigns made extraordinary preparations to receive the man 
 who had brought such great honor to their name. A solemn and beautiful scene was pre- 
 pared in the great throne-room where the sovereigns held their court, and where the elite of 
 the nobility were gathered to welcome the great Admiral in the presence of their Majesties. 
 As Columbus approached Barcelona on the morning of April 15th, many gaily-dressed 
 cavaliers rode forth to meet him, and to act as a guard of honor in conducting him into the 
 city. A marvellous sight was presented as the cavalcade passed through the gates of the 
 city. The streets were not only crowded with people, but the housetops were covered with 
 humanity, rending the air with shouts of admiration and welcome. Columbus, too, had 
 carefully prepared his little procession so that the effect might be as striking as possible. Six 
 of the ten natives whom he had brought with him from the Indies (one dying on the return 
 voyage and three being left sick in Palos), gorgeously painted and adorned in their own 
 fashion, were placed in the front. After them were borne parrots and other creatures, living 
 or dead, which the Admiral had collected as examples of the animal life of the New World. 
 Following these were carried a collection of natural productions, including cotton, tobacco 
 and medicinal plants, and next to these were exposed to view, on litters, ornaments made 
 from gold, and specimens of precious stones which had been obtained from the natives. At 
 the rear rode Columbus, accompanied b}- a brilliant throng of hidalgos and grandees 
 of Spain. 
 
 No prouder moment in the life of any man has been recorded than that in which the 
 great Admiral of the ocean seas was ushered before Spain's sovereigns. ■ While eminently 
 practical in many positions requiring genius to direct, Columbus was acutely susceptible to 
 the blandishments and praises of men, the spectacular appealing especially to his nature. 
 Those who have best studied his character have therefore many times pointed out the quali- 
 ties of a knight and crusader, which were particularly prominent in his composition. The 
 apparent elation of spirit wliich this scene inspired in him was conspicuous in his bearing, 
 though he never subordinated his dignity to the pomp of egotism. He was excusable, too,
 
 GREAT COLLMBIAS PROCESSION TllROLt;!! IIARCKLONA. 
 
 II51)
 
 152 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBL\. 
 
 in contrasting the harsh buffetings, disappointments and mortifications which he had suffered 
 for nearl\- a quarter of a centur>-, with the triumph which he had achieved, and the national 
 homage thus paid to his persistence and genius. 
 
 THE SPLENDORS OF THE ROYAL COURT PROVIDED FOR THE ADMIRAL'S RECEPTION. 
 
 Upon being ushered into the royal presence Columbus beheld Ferdinand and Isabella 
 seated upon their thrones under a splendid canopy of gold brocade, while beside them sat 
 Prince Juan, heir apparent to the Spanish crown. Upon either hand were arranged many 
 nobles and officers of the government, including grandees of Castile, Aragon, \'alencia and 
 Catalonia, and counsellors of state, ministers,- and other dignitaries, while as many richly 
 dressed ladies attended upon the Queen. Columbus, whose appearance had now grown 
 venerable through the markings of care in his countenance and hair, walked fonvard to salute 
 their IMajesties, his face lighted up with a smile of intense gratification. About to kneel in 
 their presence and kiss their hands according to the courtly manners of the age, the King 
 and Queen hesitated to accept the obeisance of a man who had reflected such distinguished 
 honors not only upon himself, but upon the Spanish Crown as well. They accordingly 
 themselves arose from their seats and raising him from his bended posture invested him with 
 the insignia of a grandee, and commanded him to sit in a richly decorated arm-chair imme- 
 diately in front of them, a thing unknown at royal receptions, except in case of princes and 
 nobles of the highest rank. Thus seated Columbus was to recite to the ro\al ears the inter- 
 esting storv* of his voyage and wonderful discoveries. Presenting the trophies and exhibits 
 of his expedition, Columbus next introduced the natives, whom he brought from the strange 
 country- of the Indies, and in presenting them before the interested King and Queen de- 
 scribed their manners, virtues and mode of life ; likewise the birds and animals were exhibited, 
 as also the fruits and foreign plants, and their value to man explained. In a like manner 
 the gold ore, in its native state, and in ornaments, was then produced to delight the avaricious 
 eyes of the sovereigns and their court. Under the influence of his sanguine temperament 
 Columbus could not forbear to point out, as if by prophecy, a greater promise of future ex- 
 plorations and discoveries. The things displayed as the fruits of his first voyage were mere 
 hints of more abijndant things to come. 
 
 The eflTect produced by this recitation and exhibition was well marked. At times the 
 King and Queen exhibited great emotion, and at the close of the interview, moved upon by 
 religious impulse, they sank upon their knees, offering up thanksgiving for the great things 
 which had been accomplished in their reign. After the sovereigns had thus poured forth 
 their thanks and praises, the great choir of the Royal Chapel took up the anthem of the 
 Te Deiim and rendered it with all the unction and solemnity of the hour. 
 
 DREAMS OF YET GREATER TRIUMPHS. 
 
 At the close of the first inter\'iew with Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus was conducted 
 to the place assigned for his residence and entertainment. But the interest attaching to his 
 person and his deeds did not quickly subside. The people of Barcelona and the surrounding 
 region continued to watch for his appearing, and to follow his train wherever he went. 
 Meanwhile his mind was occupied with the revision of old plans and with new dreams which 
 came with his triumph. The possibility of doing some great thing for the extension and 
 uplifting of the Catholic cause in the far east recurred, as it had often done before, in this 
 hour of his exaltation. One of the motives which he had formerly presented to the King 
 and Queen for patronizing his voyage of discovery was the religious use to which the vast 
 wealth of the Indies might be diverted by the sovereigns in case they should be able to replen-
 
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 RECEPTION OF CtLUMDUS BY FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 
 
 (153)
 
 154 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ish their coffers from the Orient. The particular thing now contemplated was the old project 
 of recovering the Holy Land and the tomb of Christ from the infidels. 
 
 At the present juncture, Columbus did not hesitate to offer his ser\-ices and the 
 expected wealth of the New World in the sacred cause of expelling Islamism from Pales- 
 tine. He engaged within the space of seven years to furnish, from his part of the profits of 
 the Indies, the means with which to raise an anny of fifty thousand infantr}- and four thousand 
 horse for a new cnisade. Nor did he doubt that in another five years a second anny of like 
 proportions could be raised and equipped from the same resources. To do this thing he 
 recorded a vow. Nor can there be an\- doubt of his confidence and sincerity. His dream 
 contemplated the deli\-erance of Western Asia and Eastern Europe from the Turks and 
 Arabs, and the setting up of the Cross in place of the fallen Crescent. 
 
 In a short time the intelligence of the discovery- of another world was disseminated not 
 onlv throughout Spain, but over all Western Europe. Ever^-where the tidings were received 
 with astonishment, as though the revelation had come from another planet. Perhaps at no 
 other epoch, and with no other event in the history of the human race, had so sudden and 
 great a transformation been accomplished in the thoughts and speculations of men. The 
 mistv conjectures of a thousand years respecting the mysteries of the ocean and the figiire 
 of the earth were suddenly swept away. \'ague mythologies, geographical fictions, artificial 
 constnictions, and possibilities of an impossible geograph)-, dim and exaggerated stories of 
 the unknown deep and islands of the West, were bnished with one stroke of a magic hand 
 into that limbo of oblivion where had accumulated, was accumulating, and still accumu- 
 lates, the vagaries, the myths and the superstitions of the human mind. Henceforth no 
 rational being, infonned to any considerable degree in the elements of existing knowledge, 
 could doubt the sphericity of the earth and the practicability of sailing aroixnd it. It is 
 from this point of contemplation that the work of Columbus assumes its just importance in 
 the histor}- of mankind. 
 
 A GLANCE AT CONDITIONS THAT SURROUNDED HIM. 
 
 In the Columbian age, intelligence of the things done by men still ran with difficulty 
 along the impeded channels of intercourse. The flying post was yet no swifter of wing than 
 the foot of man or fleetness of the galloping steed. None had yet conceived of the possibility 
 of subordinating the elements of nature to the purposes of despatch. The flying car, the 
 ocean steamer, the electric flash ; how far away were all of these from the imaginations of 
 that era which saw the revelation of the New World ! 
 
 Nevertheless the news went abroad. It was bonie by sea to Italy and was heard with 
 wonder in those old seacoast towns of the Rivieras, out of which the man Columbus had 
 arisen to revolutionize the opinions of mankind with respect to the po.ssibilities of the habitable 
 globe. It was carried through the notches of the Pyrenees, and was heard at L>"ons, at Aix, 
 and Paris. It was disseminated to Northwestern Europe, and Giovanni Kaboto, of Venice, 
 heard the story in the streets of London, marvelling nnich at the thing done, but believing 
 it more than possible. It spread through Central and Eastern Europe, till the sound 
 thereof was heard in the city of the Eastern Caesars — just fort\' years before conqiiered by 
 Mohammed II. and his Turks — was rumored in Antioch, in Cairo, in Damascus, and 
 fashioned into vagiie stor}- b\' the barbaric Kurds guarding their flocks from the prowling 
 jackals among the ruins of Khorsabad and Nimrud. 
 
 Such, however, were the uncertainities of knowledge in the Columbian age that none 
 might discern the true nature and limitations of the sTcat event. The data which Columbus 
 had brought back with him from the hitherto unknown West were misinterpreted and mis-
 
 applied by the discoverer himself, as 
 well as by all the wise men of the 
 generation. The Admiral was fixed in 
 his belief that he had reached the East 
 Indies and the shores of Asia. His confi 
 dence that Cuba was the easternmost cape of 
 the Asiatic continent was unshaken, and his beliefs in 
 these particulars were accepted by all. The errors thus 
 arising — many and peculiar as they were — were mixed 
 and mingled with all that was thought and said and 
 done. The theory of the situation thus bound together 
 the western shores of Europe and the eastern borders 
 of Asia by an easy and practicable \-oyage of less than 
 three thousand miles of unobstnicted waters. The 
 resources of the Orient seemed to be thus suddenh- 
 displayed as if some beneficent destiny stood read\-, 
 with a tremendous cornucopia, to pour out the treasures 
 
 
 h. GLORIOUS DREAM — THE WAV IN WHICH 1.1K THK WRKCKS OK THK WORLDS I.Nl'.R ATII IDli, 
 
 (155)
 
 156 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 of the most ancient and opulent nations of the globe into the lap of waiting Europe. 
 These speculations might well divert us from the mere narrative of events to consider 
 the question of the age from the standpoint of philosophical inquiry. But we must return 
 to the Admiral and his work, leaving the reader to formulate for himself not only the 
 splendid vision of the scene, but the true nature and dependencies by which the great event 
 was held in its historical connections. Columbus was in the heyday of a great renown. 
 Perhaps no man of history was ever in a situation to enjoy more fully the honors and 
 rewards of successful and glorious enterprise. The discoverer drank it all in with many 
 a full draught, but without satiety. To him, if much had been accomplished, still more 
 
 . remained behind. The mind of the 
 
 and noble 
 
 -^ Admiral was of that rare 
 
 fashion which can only live in the heat 
 and light of ideality and imagination. 
 Already, before his departure from 
 Barcelona, gxeater visions than ever 
 before had risen upon him, and though 
 he was dazzled with the realization of 
 his dreams, he nevertheless, with his 
 habitual sagacity, made his arrange- 
 ments for the future. 
 
 A GLORV THAT DIMMED THE LUSTRE EVEN 
 OF ROYALTY. 
 
 It has not happened to men of other 
 than royal blood to become in a half- 
 feudal age the familiar companions of 
 kings and princes. This fate, the 
 happiness of which the reflective mind 
 may well be disposed to doubt, was 
 given in full measure to Columbus. 
 His sovereigns treated him almost as 
 an equal. King Ferdinand rode abroad 
 with him, and as if to couple the honor 
 with the honors of the future, the 
 voung Prince Juan was mounted on 
 the other side of the sovereign. Now 
 it was that that famous Columbian coat 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 of arms was devised, granted and confinned to the Admiral as a perpetual memorial to him 
 and his descendants. It was fashioned like the royal banner of Castile. In the lower left- 
 hand corner were the outlines of a sea dotted with islands and shores, significant of the 
 immortal discover}- which Columbus had made. On the right-hand quarter, below, were 
 the fi\-e memorable anchors ; above was that rampant lion which has been so much pre- 
 figured in the heraldry of nations. Last of all, and at the left hand above, was the castle, 
 or citadel of strength, surmounted b>- the three towers, significant of the united kingdoms, 
 Castile, Leon, Aragon. To this was appended that Spanish motto of great fame which 
 
 mankind will not willingly let die : 
 
 A Castilla y a Leon, , - 
 
 Nuevo niuiido dio Colon. 
 Castile and Leon. Colon sets 
 A New World in their coronets.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. L37 
 
 To all these honors, other distinctions and emoluments were gladly added by the 
 crown. It was at this time that the question of the actual first sight of the new lands in 
 the West was adjudged and decided. The issue, of course, lay between Columbus himself 
 and that Juan Rodriguez Bermejo, of the Pinta, according to the statement of De Lorgues, 
 and of Rodrigo de Triana, as stated by Irving and other authorities, whose cry of land on 
 the morning of the 12th of October we have mentioned as the certain signal of the dis- 
 covery. But the reader will remember that the Admiral had alread\-, several hours pre- 
 viously, seen a light. Two things were in\olved in the decision : first, the honor of 
 the first glimpse of the New World ; and, secondh- (not to be despised), the pension which 
 the sovereigns had promised to the discoverer. 
 
 The question was not easily decided. Doul^tless, if the conditions had been reversed, 
 that is, if Bermejo had seen the light and Columbus had seen the land, the decision would 
 have been more easy. As it was, the royal court adjudged the honor to him to whom it was 
 only possibly, though improbably, due, but was certainly less needy, and doubtless 
 deser\-ed it less than the humble mariner of the Mnta. As for Bermejo, the decision was 
 accepted with infinite chagrin. He had staked ever\thing upon his claim, and the judg- 
 ment against him was fatal to the one great hope of his life. He immediately renounced 
 his country' forever, cast aside the Christian religion as a delusion of fraud and of sin, went 
 to Africa, became an Islamite, and died under the banner of the Prophet. 
 
 CONCEPTIONS OF GREAT THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 From the first day of his return to Europe — from the moment that the intelligence of 
 the great discovery was carried to the ears of the sovereigns — it was evident to all that the 
 work done by Columbus was merely the first movement of a vast enterprise. None were 
 foolish enough to suppose that the new countries in the Far West had been fulh' re\ealed. 
 The leading minds of Spain perceived at a glance that the thing done was ouh- the first 
 glimpse at a gold mine, the limits and extent of which none might know. The imagina- 
 tions of men flew to the far islands of the New World, and began to constnict there cities 
 and temples and palaces. 
 
 Under such conditions, the project of new discoveries and explorations flashed in full 
 light about the Spanish court The sovereigns in their very first letter to the Admiral who 
 was then at Seville, made haste to tell him that he should, in that cit>-, before setting out 
 for Barcelona, take the initiative for a new expedition. Whatever things he might see 
 necessan,' to be done, to that end he should do, even before his personal inter\-iew with 
 their Majesties. Columbus himself was deeply concerned about the .second voyage, and 
 eagerly promoted the preparations therefor. The subject was interwoven like a thread in 
 all the connnnnications which he had with the King and Queen. It no longer required 
 urging to convince the sovereigns of the importance of extending their empire in the West. 
 
 The outlines of the new expedition, which now had its relation to the West Indies 
 and the methods of possessing them, were at once devised. The summer — season most 
 favorable and indeed only favorable for the expedition — was already at hand, and it was. 
 nece.ssary to expedite the preparations, or else put off the vo\age to another \ear. The 
 jealousy of Portugal, and the knowledge of what she might attempt, furnished a whip and spur 
 to the crown. The sovereigns deemed it expedient to establish a .sort of bureau for the conduct 
 of Indian affairs, and the city of .Srvillc was scltcled ;is tin- ontfitling place of the enterprise. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND EXPEDITION. 
 
 At the head of this branch of the administration was placed as .superintendent and 
 director-general, Don Juan de Fonseca, Archdeacon of Seville, a man of great abilities,
 
 158 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 but little scrupulous in the matter of choosing his means and methods. The treasurer 
 of the new department was Francisco Pinelo, and the comptroller, Juan de Soria. The idea 
 was that the exclusive jurisdiction of all intercourse and commerce between the mother 
 country and the Indies should belong to the bureau, and that ever\thing not de\-ised and 
 directed thereby should be under the ban of illegality. One of the first steps was to estab- 
 lish at the port of Cadiz a custom house, to which all the prospective commerce of the 
 Indies should be reported, and the scheme of administration extended to the creation of a 
 like office in San Domingo, n'hich was to be administered b}- the admiral himself, or his 
 subordinate. 
 
 We ma\- pause here a moment to note the favor in which Columbus was held by the 
 nobility. The greatest men of the kingdom — and the\- were many — sought his acquaint- 
 ance, and gave their countenance to his cause. Among those with whom Columbus now 
 fell into intimate relations was Pedro Gonzales de ^Mendoza, the Spanish grand cardinal, of 
 whom we have spoken in a former chapter. The latter invited the discoverer to his castle, 
 and discussed with him at length the future policy of the church with respect to the new 
 countries of the West, and in particular the best means of converting the natives. 
 
 It was during his stay at the castle of Mendoza that Columbus, being at a banquet 
 given in his honor by the cardinal, ga\e the celebrated reply and demonstration to one of 
 the company who was disposed to cavil at the originality of the recent work of discover},'. 
 This small courtier — not, we may say, without some reason, but with the worst of bad 
 manners — ^began to inquire of the Admiral whether, if he had failed to reach the islands and 
 mainland of the western seas, some other would not have been soon led under like motives 
 to undertake and accomplish the enterprise. Hereupon Columbus took an egg, and passing 
 it to the company, challenged any and all to make it stand on end. None could do it. 
 None perceived the possibilty of doing it. Having it returned to him, the Admiral brought 
 it down with force endwise upon the table, broke and crushed the shell to a certain extent, 
 and left it standing. The application and meaning of the act was sufficiently clear; you 
 can make an egg stand on the end provided you know how to do it. 
 
 The six Indians who had been taken to Barcelona were regarded with profound interest 
 by churchmen, who thought it wise to have them baptized and instructed in the doctrines of 
 Christianitv. This was accordingly done, and the conceit of the time pointed them out as 
 the first evangelists and exemplars of the trae faith in the Indies. So little apprehen- 
 sion did an\- man of that age have of the laws which go\-ern human evolution that all 
 supposed the aborigines of the West Indies able, by the touch of the church, to advance at 
 once to the plane of an ancient faith having its origin and development among a Semitic 
 people in the far East, and to enter at a single bound into the communion and relationship 
 
 of civilized nations. 
 
 KING JOHN CHAFING UNDER LOST OPPORTUNITY. 
 
 Meanwhile, preparations were going forward rapidly and successfully for the new vo\'- 
 age. The theor)- of the situation was this : Columbus had discovered the Indies by the 
 western route, and the discover)' having been made under the banners and patronage of 
 Spain, this fact gave to the Spanish crown a right to occupy, possess and go\-ern the islands 
 and continents which had been thus found. As to the peoples occupying those lands, 
 the aboriginal nations, they had no rights of possession which Christian kings and princes 
 must recognize and obser\'e. The monarchs of Christendom had, since the Crusading 
 epoch, an agreement, amounting to a clause in international law, that any Christian 
 sovereign v/hose subject might discover unoccupied lands or regions inhabited by Pagans,
 
 COLUMBUS AM) COLUMBIA. 
 
 159 
 
 should have the rijjht of discover)-, preemption and preoccupation, as against all other 
 princes whatsoever. Each monarch conceded to the others this right of discover)', and 
 the rule was now plainly applicable to the case of the Spaniards in the West Indies. It 
 was this principle that had secured to the recent Kings of Portugal the exclusive rights 
 
 to their province of La Mina and the coast of Guinea ; and it was the same principle 
 which now held back and thwarted the ambition of John II., chafing and fretting in his 
 anxiety to clutch the islands lately visited by the Columbian fleet. 
 
 We have already spoken of the letter .sent by Columbus on his arrival to His Holine.ss,
 
 160 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the Pope. The Spanish sovereigns readily took up the thought of Cohimbus relative to 
 a dividing line through the Atlantic under the sanction of Papal authorit\-. They accord- 
 inglv made haste to open negotiations with x\lexander VL concerning the proposed 
 arrangement. The Pope was himself a Spaniard, and the tie of birth had been recently 
 strengthened by many e\'ents well calculated to draw the attention and affections of the 
 Supreme Pontiff to his native land. In the very year just past the Spanish sovereigns, in 
 a war which had man}' of the features of the Crusades, had first cooped up and then 
 ultimately expelled the Islamite Moors from the peninsula. With scarcely less zeal, they 
 had assailed, persecuted, suppressed and robbed the Jews. The whole of Spain had thus 
 been redeemed and consolidated under the cross — a circumstance most grateful to the 
 ambitions and pontifical pride of Alexander. 
 
 The Spanish monarchs, in opening the question at the court of Rome, were doubtful 
 whether so great a claim as that which they now advanced would be acknowledged and 
 ratified. Ferdinand deemed it prudent in his letter to the Pope to assume that the sanction 
 of His Holiness, in confirmation of the rights of the Spanish crown to the new lands 
 discovered in the west, was not essential to the validity of the claim ; but the good, 
 obedient and faithful Catholic IMajesty thought it best — such was his allegation — as a true 
 son of the Church to ask the Holy Father to ratify and confinn aright that which the 
 princes of Christendom had already conceded the one to the other. 
 
 HOW THE POPE SETTLED A GRAVE QUESTION. 
 
 The Pope for his part was greatly elated with the intelligence. He perceived the 
 expediency of granting the claim of their most Catholic Alajes-ties. Accordingly, on the 
 3d of May, 1493, he issued that celebrated Bull, establishing the line of demarcation 
 between the discoveries of Portugal and those of Spain. The line, as we have said before, 
 was drawn north and south one hundred leagues to the west of the Azores. On the east 
 of the line Portugal should ha\'e free course in the discover}', possession and occupation of 
 all lands not previously visited or occupied b\- the' subjects of a Christian king. To the 
 west of the line Spain should have preemption. The New World, whatever it w-as, should 
 be hers. Her work of discover}' and occupation should go on unimpeded and her rights 
 should be exclusive and absolute. 
 
 Thus were all the inhabited and habitable parts of the globe, except those regions 
 which were already occupied by Christian states and kingdoms, divided by a Papal decree 
 with an imaginary line drawn north and south through the Atlantic Ocean. The con- 
 cession of the Supreme Pontiff was sufficiently ample, and sufficiently surprising, when 
 followed to its probable results. Spain might discover and occupy all uninhabited and 
 Pagan lands lying westward of the division. Suppose that the Spanish fleets should 
 press their way westward around the earth, where would their rights be limited ? Might 
 thev not sro on around until bv circumnavigation thev should take the whole world?' 
 Or, in the case of Portugal, might she not press her disco\'eries eastward until she should 
 come around to these very West Indies, claim them, and take them under the Papal sanc- 
 tion ? The Pope had, in a word, granted ever}'thing "to Spain, and ever}'thing to Portugal. 
 But the Pacific Ocean, still unknown, as well as the American Continents, lay bet-«'een to 
 prevent a conflict of claims in the region of the antipodes ; the Papal Bull was saved from 
 absurdity by the bigness of the globe. 
 
 The new bureau for the government of the Indies was quickh' organized. The 
 establishment was destined to grow in course of time into that Ro}al India House, xmder 
 the auspices of which the commercial and political affairs of Spain and her outlying pos-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COrA'MBIA. 
 
 161 
 
 sessions in the West were so long;, so despoticallx , and so profitably directed. Tlie authority 
 
 of the office was absolute, both as to the persons concerned in the trade with the Indies 
 
 and t!ie trade itself. It was to this bureau, under the conduct of De Fonseca, that the 
 
 business of fitting out the new squadron for Columbus was now entrusted. 
 
 The enterprise was pressed with the utmost vigor. .\ decree was issued, by which 
 
 Fonseca and Columbus were authorized to purcha.se any .ships that might be in port on the 
 
 coast of Andalusia, or, in case of refusal, to impress them for the expedition. The same 
 
 despotic rule was established in the matter of furnishing and equipping the vessels, and 
 
 even in enlisting the crews. Mariners might be conscripted under pay for the proposed 
 
 ser\-ice, and the civil officers of the ]ir<n'ince were connnanded to lentl their aid in carrying 
 
 out the provisions of the act. 
 
 A RUSH OF VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 As might be supposed, however, the work of obtaining ships and supplies and men was 
 now no longer difficult. Many captains were ready to offer their vessels for such a voyage. 
 The supplies might be readily procured from stores that had been sealed against all petitions 
 when the first contemplated vo\age was to be undertaken. As for the crews, the spirit of 
 adventure had now come tOj-^ 
 supply a motive of embarkation 
 on an expedition to the won- 
 derful Indies across the Atlantic. 
 Some difficulty arose over the 
 appropriation of money for ife:; 
 the second voyage. The woik 
 was under the patronage ( : 
 the King and Queen. .\s lo; 
 the treasurx' of the new bureau 
 of the India House, that was 
 empty. But the sovereigns set 
 aside a part of the ecclesiastical 
 revenue, and this was placed to 
 the credit of the Indian Secretary, Pinelo. In the previous \ear, during the persecution 
 and expulsion of the Jews, vast amounts of property-, especially in jewels and plate, had 
 been confiscated by ro\ al edict, and this also went into the new treasury. Finally the 
 secretary was authorized to negotiate a loan, if such should be needed, for the expeditious 
 fitting out of the squadron. 
 
 Columbus, in the.se days of honor and influence, took care to fortify his own interests 
 and those of his descendants by obtaining an additional patent and confirmation of his rights 
 from the King r.nd Queen. The paper in question was the third of those remarkable docn- 
 meuLs upon which the first political relations between Europe and .\merica were established. 
 In the present case, Columbus deemed it prudent that the new patent of authority should 
 recite the exi.sting agreement between himself and their Majesties made in the preceding 
 year. The second charter was drawn ;iccordingly, at the city of Barcelona, under date of 
 the 28th of May, 1493. After enumerating all the existing covenants between the sovereigns 
 and Don Christopher Cf>lund)us, and stating in the introductorx' part the nature of the petition 
 which Columbus had submitted, the document proceeded to c<jnfer upon him certain specific 
 riglits, among which was a confirmation of all the benefits previously granted, and which 
 were to descend in perpetuity to his heirs ; besides which were delegated extraordinary 
 II 
 
 COLUMBUS RECEIVING THE THANKS OH HIS SOVEREIGNS.
 
 162 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 powers, not only as governor of all the new possessions, but such judicial authority as made 
 him the supreme arbiter of all disputes arising therein. In short, he was practical!)- made 
 King of the new world, with all the ro\-al prerogati\-e5 thereto attaching. 
 
 THE FLEET CHOSEN TO SAIL FROM CADIZ. 
 The new squadron, prepared and supplied under the direction of De Fonseca, was in 
 its extent and character strongly contrasted with the little fleet which had made the first 
 voyage to the Indies. The armament consisted of three vessels of the largest build, 
 nine 'ships of medium burden and five caravels. The cargo was of the most miscel- 
 laneous description. Several breeds of domestic animals, which had not been found in the 
 Indies, were taken on board, including horses and swine. A large variety of plants and 
 collections of seeds and implements of husbandry were provided, with a view to the agricul- 
 tural development of the new lands. The place selected for the equipment of the fleet 
 
 w 
 
 CITY OF SEVILLE .\.ND GUAD.\I.0U1VIR RIVER. 
 
 -was Cadiz, though the management was located at Seville. Meanwhile Columbus, satisfied 
 with his fame and honor, bade farewell to the King and Queen, left Barcelona on the 28th 
 day of May, and made his way to the coast. On the day of his departure the Spanish Court 
 attended the Admiral from the palace to his own residence, and there he took final leave of 
 their Majesties. It was the high noon of his destiny. 
 
 Before fi.x;ing our attention upon the squadron which was fitted and provisioned at Cadiz 
 during the summer months, it may be well to glance for a moment at the serious questions 
 which were now pending between Spain and Portugal. It will be remembered that after 
 the arrival of Columbus at Lisbon, and his inter\-iew with King John, the latter had been 
 advised by his council to anticipate the Spanish government in the occupation and posses- 
 sion of tlie new lauds discovered in the West This advice was adopted by the King, and
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 163 
 
 orders were secretly g^veu for the eqnipiueiit of a fleet to sail into the western waters and 
 seize npon the islands and mainland found by Columbus. In order to cover the move- 
 ment, it was given out that the expedition was intended for the African coast, where 
 tlie Portuguese had already fi.xed themselves by discovery and possession. 
 
 The King of Portugal now sent to Barcelona one of his diplomatists, Ruy de Sande, to 
 allay any suspicion that might be entertained by the Spanish Court respecting the move- 
 ments and purposes of Portugal. The ambassador was instructed to speak to King F'erdi- 
 nand about certain aggressions of the Spanish fishermen beyond Cape Bojador, and to ask 
 that an interdict be issued on that question. The sovereigns of Spain were congratulated on 
 the success of the Columbian voyage and thanked that the Admiral had, in the pro.secution 
 of his enterprise, kept clear of the Portuguese possessions and fields of discovery. There had 
 been an understanding between the two courts that the 
 Spaniards in their maritime adventures should steer to the 
 west of the Canaries, leaving the seas on the south as the 
 preserve of Portugal. De Sande was instnicted to gain 
 from the Spanish King a reaffinnation of this arrange- 
 ment, and to hint that any difference of opinion between 
 the two powers should be settled by negotiation. 
 A BATTLE OF INTRIGUE AND DUPLICITY. 
 
 There has not been a time in modern liistory when 
 the jealousy and distrust of two monarchs were more 
 deeply inflamed than in the case of Ferdinand and King 
 John. Both sovereigns were endowed by nature with a 
 suspicious and waiA' disposition. In abilities the two were 
 not dissimilar, and their ambitions were of a like trend 
 and limitation. Their principles of action were such as 
 miglit be expected in an age when the Inquisition was 
 adopted as a means of reform b\' the church, and when the 
 rules of international law were deduced from the writings 
 of Machiavelli. In tlieir purpose to succeed by craft and 
 duplicity the one king was even as the other ; btit in 
 subtlety and fox-like shrewdness, the Spanish ruler was 
 the superior of his adversary. It appears, however, that 
 King John, better than his rival, had learned the potent 
 and diabolical influence of money in accomplishing political 
 results. He had adopted the plan of bribing certain spies at the Spanish Court, who being 
 attached in several capacities to the government of Ferdinand were able to keep their 
 employer constantly infonned, not only of the things done, but also of the things purposed. 
 In the battle of wit and craft, which now ensued during the early part of 1493, the advantages 
 of intrigue remained with Ferdinand, wliile the benefits of systematic briben.' accrued to 
 King John. 
 
 It is not needed that we should here relate tlie details of the diplomatic contest between 
 the two courts. At one time Ferdinand sent his amba.ssador. Lope de Herrera, to Lisbon, 
 with two .sets of instructions, and docuiTients of exactly opposite intent. But of this manoeuvre 
 the Portuguese King had already been informed by his spies, and the scheme of the Spanish 
 King was checkmated. At a later date, and in order to gain time, Ferdinand sent two pleni- 
 potentiaries to his "beloved cousin" to open a discussion about tlie Western seas and the 
 
 .\RMOR OF COLlMinS.
 
 164 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 new lands found therein, that might last until the second Columbian squadron could set sail. 
 But the purpose of the Spanish monarch had again been anticipated by the war>' John, and 
 nothing was gained by the manoeuvre. 
 
 In the respective relations of the two governments with the court of Rome, however, 
 the case was different. At that tribunal the advantage was wholly on the side of Spain. 
 The negotiations of Ferdinand with Pope Alexander had already led to an understanding, 
 which presently became a status that nothing could disturb. The Papal Bull dividing the 
 Atlantic held against all intrigue and contrivance of the Portuguese King, and in the existing 
 condition of affairs he durst not send his squadron to the West Indies. 
 
 At one time, during the summer, it was reported at Barcelona that a Portuguese vessel 
 had been despatched from the Azores on a west-bound voyage. A protest was immediately 
 forwarded by Ferdinand to Lisbon, and at the same time De Fonseca was ordered to send two 
 Spanish caravels in pursuit. After a brief interval, communication was received from the 
 Portuguese Court to the effect that no such expedition as that reported had been undertaken ; 
 nor did Spanish investigation ever bring such an adventure to light. The stor>' was doubt- 
 less a fiction. The King of Portugal was balked in every effort which he made to recover 
 his lost prestige. For him and his kingdom the golden opportunity was gone, and he must 
 henceforlh unwillingly assent to the adverse destiny which had decreed the discovery and 
 possession of the New World to the crown of Spain.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EQUIPMENT OF THE SECOND EXPEDITION. 
 
 liLAZE of glon- shot up like a rocket and spread its 
 dazzling shower over all Spain. The spirit of war, 
 which had produced so many valorous knights in the 
 Moorish contention, now gave place, by a sudden 
 change of aspiration, to an ambition that set its sign 
 in the New World, where brighter opportunity for ex- 
 ploitation was offered in discover}-, adventure and 
 conquest. 
 
 The work of fitting the second squadron for Co- 
 lumbus was accordingly completed with eclat. We 
 have already referred to the character of the fleet, the 
 crew and the cargo. Under the first plan it was intended to 
 ^1 "^^ limit the number of sailors and passengers to one thousand ; 
 but so great was the enthusiasm that, by solicitation of volun- 
 teers and the urgency of friends, the number was extended to 
 twelve hundred. Even this limit was surpassed under pressure, and 
 by means of various excuses, intrigues and favoritism, three hundred additional adven- 
 turers managed to get on board. 
 
 In .so far as Columbus himself determined the character of the expedition, the pa.ssen- 
 gers were selected with respect to the purposes of the vo)-age. To this end he secured a 
 considerable company of artisans, representatives of the various handicrafts, whose work, 
 as he foresaw, would be greatly in demand in the Indian Colonies. As to the merchandise 
 of the cargo the same was selected according to the experiences gained during the former 
 voyage. It was clear that the natives of the islands thus far visited were all begtiiled with 
 show>- trinkets and decorations, such as aborigines always prefer to articles of more solid 
 value. The supply of this variety of commercial trifles was accordingly made proportional 
 to the expected demand. Indeed the whole cargo was chosen with as mucli regard as pos- 
 sible to the desires and necessities of those people whom the Spaniards had visited in the 
 preceding year. 
 
 The reader must not conclude, however, that by this time the forces at work in the Spanish 
 nation had become too strong and vehement to be controlled, or even successfully directed, 
 by the genius of one man. This indeed is the philo.sophical reason whv Columbus rose at 
 this juncture to the acme of his career. Up to this point he himself had been the directive 
 agency in all that had been planned and accomplished. Thus far the work bore the distinct 
 impress of his individual genius. But the historical forces of the age now began to seize 
 him and bear him away. Hitherto he had contended onh- witli the elements of the natural 
 world and the consen-ativc obduracy of man ; but now a human whirlwind had been started 
 which was ere long to become a tornado so violent that the will of one was only a feather in 
 the storm. This substitution of a general for an individual purpose, began to express 
 
 U65)
 
 166 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 itself iu the selection of the crews and colonists of the second expedition. The spirit of 
 adventure now rushed in to supply the material of the enterprise, and henceforth passion, 
 caprice and lust were to a considerable extent the prevailing motives of the movement. 
 ADVENTURERS OF EVERY KINO JOIN THE EXPEDITION. 
 
 We must remember, in this connection, the existing condition of Spanish society. 
 The recent years had been consumed in war and conquest. The final struggle with the 
 Moors had brought into the field the chivalrous and adventurous class of young Spaniards 
 who joined the various campaigns in the spirit of knights, and cavaliers. The motives of 
 the contest were mercenar)- and fanatical. The great province of Granada, with its accumu- 
 lations of jMoofish wealth and art, was the principal prize. As usual in such cases of spolia- 
 tion and robber)' the spirit of propagandism and religious zeal was set forth as the reason for 
 the conquest. In the case of the suppression and ruin of the Jews the same argument was 
 advanced by the zealots of Church and State. In such a school it must needs be that the 
 graduates would come forth in the character of adventurers, bigots and robbers. 
 
 The sudden subsidence of the Moorish war thus let loose in Spanish society a large 
 element of restless, mercenary and half lawless chivalry-, wdiose motives of action flew low 
 and settled over the quagmires of gold, and glor}", and license. The appearance of a new 
 enterprise, a new and startling event like that of the discover}^ of the Indies, must in the nature 
 of the case funiish an occasion and vent for the activities and passions of such characters as 
 those just described. There was a strong tending of all such towards the port of Cadiz, 
 and it was almost impossible to prevent the capture of the new squadron b)- this element. 
 Hither came the gold hunter, the soldier out of work, the drifting, lawless young nobility, 
 to find opportvmity and excitement by volunteering in an expedition to an unknown world. 
 
 There was, moreover, a certain weakness in the character of Columbus which made 
 him accessible to the influence of mere adventurers and rakes. The}- crowded around 
 him and solicited the privilege of going abroad tmder his banner. They seemed to consti- 
 tute a part of that world in the estimation of which he now held so conspicuous a place. 
 Their voice and applause seemed to be but an echo of the public homage. To hold them 
 at bay and put them back was therefore difficult, and the result was that a considerable part 
 of the crew was made irp of a class of men who might, with much more profit, ha^•e been 
 sent on a military campaign to Damascus or Bagdad, rather than despatched as the first 
 colonists and citizens of Europe to the new hemisphere. 
 
 THE JEALOUSY OF FONSECA REBUKED BY ISABELLA. 
 
 It was at this juncture of affairs that the premonitions of a break betu^een the Admiral 
 and Fonseca were first disco\'ered. The latter was a shrewd man of affairs, ambitious, 
 cold, calculating, unscrupulous in matters affecting his designs. His talents might not be 
 doubted any more than his jealous and ^•indictive disposition. He was one of those char- 
 acters whose private manners and individualities were carried into his office, where they 
 constituted the mainspring of his public life and policy. He was secretive in his methods, 
 little disposed to trust his associates, and not infrequent!}' perfidious in his dealings with 
 them. When he perceived that the popularity of the cause was inducing a larger enlist- 
 ment than had been contemplated, he procured an inter\-iew with the Queen, at which he 
 interposed his objections and began to speak of the additional expense and risk thereb}' 
 incurred. Attempting to introduce obstructive tactics, he referred the matter a second 
 time to the sovereigns, but they sent back a mandatory- order to Fonseca to concede every- 
 thing to the wishes of the Admiral, to follow his directions and second his plans in all 
 particulars.
 
 FoNSKCA UICFORK THE IJUEEX AS A PROTESTANT AGAINST THE SCHEMES OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 (167)
 
 168 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 It was under these auspices that the fleet of seventeen vessels was made ready in the 
 harbor of Cadiz. The supplies requisite for the vojage were drawn for the most part from 
 military' stores which had been left o\-er from the Moorish war. The summer months were 
 consumed with the preparation, and it was not until late in September that the armament 
 was complete. Pains had been taken to furnish the ships with capable and zealous officers. 
 Some of the best pilots in the kingdom, noted at that epoch for the superior skill of its 
 mariners, were put at the helm. Columbus himself was captain-general of the squadron, 
 and his commission was so full and absolute as to leave no question respecting his authority, 
 whether on the voyage or at the destination. 
 
 Many noted and some highly picturesque characters were members of the expedition. 
 Pope Alexander had taken full cognizance of all that was done and planned respecting 
 
 DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS OX HIS SECOND EXPEDITION. 
 
 the enterprise. He deemed it well that an emissary- from the 
 Papal court should be on board as the representative of the 
 interests and supremacy of the Church. For this office a certain 
 Benedictine monk, named Bernardo Buyl, was chosen as apos- 
 tolic vicar for the Indies, and to him the other prelates and 
 ecclesiastical officers, eleven in number, were commanded to be 
 obedient. The vicar was himself a man of large affairs. He 
 had been ambassador to the court of France and was fully con- 
 versant with the international relations of Europe. On coming >^ 
 to Spain he demanded and received from the Court a supply of Church materials and 
 paraphernalia, si:ch as he deemed necessary for the establishment and maintenance of the 
 faith in the New World. The other ecclesiastics, of higher or lower rank, went as his 
 companions and coadjutors in the project of establishing Catholicism among the people 
 of the Indian islands. 
 
 After the Benedictine monk the most famous person that accompanied Columbus was 
 his best friend, the devoted friar, Juan Perez, to whose influence was sc largely due the 
 equipment of the first expedition, and to whom Columbus and their Majesties were alike 
 indebted. The good father sailed on the Maria Galaute (Gracious Mary), and was thus in the
 
 COLL'iMBUS AND COLUMBIA. W.) 
 
 company of many other distingnishcd persons, among whom may be remarked Gil Garcia, 
 alcaid-major; Bemal Diaz de Pisa, lieutenant of the controllers-general; Sebastian de Olano, 
 receiver of the crown taxes; the astronomer, Father Juan Perez de Marchena; the physi- 
 cian-in-chief. Doctor Chanca; some hidalgos; Melchor Maldonado, a cousin to the cosmo- 
 grapher of that name; and two baptized Indian interpreters, one of whom had as godfather 
 the brother of the Admiral, and was called after his name, Diego Colon. There also was 
 seen, as a simple passenger, the estimable Francisco de Casaus, better known under the name 
 of Las Casas. His son, Barthelmy, whom his ardent love for the Indians ought one day to 
 immortalize, was then pursuing his first studies at Seville. 
 
 There was also with the expedition the famous young chevalier, Don Alonzo de Ojeda, 
 destined to enact so important a part in the primitive annals of the West Indies. Of him 
 the student of American history may form an adequate idea from his likeness in character, 
 life and adventure, to Captain John Smith, of Virginia. The parallel is in ever\- particular 
 marked and striking, with the exception of the diversity of the two characters in moral 
 honesty. Ojeda had the same element of daring and romance, of rash courage, of needless 
 hazard and skill of extrication, wliich have made the name of Captain Smith so notable in 
 our colonial history. In the case of Ojeda, his faulty education, and the prevailing immor- 
 ality of the day, had contributed to mar his conscience and to make liini unscrupulous in 
 obligation and duty. But for the rest he was the prototype of Smith. 
 
 Ojeda was a cousin to that other Alonzo de Ojeda who was the inquisitor- general of 
 Spain. He was a soldier and adventurer from boyhood. He had fought with the Infidels 
 in the Moorish war, and had acquired the reputation of une.xampled reckless daring and 
 audacity. In person he was below the mediiun height, lithe, sinewy', agile as a lynx, with 
 lustrous black eyes, complexioned like an Arab, the best rider in the anny, generous with 
 . ever},'thing, never happy except in action, most pleased in a fight, with a temper — like flint 
 and steel — blazing and then cold, a born leader, loving hazard for the sake of it, and never 
 safe except in danger. Happ\- had it been for Columbus if this audacious and restless spirit 
 had been left in Spain. 
 
 GREAT DEMONSTRATIONS MADE AT THE FLEET'S DEPARTURE. 
 
 The departure of the squadron was set for Wednesday, the 29th of September, 1493. 
 The embarkation was made on the preceding day. Now it was that the greater number of 
 that additional three hundred passengers of whom we have spoken managed to get on board. 
 Some of them did so with the consent of the .\dmiral. Others were smuggled into the 
 ships by the pri\-ity of friends. Quite a number managed their own cause of adventure, and 
 were presently found as stowaways when the ships stood out to sea. The fleet weighed 
 anchor in the early morning. The sun had not yet risen to witness the spectacle ; but the 
 whole Spanish coast, from the mouth of the Guadalquivir to the bay of Trafalgar, was on 
 the alert for the great event. 
 
 Xo stronger contrast could be well afforded than that between the departure of this 
 •second squadron and the going forth of the first. Ever>' circumstance of the two occasions 
 seemed to have been altered by some good genius from darkness to light. Glon.- had come 
 to take the place of despondency ; universal applause took tlie ])lace of universal cavilling 
 and grief; power was substituted for weakness, and eagerness and zeal for gloom and 
 mutiny. The tliree little .ships constituting the .'\dmirars fleet had become an annada. 
 The meagre equipment and doubtful issue had been replaced with abundant stores, and the 
 confident outlook of certainty. Instead of the wailing and dolor of the panic-stricken people 
 of Palos, the multitudes of Cadiz and the surrounding countr>- gathered with glad applause 
 to the shore to cheer and shout farewells to tin- f(iriuii:itf .KKintnnrs.
 
 170 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 With the break of day the harbor was literally covered with all manner of craft swarm- 
 ing around the ships, till the water was darkened with boat-loads of living beings. They 
 whose friends were going on the great expedition counted themselves happy to be thus 
 linked with its destinies. The Admiral himself was the focus of all compliments and 
 plaudits. He took his station on the flagship, the Maria Gala)ttc\ and before sunrise gave 
 the order to weigh anchor. A favoring wind had sprung up from the shore as if nature 
 herself was eager to join her impulses with the endeavors and hopes of the human race. As 
 the sails filled and the vessels began to move, the hundreds of boats that had darkened the 
 liarbor fell back to the shore. The Admiral's two si ni'^, v,l!i> had come to share the hour 
 
 IN THE BAY OF CADIZ. 
 
 of their father's triumphant departure, went down last of all from his ship, waved their 
 
 boyish farewells from the water, and were rowed to land. All the shores round about, from 
 
 the point of St. Sebastian to the little island of La Caraccan, were black with people. The 
 
 water of the bay was as blue and placid as the sky ; both earth and heaven seemed to drop a 
 
 benediction on the departing fleet. 
 
 The squadron proceeded under fair winds over the same course which Columbus had 
 
 taken on his flrst voyage, reaching Gomera, one of the islands of the Canaries, where he 
 
 took on some necessary supplies of wood and water, and also added to the cargo a herd of 
 
 sheep and goats, besides a variety of domestic fowls for the new colony which he expected 
 
 to plant in Hispaniola. 
 
 OUT ON THE WIDE, WIDE SEA. 
 
 bn the 7th the fleet weighed anchor and continued the voyage, with the Maria 
 
 Galante^ Columbus' flag ship, in advance ; but though they had departed imder a fair wind^
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 171 
 
 before they had gone iwo leagues they fell into a calm which detained them a period of six 
 days. During all this time they continued in sight of the harbor whence they had last 
 departed ; but catching at last a favoring wind, the fleet continued in a southwestward 
 direction until reaching a point which Columbus reckoned to be due east from the island of 
 Hayti, he set his prows directly towards the west, caught the trade winds, and by avoiding 
 the Sargasso Sea, which had before caused such great detention, he made a quick voyage 
 across the Atlantic. 
 
 On the 2d of November signs were perceived indicative of the near approach of land. 
 The breezes became capricious, the sea changed color, and the waves, losing their regular 
 swell, began to assinne the choppy appearance of a bay. With the coming dawn of 
 Sunday, November 3d, anticipations were verified by the sight of bold outlines of an island 
 lying directly to the west, to which, in honor of the day, Columbus gave the name of Do- 
 minica. Before the ships anchored, however, three other islands were discovered, and it 
 was perceived that the ships were in the midst of an archipelago 600 miles southeast of 
 San Salvador. The joy which was infused into the hearts of all who had accompanied the 
 expedition was so great at the auspicious tennination of the voyage that the\- united in an 
 anthem, solemnly chanted, as an expression of their gratitude to Heaven. 
 
 Coasting about the shore of Dominica without finding any safe anchorage or discover- 
 ing signs of natives, the fleet bore away to the north a short distance until presently 
 another island was seen whose striking features betrayed its volcanic origin. Upon this 
 shore a landing was effected, and several of the members of the expedition made a short 
 journey into the interior, where they discovered a mountain peak hollowed in the centre, 
 which had become the basin of a large lake fed by living springs, and which, overflowing, 
 formed a cataract pouring down in foaming .spray over a lofty precipice. In honor of the 
 monasterv- in Estremadura, Columbus gave to the island the name of Guadaloupe. 
 
 A VISIT TO THE CARIBBEE ISLANDERS. 
 
 A farther advance towards the interior by several of the bolder spirits of the expedition 
 revealed an inland town, but from which the inhabitants had, on the approach of their 
 visitors, hurriedly fled to the forest In their precipitate flight several of the natives left 
 their children behind, which the Spaniards captured and hung about their necks many gew- 
 gaws, hoping thereby to attract the parents, but this attempt to open an intercourse with the 
 islanders failed, for not one appeared to ascertain what fate had befallen the captured 
 children. The only difference noted between these natives and those with whom Columbus 
 had formerly come in contact was in the character of the village. The houses which 
 the Spaniards now found were square instead of circular, and some of the better kind were 
 supplied with porticos. The most singular thing discovered at this village was a sort of 
 pan for frying and boiling, and which the Spaniards claimed was of»iron. The curiosity of 
 this piece of native workmanship was found in the fact that no specimen of this metal, 
 whether ^Tought or native, had been seen in the western islands, and the Spaniards could 
 only account for this utensil upon the assumption that it had been wrought, by some art 
 of the Indians, from meteoric stone. Rut there was also discovered a section of the mast 
 of a ship in one of the village houses, which, if it had been driven by the trade winds from 
 the coa.st of Europe, would supply another means for accounting for the iron pan, since if a 
 mast could drift so great a distance, other portions of a wreck might do likewise, bearing 
 articles of European manufacture of which the natives would pos.sess themselves.
 
 172 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 BUTCHER-SHCPS WHERE HUMAN FLESH WAS SOLD. 
 
 There was yet another circumstance still better calculated to fix the attention and at 
 the same time excite the repugnance of the Spaniards. It was in this village of 
 Guadaloupe that they first discovered the ravages and wrecks of cannibalism. Human bones 
 were plentifully scattered about the houses. In the kitchens were found skulls in use 
 
 as bowls and 
 vases. In some 
 of the houses 
 the evidences 
 of man-eating 
 were still more 
 vividly and 
 horribly pres- 
 ent. The Span- 
 i a r d s entered 
 apartments 
 which were 
 veritable h u - 
 m a n butcher- 
 shops. Heads 
 and limbs of 
 nienandwouien 
 were hung up 
 on the walls or 
 suspended from 
 the rafters, in 
 some instances 
 dripping with 
 blood, and, as 
 if to add, if 
 that were pos- 
 sible, to the 
 horror of the 
 scene, dead par- 
 rots, geese, dogs 
 and iguanas 
 were hung up 
 without dis- 
 crimination or 
 preference with 
 the fragments 
 
 of human bodies. In a pot some pieces of a human limb were boiling, so that with 
 these several evidences it was manifest that cannibalism was not an incidental fact, but 
 a common usage, well established and approved in the life of the islanders. 
 
 Subsequent investigation showed that Guadaloupe was the centre and stronghold of the 
 Carib race, and of the cannibal practice. The contrast afforded in the persons and char- 
 acters and manners of these savages with the mild-natured natives of the Bahamas was 
 
 CANNIBAL CABIN IN GAUDALODPE.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 173 
 
 sufficiently striking. The Caribbcans were large, strong, full of action, courageous, aud 
 especialK- vindictive. The man-eating usage had its laws and limitations among them. 
 Thc\- did not, as did some of the South Pacific islanders, eat their own people. The 
 anthropophagous habit had a strict relation to war. The Caribs ate their prisoners — men, 
 women and children, especially the men. 
 
 It was from this habit that the warlike nature of these aboriginal desperadoes took its 
 impulse and vehemence. War was made by them, systematically, for the purpose of 
 securing droves of prisoners with which to satisfy the cravings of a horrible appetite. 
 The usage was as well founded and as customary- as was that of the North American 
 Indians in the buffalo hunt or the bear hunt. \\'ith the Caribs it was a man hunt 
 The men were all warriors and were generally abroad in their capacity of man- 
 hunters. They had fleets of canoes, and in these the warriors took to sea, paddling away 
 to the coast of a distant island or shore, and there, by sudden descent upon some village, 
 seizing the inhabitants and carrj-ing them away as captives. When the prisoners 
 were brought home the better class were at once slain and eaten, but the remainder were 
 turned loose in the island until they should be in better condition. The Caribs looked 
 upon these prisoners just as a less brutal savage scans his flocks and herds in expectation of 
 the day for slaughter and feasting. 
 
 MYTH OF THE AMAZONIAN ISUNDS. 
 
 It is not difficult to discover in these circumstances the origin of the myth of the Ama- 
 zonian Islands. The natives of the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles, and as far south as 
 Porto Rico, on visiting the coast of the Caribbeaus, saw only women. The men were 
 abroad, plying their vocation of war. From this fact the belief would gain currency that 
 certain islands were inhabited only by women. In this shape tlie tradition existed among 
 the Guanahanians and Cubans when Columbus arrived among them. 
 
 The reactionary- effects of cannibalism were sufficiently marked in the character and man- 
 ner of the Caribs. They were fierce to the last degree, strong as tigers, courageous in fight, 
 brutal and merciles.s. The women had the same characteristics as the men. The Spaniards 
 soon learned the danger of a contest with the Amazons of these islands. Even the children 
 were as young beasts ready for the prey. It was noted by Columbus that the natives took 
 delight in making themselves appear as terrible as possible. To this end they painted their 
 faces, putting great circles of bright color around their eyes, thus .skilfully increasing the 
 ferocit;,- of the visage. Another usage was to tie cotton bands abo\-e and below the principal 
 muscles of the anus and legs, by which, when the body was in action, the muscles were 
 made to bulge out in prodigious knots. In short, every method known to savage ingenuity 
 for increasing the fear-inspiring features of face and body was employed by the cannibals of 
 these islands. 
 
 Strangeiv enough the Caribs were more civilized in some respects than the islanders of 
 the northwestern clusters. The fonner had the more extensive iuiprovement.s. Their chief 
 town was laid out with a square in the centre. The better class of houses had porticos. 
 Roads were surveyed with some regularity, and were better constnictcd than tho.se of Cuba 
 or Hispaniola. The people had some rude notions of the confederative principle in govern- 
 ment. Guadaloupe was the centre of a league which included at least three of the principal 
 islands. The natives were expert in the practice of their rude industries, particularly in the 
 management of their canoe.s. In these they did not hesitate to commit themselves to the 
 open sea, even to a distance of hundreds of miles from their native coast
 
 174 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 LOST IN THE GLOOMY FORESTS. 
 
 Resuming the narrative, we note during the stay of Cohmibus in Guadaloupe the first 
 of many distressing incidents which he was now destined to encounter. Bands of men were 
 frequently sent ashore to make explorations ; but always under strict orders as to plan and 
 conduct. One company of eight men, under Diego Marquez captain of one of the vessels, 
 went abroad without leave. After an absence of a whole day the party failed to reappear, 
 and the Admiral grew uneasy. Other companies were sent out to find the missing men, but 
 returned with no intelligence of them. Signals were made and guns fired, both from the 
 ships and on the shore, but there was no response. Trumpeters were sent to the neighboring 
 cliffs to sound the return, but still there was no answer. 
 
 With the following day the search was continued, but no vestige of the men could be 
 found. The belief might be well entertained that they had been caught, killed and eaten 
 b\- the islanders. It was hoped, however, that since the warriors were for the most part 
 absent on an expedition, the Spaniards might be able to defend themselves against the women. 
 The Admiral was unwilling to sail away while the fate of his sailors, or any one of them was 
 undetennined. In this emergency he bethought himself of the daring and courageous Ojeda. 
 That adventurer was accordingly given a company of volunteers and sent into the interior of 
 the island to scour the country in all directions in the hope of rescuing the missing party. 
 The expedition of Ojeda must again remind the reader of some of the similar exploits and 
 services of Captain John Smith. His excursion about the island was not only a search, but 
 an exploration. He noted in his progress from place to place, through the dense native 
 woods, over the hills and along the verdant valleys of the interior, the unexampled luxuriance 
 of the vegetation, the abundance of fruits, the fertility of the soil, the odorous balm of 
 the woods, and in particular the abundance of wild honey. But the stragglers could not be 
 found. 
 
 Se\-eral da}'s elapsed, and the necessit)- for continuing the voyage was imminent, when 
 unexpectedly the missing sailors appeared on the shore. It transpired that upon plunging 
 into the forest they had lost themselves. Their senses had become confused, and they had wan- 
 dered on farther and farther through impenetrable thickets and over ledges of rock, crossing 
 unknown rivers, tearing their clothes away in patches on brambles and thorns, totally imable 
 to regain the points of the compass or to, imagine the direction of the ships. At last, when 
 about to perish, they had come to the coast, and following it for a short distance, had the 
 good fortune to spy the vessels when they were just about to weigh anchor. The jo}' of all at 
 the recover}' was great ; but the indignation of the Admiral against the captain for his dis- 
 obedience of orders was such that he had him put imder arrest, and the whole company were 
 reduced in their rations as an exemplar}* punishment for their recklessness and insubordination. 
 
 Their stay on Guadaloupe island lasted for six days, when the voyage continued 
 northward through the Leeward cluster, several of which were named, among the number 
 being the little island of Nevis on which, two hundred and sixty-four years later, was bom a 
 great character, whose profound and lucid genius, more than that of any other man, con- 
 tributed to the Constitution of the United States — Alexander Hamilton. 
 A FIGHT IN WHICH TWO SPANIARDS ARE WOUNDED. 
 
 Farther on the expedition reached Santa Cruz and Santa Ursula. At the fonner island 
 a pause was made to replenish the store of water, as well as to make a casual examination ot 
 the countr}\ The company sent ashore found a Carib town which was held by women and 
 boys, no men being seen. It was found that many of those in the settlement were captives 
 who were awaiting their turn to be killed and eaten. Sexeral of these were taken widi
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 175 
 
 little resistance on their part ; for to them it was small matter l)y whom they were to be 
 devoured. While retuniiu!.,' to the shore to embark with the capli\es, the vSpaiiiards per- 
 ceived a boat-load of Caribs paddlinjjf around the headland not far awa\. For a moment the 
 Indians seemed paralyzed with wonder, and the Spaniards in their boats were able to get 
 between them and the shore. Hereupon the Caribs, taking the alarm, .seized their bows 
 and sent a shower of arrows among their ad\ersaries, at least two of whom, at the first dis- 
 charge, were seriously wounded. It was noticed that some of the women in the boat were 
 as expert with the bow as the men. The Spaniards held up their bucklers and bearing 
 down upon the canoe, overturned it in the water ; but the Indians continued to fight, 
 
 swinnning and discharging 
 their arrows at the same 
 time. Some found a lodg- 
 ment on rocks and reefs in 
 the shoal water, and were 
 taken with the greatest diffi- 
 culty. At length all were 
 captured, including a woman 
 and her son, who seemed 
 to be the queen and the 
 prince of the tribe. The 
 latter was thought by the 
 Spaniards to be the fiercest 
 specimen of a human being 
 they had ever beheld. They 
 described him as ha\ing the 
 face of an African lion. 
 Hough wounded, his conduct was defiant in the last degree, 
 and he scowled upon his captors with such a hideous ex- 
 pression of hatred as to send through them a shudder of 
 terror. It was foimd, or believed by the Spaniards, that 
 the woiuids which they received in the skirmish were inflicted 
 by poisoned arrows. One of the Spaniards soon died from his 
 injury, and his body was afterwards conveyed by the Admiral to San Domingo for burial. 
 
 Around Santa Ursula the Admiral discovered a rocky archipelago, the summits rising 
 here and there to considerable heights and constituting a group of islands, .some of which 
 were luxuriant and others sterile and bare. Sailing in this cluster was diflicult and dan- 
 gerous, and the exploration of the group, to which the. Admiral gave the name of the 
 Eleven Thousand Virgins, was made by a single light caravel which made its wa\- through 
 the tortuous channels between the fifty or more islands that were sighted, some of which at 
 least were inhabited by men of the Carib race. 
 
 Still farther to the west and north the squadron reached a larger island, nearly in the 
 form of a parallelogram, lying under the latitude of i8° N. This was called by the natives 
 Horiqucn, but was named by the Admiral San Juan Baptista, that is, St. John the Baptist, 
 and is known in modern geograpln- as Porto Rico. Here the fleet made its way out of the 
 Carib islands and found a modified native population such as belonged to Cuba and the 
 Hahama.s. The aborigines of Boriquen were not so warlike and roving as the tnie Caribs, 
 and on account of their peaceful disj^sition snflcred nnich at the hands of the cannibals. 
 
 ^1' 
 
 SAVAGE ATTACK 01" THE CARIBS.
 
 176 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Aloug the coast, where the latter were iu the habit of making their incursions, the natives 
 of the island were more courageous, having learned from their adversaries the use of the 
 bow and the war club. According to common fame, they sometimes revenged themselves on 
 the Caribs by devouring such captives as fell into their hands. But the body of the inhabi- 
 tants were a peaceable folk, subsisting on fruits of the soil and fish. 
 
 IN SEARCH OF THE COLONY LEFT AT LA NATIVIDAD. 
 After a considerable stay at Porto Rico, Columbus, having satisfied his curiosity 
 respecting the Caribs, set sail direct for Hispaniola, the western extremity of which he 
 reached without further incident. His return to the island was greeted with much rejoic- 
 
 FOUR C.\CIQUES VISIT THE SPANIARDS ON BOARD TBtE SHIPS. 
 
 ing by the natives who had seen him or heard of his previous visit. Four caciques, accom- 
 panied by hundreds of Indians, came off" in canoes to the ships, and besought the Span- 
 iards to make a pennanent camp on shore, promising to lead them to mines of gold, where 
 the precious metal might be easily gathered in the greatest quantities. But Cohimbus had 
 heard such stories so frequently before that he was not to be deceived by them now, so, after 
 distributing presents among the chiefs, he continued towards Natividad, which he was now 
 anxious to reach and learn how the affairs of the colony, which he had there planted nearly 
 one year before, were progressing. He accordingly sailed along the coast and entered the bay 
 of Samana, where he had had his first encounter with the natives of the New World. Anxious 
 to renew his intercourse with the people, the Admiral sent out one of his Guauahauian
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 177 
 
 interpreters, finely clad and laden with presents. Hut strangely enough, the man did not 
 return. Nor was the Admiral ever able to ascertain what became of him. The other 
 Guanahaniau, through many vicissitudes, past and to come, remained staunch in his loyalty 
 to Columbus, accompanying him wherever he went, proud to receive and bear the bap- 
 tismal name of Diego Colon, the Admiral's brother. 
 
 By the 25th of November the fleet reached Monte Christo and anchored there, while 
 the coast was surveyed at the mouth of Gold River in search of a site for a fortress. Here 
 it was that the first indications were discovered of those dire disasters which now began 
 to rise and darken the pathway of Columbus during all the remainder of his life. While 
 the exploring part\- were traversing the shore, they found a human carcass tied b\- the 
 wrists and ankles with a Spanish cord to a stake in the form of a cross. Also near by 
 was the body of a boy. Both cadavers were in such a state of decay that it could not 
 certainly be known whether they were Spaniards or Indians. But the significant cross 
 pointed to tlie suspicion that they were Europeans, and if so, certainly men of the colony 
 of Natividad. The sign of crime was therefore sufficiently portentous. 
 
 This horrible discovery proved to be indeed only the precursor of worse things to come. 
 On a further examination of the coast, two other bodies were found, and though these also 
 were reduced to little more than grinning skeletons, one of them was discovered to wear a 
 beard. This told the story. The victim had certainly been a Spaniard. The indications 
 of violence and death were well calculated to awaken the most serious apprehensions in the 
 mind of Columbus respecting the state of affairs in the island. He was, however, much 
 cheered by the conduct of the natives, who acted in a manner .so frank, so little indicative 
 of treachery, that he could but hope everj-thing might still be well with the men whom 
 he had left under De Arana in the fort. 
 
 Within two days from leaving ]\Ioute Christo, the fleet arrived at the anchorage of La 
 Natividad. The hour was late in the evening, and a landing was impracticable until the 
 morrow. It was hoped, however, that notification might be given to the colony by the 
 firing of a cannon. But the reverberations died awaj', and no response came from the 
 fortress. About midnight, however, an Indian canoe came near the squadron, and the 
 natives shouted for Columbus. They were directed to the Maria Galantt\ but would not 
 go on deck until the Admiral himself was seen by the lamps at the railing. Then their 
 caution was dismissed, and they w-cre taken up, and found to be an emba.ssy from Guacana- 
 gari, the leader being a cousin of the cacique. As usual in such matters, they brought 
 presents, the principal one being two masks eyed and tongued with gold. 
 
 STORY OF THE MASSACRE OF THE GARRISON. 
 
 But the Admiral was far more concerned about other matters than of the things of 
 which they chose to speak, and he eagerly inquired of the Indians what had become of his 
 garrison — why they did not answer to his signals. At this the natives were somewhat 
 embarrassed ; but they managed, by means of the interpreter, to tell a tolerably consistent 
 stor}'. They said the Spaniards imder De Arana had a quarrel and fight among themselves^ 
 in which several lives were lost, and that sickness had carried off" quite a number. Others 
 still had married native wives and settled in distant parts of the island. But worse than 
 this, they gave an account of an invasion of the province of Guacanagari by the warlike 
 Caonabo, cacique of the gold regions in the mountains of Cibao. He with a strong band 
 had burst into the village of their chieftain, had slain many, wounded man\' more, and 
 burnt the houses, .\mong the wounded was Guacanagari himself, who, but for iiis injuries, 
 would have come at once to the Admiral. The reason for this onset was that the friendly 
 12
 
 178 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 cacique had sought to protect the Spaniards from the rage of Caonabo, who had gone to war 
 with them on account of their conduct towards him and his people. Whether any of the 
 Spaniards remained alive the messenger did not say. 
 
 Morning came, bringing with it the greatest anxiety. On looking out towards shore the 
 Spaniards could perceive no signs of life. Instead of the native multitudes, only the 
 waving trees were seen along the coast, and only the light murmur of the surf was heard 
 as it fell and broke among the rocks. ]\Ieanwhile Columbus had entertained the Indian 
 embassy, and before the coming of dawn had sent them ashore laden with presents. They 
 had gone promising to return during the day and bring Guacanagari with them. 
 
 The onh- circumstance calculated to relieve the despondency and fears of the Admiral 
 was the fact that the natives seemed to be friendl)- and unconscious of wrong-doing. During 
 the forenoon a boat-load of Spaniards was sent ashore to ascertain definitely the situation. 
 Fort Natividad was in ruins. It appeared that the place had been carried by assault, broken 
 down, and the remnant burnt. Fragments of the contents of the fort were scattered about, 
 and these relics included shreds of Spanish gannents, presenting a scene of death and 
 desolation. With these gruesome relics before them, they could no longer doubt that the 
 worst of calamities had befallen Arana and his men. As for the natives, they carefulh- kept 
 aloof Though a few were seen hiding in the woods at a distance, not one came near to 
 explain further the destruction of the fort and its occupants. 
 
 When these tidings were borne back to the Admiral he was in the greatest distress, and 
 went directlv on shore to examine the ruins of the fort himself. Unable to gain any clue as 
 to its destruction and the disappearance of his men at the first examination, he deemed it 
 expedient to make a more systematic search. Possibly some of the Spaniards might still 
 live, and it was not inconceivable that a band of them, driven from the fort, had kept to- 
 gether and defended themselves until Caonabo and his warriors had retired to their own place. 
 Several companies were according!}- despatched into the neighboring districts to search for 
 any possible survivors of the disaster. The men went abroad firing their guns, shouting and 
 blowing trumpets ; but the only sounds that came back were the echoes from the woods and 
 rocks, and wave-beats of the sea. 
 
 RELICS OF THE MURDERED MEN. 
 
 As for Guacanagari, he did not come, nor was any message sent by him to explain his 
 absence. The Admiral at length concluded to seek him out, and accordingly advanced to 
 the cacique's \allage, which, to his grief, he found burnt to ashes, and the same marks of 
 violence about its ruins as had been found at Natividad. The conclusion seemed necessary 
 that the town of the cacique, as well as the Spanish fort, had been taken and destroyed by the 
 warriors of Caonabo. This circumstance, while it tended to dispel all hope of finding Arana 
 and his men, seemed to establish the belief that the tribe of Guacanagari had remained loyal 
 to the Spaniards. 
 
 The Admiral was so much concerned to know the truth that, returning to the coast, he 
 renewed his investigations about the ruined fortress. He had given directions to Arana in 
 case he and the garrison should be imperiled, to bur>' in the earth the treasures which they 
 had accumulated. In the hope of finding some trace of the property, the well of the fort 
 •was examined, and the whole region round about, but there was no sign that these instruc- 
 tions had been obeyed, and the search was therefore continued along the coast. 
 
 On the coming of the Spaniards to a native village not far away the inhabitants fled, 
 lea\'ing their houses to be examined by the invaders. Here were foinid several articles which 
 had belonged to the garrison, among which were an old anchor of the Santa Maria and a
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 179 
 
 Moorish cloak which was remcinbered as the proper^- of De Arana. There were also several 
 articles of clothing and bits of merchandise, pointing unmistakably to the spoliation of the 
 fortress. In the meantime another company of explorers, nearer to Natividad, had found a 
 kind of burial place, from which they recovered the remains of eleven of their companions, 
 thus strengthening the belief with overwhelming proof that all had perished by violence. 
 
 It was with the greatest difficulty that Columbus could induce the natives to a renewal 
 of intercourse. Nor could their conduct in this particular be well understood. If the sub- 
 jects of Guacanagari were innocent, why should they keep aloof and exhibit such want of 
 confidence ? On the other hand, if they had not been loyal, how account for the destniction 
 of the village of the cacique and his own wounds? The problem became an enigma, and 
 there was great diversity of opinion among the Spaniards. De Bu>l, the apostolic vicar, 
 led the belief that all the Indians alike had been treacherous, and that the Admiral should 
 proceed to punish them for their crime. He framed a theory that the cacique had burned 
 his own \411age to conceal his perfidy — that the conduct of the natives could be explained 
 only on the ground that they were crafty barbarians who well knew the awfulne.ss of the 
 crime that they had committed and dreaded retributive justice. 
 
 DEPRAVITY OF THE SPANIARDS CAUSES THEIR DESTRUCTION. 
 
 Columbus, however, was entirely unwilling to accept this di.sheartening and pessimistic 
 view of the situation. He chose to believe that the work had been done by Caonabo and 
 his people, and this conviction was accompanied by the well-grounded fear that the Spaniards 
 had, by their own misconduct, brought the fatal visitation on themselves. With the pro- 
 gress of the investigation, the disconnected facts were slowly and imperfectly put together 
 until a fairly reasonable storj' of the destruction of Arana and his company was produced ; 
 and the conclusion was of a kind to brand with shame and infamy the first settlement of 
 white men ever planted in the New World. 
 
 It appeared in the sequel that as soon as the colony was established and the Admiral 
 had sailed away, the true character of the colonists came out with dreadful realism. The 
 men whom Cohnnbus had brought with him on his first voyage to the West Indies were, as 
 we have said, for the most part, of the lowest order. They had been roustabouts and crimi- 
 nals in the Spanish seaport towns, and, as the reader knows, had in many instances escaped 
 impending penalties by embarcation through impressment. Such characters could but 
 await the removal of authority to seize the combined freedom of barbarism and the vicious- 
 ness of civilization. 
 
 It was in vain that De Arana had sought to curb and restrain the will and pa.ssions 
 of his colonists. Finding that they could not be subjected to discipline by an\- force which 
 the captain could exert, they at once abandoned themselves to the license of outrage and 
 excess. Every evil impulse which for generations, although restrained under the 
 compressive tyranny of despotic govennnent had been transmitted with accumulating 
 vehemence from father to son, now burst forth in the depraved descendants. They 
 turned upon the mild-mannered Indians who liad befriended and a.ssisted them in 
 ever}' way to gain a footing and maintenance in the island, and began to treat them as 
 though they were the mere instruments of their avarice and lust. They sallied forth from 
 the fort against the express commands of the Admiral, and contracted licentious alliances 
 with the native women, whom they refused to leave even when ordered by Arana, and 
 indulged in a riot of debauchen,- horrible in its details. 
 
 Guacanagari had .sought to appease the fury of vSpanish pa.s.sion by granting to each 
 sailor two or three wives. But even this was not enough. The wretches, glorying in their
 
 180 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Island. 
 
 license, became like wild beasts,, assaulting and seducing the wives and daughters of the 
 head men of the tribe, and as if their crimes inspired greater lawlessness, the}- began to 
 despoil the villages, carrying home therefrom great loads of merchandise and provisions. 
 
 In a few days the fort was converted into a robber's 
 camp, and presently the men fell to quarrelling, brawling 
 and fighting over the spoils, sometimes to the death. Others 
 remained abroad, preferring the company of the native 
 women. But a few, deprived of what they considered 
 their share, began to form conspiracies. Pedro Gutierrez 
 i^^/ became the head of one band and Rodrigo de Escobedo 
 ' / of another. These two, being subordinate officers in the 
 fortress, mutinied against the commander, and in a fight 
 which took j^lace on that account another Spaniard lost 
 his life. 
 
 The party of Arana had been victorious, and Gutierrez 
 and Escobedo left Natividad for another part of the 
 The remainder, composing a company of eleven, besides some native women 
 whom they had taken as wives, set out for Cibao, to gather gold. In a short time they 
 passed the boundaries of the district ruled by Guacanagari and entered the territon- of 
 Caonabo, the great cacique of Magnana, to whom the Spaniards had given the name of 
 Prince o^ the Golden House. Subsequent investigations showed that this warlike 
 chieftain was a nati-^-e Carib, who had come as an invader into Hispaniola and there 
 established himself with his headquarters in the gold regions. 
 
 PARTICULARS OF THE MASSACRE. 
 The invasion of his territories by a mere handful of Spaniards could have but one 
 result with the cacique. When the band of Gutierrez and Escobedo approached Cibao and 
 began to ply their trade of getting gold, Caonabo sent out his warriors, who surrounded 
 tliem and killed the last man of the company. The cacique then made a league with 
 the neighboring chieftain of the province of Marien, and the combined forces of the two 
 tribes were sent into the province of Guacanagari, to besiege the Spanish fortress and 
 sweep it, with its garrison, from the face of the earth. The invasion v/as carried on with 
 secrecy. The course pursued by Guacanagari is not certainl}- known ; but it appears that 
 he tried, at least fonnally, to defend the Spaniards from the enemy, for it can hardh- be 
 doubted that the village of the friendly cacique was burned, and that some of the Span- 
 iards who were there at the time were killed in the attack. The hostile barbarians then 
 crept upon the fort, where all precaution had been abandoned, and rushed in at a time 
 when the garrison numbered only ten men. Two of these were killed, and the other 
 eight fleeing from their pursuers plunged into the sea and were drowned. Not a man was 
 left alive to tell the ston,\ The fortress was sacked and burned, and the hostile warriors, 
 after thus glutting their vengeance, returned to their own district. 
 
 It seems that after the withdrawal of the enemy, Guacanagari knew not what to do. 
 Perhaps he doubted his ability to make things clear on the return of the Admiral. Per- 
 haps he feared that when the great fleet came, he and his people would be oveiAvhelmed 
 in a common ruin by the vengeful foreigners. Possibly at heart he had felt some emotions 
 of sympathy with the work of extermination which had been accomplished by the men of 
 Cibao. In any event the situation was trying in the extreme. It would seem that the 
 cacique had not the confidence to commit himself without reserve to the good faith of the
 
 COLr.MBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 181 
 
 Admiral, and in his embarrassment, doubtless to save himself and his subjects, he adopted 
 that subterfuije to which half-barbarous minds naturally resort in times of danger. 
 
 One circumstance tended strongly to convince even the Admiral that Guacanagari had 
 been guilty of duplicit)-. It was claimed by the Indians who came as ambassadors from 
 their cacique that he was prevented from visiting the Admiral by the injuries which he had 
 
 received while defending his village against 
 the attack of Caonabo. Columbus presently 
 set out and found his friend at a new village 
 which had been extemporized for him not 
 far away. The cacique, sure enough, lay 
 in his hammock, surrounded by his wives, 
 and unable to rise, on account, he said, of 
 his wounded leg, which he claimed had 
 been struck with a stone and 
 ■ * so injured that he could not 
 stand. The limb was bandaged 
 to a great extent, and Colum- 
 bus ordered his own surgeon, 
 who was present, to examine 
 the injur>' and see what could 
 be done to relieve the chief. 
 The bandages were accord- 
 ingly taken ofiF, and though 
 the cacique made grimaces 
 and complained of pain when 
 the limb was handled, no 
 trace of the alleged injury 
 could be found, and this fact 
 produced the natural sus- 
 picion that the wound and his 
 stor>- of it were a sham in- 
 vented for effect. 
 
 Other warriors of the tribe, 
 however, were found to have 
 been really wounded, pre- 
 sumably by the arrows of 
 the enemy ; and of a cer- 
 tainty the cacique's village 
 had been bunied. All things 
 considered, Columbus decided 
 to give Guacanagari the bene- 
 fit of every doubt, and so, exhibiting no signs of distrust, he bestowed on the chieftain the 
 usual gifts and went away. At this De Buyl was again greatly offended, for to him the 
 evidence of guilt was so clear that he urged the Admiral to take a summan,' vengeance on 
 the cacique, making him an example to all other offenders. Hut this counsel was rejected, 
 and for the time amicable relations were maintained between the Spaniards and the 
 natives. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE LITTLE GARRISON.
 
 182 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 THE NATIVE CHIEF FALLS IN LOVE. 
 
 The difference of opinion and policy between Columbus and the vicar was the 
 commencement of a difficulty destined to become important. Buyl had in him the very 
 soul of a persecutor, and nothing could have pleased him better than to see the head- 
 men of the Indians burned at the stake, as his favorite method of introducing the new 
 religion which he came to represent. It is an interesting historical ctudy to see the 
 contest between the vindictive spirit of this man and the humane disposition of the 
 commander. But passing from this, we note the conduct of the latter in inviting Gua- 
 canagari, in spite of the suspicions against him, to visit the Maria Galante and share 
 the hospitalities of his board. The act was one of kindness and policy also ; kindness, for 
 by this means he sought in a generous way to restore the confidence of the chief ; policy, 
 for he desired him to look upon the Carib prisoners whom the Spaniards had on board as 
 warnings of what might be expected b}- all who durst attack or oppose the whites. The 
 whole cargo of wonders, including the horses, swine and goats, was also shown to the 
 cacique, to accomplish a similar purpose. 
 
 But human nature is always limnan nature. The barbarian, or half-barbarian, is ever 
 of his own kind. Among the other subjects which the cacique found on the Admiral's ship 
 was a company of captives from Porto Rico ; that is, they were liberated captives, whom 
 the Caribs had taken and the Admiral recovered. With these Guacanagari began to con- 
 verse by means of an interpreter. Among the rest was a queenly native woman called 
 Catalina, with whom, as the sequel showed, the cacique fell violently in love. He conversed 
 with her as much as possible in the lover's manner, and would fain have taken heron shore, 
 but the opportunity was not presented until the following night, when the queen escaped by 
 swimming ashore, and the next day Guacanagari disappeared, having eloped with the 
 woman, so that neither was again seen by the Spaniards.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE COURAGE WHICH OVERCAME ALL ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 rF COLUMBUS had been affected by such adversities 
 as crush the hopes of other men ; if his enthusiastic 
 and wondrously imaginative nature had not sustained 
 him in every ordeal that wrings tlie heart witli de- 
 spair ; if the sun of hope and confidence had not 
 remained alwa\s \'isible above the horizon of his life, 
 the world would have preserved no remembrance of 
 his living. A nature that would have halted at 
 obstacles would lia\e bowed with despondency before 
 such persecution as he received at the hands of Por- 
 tugal's ruler ; but enduring these, the rejections of 
 his proposals by Genoa, Venice, and by two learned 
 Juntas, as well as the derision of ecclesiastics, would 
 surely have driven any less persistent man to accept 
 the hopelessness of his ambitions. But bearing up 
 against all these opposing influences, like a vessel 
 whose engines have sufficient power to hold her 
 against the current, he bravely held on, continued on, 
 until, behold, the reward of his unyielding activity is a glorj- that kings might crave. 
 
 The man who bared a resolute front to all the oppositions that obscurit\-, poverty, 
 antagonisms and ridicule could offer was not to be daunted even b)- the discouraging a.spect 
 which a murdered colony presented. Hopeful as he was persistent, Columbus was not 
 awakened from his dreams of conquest by the dreadful fate of those whom he had estab- 
 lished as the nucleus of a vast commercial power, which he believed would expand in 
 influence until it accomplished the Christianizing of the world of his discoven-. The first 
 seed had perished even as it lay in the ground, but he would now sow again and tnist for a 
 more favorable season. The first colon>- had wrought its own destruction, perhaps a second 
 would be successful, and with this sanguine, trustful feeling he set about the planting of 
 a settlement either above the graves of those who had fallen victims to their lustful, sedi- 
 tious and avaricious appetites, or to establish a colony near by, where there might be con- 
 stant reminder of the fate of those who had subordinated virtue and honest dut\- to stlfisli 
 greed and the basest desires of human nature. 
 
 AWAKENING TO HARSH CONDITIONS. 
 After the first excitement of the landing, despondency ensued, and the men began to 
 realize something of the pro.saic character of the enterprise in which they were engaged. 
 Worst of all, they found that labor was a necessit\- of their situation. Houses would not 
 build themselves. The fortress would not grow without human effort. Nothing could be 
 accomplished on this virgin shore, any more than elsewhere, without strenuous exertion of 
 mind and body. Here it was not merely a question of exciting adventure incident to the 
 
 (18.1)
 
 184 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 gathering of golden sands from the banks and beds of impossible rivers. Toil, toil was the 
 order, and all alike, cavaliers and soldiers though they were, must bend to the appointed task. 
 
 Again the situation can but impress the mind of the reader by its likeness to the found- 
 ing of Jamestown b)- the English a hundred and fourteen years afterwards. Thus came 
 disappointment and gloom instead of the exhilaration of ideal enterprises, and this fact 
 tended to aeeravate the diseases of the colonists. 
 
 Cohnnbus, as we have said, felt his strength ebb away. He may have perceived — for 
 the greatest minds are given to such intuition — that the golden but visionary- schemes 
 which had passed before his imagination, and which he had imparted to the King and 
 Queen, lay farther away in their realization, and were to be reached by a rougher road than 
 any which his feet had ever yet tra\-elled. Moreover, the sorrows and weaknesses of old 
 age were now coming iipon him, and he could hold up no longer. No sooner had the pre- 
 liminaries of the settlement been determined upon than his faculties of body and mind 
 succumbed to the sore pressure, and for several weeks he was confined to his couch. 
 During part of the time he was able to give directions for the prosecution of the work 
 of laving out, building, fortifying and planting ; but for the rest, the enterprise must 
 be remanded to the hands of his subordinates. Whenever this was done, confusion began 
 to reign as the result of cross purposes and lack of talent. It was thus imder dismal 
 auspices that the eventful year 1493 ended with small prospect that the Admiral would be 
 able, in his first report to his sovereigiis, to meet the glowing expectations which his own 
 oversanguine temperament had given rise to at the court. 
 
 By the opening of the following year, all the materials of the fleet had been transferred 
 to the shore, and there was no further need of the squadron. It had been predetermined 
 that after the planting of the colony the greater number of the vessels should be sent back 
 to Spain. It had also been intended by Columbus that these returning ships should be 
 laden with the merchandise and treasures which he expected his colony of Natividad to 
 gather during his absence. The disappointment in this respect was overwhelming. De 
 Arana and his garrison had not onh- gathered nothing, but had lost all, including them- 
 selves — a melancholy awakening from delightful dreams. 
 
 The second vo}-age had thus far been an expedition of discovering and mere planting. 
 No commercial intercourse had been opened or renewed with the native islanders. Indeed 
 such a condition of unfriendliness and distrust now prevailed that it was doubtful whether 
 any profitable trade could again be established with the Indians. But it was necessary' to 
 freight the ships with something, if only with an additional cargo of golden dreams. To 
 this end the Admiral was constrained to rouse himself from his enfeebled condition and to 
 prepare his report to his sovereigns. As in the case of all men of genius, his active mind 
 foreran the event, and he sought to find in the surroundings such elements of siiccess 
 as might be truthfully wrought into a suitable report to gratify their Majesties. 
 
 AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLD MINES. 
 
 To this end the Admiral deemed it expedient to send out exploring parties, two of 
 which were organized and despatched into the gold countn,-. The first of these was put 
 under the command of Alonzo de Ojeda. To him nothing could have been more agreeable 
 than the responsibility of an expedition into the mountains of Cibao, or, missing that, into 
 the mountains of the moon. The other company was placed under a Captain Gorvalan, a 
 cavalier of like disposition with Ojeda, but less adventurous. Both parties went out full- 
 armed into the country of Caonabo, expecting to fight their way to the mines, which they
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 185 
 
 were directed to examine and explore, to the end that Columbus might faithfully infonn 
 their Majesties as to the probable gold yield of the island. 
 
 It required but two days to reach the hill countr>-. On the third nioniing the gold 
 fields were approached, and to the astonishment of the Spaniards the Indians of the district 
 were not only friendly but familiar. They welcomed the strangers as brethren, fed them, 
 
 aided them in V / ^ ' 
 ever\- way to carry (! 
 out their purpose. 
 
 The fonnation of ' U IS J\U Y|j[^jy 111 \// // |\ 
 the island in this \\ /'| '|V MvAmj j|| \l J/ j \\ 
 part was as pe- " '^ \' II II HI // h\:\J 
 
 culiar as i t was 
 beautiful. The 
 gold mountains \^j« 
 constituted a "^' 
 range of moderate 
 height, beyond I^ 
 which lay a plain '^ 
 traversed by many .■ 
 streams and oc p.,;v,.vi\\ • 
 cupied with nu- rii»^ 
 merous villages V' 
 and a large popu- 
 lation. Crossini: 
 this plain the 
 adventurers came j;' 
 to a second ridge, 
 out of which the _ 
 rivers gathered •;;■ 
 their waters. This L- 
 was the raining J. , 
 district; but there 
 were no mines. ^, 
 Nevertheless t li e 
 signs of gold were 
 sufficiently abun- 
 dant, for the sands 
 of the running 
 streams glittered 
 
 here and there with particles of the precious metal. Specimens of these sands were taken 
 up and the gold gathered out with little difficulty, while some of the Spaniards were so 
 fortunate as to pick up pieces of considcral)le weight. 
 
 Here, then, the secret was out. It was clear that the specimen? of gold dust which the 
 Spaniards had procured in other parts of the island, and farther north, had been derived 
 froTU these mines of Cibao. But everything was in the native condition. Ojeda very 
 properly concluded that the yield of the precious metal, as shown in the river sands, was 
 
 ^^axi iXZ(i'n3).C9 
 
 PREPARINC. FOR AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLD MINES.
 
 18G COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 but a hint of the rich, perhaps limitless, treasures of the mountains. He accordingly 
 surveyed the landscape and carried back to the Admiral a glowing report. The expedition 
 of Gorvalan had a similar result. That captain had also discovered the gold country, and 
 had gathered specimens from the sands and returned with a cheering account for the 
 Admiral. Thus, while Columbus was not able to send home a cargo of treasure, he would 
 fain transmit a glamour of visions and hopes. 
 
 A REPORT CALCULATED TO DECEIVE THE SOVEREIGNS. 
 
 It was under these conditions that the discoverer now prepared his report for the King 
 and Queen. He determined to retain five ships from the squadron for his own use in the 
 service of the colonists, and in prosecuting the work of discovery. The remaining twelve 
 were put under command of Antonio de Torres for the return Voyage. As for treasure he 
 was able to send nothing except the specimens of gold-bearing sand which his lieutenants 
 had gathered about Cibao, and to add some additional samples of the animal and vegetable 
 products of the island. His report was of course the principal thing, and this, while it 
 contained an account of the disaster which had befallen the garrison of La Natividad, of the 
 sickness to which he and the colony had been recently subjected, and some complaints, 
 well founded, of frauds and blunders committed by the home bureau in the preparation of 
 the cargo and provision of the squadron, nevertheless glowed with the usual enthusiasm and 
 promise of great things to come. 
 
 The document was prepared with his accustomed elaboration, embracing a report 
 proper and many recommendations which the Admiral took the responsibility of making to 
 the sovereigns. Some of these suggestions were of a kind to show forth in full sight not 
 only the sentiments and opinions of the discoverer and his sovereigns, but also the general 
 civilization in that age. Fortunately the document has been preserved to our own time,, 
 and the curious inquirer may still read not only the words of the Admiral, but the 
 marginal comments which the sovereigns appended to each clause of the report. In the 
 first place the Admiral opens with those fonnal and complimentar}- addresses which were 
 the style in the fifteenth centur>', and even at a much later date, in all documents directed 
 to royal personages. To these the King and Queen made on the margin this remark : 
 
 "Their Higlm esses hold it for good service." 
 
 In the next place the Admiral gives an enumeration of the circumstances of the 
 second voyage up to date, including an account of the various islands which he had dis- 
 covered and visited, and finally of the planting and establishment of the colony of Isabella. 
 To this the sovereigns affixed the co-marginal comment : 
 
 '■'Their Highnesses give much thanks to God, and Iiold as ver}- honored service all that the Admiral has done." 
 
 In the third paragraph he tells of the ill fortunes that had come, explaining how 
 his men had fallen sick, how the new plantation had been delayed, how it had become 
 necessar}^ to detail a considerable number of soldiers to guard the settlement from possible 
 attacks by the natives, and how, for these reasons, he had been unable to gather and send 
 home with the cargo any products or treasures worthy of the work. To this clause the 
 sovereigns wrote in the margin the simple words : 
 
 "He has done vcell." 
 
 In the fourth place the Admiral went on to suggest the best means of gaining 
 possession of the gold mines of Cibao. Tc- this end he recommended that a fortress be 
 built in the gold-producing regions, and that it should be garrisoned and held that the
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 187 
 
 niiiits might be systematically worked. To this proposition the sovereigns also gave their 
 approval as follows : 
 
 "This is well and so it must be done." 
 
 The Admiral next proceeded to discuss the question of provisions for the new settle- 
 ment, U!itil such time as the products of the island, including new crops to be raised and 
 gathered b>- the colonists, should be sufficient to render unnecessar)- all further draft on the 
 mother country-. This, too, received the approval of royalty with the marginal comment, 
 thus : 
 
 "Juan de Fonseca is to provide for this matter." 
 
 In the next place Columbus proceeded to touch the delicate subject of the frauds and 
 
 blunders that had been committed in the purchase and preparation of supplies for the 
 
 squadron and the colon>-. This part related most of all to the wine which the bureau had 
 
 supplied for the expedition. Ver}- soon after the sailing of the fleet it was discovered that 
 
 the wine-casks were old and leaky, and before the end of the voyage much of the supply 
 
 had been wasted. Concerning this complaint the marginal comment of the sovereigns was 
 
 as follows : 
 
 "Juan de Fonseca shall find out the persons who played this cheat with the wine-casks, that thej' may make 
 good from their own pockets the loss, and also see that the sugar-canes (for the colony) are good, and that all that 
 is here asked for be provided immediately." 
 
 We have alreadj- remarked above how greatly Columbus was distressed — how sensitive 
 he was — relative to the failure of the expedition thus far to yield any profitable returns. 
 He knew well enough that profit was expected. Indeed, that had been with the sovereigns 
 the prevailing motive, and it is likely that glimpses of a probability had now reached the 
 Admiral's judgment that the treasures of gold he had been seeking were still far remote. 
 It was, therefore, expedient that he should, if practicable, divert the minds of their Majesties 
 to some other enterprise, promising great and immediate advantages. 
 
 A RECOMMENDATION TO ENSLAVE THE NATIVES. 
 
 It is possible, therefore, or probable, that the next suggestions of his report were in 
 part, at least, the result of a wish to point the ro>al mind to a new method of commercial 
 gain. Or it may be that he conscientiously believed the recommendations made to be 
 philanthropic and humane. The thing which he suggested in the next paragraph was 
 ba.sed on a policy which he had on his own responsibility adopted with respect to the Caribs. 
 The reader will recall the fact that while cniising among the cannibal islands Columbus 
 seized a number of the natives and retained them as prisoners. These he now sent to 
 Europe witii the returning squadron, recommending to the sovereigns that the islanders 
 should be taught Spanish, be baptized into the church, and that they be retained as slaves 
 to ser\-e as interpreters, or be made useful in other ways. He called attention to the fact 
 that such a measure would be a just punishment for the Caribbcans, and that it would tend 
 to inspire confidence in the other islands, where the people lived in dread of the cannibals. 
 Of course the .\dmiral laid much stress upon the religious feature of the suggestion, insisting 
 that the proposed subjection of the cannibals was to their own interest as well as to the 
 benefit of Spain and the advantage of the whole colonial enterprise. But to this recom- 
 mendation there was entered on the margin a guarded reply of the sovereigns, as follows : 
 
 "Their Majesties think tliis very well, and so it must be done ; but let the ■\dmiral see whether it cannot be 
 managed there that they (the Indians) should be brought to our Holy Catholic faith, and the s.-ime thing be done 
 with the Indians of those islamls where he now is." 
 
 Having thus opened the way Columbus proceeds boldly to the general suggestion of 
 the enslavement of the natives as the best means of making them Christians, and of
 
 188 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 gathering profit by new commercial relations that might be established on the foundation 
 
 of a trafl&c in human beings. The Admiral suggests that the ships in the Indies could be 
 
 laden with cargoes of natives, who might be exchanged in Spain for live stock and other 
 
 supplies requisite for the purposes and development of the colon}-. The policy should be 
 
 adopted by the Indian Bureau of sending out a fleet each year bearing all things demanded 
 
 by the colonists, and the vessels, as soon as their cargoes could be discharged in the Indies, 
 
 might gather an equivalent cargo of Indian slaves. It was necessary that this policy should 
 
 be at once adopted and that the answer of the sovereigns should be transmitted by Antonio 
 
 de Torres to the Admiral, so that the latter might proceed to capture the requisite ship-loads 
 
 of cannibals for the return voyage. The project was sufficiently audacious and cold-blooded, 
 
 being redeemed only from absolute shame and contempt by the intermixture of religious 
 
 motives, real or fictitious, which the Admiral pleaded in justification of his proposals. In 
 
 view of the situation the reader at the close of the nineteenth centurj' will notice the reply of 
 
 the Spanish sovereigns with peculiar interest : 
 
 "As regards this matter, it is suspended for the present until there come some other way of doing it there, and 
 let the Admiral write what he thinks of this." 
 
 COLUMBUS SENDS HOME A CARGO OF SUVES. 
 
 Certainly it was to the honor of Ferdinand and Isabella that they refused to adopt the 
 suggestions made by their favorite, as to establishing a slave-trade in tlie West Indies. 
 Whether or not they were moved thereto by reasons of justice and humanity, or whether 
 they detected in the proposition elements of trouble and inexpediency, it would be difficult to 
 say. A careful reading of their answer and comment would indicate that while it was 
 deemed inexpedient to begin the enslavement of the Indians, there was nevertheless a 
 reluctance on the part of the sovereigns to pronounce the interdict. They put it from 
 them with such gentle kind of veto as Csesar employed in rejecting the crown. The sar- 
 castic comment of Casca might almost be repeated and applied — at least to Ferdinand, 
 whose cold and subtle disposition we may discover in the language of refusal : ' ' He put 
 it by ; but for all that to my thinking he woitld fain ha\'e had it. . . He put it by again ; 
 but to m\- thinking he was ver\' loath to lay his fingers off it. ' ' 
 
 The proposal of Columbus was brought to the sovereigns in a ver}- practical and 
 emphatic way. The Carib prisoners were put on board the fleet and despatched to Spain 
 as the earnest and first fruits of the enterprise. The monarchs were told that a s}-stem of 
 royal revenue might be established by laying a duty on the slaves imported. In a word, 
 the thing proposed was to be profitable to evers'body; profitable to the colonists, for by this 
 means their energies might be exerted in the excitement of slave-hunting, and at the same 
 time their resources augmented by the supplies and merchandise to be brought from Spain 
 in exchange for the captives ; profitable to the people of the mother countr}^-, for in this 
 way they would obtain at cheap rates a full retinue of ser\-ants forever ; profitable to the 
 merchants, for their cargoes would, under such a system, be expeditioush- provided on both 
 sides of the Atlantic ; profitable to the sovereigns, for hereby the royal revenue could be 
 steadily replenished ; profitable to the Caribs themselves, for by the blessings of capture, 
 deportation and sale, they would be rapidly civilized, saved from their sins and through all 
 their sufferings be brought to Heaven. The inhuman fallacy was complete in all its parts 
 and needed only the assent of the sovereigns '.o make it pass as the greatest civilizing argu- 
 ment of the age. 
 
 The returning squadron, under command of Antonio de Torres, left San Domingo on 
 the 2d of February, 1494. Other communications from leading characters were added
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. I8y 
 
 to that of Columbus, o^enerally corroborating his report and repeating his recommendations. 
 Such w;is a letter from the apostolic vicar De Buyl, and such were the reports made by 
 Ojeda and Gorvalan respecting their explorations in the mines of Cibao. On the whole, 
 the infonnation which the fleet was to bear back to Europe was of a kind to make up in a 
 large measure for the disappointment in the matter of merchandise and gold. Thus, at the 
 close of the winter the home-bound annada dropped out of sight, and the colonists of 
 Isabella were left to resume and prosecute the necessary enterprises of the settlement. 
 
 SEDITION SHOWS ITS HORRID HEAD. 
 
 By this time the Admiral had recovered somewhat his wasted energies, and with 
 returning strength he devoted himself to the administration of affairs. Never was govern- 
 ment more difficult. The distraction of the colonists became extreme. Sickness increased 
 rather than abated. Provisions began to fail, and the fare was as scant as the work was 
 incessant. The Admiral established laws for the government of the colony, but these could 
 hardh- be enforced, for the character of perhaps a majority of the colonists forbade the 
 operation of wholesome rules for all. 
 
 Man\- of the men were of high rank by both birth and profession. There were young 
 hidalgos who had never before been obliged to stoop to toil. There were courtiers from 
 Barcelona, and functionaries whose immemorial business it was to live by the labor of 
 others. The viceroy could make no exceptions in the application of his laws, and sullen 
 rage and vindictiveness soon appeared among those who were compelled, as they thought, 
 like slaves, to toil in building houses and fortifying the town. Some began to complain of 
 the Admiral and his government. Discontent grew rife, and conspiracy soon builded its 
 nest and hatched its dangerous brood. 
 
 Now it was that the celebrated Bemal Diaz, of Pisa, a man of rank and influence, but 
 of a low grade of moral principle, appeared as the leader and mouthpiece of the malcon- 
 tents. In him all the Adullamites of the island discovered a vent for their rage against the 
 Admiral. He held the appointment of comptroller of the colony, and in this oflSce he soon 
 showed his disagreeable and seditious spirit. In the gloomy days which came down after 
 the departure of the squadron for Spain, Diaz conceived the project of virtually destroying 
 the enterprise by secret mutiny. His scheme contemplated the seizure of the ships, or at 
 least most of them, and a departure from the island with all on board who desired to return 
 home. The leader had persuaded himself that all this discover}- of the Indies, and in 
 particular all the representations made by the Admiral respecting the resources of the 
 islands and their commercial importance to the Spanish government, were fallacious, mis- 
 leading, and in short without foundation in fact. It was believed by the conspirators that 
 on reaching Spain they could appeal to the sovereigns, having Benial Diaz — himself a man 
 of the court — for their spokesman, and easily persuade them that they had been duped, 
 deceived and cajoled by the foreign Admiral, who had gained an unmerited ascendenc) in 
 their confidence. 
 
 OVERCOMING THE MUTINOUS SPIRITS. 
 
 While this perfidious business was still in the egg another factor was added to the 
 cabal. A certain Fermin Cedo, who was the assayer of the colony and, as the sequel 
 showed, a charlatan, ignorant of the work he professed, joined himself with Bemal Diaz, 
 and encouraged the mutiny with a false statement respecting the gold product of the island. 
 He declared that the reports relative to the mines of Cibao were without foundation ; that 
 nothing more than a few scattering particles of the precious metal had been found by the 
 explorers ; that the better specimens — small ingots and the like brought home by the
 
 190 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 exploring party, or procured iu trade with the nati\es — had been produced by melting 
 down a quantit}' of the gold-dust, and that such specimens signified nothing in the general 
 estimate. He also alleged that much of the reputed gold was spurious, being nothing more 
 than macasite, or some such mineral. Since the hopes of the colonists were centred on 
 mining and the gathering of precious stones, these declarations of the assayer prevailed 
 with many, even against the testimony of their own senses. 
 
 The occasion seemed auspicious for the success of the scheme. The Admiral was 
 again confined to his couch by sickness. The conspirators might avail themselves of this 
 fact and get away without discover}'. Nevertheless the thing was borne at length to the 
 ears of Columbus, and he was enabled to nip the project in the bud. Bernal Diaz, Cedo 
 and several other leaders of the mutiu}- were seized and put under guard on the vessels. A 
 search instituted by the Admiral brought the whole thing to light. The plan of the enter- 
 prise, including the report which the conspirators were to make to the Queen and King, 
 drawn up in the handwriting of Bernal Diaz, was discovered, and the whole sedition was 
 thus suddenly delivered over to the master. 
 
 It was the first time in which anything had occurred of such a character as to make 
 punishment a necessity. Columbus deemed it prudent, however, not to proceed against 
 Diaz himself, but to remand him, with all the proofs, to the Spanish authorities. The 
 
 leading mutineer, with several 
 others, was accordingly con- 
 fined on board one of tlie 
 ships until such time as they 
 might be sent to Spain for 
 trial. Other precautionary 
 measures were taken against 
 the possible revival of the 
 sedition. All the guns, muni- 
 tions and supplies of the fleet 
 were transferred to a single 
 ship, and this was put in com- 
 mand of officers known to be devoted to the interests of the Admiral. The measures were 
 salutary enough, and the effect was marked b)' some immediate improvement in the dis- 
 cipline and progress of the colony. But it was noted by the Admiral himself that the 
 wounds and alienations produced by the e\'ent could not be healed. Confidence was 
 never again fully restored among the colonists of Isabella, and the cloud began to settle on 
 the Admiral which was never to be lifted. 
 
 ANXIETY OVER PORTUGAL'S ACTIVITY. 
 With the recover}' of his health Columbus deemed it expedient to prosecute at least 
 two of the general objects for which the enterprise had been undertaken. The first of these 
 was to continue the work of exploration. In order to understand the strong motive for the 
 immediate enlargement of the borders of discover)' in the Indies (as the}' were supposed to 
 be), the reader must recur to the intense rivaln' existing between Spain and Portugal The 
 decision of the Pope had been against the latter power ; that is, the decision had been in the 
 natiire of an interdict against Portuguese enterprise towards the west But there was noth- 
 ing to hinder — indeed, much to encourage — the endeavor of the Portuguese mariners to 
 reach the Indies by the eastern route. 
 
 This question had continued uppermost in Spain and Portugal, leading at length to the 
 
 COLUMBUS BEFORE THE MUTINEERS.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 191 
 
 discoven- of a water route by the east to India, which was found by De Gama four years 
 later. A knowledge of Portugal's activity and ambitions was therefore a spur to Columbus 
 to accomplish, as quickly as possible, the full possession, by discovery and occupation, of 
 the rich Pagan countries of the east But while thus eager to anticipate the Portuguese he 
 entertained a project having a local significance, though it was a preliminary' step towards 
 the attainment of his larger ambitions. Accordingly, Columbus acquainted Ferdinand and 
 Isabella with his proposal to enter the gold fields of Hispaniola, and take permanent posses- 
 sion of them by the erection of a fort As his purpose was to thereby establish a local 
 government at Isabella, thus enabling him to proceed to the accomplishment of his other 
 mission, their Majesties prompth- appro\-ed his plans. 
 
 OFF FOR THE GOLD MOUNTAINS OF CIBAO. 
 
 As soon, therefore, as he had succeeded in suppressing the sedition of Diaz, the Admiral 
 issued an edict committing the government of Isabella, as well as the command of the ships 
 in the harbor, to his brother, Don Diego, and a council of municipal officers by whom he 
 was to be advised and assisted. 
 
 Having made these preparations at Isabella the Admiral proceeded at once to organize 
 his expedition for the gold region. To this end he selected about four hundred of the ■well 
 and able-bodied colonists, preferring the young and adventurous. The movement involved 
 the arming of the whole band ; for, in the existing state of things, the loyalty of the natives, 
 how much soever manifested, could not be depended on under triaL In fact, the object of 
 the expedition was as much militar}' as it was industrial. 
 
 It was on the i2th of March that the equipment of the cavalcade was complete, and the 
 march began. To such men as those composing the regiment action was everjthing. They 
 rejoiced to be once more freed from the servilit}' and lethargy' of the settlement. It was like 
 going again on a campaign in the Moorish war. The start was accompanied by all the 
 demonstrations and spectacular scenes peculiar to the age and the race. The greater number 
 were organized as a cavalr.- brigade. They were anned, and for the most part annored, 
 cap-a-pie, and rode out with their lances and shining helmets, and clumsy but fonnidable 
 arquebuses, which at intervals they discharged, making the gjeen woods ring with the un- 
 familiar music of musketr}'. Meanwhile many natives, drawn after the cavalcade, like curi- 
 ous boys following in the wake of a menagerie, hung around the expedition, joining in the 
 advance as much as they were permitted to do, and seemingly well content at the strange 
 invasion of their countr\'. 
 
 FERTILITY AND BEAUTY OF THE ROYAL PUIN. 
 
 For the first day or two of the advance, the route lay through a somewhat broken and 
 difficult country, rising from the sea-level, but still bearing the matted thickets and heavy 
 forest of the coast At length the way became difficult, and it was necessarj- to widen the 
 path for the invaders. A company of advanced guards and pioneers was accordingly or- 
 ganized, and for this ser\-ice the young noblemen, now aroused from their apathy and dis- 
 content, gladly volunteered. In honor of their endeavor, the Admiral gave to their new 
 military- road — the first highway opened by European hands in the New World — the name 
 of El Puerto los Hidalgos, that is, the Pass of the Hidalgos. 
 
 .\fter this preparation the expedition, following the route already explored bv Ojeda, 
 reached the crest of the ridge dividing the province of Caonabo from the territory' of the 
 coast-people. It was the first of many such situations which we shall see repeated in the 
 adventures and campaigns of Europeans in the New World to the time when, in the sumtner 
 of 1847, the invading army of the United States looked down from the rocky heights of the
 
 192 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Cordilleras upon the valley of Mexico. Before the Spaniards stretched the beautiful plain 
 of Cibao. According to the estimate of L,as Casas it was two hundred and fortj- miles from 
 east to west, and as much as thirty miles in breadth, a region capable under such culture as 
 that of the Netherlands of supporting several millions of inhabitants. At the time of the 
 invasion, however, oul)- Indian villages, scattered sparsely over the landscape, were seen. 
 
 This vision of a beautiful and marvellously fertile valley might, in other more refined 
 and appreciative minds, have suggested vast cities, peaceful populations, and blessings of a 
 splendid civilization, but the Spaniards were so besotted with vice and avarice that they 
 could consider it only for its possible mineral productions ; for the gold that might lie 
 hidden in the river sands and in the mountains that reared their heads hieh into the reeion 
 of cloud-laud. They accordingly descended into this delightful valley, called by Columbus 
 
 I 'cp-a Real, the Roval Plain, and set their 
 
 way across it towards the gold-bearing 
 
 mountains. 
 
 In traversing this beautiful district 
 orders were given, on approaching the 
 first village, to enter after the manner 
 of a cavalr}' charge. So the trumpets 
 were sounded, the banners shaken out, 
 and the Hidalgo horsemen rode forw-ard, 
 their armor flashing in the sun. The 
 people of the plain had never before seen 
 
 OVERLOOKING THE VEGA REAI<. 
 
 horses, and to their astonished and credulous gaze the oncoming of the cavalry seemfed as a 
 
 charge of armored centaurs might have appeared to the early inhabitants of the Grecian 
 
 archipelago. 
 
 FALSE SECURITY OF THE NATIVES. 
 
 In the face of such an apparition, there was of course no show of fight. Columbus 
 failed to discover in the towns of Vega Real those bands of fierce warriors whom, according 
 to report, Caonabo had led in the preceding year against Guacanagari and Fort Natividad. 
 On the contrary, the Indians of this region seemed almost as timid as their fellows of the 
 coast. They fled before the Spaniards, some escaping into the woods and others taking 
 refuge in their houses. It was a matter of amusement to the Spanish soldiers to see the 
 simple natives building flimsy barricades of cane-reeds across the doors of their huts. The 
 obstructions were not such as to have impeded the charge of a ram, and yet the Indians 
 seemed to think themselves safe from assault behind their wicker defences. The Admiral 
 gave orders to humor the natives in all particulars; and it was not long before their confiding 
 disposition showed itself in familiarit}' and free intercourse. As the expedition advanced, 
 the natives of the town thronged around the army, and the usual traffic was begun. The 
 Indians had a keen perception in discovering the thing most desired, and before reaching 
 their destination the Spaniards were able to procure considerable quantities of gold dusL 
 
 On the second day Columbus discovered a river Avhich proved to be the headwaters of 
 the Rio del Oro, but here the country became so rough that farther progress had to be made 
 on foot, up the sides of lofty foot-hills, which had now been reached. In small streams 
 falling down the mountain sides glittering particles of gold were found, and this discover\' 
 determined Columbus to build here a fort, the point being sixt\' miles from Isabella. A 
 suitable location was quickly found on a fine plateau around which two small streams unit- 
 ing formed almost a circle. No sooner had the expedition halted than jasper, lapis lazuli,
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 193 
 
 amber ami other valuable products were fouud, aud a profitable trade was opened with the 
 Indiaus, who frccK exchauged iugoLs of gold, weighing as much an ounce, for any brilliant 
 eewsraw that was offered them. 
 
 After great labor a fort of considerable strength was built and named St. Thomas, the 
 ruins of which are still to be seen. Being now placed in a good state of defence, Columbus 
 sent out an e.xploring party under Juan de Lu-xen to traverse the surrounding country. He 
 was accompanied by Indian guides who showed him where gold was said to abound, but 
 though signs of the precious metal were often seen in the beds of small streams, it was not 
 discovered in any place in considerable quantities. 
 
 After a stay of two weeks at St. Thomas, Columbus returned to Isabella, leaving a 
 compauv of fifty-six men to serve as a garrison, but stopped on the way at the village of 
 Vega Real to purchase from the Indians a fresh supply of food. He was here enabled to 
 make a study cf the social condition of the natives and to note the character of their agri- 
 culture, and marvelled at the fecundity of the soil, which seemed to produce as if by magic. 
 But on reaching Isabella his wonder in this same particular was increased by what had de- 
 veloped during his absence. He found the plantation, which had been laid out scarcely- 
 more than one month before, already yielding ripe melons, pumpkins, cucumbers and fruits 
 in extraordinar>- abundance. 
 
 SERIOUS TROUBLE ARISING FROM ABUSES OF THE GARRISON. 
 
 Drought and barrenness were unknown. Moisture pervaded the teeming surface of 
 the earth, and the genial sunshine caused it to produce in abundance. The addition of new 
 fruits planted by themselves gave delight to the colonists, and the first bunch of Spanish 
 grapes, blushing to purple in the caresses of the tropical air, was a prevision of the coming 
 da\- of wine and plenty. The Admiral could but be delighted with the outlook, and for 
 a few days he was again happy and exuberant in hopes. 
 
 But it was not long until misfortune returned. A messenger arrived from Fort St 
 Thomas with bad tidings of the new settlement. The Indians had become first suspicious 
 and then hostile. They had withdrawn altogether from the vicinity of the Spani.sh settle- 
 ment, and receded from sight in the mountains and forests. It was evident that a con- 
 spiracv of some kind was ripening. Pedro Margarite, the connnandant, had become 
 alanned, and requested the Admiral to send him reinforcements and supplies. On inquiring 
 into the circumstances the latter soon perceived the cause of the trouble. It was the old 
 story of Arana and La Natividad. No sooner had Columbus retired, leaving another in 
 charge of his outpost, than disorder appeared, following as a quick result of unbridled 
 license. The soldiers began to wander about and inflict injuries and outrages on the natives. 
 Wherever they could find gold they took it. The old savage nature of the man-beast, 
 recovering its freedom, ran hither and yon de\-ouring like a tiger from the jungle. Lust 
 was added to robber\-. The Spaniards demanded and took the Indian women without 
 waiting to inquire whether they were wives, widows or virgins. 
 
 Meanwhile Caonabo, who had held aloof with his warriors, leaving the village folk to 
 ^'et on with the Spaniards as best they might, rallied with the evident purpose and will of 
 \ tngeance. It was not likely, however, that these manifestations could lead to serious 
 results. No catastrophe might be feared in a battle between the natives and the Spanish 
 soldiers, provided alwa\s that the latter were under discipline. The .\dmiral sent back to 
 Fort St. Thomas a company of twenty men as reinforcements, and also a new stock of pro- 
 
 13
 
 194 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 visions. Meanwhile he despatched another company to improve and perfect the road 
 between his two principal stations in the island. 
 
 At Isabella, thongh natnre seemed to smile, and showered from her cornncopia all 
 manner of gifts upon the colonists, yet on the hnman side of the problem there were suffi- 
 cient grounds for apprehensiveness and foreboding. The sickness prevailing, instead of 
 growing less with the advancement of the season, seemed to be aggravated. The Spaniards 
 appeared unwilling or unable to adapt themselves to the climatic condition. Their excesses 
 told fearfully upon their health and spirits. The disease was of the mind as well as of the 
 body. IMelancholy, despondency, discontent, sullen moping, and every other ill of the 
 liuman spirit, when once it fell under the dominion of pessimism, tormented and dejjressed 
 the colonists with an ever-darkening mental cloud. As to ills of the bod\-, there were 
 fevers and dysenteries and congestions, and, worst of all, the outbreak and prevalence of 
 those horrid diseases which, since the epoch of the Crusades, were rapidly becoming 
 at once the scourge and the hell of the human race. 
 
 A HORRIBLE CONDITION OF AFFAIRS. 
 
 For all this there was but slight remedy. Medical science, in so far as such science 
 exists among men, has always adapted itself in practice to a certain environment. The 
 physician has, out of the nature of the case, been unable to generalize to any great extent 
 beyond the limits of that horizon within the boundary of which he has familiarized himself 
 with the natural and morbid conditions of life. At the close of the fifteenth century medi- 
 cine was still mere empyricism in its crudest forn:. The Spanish doctors who accompanied 
 the expedition were totally unacquainted with the conditions of health and disease in the 
 new lands at which they had arrived. Their supply of medicines gave out, and nature, 
 depraved by disease, was left to take her course. 
 
 By this time several kinds of provisions Avere exhausted, and it was difficult to procure 
 such diet and such nursing as were required for the sick. About the beginning of April the 
 supplies were so diminished that the rations of the well were reduced to almost a minimum, 
 and this circumstance added to the discontent and gloom. At last the flour of the colony 
 ran out, and the work of grinding new supplies by hand-mills was severe and irksome. To 
 set the Spanish soldier — who had fought in the Moorish war and stood near the sovereigns 
 when the Islamites came out to deliver to them the keys of Granada— to grinding on miser- 
 able hand-mills, in order to keep himself and his fellows from starvation, was more than 
 human nature could bear without protesting ; but the Admiral would make no exception, 
 even with the priests. He enforced his regulations and discipline with a strong and 
 impartial hand, and the result was the reappearance of sedition. 
 
 In this instance a head centre of the mutinous spirit was found in the vicar, De Buyl, 
 who, though a member of the council, gave countenance to the malcontents, promising to 
 defend them against the exactions of the governor, until the latter, discovering the infidelity 
 and treachery of the priest, reduced him to the ranks and put bin: on .short fare as a punish- 
 ment. This was an unforgivable thing, and the vicar was henceforth the enemy of the 
 .\dmiral and his government. But this action did not arrest the fatalities. The reader 
 may well be reminded of the starving time at Jamestown or the desolation of the first 
 Puritan colonists at Plymouth. Under such conditions the leader is blamed for everything. 
 But for him, says the common prejudice, we should never have been provoked to leave 
 our homes and been led forth into these far lands of fever and scrofula to die of starvation 
 and despair.
 
 COLUMHUvS AND COLUMBIA. 195 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR AN EXPEDITION. 
 
 It was in this emergency lluu Columbus devised the project of additional exploring 
 expeditions, rather as a means of revival by reaction and excitement than with the e.xpecta- 
 tion of great discoveries. The idea of the new enterprise was to organize several companies 
 of the discontented at Isabella and to despatch them on adventures into the interior of the 
 island. Many parts, even the greater part, of Hispaniola had not \et been visited by the 
 Spaniards. Xo intercourse had been opened with at least two of the caciques. Besides, 
 the hostility of Caonabo might supply an excuse for one of the expeditions. 
 
 Tlie Admiral found, after dnly considering his resources, that a considerable force of 
 well men still remained for the work in hand, and he was therefore able to organize on 
 expedition of cavaln,-, infantry, crossbowmen, and arqnebusiers. For the present, the 
 command was given to Alouzo de Ojeda. Tliat officer was to lead the wdiole as far as Fort 
 St. Thomas, when he was to turn over the little ann\- to Pedro Margarite, and become 
 himself the commandant of the fortress. 
 
 As to the conduct of the expedition Columbus prepared full instructions for Margarite, 
 entering into details respecting his interconr.se with the Indians and indeed all contingen- 
 cies that might arise. The captain was ordered to hold eventhing in strict militar)' 
 subjection. Provisions should be obtained from the natives by public purchase. The 
 comptroller, Bernal Diaz, was to act as the commissan.- officer of the expedition. There 
 should be no private trade w-ith the Indians. The latter should in all instances be treated 
 witli kindness and justice. Tlieft, to which the natives were somewhat addicted — though 
 the\- themselves hardly regarded the act of taking without leave as a criminalit}- — was 
 to be properly punished. Regard must be had to the conversion of the natives. The 
 campaign was to be directed first of all into the country where Caonabo had his town. 
 That cacique, against whose conduct Columbus had a just resentment, was to be taken 
 with his chieftains and delivered over for trial this on account of the destruction of La 
 Natividad and the killing of the garrison. In the capture of Caonabo, duplicity and 
 stratagem might be used, the same being among the methods of warfare which the .Vtlmiral 
 had discovered in the native usages. The instructions were amply sufficient for a well- 
 ordered and decent campaign of exploration, commerce and the contingency of war. 
 
 Having completed these arrangements Columbus next gave his attention to a new 
 enterprise of his own. This was no less than the long-postponed vo\age of discovery, 
 which was a part of his general plan. As for the local expedition, Ujeda set out from 
 Isabella on the 9th of April, and proceeded by water as far as the estuar\- of Crold River, 
 for the identity of that stream with the river found in the Royal Vega, near the gold 
 fields, had now been detennined, and it was the purpose of Ojeda to ascend the stream, 
 first bv water and afterwards by land, to his destination. This would be an easier route 
 than the Pass of the Hidalgos, so laborioush- followed on the former occasion. 
 
 A PERFIDIOUS ACT SEVERELY PUNISHED. 
 
 But an incident now occurred which had in it the genns and portent of great mischief. 
 On arriving at Cxold River three men from Fort St. Thomas fell in witli the ex])cuition 
 wlio, according to their story, had been jx-rfidiously robbed by the natives ; {3erfidiousl\-, 
 because they were under conduct of the caci(|ue of one of the villages of the Vega, wlio 
 liad promised to aid them in crossing the ri\er. Thus were they robbed by the Indians, 
 and the cacique, instead of punisliing the Indians, winked at tlie theft and look a part of 
 the booty for himself 
 
 The hot-blooded Ojeda marched inunediately to the town, seized the cacique, also his
 
 19G 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 sou, the prince, and one of the thieves, cutting off the ears of the latter, aud sending the 
 prisoners, bound, to the Admiral at Isabella. This sumuiar}' punishment produced the 
 wildest alarm among the Indians, aud the cacique of another village interceded for the 
 captives. But all in vain. He then followed them to Isabella and appealed to the Admiral. 
 The latter, deeming the robbery a serious matter, was unusually severe, and condemned the 
 thieves to be beheaded in the public place of the settlement. It appears, however, that he 
 intended to pardon the culprits in time to save their lives. 
 
 Just at this crisis of the affair a cavalryman arrived from Fort St. Thomas, who on the 
 way had found five Spaniards held as prisoners by the subjects of the captured cacique. 
 He had, however, charged into the village, put the whole town to flight and rescued the 
 prisoners. According to his report he had chased out of the town all the four hundred 
 inhabitants, scattering them in every direction. The incident was sufficiently amusing, 
 and also sufficiently significant of the relative ability of the natives and Spaniards in open 
 war. When the Indian prisoners were brought to the place where they were to be beheaded 
 and the friendly cacique Guarionex, ruler of the villages of Vega Real, continued to sup- 
 plicate for their liberation, Columbus granted his petition and set the captives free. He 
 a^so sent off Guarionex with many presents and evidences of good- will.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PURSUING THE GOLDEN IGNIS FATUUS. 
 
 EASSURED by the peaceful condition of affairs at Isa- 
 bella, before leaving that post for the mountain district 
 of Cibao, to pursue his quest for gold, Columbus 
 had purposed to extend his discoveries, with the 
 hope of ultimately reaching the borders of Cathay, 
 there to greet the great Khan in his resplendent 
 capital of Quainsay. Upon returning, there- 
 fore, he set about preparations to continue his 
 explorations, ail the while believing that Cuba, 
 three-fourths of which coast he had seen, was a 
 part of the mainland adjoining the Tartar territory'. 
 For this purpose he equipped three vessels, one of 
 which was the old Nu'ia^ to which the name of 
 Santa Clara had been given, the San Juan and the 
 Cordera. Fort St. Thomas had been left in charge of a lieutenant named Margarite, but 
 during his absence on a campaign in the interior, Ojeda was appointed temporarily to the 
 command. 
 
 Feeling secure in the arrangements which he had made for the occupation of both 
 Isabella and St. Thomas, Columbus was able to set sail upon his proposed expedition on 
 the 24th of April. Proceeding, he made a short pause at IMonte Christo, but found no 
 natives there with whom to open communications, so he moved forward a few miles and 
 anchored off La Xatividad, where he hoped to see Guacanagari, and to obtain from him, 
 finally, the full particulars of the massacre of the garrison under Arana. Though the 
 replies of the messenger whom Columbus sent out to meet the cacique were favorable, the 
 natives refused to expose themselves, and the promise of the chief to visit him was not 
 fulfilled, and after a wait of two days Columbus sailed away without unravelling the 
 mystery of the cacique's conduct. 
 
 Leaving La Xatividad, Columbus continued along the southern coast of San Domingo 
 until he came to the westernmost extremity of that island, where he found a beautiful 
 harbor, in which he anchored to make some investigations on the shore. He found two 
 considerable villages not far inland, upon entering one of which a fresh laid feast was 
 prepared, but the natives having been alanncd upon the approach of the Spaniards, had left 
 them to enjoy the banquet, though without invitation. Subsequently, a few of the natives 
 were persuaded to approach the Spaniards, but beyond the giving of a few presents 
 no intercourse was attempted. The voyage was then continued until reaching the 
 harbor of St. Jago, in Cuba, where a landing for the day was made and brief connnunica- 
 tion was had with the natives, who repeated to Columbus the reports which he had 
 before heard concerning the rich gold fields of Rabeque. The repetition of this story- 
 was given with such embellishments and assurances that he at length decided to tesJ- 
 
 (■97)
 
 198 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the truth of the assertions. Accordingly, on the 3d of ^Nlay. 1he squadron again weighed 
 anchor, left the Cuban coast and drifted into the open sea. The voyage had not extended 
 far until the bold outlines of a large island were discovered towards the south. Ov 
 approaching near the shore the countrj- was found to 
 be thickly populated, and upon reaching shoal water a 
 fleet of seventy canoes, all manned by warriors who 
 were painted and feathered after the manner of North 
 American Indians, came out to meet the ships. 
 Their first manifestations were those of implac- 
 able hostilit\- as the warriors set up a great yelling^ 
 and, on coming within range shot their arrows 
 
 r ^^^* ■'" 
 
 
 THE NATWES OF LA CRrZ GENEROUSI.Y 
 SUPPLY THE SPANIARDS WITH FRUITS. 
 
 and hurled their darts against 
 the sides of the vessels, but with 
 such poor effect that the attack 
 appeared ridiculous. 
 A FIGHT WITH THE INDIANS. 
 Instead of regarding the demonstration as an invitation to battle Columbus chose rather 
 to make signs of peace and to tell the Indians, through his interpreter, that he came on a 
 friendly mission and to present gifts to the people. This speech assuaged the anger of the 
 natives, who permitted the ships to come to anchor near the coast of the island, which to the 
 present day has retained its native name of Jamaica. But as no advantage could be gained 
 by an intercourse with the people at this first landing Columbus continued his wa}- along
 
 COLUMBUS AND CULU.MHIA. I'.rj 
 
 the western shore for several miles, until reachinjj an inviting harhoraore he anchored 
 with the intention of going on shore to make some explorations. The nati\es at this latter 
 place, however, exhibited the same hostility that their neighbors had manifested, and were 
 so persistent in their detennination to do the Spaniards injur}- that as a last resource the 
 Admiral concluded it would be necessar>- to teach them a sharp lesson. To this end a 
 boat-load of crossbowmen was sent to attack and disperse the Indians; drawing near, the 
 Spaniards fired a volley at the eneni)-, wounding several ; at the second discharge the nati\es 
 beat a hasty retreat and on the following da>- sent an embassy of six warriors to treat for 
 peace. Columbus accepted their overtures of amity, and the quiet which followed was im- 
 proved by him to repair his ships, one of which was in a leaky condition. During this short 
 sta>- the native Jamaicans seemed to ha\e become con\inced that the vSpaniards were visitors 
 from some far celestial countr}-, and from their first hostile feeling there succeeded an idola- 
 trous affection, which influenced several of the natives to beg of Columbus pennission to 
 accompany him whither he might choose to voyage. One of the caciques was so determined 
 to join the Spaniards that some force was necessary- to overcome his intention. As the fleet 
 was about to sail a \ouiig chieftain wrested himself from the restraining grasp of his friends, 
 and running with all possible speed to the shore sprang into a canoe and paddled off to the 
 Admiral's ship, which he gained and hid himself in order that he might not be prevented 
 from carrying out his purpose. Columbus received him kindly, and he perhaps lived to 
 see the shores of Europe, with other natives of the West Indies who afterwards joined him. 
 
 Unable to find any indications of gold in Jamaica, Columbus departed for Cuba, and 
 without further incident arrived at La Cruz, having been ab.sent from Isabella a period of 
 fifteen days. While lying at anchor in this latter harbor he was visited by many natives, 
 who manifested the same friendly disposition as those whom he first met in Hispaniola, and 
 generously supplied the expedition with fruits and such pro\isions as the vicinitv afforded. 
 While here Columbus also learned from some of the natives that the country was an island, 
 but of ver>- great extent, so large indeed that none of the people with whom he had vet come 
 in contact knew its limits. To determine this question Columbus resolved to continue his 
 explorations, but hardly had the voyage been renewed when fate, so long tempted, became 
 sullen and ad\'erse. A great tempest swept the bay and for some hours the ships were in 
 imminent peril of being wrecked on the rocks ; and when they had gained the open sea tlie 
 squadron became entangled in the Cuban keys, out of which, on account of the tortuous 
 channels and numerous sandbanks, it seemed for a while impossible to escape. The archi- 
 pelago into which he had thus .sailed was named by the Admiral, in honor of Isabella, The 
 Queen's Gardens. 
 
 The storm finally abated without any serious injur\- having been inflicted upon the ships, 
 and the i.slands through which they were sailing offered so many opportunities for interesting 
 investigation that Columbus landed on the shores of several and was richh- entertained by 
 the curiosities of animal life which he discovered ; flamingoes, cranes, and parrots of richest 
 coloring, were numerous, thus lending animation to the incomparable beauties of the land- 
 scape. 
 
 A CURIOUS METHOD OF FISHING. 
 Many of the islands appeared to be witliout inhal>itants, while others were thicklv 
 populated by amiable Indians who received Columbus and his men with the same kindness a:; 
 had characterized those of San Salvador and Hispaniola. The Indians on some of the larger 
 islands were .seen tf) employ a fi.sh somewhat after the manner that tlie mcdiievals used 
 the hawk in hunting. This falcon-fish, which the Indians u.scd with such singular results,
 
 i 1 
 
 3 
 
 M 
 » 
 
 u 
 
 ft 
 
 3 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 (2CX)">
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 201 
 
 had the power of attaching; itself to objects by means of a sucker with which it was supplied. 
 Such was the strengtli of the liold which the leech-like creature was able to take that the 
 body might be pulled in two without breaking its connection with the object to which it had 
 fixed itself. As if to favor the use to whicli the fish was applied by barbaric ingenuity it 
 was furnished with a long tail, to which the natives attached a line ; this done the creature 
 was allowed to take its own course in the water, where it had the instinct to attack several 
 kinds of fish and marine animals. The turtle was the favorite object of the pursuit, and how- 
 ever great the size the fish would fi.\ itself so finnly to the flat bottom of its prey that it 
 could be drawn up to the boat by the fisherman, only quitting its hold after it was lifted out 
 of the water. The fish thus used was the reniora, which is verj- common in southern waters. 
 Columbus again gained the shores of Cuba nearly one hundred miles from La Cruz, 
 where, upon landing, he was visited by a subject of a cacique named Mangon. Upon 
 hearing the name of this chief Columbus immediately associated it with that of the IVIangi, 
 about whom Mandeville had written. The natives also infonned him that in the kingdom 
 immediately adjoining them there lived a people who clothed themselves in white to hide 
 their tails, a report identical with that which Mandeville had niade concerning the inhabit- 
 ants of Mang^. Believing that he was now near the country- upon which h'e had placed his 
 largest hopes, Columbus stood westward along the unbroken coast, freqtiently stopping to 
 hold intercourse with the natives. Thus proceeding across the broad Gulf of Xagua and 
 into the White Water Sea, peculiar to that region, the Spaniards were greatly astonished 
 and somewhat alanned at seeing the ships mo\-ing through what appeared to be an ocean 
 
 of milk. 
 
 STARTLED BY SPECTRAL FIGURES IN THE FOREST. 
 
 After making their way through another group of small islands the fleet ancliored at 
 Point Serafin, and Columbus sent a company on shore to procure wood and water. While 
 lying here one of the Spaniards wandering some distance into the forest was startled — 
 such was his own stor\- — by the spirit of a being clad in a long white robe moving 
 solemnly along like a Druid priest. Two others came in his train, also in white, followed 
 by a considerable guard carrying lances. The white-robed priest approached as if for a 
 conference, but the Spaniard was too much frightened to ascertain his desire, and ran back 
 to his companions. Upon hearing this stor)- Columbus was firm in his belief that he was 
 ver\- near the kingdom of Cathay, and that ere long he would find the civilized people 
 of Asia to whom he thought these white-robed persons must belong. Two companies of 
 soldiers were accordingly despatched to investigate the mystery. One of these came to a 
 great plain covered with reeds and marsh-grass growing to such a height as to hide a man 
 on horseback. The grass so impeded their progress that they were obliged to turn back 
 without discovering the priests who had so startled the Spaniard. The other company 
 reached a wooded countn,-, where they found the tracks of some monstrous creature. Their 
 imagination at once conceived the prodigious outlines of an impo.ssible beast (which in 
 fact was probably an alligator) in whose great jaws the\' would all soon j^erish should they 
 seek a further exploration of the interior. Without continuing their investigations further, 
 therefore, they returned to the coast, bringing back no other trophy of their expedition 
 than a large cluster of wild grapes. The conclusion was accordingly reached by Columbus 
 that the so-called spectral figures which had .so alarmed the lone Spaniard were nothing 
 more in reality than .some ver\' tall white cranes moving on the edge of a savannah. 
 
 Once again the voyage was resumed until the coast was reached .some fifty miles 
 further west, where communication was sought to be established with tin.- ]ico]>Ie, who
 
 202 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 came off in canoes to the ship and whose speech was unlike that of any of the natives 
 
 with whom the Spaniards had come in contact. In the broken conununication held through 
 
 the interpreter additional hints seemed to be obtained of the proximity of the Tartar empire. 
 
 Columbus understood that in the high-lands far to the west a great king resided. This 
 
 king was clad in white from head to foot and was such a holy man that he would hold no 
 
 communication with those of his kind, but gave his orders by means of signs. What 
 
 should the Admiral think but that now, indeed, he was coming to the coast of Tartary, 
 
 over whose multitudes the magnificent Prester John sat in state, surrounded with' splendor 
 
 and dispensing treasures to his friends ? Sure enough, in their imaginations, the Spaniards 
 
 perceived the blue outlines of the delectable mountains rising from the western horizon. 
 
 One of the natives who had told his pleasing story was taken along to point the way ta 
 
 the court of the great Khan, and the ships proceeded to solve the mystery of the Eastern 
 
 Empire. 
 
 DELIGHTFUL VISIONS DISPELLED BY HARSH EVENTS. 
 
 As the voyage continued, the mountains seemed to dissolve in a mist of smoke, and 
 for many leagues the shore was a broad sunken marsh where landing was impos- 
 sible. Beyond,' the coast assumed its wonted aspect, and blue smoke was observed curl- 
 ing up hither and yon in the distance, and the shore-line of Asia was again believed 
 to be near at hand. Indeed, so strong were the hopes and so vivid the imagination of 
 Columbus at this time that he seemed to see the whole of the East stretched before him 
 in a grand panorama, revealing the golden Chersonese, the Ganges, the Straits of Bab-el- 
 mandeb, and even the Holy Land. He even contemplated a visit to Jerusalem, and a 
 return to Spain through the Red and Mediterranean Seas ; but in these golden visions 
 the sailors had no participation ; seeing the westward trend of the coast they began to 
 offer objections to a further voyage in that direction, since they were well spent with 
 constant exertion in keeping the ships from the reefs, which were so numerous as to be 
 almost impossible to wholly avoid. Besides this the vessels were already in a precarious 
 condition, from having been run several times on bars in making a passage of the 
 Queen's Gardens. Being in a leaky condition, their sails were also torn and the cables 
 were so strained as to be no longer trusted. Thus, notwithstanding his belief that the 
 kingdom of the great Khan was ver}- near at hand, Columbus was persuaded b}' the com- 
 plaints of his men to abandon, for the present, his undertaking to reach that countr\'. 
 
 As one of the chief objects, however, had been to solve the question of the relations of 
 Cuba to the mainland, he decided to prepare a statement and affidavit that the country 
 which he had now coasted was peninsular in its character, jutting out from the east rim 
 of Asia. In pursuance of this desire Fernando Perez de Luna, Notary of the expedition, 
 drew up such a deposition, which was signed not onh- b}- Columbus but also by all the fifty 
 officers and men composing the expedition. Though there was thus obtained a perfect 
 unanimity of opinion Columbus provided that severe penalties should be inflicted ujdou any 
 one of the expedition who should thereafter make any denial of this statement. The 
 punishments ranged from a fine of ten thousand maravedis, in case the offender was an 
 officer, down to a whipping of a hundred lashes in case of a cabin boy. The place where 
 this statement was drawn up and compared was in the Bay of Cortez, and, strange to say, 
 a point from which less than a two days' sail to the west would have brought him to the 
 extremity and thus proved to his satisfaction the insular character of Cuba ; this done, he 
 could hardly have failed by an easy voyage through a placid sea to reach the true shore of 
 the Continent. But the human equation entered in. The discontent of his men, his own
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 203 
 
 preconception, cherished for more than eighteen months, that Cnba was an outlying^ part of 
 Asia, once more diverted him from the possibility innnediately witliin his grasp and tnrned 
 him back from what may well seem to the blind eyes of men the true line of his strange 
 destiny. 
 
 This place where the ships were anchored, in the Bay of Cortez, was the westernmost 
 point ever reached by the discoverer of America. When we consider how near he came to 
 discovering that Cuba was an islaud, that Florida on the north was scarceh- a day's sail 
 away, and that the Continent on the west was so near at hand, the fate seems hard by which 
 the great mariner was projected so far to the west without being able to reach the true shore 
 of the New World. 
 
 A CACIQUE TEACHES THE LAW OF THE GOLDEN RULE. 
 
 Having, as he believed, established for all futurity the Continental character of Cuba, 
 regardless of what might be its true geographical configuration, on the 13th of June Colum- 
 bus continued in a southeasterly course until he discovered another island, to which he gave 
 the name of Evangelista^ after%vards known as Isle de los Pinos, or Island of Pines. Here 
 he took on a fresh supply of wood and water and then stood out to sea with the intention 
 of circumnavigating Jamaica. But instead of finding a direct course he was intercepted by 
 a cluster of islands, several of which were of coral formation and thus a source of the 
 greatest peril. From these dangers he did not escape without uuich damage to the Santp 
 Clara, which ran upon a dangerous bar and was only saved from destruction by the almost 
 superhuman efforts of the crew. 
 
 His course having been changed by obstacles encountered, Columbus turned again 
 towards Cuba, the coast of which lie sighted on the 6tli of Jul)-,- and going on shore the 
 following day he set up a cross and began a solemn celebration of Mass. While he was 
 thus engaged some natives had watched the proceedings until one of their venerable 
 priests, comprehending its import, came forward and addressed Columbus, first proffering 
 him a basket of fruit as a peace-offering. The aged priest told him, through the interpre- 
 ter, that he iinderstood the ceremony which he had thus witnessed to be an act of worship ; 
 that he did not doubt the greatness and glor}' of the people and countr}' whence the 
 Spaniards were descended, but that haughtiness and pride were not becoming even in the 
 greatest He then explained to the Admiral that the philosophy of his religion taught him 
 to believe that the souls of the dead have, according to merit, two destinies after lea\ing 
 the body. Those who had spent their lives in wickedness were compelled to go into a hor- 
 rible country where all was dark and dangerous ; but the ghosts of those who in their 
 earth-lives were good in all their actions towards mankind journeyed after death into a laud 
 of blessedness and light. This nile of division he assured the Spaniards would be applied 
 even to themselves, however superior they might be in their civilization ; and he even 
 declared that the Admiral himself would be punished with banishment into the dismal 
 abodes if he were not just and gracious to the people among whom he had come. 
 
 The speech of the native priest had in it an element not only of ethical soundness 
 but of orthodoxy as well, which greatly surprised Columbus, who heartily improved the 
 occasion to confirm the aboriginal's notions and to extend toward them the doctrine of 
 Christianity. Columbus accordingly explained to him the practical part of his mission — that 
 he had come to these island countries to subdue the cannibals in order that the dread of 
 their race might be taken away ; but that for the rest he was on an embassy of peace from 
 his sovereigns, to whom he always gave the greatest praise and glory. He also described 
 to the natives some of the leading features of the Old World civilization, especially its
 
 204 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 splendors and mighty cities and the vast yield of its cultivated fields. The interest of 
 the old priest was so excited by these explanations that he sought the privilege of going 
 on board and sailing away with Columbus, and he was only restrained from this inten- 
 tion by his wife and children throwing themselves at his feet and beseeching him with 
 tears not to lea\-e them. 
 
 PLEADINGS OF A CACIQUE TO ACCOMPANV COLUMBUS. 
 Columbus continued on the coast of Cuba on this last visit until the i6th of July, when 
 he resumed his voyage. But upon regaining the Queen's Gardens the squadron w^as assailed 
 by a terrific storm which raged with such great fur)- that for two days the vessels were in 
 the greatest danger, and reached Cabo la Cruz in an almost dismantled condition. 
 Here it was necessary to beach the \-essels for needed repairs to the bottoms, as well as to 
 supph- them with new sails, after which he resumed the voyage with intention to pro- 
 ceed to Jamaica and there carr)- into execution his plans for circumnavigating that island. 
 In pursuance of this design Columbus left La Cruz and gained the shore of Jamaica in a 
 sail of two da}-s, but was for a while prevented from continuing around its coast bj- the in- 
 terruption of another storm, which compelled him to put into a harbor of that shore, where 
 the natives received him with great kindness. In one instance a cacique came in the man- 
 ner of royalt}-, accompanied by his queen and her daughters and a 
 retinue of councillors and guards, all ornamented and painted accord- 
 ing to aboriginal custom and etiquette. Obtaining pennission 
 they came on board the Satita Clara and were there hospitably 
 received and entertained b}- Columbus, whose kindness so affected 
 the cacique that, though ruler of a rich go%'ernment, he expressed 
 his desire to abdicate and return with the Spaniards to the celestial 
 country' whence he supposed the}' had come. For man}- reasons 
 Columbus could not accept this proposal, but he had to use much 
 persuasion to induce the chief and his family to return on shore 
 and resume their royal functions among their people. 
 
 Proceeding from one point of the island to another, as temporary 
 abatement of the stonn permitted a continuance of the voyage, 
 on the 19th of August the circumnavigation of the island was 
 completed, after which the Admiral steered for San Domingo, and 
 three da}s thereafter came in sight of Cape San ]\Iiguel. From this point efforts were made 
 to proceed directly to Isabella but many new islands were encountered, to which names 
 were given and short landings made. But these presentl}- became so numerous that the 
 sand-bars presented serious obstacles and detained the squadron nearly two weeks before 
 they could be extricated from the dangers which surrounded them. 
 
 COLUMBUS STRICKEN DOWN WITH A STRANGE ILLNESS. 
 The hardships of the voyage, though alternating at times with pleasant episodes on the 
 shores of the various islands visited, had been extreme, and the crews were well-nigh the 
 limits of their endurance. The Admiral himself, more than ever before, showed the effect? 
 of the great strain and sleepless anxiety to which he had been subjected. In his case ex- 
 haustion was not only of the body, but also of the mind and spirit. He could but feel, now 
 that he was returning to his colony, that the aggregate results of his voyage fell far short, 
 not indeed of reasonable expectation, but of that visionar}- and picturesque dream of which 
 he himself had been the principal author. A rapturous vision of the Indies was entertained 
 by Ferdinand and Isabella and by all the people of Spain ; indeed, the nations of Europe
 
 COLU.MBUS AND COLUMBIA. 205 
 
 were on tiptoe to catch the first tidin<js of things more marvellous than had yet been related 
 concerning the borders of the newly discovered world. Failing to realize these gorgeous 
 anticipations, we may imagine the depressing effect produced by the disappointments which 
 Columbus must have so keenly felt. 
 
 Whatever may ha\e been the cause, Columbus, on leaving the island of Mona and steer- 
 ing for Isabella, broke down completely and yielded to some fonn of malady which physical 
 science may well be puzzled to understand. He became drowsy, and his senses, one by one, 
 were covered with an oblivious veil through which no thought, no perception of external 
 things, could penetrate. He fell into a sort of coma almost as deep as death ; iudeed, it 
 was believed by the officers and men, including Dr. Chanca, that the hour of the Admiral 
 had come. They accordingly set all sail and, catching a favoring trade wind, bore off 
 lirectly for the harbor of Isabella, where on the 29th of September, 1494, they arrived, 
 bringing back Columbus, who, though still living, was wholly insensible. 
 
 The joy felt by those who had remained faithful to the government of Diego was ver>' 
 great when they saw the squadron of three vessels making into the bay, but the jubilation 
 was quickly chilled when the knowledge of the Admiral's condition became known. 
 
 We may here obser\'e that it was nearly five months from the time that he was stricken 
 down before Columbus recovered his health, and even at the expiration of that long period 
 of debilit}' his powers were not fully restored. Indeed, advancing age prevented rejuvena- 
 tion and he was never himself again. His restoration was due in the largest measure to 
 the unfaltering care of Father Juan Perez, who, having shared with the Admiral all the dis- 
 appointments and hardships of the recent voyage, could not be persuaded to leave him at 
 any time throughout the long period of his severe illness, but watched unremittingly beside 
 the couch of his sick friend, speaking words of encouragement and ministering in ever\ 
 possible way to his needs. 
 
 MEETING BETWEEN COLUMBUS AND HIS BROTHER— A STORV OF ADVENTURE. 
 
 When Columbus opened his eyes to consciousness, after mau\' da\s of insensibilitv, he 
 found his brother Bartholomew standing by his side. His surprise was not only inexpressi- 
 ble but for a while he believed himself dreaming and that his mind was still held fast in 
 the shackles of the disease that had stricken him down ; and well it might be so, for long 
 had it been since he had seen the face of his faithful and resolute brother. How, then, and 
 why had Bartholomew Columbus come so far to receive and minister to his half-dead 
 brother? The stor>- is long and full of interest, but we may not here pause to enter fully 
 into the episodes and details of the extended adventures which had kept Bartholomew at 
 the courts of Europe. The reader will readily recall the situation of affairs at the time when 
 Columbus' mule was turned about on the bridge of Pinos on the evening of the last day of 
 his appeal for the patronage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Believing that his cause was ended 
 in Spain, Columbus had despatched Bartholomew to the court of Henr>- VII., of England, 
 to propose to that monarch the project of discover)'. Tradition tells us, for the facts may 
 not be obtained from any authenticated histcn*-, that the ves.sel in which he sailed was run 
 down by pirates, who, after despoiling the ship of ail its valuables, left the crew on some 
 shore which is not named in the stor\'. Bartholomew, robbed of his resources, was for a 
 long time harassed by pressing want, his poverty being the greater because of his ignorance 
 of the language of the people among whom he was thus harshh- thrown. It was, therefore, 
 several vears before he succeeded in reaching England, and having at last arrived at that 
 country- he was compelled to spend two years more in acquiring the English language, 
 learning the usages of the people, and in oilierwise preparing himself to properly appear at
 
 206 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the court of that nation. It was not until the middle of 1493, it is said, that he obtained 
 an audience with the king, to whom he first presented a painted atlas, and then followed 
 his request for aid to Christopher's enterprise with such convincing reasoning that the mon- 
 arch not only welcomed the proposal, but signified his desire to enter as quickly as possible 
 upon the preliminaries of a contract, acceding to the demands made in the stipulations which 
 Christopher had presented to the King of Portugal. 
 
 Rejoicing at the success of his mission to England, Bartholomew departed in great 
 haste to seek his brother. While passing through Paris on his way back to Spain he 
 was first infonned of the discover}- of the New World and of the triumphal reception of 
 the great discoverer by the Majesties of Spain and Portugal. Immediately Charles VIII. 
 heard of Bartholomew's presence in Paris he sent for him, and not onl)' welcomed him 
 as the brother of the most distinguished explorer of the world's history-, but, finding him 
 in need of money, induced Bartholomew to accept a hundred gold crowns to defray the 
 expenses of his return to Spain. 
 
 A SAD DISAPPOINTMENT TO BARTHOLOMEW. 
 
 Not considering that it was now important to hasten his journey Bartholomew remained 
 a while in France, and when he reached Seville it was to learn that Christopher had 
 departed on his second voyage. Greath- disappointed at being thus prevented from 
 accompanying him Bartholomew visited Dona Beatrix, at Cordova, and then took his 
 nephews Diego and Fernando, who were studying there, to Valladolid and presented 
 them at Court, where they were tenderly received and retained for a considerable while. 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella were both much impressed by the chivalric bearing of Bar- 
 tholomew, as well as by his knowledge of many languages, including Latin, Portug^iese, 
 Spanish, Danish, and English, and for his great skill as a navigator. To show her appre- 
 ciation of his several conspicuous attainments and merits the Queen granted him letter^ of 
 nobility and the command of three ships, which she ordered him to load with provisions 
 and take to the colony in Hispaniola. When he arrived at Isabella, however, he found 
 that the Admiral had started upon his second exploration of Cuba, and he was therefore 
 compelled to endure the anxiety of five months' further separation before circumstances 
 pemitted him to greet at last the distinguished brother whom he had not seen for more 
 than eight long and eventful years.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FIRST SUBJUGATION OF THE INDIANS. 
 
 VER the whole island of Hispaniola there brooded the spirit of 
 disquiet, which only needed the Admiral's absence to bring 
 forth insubordination and riotous spoliation. Following 
 his departure the succeeding events may be thus briefly 
 traced: As for the local affairs at Isabella the administra- 
 tion had been conducted with tolerable success and con- 
 formably with the Admiral's instructions. It was only as the 
 colony had been embroiled by the conduct of Margarite, 
 leader of the military expedition in the interior, that con- 
 fusion, clamor, and injustice had arisen among the colonists of 
 the coast. It should be said once for all that Don Diego 
 Columbus, whom the Admiral had left in authority', was a man 
 of mild manners and moderate characteristics such as unsuited 
 him to a considerable degree for the responsibilities and duties of this 
 rough frontier government. But doubtless he would have succeeded 
 better had he not been from the first impeded and treated with contempt by 
 the militarj- commandant and his followers. 
 
 It will be remembered that by the Admiral's order Ojeda was assigned to the com- 
 mand of Fort St. Thomas and the leadership of the exploring expedition to Margarite. 
 The latter was strictly enjoined to explore the mountain region and if possible discover 
 the sources of gold. He was also to traverse as far as possible the five provinces of the 
 island and prepare himself by actual observation and experience to report on the products 
 and resources of even.- district visited. But astonishing to relate, this reckless and obsti- 
 nate commander, as soon as he knew that the Admiral had gone forth on his voyage of 
 discovery-, discarded his instructions and entered upon a career of insubordination and 
 wickedness so flagrant as to brand him with the contempt, if not the hatred, of after time. 
 Instead of going forward to explore the gold-bearing mountains of Cibao — instead even 
 of marching northward through the countries of unvisited and unknown caciques — Margarite 
 turned about from Fort St. Thomas, marched back into the populous and fertile regions of 
 the \'ega Real, and quartered himself and his men among the native villages. Here he be- 
 gan at once a course of inaction, licentiousness and outrage so brutal and vile as to defy 
 narration. They began their abuse of the natives by violently appropriating whatever 
 pleased them, paying nothing for their provisions, taking what they wotild, and waste- 
 fully destroying the residue. 
 
 It was not long until the supplies in the villages ran low and the natives found them- 
 selves without food. At the same time the vSpaniards began to take all tJie gold which 
 the Indians had gathered, with no pains to recompense them even with trinket.s. The next step 
 was to compel the natives to gather more of the shining dust for their masters. The latter 
 assumed the manner of slave-drivers and abu.sed the timid people of the towns as though 
 
 I 207 >
 
 208 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 they were dogs and cattle. From seeking wives respectfully, the Spaniards began to claim 
 the native women and to take tliem without regard to the rights or rank of the fathers, 
 husbands and brothers. The women of the villages were in the power of the stranger, 
 and mere hist ran riot until the barbaric nature of the islanders, however meek and 
 subserv'ient, could bear it no longer. 
 
 REBELLION OF MARGARITE AND BUYL. 
 While this reign of shame and wickedness prevailed in the villages of the Vega, undei 
 
 MARGARITE AND VICAR lil'XX REBEL AGAINST DON DIEGO. 
 
 th- example and leadership of Margarite, the evil extended along social and political lines 
 to the colony at Isabella. In general the Hidalgo element among the Spaniards fell into 
 sympathy with Margarite. When the news of the proceedings of the latter were carried to 
 Don Diego he immediately laid the matter before his council, and the result was a letter of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA 2i)'3 
 
 Tcbuke to the offendinjj officer and his coininand. He was reminded of the instructions 
 which had been given him b\- the Admiral, and directed, in compHance therewith, to break 
 off from his comipt life in the Vega and prosecute the expedition of discoverv. Instead, 
 however, of accepting this authoritative paper and obeying it, Margarite broke into open 
 rebellion. He renounced Diego Columbus and the council, declaring himself independent, 
 and affecting contempt for the par\-enu Columbuses, who, through the vicissitudes of fortune, 
 had gained a rank under which they thought to lord it over men having in their blood 
 noble currents of ancient Spain. 
 
 In this contumacy the captain was supported by the reckless young nobles of the colony, 
 whom, as the reader will remember, the Admiral himself had found so much difficulty ia 
 controlling. The general result was the establishment of an aristocratical faction in the 
 island, embracing the Hidalgos and all the Adullamites of the colon)-. The name of these 
 was legion, and legitimate authority was soon paralyzed in their presence. 
 
 Perhaps after all Diego and the council might have been able to maintain order if it 
 had not been for the defection of the Vicar Buyl and his subordinate ecclesiastics. Those 
 priests, including Father Perez, who were faithful to the Admiral first and last, had gener- 
 ally accompanied him on his voyages, while the Buyl faction remained in the island and 
 had gone o\-er in a body to the malcontents. In such a state of affairs sedition was 
 the natural, perhaps the inevitable, result. When Bartholomew Columbus arrived disorder 
 was king. Nor had he any other than moral force with which to support his brother in the 
 government. On the other hand Margarite felt himself strong. He had the backing of 
 the nobilit}- and the priesthood. Besides, both he and Bu)l belie\ed with good reason 
 that they stood well with Ferdinand, and that the Admiral was not, and never had been, in 
 great favor with the monarch. 
 
 Thus fortified by the circumstances, jMargarite and the vicar made a conspiracy to seize 
 the three ships constituting the fleet of Bartholomew Columbus and to sail back to Spain, 
 where the whole cave of Adullam might discharge itself in the royal court. The enter- 
 prise gathered head, and this time was successful. The mutineers seized the vessels, and 
 under the lead of Margarite and the Vicar Buyl sailed away for the mother countrj-. Xor 
 was there any power to prevent them from doing so. Among the many squadrons bearing 
 from port to port of our poor world their cargoes of lies, this seditious fleet, commanded by 
 a brigand and a priest, was conspicuous for earning the heaviest load. 
 A BLOODY RETRIBUTION VISITED ON THE SPANIARDS. 
 
 All this was done long before the return of the Admiral. As for the anny, whether 
 in the \'ega Real or straggling back to Isabella, it had no longer a commander and 
 quickly fell to pieces of neglect and insubordination. The soldiers broke into bands and 
 ranged at will among the Indian towns, taking the same course of vice, outrage and 
 depravity which they had pursued with the consent and by the example of Margarite. 
 The natives, driven to desperation, at length rose against the wretched criminals who had 
 violated ever>' principle of honor and decency, and the Spaniards soon began to feel the 
 sting of retributive justice. In one case ten of the straggling soldiers were taken bv Ciiief 
 Guarione.x and put to death without much regard to form. He next succeeded in throwing 
 a large force of his warriors around tlie fortress, where another band numbering forty-six 
 had taken possession, and the houses were fired. Almost all of tlic Spaniards perished, 
 either in the flames or by the darts of the enemy. In the next place the garrison of a lit- 
 tle block-house called Magdalena was cooped up in a siege and was unable to extricate 
 itself until reinforcements were sent out from Isabella. 
 »4
 
 210 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The situation was sufficiently alarming. As soon as the Admiral's health was in a 
 measure restored he applied himself with diligence to the restoration of order. Matters 
 had now gone so far, however, that mere personal kindness could not avail, and diplomacy 
 had to give place to war. The greater part of all the islanders had become positively 
 hostile. There were, as we have said, in Hispaniola five provinces or principal cacique- 
 doms. The first and most northerly of these was called Marien in the native tongue, and 
 was ruled over by Guacana- R..'-_^^^^g^rfe^^,.44}.,iifeA;i ' t;-jJiiiVv-^-,^-;A^v:-.:...v,,..:;^- ' v:.: ..,:;,:. ■s::;,-kify:!;si:i,^^\v 
 gari. The second was called 
 .Magiiaiia, lying on the 
 soutliern coast between the 
 lagoons and the river Ozema. 
 The third was the great cen- 
 tral province of Xaragua, 
 lying over to the south-west 
 and having for its most 
 conspicuous physical feature 
 the great headland called 
 Cape Tiburon. The fourth 
 division was called Higiicy, 
 and occupied the eastern 
 extremit}^ of the island as 
 far north as Samana Bay 
 and the River Yuna. The 
 fifth and most important of 
 all included the great, fer- 
 tile and populous plain of 
 the V'cgia Real. 
 
 As we have said, the ruler of the first-named 
 district was that Guacanagari whose generous friend- 
 ship had been extended to Columbus in the perilous 
 day when the Saii/a Maria was wrecked on the coast. 
 The second cacique, by far the ablest and most war- 
 like, was of Carib extraction and was, as the reader 
 knows, called Caonabo (King of the Golden Realm). 
 The third ruler was named Behechio. He it was 
 whose sister, the peerless beauty Anacaona, was the 
 wife of King Caonabo. The cacique of Higuey 
 was named Cotubanama, whose subjects had many Carib elements in their disposition, 
 but who was not himself of a warlike character. The cacique of the Vega Real region 
 was, as we have seen, that Guarionex with whom for about six months the Spaniards had 
 been in close relations. 
 
 BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES. 
 
 Of these five caciques four were now hostile to the Spaniards, and possibly Guacana- 
 gari might himself have been added to the league but for the fact that the others, suspect- 
 ing his tinchangeable friendship for the foreigiiers, had attacked him in his own village, and 
 besides massacring several of his people had killed the beautiful Catalina, who, it will be 
 remembered, escaped from Columbus' vessel and fled into the forest, where she was directly
 
 COLUMBUS AXn COLUMBIA. 
 
 •JU 
 
 afterwards followed by the chief who made her his wife. This violent outrage confirmed 
 the friendly feclint^ which he had before entertained for the Spaniards, and to their 
 fortunes he now attached himself more firmly than e\er. Immediately upon the Admiral's 
 return Guacanagari opened communication with him and supplied valuable iuformatiou 
 respecting the movements that were going on in the island, and otherwist manifested his 
 deep concern for the welfare of his visitors, so that he completely dispelled all suspicions 
 which Columbus had formerly entertained. 
 
 The popidation of Hispaniola at this time was variously estimated at from five hun- 
 dred thousand to a million, a number sufficiently great to more than compensate for the 
 poor weapons with which they had to make the attack. They were naked as to their 
 bodies, having no defensive armor, while their weapons extended no further than a hard- 
 ened shaft of wood pointed with bone, which served the purpose of a lance, and in the 
 matter of discipline they were barbarians. But they were very courageous, and having 
 ojeat confidence in the 
 
 su- 
 periority of numbers, they 
 made bold to attack the 
 Spaniards even in their de- 
 fenses. In going to battle 
 the natives advanced in a dis- 
 organized body, every warrior 
 being allowed to direct his 
 own attack from such covert 
 as he might find. 
 
 Though something was 
 to be feared from the mere 
 pressure of numbers, the 
 Spaniards might in other re- 
 spects smile at the puny rage 
 of these naked men of the 
 forest as they howled from 
 the thickets and discharged 
 their harmless darts. Caonabo 
 
 was, by general consent, com- caonaho at thk hicad di- ms army. 
 
 mandant of the native force, and besides being at the head of the most powerful tribe 
 on the island, he possessed many special qualities, chief of which were coitragc and 
 sagacit\', and with eflfective weapons he would have been a formidable antagonist. He had 
 not failed to note the dissipated and wretched bands of Margarite's army, which had been 
 destroyed or expelled by the inhabitants of the towns on his borders, and he now naturally 
 directed his attention to Fort St. Thomas, which he knew to be poorly defended, and de- 
 termined to assault and destroy that place, as he had done La Natividad. At the head of 
 ten thousand men he advanced cautiously to the vicinity of the fort;, expecting to surprise 
 the garrison and overwhelm them before the\- were able to make preparations to receive him. 
 Rut in this he was fatally deceived. The command of the fort liad been entrusted to Ojcda, 
 who was not likely to be caught off" his guard, for of all men among tlie Spaniards he was 
 the most alert, intrepid and active. Discovering before he made his attack that the garri- 
 son wa-s ready to receive him, Caonabo changed his tactics, and instead of attempting to carry 
 it by assault contented himself with surrounding the fort with the hope of compelling it 
 to yield through famine.
 
 212 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 A BRAVE MAN'S SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 This siege continued for a month, and brought the Spaniards to such great distress that 
 thev were compelled to resort to ever>- expedient in order to obtain supplies. Occasional 
 sorties were made by Ojeda, by which a few provisions were procured, but the main depend- 
 ence of the garrison was in the assistance brought to them by friendly Indians, who man- 
 aged on many occasions to smuggle in small supplies of food. A characteristic anecdote 
 is presented of the coming in of one of the friendly Indians with two wood-pigeons for Ojeda. 
 When they were given to him some of the officers looked wistfully at the birds as though 
 they would devour them alive. Thereupon Ojeda took the pigeons to a window and toss- 
 ing them forth into the air, said, " It's a pity there isn't enough for all of us." " It is plain 
 that such a character as this would not easily succumb to any of the harsh conditions which 
 the siege might impose. This long delay also affected the hostile Indians, who, obser\dng 
 how futile had been the results of the siege, began to desert, until at the expiration of a 
 nionth Caonabo's forces were so much reduced in numbers that he decided to retire from the 
 countr}-. But his ill success in the long effort to destroy the Spaniards at Fort St. Thomas 
 abated none of his detennination to visit a sufficient punishment upon his aggressors, and 
 accordingly Caonabo retired into the countr\' and for a season used all his efforts in central- 
 izing the power of the several chiefs, whose consent he at length obtained to make a demon- 
 stration against the colony at Isabella. A league having thus been formed, Caonabo made 
 an examination of the surroundings of Isabella, and found that an attack on that place might 
 be made with ever\' promise of success. The garrison was small and the fort was nothing 
 like so strone as that at Fort St. Thomas, besides Caonabo had ever\- reason to believe that 
 the commandant possessed little of the skill and brave-}' of Ojeda. But the expectations of 
 Caonabo were yet a long ways from realization. He fo:ind directly that even the promises 
 of the chiefs themselves might not be implicitly relied on, while Guacanagari was a con- 
 stant menace to the success of his plans. Columbus was duly apprised of the intentions of 
 the natives, and adopted the most energetic measures to repel and break up the Indian con- 
 federacy. His first step was to make sure of the condition of his three forts in the Vega Real, 
 after which, throiigh some influential Indians, he succeeded in opening communications 
 with Guarionex, who had joined the league with some misgivings. While not succeeding 
 in securing his assistance, he obtained a promise that in case of hostilities he would main- 
 tain a neutral attitude. But Columbus was not content with the bare promise of the chief, 
 and in order to bind him to a performance of his agreement Columbus sought the daughter 
 of the cacique and gave her in marriage to his interpreter, Diego, the Guanahanian. He also 
 obtained the consent of the chief to build a fortress in his territory', to which the name of 
 Fort Conception was given. This gave the Spaniards an advantage which they were not 
 
 slow to appreciate. 
 
 A HAZARDOUS ENTERPRISE. 
 
 By this time Columbus had come to believe that a great part of the strength of the 
 confederation lay in Caonabo himself, and it was evident that that great chieftain furnished 
 the energy, the spirit and the warlike skill of the whole movement. It therefore seemed 
 essential that by some means, fair or foul, Caonabo should be captured. This, however, 
 was no easy task, whether by force or by stratagem. Yet the situation was precisely of the 
 kind to evoke the adventurous spirit and genius of Ojeda. That captain, after considering 
 the nature of the thing to be done, volunteered to kidnap Caonabo and to bring him a pris- 
 oner to the Admiral. From the very nature of things such an enterprise was more easily 
 conceived than accomplished. But Ojeda was equal to the emergency, and with a small 
 company of horsemen he sallied forth into the territories of Caonabo, bent upon his
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMHIA. 213 
 
 desperate enteqjrise. In the meaiitinie, by some ineans whicli liistory has not made suffi- 
 ciently plain, Ojeda had succeeded in establishing some friendly relations with Caoiiabo, 
 whose admiration might possibly have been excited by the resolute resistance with which 
 that brave Spaniard had met the attack of the over^vhelming force of natives at Fort vSL 
 Thomas. 
 
 At all events, it is declared that Ojeda went into the territory of Caonabo under the 
 cover of friendship, and upon his approaching in the character of an ambassador he was 
 readily pennitted to enter the chief's village. Ojeda had formed his j)lans with his u.sual 
 skill in warfare, his idea being to gain the chieftain's confidence and then to allure him by 
 some specious promises to Isabella, where he might be .seized and confined. He first tried 
 the stratagem of the bell. The Spaniards of the colony had erected a small chapel and 
 placed a bell in the steeple, which as good Catholics they were constantly ringing. The 
 music of this resonant monitor rang out on llie morning air and fell on the astonished ears 
 of the natives. In answer to their expressions of surprise they were told that the bell was 
 calling the people to prayers. So the myth was scattered abroad that the metallic voice in 
 the steeple was a living thing — a spirit that could cry out and summon the Spaniards to 
 worship. Great, therefore, was the fame of this bell, a delusion whicli Ojeda encouraged 
 by adding many embellishments, until the interest of the natives was thoroughly aroused. 
 And he finally told Caonabo that if he would repair to Isabella and make a treat\- of friend- 
 ship with the Admiral he should have the marvellous bell as a present for himself His 
 desire was so great to possess this wondrous relic that Caonabo took the bait, though warily. 
 He made his preparations to visit the Spanish colon\-, but called a large body of his best 
 warriors to go with him. When Ojeda protested that this was not necessar)- the caciqf.e 
 replied that it would be unbecoming in him as a king to go about the countn,- without the 
 company of a royal guard. 
 
 A STRATAGEM WHICH LED TO THE CAPTURE OF CAONABO 
 
 Perceiving what might be the result of an attempt to seize Caonabo when surrounded 
 by a large body of native soldiery, Ojeda abandoned this first scheme and adopted another 
 equally bold expedient. Believing that he might have need of such instruments, Ojeda had 
 taken with him into the Indian country- some manacles, or handcuffs, which the Spaniards 
 humorou.sly called espoitsas, or "wives." This significant apparatus was made of bra.ss and 
 steel, polished to perfect brightness. These Ojeda displayed one day to Caonabo, and when 
 the cacique inquired about them he was informed that they were a kind of ornament which, 
 in the country across the ocean, were worn only by kings and queens. Such jcwclr>', he 
 was told, the monarchs of Castile always wore when they went to bathe, or to dance, or to 
 preside at festivals. Having thus excited both his interest and desire, he finally told 
 Caonabo that as a token of honor he himself might wear them when thc\- went to the 
 river for his bath ; that the cacique should play Spanish king, and he, Ojeda, would show 
 him how it was done. In such a proposition Caonabo could discover no ground of sus- 
 picioii. He accordingly accepted the invitation and the manacles were adjusted to his 
 wrists. When the bath was finished, Ojeda courteously assisting, the cacique was told that 
 the Spani.sh king on such occasions always mountetl behind one of his courtiers after the 
 bath and thus rode triumphantly back to his palace ; but it was the custom of Spain that 
 the courtier should direct his horse in circles, like the flight >)f a bird. To all these things 
 consenting, the cacique was mounted Ijehiud Ojeda on the back of a ven.- fine and fleet 
 horse, and putting spurs to the animal they began to circle round and round, Ojeda at the 
 same time giving the signal to the Spaniards who had accompanied him to mount. He
 
 214 
 
 COLUAIBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 made the circles larger and larger, for that was no doubt the wa>- the king of Castile did 
 on such occasions ! At length, however, when the curve of the comedy swung out near 
 the edge of the woods, the tangential force became too great for Ojeda, and putting spurs 
 to his horse he stnick away with his prisoner at full gallop into the forest. 
 
 The Spanish troop continued its flight through villages, fighting and charging, swam 
 rivers, plunged through thickets, and by this fierce riding brought back in triumph to 
 
 Isabella the astonished 
 
 and humiliated Caon- 
 abo. vStrange enough, 
 the rage of the cacique 
 was directed not 
 against Ojeda whose 
 skill in war and ex- 
 ploit he regarded as the 
 most marvellous things 
 in histor}-, but rather 
 against the Admiral, 
 who he declared had 
 
 
 .^'^ 
 
 
 
 
 yi^^'::mfK^ 
 
 A DESPKRATE ADVENTURE. 
 
 acted in the most cowardly manner by keeping himself within his borders while his 
 brave captain had gone forth and by adroitness had made prisoner a king. 
 
 A BATTLE AND REPULSE OF THE NATIVES. 
 Caonabo was placed in confinement in a room of the Admiral's own house and was 
 treated for the time with the distinction and courtes)- usuall\- accorded to royal prisoners. 
 But notwithstanding this considerate treatment and the fact that the head of the confed- 
 eracy was now in confinement, the duplicity by which he was taken aroused the subjects of
 
 COLUMBUS AND CUIAMHIA. 210 
 
 Caonabo to still greater hostility. During his captivitx' a league of the three principal 
 caciques was consolidated under a brother of the captive king who had now become 
 eacique in his stead. War alanns began to be sounded in nearly all parts of the island, 
 and in an incredibly short time an army of seven thousand Indians advanced against Fort 
 St. Thomas. Rut Ojeda, learning of the movement and anticipating the prospects of 
 another siege, increased his force by a detachment sent to him by Bartholomew Columbus, 
 who had received an appointment as Lieutenant-GoN'eruor, and boldly marched forth to 
 gi\e them battle. By forced inarches he came upon the Indians when they were least 
 expecting his presence, and fell upon them with such fury that the natives were quickly 
 routed and driven in all directions before the charge of the cavalry. 
 
 In the meantime affairs at Isabella had greatly improved by the arrival of four cara- 
 vels under the command of .Vntonio de Torres, bringing a good supply of pro\-isions, 
 medicines, clothing and merchandise, and also several arti.sans ver\- needful in the present 
 condition of the colony. As for the .\dmiral he was particularlv delighted 1)\- the receipt 
 of a package of documents from their Majesties, in which among other things were some 
 letters filled with expressions of regard and high compliment. His whole course of man- 
 agement was heartih' approved, and tlie pleasing intelligence was conveyed that all serious 
 difficulties with the Crown of Portugal, which were pending at the time of Columbus' last 
 departure, had been adjusted, with a compromise involving a new line of division. To 
 detennine the tnie place of the line the sovereigns thought it expedient that Columbus 
 should return to Europe, bringing his charts with him; but in case he could not conveniently 
 leave the colony he was instructed to send some one in his stead. In compliance with 
 this request of the King and Queen, the .\dmiral, who could not leave the colony in its 
 present condition, commissioned Diego Columbus to return to Spain and aid their Majesties 
 in the settlement of their business with the Portuguese Court. 
 
 Other things n:ore important than the mutters referred to in their Majesties' com- 
 munication concerned Columbus and made it very im])ortant that he sliould despatch a 
 representative to the Spanish Court to counteract the influence of Margarite and BunI, 
 who were now making their way across the Atlantic to falsely represent tlie Admiral's 
 administration in the Indies. Columbus knew well that as .soon as the.se unscrupulous 
 but able messengers of mi.schief should reach the Spanish Court they would e.xert them- 
 selves to the utmost to destroy his place in the affections and confidence of the sovereigns. 
 He therefore determined to follow u]) the emissaries of evil with an embass\- in his own 
 
 interests. 
 
 THE FIRST SHIP-LOAD OF SLAVES. 
 
 Ships were at once prepared for a home-bound voyage, and the Eagle was despatched 
 not only as the bearer of the charts requested, but with the .Admiral's representative in tlie 
 affairs which now so deeply concerned him. Columbus took pains to send home a large 
 contribution of gold, as great as he could procure, and other metals were added as an evi- 
 dence of the mineral wealth of Hisjianiola. The viceroy was also able to supplv man\- 
 new specimens of plants and animals, some of which were of value and all of interest. 
 Finally he ordered forth and sent on board the ships nearly five hundred Indian captives, 
 to be sold a.s slaves in the markets of Spain. Doubtless he thought by this mean.s, even 
 against' the recent admonition of the .sovereigns to "find .some other way," to add so 
 nmch to the Spanish treasury that the inhumanity of the enterprise would be overshadowed 
 by the profit. It may be said, in extenuation of this act, that slavcn.' and the .slave trade were 
 the ever)-day and well-approved vices of .nil Cliristian states, and that only a few loftier
 
 21G COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 minds had in those ages of cruelty and gloom perceived the atrocity and horror of the 
 system. 
 
 After the departure of his fleet Columbus was left to consider and solve the local com- 
 plications of his government. It directly appeared that the decisive defeat of the natives 
 by Ojeda had by no means ended their hostility. Caonabo had several brothers, all of 
 whom became more active than ever in exciting the Indians and fonning confederations. 
 A powerful influence was also exerted by Anacaona, the favorite wife of the captive king, 
 who freely circulated among the tribes, like Boadicea among the Britons, encouraging the 
 caciques to renew the war. So successful were her efforts, joined with those of the cacique's 
 brothers, that all the native princes except Guacanagari and Guarionex were brought into 
 a league by which an army estimated at a hundred thousand men was collected for a final 
 struggle with the Spaniards. This large force was under the command of Manicaotex, one 
 of the brothers of Caonabo, a warlike and able general who had some skill in arranging and 
 controlling the warriors in battle. This vast force had already gathered and set out for the 
 southern part of the island to attack Isabella when infonnation of the impending avalanche 
 was brought to Columbus by Guacanagari. The Admiral, though his bodily powers were 
 not yet fully restored, immediately prepared for the onset. He was able to bring into the 
 field only two hundred crossbowmen and arquebusiers and twenty cavalrymen, but as allies 
 he had in his ser\'ice a great number of the men of Guacanagari, though in such an 
 emergency reliance could be placed only on the mailed, heavily-armed and well-disciplined 
 soldiers. Another element of strength, or rather of ferocity and terror, was added to the 
 equipment, in the way of twenty bloodhounds, whose malign instincts made them as 
 desperate in fight as so many enraged tigers. 
 
 Columbus himself took the field, with his brother Bartholomew as his chief com- 
 mander. Both had skill and courage in war, and though the enemy was a host' and the 
 Spaniards but a handful, the commanders little doubted the result of the conflict. Says Irving: 
 
 "The whole sound and effective force that he could muster, however, in the present 
 infirm state of the colony did not exceed two hundred infantry and twenty horse. They 
 were armed with cross-bows, swords, lances, and espingardas, or heavy arquebuses, which 
 in those days were used with rests and sometimes mounted on wheels. With these 
 fonnidable weapons a handful of European warriors cased in steel and covered with 
 bucklers were able to cope with thousands of naked savages. They had aid of another 
 kind, however, consisting of twent}' bloodhounds, animals scarcely less terrible to the 
 Indians than the horses and infinitely more fatal. They were fearless and ferocious ; nothing 
 daunted them, nor when they had once seized upon their prey could anything compel them 
 to relinquish their hold. The naked bodies of the Indians offered no defence against their 
 attacks. They sprang on them, dragged them to the earth and tore them to pieces." 
 
 A FURIOUS CHARGE OF SPANISH CAVALRY. 
 
 Advancing from Isabella the small army made its way to the mountain region over 
 which lay the Pass of the Hidalgos. The Indian forces advanced from the southwest across 
 the Vega, while the Spaniards came down from the opposite side to the plain. The battle- 
 field was near the present site of the town of St. Jago. Here, on the 29th of March, 1495, 
 the opposing annies came in sight of each other and prepared for the conflict. Small as 
 were his forces, Columbus divided his anny into several detachments of thirty or forty men, 
 so as to extend as much as he could his lines from right to left. It was by far the most 
 serious situation which had yet appeared in the relations of the two races in the New World. 
 
 The Spaniards, without waiting to be attacked, sounded their trumpets, beat their
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 217 
 
 dniins, discharged their murderous arquebuses, aud rushed forward to the attack. It was 
 impossible that tlie warriors, however numerous, could withstand the assault wherever it 
 fell. Ojeda's troop of cavalry galloped at full speed with drawn swords among the thickest 
 aggregations of the enemy, and cut them do\vn as a mower might lay the grass. To all 
 this havoc was added the terrible work of the bloodhounds, which rushed upon the Indians 
 
 and tore them to pieces. The spectacle 
 was appalling. For a short time along the 
 front line there was nothing but butcher}-, 
 and there was more likelihood that tlie 
 Spaniards would be exhausted from the 
 over-exertion of killing than that they 
 would receive injury- from the barbarians. 
 Of course such work could not long be borne. 
 The Indians gave way before the assault 
 and fled in all directions. Terror super\-encd, and the wretched creatures, panic-stricken 
 before the charging cavalr>', the raging bloodhounds and the thundering arquebu.ses, taking 
 themselves to flight, hid in the woods and thickets or climbed into trees and rocky places of 
 the cliflTs, from which they immediately began to set up piteous cries and make signs of 
 submission. Before nightfall the work was done. The confederacy was utterly broken up. 
 Nor was it likely that any great concerted cfibrt would any more be made to extcnninate 
 the terrible foreigners who had got their relentless grip on the island. It only remained for
 
 218 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Columbus to dictate what terms he would to the conquered tribes and make the most of his 
 victory. 
 
 For a while after the battle the Admiral remained in the field, marching from place to 
 place through a wide range of territor\-, visiting the towns and receiving the submission of 
 the caciques. The expedition was in tcrrorcm. Ojeda with his company of cavalr\- dashed 
 hither and von through the provinces, and all opposition quailed before him. Guarionex 
 was the first to make peace. Soon Manicaotex was humbled and brought to submission. 
 As for Behechio and Anacaoua, their place was in the long peninsula which reaches out, 
 like the left arm of a cray-fish, from the southwest shoulder of the island. The situation 
 was the most inaccessible of all, and this cacique and his warlike sister were correspond- 
 ingl)' haught}- and unsubdued. 
 
 For a time a measure of independence was retained by the natives of this part of the 
 island ; but in all other parts the conquest was complete and final. Guacanagari had already 
 accepted for himself and his people the position of vassals under the viceroy's government. 
 It only remained for the latter to assess upon the conquered the damages of war ; and this he 
 proceeded to do in a manner that might well give a hint of the terrible exactions and tyran- 
 nies and cruel grindings to which the native races of Spanish America were soon to be sub- 
 jected by their conquerors.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ENSLAVEMENT OF THE NATIVES TO GRATIFY SPANISH GREED. 
 
 ^()RniI) ambition, g^eed, unappeasable avarice consti- 
 tuted the ruling passions of the Spaniards, to which 
 other unholy aspirations were added as the outj^rowths 
 of opportunity. It is an easy and natural descent for 
 the covetous, from whom are removed the restraints 
 that keep in curb the basest natures of man, to be- 
 come the voluptuary, and under the license which 
 savao^e life affords, it is not surprisiufj that even the 
 hidalgos, bom in luxur>-, should fall into excesses 
 from which, under better influences, they would have 
 recoiled. Columbus has not been accused of suc- 
 cumbing to these evil temptations, but though he may 
 have been at times inspired by pious emotions, and 
 was sincere in his desire to extend Christianity among 
 the islanders, it is a lamentable fact that the a\arice 
 in his nature predominated to such an extent as to 
 blunt his sense of justice and place him on an equality 
 ■with the greed-besotted subjects who shared his fortunes. 
 
 The one centralizing ambition of all who had any part in tlie expeditions was to 
 acquire gold. If Columbus entertained aspirations different from all others associated in 
 his enterprise, it was because he liad not been tainted by contact with the rich before con- 
 ceiving his grand project. But the most tmh' pious cannot remain long insensible to the effects 
 of aggrandizement, and the most humble nature is not proof against the pride that rises with 
 its own exaltation. The motives of Ferdinand and Isabella became by the most natural 
 corollar>- the motives of Columbus, not only to gratify the sovereign will, whose favors it 
 was policy to court, but to .satisfy a longing created by his own environment. And thus it 
 was that his own heart beat responsive to the one supreme de.sire that craved gold, gold, gold I 
 Under existing circumstances it was positively necessar\- for Columbus to satisfy the 
 prevailing passion of the .Spanish sovereigns as well as his own, or to acknowledge the 
 failure of his enterprise, which had already been strongly denounced by his enemies, Mar- 
 garite and De Bu\l, who had gone before to make evil report of the results of his di.s- 
 coveries in the New World. It was in the light of these circumstances that he must now 
 proceed to organize wealth, in the fonn of gold if possible, in the form of slaves if he 
 nuist ; for such was the only argument with which the flood of detraction and calumny 
 could be effectually checked at its fountain. 
 
 TERRIBLE EXACTIONS PUT UPON THE NATIVES. 
 
 For a considerable while Columbus revolved in his mind the most effective means for 
 procuring such supplies of gold as might sati.sfy the avarice of Ferdinand and Isabella, as 
 well as his own ambition. The resolution at length came of subordinating the natives of
 
 220 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the island to the work of collecting and delivering the precious metal. The measure 
 adopted by Columbus was sweeping, univ'ersal and severe. It contemplated no less than a 
 tribute laid upon all the youth and adult natives of the island, the limit of age being fixed 
 at fourteen years. Under this edict every native was required, under heav)- penalt}', to 
 deliver to the Admiral, at the expiration of every three months, a quantity of gold-dust 
 
 suSicient to fill 
 
 a hawk's bell, 
 in value about 
 $25. This was 
 the requirement 
 of the people at 
 large, while the 
 headmen and 
 caciques were 
 taxed more 
 heavily accord- 
 ing to their 
 rank. The 
 amount assessed 
 against the 
 kings who had 
 headed the re- 
 cent confeder- 
 acy was half a 
 gourd ful each, 
 ' about $150. 
 In his rapa- 
 city Columbus 
 failed to regard 
 the fact that 
 gold was not 
 universally dis- 
 tributed, and 
 t h a t t h e diffi- 
 culty of collect- 
 ing it was ten 
 times greater 
 in some parts 
 of the island 
 than in others. 
 
 AXACAONA, QUEEN OF THE cARiBs. pjjg proclama- 
 
 tion was nevertheless universal, and explicit compliance therewith was severely demanded. 
 It was only a short while before the islanders bowed to the exactions thus imposed 
 and entered upon their slavish task. But the impossibility of universal compliance 
 directly became apparent. Gnarionex was the first to appear before the .\dmiral with 
 his complaint and to assure him that his people could not possibly meet the exaction, 
 and in a spirit of humility suggested a commutation of service. As an evidence that he
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 221 
 
 was not a petitioner for the removal of tlie burdens that had been imposed, he accord- 
 ingly offered to substitute agricultural products of more than the equi\-alent value, on 
 condition that his people be relieved from the exaction of gathering gold. He also 
 told the Admiral that under such terms his people would devote themselves to planting 
 and cultivating the territory of the island, reaching from sea to sea, which might be 
 rendered sufficiently productive to provide for the wants of all Spain, and the value of 
 which would be greatly in excess of all the gold that might be gathered from the island. 
 
 At the time this proposition was made the colony was well provided with provisions, 
 and Columbus had no mind to listen to the petitions of the chief. But perceiving directly 
 the impossibility of securing the amount of gold which he had imposed as a tribute, 
 under sheer necessity he finally agreed to reduce the amount to one-half of that first 
 named per capita. 
 
 PITILESS HARDSHIPS IMPOSED BY GREED. 
 
 Under these pitiless exactions the Indian pojjulation of Hispaniola was virtually 
 reduced to ser\itnde. The oppres.sion of this despotic law was ten-fold greater by reason 
 of the fact that the natives had always enjoyed a perfect freedom, the natural produc- 
 tions of the soil relieving them from all necessity of manual labor. Even their alle- 
 giance to their caciques was so loo.se as to leave them in a state of semi-license, nature 
 having confederated with the simple laws of barbaric life, which forbade servitude and 
 encouraged freedom. Their diet being almost exclusively \egetable, they posse.s.sed little 
 strength, and engagement in severe labor quickly exhausted their energies. The greater 
 part of their time had, therefore, been spent in sleep, plays, or dances. They were a people, 
 too, not without other amusements, for they had their wandering poets and story-tellers who 
 rendered in simple lays- adventures of the Caribs and the histories of sorcerers. They had 
 also their poems, called arcytos, which were translated into several idioms of the island 
 and chiefly celebrated Anacaona, a wife of one of the chiefs, whose name signified "golden 
 flower." Under the circumstances the edict of the Admiral fell tipon them like a pall. 
 The inhabitants had intelligence enough to understand the alteration in their condition 
 and the hopelessness of the future. Gloom came like the shadow of an ominous cloud and 
 settled upon the Indians, transfonning them from a cheerful and careless race into a people 
 whose characteristics now became sullen repugnance and despair. Complaints which he 
 knew to be well founded had no other effect upon Columbus than to increase his activities 
 in extending his power against the day when he perceived it would be necessar\' to meet 
 an uprising of the oppressed people. To this end he adopted the plan of multiplying the 
 fortifications which he had established in the island, locating them in such situations as to 
 give a military advantage to the government. 
 
 THE COLUMBIAN DEFAMERS AT COURT. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1495 complications thickened around Columbus until the 
 threads of sequence may with diflicnlty be traced through the tangled web of the general 
 event. Complex forces 1)egan to work on both sides of the .\tlantic and to combine in 
 unexpected proportions in the issue and course of current histon.-. In due course of time 
 Margarite and the treacherous prelate, Buyl, arrived in Spain fully charged with the false- 
 hoods which they were anxious to deliver to their Majesties. In the reports which they 
 proceeded to make and authenticate by means of others as treacherous as themselves 
 were blended all the elements of prejudice, misrepresentation and malice. Having 
 broken completely with the .Admiral, the conspirators were now under the necessity of 
 utterly destroying his fame or being themselves driven in disgrace from the royal presence.
 
 ■>•)') 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Having a temporary advantage they employed it to the fullest extent, and going directly 
 to the King and Queen, deli\-ered such mendacious assaults against the methods and per- 
 sonal character of Columbus that even the Queeu herself was affected b}- the serious 
 charges that were made. At all events the effect on the court was sufficient to procure 
 an order for the sending out of a royal delegatiou to the West Indies to thoroughly con- 
 sider the condition of affairs and prepare a complete report respecting the administration 
 of Columbus and his subordinates. At the same time the exclusive license which had 
 been granted to Columbus was revoked and general permission was given to all native 
 Spaniards to sail on voyages of discovery- or to establish themselves as landholders in His- 
 paniola and other parts of the New World. This measure, b>- which the well-established 
 
 prerogatives of 
 the viceroy 
 were to be put 
 aside and the 
 countries which 
 he had discov- 
 ered thrown 
 open to miscel- 
 laneous adven- 
 turers, was pro- 
 moted by Vinc- 
 ente Yanez Pin- 
 zon, who after 
 the death of 
 Alonzo became 
 the representa- 
 tive of that 
 powerful famil)- 
 at Palos. He 
 being a man of 
 w e a 1th and 
 rank proposed 
 to the Spanish 
 sovereigns t o 
 
 DE TORRES MAKING HIS REPORT TO THE SOVEREIGNS. fjt QUt a SQUad- 
 
 ron and prosecute the work of West Atlantic discover}' at his own expense, which was con- 
 sidered with such favor that his requests were promptly granted, thus sweeping away all 
 the grants, privileges and honors which had been reser\-ed by solemn compact for 
 
 Columbus. 
 
 CIRCUMVENTING THE CALUMNIATORS. 
 
 In anticipation of the assaults that would be made by IMargarite and De Buyl against 
 
 his character, Columbus had wisely despatched Antonio de Torres to carry home to Spain 
 
 the antidote for the poison which was to be administered b\- the mutineers. Just at the 
 
 time when Margarite and the vicar had secured the order from the sovereigns for an 
 
 examination of the Admiral's administration, the fleet of De Torres arrived at Cadiz, and the 
 
 captain proceeded to report to the sovereigns the actual condition of affairs in the island. 
 
 He was also able to verify his declarations by a display of products, including much gold
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 223 
 
 and the fi\e luindred Indian sla\es that had been sent, as already' narrated. His statements 
 and the material proofs produced the happiest effects upon Ferdinand and Isabella, who 
 could not fail to perceive the manifest, tangible, indubitable evidence of the conspiracy 
 of Margarite and De Bu\l and the falseness of the greater part of their narration. Some- 
 thing of a reaction innnediately followed, and a new order was issued which, while it 
 did not completel\- rescind the fonner, was nevertheless much more favorable to Colum- 
 bus and his party. It was now directed that instead of sending to the Indies a person to 
 be nominated by De Fonseca, whose enmity towards Columbus he had never sought to 
 disguise, the appointment should be given to Juan Agnado, a Spaniard of high standing 
 whom Columbus considered his friend and whom he liad on an occasion recommended to 
 the favor of the King and Qnocn. 
 
 THE QUEEN ORDERS THE SUVES RETURNED. 
 
 But while commending Columbus in some particulars, their Majesties disclaimed his 
 methfxi of discipline, and even condemned some of his harsh measures, the salntan*- effects 
 of which they had not been able to appreciate. In addition the Queen specially repre- 
 hended the enslavement of the natives, and instead of putting them on the market in 
 Seville for sale, as Columbus had suggested, she detennined that they should be returned 
 to their native land, and not only given their freedom, but that proper apology should 
 be rendered for the outrage that had l)eeu committed b\- this attempt to force them 
 into bondage. However, this decision was not immediately reached, as the Queen had a 
 mind to first defer to a conference of theologians with a view to obtaining their opinions as 
 to the justice of converting an\- of the Indian subjects, pagans though they were, into slaves. 
 A majority of the prelates having debated the question among themselves, decided in the 
 affirmative, to which decision a small minority objected. 
 
 It would appear from the results that the Queen deferred to the conference of prelates 
 through courtesy, as slaver}- was a recognized institution in Spain at the time, and there 
 was a general approval of it among what were called true Christians. But her humane in- 
 stincts prompted her to take the question out of the hands of the referees, and with a sense 
 of right which must ever hold her name among the justice-loving rulers of all the ages she 
 liberated the captives and thereby established a precedent and rule which reflect the brightest 
 lustre upon her reign. 
 
 Among other in.structions which she gave Aguado was one to limit the colony at 
 Isabella to five hundred souls, that the expenditure for provisions and supplies might be 
 kept within the .smallest limit ; and she specially charged him to see that the rights of the 
 islanders were justly observed, to the end that peace might reign and the Church be estab- 
 lished among them. 
 
 A CRIMINAL FINOS A NATIVE WIFE AND FORTUNE. 
 Meanwhile affairs in San Domingo had been tending in such a direction that another 
 crisis was about to ari.se in an unexpected manner. An officer named Miguel Diaz 
 fell into a quarrel with another officer, and in the duel which followed he wounded 
 his antagonist, .is he supposed fatalU'. Some witnesses of the affair claimed that advan- 
 tage had been taken b\ Diaz, so that the circumstance had the complexion of murder ; 
 and to escape a puni.sliment which he thought might be inflicted he fled from the settle- 
 ment and took refuge in an Indian town on the extreme southcni border of the i.sland, 
 where he was well received and safe from piirsuit. It chanced that the tribe on this coast 
 was governed by a prince.s.s, who became infatuated with the white refugee, and whether 
 this feeling was reciprocated or not, Diaz was married to her in some infonnal manner and
 
 224 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 continued to reside in the village for some time. At length, however, he wearied somewhat 
 of his Indian bride, which she perceiving, employed all her instincts and talents to devise 
 some plan by which to hold the affections of her white husband. She had learned through 
 her intercourse with Diaz that the prevailing passion with the Spaniards was a desire for 
 gold. She therefore conceived that by revealing the fortunate resources of the territory" 
 over which she ruled she might bring hither a colony of Spaniards with whom her husband 
 could affiliate and be at peace. As a matter of fact, the province which the princess gov- 
 erned was the richest in gold dust of all the districts of the island. Indeed, as the sequence 
 shows, an ancient race, long before the incoming of the present islanders, had discovered 
 the riches of this shore, and gathering much of its treasure had left behind their mining pits as 
 the unmistakable evidences of their work to after times. This fact the Indian princess revealed 
 to Diaz, whom she begged to bring his coinitrymen and abide with her forever. 
 
 To verify his wife's assertions Diaz paid a visit imder the direction of guides to the 
 district which she had described. There, to his amazement, he found gold scattered every- 
 where, and that the particles were much larger than any that had been found in tlie mines 
 of Cibao. The Spaniard at a glance perceived that the discovery, if once known at Isabella, 
 would produce the greatest excitement and perhaps lead to a transfer of a large part of the 
 colony. To this tremendous motive there was also added another consideration, and that 
 was the unhealthfulness of the northern coast where the colony was established, while here, 
 on the river Ozema, the breezes were healthful and every prospect pleasant. All this did 
 Diaz consider as an argument which, he was confident, would secure his pardon for the crime 
 with which he was charged at Isabella. 
 
 Before Diaz could put his plans into execution Aguado arrived on the coast of His- 
 paniola, whose presence for the time being repressed the desire which Diaz had to com- 
 municate his fortunate discovery to the colonists. At the time of Aguado' s arrival Colimibus 
 was conducting an expedition into the interior of the island, leaving Bartholomew, his 
 brother, exercising the office of Adelantado in his absence. 
 
 THE ARROGANCE OF AGUADO. 
 
 Aguado, instead of coming as the friend of Columbus, was so exalted by the authority 
 which had been placed in his hands that he assumed the bearing of a dictator, and presenting- 
 his credentials from the King and Oiieen to Bartholomew Columbus, he claimed the 
 authority that had been delegated to the vicero}-. The colonists at once perceived that so 
 far as Columbus was concerned and his government of the island, this assumption of power 
 was the practical overthrow of his rule. No sooner was this discovery made than all the 
 pessimistic diabolism of the colony came to the surface. Order was at an end and all 
 authority set at naught. A state of circumstances immediately supervened on which 
 Aguado might well have based a truthful report of anarchy. Placing himself under the 
 influence of malcontents and criminals, this royal agent went about to organize a consti- 
 tution embodying all the vicious principles of the malevolent band who from the beginning 
 had used their efforts to overthrow Columbus. He began also to gather materials for a 
 tremendous incriminating report, which he expected to make to their Majesties against the 
 man who had recommended him to them for promotion. 
 
 Of all this Columbus for the time knew nothing. But it was spread abroad that he 
 had heard of the coming of Aguado and, knowing himself superseded, had personally 
 absented himself from the colony to avoid arrest. Instead of this being true, however, as 
 soon as the Admiral learned of the high-handed business that had occurred at Isabella, he 
 at once proceeded to that place and presented himself before Aguado. There was much
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 225 
 
 expectation of a square issue, perhaps of violence, between the two 
 men. But the Admiral forestalled such a sensation by askinf;; in a 
 mild and complacent manner to hear the reading of Aguado's com- 
 mission, and when this request was granted he declared his perfect 
 deference and respect to the will and purpose of their Majesties. 
 While this conduct in a measure disarmed the malice of Aguado, 
 the Spaniards looked upon Cohnnbus as a fallen man, for they had 
 no doubts that the reports which had been carried to Ferdinand 
 and Isabella by Margarite and Ru\ 1 had sufficed to work his niiu. 
 
 A DREADFUL HURRICANE. 
 
 The effect upon the natives was even more disastrous. The 
 
 caciques and head men began at once to take council how they 
 
 might throw off the Spanish yoke and regain their independence. 
 
 All these discontents, threatenings, mutterings and rising troubles 
 
 were so much pabulum to Aguado, who soon gathered all the 
 
 desired materials and information and reckoned himself ready to 
 
 return to Spain. He accordingly prepared his ships and was aboi;' 
 
 to sail when, without warning, the sky grew black on the side of 
 
 the east, the sea and the heavens began to commingle and roar, 
 
 while the lightnings blazed and a terrific hurricane such as not 
 
 even tradition had ever before recorded burst along the coast. The 
 
 havoc was astounding. The ocean rolled in landward, deluging 
 
 the lowlands for miles from the shore. The forests were torn and 
 
 tvs-isted out of the semblance of nature by the irresistible winds ; 
 
 dwellings were blown away like bunches of straw ; and worst 
 
 of all the ships in the harbor, with the solitary exception of the 
 
 little Nina of blessed memory, were dashed to pieces. After .some 
 
 hours of this terrible work the tempest went on its way to Cuba, 
 
 and -\guado and his proposed report were indefinitely stranded. 
 
 It now remained for the Admiral to reorganize the resources 
 
 of the colony, and even to provide for the home \oyage of hi 
 
 adversan.'. To this end he ordered that the Nina should be repaired, 
 
 and that the timbers of the wrecked vessels should be collected 
 
 for the construction of another ship, which he named the San/ti 
 
 Ot/^ (Holy Cross). At length, the work having been completed, thk hukki^xn... 
 
 preparations were made to sail. 
 But it was the purpose of Co- 
 lumbus to take one of the ships 
 for himself, leaving the other to 
 Aguado, the Admiral having 
 made up his mind that the royal 
 emissar\- should not return to 
 vSpain alone. He also would go 
 thither and confront .Aguado in 
 the ver)- court and before their 
 Bi'ii.DiNr. OF THK SANTA cRiz. Majcstics. lu tlic meantime, 
 
 however, destiny had prepared for him an argument of more solid structure than any 
 IS
 
 226 COLUMBUS AND COLUIMBIA. 
 
 which his sanguine nature had been able to devise. Now it was that young Miguel 
 Diaz, having heard of the disaster and discontent at the colony, had arrived at Isabella 
 from the new gold fields of the river Ozema, thinking that the time was most pro- 
 pitious for the plans which he had conceived. As fortune would have it, the soldier whom 
 be had wounded as he supposed to death had recovered, so that to his surprise Diaz could 
 return to the colony without being under the reproach of a serious crime. He at once 
 communicated to the Admiral and his brother Bartholomew the tidings about the new 
 discovery of gold. This intelligence was accompanied by the presentation of many fine 
 specimens of the precious metal, so that nothing was left for skepticism. So often had he 
 been deceived, however, that Columbus deemed it expedient to despatch Bartholomew and 
 a company of experts to make a thorough examination of the new mines, to the end that 
 his infonnation might be definite and e.xact. 
 
 OPENING OF GOLD MINES FOR CENTURIES ABANDONED. 
 
 The explorers crossed the island without accident and arrived at their destination on 
 the southern coast about two hundred and fort}- miles distant from Isabella, where they 
 found ever^'thing as Diaz had represented. Not onh' were evidences of gold to be found 
 in great abundance, but particles were picked up without difficult}' and in a fair measure 
 of abundance. This distribution of gold was found to be uniform over a district or terri- 
 tory about six miles square, where Bartholomew discovered many old mining pits in which 
 the workmen of a vanished race had toiled and gathered the precious metal ages before the 
 coming of Columbus. The company of explorers were able to gather and take away such 
 considerable quantities of gold as to furnish the Admiral with a visible proof of the value 
 and promise of the new discover)-. With these valuable specimens, which were to prove 
 a blessing to Columbus in the hour when he should meet the Spanish sovereigns to give 
 account of his stewardship, he prepared his ships, also taking on board a cargo of trophies, 
 including Caonabo, his brother and nephew, and Carib Indians to the number of thirty. 
 There had been so much sickness and melancholy in the colony that when the ships were 
 ready to sail a majorit)' entreated Columbus for pennission to return home, and not being 
 willing to oppose these requests in the presence of Aguado, who might constnie the act as 
 cruel, Columbus granted the privilege to nearly all those who asked. For this reason the 
 ships were crowded with passengers whose disappointment and grief might well have dark- 
 ened any voyage. 
 
 On the loth of March, 1496, the two vessels departed from Isabella and set out to 
 sea, bearing towards the south. Had the Admiral veered toward the north he might have 
 escaped the adverse trade winds and found free sailing towards the European coast. Taking 
 the other route, however, the eastern winds struck his vessels and constanth' pressed him back 
 among the Caribbean islands, so that, all of March and the first week of April, the vessels 
 made scarcely any progress whatever. In fact, on the 9th of April the Admiral found 
 himself on the coast of Maria Galante, which he had named in the early part of his 
 second voyage. On the next day he was at Guadaloupe, where the ships were anchored 
 and exploring parties sent on shore. Their reception by the islanders was as hostile as 
 it had been two years previously, and descending to attack, the Spaniards opened fire upon 
 the savages, who fled into the interior and took refuge in their village which stood nearly a 
 league from the shore. 
 
 MORE EVIDENCES OF CANNIBALISM. 
 
 The Spaniards, making an incursion some miles from the beach, discovered honey in 
 considerable quantities, and at one of the villages they found implements apparently of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 227 
 
 iron (probably iron-wood), and the limbs of hninan beings roasting on spits before the fire, 
 where they had been abandoned by the Indians at the approach of the white visitors. 
 
 Several wild exploits characterized this visit of the Spaniards, who not being able to 
 come in contact with the Indian men, succeeded in apprehending a band of native women and 
 boys. Among the former was one who had the appearance of a savage princess. At all 
 events she was an aboriginal Bellona, whom the whites had great difficulty in capturing. 
 Outstripping all her pursuers except one fleet-footed Spaniard, she suddenly turned round, 
 and seizing him with the clutch of a tiger was about to strangle him to death, and would 
 no doubt have succeeded but for the timely arrival of his companions, who relieved him from 
 his dangerous situation. This company of women and boys was taken on board the Admiral's 
 ships, but he immediately set . ^ ^ v,-^;' 
 
 tliem all at liberty in obedi- 
 ence to the orders which 
 he had received from the 
 Queen. The Amazonian prin- 
 cess, however, became ac- 
 qainted with the captives on 
 the vessel, in particular with 
 king Caonabo, with whom 
 she fell wildly in love and re- 
 fused to return on shore, thus 
 casting in her lot with the 
 other captives. On the 20th of 
 April the squadron finally 
 cleared the islands and stood 
 off" for Europe, but a more 
 tedious vojage or one ulti- 
 mately attended with greater 
 hardships lias rarely been known. 
 
 STARVATION AND A MUTINOUS SPIRIT. 
 
 Progress was particularly slow and the 
 vo>-age was so long protracted that both crews 
 and passengers were reduced to a short allow- 
 ance through the failure of provisions. Week 
 after week passed and when the first of June 
 came the condition of the crews and pa.sseno-ers 
 was horrible in the extreme. A rage of hunger 
 began to prevail over reason, until at last came 
 the suggestion of that ver>- cannibalism which 
 the Caribbean i.slanders. Some of the .sailors 
 
 prisoners, and then the propo.sal was openly made that they be killed and eaten. This 
 proposition, however, Columbus strongly resented, and wlicn the enraged men were 
 disposed to execute their threats in defiance of his orders he put himself between 
 them and the cowering Caribs, exhibiting at once such dignity and resolution that the 
 sailors shrank from his glowering gaze. Next the men proposed that the Indians .should be 
 thrown overboard, that the consumption of f.xxl might he thus diminished. But this propo- 
 sition was likewise refused by the Admiral, and the nmtinous spirit of the men rapidly 
 
 ;^^^ 
 
 A NATn'E WOMAN STRANGLING HER PURSUER. 
 
 the Spaniards had observed among 
 began to look a.skance at the Indian
 
 228 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 increased. In an honr when hunger and rage were upon the point of manifesting them- 
 selves in violent action the Admiral perceived from his chart that the vessels were near 
 Cape St. Vincent. He tried with this assurance to soothe the rage of the crew but they 
 only mocked at his hopefulness and faith. With the coming of the evening he ordered the 
 taking in of sails lest the vessels might in the darkness be nm upon the rocks of the 
 expected shore, which orders the men obeyed with sullen looks. But in the morning 
 there, sure enough, rose St. Vincent from the sea, and the usual reaction from despair to 
 confidence was exhibited by the men gathering around Columbus and apologizing for 
 their insubordination. 
 
 It was the nth of June when the harbor of Cadiz was reached and the storm-shat- 
 tered ships brought to safe anchorage. Such was the pitiable condition to which both 
 passengers and crew had now been reduced that the going ashore was a spectacle most 
 melancholy and disheartening. Nor may we conclude this narrative of the second vo}-age 
 without noting the end of Caonabo. That haiighty chieftain had maintained his indignant 
 but silent anger against the Spaniards until his barbaric pride at last yielded to death, 
 which occurred just before the completion of the voyage. By his side in his last hours 
 were assembled his brother, his nephew, and the Amazonian princess of Guadaloupe, and 
 the other captives. Thus he expired — perhaps the bravest and most capable chieftain of the 
 West Indies. Certainly his character was of a kind to impress itself strongly upon the 
 minds and memories of the Spaniards, who could but hold him in respect for his courage 
 and manly bearing. His body was committed to the sea ; there in that deep, oozy bed 
 which has swallowed up in everlasting silence so many of the secrets and tragedies of 
 human life, tlie Carib King of Cibao sleeps until the final day, whi^^ — 
 
 " Descends on the Atlantic 
 The gigantic 
 Storm-wind of the Equinox."
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RETURN OF COLUMBUS FROM HIS SECOND EXPEDITION. 
 
 AMH is as fickle as fortune and rarely more enduring. 
 Like the flower that blooms in beauty for a 
 season and is cut down by chilling frosts, so does fame 
 perish under the withering breath of calumny and 
 eu\ious ri\-alr)-. Rewards for great deeds are rarely 
 bestowed upon the living, so slow is man's appreciation, 
 the disposition of mankind being to withhold acknowl- 
 edgment of dues, to confer apotheosis after death, when 
 jealousy has nothing more to feed upon. How singu- 
 larly trite do these observations appear when we apply 
 them to the life of Columbus ! In the beginning, so 
 obscure as to invite the ridicule ' of dignitaries when 
 appealing to the great for recognition of his beneficent 
 scheme ; in his success raised to such eminence as won 
 the homage of the world when even royalty would pay 
 to him a degree of reverence. But while winning 
 renown the sleuth-hound of \-indictive en\y was pursuing 
 with relentless muzzle of hate to tear with teeth of spite and malice his reputation and 
 bring him into national disrepute. 
 
 So well had the power of malevolence been exercised by his enemies that when Colum- 
 bus landed from his second voyage there were none to give him becoming welcome ; none 
 to offer congratulations ; no royal messenger to greet his return. Stung by the deceits of 
 those who should have been his votaries, and overwhelmed by the success of his traducers, 
 Columbus for a while seriously contemplated retirement from the vanities of the world 
 within the convent walls of La Rabida, whither his best friend, Father Perez, had returned 
 to end his days. To this purpose he adopted the garb of a Franciscan monk and wrapped 
 about him the cord of consecration, intending henceforth to devote himself to pious con- 
 templation, trusting in God to reward the ser\'ices which those who were most advantaged 
 by them neglected to recognize. 
 
 Informing the Spanish sovereigns of his arrival, it was not until one month afterwards 
 that a reply came to his notification in the fonn of a message written from Almozan, 
 which was manifest proof that the director of marine had awaited the report of Aguado, as 
 well as statements of others who had proved themselves hostile to his acts and purposes, 
 before giving him any recognition. But strange as it may appear, the royal message, tardy 
 as it was, felicitated him upon his successful voyage and invited him to repair at once to 
 Burgos, where the Court had a temporary residence. So encouraging and congratulatory 
 was the letter that Columbus, roused from his despondency, cast aside his Franciscan 
 habit and proceeded at once to Burgos, carrying with him the rich trophies of his second 
 expedition, among which were many masks and nuggets of gold to please the avaricious 
 
 (229)
 
 230 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 eyes of Ferdinand. Several of the Indian captives also accompanied him, including the 
 brother of Caonabo, who wore around his neck a chain of gold weighing six hundred 
 castellanos, equal to the value of $3, 200. 
 
 Greatly to his delight Columbus was received by Isabella with many marks of admira- 
 tion as if to show him that her faith in his integrity and noble intentions had not been 
 
 COLUMBl-S PRESENTING THE BROTHER OF CAONABO TO THE SO\'EREIGNS. 
 
 affected by the base charges of his enemies; and with a feeling of thankfulness and pride he 
 narrated to their Highnesses his new discoveries among the Antilles, and presented the 
 valuable as well as many curious specimens which he had brought from the New World. 
 Ferdinand was sensibly touched by the nuggets of gold that were shown in proof of Colum- 
 bus' statements concerning the wealth of Hispaniola, but Isabella's interest was excited
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 231 
 
 most by the many curious objects exposed, includiutj images, weapons, birds, animals and 
 plants, of which Columbus brought a large collection. So pleased were the Spanish 
 sovereigns with the interview that in dismissing Columbus they took occasion to publicly 
 honor him to the great contusion of his enemies. 
 
 A week later the Queen consulted Columbus, by letter written from Laredo, as to the 
 best route to be taken by the fleet of one hundred and thirty vessels commissioned to convey- 
 to Flanders the Infanta Dona Juana, affianced to Archduke Philip of Austria, which fur- 
 nished additional evidence of her confidence in him as a faithful servitor. But while 
 Columbus was grateful for these royal kindnesses, he chafed under disappointments which 
 threatened the colonists in Hispaniola. On arriving at Cadiz he found three caravels, under 
 command of his old pilot, Pedro Alonzo Nino, ready to sail with supplies for the colonists, 
 and was barely able to receive despatches intended for him and to transmit a few additional 
 instructions to his brother, Don Bartholomew, before the flotilla departed. These supplies 
 were sufficient to meet present emergencies, but the necessity for Columbus' quick return to 
 Hispaniola was still very great, because he had left the island in a disturbed state, as already 
 explained, and in case the islanders rose in rebellion or withheld supplies the colonists 
 would be in a dangerous situation. He had therefore expected to meet his accusers at the 
 Spanish Court, clear his good name, recniit a large additional force, and with a fleet well 
 laden with stores accomplish his return to Hispaniola in less than three months. Instead 
 of realizing his expectations he found no opportunity to present his requests to the Queeii» 
 whose urgent engagements gave her no time to consider his needs. He was therefore com- 
 pelled to wait in silence, to restrain his impatience, and trust to time for a favorable presen- 
 tation cf his necessities. Month after month thus slipped by until autumn arrived, and 
 nothing was as yet done towards securing a fleet of vessels. When at length application 
 was made, Ferdinand met the request with the statement that the condition of the public 
 treasury would not permit of the equipment of another squadron ; besides, neither vessels 
 nor men were procurable for the purpose. 
 
 In his dilemma Columbus finally found opportunity to appeal to Isabella, wlio 
 promptly responded with an advance of si.x million maravedis from the treasury- of Castile ; 
 but about this time, October 20th, Pedro Alonzo Nino returned from Hispaniola, and pro- 
 ceeding to his home, sent a letter to the Court announcing that he had a large amount of 
 gold on board his ships. Upon receipt of this news Ferdinand diverted the six millioa 
 maravedis contributed by the Queen to perfecting the fortifications of Roussillon, threat- 
 ened by the French, and ordered that a like sum be supplied to Columbus from the gold 
 brought by Nino's caravels. Thus affairs rested initil the latter part of December, when it 
 was ascertained that the large amount of gold which Nino claimed to have brought from 
 Hispaniola was in the form of three hundred Indian captives, which he explained might be 
 converted into the treasure of which he exultingly spoke. 
 
 This harmful metaphor, or rather absurd hyperbole, threw Ferdinand into a fit of rage, 
 while the Queen was both angered and chagrined, and Columbus was grieved beyond ex- 
 pression. Isabella, mild in manner and always generous, was nevertheless prompted to 
 punish the presumption of Nino, or whoever was responsible for the violation of her orders, 
 and she was only persuaded from such a course by the defence that was set up, wherein 
 allegation was made that the Indian captives were charged with the murder of many Span- 
 iards, who had been brought to Spain for sentence, enslavement being the most fitting 
 punishment. 
 
 After his awakening from a golden dream, the enemies of Columbus as.sailed him anew
 
 232 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ■with increased disparagement and virulence, but Isabella continued steadfast in her friend- 
 ■ship through all the evil report that mendacity could devise. But she was not able to give 
 •him substantial encouragement until April 23d, 1497, when she issued an ordinance for the 
 purchase of supplies for the expedition and granted permission to the Admiral to enlist 
 under pay of the crown three hundred and thirty persons, representing the various trades, 
 who should become colonists of the Indies ; at the same time reaffirming all the privileges 
 granted to him by the compact signed at Santa Fe five years before. But it now became 
 necessary to make some modifications in that agreement, because Columbus had been unable 
 to carry out his part of the covenant. He joyfully accepted the conditions, which were in- 
 deed of his own proposing, that for an eighth of the revenue accruing from his explorations 
 he was to provide a like part of the expense, but to his mortification his expeditions while 
 of great geographical importance and prospective commercial value to the Spanish Crown, 
 had not been attended by those profits which his over-sanguine mind had pictured, and 
 hence he was too poor to comply with his agreements. Thus was he therefore still depend- 
 
 ent upon the 
 Queen's bounty, 
 even as much as 
 when a petitioner 
 for royal patron- 
 age under which 
 to equip his first 
 expedition. 
 
 Queen Isabella 
 was as magnani- 
 mous as she was 
 pious, and being 
 appreciative of the 
 honor which his 
 glorious deeds had 
 conferred upon 
 
 her crown she remitted that part of the agreement which imposed pecuniary- obligations 
 xipon Columbus, and yet confirmed to him not only the rights stipulated in the original 
 ■compact but also made a generous tender to him of a dukedom in Hispaniola, compris- 
 ing a tract one hundred and fifty miles long by half as many wide. This kindly proffer, 
 however, he declined, foreseeing that its acceptance would only serve to expose him to 
 more malignant attacks of his enemies, who would make the most of such a gift as an 
 evidence of his sordid ambition. But the Queen, anxious to show her regard for his unselfish 
 service, granted to him the _ right of perpetual entail of his estates and titles, and at the 
 same time rescinded the prerogatives given in 1495 to other explorers to make discoveries 
 in the New World. 
 
 In the exercise of the privilege the Queen had in her magnanimity conferred, Colum- 
 bus executed his will at Seville in April, 1498, by which he made a devisement to his 
 male descendants and in default of these to his female lineage, of all his property, titles, 
 royalties and benefits accruing under the terms of his agreements with the Spanish crown. 
 By this testament he provided generously for his brother Bartholomew, then serving as 
 Adelantado or governor in his absence at Hayti, and likewise settled bountiful portions 
 upon his sons Diego and Fernando though the bequests were of properties prospective 
 
 .?>^' 
 
 COLUMBUS EXECUTING HIS WILL AT SEVILLE.
 
 COLUMBUS AND CULUMHIA. 233 
 
 rather thau real. His relatives at Genoa were also reinenibered liberalh", after which he 
 set aside oue-teuth of all the revenues that remained for charitable purposes. Nor did 
 he forget to provide for the execution of his controlling ambition, which was the recovery 
 of the Holy Sepulchre, to which end his will contained a request that Diego, or whoever 
 inherited his estate, should in\est whatever mone\s he could spare in the stock of the bank 
 of St. George at Genoa, there to remain as a permanent and growing fund until it could be 
 used in reasonable effort to accomplish the conquest of Jerusalem. If the king did not 
 undertake the recovery, then at an auspicious time Diego himself was charged to set on 
 foot a crnsade at his own risk and invite other sovereigns to join him in wresting the holy 
 shrine from the profanation of infidels. 
 
 The hopes renewed by these evidences of the Queen's regard lifted Columbus again 
 into latitudes of golden expectation, a felicitous feeling which was further accentuated 
 by official permission to equip another expedition at government expense, consisting of 
 three hundred and thirty- persons in the royal pay, and a fleet of six vessels ; of those to 
 be enlisted for the expedition, one hundred men went as foot-soldiers, and there were 
 forty servants, thirty sailors, thirty cabin boys, fifty agriculturists, twenty miners, twenty 
 mechanics, ten gardeners, and thirty females. As an incentive to enlistment Columbus was 
 authorized to grant lands to those desiring to engage in agriculture, and to issue patents 
 after an occupation of four years. 
 
 But while the interests of the colonists were thus promoted by generous concessions, the 
 Queen showed her care for the natives by charging Columbus to treat them with the 
 greatest leniency, and to see that their religious instruction was attended to ; in short, to 
 conciliate them by acts of kindness and in no case to exercise harshness except as a last 
 resort in restraint of rebellious or murderous propensities. 
 
 The preliminaries having been arranged, Columbus published a call for volunteers 
 under the royal manifesto, but it only served to bring him into unexpected difficulties 
 which threatened to abort all his plans. The activity of enemies operating to bring 
 him into odium and to depict the world of his discover^' as a land of miser\, po\erty, 
 hardships and death, chilled the ardor of enthusiasts and adventurers so effectually that 
 none could be induced to proffer their services. The sorr>' showing which Columbus had 
 been able to make on his return from two expeditions likewise inspired shipowners with 
 caution, and these now hesitated to charter their vessels for such an enterprise. His plans 
 being thus brought to an abrupt termination through the influences of envy and cowardice, 
 Columbus was compelled to apply to the Queen for pennission to impress men and ships for 
 his service. This request was not fully complied with, but the second propcsal that a comjwny 
 be recruited from condemned criminals was accepted. Under this arrangement culi)rits 
 convicted of crimes other than heresy, treason, counterfeiting and murder were pennitted 
 to enlist, and their terms of imprisonment were commuted to service under Columbus in 
 the New World for periods proportionate to the atrocity of their crimes. 
 
 But even after the required ships and recruits were obtained, vexatious delays con- 
 tinued to harass Columbus and threaten the departure of the expedition. A change was 
 made about this time in the superintendence of Indian affairs which necessitated a with- 
 drawal of commissions issued jointly to Columbus and .Antonio de Torres ; while F'on- 
 seca, one of Columbus' most bitter enemies, was reinstated as de Torres' successor. The 
 commissions and contracts had therefore to be issued anew, which it took some time to 
 do. As if in confirmation of the old adage that troubles never come singlx , in llie midst 
 of these annoyances the good Queen was overwheluK-d witli intelligence of the death of
 
 (234) 
 
 COLUMBUS KNOCKING DOWN THE INSOLENT JEW.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 235 
 
 her only son and heir apparent to Leon and Castile, Prince Jnan, whom Fernando and 
 Uieg^o had ser\ed as pages. To add to the woe that had crushed lier great heart, her 
 daughter, Juana, just married to the Archduke Philip of Austria, was seized by a mental 
 malady that clouded her mind forever. 
 
 Poor Isabella I Even a queen filled with such tender graces as thine may not escape the 
 blinding calamities that break the hearts of mothers whose throne is set up in the affec- 
 tions of their children. But bravely, as became a woman consecrated to the holiest 
 ser\-ice of God and man, she bore up under her afflictions, and though her eyes were filled 
 with scalding tears her ears opened to the appeals of Columbus. She never forgot that across 
 the great sea was a feeble colony possibly suffering, aye, dying, for want of supplies which 
 she only could furnish. So, from the money which she intended as an endowment for her 
 daughter Isabella, who was soon to marry Emanuel, King of Portugal, she took enough to 
 load two ships with supplies, and these were despatched early in 1498 under the com- 
 mand of Pedro Fernandez Coronel. Then as an evidence of her special regard for Co- 
 lumbus she made Fernando and Diego pages in her own court. 
 
 Fonseca spared no pains in his malignant effort to harass Columbus, which his new 
 position enabled him to do so effectually that on several occasions the great mariner was 
 so disheartened as to secretly resolve to abandon his enterprise. And these resolutions 
 would no doubt have detenniued his actions had they not been overborne by the kind 
 encouragement of the Queen, for whom, especially under her afflictions, he entertained the 
 tenderest attachment bom of profound sxinpathy. But ever\- harassment has an end, as 
 life itself, and Columbus, after great length of time found himself making progress. The 
 six vessels were finally fitted for sea, crews and companies obtained, to which a surgeon, 
 apothecan-, physician, several priests and a baud of musicians were added.. 
 
 The annoyances from which he had now suffered for two years %vere to continue even to 
 the hour of his departure, and their effects were felt the remainder of his life. Among the 
 pestiferous hirelings of Fonseca was a Christianized Jew named Ximeno Breviesca, who held 
 the position of accountant to his equally iwworthy master. This most turbulent and inso- 
 lent fellow seized the occasion to as.sail Columbus with all manner of vituperation, even at 
 the time of weighing the anchors, evidently obeying Fonseca's wishes to humiliate him be- 
 fore the people whom he had been appointed to command. Incensed beyond the power of 
 further control, Columbus struck down the wretch and administered to his contemptible 
 body the kicks which he deserved. It was only the spirit of manhood asserting itself 
 against the wolfish instinct of contumelious jealousy that had bitten his heels and showed 
 its ravening teeth wherever he had gone ; but enemies turned this exhibition of outraged 
 nature against him by pointing to the act as a proof of his overbearing cruelty with which 
 he had long been charged by his traducers.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 r 
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE THIRD EXPEDITION. 
 
 HE equipment of the expedition having at last been completed, 
 Columbus ordered the anchors lifted and his fleet of six cara- 
 vels departed on May 13th, 1498, from the harbor of San 
 Liicar de Barrameda. Gaily the vessels trimmed their sails 
 and swept out of the mouth of the Guadalquivir, past the 
 old Moorish castle that stood commanding the entrance to 
 the harbor, a mute reminder of the commercial importance 
 of the port before the invaders had been driven out of Spain 
 through the persistent valor of Spanish anns. 
 
 This third voyage of discover}' was undertaken in pur- 
 suance of two distinct purposes, namely : Believing that 
 Cuba was part of the main continent with a severe trend to- 
 wards the west, along which he had sailed a considerable 
 distance, Columbus concluded that another continent lay somewhere towards 
 the south, an opinion first advanced by King John II., of Portugal. This 
 conjectured continent he now detennined to seek ; but he was actuated to 
 this search not merely by the honors such a discovery might bestow, for his 
 ambition now took a more decidedly commercial turn, but also with the hope of being able 
 to satisfy the covetous desires of Ferdinand and Isabella, who had become importunate for 
 some compensation for the large expenditures which the two previous voyages had entailed. 
 Columbus was also greatly inflirenced by the opinion advanced by a philosophic lapidary, 
 who maintained that all productions of nature were sublimated by the rays of a torrid sim, 
 and that not only was vegetation forced into the greatest exuberance by the tropic heat, but 
 that precious metals and stones were likewise produced in the largest profusion under the 
 rays of a vertical sun. Towards the equinoctial line he accordingly bent his way in the 
 belief that, discovering a southern continent he would find there in great abundance those 
 precious articles which would enrich his sovereigns, and that while thus obtaining their 
 favor he would also bring confusion to his enemies. 
 
 The voyage was directed southward to Porto Santo and ^Madeira, now known as the 
 Canar\' Islands, upon reaching which Columbus came unexpectedly upon a French war- 
 ship that had just captured two Spanish prizes. He abandoned his purpose for the time 
 being, and pursued the French vessel, the commander of which, having discovered the 
 great odds against him, had sought safety in flight. Two days were thus lost. But Colum- 
 bus had the satisfaction of recovering one of the Spanish vessels and seriously crippling 
 the French cniiser. Turning south again, he proceeded to the island of Faroe, where he 
 brought his vessels to for some needed repairs. He then decided to divide his fleet by 
 sending three of the vessels, with all the stores that he could spare, directly to the colonists 
 at San Domingo, while he retained the other three to pursue the purpose for which the 
 expedition was organized. 
 
 (236)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 237 
 
 HORPIBLE SUFFERING IN THE CALM LATITUDES. 
 
 The next detention occurrcJ upon icaching tlic Cape Wnl Islands, where he arrived 
 on the 27th of June, and having taken in some additional supplies and a quantity of water, 
 he set sail in a southwesterly direction until he fell into the calms, where his crew suffered 
 all the agonies of extreme lieat, and his provisions were so seriously injured as to render a 
 great part of them unftt for human food. As they gradually advanced further into this 
 fiery heat the fears of the sailors were increased, as they well might be, by tlie alarming 
 effects which they now observed. The pitch with which the ships were smeared was 
 melted and the seams opened, admitting the water, so that it was only by the n:ost extraor- 
 
 COLfMnrS RKCAPTrRTVG THK FRKNCH PRIZE, 
 
 dinary exertions that they were kept afloat. So also the wooden vessels in which their 
 store of fresh water was kept shrank until the hoops dropped off and the contents were 
 wasted. Occasional showers fell, but these seemed rather to intensify than alleviate the 
 dreadful heat, for the humidity of the atmosphere \Vas thereby increased and rendered all 
 the more oppressive. 
 
 This alanning situation continued for eight days and was so debilitating that the 
 superstitious crew concluded that they were upon tlie confines of that world to which lost
 
 238 COLUMBUS AND COLUxMBIA. 
 
 souls are condemned, and Columbus was forced to exert all his persuasive influence to 
 prevent them from leaping into the sea and thus concluding their insupportable misery. 
 But as the crews of former expeditions had been relieved by changes which they had 
 despaired of realizing, so at length they passed out of this intolerable condition and beyond 
 the meridian of heat, emerging at last into a cooler atiuosphere where a fresh breeze stimu- 
 lated their hopes anew, and they proceeded with great encouragement out of their despond- 
 ence. But the spoiling of the provisions rendered it necessary that Columbus should reach 
 land as soon as possible, and accordingly he changed his course directly westward, in the 
 hope of gaining some of the Caribbee Islands, where he might anchor and repair his vessels. 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Their progress, however, was slow, and food so scarce that serious alanu was renewed. 
 But good fortune was to attend them in the hour of greatest despair, for on the last day 
 of July a mariner of Huelva, named Alonzo Perez Nizzardo, acting as watch on board the 
 Admiral's ship, gave the signal of land ahead. Ever}- eye was quickl}- strained westward, 
 and to their inexpressible delight they saw the triple peaks of a mountain range rising from 
 the ocean. By one of those coincidences which Columbus was always quick to discover and 
 upon which his mind, still deeply immersed in the bonds of superstition, rested with so 
 much confidence, these three mountain heights were imagined b}' him to answer to a vow 
 which he had made that he would name the first new land discovered The Trinity. Accord- 
 ingly he gave the name La Trinidad to the new island — for such it proved to be — and that 
 name it has borne to the present day. A short sail to the westward brought him along a 
 shore on which all the luxuriance of the tropical islands was exhibited, but no natives were 
 visible. Further inland, however, villages were seen, but the people had taken flight and 
 concealed themselves in the forest coverts. 
 
 A voyage of several leagiies was necessary' before a safe landing-place was found, but a 
 favorable anchorage was at length reached in a sheltered cove, on the banks of which was 
 a luxurious vegetation, and running down the hillside was a brook of cr\-stal water. Here 
 the crews went on shore and collected native foods and laid in a supply- of fresh water. 
 But though many marks of human habitation were visible on ever}' hand, the inhabitants 
 continued to keep themselves so well liidden that not one was anywhere to be seen. 
 
 A sufficient quantity of supplies having been obtained, the voyage was renewed, and 
 presenth- scanning the southern horizon Columbus disco\-ered the outline of a long, low 
 country rising but a few feet above the sea but extending a distance which he estimated at 
 twenty leagues. He did not doubt but that it was another of the islands so plentifully 
 distributed in the western waters. It proved, in fact, a tongue of land stretching out from 
 the South American continent, which for six A'ears he had been half-consciously approach- 
 ing. Reaching the southwestern extremity of Trinidad, another stretch of land 
 was seen, the point of which was marked by a lofty eminence resembling a tremendous 
 rock, separated from the main land b}- a dangerous channel through which the water was 
 rushing with an ominous sound. Here the vessels were greeted b\- a boat-load of natives 
 ■who paddled out in their canoes from the shore and hailed the ships, but in a tongue which 
 the interpreters could not understand. Every inducement was offered the natives to 
 approach, but they were extremely wary, holding their paddles ready for instant flight in 
 case any movement was made to arrest them. The men were armed with bows and arrows 
 and some of them also had bucklers. Around their heads they wore rolls of cotton cloth 
 fashioned somewhat like a turban, while their persons from the loins to the thighs were 
 covered with colored clothing, in which respect they bore some resemblance to the fiercer 
 nati^'es that Columbus had met on the island of Cuba.
 
 COLl'MHrS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 239 
 
 A SPAT WITH THE NATIVES. 
 In equipping the expedition Columbus liad lakeu a band of musicians, appreciating 
 how great was the influence of music upon the Indians with whom he had come in con- 
 tact. Being unable to induce the new people to approach his vessel he now ordered his 
 musicians on deck, and to the lively music which thc>- produced the Spaniards executed a 
 dance, but the significance of this action was radicall}- mistaken by the Indians who instead■^ 
 
 of responding with some form of native music and jubilation, let fly a .shower of arrows at 
 the performers, which belligerent action Columbus met by ordering a discharge from his 
 cross- bown:en, tvhercupf)n tlie barbarians fled with great precipitation. T!ie\- were after- 
 wards induced to approach one of the smaller ships, the captain of which made them some
 
 240 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 presents of hawk-bells and looking-glasses. Bnt their confidence they strangely withheld^ 
 and when a boat was lowered to follow then: to shore they took alarm and gaining the 
 beach ran into the woods and were seen no more. 
 
 While lying at this point of land, which he called Cape Arenal, Cohnnbns watched 
 with great interest the ocean river which was seen to msh between the island and the 
 opposite promontory. Acquainted thongh he was with ocean cnrrents he had never 
 beheld before such a turbulent and tossing rapid as was presented in this down-flowing 
 channel. The seething salt sea river looked to him like a vast serpent rising and twisting 
 between the two shores, on which account he called the pass into this roaring channel 
 Boca del Sierpe, meaning the Mouth of the Serpent. Notwithstanding the dangers which 
 seemed to threaten a passage of this turbulent strait Columbus was resolved upon gaining 
 the mainland, but as a precautionary measure he sent forward one of the boats to make 
 soundings and was greatly pleased to find that instead of a reef the depth was fully ten 
 fathoms, which fact ser\'ed to proVe that the disturbance of the water was due to the meet- 
 ing of incoming tides and a counter current. Before entering upon the passage a striking: 
 and frightful portent occurred, which the Admiral thus describes : — "Late at night," says- 
 he, ' ' being on board my ship, I heard a terrible roaring and as I tried to pierce the dark- 
 ness I beheld the sea to the south heaped up in a great hill, the height of the ship, 
 rolling slowly towards us. The ships were lifted up and whirled along so that I felt that 
 we should be engulfed in a commotion of waters ; but fortunately the mountainous surge- 
 passed on towards the mouth of the strait and after a contest with the counter current grad- 
 ually subsided." Such tidal waves as Columbus thus described are of frequent occurrence 
 on the coast of South America, to which they seem to be peculiar, though at rare intervals 
 they have been seen along the shores of other tropical countries and e^•en in mid-ocean. 
 
 IN THE MOUTH OF THE DRAGON. 
 
 Fortunately he escaped injur)- by this awe-inspiring occurrence, and setting his sails 
 moved into the broad and open Gulf of Paria, or Gulf of Pearls, bounded on the east by 
 the curving coast of Trinidad and on the north by the long-projecting peninsula of Car- 
 riaco. He had proceeded only a few leagues into the gulf when his attention was called 
 to the appearance of the water through which he was sailing, and on testing it, to his- 
 great surprise he found it fresh, yet everywhere as far as his ej'e could discern was an 
 open sea. He was struck by the anomaly of a fresh water sea which was manifestly a. 
 part of the Atlantic, and he was therefore deeply anxious to pursue his inquir)- to a solu- 
 tion of this singular myster}'. He was not a long while, however, in concluding that he 
 must be near a great continent, from the shores of which rushed down rivers in such 
 great volumes as to overreach the sea and make the surface fresh, as it frequently is- 
 after a heavy rain. He sailed northward across the gulf, discovering that the passage 
 from it led through another tempestuous outlet, even more threatening in appearance 
 than was that of Boca del Sierpe. Rocks lined either shore and the current -was so 
 swift that to this exit he gave the name of Boca del Dragon^ signifying the Mouth of 
 the Dragon. He did not choose to enter this passage at once, but continued westward 
 on the side of the peninsula until he came to a district some parts of which appeared to 
 be under cultivation. Before this alluring region a landing was made and Columbus with 
 several of the crew went on shore, this being the first time he had put his foot upon the 
 soil of the great South American continent. Several natives were observed along the coast, 
 but in even,' case they exhibited great timidity and took refuge in the forests whenever- 
 effort was made to approach them.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 241 
 
 '_5^fS3^; 
 
 As Columbus weut further inland he found the countn- in such a state of cultivation 
 as to indicate the great industry' of the inhabitants. At length, by the ofrcr of presents and 
 pacific assurances, some of the Indians were induced to enter a canoe to visit the ships, 
 when some of the Spaniards who were near by succeeded in capsizing the boat and 
 capturing half a dozen of the natives, upon whom they showered every possible favor, and 
 after loading them with presents sent them off to their 
 friends, trusting that the result would be beneficial. And 
 so it proved, for seeing how well the captives had been 
 treated, their friends became more free in their intercourse, 
 and at length a covenant of friendship was established 
 wherebv some of the natives acted as guides and not onlv 
 showed Columbus a considerable district of the country-, but Ml 
 supplied him with information concerning its people and #1 
 products. 
 
 ENTERTAINED BY A NATIVE CHIEF. 
 
 a stay of a few days at their first landing place 
 
 After 
 the vessels resumed their course until the\- came to another 
 beautiful countn,-, in which the landscape, as presented from 
 the ship, was fascinating beyond anything the Spaniards had ever before beheld. The 
 natives were also found to be friendly and ver>' numerous, nor were tliey so timid as the 
 other Indians whom Columbus had seen, for they sought intercourse with the Spaniards and 
 presentlv came with a message from their cacique inviting the strangers to go on shore. 
 Tlie Admiral noted with delight that personal adornments, particularly collars and wristlets 
 of burnished brass, were plentifully worn. But the natives insisted that these precious 
 things were obtained from afar off and were the products of cannibal workmanship. Not 
 so, however, w'ith the pearls, which were now for the first time found in the hands of these 
 Indians, for the natives assured him that they might be obtained in the greatest profusion 
 among the oyster beds on the northern coast of their country', which was the peninsula of 
 Carriaco. Presenth' came the Indian king himself, accompanied by his son, the prince, 
 who having heard of the arrival of the white people upon the borders of his country 
 became anxious to see and welcome them. His conduct was that of a dignified official, 
 appreciative of royal honors, and yet having a generous demeanor which innnediately 
 excited the admiration of Columbus. He extended an urgent in\itation to the Spaniards 
 to visit his capital and enjoy the pleasures of his board, which was accepted by a company 
 of twelve ; but Columbus was at this time suffering so severely from gout that he could not 
 accompany them. The Spaniards returned on the same evening with enthusiastic reports 
 of the richness of the country and the abundance of the feast that had been set before them, 
 besides collections of pearls, many implements of brass, also ornaments of the same, and 
 not a few trinkets of gold. The manner of their reception was more refined, too, than any 
 hitherto witnes.sed among the West Indian people. Nor was their visit mtirely without 
 profit, for they found the Indians glad to exchange their pearls and necklaces for such gew- 
 gaws as the Spanish visitors cliose to offer. They also brought back to tlie Admiral, as 
 presents, from the cacique, many pearls of ven,- great size and fine quality, wiiich Columlxis 
 treasured with sacred pride with the intention of presenting them to her Majesty the Queen. 
 
 ON THE BORDERS OF PARADISE. 
 
 The countr\- was indeed so piclurcMjuc, pnidiiclivc and licalthful, that Coluinl)us was 
 for a while persuaded that he had discovered here the site of the terrestrial paradise, which 
 i6
 
 242 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 legend had described as being in some inaccessible part of the earth, around which the air 
 was freighted with most delicious perfumes and out of which four great rivers that watered 
 the banks of Eden poured down their sweetened tribute to the sea. Indeed, several subse- 
 quent letters written by Columbus confinned the impression which the rare sights that he 
 beheld in this favored region excited in him. He could not but believe, up to the time of 
 his death, that he had been thus pennitted to approach as near to the Eden out of which 
 sprang the mother and father of mankind as IMoses had gained in his march towards the 
 land of promise. 
 
 Having sailed around the Gulf of Paria and finding himself hemmed in on the western 
 circle, he made his way northward through the Mouth of the Dragon, but not until he had 
 first explored it by a boat and detennined the depth of the channel. It was through this 
 passage, as the reader may well discover from its position, that the tremendous and ever- 
 accumulating floods of the Gulf of Paria must find a vent into the open sea. So from south 
 to north through the Boca del Dragon the water poured like the broken rapids of a great 
 river. Indeed it were not far from truth to call the Gulf of Paria the bulb of that wonderful 
 Gulf Stream which sweeps up the eastern coast of North America, spreads broadening across 
 the Atlantic, and washes with its potent volume of tropical waters not only the British 
 Isles but all the adjacent coasts of Europe. Threatening as this outlet appeared to be 
 Columbus was nevertheless resolved to attempt its passage. His provisions were now 
 almost wasted, and there were other reasons prompting him to return to San Domingo as 
 soon as possible. Trusting his vessels, therefore to the current, they were swept out in 
 safety, notwithstanding the fact that the wind was hushed at the most critical moment, 
 preventing the pilot from giving the ships any direction. After gaining the open sea he 
 discovered two other islands, to which he gave the names of Assumpcion and Concepcion, 
 which are known in modern geography as Tobago and Grenada. 
 
 IN THE LAND OF PEARLS. 
 
 Not being willing to abandon the country without informing himself more fully as to 
 its pearl productions, he turned to the west and proceeded as far as the islands of Marguerite 
 and Cubaqua. Here, much to his gratification, he discovered the pearl fisheries and saw a 
 boat-load of natives engaged in rifling the pearl oysters of their treasures. Making a stop 
 here he opened communication \vith the Indians, and perceiving a woman around whose 
 neck was a chain of unusually large and lustrous pearls he induced her to come on board 
 his ship and exchange her possessions for pieces of a colored porcelain plate which he broke 
 up and distributed in barter for a large quantit\- of these precious products of the o\-ster. 
 Three pounds of pearls rewarded him for this short stay among the natives, all of which he 
 treasured for the benefit of Queen Isabella, and he was satisfied that had the 
 time been at his disposal he might have gathered here a rich cargo of pearls. Several cir- 
 cumstances, however, conspired to compel a resumption of the voyage. His ships were 
 again in need of repairs ; there was danger that the remainder of the stock of provisions 
 intended for the colonists would become worthless if the voyage were prolonged ; anxiet>' to 
 learn the condition of affairs in Hispaniola ; and above all, t)ie condition of his health, 
 demanded of Columbus that he should as soon as possible reach the colony and recruit from 
 his exhaustion. His gout, too, was a constant torture, and he had suffered for weeks from 
 an inflanrmation of the eyes that had almost destroyed his sight. In fact, so general!}- help- 
 less had he become through these aflflictions that he was incapacitated from duty, and turned 
 over the charts, compass and sextant to other observers into whose hands he had to entrust 
 the command of the vessels.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMIUA. 
 
 243 
 
 Columbus had intended to sail direct to Ozema, the point where he had ordered a 
 colony planted for the development of the o;old mines of Hayna. But after a five davs' 
 sail he reached the southern shore of San Domingo at a point one hundred and fiftv miles 
 west of his reckoning, which was due to the westward sweep of the Gulf Stream, \\hich he 
 had not noticed and therefore had not estimated its influence. The point of San Domingo 
 where the squadron came to anchor was the Island of Beata, from which point the 
 Admiral sent a messenger on shore with a letter for Don Bartholomew, whom 
 he expected to find on the west coast of the island. It was believed that the courier could 
 reach the mines of Hayna before a squadron could make its way to that part of the island, 
 an opinion w-hich proved to be correct ; for after struggling eastward for some days along 
 the shore a Spanish caravel came in sight bearing Don Bartholomew and others, who on 
 receipt of the message had sailed to meet Columbus. The ship of the Adelantado returned 
 with the Admiral's squadron to Ozema, where they arrived on the 20th of August, 1498, 
 three months to a day from the time he set sail from San Lucar. It was well for Columbus 
 that the protracted voyage was at an end ; for the combined effects of old age (he was now 
 about sixty-five years old), severe maladies and long exhaustion were upon him, and his 
 condition was well calculated to excite the commiseration even of his enemies.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CONDUCT OF THE COLONISTS DURING THE ABSENCE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 ]^^^URING the two and a half years in which Columbus had 
 been absent from Hispaniola many startling incidents had 
 occurred on that island, in which the colonists had 
 acted both whimsical and tragic parts. A company 
 combining so many heterogeneous characters ; the 
 dissimilar qualities of pietist and criminal, the 
 warring instincts of the cavalier and the peon, 
 the adventuring sensualist and the avaricious hire- 
 ling of cowardly men, could hardly give other ex- 
 pectation than explosive and adventitious results 
 in opposition to the animating objects for which as 
 a body they ostensibly contended. Some of these 
 it is necessary should now be briefly noticed in order 
 that the reader may be familiar with the new con- 
 ditions with which Columbus had to contend upon 
 his return. 
 
 From Don Bartholomew the Admiral learned 
 the course of events which had transpired during his extended absence. Trouble, as 
 might have been anticipated, had hovered over the island like a cloud. Bartholomew had 
 confonned in all good will to the wishes and directions of his brother, but the work had been 
 attended with turmoil and distraction at every step. But in pursuance of his instructions, 
 the Adelantado had set out with a considerable force in the spring of 1496 to establish a 
 fortress and colony at the gold mines of Hayna, leaving Don Diego Columbus in charge of 
 the home government during his absence. 
 
 On reaching the gold region Bartholomew selected a suitable location and began the 
 building of a fort, to which he gave the name of San Christobel, which was presently re- 
 named by the Spaniards the Fortress of the Golden Tower. For three months he prose- 
 cuted the work of establishing this new settlement, though attended with many diflSculties, 
 chief of which was the scarcity of supplies, which the Indians no longer furnished with a 
 liberal hand at the mere bidding of the Spaniards. The hard lesson had been forced upon 
 the natives that their visitors were controlled by avarice, cupiditj' and cruelty, and they, 
 therefore, became wary- of dealing and communicating with men whom they had come to 
 dread as evil spirits. The result was that provisions were only obtainable by purchase or 
 through the exertions of foraging parties, and neither of these means could be depended upon 
 to furnish such supplies as were urgently needed. The pressure of want, which at length 
 approached near to a famine, compelled the Adelantado to leave ten men to hold the fortress 
 of San Christobel while he departed with the main body of his colonists (about four hun- 
 dred) to Vega Real, where he reckoned on procuring an abundance of provisions from the 
 well-supplied towns of Guarionex. 
 
 (244)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 245 
 
 COLLECTING THE TRIBUTE. 
 
 Don Bartholomew had another missiuu also in lliis part of the conntr\^ One clause of 
 the orders received from the Admiral urged a prompt collection of the tribute which had 
 been imposed upon the natives. Three months had now elapsed since the last payment was 
 made, and another was due. Cibao and the \'eya Real were the best fields for this hardest, 
 and its exaction called for the presence of the Adelantado. In this service Don Bartholo- 
 mew continued through the whole month of June, during which time he succeeded in 
 gathering a goodly quantity of food through the assistance of Guarionex and his subordinate 
 caciques. 
 
 In the following month (July) the three caravels which had been despatched from Spain 
 under the command of Nino arrived, bringing a reenforcement of men and a large supply 
 of provisions. But a considerable part of the latter had become spoiled during the voyage, 
 a misfortune particularly serious in a community where the least pressure of scarcity pro- 
 duced munnur and sedition. It was by this ship that the Adelantado had received letters 
 from the Admiral, directing him to found a fortress at the mouth of the Ozema River, 
 and further requesting him to send to Spain as slaves such caciques and their subjects as had 
 been concerned in the death of any of the colonists. On the return of the caravels, the 
 Adelantado despatched three hundred Indian prisoners and three caciques under these 
 instructions, which had formed the ill-starred cargoes about which Nino had made such 
 absurd vaunting as though his ships were laden with gold, and which had caused such 
 mortification, disappointment and delay to Columbus. 
 
 Having obtained a considerable supph- of provisions Don Bartholomew returned to the 
 fortress of San Christobel, and then to the Ozema to choose a site for the proposed seaport. 
 The mouth of the river afforded secure and ample harborage, while the river ran through a 
 beautiful and fertile country, where, it was said, fniits and flowers might be plucked from 
 overhanging trees, while sailing on the stream. This vicinity was also the dwelling place 
 of the female cacique who had conceived an affection for the young Spaniard, Miguel Diaz, 
 who had enticed his countr}-men to that part of the island. 
 
 FOUNDING OF SAN DOMINGO. 
 
 At tlie mouth of the river and on a commanding bank Don Bartholomew erected a fortress 
 confonnably to directions sent by Columbus, through Nino, and called San Domingo, and 
 was the origin of the cit\' which still bears that name. Having made his fortress secure, 
 tlie Adelantado left it in charge of twenty men, and with the rest of his force set out on an 
 expedition to the country of Behechio, who was one of the principal caciques of the island. 
 His province, known as Xaragiia, comprised a greater part of the coast on the west end of 
 the island, and was the most populous as well as most fertile district, also possessed of the 
 most healthful climate in all Hispaniola. The manners of the people were hospitable and 
 graceful, and being remote from all the fortresses they had liad no close comnnuiication 
 with the Spaniards, and had consequently remained free from the incursions of the white sub- 
 jugators. With this cacique resided his sister, Anacaona, the widow of Caonabo, who, it will 
 be remembered, .so miserably perished on the ship during the return voyage of Columbus to 
 Spain. She had taken refuge with her brother after the capture of her hnsb.ind, and 
 was most affectionately regarded by him. Her name in the Indian language signified 
 " The Golden Flower," a title which well became her, since she is reputed to have been one 
 of the most beautiful of women and possessed of a genius far in advance of that credited to 
 her race. She was also of a poetic nature and to her is ascribed the composition of many 
 legendary ballads which the natives chanted at their national festivals. And tliough she
 
 246 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 had felt the heavy arm of the cruel and rapacious Spaniards her nature was so mild that 
 she entertained uo hostilit\- towards the white men, rather regarding them with admiration 
 for what she believed was their superhuman power and intelligence. Perceiving the futility 
 of resisting the superiority of the invaders, she counselled Behechio to conciliate and foster 
 the friendship of the Spaniards, and it was this influence which probabh- induced the Ade- 
 lautado to undertake his present expedition. 
 
 A WONDERFUL RECEPTION BY BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. 
 
 Don Bartholomew, however, did not neglect to employ the greatest precaution in his 
 march to the dominion of Xaragua, and he used such imposing measures as had been 
 found useful on former occasions. His cavalry he sent in advance, realizing the terror 
 which a sight of horses inspired among the natives. These were followed by the foot 
 soldiers, who advanced in martial array to the sound of drum and trumpet. After several 
 da)s' march the Adelantado met the cacique Behechio, who had moved out of his capital 
 with a great army armed with bows, arrows and lances, probably intending to offer opposi- 
 tion to an invasion of his domain ; though if so, he lost his resolution before the formid- 
 able appearance of the Spaniards. First ordering his subjects to lay aside their weapons, 
 he advanced and accosted Don Bartholomew in the most amicable manner, and assigned as 
 his excuse for his appearing in such force his purpose to subjugate certain villages along the 
 river. The Adelantado was equally reassuring of his peaceful intentions, and a friendship 
 having been cemented by mutual protestations, the cacique dismissed his army and sent 
 forward messengers to announce the approach of the Spaniards and to make preparations 
 for their suitable reception. In this wise the two armies marched together until they came 
 at length to a large town beautifully situated near the coast, at a bay called the Bight of 
 Leogan. Many accounts had been given the Spaniards of the extraordinar\- salubrit\- and 
 softness of the climate of Xaragua, in one part of which was placed the Elysian fields of 
 Indian tradition. They had also heard from natives who had travelled in all parts of the 
 island of the incomparable beauty and urbanity of the inhabitants, which had inclined 
 them to favorable prepossessions, that they were now to see confirmed in a most lavish 
 hospitality. Knowledge of the approaching army having been heralded, thirty females, 
 wives and daughters of Behechio, sallied forth, singing their weird ballads and wa\-ing palm 
 branches in consonance with the dreamy but rhythmic motions of their dancing. The 
 married and unmarried were distinguishable b}- the garments which they wore, the former 
 being designated by aprons of embroidered cotton which extended from the shoulder to the 
 knee, while the young women had no other covering than a fillet around the forehead and 
 their thick and lustrous hair which fell in waves from their shoulders, and in many cases 
 extended below the waist. Their forms might well be called Hebeic, while their motions 
 were sylph-like, their skin extremely delicate and their complexion a clear amber brown. 
 
 A FAIRY SCENE. 
 
 Peter Martyr declares that the Spaniards when they beheld these beautiful women 
 issuing forth from the green woods, almost imagined that they beheld the fabled drsads and 
 native nymphs and fairies of the fields sung by the ancient poets — a delusion which might 
 well be excused when we consider the Edenic surroundings, which were calculated to 
 inspire the most practical and prosaic with poetic imaginations. As the women advanced 
 they knelt before Don Bartholomew and then gracefully presented to him the green palms 
 which they carried. They then divided, half on either side, to give place to Anacaona, who 
 was now brought forward on a light litter or palanquin borne by six Indians, where she grace- 
 fully reposed until conducted into the presence of the Adelantado, when she advanced and
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 
 '■'cM 
 
 
 ANAC\ONA AND HER RETINUE OF MAIDENS. 
 
 gracefully saluted him. She had on no other 
 gannent than an apron of various colors, made of i 
 cotton, but around her head she wore a garland of, 
 red and white flowers, while a wreath of fragrant' 
 and flaming blossoms bedecked her neck and arms. 
 Her chann of manners was only equalled by the 
 grace of her person, both of which were well calci 
 lated to infatuate even a less impressionable cava 
 than Don Bartholomew. The gallant governor 
 accepted her salutation by kneeling in the most defer- 
 ential manner and by taking her hand as a sign of his 
 admiration and unalterable friendship. The ceremonies 
 of reception having been concluded, the Spaniards were 
 conducted to the house of Behechio, where an elegant 
 banquet was ser\'ed, consisting of a variety of sea and 
 river fish, utias, a species of rodent resem- 
 bling a rat, and a variety of fine fruits and 
 roots, which were .ser\-ed in a manner that 
 imparted delightful flavor to the meats. 
 .Vnother dish with which the Spaniards wen 
 thus for the first time made acquainted wa> 
 the flesh of the Iguana, a reptile most re- ._ 
 pugnant in appearance, but which is regarded ^^ 
 as a special delicacy among the Indians, wh' 
 highly esteem it to this day. The Adelantad" ,';> 
 was the first of the Spaniards to taste of tlii
 
 248 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 strange animal food. His stomacli being well fortified b\- a fast of nearly twent}'-four 
 hours' duration, he found it to be highly palatable, and this opinion directly brought it 
 into high repute among all the Spaniards. 
 
 A FATAL SHAM BATTLE. 
 
 At the conclusion of the banquet the Spaniards were disposed among the several 
 dwelling houses of the inferior caciques, while six of the principal officers were lodged in 
 the palace of Behechio. Here they were entertained for two days in the most hospitable 
 manner, and during this time games and festivities were introduced for their entertainment 
 Among the amusements was a sham battle which, howe\'er, proved serious in its results, 
 though this appears to have been the usual termination. A considerable bod\- of Indians 
 armed with bows and arrows was divided into two squadrons, and marching double-quick 
 into the public square a skirmish began, which, though somewhat tame in the beginning, 
 directly became so exciting that the contestants fought with such earnestness that four were 
 killed outright while twice as many more were seriously wounded. This fatal consequence 
 did not appear to abate but rather added to the interest and pleasure of the spectators, and 
 the battle wotild have continued longer had not the Adelantado opposed his objections to 
 such bloody sport and begged the cacique to terminate the exhibition. 
 
 At the conclusion of the two days' visit Don Bartholomew thought it proper to com- 
 municate to the cacique and Anacaona the real object of his visit. He began by acquaint- 
 ing them with the orders which he had received from his brother, which were to collect the 
 tribute which had been imposed upon the tributaiy caciques of the island, for which purpose 
 he had \isited Behechio, under the protection of the Spanish sovereigns, to arrange a tribute 
 to be paid by him in the manner most convenient and satisfactor}-. 
 
 Behechio was somewhat embarrassed b}- this demand, not so much b}- the terms in 
 which the request was conveyed as the anticipations aroused b}- the sufferings which had 
 been inflicted through the avidity of the Spaniards for gold upon the other caciques of the 
 island. He, therefore, replied that he knew that gold was the object for which the Spaniards 
 had visited his island and that many of the caciques had paid their tribute in that precious 
 metal; but that, unfortunately for him, the value of his territory lay in its fertility rather 
 than its products of gold, that his people had at no time followed mining, and that he 
 doubted verj- much whether gold was discoverable in any part of his domain. To this, 
 however, Don Bartholomew replied by affecting the most amiable manners and assuring 
 the chief that he had no intention of imposing a burden beyond his ability to discharge; 
 that while his sovereigns were pleased with tributes of gold, they were no less thankful for 
 other products, and that they would esteem with equal favor tributes paid in cotton, hemp, 
 cassava bread, or such other products as the country afforded. To this request the cacique 
 gave a cheerful compliance and immediately issued orders to his subordinates commanding 
 them to have the fields planted with cotton abundantly and thus prepare themselves to pay 
 the necessary tribute in that staple. Thus by pacific measures and assurances Don 
 Bartholomew had been able to accomplish that which others with a less generous mind were 
 able to perform only through violence and rapine. Behechio had gracefully complied with 
 the requirements and at the same time his friendship had been made secure, a procedure 
 and result which had not characterized dealings between the Spaniards and natives in other 
 provinces of the island. 
 
 POVERTY AND CRIME AT ISABELLA. 
 
 Don Bartholomew had not been mau>- weeks absent from Fort Isabella on his visit to 
 Behechio, nevertheless when he returned a sorr>- condition of affairs confronted him. Many
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLU.MBIA. ii4'J 
 
 of the colonists had succumbed under clinialic diseases, while a greater part were sick, 
 and the lack of remedies or adequate medical treatment was emphasized by the insuffi- 
 ciency ot food. The supplies brought out by Alonzo Xino had been consumed and no 
 effort made to replenish them by cultivating the fields, which needed but the plant- 
 ing to bring forth in largest abundance. The Indians, unused to work and outraged by 
 their oppressors, fled to the mountains, preferring to brave the hardships of the fastnesses 
 than to remain in their luxurious valley subject to the inhumanities of the Spaniards. With 
 famine staring them in the face and the miseries of disease afflicting them, the colonists 
 turned their angr>- complainings against the .Vdmiral, whom they charged with luxuriating at 
 the Spanish palace, courting the Oucen's favors with stories of Indian wealth, and aggrand- 
 izing himself with tales of his exploitations, leaving them to miserably perish of hunger 
 through his neglect. Nor did Bartholomew wholly escape their censures, for they reckoned 
 him as culpable, chiefly because he was brother to Christopher and likewise a foreigner. 
 
 This was the condition in which the Adelantado upon his return found the colony 
 planted with so much hope at Isabella ; but instead of reprimanding or stopping to plead 
 his defence he set resolutely to work to remedy the situation. First, he ordered the con- 
 struction of two vessels which were to be used by the colony in sending its own messengers 
 to Spain in case of necessity ; or, if urgenc)- demanded, they might ser\-e as a means of re- 
 turning to Spain. Second, he caused all the sick and disabled to be removed to more salu- 
 brious districts in the interior, w-hich served the double purpose of relieving the suffering, 
 and at the same time dissipated the discouraging feeling which the appearance of the sick 
 and dying had upon those not yet stricken down. Third, as a means of further promoting 
 the security and comfort of the colon}', Don Bartholomew conceived the enterprise of a 
 general system of fortifications across the island. To this end five principal points were 
 chosen, which were to constitute a chain of fortresses. Ninety miles from Isabella were 
 laid the foundations of Fort La Esperanza ; twenty miles beyond that was placed Fort Santa 
 Catalina ; twenty miles farther inland was Fort Magdalena, where Santiago now stands, 
 and fifteen miles from this latter, in the valley of Vega Real, was located Fort Concepcion. 
 By this provision safe means of travel by easy stages was provided between Isabella and the 
 new town of San Domingo. 
 
 EFFECTS OF CONVERSION OF NATIVES TO CATHOLICISM. 
 
 The wise policy of Don BarlholouR-w was produclixe of excellent results and was fol- 
 lowed by immediate advantages ; but while thus guarding against one source of miscliief 
 by giving employment to the unemployed, and making his rule more secure against the 
 power of the confederated caciques, a new and equally serious trouble arose which was 
 attended with calamitous consequences. The innnediate cause was due to tlie zeal of a 
 two priests, whose work was a reaction against the prelatic efforts of De Buyl. One of these 
 friars was a hermit named Roman Pane, and the other a Franciscan proselyter known as 
 Juan Borgonon, both of whom entered the villages of the \'cga Real bearing tidings of 
 new religious faith to the simple natives, who were little prepared to understand a religion 
 professed by men who had outraged every sense of justice and repaid hospitality by brutal 
 license. But the labors of these two priests were attended with some success, for a single 
 family of sixteen persons accepted the new faith, and being baptized, the head of this family 
 received the title of Juan Mateo. 
 
 The first fruits of their enterprise bore no promi.se of a^j^rolific or even second crop, 
 .so the friars turned their attention to another field. They rightly recktjiied that the most 
 direct way to the hearts of the natives was througli their chiefs ; to gain the chieftain would
 
 250 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 be to gain the whole tribe ; conversion might thns be undertaken after the manner which 
 Charlemagne employed with the Saxons at the river Weser. Accordingly they directed all 
 their efforts towards converting Gnarionex, who being a man of flexible mind, was directly 
 impressed b}' the mystery of the new faith, and according to the measure of his intelli- 
 gence he embraced the new doctrine and learned to repeat the Paternoster, the Ave 
 Maria, and the Credo. 
 
 The news that Gnarionex had been converted to the religion of the Spaniards quickly 
 spread through the province of Vega Real, but the result was not what had been anticipated. 
 The natives, who could not forget their wrongs, immediately construed the act as a renun- 
 ciation of their cacique's nationality, and the subordinate chiefs were loud in their denun- 
 ciations of his recreancy. But even while this charge of infidelity was sweeping through 
 the villages of Vega Real an incident occurred which in a moment aroused all the ferocity 
 and vengefulness in Guarionex's nature, and transformed him into the bitterest foe 
 of everything that was Spanish. One of the officers at Fort Concepcion, which was 
 scarcely four miles from the cacique's residence, contrived to ingratiate himself into the 
 affections of Guarionex's favorite wife. The king was not long in discovering 
 the guilty liaison^ and his anger became at once as boundless as his wrongs, but 
 helpless to avenge his disgrace he could only drive the priests from his presence and await 
 his opportunity. 
 
 HORRIBLE PUNISHMENT INFLICTED FOR THE CRIME OF SACRILEGE. 
 
 Seeing that their efforts in Vega Real must thereafter be attended with danger, the two 
 friars went into a neighboring province, taking Jean Mateo with them as interpreter, and 
 there renewed their attempts to proselytize the natives. Here they erected a rude 
 chapel to serve as a meeting house, and at the same time as a shelter for such new converts 
 as they might be able to win. But scarcely was the chapel finished for service when some 
 of Guarionex's subjects pulled it down, seized the images and emblems, which they buried 
 in a neighboring field, and then returned and burned the ruins. This crime, in those 
 days, called for a swift and awful retribution. Report of it was speedily made to 
 Don Bartholomew at Isabella, who promptly ordered a judicial inquest to be made and the 
 guilty punished by burning at the stake. Horrible to be related, several natives were ad- 
 judged guilty of the charge and suffered this inhuman punishment for their act. 
 
 Can we blame the Indians that this last shocking injustice, this barbarously cruel deed, 
 nerved them to the desperate undertaking of destroying every hated Spaniard who had in- 
 vaded and despoiled their peaceful homes ? Gnarionex, who was at once king and a princi- 
 pal sufferer, was besought to put himself at the head of a confederacy of all the tribes and lead 
 them in one decisive attack on the foreigners. This proposition he gladly accepted, and it was 
 arranged that the attack should be made on the next tribute day, when it was the custom of 
 the natives to gather in great numbers. But though the conspiracy was admirably conceived, 
 there was one difficulty which the natives had neglected to provide against. In the multifar- 
 ious relations which had now come to exist between the Spaniards and native islanders, it 
 was impossible to prevent disclosure of the plan if generally known among the Indians them- 
 selves, for several of the Spaniards had native women for wives, while many others sustained 
 the most intimate relations with them. These matrimonial unions were particularly danger- 
 ous to a plot like the one concocted, and we are not surprised, therefore, that before it could 
 be put into execution the Spaniards were apprised of their danger. The information being 
 obtained, it was conveyed to Don Bartholomew by secreting a letter in a hollow cane which
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 25i 
 
 was carried by an Indian pretending to be chmib and foolish, and safely delivered. That 
 officer, equal to any emergency, organized a large force wliich he despatched to the Vega 
 Real district, and qnietly distributed his soldiers among the villages where the inferior 
 caciques had their respective residences. This being accomplished without exciting any 
 uneasiness, on a fixed night and hour the soldiers invaded these houses and seizing fourteen 
 
 BIRNIXC. OK NATIVKS I-OK THK CRIME OF 
 SACRILEGE. 
 
 of the caciques bore them away to Fort 
 Concepcion. As the Adelantado had 
 anticipated the Indians were terrified beyond expression by this abduction of their chiefs, 
 and forgetting their revenge in this greater calamity they raised their voices in lamenta- 
 tions and beseechings pitiable to hear. 
 
 EXECUTION OF TWO OTHER NATIVES. 
 
 Don Bartholomew was present at the judicial inquest which followed, and b\- this 
 
 examination he was made acquainted with all the causes and circumstances which led 
 
 to tlie conspiracy. Feeling it imperative for the safety of the colony that an example 
 
 should be made by a severe punishment of some of the leaders of the plot, he ordered
 
 252 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the execution of two of the inost vindictive chiefs, but magnanimously pardoned all the 
 rest. Nor would his sense of justice permit the wrong that had been done to Guarionex 
 to go unre\'enged, and accordingly the Adelantado proceeded with stem measures against 
 the Spaniard who had violated the sanctity of the cacique's home, but historians fail to 
 mention the punishment that was inflicted. The clemency and justice of Don Bartholo- 
 mew subdued the anger in Guarionex' s heart, and that chief now earnestl}- exhorted his 
 people to henceforth cultivate the friendship of the Spaniards, advice which was sincerely 
 followed, and tranquillity was thus happil)- restored without further effusion of blood. 
 
 After this incident the Adelantado repaired to Xaragna with many of his soldiers, to 
 receive the qnarterl}' tribute which Behechio had notified him was ready for delivery. 
 His reception on this second visit was equally as cordial as it was on the first, and the occa- 
 sion was made one of much rejoicing. The natives gave an entertainment and great feast 
 to their visitors, and were in turn amused by the Spaniards, who had brought up one of 
 their ships to receive the tribute of cotton, which was sufficient to make a large cargo. 
 The guns of the vessel were fired, to the great alarm of the natives, but they were 
 reassured by acts of kindness extended by the Adelantado, who distributed presents 
 among them and then had his soldiers execute manoeuvres to manifest their skill in arms. 
 
 THE REBELLION OF ROLDAN. 
 
 While Don Bartholomew was absent in Xaragna a rebellion was incited by a Spaniard 
 named Francisco Roldan, whose ambition had inspired him with the belief that he might 
 take advantage of the disaffection of the colonists, and by subverting the authority of the 
 Adelantado and Don Diego raise himself to the gubernatorial dignit}'. In pursuance of 
 this mad purpose he succeeded in winning to his aid a considerable faction, and then 
 detaching himself with forty well-armed followers from the main body, he boldly proclain:ed 
 his intention to launch the remaining vessel and depart from the country for other fields, or 
 take up his quarters in another part of the island. To prevent this act Don Bartholomew, 
 who had now returned to Isabella, assembled seventy of the soldiers who remained lo}'al to 
 him and prepared to give the conspirator battle. His force being as yet too weak to hazard 
 an engagement, Roldan drew off and entered upon a systematic effort to attach the caciques 
 to his fortunes, by promising to free them from the exactions laid upon them by their 
 oppressors. But in these efforts he did not succeed; whereupon he determined to proceed 
 to Xaragna and there set up an independent government. Taking advantage of the 
 Adelantado' s absence from Isabella, he suddenly made a foray upon the place, broke open 
 the magazine and supplied his followers with arms and ammunition therefrom. He then 
 attempted to launch one of the vessels drawn upon the beach, but his efforts were in vain, 
 and fearing some surprise if he remained longer at Isabella, he returned to the interior with 
 the purpose of putting into execution some strategy whereby he might gain possession 
 of the person of Don Bartholomew, who was at Fort Concepcion, afraid to oppose the rebel 
 with the restless few who composed the garrison. In a day after leaving Isabella Roldan 
 appeared before Fort Concepcion, and vaunting his loyalty to the Spanish sovereigns, used 
 every artifice to corrupt the garrison, who for a while manifested a disposition to abandon 
 their allegiance to the Adelantado. This, indeed, they would have no doubt done had not 
 the sagacious governor met the inducements held out by Roldan with similar promises of 
 reward for their fidelity. 
 
 But though he was unable to corrupt the garrison at Concepcion, Roldan made head- 
 way by enlisting the co-operation of several chiefs, who supplied him generously with 
 provisions and made the payments of tribute to him instead of to the lawful authority.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 253 
 
 In tliis contention the colony was brought to the verge of ruin, nor can we foresee how they 
 would have escaped destruction had not the critical situation been relieved at this juncture 
 b\ the arrival at the port of Isabella of two vessels despatched under couiniaud of Pedro 
 Fernandez Coronal with supplies, by order of the Queen, as already related. This 
 happ\- e\-ent occurred on the 3d of February, 1498, and was the means not only of saving 
 the colonv from the disasters of rebellion, but Coronal brought, besides supplies and men, 
 a commission confinn- 
 ing Don Bartholomew's 
 title as governor, thus 
 relieving him of what- 
 e\-er cloud that rested 
 upon the title conferred 
 by the Admiral. 
 
 Considering that the 
 colony had already suf- 
 fered all that it could 
 well bear, Don Bar- 
 t h o 1 o m e w , i n h i s 
 anxiety to reunite his 
 men, sent Coronal with 
 a pacific message to 
 Roldan, requesting that 
 he would submit to his 
 authority, and promis- 
 ing pardon for all past 
 offences ; but Roldan 
 rejected these overtures, 
 and feeling secure in akk.vai. uh thk .si pplv smps. 
 
 his plans he sowed the seeds of intrigue among the caciques, and then departed for 
 Xaragua to take up his residence in that sensual paradise which had been the objective 
 point of all his promises. 
 
 A CONSPIRACY TO MASSACRE THE SPANIARDS. 
 The machinations of Roldan had been so well laid that Guarionex, who had been 
 accounted as faithful to the authority of Don Bartholomew, organized a conspiracy for the 
 capture of Fort Concepcion, being instigated thereto by Roldan's agreements to extend 
 protection and relieve him from his va.ssalage to the usurping Spaniards. It was arranged 
 to assault the fort on the night of a full moon, but by some mistake an impetuous chief 
 with a small following began the attack on the night preceding the appointed time, and 
 they were easily repulsed by soldiers quartered in the village, wliile tlie garrison were thus 
 timely put upon their guard. The chief who had thus unluckily anticipated the plans of 
 tlie confederated caciques fled to Guarionex for protection, but that King was so incensed at 
 his hasty conduct that he struck him dead upon the spot. Don Bartholomew now saw llie 
 futility of temporizing any longer with the conspirators, and having a strong force under 
 his command, he .set out first in pursuit of Guarionex, who taking warning by the fate that 
 had overtaken other chiefs who had opposed the Spaniards, fled witli his family to tlie 
 mountains of Ciguay, and there sought the aid of a cacique named Mayobanex, who lived at 
 Cape Cabron, thirty miles from Isabella. This chief would not withhold his friendshij) in
 
 254 COLUIMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the hour of greatest need, and therefore not only gave Guarionex and his handful of 
 followers an asylum but promised to protect them to the last extremitj'. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF INDIAN VILLAGES. 
 
 By forming a junction with Mayobanex, who had a considerable force of hardy native 
 soldiers, Guarionex was able to vex the Spaniards b)' cutting off stragglino- parties and 
 destroying villages; annoyances which Don Bartholomew resolved to prevent bj' sendino- 
 a company of one hundred and fifty men into the mountain fastnesses to punish the 
 guerillas. His advance was noted by Indian spies, and a big native army was gathered that 
 hung upon his flank, but was concealed by intervening hills and dense vegetation until the 
 time to strike was at hand. This opportunity was presented when the Spaniards began 
 fording a stream of swift running water, and when everj-thing indicated that they were 
 least expecting an attack. In a moment six thousand hideously painted savages rushed out 
 from their ambush and let fl}- a shower of arrows and lances, which wounded se\-eral of the 
 Spaniards notwithstanding their annor. But the Indians were too timid to follow up 
 their advantage, and retreated at the first fire of the enemy. The Spaniards pushed on up 
 the valley towards Cabron, halting from time to time to repel the sorties of the Indians, who 
 would rush down within arrow range and discharging a voile}- would retire precipitateh- to 
 their fastnesses, seldom doing any great mischief, however. 
 
 At length the Adelantado approached within less than a mile of Cabron, where he 
 halted and sent forward a messenger to ]Ma}'obanex, demanding of him the surrender of 
 Guarionex, promising him pardon and friendship if the demand was coinplied with, but 
 threatening a direful vengeance if it was refused. With Spartan-like courage and a 
 fidelity' which may even amaze the civilized world, Mayobanex returned this reply: "Tell 
 the Spaniards that they are bad men, cruel and tyrannical; usurpers of the territories of 
 others and shedders of innocent blood; I do not desire the friendship of such men. 
 Guarionex is a good man; he is my friend; he is my guest; he has fled to me for refuge; I 
 have promised to protect him ; I will keep my word. ' ' 
 
 Don Bartholomew could be stem when occasion appeared to him to justify vigorous 
 measures, and seeing that further parley meant defeat of his purposes, he ordered the village 
 to be set on fire, and then threatened Mayobanex with a still more terrible vengeance if he 
 remained obstinate in his refusal to surrender to him the rebellious Guarionex. His 
 subjects, alanned, besought him to comply with this demand, as the safety- of their homes 
 depended upon it; but however strong the pressure, his friendship for the unhappy chief 
 was still stronger, and he vowed to defend his guest to the last, even though it should cost 
 him his kingdom and his life. 
 
 CAPTURE OF THE REBELLIOUS CHIEFS. 
 
 The torch of the Spaniards was now applied to all the villages, while soldiers were sent 
 to hunt down the two fraternal chiefs and their subjects. Abandoning the smoking ruins 
 of their homes, the caciques and their followers fled to the mountains, where they were re- 
 morselessly pursued until at last two Cigiiayans were captured, and under threats of death 
 were forced to pilot the Spaniards to a cave in which Mayobanex had taken refuge. The 
 unhappy chief was taken by surprise, together with his family and a sister who had left her 
 husband in a neighboring province to share the fortunes of her miserable brother. Her cap- 
 tivity was soon reported to her husband, who, lo\'ing her tenderly, visited the Adelantado 
 and with prayerful entreaties besought him to release her, offering his allegiance and that of 
 his subjects for her restoration. To these pleadings Don Bartholomew could not turn a
 
 l-i55l
 
 256 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 deaf ear, for his compassion being aroused he restored her to her now overjoyed husband, an. 
 act which brought him a generous return in the fulfihnent of all the promises of the cacique. 
 
 Soon after this Guarionex was driven from his retreat by the pangs of hunger, and was 
 betrayed by some Ciguayans, who regarded him as the author of all their miseries. He was 
 by this means captured by a party of lurking Spaniards and carried to Fort Concepcion. 
 This being his third offense, Guarionex expected nothing less than an extreme penalty; but 
 the Adelantado mercifully considered the causes which had led him into rebellion and again 
 extended to him the fullest pardon, though he regarded it as prudent to detain both caciques 
 for a time at Fort Concepcion as hostages to insure the fidelity of their subjects. 
 
 This was the condition of affairs in the colony, which had been restored to a degree of 
 tranquillity, with Roldan a fugitive, when Columbus returned, after an absence of nearly 
 thirty months, to resume command.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF ROLDAN ASSUMES MORE THREATENING PROPORTIONS 
 
 j^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^Vllv flourishes where virtue would perish from inanition. 
 
 ( f^"' "^v . IM^*^^^ r Circumstances more frequently favor the wrong than they 
 
 encourage the right, because the wicked passions of men 
 beget in them a cunning to turn even the most beneficent 
 conditions to their advantage, thus extracting the bane of 
 mischief from the elixir of rectitude. These observations 
 were strikingly verified by the fortune which assisted 
 the traitorous acts of Roldan, since one circumstance 
 after another occurred as if by some maleficent spirit's 
 direction to promote his infamous designs. 
 
 When Columbus returned to Hispaniola his phvsical 
 condition, which rendered him almost helpless, was not 
 more deplorable than that of the colonists. Insurrection, 
 rebellion and their attendant evils had left the Spaniards in a sorry 
 and wretched plight, out of which they were not to be brought 
 before greater suffering had been experienced. A heart less strong 
 than Columbus' would have lost all hope and abandoned further effort to establish a 
 pennanent settlement in the new world of his discovery. In every fort and station there 
 were famine and insubordination ; the mines at Hayna were no longer productive ; every 
 industn.- languished ; the Indian villages were in ruins, while the natives, driven to the last 
 extremity by their oppressors, had abandoned their fields and escaped to the mountains ; 
 they were at peace now, but it was the peace that simulates death or hopelessness ; more 
 than all this, the flower of the Spanish troops were in rebellion, thus dividing the strength 
 of the colonists and leaving them a readier prey to the miseries that were at hand. 
 
 To a man almost blinded by ophthalmia and racked by the tortures of gout, as was 
 Columbus, the picture was one of inexpressible sadness, but in such an emergency inaction 
 meant destruction, so, enfeebled though he was by physical and mental aflHictions, Columbus 
 aroused all his energies to bring order out of this chaos of misfortune. His first duty was to 
 ratify the acts of his brother Don Bartholomew, and then to infonn himself fully respecting 
 the rebellion of Roldan, and adopt measures, if possible, to jnmish the traitor ; but this 
 alas! he was not destined to accomplish. 
 
 Carrying out his original intentions Roldan had taken up his residence in the prov- 
 ince of Xaragua, where, not knowing his defection, Behechio received him with the same 
 hospitality he had shown towards the Adelantado. In this delightful retreat Roldan and 
 his followers indulged their idle and sensual appetites, free from all restraints, accounting 
 themselves as the most fortunate of mortals, since Behechio supplied all their wants. 
 
 THE REBELS UNEXPECTEDLY RECEIVE REINFORCEMENTS. 
 Within a week after Culumbus had returned to llispaniula some of Roldan's .subjects, 
 while walking along the beach, descried tliree vessels making towards the shore, which 
 17 (257^
 
 2o« 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 gave them some alarm at first, anticipating that it 
 might be a part of the fleet of Cohimbus laden not 
 only with supplies, but with men who might be 
 sent to give them the punishment they merited. 
 But Roldan was not so easily frightened, for with 
 his resource of strategy he esteemed himself equal 
 to any emergency. 
 
 The three vessels proved to be those which 
 Columbus had sent forward with supplies from 
 the Canary Islands and which had been detained 
 long beyond their time by heavy gales and contrary 
 ■winds. Fortune had strangley directed them to the 
 coast of Xaragua, as if fate was in league with 
 evil to oppose the plans of Columbus. When 
 they came to anchor off shore Roldan put out in a 
 'boat to wel- 
 come the Span- 
 iards to the 
 New World. A 
 fellow of excel- 
 lent address, he 
 soon convinced 
 the captains of 
 the fleet of his 
 trustworthiness 
 and that he was 
 in authority in 
 that part of the 
 island. There- 
 fore, by repre- 
 senting his 
 needs he pro- 
 cured from tlu- 
 officers swords, 
 cross-bows, 
 lances and a 
 variety of mili- 
 tary stores, at 
 the same time 
 craftily distri- 
 buting many of 
 his men among 
 the vessels' 
 crews to wean 
 them from their 
 
 allegiance to Columbus and to induce them to accept the free and delightful life which he 
 had to offer them in Xaragua. When we consider that nearly all the men who had 
 
 ROLDAN SEEKING RECRUITS AMONG THE NEW ARRIVAI^.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 259 
 
 shipped on the vessels were criminals, and therefore possessed of the basest instincts, 
 we cannot wonder that the flattering proposals made by Roldaa's men readily influenced 
 them to desert and join the rebels. 
 
 For three days Roldan entertained the crews before Alonzo Sanchez de Car\ajal, com- 
 modore of the fleet, discovered his real designs, at which time the mischief was consum- 
 mated, for the rebel had received his supplies and had planted the seeds that were to bring 
 him a great harvest. Contrarj' winds had also ser\'ed Roldan beneficentU', for the ships 
 being unable to beat up the coast Carxajal was persuaded to send a large number of the 
 people on board overland to the settlement at Isabella. In pursuance of tliis intent Juan 
 Antonio Colombo landed with fort\- well-anned men, who, however, no sooner gained the 
 shore than thirty-two of them went off and joined the rebels, nor would they listen to any 
 overtures from Colombo to return to duty. 
 
 Unable to accomplish anything on shore, Colombo returned to the ships and contrived, 
 after great danger and delay, to bring the vessels to Isabella, though not until one was badly 
 injured by running on to a bar, and a larger part of the provisions was spoiled. 
 
 TEMPORIZING WITH A REBEL. 
 
 The next six months were spent in a fruitless effort by Columbus and his associates to 
 conciliate Roldan and induce him to renew his allegiance to the lawful authority. But 
 having tasted the sweets of gratified ambition he was unwilling to surrender any of his ad- 
 vantages, unless it were done in the acquirement of greater ones. His power had become 
 superior to that of Columbus himself, and in the success of his rebellion he maintained that 
 the Admiral should practise that condescension which he had himself required. 
 
 In the meantime, while these negotiations were being carried on there were other things 
 to worry and vex the already anguished spirits of the Admiral. He had prepared a lengthy 
 report of all his explorations and discoveries in the gulf of Paria, not omitting to send to his 
 so\-ereigns a gilded representation of the vast wealth which might be acquired b>- collecting 
 pearls which were to be found in the greatest abundance and finest \-ariety on the coast of 
 South America. But this report he did not conclude without describing the insurrection of 
 Roldan and depicting the deplorable condition of affairs which had been precipitated through 
 the rebellion of that ambitious man and an uprising of the natives. It w-as particularly 
 unfortunate for Columbus that it was nece.ssary he should make such a report, because his 
 attack on the hireling of Fonseca at the time of his departure had materially prejudiced him 
 in the estimation of the sovereigns, while the repeated complaints and revolts .serx-ed as a 
 further proof to them of the charge that he was often actuated to imprudent acts by an un- 
 controllable temper. In consequence of this feeling the reply which he received from Fer- 
 dinand and Isabella was couched in most formal language, plainly intimating their waning 
 confidence in his judgment and stability. 
 
 Roldan had been induced, through the good offices of Carvajal, to hold an inter\'iew with 
 Columbus, at which such concessions were made by the Admiral that the rebellious officer 
 had agreed to take passage with his disaffected followers for Spain. To accomplish this 
 three caravels were made ready, after considerable delay, in which the rebels embarked. 
 But they had scarcely gotten out of the harbor of Isabella before a stonn arose which drove 
 them violently on the shore and compelled them for the time being to abandon the purpose 
 and return home. This unfortunate accident seemed to prove that the elements were 
 opposing the designs of Columbus, since his hope of ridding himself of the rebellious 
 element of the colony was thus suddenly destroyed ; for upon regaining Isabella Roldan 
 reconsidered his detennination to return to Spain and renewed his demands for greater
 
 260 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 concessions, to which, notwithstanding their injustice, Columbus was compelled to yield. 
 As a price of peace Roldan received a title to a considerable tract of land in the immediate 
 district of Isabella and another in the valley of the Vega Real, and was likewise appointed, 
 under the pressure of his insistence, alcalde of el Esperanza. 
 
 OJEDA'S EXPEDITION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 Upon receipt of the reports and letters of Columbus the Spanish sovereigns, influenced 
 by the representations of Fonseca, who lost no opportunity to impair the authority of Colum- 
 bus, permitted the fitting out of four caravels under Alonzo de Ojeda, who had fonnerly 
 been under great obligations to the Admiral but was now a creature of the Spanish secre- 
 tary. In violation of the exclusive prerogatives which had been granted to Columbus, 
 Ojeda sailed under the sovereign permit to the Gulf of Pearls, with the ostensible purpose 
 of verifying the discoveries reported by Columbus, but really intending to profit thereb}- if 
 he should find his statements to be tnie regarding the great quantity of pearls which he 
 located there. While Ojeda failed to procure any considerable quantity of the pearls, he did 
 succeed in gathering some gold and a large number of sla\es, with which he returned 
 to Spain ; after which successful voyage, emboldened b}- the protection of Fonseca, he set 
 sail for San Domingo with the purpose of hurraing the downfall of Columbus by seizing 
 his power and person. 
 
 Ojeda appeared off" the coast of Hispaniola at a time when the affairs of the colony were 
 in a most abject state, and putting into the port of Yaquimo, a few miles from Isabella, he 
 began to industriously circulate reports among such of the colonists as he could find to 
 lend a willing ear to his pretenses that Columbus was no longer in favor at court, and that 
 the Queen was then in declining health beyond the hope of recovery, so that henceforth 
 Fonseca, his patron, was practically the true authority controlling in the Indies. The old 
 companions of Roldan applauded this proceeding and a large number joined him, thus 
 complicating the situation more than it had ever been before. In the face of all these 
 intrigues and evil instigations, having their origin apparently near the Spanish court, the 
 courage of Columbus, which had until then been undaunted, suddenl)' failed him. He 
 foresaw that the purpose of his enemies was to remove him by assassination if necessary, 
 and the instinct of self-preservation impelled him for the moment to escape with his brothers 
 in a caravel from the rage of those who designed his destniction. 
 
 But in this darkest hour of his dejection his star of hope suddenly shone through a rift 
 
 in the cloud of his despair, caused by a report which was brought him that a rivalry- had 
 
 sprung up between Roldan and Ojeda, the outcome of which could not fail to prove of 
 
 advantage to the cause of justice ; for it is a trite and ancient saying that, "When thieves 
 
 fall out, honest men have their dues." Roldan, perceiving that his power was rapidly 
 
 diminishing by the alienation of his followers through the intrigues of Ojeda, determined 
 
 to unreservedly sustain in the future the authority of the Admiral, whence his power of 
 
 alcalde or chief-justice was derived. So employing all his audacity and cunning as well as 
 
 physical force, after a series of curious incidents he finally compelled Ojeda to take to his 
 
 ships and put to sea. 
 
 A FIGHT FOR THE HAND OF A NATIVE PRINCESS. 
 
 At this time another event occurred which in the end proved of service to the colonists 
 
 and assisted greatly in the restoration of the power which Columbus had lost. One 
 
 of Roldan' s chiefs living in Xaragua, becoming infatuated with the daughter of Queen 
 
 Anacaona, desired to many her and applied to the Church to legitimate the union. 
 
 Roldan, however, appears also to have been enamored of the beautiful princess, and took
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 261 
 
 steps towards preventing the marriage, which so inflamed the young oflicer that he hatched 
 a plot against the life of the chief-justice. .Vccordingly he fomented a rebellion, and sur- 
 rounding himself with a few bold spirits who had given a solemn vow to perfonn his 
 orders, he formulated the desperate plan of seizing Roldan and putting out his eyes. The 
 plot was fortunately discovered in time to avert the crime, and some of the conspirators 
 being taken and adjudged g^iilt\- of the charge, they were arrested and carried to San 
 
 Domingo. As Roldan was himself the chief-justice, 
 within an hour after the time they were brought before 
 him, he had pronounced their condemnation according 
 to the degrees of their culpability. The leader, Adrien de 
 Mo.xica, was condennied to death, while his accomplices 
 were either banished or imprisoned. The execution of 
 Moxica was to take place from the top of the fortress, but 
 at the moment when the executioner was prepared to 
 do his duty the condemned man repulsed his confessor, 
 at which Roldan ordered the wretch to be 
 thrown from the top of the battlements into the 
 moat. But others of the conspirators had 
 escaped, and these Columbus on the one hand 
 and Roldan on the other pursued with vigor, 
 taking with them a priest in order that those 
 made prisoners might have the benefit of a 
 confessor, for in each instance they were destroyed 
 upon the spot where they were cap- 
 tured. These heroic measures not 
 only ended the conspiracy but put 
 an end to the rebellion which had 
 been fomented by Guevara, the 
 aspirant for the hand of the young 
 princess. At the same time, by con- 
 ' ceding to the demands made by 
 Roldan, Columbus had reestablished 
 himself at the head of the colony, 
 and was taking new courage, when 
 report reached him of the machina- 
 tions of his enemies at the court of 
 Spain, who had not yet abandoned 
 their intent of depriving him of his 
 power and bringing him to judg- 
 ment on the charges which had 
 been preferred, as previously described. The intent of these enemies, however, had 
 been carefully veiled up to the time of putting their designs into execution, so that 
 Columbus, while learning that some evil was hatching, had no intimation of the real 
 measures concerted against liim. 
 
 COLUMBUS SUPERSEDED BY BOBADILLA. 
 
 The result of these niachinatiun> was tlial llie .sowreigns, tlirough the advice of Fonseca, 
 sent a Commi.ssar>- to Hispaniola in the person of Francisco de Kobadilla, a man high in the 
 
 *^^ 
 
 HURLING MOXiCA FROM THK BATTLEMENTS.
 
 262 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 esteem of Fonseca and who likewise enjoyed the confidence of the conrt. On the 23d of 
 August, 1500, while Columbus was engaged in enlarging the fortress of Concepcion, two 
 caravels made their way through the mouth of the Ozema River. Don Diego Columbus, 
 thinking that the caravels brought the eldest son of the Admiral, he having written him to 
 come, despatched a boat to inquire if he was on board. The reply brought back was that 
 
 the vessels had come bringing a Commissary- of the sovereigns 
 to judge the Roldan rebels and that young Diego had not em- 
 barked. Most unfortunately for Columbus, as the vessels put 
 into port Bobadilla, who was a hasty, harsh and vindictive man, 
 and withal a blind tool who had been well posted by the 
 malignant Fonseca, saw two gibbets on the beach, from wliich 
 were suspended two bodies that had been executed the day pre- 
 vious. This sight in his mind justified the charges of cruelty 
 brought against the Admiral, and he was thus the better pre- 
 pared to give his judgment in opposition to the advice or even 
 evidence which might be presented by Columbus. 
 
 Bobadilla and his suite disembarked and on the following day attended mass, where at 
 the conclusion of the services he ordered his letters patent to be read, authorizing him to in- 
 vestigate the late troubles that had arisen in the island. Diego Columbus, who was present, 
 replied that the viceroy, his brother, had titles superior to this commission and should be 
 consulted in whatever action it was deemed advisable to take. But in the most imperious 
 and insolent manner Bobadilla silenced Diego, and impertinently arrogated to himself rights 
 far beyond what his letters credited him with, and his actions thereafter were those of a law- 
 less and supercilious blackguard. He seized the fortress, took possession of the prisoners 
 and declared his purpose of sending the viceroy and his brothers in chains to Spain. These 
 high-handed outrages 
 were reported to the 
 Admiral b}- a messen- 
 ger, upon receipt of 
 which information he 
 left Concepcion and 
 proceeded to a village 
 called Bonao, from 
 which place he wrote 
 to Bobadilla, felicita- 
 ting him on his ar- 
 rival, but requested 
 him not to take any 
 more steps before he 
 had carefully studied 
 the situation. At the 
 same time he assured 
 
 the Commissary that he was willing to resign to him the reins of government and would 
 cheerfully furnish him all the information that he might need to enable him to make a 
 true inquir\- concerning the rebellion and unhappy incidents that had so disturbed the 
 island during the past year. To this comnninication Bobadilla returned no answer, but 
 continued his arrogant pretensions to the viceroyalty, to the subversion of all rightful 
 authority over the people. 
 
 BOBADILLA CASTS COLI'MBIS INTO A DUNGEON.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. -263 
 
 The impudent audacity of Bobadilla, who had acted the part of a pirate rather tliaii an ac- 
 credited oflRcer of dignity, at lengtli aroused the enmity not only of the friends of Cohimbus, but 
 of some of the caciques who remained loyal in their allej^iance to the Admiral, and fearing 
 that some concerted movement would be made to resent his rude assumption of absolute- 
 ism, Bobadilla finally concluded to employ persuasive and gentler means in bringing Colum- 
 bus to submit to his authority. Accordingly he commissioned a priest to proceed to Bonao 
 and there inform the Admiral of his having fallen into disfavor with his sovereigns, and to 
 show him tlie letters of credence under which he had come to Hispaniola to assume direc- 
 tion of the affairs on that island. 
 
 COLUMBUS IS FETTERED AND WITH HIS BROTHERS THROWN INTO A DUNGEON. 
 
 Having received these letters and a request to come to San Domingo, Columbus set out 
 on horseback without servants and clothed in the costume of a Franciscan. But when he 
 reached the city he was immediately arrested and incarcerated in the fortress, and that his 
 humiliation might be the greater his feet were shackled with iron fetters. After perpetrating 
 this outrage Bobadilla ordered Columbus to address a letter to his brother, Don Bartholomew, 
 ordering him to relinquish his authority in Xaragna and come to San Domingo without his 
 soldiers. Complying with this demand the Adelantado had scarcely arrived at the residence of 
 the viceroyalty when he was likewise seized, with his brother Don Diego, and cast into prison 
 — the three being isolated to prevent communication and all fettered alike. In.sufficiently 
 clothed and compelled to lie upon a cold stone pavement, Columbus suffered excruciating 
 agony from rheumatism and twinges of gout which had not left him free from pain for a 
 period of nearly two years. But he was uncomplaining, in the hope and belief that his 
 wrongs would be redressed when he should return to Castile and could present his case to 
 the sovereigns. 
 
 Bobadilla having now the three Columbus brothers secure in a dungeon, began to 
 inquire into the charges which had been preferred by summoning to the inquest all the 
 rebels, ringleaders, criminals and prisoners who had been punished by the .Vdmiral, the 
 Adelantado and Don Diego for their crimes. The result might have been readih- foreseen. 
 They were found guilty upon all the charges. The malignanc>' of Bobadilla did not, how- 
 ever, extend to the execution of his prisoners, as Columbus had anticipated, but still 
 shackled he sent them on board the caravel Gorda for transportation to Spain, with a 
 lengthv report justifying their condenniation and recommending them to the .severest pun- 
 ishment. The care of Columbus and his brothers was conmiitted to Alonzo de \'allejo, 
 with Andreas Martin as master of the vessel, which departed earh- in October for the sliores 
 of Spain. 
 
 The spectacle of the discoverer of a New World, who had passed through ordeals 
 which few men in this life are called upon to bear, whose acts had conferred upon the world 
 the largest possible measure of benefits, was one so grievous to behold that the .sympathies 
 of Vallejo and Martin were aroused, and they volunteered to remove the chains which 
 shackled the feet of the aged Admiral. But this alleviation of his injuries Columbus 
 refused, as he did not wish to appear to contravene the orders given by the representative of 
 his .sovereigns, preferring to bear the pain and anguish of mind and body which his galling 
 fetters produced rather than find relief through an infringement of the orders under which 
 he was being transported. 
 
 In these afflictions Columbus wa-s no doubt sustained by a feeling that he had been called 
 upon to bear the revilings and the persecutions of those in authority, that his great mi.ssiou 
 might thus become prominent in the worid's estimation, a feeling which he Ijetrayed in a
 
 264 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 letter which he wrote to a friend of the Queen, in which he appears to liken himself unto 
 John and those of the Prophets who had passed through the dark valley of persecution 
 and thence upwards with the world's applause to the sublime heights of heavenly reward. 
 
 RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS BY ISABELLA. 
 
 The voyage to Spain was blessed with such favorable winds that the passage was 
 accomplished in five weeks, a much quicker trip than had ever before been made; nor 
 
 was it attended by any unpleas- 
 antness of rough sea or foul 
 weather. So careful in his atten- 
 tion to the wants of Columbus 
 had been the master of the 
 Gorda that, excepting the incon- 
 venience of his fetters, the Admiral 
 had fared exceedingly well, and 
 when the ship came to anchor 
 in the Bay of Cadiz, on the 
 20th of November, Captain Mar- 
 tin despatched a confidential 
 messenger to Granada, where 
 the sovereigns were then resid- 
 ing, with a letter from Columbus 
 to the nurse or preceptress of 
 the infant Don Juan, who was 
 his particular friend and in tlie 
 highest confidence of the Oueen. 
 This letter, which rehearsed all 
 bis difficulties and wrongs in San 
 Domingo, was borne with such 
 celerity that it reached its des- 
 tination considerably in ad\-ance 
 of the condemnation proceed- 
 ings and reports of Bobadilla ; 
 and as Columbus had anticipated, 
 after reading the letter the nurse 
 placed it in the hands of the 
 Queen. The indignation and 
 grief of Isabella was so great over 
 the insufferable wrongs that had 
 been put upon the vicero)- that 
 she sent a courier with all haste 
 to her officer of marine in Cadiz, 
 commanding him to forthwith release Columbus and his brothers. The sovereigns also 
 joined in a letter to the Admiral, deploring the indignities that had been put upon him, 
 and gave assurances that what he had suffered was through the unwarranted acts of a 
 representative unfortunately chosen. But their reparation for the offences of Bobadilla 
 was not confined to mere expressions of regard and mortification, for desiring to demon- 
 strate their feeling by substantial tokens, they sent Columbus a purse of two thousand 
 
 COI.UMEUS SENT TO SPAIN IN CHAINS
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 2<35 
 
 ducats (equivalent to more than eight thousand dollars at the jjresent day) to remed>- the 
 destitution in which he had been placed, and accompanied the gift with an invitation to 
 attend at court when his convenience would allow. 
 
 As soon as he was thus freed and restored to honor the Admiral prepared to accept 
 the invitation of his sovereigns and visit them at Granada, By one of those remarkable 
 reactions to which his mind was subject he chose to prepare himself in state for the 
 journe)-. He purchased an elegant court dress and cloak in the style of the Spanish 
 nobility, and set out with attendants suitable for a man of noble rank. He arrived at 
 Granada on the 17th of December, 1500, and was received by the King and Queen in the 
 
 hall of the Alhambra. 
 
 A TOUCHING MEETING WITH THE QUEEN. 
 
 The scene was worthy- of the poet's song and the painter's brush. The hair of the 
 
 Admiral was now white as the almond blossom. His aspect was venerable in the highest 
 
 COLUMBUS RECEIVKD BY ISABEI.I,A. 
 
 degree ; but the furrows of grief and care were deeply ploughed in his aged face. The 
 manner of the sovereigns, especially of the Queen, was as gracious, in fact more condescend- 
 ing than it had ever been before, for it is narrated that when Isabella .saw him approach 
 the tears coursed down lier face and the woman could scarcely be restrained by the Queen. 
 As for Columbus, his feelings quite overcame him and he sank down weeping, sobbing at 
 the feet of her whose friendship for more than a decade of years had been his chief defence 
 and hope in the dav of extremity and despair. 
 
 .\ long and interesting inten'iew was now held between the discoverer and their 
 Majesties. Their bearing towards him and their words of cheer soon revived him from 
 despondency, and he entered with spirit and animation upon an account of the incidents 
 and results of his third voyage, and upon a justification of his purposes and policy in the 
 government of Hispaniola.
 
 266 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The reaction in his favor, which occurred all over Spain immediately the news of his 
 arrival in chains had been spread, as well as his appearance and the wrongs he had suf- 
 fered, predisposed the King and Queen so greatly in his favor that they refused to receive 
 and read the report or protocol of Bobadilla. For a while they showered every possible 
 attention upon him, and gave him a room in the palace, where he was permitted to exercise 
 ■ all the freedom and dignity of the most noble officers of the realm. Though Isabella was 
 particularly anxious to make amends for the evil conduct of which he had been the chief 
 sufferer through the unadvised appointment of Bobadilla, after the first few weeks of special 
 favor Columbus found that opportunities were not }-et open for him to prosecute to the end 
 the enterprises which he still had in his mind. 
 
 REPROVED BY THE QUEEN. 
 
 It is more than probable that Ferdinand prejudiced the Queen more or less against her 
 natural inclination to reconfinn him in the governorship of Hispaniola, of which he had 
 been deprived by the usurpation of Bobadilla, for, when Columbus approached her with a 
 request for the renewal of her patronage for a fourth expedition, she reminded him of some 
 of the cruelties which he had inaugurated in direct opposition to her wishes, if not com- 
 mands. She accused him of having subjected many of the natives to slavery, and of his 
 insistence in continuing the slave traffic, which she had hoped to end by explicit commands ; 
 that in his treatment of the Indians of San Domingo he should at all times be actuated by 
 a merciful disposition and regard for their temporal as well as their spiritual welfare. She 
 took occasion also to remind him that many acts of apparent cruelty had been committed 
 of which, it appeared to her, rebellious feelings and overt acts had been the immediate out- 
 come. For these several reasons she deemed it unadvisable to reinstate him at once in the 
 governorship of Hispaniola, and begged that he would wait at least two years, until affairs 
 had quieted down in that island under the administration of a new governor whom she had 
 in her mind to temporarily appoint. But as an alleviation of this apparently harsh act the 
 Queen assured him that she had no disposition to deprive him of any of the honors which 
 he had won, or of the dignities which had already been conferred. He should, therefore, 
 continue to hold the position of nominal governor of the island and vicero\- of the 
 high seas. 
 
 As for Bobadilla, there was no other thought on the part of the sovereigns than to 
 depose him, if not to dismiss him in disgrace. Even if Ferdinand was willing to reap the 
 benefit of the things that had been done, he was by no means willing to incur the odium 
 of defending and upholding his agent. Bobadilla was, therefore, consigned to that 
 ignominious place in the page of histon," where he presents a striking example of the 
 impetuous, vain-glorious and cruel autocrat of an hour. 
 
 The sovereigns decided to send out at once a royal viceroy with orders to 
 supersede Bobadilla, and not only to restore order in the island, but to give attention and 
 direction to the nascent industries of the colony, to the end that all might as soon as 
 possible become regular and organized. 
 
 APPOINTMENT OF OVANDO AS GOVERNOR OF HISPANIOLA. 
 
 After due consideration, their Alajesties chose for the important place of Governor of 
 Hispaniola a Spanish nobleman and militarj- commander of the Order of Alcantara, named 
 Nicholas de Ovando, a man of excellent traits, but lacking in some essential qualities for a 
 successful administration of affairs in the condition which Bobadilla had left them in the 
 island. But when we consider that he was a close friend of Fonseca, the appointment was 
 not SO bad as Columbus had reason to expect
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 2(17 
 
 The fleet appointed to accompany Ovando was the largest which had yet sailed to tlie 
 New World, consisting of thirty vessels, five of ^yhich were from ninety to one hnndrtd 
 and fifty tons burden, twenty-four caravels of from thirty to ninety, and one bark of twenty- 
 five tons. The number of souls who embarked in this fleet was about twenty-five hundred, 
 many of whom were persons of rank and distinguished families. There were also live- 
 stock, artillery', arms, munitions of all kinds, everything, in short, which was required for 
 the supply of the island. The fleet put to sea on the 13th of February, 1502. In the early 
 part of the voyage it encountered a terrible stonn, in which one of the ships foundered with 
 one hundred and twcntA" passengers, while the otliers were compelled to i1u>'A >- > rhoaril 
 eventhiug that was on deck, and the whole fleet was completely 
 scattered. The shores of Spain were strewn with articles from the 
 fleet, and a rumor quickly spread that all the ships had perished. 
 When this news reached the sovereigns they were so overcome 
 with grief that they refused to see any one for a period of eight 
 days. Fortunately the rumor proved to be incorrect, for but one 
 ship was lost. The others assembled again at the island of 
 Gomera in the Canaries and pursued their voyage, arriving at San 
 Domingo on the 15th of April. 
 
 Being deprived of his command, and arrested in the excit- 
 ing pursuit which he had begun ten years before, Columbus 
 became depressed with melancholj' reflections on the unjust treat- 
 ment to which he had been subjected, not only by the appoint- 
 ment of the sovereigns, but by a two years' relegation to inac- 
 tion, a time which was inexpressibly drear>' to one who had been 
 so long and actively engaged in adventurous enterprises. 
 
 DREAMS OF CONQUEST AND RESTORATION OF THE HOLY CITV. 
 
 But though disappointed in his hopes of innnediate restoration 
 to his goveniment, he still had the visions and speculations in whicli 
 his mind had been .so richly productive since boyhood. It will be 
 remembered that among the Admiral's dreams had been one relative 
 to the recovery of Jerusalem from the Turks. This, indeed, had 
 been a project of co-ordinate importance in his mind with the dis- 
 covers- of a westward route to the Indies. The vow which he had 
 recorded to undertake the recover)' of the Holy Sepulchre from the 
 Infidels within a period of seven years he had not been able to 
 
 fulfil, and the hope of raising fifty thousand infantr>' and five thou.sand horse from his own 
 means seemed further removed now than ever. Indeed, instead of being in a situation of 
 power, wealth and influence sufficient for that great undertaking, he now found himself 
 lodged at the Spanish court, not wholly unembarrassed in resources, cordially disliked by 
 the Spanish nobility, and dependent almost entirely upon the pledge of the Queen for 
 his hopes of future aggrandizement. But while his condition was calculated to affect his 
 ambitions, had there been any extraneous influences, his spirit was aroused to the gnuid 
 results which might be obtained if he could induce the King and Queen to undertake a 
 recover)' of Jenisalem. 
 
 The Spanish court was, as we have seen, sitting in Granada, that ancient and glori- 
 ous stronghold of the Moors around and in wliich tlie arts and learning and religion of tlie 
 Arabs had flourished for eight centuries. There was the old palace of the Moorish kings,
 
 268 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the Alhambra of great fame, -ndtli its richly adorned halls and court of lions, from which the 
 last of the Islamite kings had been driven only nine years before. The Admiral himself 
 had witnessed that famous surrender in which the Crescent, after many centuries of splendid 
 ele\-ation, bowed to the Cross and the followers of the Prophet were driven back into Africa 
 and the East. What more natural than that the mind of Columbus should follow in the 
 course of the retreating IVIoors ; that he should pursue them along the African coast to 
 Eg>'pt) to Acre, to the Holy City ? He gave himself up to his old-time speculation and de- 
 voted a large part of the nine months of his residence at Granada to the promotion of his 
 scheme for the re-taking of Jerusalem. But after this long fruitless effort with 
 both the King and Queen to undertake a crusade, he found the uselessness of pressing fur- 
 ther a scheme in which Ferdinand could not be prevailed upon to take auj- interest.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 mmy 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR A FOURTH VOYAGE. 
 
 LL his efforts to arouse the fiery religious zeal of the Spanish 
 sovereijjfus availing hiui nothing towards the realization 
 of his pious dreams, Columbus turned his ambition once 
 more to further e.xploration in the waters of the Occident. 
 He now conceived the idea that he had reached a north- 
 ern and southern continent between which there must 
 be a strait or passage, which if once gained would bring 
 him to the land of Cathay, where he might secure the in- 
 estimable riches and reward which had been the prime 
 motive of his first voyage. So well did he set forth his 
 plans and schemes before the Queen that she approved 
 of his design and signified her willingness to become 
 his patron on a fourth expedition. With these assur- 
 ances, notwithstanding his age, Columbus set about in 
 the most vigorous spirit preparations for a fourth \ovage. Before 
 taking his leave of the Queen, however, he asked permission to take 
 with him his second son, Don Fernando, now in his fourteenth 
 year, who with his brother had been acting as page to the Oueen 
 for nearly two years. Having gained her con.sent to this request Fernando was connni.s- 
 sioned as a naval officer, and the Admiral then proceeded to Seville to give the necessan- 
 orders for the fitting out of his proposed expedition. Columbus desired also the company 
 of his two brothers, neither of whom, however, was di.sposed in the beginnino- to continue 
 longer in a sendee which had brought them nothing but re\-ilings and suffering. Don 
 Bartholomew, however, was finally persuaded to .sacrifice his inclinations to fraternal love 
 and consented to embark with the Admiral. But Don Diego could not forget the cning 
 injustice committed towards the viceroy and himself, and he accordingly resolved to quit 
 the world and in future ser\-e only the church, acting upon which detennination he 
 embraced the ecclesiastical state, in which he continued to the end. 
 
 The fleet equipped for the fourth voyage consisted of four small vessels, ranging from 
 fifty to seventy tons burden each, and the crews comprised one hundred and fifty men. All 
 the preparations, while they were possibly adequate for the intended expedition, were 
 modest to a degree and could but be in strongest contrast with the extraordinary- ma'niifi- 
 cence and splendor of the fleet which had been prepared for Nicholas de Ovando. When 
 Columbus asked that on the outward voyage he might be pennittcd to touch at Hispaniola, 
 his request was refused on the pretence that the priests and the officials of the island were 
 incensed against him and that his presence would only tend to intensify the difficulties 
 against which Ovando had to contend. 
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE FLEET. 
 The little fleet departed from Cadiz on tlie i ith of May, 1502, pas.sed over to the coast 
 of Morocco and anchored before Ercillaon the 13th, intending to offer some assistance to the
 
 270 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Portuguese garrisou, which it was learned was closeh' besieged b}- the IMoors. But on his 
 arri\al there the Admiral learned that the siege had been raised, so after a short deten- 
 tion he continued on his way and arrived at the Canar}' Islands on the 20th, leaving there 
 five days later for the New World. The trade winds were so favorable that the little 
 squadron sped swiftly on its course without shifting a sail, arri\-ing on the 13th of June at 
 Mantinano (probably the modem Martinique), one of the Caribbee Islands. Here the ships' 
 supplies were renewed and the men permitted to revive their energies by a three days' 
 sojourn on land. Then the vo}'age was continued to Dominico and from that island to 
 Santa Cruz, thence to Porto Rico and finally to San Domingo. 
 
 It will be remembered that Columbus had solicited the privilege of visiting the capital 
 of his own island, but had been refused. A misfortune, however, had come upon the fleet 
 \\-hich might well give the Admiral an excuse for departing from the letter of his instruc- 
 tions. The largest of his ships had proved to.be so defective that she could no longer keep 
 her place in the fleet without severe detention to the other vessels. Columbus deemed it 
 expedient, therefore, to put in at San Domingo to exchange the bad ship for one of the 
 vessels of Ovando's fleet, which he could so well spare. It thus happened that at the time 
 when Ovando had completed the preliminaries of administration, when Bobadilla and many 
 others had been put on board for the home-bound voj^age, the fleet of Columbus on the 29th 
 of June arrived at the harbor of San Domingo. At first the Admiral la}' oflf and sent one 
 of his captains to Ovando with polite messages and a request that an exchange of vessels 
 might be made. But the go\'enior would not accept the proposal, and e\-en refused to grant 
 Columbus the privilege of bringing his ships to shelter in the harbor. The Admiral had 
 noted -just at the time of his arrival the unmistakable signs of an approaching tempest, 
 and he requested an opportunity to shelter his squadron until the coming hurricane 
 should pass. To the less weather-wise, however, there were no such indications, and 
 Ovando no doubt imagined that the request of Columbus was a pretext for opening com- 
 munication with friends on shore. At all events the act of courtesy was withheld, and the 
 discoverer of the New World was excluded from anchoring in the harbor of his own capital. 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE SHIPS AND LOSS OF BOBADILLA AND ROLDAN. 
 
 But this was b>- no means the end of the incident. The messengers whom Columbus 
 had sent learned while on shore of the intended departure of Ovando's squadron for 
 
 M^ 
 
 Spain, 
 became 
 
 bv 
 
 great 
 
 a lofty spirit of humanity which well 
 a man, the Admiral, though refused per- 
 to a place of safety, sent back his officers 
 
 :\Ioved 
 so 
 mission to come 
 
 to solemnly warn Ovando of the approaching storm 
 >L and to counsel him by all means to forbid the de- 
 
 parture of the fleet until the danger had passed. 
 This warning, however, was put aside as of no 
 value, being disregarded by the pilots and mariners 
 as it was b)' Ovando. In this false securit}- the fleet 
 'of Ovando sailed away and reached the eastern extremity of 
 , the island ; but, as Columbus had predicted, the fleet wao 
 .g now suddenly arrested b}' a fearful tempest which struck 
 J the vessels with such impetuosity that they were driven upon 
 the rocks, and the shore was soon strewn with the wreck- 
 age. The ship on which Bobadilla, Roldan and many other of the insurgents had been 
 placed for transportation to Spain, including the cacique Guarionex and other Indian
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 271 
 
 prisoners, and in which gold and other treasnres gathered during Bobadilla's administra- 
 tion were stored, was caught in the dreadful fur)- of the storm and torn to pieces as 
 though it had been a toy. The vessel broke and rolled helplessly on the surge for a 
 moment, then plunged head foremost with all on board into the great vortex of the sea 
 and disappeared forever ! A judgment ver>- difll-rent from that which might have been 
 rendered by Bishop Fonseca in the packed courts of Seville was thus suddenly passed 
 upon the reckless and despotic adventurers whose misdeeds had affected so disastrously 
 the fortunes of Columbus; and both the men and their crimes were swiftly buried in the 
 endless oblivion of the augrj- sea. 
 
 The ruin of Ovando's squadron was complete. A single vessel, one of the smallest 
 of all, which strangely enough had as a part of its cargo the revenues of Columbus, col- 
 lected for him in Hispaniola by Alonzo de Cavajal, his agent, escaped from the tornado and 
 reached Spain in safety. It might well seem to the Spanish sovereigns that all discourage- 
 ment and fate itself were against them in their attempt to take the West Indies for their 
 own. To Columbus and his band the late events appeared as a signal interposition of 
 Providence. His own ships escaped without extreme damage and were able to come 
 together after the tempest and make their way in safety to Port Hcrmoso, on the south 
 coast of the island, about twenty-five miles from San Domingo. Here Columbus refitted 
 his vessels, and having taken on some additional stores, notwithstanding that the weather 
 continued stonny, he renewed his voyage; but before proceeding many leagues the storm 
 increased to such an extent that he was driven back to Port Jacquemel, where he remained 
 until the 14th of July. Departing from this place, he skirted the coast of Jamaica and 
 paid a brief visit to the Queen's Gardens, the small group of islands which he had discovered 
 eight years before. Thence continuing his voyage in a southwesterly direction, he 
 discovered an island so covered with lofty pines that he gave to it the name of Isla de 
 Piuos, the Indian name of which was Guanaja, which it has since retained though some- 
 times called Bonacca. A short stay was made at this island, during which time Don 
 Bartholomew went on shore and made some interesting discoveries among the people, whom 
 he found hospitable though differing greatly in their ethnic peculiarities from other natives 
 with whom he had come in contact. Among the interesting curiosities which he was per- 
 mitted to see while visiting this island was a state-barge formed from the trunk of a single 
 tree, and yet fully eight feet in width and as much as sevent)' feet long. On this great 
 canoe the cacique had a sort of cabin constructed and fitted up in the most luxurious 
 manner, in which he spent a great part of his time. Columbus was pleased to find that 
 these people made a free use of the metals, though bone and wood were still largely 
 employed in the manufacture of implements. Instead of the rude cclts^ or stone hatchets of 
 the Bahamas and Antilles, these natives used copper for nearly all their weapons, and in 
 fashioning these they displayed no little skill. 
 
 The potter}- of the Guanajans had a fair claim to elegance, as did their textile 
 fabrics, which were chiefly of cotton dyed with considerable skill. The products of the 
 island were cocoa, the chocolate tree, Indian gum and the usual fruits found in tropical 
 countries. But nowhere was Columbus able to find either gold or silver, so that he was 
 pennitted rather to gratify his curiosity than his avarice. These people tried to tell 
 him of a countr>-, great and powerful, lying somewhere west of their own ; but communi- 
 cation with them was so difficult and their meaning so doubtful that the Admiral did not 
 choose to make any effort to verify what they sought to reveal. Had he done so lie nuist 
 in less than a two days' sail have reached Yucatan, with its quaint and varied civilization,
 
 272 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 and afterwards, by necessary sequence, the gorgeous .Mexico, where his dreams of orieutal 
 splendor might well seem to be realized in the silver-bright halls of the Montezumas. 
 
 MEETING WITH NATIVES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
 
 Strangely enough, however, Columbus' whole attention was fixed on the finding of 
 that strait which he confidently believed would lead him directly to the country where 
 Genghis Khan was supposed to live in unexampled splendor and magnificence. It thus 
 happened that the Admiral, confident of his ability to make his way through into the 
 Indian Ocean, reall)' cared little for the reports which the natives gave him respecting the 
 wealth and opulence of the populous countries immediately to the west, but rather cared 
 everj'thing for the ocean currents to which he yielded himself in the confidence that they 
 would bear him directly to his goal. He accordingly passed by one of the grandest 
 opportunities of his life. Yucatan and IMexico were not discovered. Those lands, rich in 
 the wonders of an ancient civilization, inhabited by millions of people belonging to a 
 strange and unknown race, were left to others, while the Admiral's destiny carried him as 
 if by a deluding vision into the most trA'ing episodes of his whole career. 
 
 Leaving Guanaja, after a short voyage Columbus reached the coast of Honduras, where 
 a landing was eflfected and the sailors were pennitted to rest for three days. The country 
 was claimed with the usual fonnalities, and on the 17th of August the squadron proceeded 
 eastward along the northern coast of Honduras, but was arrested b}' ocean tides and such 
 fierce stonns that several times shelter had to be sought in the harbors along the coast. 
 Rains poured down in such torrents as the Spaniards had never before witnessed, while 
 occasionally, for a space of twent}-four hours, thunder reverberated with a continuous crash 
 that seemed to shake both ocean and sky; lightnings pierced the darkened horizon, and 
 the general confusion and terror were so great that the hardy sailors, though long weather- 
 beaten and well experienced in the hardships and perils of the deep, frequently gave up in 
 despair, confessed themselves and made read\- for what they momentarily expected would 
 be the final siunmons. Columbus was himself at inter\-als apprehensive that the end was 
 at hand, and his sorrows were aggravated by the thought that he had brought to this 
 stonny world his most devoted brother and his second son probably to perish with him. 
 
 VOYAGE ON THE COAST OF HONDURAS. 
 
 The storm having at length partially abated, Columbus was pennitted to land from 
 time to time at inviting harbors, where he came in contact with the natives and made many 
 efforts to gain their confidence and a knowledge of their country. But in manj^ cases they 
 employed a language not understood by the interpreters, and communication with them was, 
 therefore, uncertain. The first natives that Columbus observed on the coast of Honduras 
 were generally naked and tattooed on different parts of the body with figures of the deer and 
 jaguar. But he found others who were clothed with cotton waistcoats and a few had 
 cuirasses made of the untanned skins of animals. In other places along the coast the 
 natives bedaubed their faces with ochre, so as to give them a horrible appearance, greatly 
 intensified by painting white circles around the eyes. Many of these people lived on 
 uncooked fish and preferred all their meats raw, on which account rather than from 
 ocular evidence they were believed to be cannibals. Farther eastward another tribe of 
 natives was found whose peculiarity was in their practice of boring the ears and distending 
 the orifice thus made by the insertion of pieces of bones, so that Columbus named the 
 district Costa de la Oreja, Coast of the Ear. 
 
 After departing from this latter region the vessels stood out to sea, but only to phnige 
 into another storm of exceeding severit}-. To add to the distress of the crews continuous
 
 COLUMBUS AXl) COLUMBIA. 273 
 
 raius had rotted the sails until they were unable to withstand the wind, and were blown into 
 tatters, while the caravels were so perforated b>- the teredo-worm that it required constant 
 work at the pumps to keep them afloat. Exposure and want of sleep told severely on the 
 strongest, and a majority of the men became incapacitated by sickness, while all were fairly 
 helpless from terror. "I have seen many tempests," says Columbus, "but none so violent 
 and of such long duration." Indeed from the time of leaving San Domingo his voyage 
 had been a succession of storms, culminating in one of extraordinary fury. But after forty 
 days of trials and dark forebodings they came in sight of a cape on the 14th of September, 
 and doubling this point they reached a protecting body of water and were able to make a 
 landing near the mouth of a river and attend to the necessary repairs of the ships. In 
 commemoration of this relief Columbus gave to the cape the name of Gracias a Dios, 
 or Thanks to (^od. Their stay at this place was cut short b\- a sudden swelling of the 
 ri\er, which poured down so great a flood that the vessels were swept out to sea, but 
 happily when the repairs were so far made that they were able to withstand this new 
 danger. 
 
 MAGICrANS OF THE DARIEN COAST. 
 
 Following the Mosquito shore along Darieu, ou the 25tli they came to anchor opposite 
 an Indian \illage called Cariari, where the prospect was delightful and the nati\es disposed 
 to hospitality. But Columbus mistnisted the mysterious conduct of the Indians and became 
 in turn the object of their distrust. A venerable old cacique brought two of his girls to 
 Columbus as hostages for his pacific conduct, but even this offering did not fully restore 
 confidence, for the young girls carried a magic powder with them which the Spaniards 
 dreaded as much as the Indians held in terror the writing materials of their visitors. Being 
 unable to establish mutual confidence, Columbus took his departure from Cariari and sailed 
 along Cosla Rica, the Rich Coast, landing at several places to communicate with the 
 natives. He here found many evidences of abounding gold, but the signs of a strait being 
 likewise conspicuous he did not stop long enough to fully explore the countn- for tlint 
 precious metal. 
 
 A voyage of several days towards the south failed to reveal the passage of which he was 
 in search, and the weather becoming stonny again Columbus was induced b\- the expostula- 
 tions and urgings of his crews to turn back and visit the gold mines of \'era.gua, of which 
 he had heard many wonderful reports. His next point was, therefore, Puerto Bello, where 
 he tarried two days. But upon putting to sea another fierce storm arose which prevented 
 him from regaining the harbor and left him again at the mercy of dashing wave and light- 
 ning stroke. Instead of abating after the first day the storm increased in violence, and the 
 vessels were so severely buffeted by the wild waves of a raging sea that their seams were 
 opened and the horror of a desperate situation fell upon all on board. Columbus had been 
 snff"ering such great agony from gout that the.se hardships, so long protracted, with only 
 brief intervals of relief, rendered him unfit for duty. Hut he had a small cabin built for 
 him on the forecastle deck, through the windows of which he could see from his bed all that 
 was transpiring about him. Here for eight days he watched with deepest anxiety the fall- 
 ing torrents of rain, the booming billows that pounded like battering rams against the little 
 ves-sels. and the lightnings that shot like fiery .serpents out of the sky and hurst with tli\ui- 
 dering detonations around the ships. 
 
 DEATH THREATENINGS OF A WATERSPOUT. 
 
 Before these awful jiorU-nls of frigiutui (iis.ister tin- cti-ws lost all liope ui rescue, .iiid ^i-t 
 their thoughts on heaven as the harbor towards which their souls must now be directed. Ti> 
 18
 
 274 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 add to the general terror, Father Alexandre, the Franciscan chaplain, succumbed to suffer- 
 ings to which the storm had subjected him, and in his death the superstitious sailors saw a 
 fresh proof of God's afflicting hand in determining their destruction. But the worst inci- 
 dent of this tragical and horrific tempest was yet to come, that well might frighten fear 
 itself. On the 15th of December the Admiral was startled by shrieks rising above the storm 
 din and beating surges as if all the agonies of hell had burst through some rent in the sea to 
 convey to earth an idea of the pangs visited upon lost souls. In this most appalling omen 
 — this despairing crj- that broke as it were from hearts stung b\' the darts of death — 
 Columbus forgot his own sufferings in the excitements of a new danger. He tottered to the 
 door, and sweeping the horizon with his feverish ej'es discovered the cause of the sailors' 
 consternation and affrightment. The four vessels had contrived to retain their positions, de- 
 spite the fierce winds that assailed them, and in this relative proximit}' was now a danger of 
 their engulfment together. Towards the north, less than a league away, the distressed 
 watchers perceived the breaking waves gathering into one mountainous billow, growing 
 higher and higher until its peak was whitened by a foaming cap of violent agitation. Imme- 
 diately above this high-reaching water\' summit black clouds that hung before the heavens 
 like curtains of midnight began to boil and spread out their horrid hands to grapple and 
 
 . amass the inky vapor that 
 i)roke only before the light- 
 ning's bolt. Gaining a 
 circular motion the clouds 
 whirled faster and faster un- 
 til directly the centre began 
 to fall lower and lower to 
 meet the upswirling moun- 
 tain of water, when quickly 
 an embracement occurred, 
 frightful to behold, and in a 
 death waltz the whirling 
 waterspout came rushing towards the ships. It was as if the clouds were sweeping up 
 the sea with inexorable ravenings — a. summoning of the waters of the earth before that great 
 power who had once before imprisoned the deep in the heavens to tuni it back in a deluge 
 and drown the world. 
 
 No human skill could avert the calamit)- that was threatening. Nothing but God's provi- 
 dence could restrain this Satanic manoeuvre. In an age so superstitious we are not surprised 
 that in his extremity Columbus had recourse to exorcism to compel the demons of anger and 
 calamity to yield their power, while he conjured the aid of blessed spirits to give him protec- 
 tion from the fiiries of the air. Taking six candles which had been consecrated by the church, 
 and wrapping about him the cord of St. Francis, he unsheathed his sword and, holding 
 this aloft in his right hand he held the book of the Gospels in his left, and facing the 
 water-spout read the opening chapter of St. John. Having performed this holy service he 
 spoke to the winds as if by the authority of Jesus Himself, commanding them to abate and 
 the water-spout to dissolve itself into the sea. To make this adjuration the more effecti\e 
 he described a magic circle with his sword and drew the sign of the cross therein, at which, 
 strange to relate, the water-spout seemed to swerve somewhat from its track and pass off 
 obliquely with a bellowing noise to lose itself in the immensity of the ocean. And following 
 
 COLUMUUS KXORCISIXG THE WATER-SPOUT.
 
 RECEPTION BY COLUMBUS OF CHIUH (jlIBlAN. 
 
 (275)
 
 276 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the disappearance of the water-spout curiosity iu the result is increased by the fact that 
 the raging of the sea measurably abated, and in a brief time there was a great calm. 
 
 On the 6th of Januar)^, 1503, the squadron had regained the coast and entered the 
 mouth of a river, which in honor of the feast day Columbus called the Bcleii, or 
 Bethlehem, which was scarcely more than a league from \'eragua. The extraordinary- 
 difficulties which had attended the voyage from Puerto Bello to \'eragua may be understood 
 when we consider the fact that the distance was less than a hundred miles, and yet to 
 traverse it required the labors and sufferings of nearly a month, during which inter\-al 
 Columbus had passed through more privations and anxieties than perhaps he had ever before 
 experienced. 
 
 A VISIT FROM A TREACHEROUS CHIEF. 
 
 At the mouth of the Helen was a considerable Indian village, the inhabitants of w'hich 
 made a show of hostile intent at the effort of the Spaniards to land. But Columbus con- 
 trived through the interpreter to make them understand that his object in visiting them 
 was to open a trade to their advantage. At these assurances they laid down their arms and 
 accorded a welcome to their visitors, and after the iirst greetings were exchanged they 
 became quite civil and traded several large pieces of gold to the Spaniards for hawk-bells 
 and other European trinkets. A few da}s later Don Bartholomew, taking with him some 
 of the more courageous spirits of the expedition, ascended the river to the residence of the 
 cacique of the country, who was known among the natives b\- the name of Quibian. This 
 chief welcomed him with a hearty spirit of cordiality and accompanied his peaceful o\"er- 
 tures with presents of gold ornaments, and was more than content with such gewgaws as were 
 given him in return. The chief also accompanied his visitors back to the vessels and was 
 induced to come on board, when the Admiral gave him a reception, had his musicians per- 
 form several pieces, and after showing him through the caravel made him man\- presents of 
 such trinkets as mirrors and hawk -bells. But suddenly some suspicion arose in the mind 
 of the cacique, and without stopping to give any explanation of his conduct he left the vessel 
 abruptl}-, nor could he be persuaded to return. On the following day Don Bartholomew, at 
 the head of sevent\- men, made a second trip of several miles into the interior to explore the 
 country and ascertain its products. He found some indications of gold and was assured 
 that at the distance of twenty days' journey beyond there existed gold mines of large extent 
 and exceeding richness, a report which the Spaniards were anxious to confirm by 
 • investigation. 
 
 Since his physical condition as well as need of supplies prevented Columbus from con- 
 tinuing his search for the conjectured strait, he decided to establish a military post at the 
 mouth of the river, while he himself would return to Castile to procure reinforcements and 
 supplies, with the intent of accomplishing a permanent occupation of the gold-bearing 
 country. He therefore conciliated some of the inferior chiefs by liberal presents, and 
 gained their consent thereby to the building of a fortress on their lands. After completing 
 the post he left a garrison of eighty men under the command of Don Bartholomew in 
 charge of the fortress, and also a caravel for their use iu cas3 it became necessary for them 
 to abandon the countrv. Having settled everything satisfactorilv, Columbus raised his 
 anchors preparatory to departing with the other two vessels. But iu the meantime the 
 water in the river had become so shallow that he was compelled to wait until rains came to 
 swell it to the necessary depth to enable him to pass over the bar at the river mouth. 
 
 Meanwhile Quibian, learning that a settlement had been formed on his territory, 
 resoh'ed to attack the Spaniards unawares and burn their ships, a vague report of which plot
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 277 
 
 reached Columbus, but the particulars were wantiug, uor could Columbus detenniue iu his 
 own mind the cause of this hostile purpose. 
 
 PERILOUS UNDERTAKING OF TWO SPANISH SPIES. 
 Diego Meudez and Rodrigo Jl' liscubar, wliosc bra\er) and sagacity had already ser\'ed 
 Columbus in the most perilous extremities, and were to g^ve services no less valuable there- 
 after, volunteered to enter the Indian camp as spies and ascertain the plans and intents of 
 the enemy, a puqwse which, hazardous as it was, Columbus gladly accepted, for upon their 
 
 success depended the fate of 
 the expedition. The two 
 proceeded up the river a 
 short way until the>- came 
 upon two Indians whom 
 they engaged, by signs and 
 such speech as they had 
 mastered, to convey them in 
 a canoe to the residence of 
 Quibian, which was upon 
 the river bank. Though the 
 \oyage was hazardous to a 
 degree, the two resolute 
 spies succeeded in reaching 
 the cacique's capital without 
 accident, but they found the 
 village in a great state of 
 agitation through warlike 
 preparations, and danger 
 signs were obser\able on 
 every side. The audacity 
 of the adventurers seems to 
 have fairl\- appalled the 
 natives for a time, but re- 
 covering from their suq^rise 
 they manifested a murderous 
 disposition which, however, 
 Mendez restrained b\ rep- 
 resenting himself as a surgeon come to cure an arrow 
 wound in the leg of Quibian, who had been shot in an 
 engagement three days before. By this subterfuge the two 
 ^'^^^^ pas.sed on up the crest of a hill to the cacique's mansion, 
 which occupied a levef space of .some dimensions, around which were arranged the skulls 
 and decaying heads of three hundred enemies killed in battle. Even this horrible sight 
 failed to e.xcite great fear in the mind of the intrepid Mendez; but scarcely had he 
 cros.sed the court when a powerful son of Quibian rushed out and dealt the coiirageons 
 Spaniard a blow in the face that knocked him backward, though not prostrate. 
 This assault Mendez thought it nnadvisable to resent, but rather to emplo> pacific 
 mea-sures to accomplish his ends. With this purpose he sought to conciliate the young 
 nnn's an<nr 1,v gentle words and by .showing him a box of ointment which would cure 
 
 MENDEZ ASSAULTED BY THE CHTEF S 
 SON. 

 
 278 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 his father's wound. These overtures serving to make him amenable to other advances, 
 Mendez presented the belligerent youth with a looking-glass, comb and pair of scissors, 
 and showed him how to use the articles to improve his looks. Under the influence of 
 these gifts the young man became not only tractable but even friendly, though no 
 amount of persuasion availed to gain admittance to the chief But being permitted 
 to freely mingle with the Indians, ^lendez and Kscobar succeeded in discovering 
 particulars of the designs of Ouibian to assault and burn the ships, after which the\- re- 
 turned in safety and apprised the Admiral fully of the plot, who took action at once to 
 circumvent and punish the treacherous natives. The chief and several of his principal 
 men were arrested by Don Bartholomew, who descended suddenh- upon them with a force 
 of eighty men. But through the negligence of the officer charged with his care Ouibian 
 contrived to make his escape, a result which the Spaniards did not serioush- deplore, for 
 they felt that their ends had been as effectually accomplished by a dispersion of the natives 
 and the arrest of the chief as though he had been severely punished for his perfidv. 
 
 On the 6th of April the river Belen had risen to a stage of water permitting the passage 
 of the ships, and the Admiral accordingly prepared to take his departure. Sixty of the men 
 who had been left for garrison duty came out in a long boat to bid their comrades in the ship 
 adieu, leaving only twenty men with Don Bartholomew to guard the fortress, and these were 
 scattered, some on the banks of the river and others through the country in aimless wander- 
 ings. The lesson which the Spaniards had supposed Ouibian had learned by his arrest did 
 not prove so salutary as they had fancied, for seeing his advantage in the temporary diminu- 
 tion of the garrison he gathered his force of about four hundred natives and surrounded the 
 camp. Fortunately before making the attack the Indians filled the air with their cries, 
 which gave the Spaniards timely warning and opportunity to arm themselves to meet their 
 assailants. The result of the battle which followed was the killing of nineteen Indians and 
 the taking captive of fifty others, who were con\'e}-ed to one of the caravels and imprisoned 
 in the hold as hostages, but in the encounter seven of the Spaniards wei'e wounded, two of 
 whom died on the following day. Don Bartholomew also received an arrow wound in the 
 breast but not sufficiently serious to render confinement to his quarters necessary. 
 
 MASSACRE OF ELEVEN SPANIARDS. 
 
 But this tragic incident was only the prelude to one which proved very much more 
 serious; for on the following day Diego Tristan was sent up the river in one of the ship's 
 boats with eleven men to procure a supply of fresh water, though he proceeded against the 
 remonstrances of Diego Mendez, who was well acquainted with the character of the Indians 
 and had made him.self fairly fluent in their tongue. Tristan felt secure, however, with the 
 force at his command, falsely reckoning that the natives had met with such disaster in their 
 conflict with the Spaniards that tlic}- would hardly hazard another engagement 
 at any odds. The consequence was that when he reached the place that afforded fresh 
 water his boat was surrounded bv Indians, some of whom were on shore and others in canoes, 
 who fell upon the Spaniards with such surprise and impetuosit}- that all but one were massa- 
 cred, and this sole survivor onlv escaped bv the strategy of swimming under water to the 
 opposite shore. 
 
 This tragic event distressed Columbus so much that he could not pre^■ail upon himself 
 to leave under circumstances which would appear as an abandonment of the feeble garrison 
 to the implacable hostility of an innumerable number of infuriated savages. 
 
 On account of the boisterousness of the sea communication with the shore was impos- 
 sible, hence Columbus was left without information as to what was being done at the for-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 •J7i> 
 
 tress. But he felt the insecurity of tlie men, thouj^h lie had hopes that the Indians would 
 not make an attack on account of the fifty prisoners who were detained as hosta},a's on board 
 his caravel. Ever>- evening these captives were shut up in the forecastle of the vessel, the 
 hatchway of which wiis secured by a strong chain and padlock. Hut one night the Spaniards 
 
 neglected to fasten the chains, which fact came nnstcriously 
 to the knowledge of the Indians, who collected a number of 
 stones from the ballast of the vessel, witli which they made a 
 heap sufficiently high to allow the men to exert their strength 
 against the un.securcd hatcliway. Several of the most jKnverful 
 warriors mounted on the top and bending their backs, by 
 
 MASSACRE OF DIEGO TRISTAN AND PARTY. 
 
 simultaneous effort forced up the __ '*'^^_^ S. '-xf*^ 
 
 hatch, flinging the .sailors who slept --*' " - 
 
 on it to the opposite side of the vessel. Having thus gained their liberty, several of them 
 plunged into the sea and swam ashore. Others, howe\er, were less fortunate, and being 
 seized on the deck were forced back into their jirison quarters and the precaution of lock- 
 ing them in was then attended to. Wliat was the surjjrise of the officers, however, when 
 distributing the rations early in the morning to find that during the night the imprisoned 
 Indians had strangled themselves in their despair. Thus the situation was dreadfully
 
 280 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 complicated, for those who escaped would coniinunicate to their friends on shore the situa- 
 tion on shipboard, while the suicide of the prisoners would be calculated to ner\-e the 
 natives to a greater determination to avenge them. 
 
 MARVELLOUS EXPLOIT OF A BISCAYAN. 
 In the fear that the Indians would now attack the garrison, Columbus was determined 
 in some way to apprise his brother of the circumstances and put him on his guard. The 
 rough sea, however, still precluded the possibility of a boat living to reach the shore, so 
 Columbus was deeply distressed in mind how he should communicate the necessary intel- 
 ligence, imtil a sailor named Pedro de Ledesma, a Biscajan, volunteered to swim through 
 the breakers if the boat would take him sufficiently near. This proposal was eagerly 
 seized upon, and the brave sailor successfully accomplished his hazardous undertaking. 
 Reaching the camp unexpectedly he was received with the greatest joy as a liberator of 
 the garrison. 
 
 The intrepid and herculean Ledesma found his countn,'men in a deplorable situation, 
 shut up in their fortress, for the time safe from their savage foes, but contemplating with 
 
 horror the hour when pro- 
 visions should fail them and 
 their ammunition be expended. 
 Their alann was also intensi- 
 fied b}' the depressing news 
 of the tras:ic death of DiegfO 
 Tristan and his companions, 
 whose swollen bodies were 
 now beginning to drift by 
 on the stream, objects of 
 contention among a thou- 
 sand carrion birds. The men 
 therefore surrounded Ledesma and in frantic terms pleaded with him to urge the 
 Admiral to save them from the certain destruction which awaited them if they continued 
 in that deadly place. Already they had been preparing to debark in canoes and gain the 
 ships, a desperate undertaking only delayed by the high rolling surf and tempestuous 
 weather. Further they declared that if the Admiral abandoned them they would embark 
 in the caravel that was left as soon as it could be floated over the bar. 
 
 Having received these gloomy and desperate reports from the beleaguered garrison, 
 Ledesma set out on his return and succeeded again in passing the mad breakers in which it 
 appeared that no human being could sustain himself a moment, and gained the ships, where 
 he communicated the ominous tidings to Columbiis. In such a situation some action was 
 imperative, for to leave the men on shore would expose Don Bartholomew to the fur}' of a 
 mutiny and end in a destruction of the settlement. There was no other alternative presented, 
 therefore, than to embark the people, a thing which was impossible in the present turbulent 
 state of the sea. The position of the ships was also perilous, subjected as they were to 
 the hard-beating waves which threatened their annihilation, crazy, worm-eaten, rotten, as 
 they were. 
 
 Anguished in mind, debilitated by age and wrecked with physical suffering, Columbus 
 became affected by a diseased imagination, and in this disturbed condition he beheld a 
 vision, which he described in a letter to his sovereigns as an angelic admonition and 
 encouragement conveyed in the similittide of a dream. This he regarded as a direct 
 
 A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING.
 
 COLUxMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 L\S1 
 
 revelation and it gave liiiii slrcnytli to bear the misfortune which had wasted his energies 
 and hopes ahnost to the limit of despair. Under this inspiration, as soon as the gale sulj- 
 sided he set about the extrication of his people. The caravel within the river's mouth w;is 
 abandoned through inability to bring her over the bar, but by lashing canoes together a 
 raft was made on which was conveyed the munitions, stores and men of the fortress to the 
 two ships in waiting, after which the imprisoned caravel was dismantled and such of her 
 equipment as was useful was towed out and put on board the vessels. When the men found 
 themselves freed from their perilous position and safe on the ships with their comrades they 
 manifested the wildest joy, giving themselves up to the most exuberant transports, 
 embracing each other in a ver>- deliriinn of ecstasy and offering up praters of gratitude and 
 thanksgiving. Diego Mendez had superintended the embarkation and had otherwise 
 rendered such efficient ser\-ice that Columbus appointed him to the command of one of the 
 caravels in place of Diego Tristan, who had perished at the hands of the Indians, as described.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE ILL-FATED EXPEDITION FROM VERAGUA. 
 
 FTER incredible sufferings and unexampled perils, costing the 
 lives of a dozen brave Spaniards, it was with unspeakable 
 joy that towards the end of September, Columbus took his 
 departure from the accursed coast of Veragua and proceeded 
 on his course for Hispaniola, which it was necessar}' to reach 
 as quickly as possible to repair the ships and procure pro- 
 visions. Bad weather continued, however, and the extra- 
 ordinary' number of tempests that they had encountered 
 terrified the imaginations of the crews, who became per- 
 suaded in their minds that the Indians possessed some wondrous 
 power of magic, and by a practice of their black arts had raised 
 the stonns and in the end would accomplish their destruction. 
 Finally, after thirty leagues had been accomplished, one of the 
 caravels was found to be leaking so badly that it was necessary- to 
 abandon her, some time being lost in transferring her equipment 
 to the two remaining ships. 
 
 ACCUMULATING MISFORTUNES. 
 But even in this sorry condition the Admiral still had a yearning to prosecute his 
 search for the strait which he believed would surely lead him to the opulent country- of 
 Cathay. To pursue this desire, however, it was necessary for him to practice some decep- 
 tion, as his crews would have objected and possibly mutinied had they known of his per- 
 sistence in seeking for that which they were now confident did not exist. But Columbus 
 himself, overmastered by the situation which confronted him, presently abandoned his purpose, 
 appreciative of the dejected state of his sailors, enfeebled as they were by their privations 
 and fatigue. Thus steering north they proceeded until near the vicinity of the Queen's 
 Gardens, when they were assailed by another tempest and in a few hours had lost suc- 
 cessively three anchors and sustained a collision between the two vessels, in which both 
 were greatly injured, and it was almost a miracle that they were not destro3-ed. At length 
 they contrived to reach the coast of Cubu, at Macaco, where the)- rested a while and suc- 
 ceeded in procviring a few provisions, when they set sail again, endeavoring to beat up 
 to Hispaniola against the force of contrary' winds. The S^. /ames, one of the caravels, 
 was compelled to run into a port, while the Capifana, the other vessel, unable to gain the 
 shore, was so buffeted that she was upon the point of foundering. Notwithstanding the 
 fact that the pumps were worked with all the energy that the crew could command, the 
 water had risen to the deck and in another twenty-four hours the vessel would have 
 undoubtedly sunk had she not, by what Columbus always declared was a miracle, reached 
 the land in a sheltered coac. 
 
 At this point necessar)' repairs were made and on the 23d of June the two vessels 
 pushed on to the northern coast of Jamaica, along which they sailed a considerable dis- 
 
 (2S2)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 283 
 
 tance until they reached a beautiful harbor which he had discovered on a pre\'ioTis \-ov- 
 age, and to which he had given the ai:)propriate name of ^anla Gloria, Holy Glory. 
 Here the two caravels, which had been reduced almost to wrecks and were upon the point 
 of sinking, were fastened together and run aground. 
 
 As the indications now pointed to a considerable stay at this place, some thatched 
 cabins were erected on the forecastles and stems of the two vessels in which the crews 
 managed to make themselves comfortable, while Diego Mendez went on shore to obtain a 
 supply of provisions from the caciques. But Columbus knew the fickle and untrust- 
 worthy character of the natives with whom he had now to deal. While they 
 apparently cheerfully furnished a supply of provisions their sinister conduct was such as 
 to give him much uneasiness ; for he appreciated the defenceless position in which he had 
 thus been unhappily placed. The nati\es were exceedingly numerous and were provided 
 with many large war canoes, which plainly indicated that they were a people little disposed 
 to peace and were most probably in open hostility the greater part of the time with their 
 neighbors. 
 
 A LETTER REFLECTING THE ADMIRAL'S DESPAIR. 
 
 Tlie caravels could not be put to sea again, and as all the ma.ster carpenters had 
 perisliL-d in the disaster of the 6th of .\pril hope of building another ship could not be en- 
 tertained. Xot only was the Admiral thus greatl}' concerned for liis safety, but he knew not 
 how to procure aid or any means of making known to the Queen his discover}- of the gold 
 mines of \'eragua, or of the countries which he had taken possession of in the name of their 
 Catholic Majesties. Notwithstanding the fact that there seemed no possible means of trans- 
 mitting a message, should he take the pains to prepare one, Columbus nevertheless con- 
 cerned himself with the making of an elaborate report, probably trusting to some miracle 
 for the means of its deliverance. In this letter he detailed at great lengtli not only the 
 discoveries he had made, but all the incidents which had befallen him from the time of 
 his departure from Spain until his arrival in his wrecked vessels at the harbor of Santa 
 Gloria. The utter despair which lie felt at this time is indicated by the closing words of 
 his letter, which are as follows : "I have hitherto wept for others, but now have pity on 
 me, and O earth, weep for me ! Weep for me whoever has charity, truth and justice." 
 
 Ten days passed after the penning of this communication, and nothing occurring to 
 relieve the an.xiety of his situation, Columbus called to a private conference Diego Mendez, 
 ill whom his chief confidence was now reposed. At this inter\iew (as reported by de 
 Lorgues) he affectionately addressed that daring sailor as follows : " My son, none of those 
 who are here but you and I know the danger in which we are placed. We are few in 
 number while these savage Indians are many and of irritable and fickle natures. On the 
 slightest provocation they could easily from the land set fire to our stmw-thatchcd cabins and 
 bum us all. The arrangement we have made with lliein for supplying us with provisions, 
 and which the>- now fulfil with so much cheerfulness, may not continue acceptable to them, 
 and it would not be surprising if to-morrow the\' brought us nothing ; nor have we the 
 means of compelling them by force to supply us, but are left entirely at their pleasure. I 
 have thought of a means of rescuing us if it meets with your views ; in the canoe you pur- 
 chased some one may venture to pass over to Hispaniola and tlicre procure a ship by which 
 we all mav be delivered from the perilous situation in which we are placed. Tell me your 
 opinion of the matter." 
 
 Mendez replied : " Sen or, the danger that threatens us is, I well know, far greater than 
 is imagined. As to the project of passing from this island to Hispaniola in so small a vessel
 
 284 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 as a canoe I hold it not only extremely difficult, but even impossible ; and I know not who 
 there is would venture to run the extreme risk of traversing a gulf of forty leagues between 
 islands where the sea is so extreme!}- impetuous. ' ' 
 
 Notwithstanding the declaration of Mendez as to the impossibility of performing such 
 a hazardous passage, the silence which now ensued and the dejected and hopeless appearance 
 of Columbus on receiving this opinion prompted the brave sailor to offer himself as a sacri- 
 fice if need be to any of the designs which the Admiral might entertain. He thereupon 
 advised Columbus to assemble all his men on deck the following day and call for some 
 volunteers who would undertake the perilous enterprise. Adopting this advice Columbus 
 did as Mendez had recommended, but the men regarded his proposal with astonishment, de- 
 claring it the height of rashness, whereupon the intrepid Mendez stepped forward and said : 
 " Sefior, I have but one life, yet I am willing to hazard it for the ser\ace of )'our Excellency 
 and the good of all here present, because I hope that God, seeing the intention that governs 
 me, will preserve me, as he has already done so many times." 
 
 A JOURNEY OF EXTRAORDINARY PERIL. 
 
 No man could appreciate a sacrifice like this more keenly than Columbus, and taking 
 the noble IVIendez to his bosom he embraced him fervently, and then looking upward, he 
 said, " I have a firm confidence that our Lord God will enable you to overcome all the dan- 
 gers that threaten. ' ' The courage of Mendez excited others of the Spaniards with a noble 
 emulation, and several now came forward and signified their desire to accompany him. 
 Through this means thirteen other Spaniards \-olunteered their services, and in two canoes 
 and with six Indians in each as oarsmen they set out on their perilous voyage. 
 
 Fortunately the sky was clear and the surface of the sea was unruffled, giving propitious 
 commencement to a vo}-age more hazardous than perhaps was ever before or since under- 
 taken by any man. Their progress, however, was very slow and the Indians presently be- 
 gan to suffer exceedingly from thirst as well as from exhaustion. They had hoped to reach 
 a small island called Navassa, which lay in their route, where they might obtain water and 
 find refreshment and a short repose. But the third night passed without anj- sight of the 
 expected land, while their privations had so increased that one of the Indians died and the 
 other'- were so completeh- prostrated that the Spaniards had themselves to take the oars. 
 The-\- had almost abandoned hope in their extremity of suffering when Mendez discovered 
 at break of day a dark line on the horizon, which through God's providence, proved to be 
 the island of Navassa. Here an abundance of water was obtained, but some of the Indians, 
 who could not be restrained, drank so immoderately that they died on the spot, while half 
 the Spaniards gorged themselves to the point of serious illness. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL ACCOMPLISHMENT OF MErjDEZ'S MISSION. 
 
 Having reposed for several hours on the shores of Nava.ssa the voyagers re-entered their 
 canoes and by rowing hard during the night they reached a point called Cape St. Michael, 
 on the shore of Hispaniola, where they were hospitably received by the natives, who sup- 
 plied them abundantly with provisions and administered to all their comforts. The ex- 
 haustion of the Spaniards, hov^^ever, was so great when they had reached this point that 
 Mendez rested for two days before beginning his journey to San Domingo. During this 
 stay he fortunateh' learned that Ovando, who was now governor-general of Hispaniola, was 
 in Xaragna, and accordingly he proceeded to that place to make his reports and to request 
 the assistance of which Columbus stood distressingly in need. 
 
 Though it had required only three days for these intrepid voyagers to make the pas- 
 sage to Hispaniola, so imminent had been the peril that Captain Fiesco, who had accom-
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 285 
 
 piuiied Mendez as commander of one of tlie crews, could not induce any of his comrades to 
 return with him to Santa Gloria and report to Colnmbiis the success of their undertakinj^, 
 considering that they had accomplished it through the interposition of Providence and that 
 to attempt a return would be like challenging fate. Accordingly they accompanied Mendez 
 to Xaragua and thence to San Domingo. 
 
 A secret presentiment .seemed to assure Columbus that Diego Mendez had arrived 
 safely in Hispaniola, and though his return was not so soon as had been expected he 
 made his submission to the 
 Divine will and used all his arts 
 to soothe the secret irritations 
 that agitated the minds of his 
 sailors. But privations and sick- 
 ness, as well as unheard of 
 fatigues, created dissensions 
 among the crews, who were con- 
 fined to limited quarters and 
 compelled to support life on a 
 meagre subsistence. They ac- 
 cordingly began to ascribe all 
 their sufferings to faults com- 
 mitted by Columbus, and to these 
 disafifections serious accusations 
 were soon added by those who 
 constituted themselves the ring- 
 leaders of the dislo\alt}' which 
 was now to flagranti)- manifest 
 itself 
 
 Columbus, while apprised of 
 these mutterings and nnitinous 
 spirit, nevertheless diligently em- 
 ployed himself looking after the 
 welfare of the men and adminis- 
 tering to the sufferings of those 
 who were prostrated. But the 
 mildness of his manner, the 
 assurance of his speech, and the 
 kindly disposition with which he 
 treated those who were shar- 
 ing with him the unfortunate 
 situation did not serve to restrain 
 the guilty disposition of those 
 who had conceived a violent 
 enmity for the connnander. 
 Finally, on the 2d of Januar>-, 1504, a seaman named De Porras placed liimsclf at the liead 
 of fort>'-eight adherents and arose in open revolt. Their first purpose was to kill 
 Columbus, and they were only restrained from this wicked act by the fear that the 
 crime would be severely punished by the sovereigns and by the courageous front which 
 
 nON HAKTHOI.OMKW I)i:rKNI>INt". HIS llKiiTHl.k Ai.MNM' Till. 
 Ml'TINKKRS.
 
 286 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Don Bartholomew opposed to the mutineers ; but taking six canoes which the Admiral 
 had purchased from the Indians, and storing these with arms and provisions, they abandoned 
 the Admiral and the few sick and infinn who were unable to accompany them. 
 
 HORRIBLE CRUELTY OF THE MUTINEERS. 
 The departure of these mutineers was not made with signs of regret or the bidding of 
 farewells, but with shouts of defiance and revilings, and not before they had incensed the 
 Indians by violent appropriation of much of their property. Thus Columbus became 
 exposed to the anger of the natives who he believed would hold him accountable for the 
 outrae-es of the 
 
 disloyal m e n 
 who had aban- 
 d o n e d him. 
 But he bravely 
 bore up against 
 these added 
 wrongs and 
 thouoh scarcely 
 able to support 
 
 his own ph}'sical infinnities he exerted 
 himself to relieve the jDains and ill- 
 ness of those more helpless than he for whom he felt the tenderest s^-mpathies. 
 
 De Porras at the head of his followers set out in ten canoes and proceeded along the 
 coast until they gained the eastern extremity of the island, when, unwilling to trust their 
 own skill in the management of the canoes, the rebels prevailed upon several Indians, by liberal 
 gifts and many promises, to accompany them, and when at length the weather was favorable 
 they set out for Hispaniola. 
 
 Scarcely had the canoe squadron gained a league seaward when a contrar\- wind arose, 
 followed by rapid swelling of the sea, which became so threatening that they turned towards 
 the shore. But now a fresh trouble confronted them. The canoes being without keels and 
 heavily loaded it was impossible to so manage them as to prevent the waves from dashing 
 Over, nor could vigorous baling long keep them afloat unless some remedy were applied.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 287 
 
 The cause for alann growing with the increasing wind, the mutineers threw overboaid ever>- 
 thing that could be spared. But this siicrifice of stores being insufficient to prevent the con- 
 tinued shipping of water they compelled all the Indians to fling themselves into the sea, 
 except a few who were needed to paddle the canoes. If any refused to obe\- this order they 
 were thrust out b\- the sword or lance, and being too far from shore to risk an attempt to 
 gain it by swimming the poor Indians kept by the canoes, grasping at the sides when their 
 strength was spent. The Spaniards, fearing that these efforts at self-preservation would 
 result in overtuniing the canoes, savagely cut off the hands of the swimmers, or more 
 humanely stabbed them to death with their swoids ; so that in this way eighteen of the 
 Indians miserably perished, none surviving save those who had been retained to do the work 
 of paddling. 
 
 By sacrificing their stores and murdering nearly all the natives who served them in the 
 desperate undertaking to reach Hispaniola, the wretched band regained the coast of 
 Jamaica, enraged at the miscarriage of their own crimes. Dissatisfaction now began to 
 show itself, and some of the mutineers were in favor of returning to Columljus and, 
 confessing the evil of their conduct, implore his forgiveness; but a majority resented this 
 proposal, preferring to lead a life of lawlessness and the indulgence of a riotbus license 
 which opportunit)- now offered, since they could force subsistence from the Indians and 
 compel them to minister to their licentious passions. Thus the\' went from village to 
 village despoiling the natives and committing all manner of excesses, e.xcitiug in their 
 victims not only a hatred of themseh-es but of all Spaniards. 
 
 It was not long before Columbus began to experience the effects of the marauding 
 incursions of the mutineers. The Indians, considering him as in sympath)' with the free- 
 booters, through being of the same race, exhibited a waning'confidence and gradually reduced 
 the offerings of provisions until presently they broke off all intercourse, leaving Columbus 
 and his feeble followers to face a threatened famine. To add to the dangers of his situation 
 there was the fear of an uprising of the natives, who were beginning to manifest a disposition 
 to hostility. In this emergency, calculated to quicken the wits of a resourceful man, 
 Columbus conceived a happy expedient for restraining not only any evil desigfus which the 
 Indians might have, but also for regaining their confidence and assistance. By some 
 means unreported, Columbus had knowledge of a total eclipse of the moon about to occur, 
 and he concluded to utilize this event to impress the natives with the belief that it was a 
 mysterious portent of the sky sent as a forewarning of the Great Spirit's intent to punish 
 them for having withdrawn their hospitality from the white or celestial strangers who had 
 visited their shores. 
 
 THE NATIVES AWED BY AN ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. 
 
 To carrv his scheme into effect he sent his interpreters to the neighboring caciques to 
 reveal to them the calamity of famine and pestilence which would be swiftly sent upon 
 them as a visitation of Divine anger. As an evidence of the tnith of this prophecy he 
 declared that at a certain hour on the second night following the moon would gradually 
 pale and then fade entirely away in the hea\ens. 
 
 The natives at first treated this direful prediction with disregard. But at the time 
 appointed the most dreadful fear fell upon them, a.s looking towards the star-spangletl vault 
 of a clear sky they perceived a shadow deep and awful spreading across the moon, and 
 before the obscuration was complete the villages and forests were resonant with waitings 
 and cries to the Great Spirit for mercy. In response to their appeals Columb)is offered to 
 lift his voice in prayerful petition to the world's Master to grant deliverance to the natives
 
 288 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 on condition that they would supply him and his people generously with food and continue 
 faithful in their friendship as long as he remained among them. To this condition there 
 was a imiversal assent and with a thankfulness which showed the depth of their sincerity. 
 Thereupon Columbus retired to his cabin and remained until the moon emerged brightly 
 from the earth's penumbra, and when he ventured forth it was to be liailed by the grateful 
 Indians as one who possessed the special favor of the Deity, and their promises they accord- 
 ing faithfully fulfilled. 
 
 ANOTHER MUTINY DISPELLED BY THE SIGHT OF A SHIP. 
 But though their immediate wants were supplied, the followers of Columbus still had 
 much to complain of, for their quarters were both small and insecure, while sickness became 
 
 Tin; .\ \Ti\-i:s AWicii i;\' ^x i.ci.irbi. 
 
 a 1I!1'. MOON. 
 
 SO general among them that they grew first despondent and then irritable. So long a time 
 had elapsed since Mendez and Fiesco had departed on their hazardous journey to obtain relief 
 that the impression prevailed the}- had perished, nor could the kindness and assurances of 
 Columbus dispel the gloomy, despairing thoughts of his restless men. Out of this irritation 
 soon sprang another mutinous spirit, inider the incitements of two leaders named respec- 
 tively De Zamora and De Villatoro, who decided to seize the remaining canoes and in 
 them endeavor to make a passage to Hispaniola. But almost at the moment when their 
 plan was to be executed the white sails of a vessel were seen in the offin-g, and a few 
 moments later it was discovered to be bearing towards the harbor of Santa Gloria. At 
 this gracious sight the voice of murmuring became hushed and joyful anticipations, 
 replaced the despondency which had harassed the stranded explorers so many weeks.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 289 
 
 Nearer came the vessel; but when it rcach'-d the harbor entrance anchor was cast and 
 a boat lowered in which an officer with half a dozen seamen came ashore. The ship 
 proved to be one sent by Ovaudo in command of Diego de Escobar, a renegade who had 
 been a follower of Roldan and once condemned to death by Columbus. The boat came 
 close to the stranded ship but without debarking Escobar deli\ered his message from 
 Ovando and waited until Columbus could write a reph-. He then deposited in a boat a 
 cask of wine and a side of bacon as presents from Ovando, after which he took his depart- 
 ure without even so much as giving a promise to relieve the sulTering men at any future 
 time. 
 
 The circumstance of a ship being sent by Ovando to the stranded explorers was proof 
 that Mendez had successfully performed his mission, but in Escobar's refusal to extend 
 relief or transport them to San Domingo the men affected to discover more evil designs. 
 Columbus, while sharing the despondency of his followers, sought to revive them by assur- 
 ances that his letter from Ovando contained a promise that a large ship would be sent to 
 their aid as soon as it could be made ready, and excused his neglect to rescue them immedi- 
 ateh- by the statement that he had no suitable vessel at hand for the purpose. 
 
 Feeling the need of increasing his force, and appreciating the importance of con- 
 ciliating the friendship of the natives, harassed as they were by the outrages of the 
 mutineers, Columbus sent to the rebels, as an offering of good will, a piece of bacon left 
 by Escobar, exhorting them to return under promise to remit their crimes with a full par- 
 don and an agreement to give them a place on the ship which he said would soon be sent for 
 his deliverance. But De Porras was so distrustful that when he learnt of the approach of the 
 agents of Columbus he took care that they should not have communication with anj- but him- 
 self. He told the men that he had no desire to return to the Admiral; that his party were 
 fully satisfied with their condition and desired only to be left alone in peace. But he added 
 that in case two ships of rescue should arrive Columbus should give him and his followers 
 one of them with half the stores and provisions, and he followed this suggestion with a 
 threat that if this were not done they would come and take it for themselves. Such was 
 the communication which De Porras returned to the peaceful overtures that were made 
 by Columbus. But to satisfy his followers, whose fidelity he did not fully trust, he declared 
 to them that the purpose of the Admiral was simply to get them into his power and tlien 
 punish them for their laudable endeavor to save themselves from the certain death which 
 awaited them had they remained on the stranded vessels. He further treated the story of 
 the visit of a ship from Ovando as a delusion and a snare. He said that Columbus was 
 in league with the powers of darkness and a practicer of the black art. The ship that had 
 seemed to approach the harbor was nothing therefore but a phanton; conjured to deceive 
 the men who had remained faithful to him. He counselled his followers further, that the 
 only way remaining to them was to fall upon Columbus and his minions, take them 
 prisoners, and then conduct their afifairs with respect to the one great question of escaping 
 from tHe island. 
 
 A BATTLE WITH THE MUTINEERS. 
 
 The effect of these misrepresentations was all that De Porras could desire. The rebels 
 rallied to his call and made a descent upon the stranded vessels with the intention of eitlier 
 taking Columbus prisoner or killing him outright. But their murderous scheme was discov- 
 ered by some friendly Indians who brought information of the plot to the .Vdmiral, who 
 assembled fifty of his trusted soldiers under the command of Don Bartholomew, and sent 
 them out to repel the attack. When the two forces approached each other on the 19th of 
 
 19
 
 290 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 May (1504), Bartholomew, acting under the Admiral's direction, sent messengers to confer 
 with the insurgents aud offer terms of settlement. But these De Porras refused to hear, 
 confident in his ability to execute his purpose. The first aim of the rebels was to kill Bar- 
 tholomew, and for this purpose six of the most intrepid followers were stationed about De 
 Porras with instructions to follow him into the fight. The attack was accordingly made 
 directly upon Don Bartholomew himself But this courageous man, who was an intrepid 
 fighter as well as a great commander, received his assailants with such vigor that several 
 of the rebels fell dead under the blows of his sword. Having disposed of the first antago- 
 nists- he came face to face with De Porras himself, and a personal duel was fought in which, 
 at the first pass, Don Bartholomew was wounded through the buckler. But the sword for- 
 tunately hung in a cleft and seizing his enemy in his powerful grasp Don Bartholomew over- 
 mastered him, but sparing the wretch's life was satisfied to take him prisoner. No sooner 
 had their leader fallen thus early in the fray than the insurgents withdrew, leaving Don 
 Bartholomew to return in triumph to the Admiral, bringing De Porras and a half-dozen 
 other prisoners. When De Porras was brought before Columbus he no doubt expected a 
 punishment commensurate with his crimes. But humane and generous impulses were 
 always predominant in the heart of the Admiral, and instead of executing him on the spot, 
 as he might justly have done, he was satisfied to hold him a prisoner and even extend a 
 proposition of surrender to the other mutineers, promising freely to pardon and receive them 
 into his service as before, which magnanimous proposal they were glad to accept. But as a 
 measure of pnidence Columbus deemed it advisable to hold De Porras a prisoner until such 
 time as he could be tried and convicted according to law. 
 
 RELIEF AT LAST. 
 
 About the time that affairs were thus reduced to quiet in Jamaica, the long-expected 
 succor came in the form of two ships well supplied for the deliverance of the stranded 
 Spaniards. A year had now elapsed since the departure of Mendez in the almost forlorn 
 hope of reaching Hispaniola by canoe. During this time he had assiduously agitated 
 the rescue of the Admiral and his companions. It is the opinion of Las Casas that public 
 sentiment in Hispaniola gradually bore more and more heavily upon Ovando for his seem- 
 ing neglect of his great countryman in his distress, and the time came when the governor 
 was constrained to make a virtue of necessity by sending out a relief expedition from San 
 Domingo to Jamaica. 
 
 One of the ships ordered for this purpose had been equipped by Diego Mendez himself 
 out of the revenues due Columbus, and to him was therefore entrusted the command, while 
 the other was committed to Diego de Salcedo, who had been one of the Admiral's officers at 
 San Domingo. On the 28th of June (1504) the two vessels arrived at the harbor of Santa 
 Gloria and the long stranded mariners were taken on board with their few remaining effects, 
 and the sails were at once set for San Domingo. But the weather was so inclement and the 
 winds so constantly violent and contrary, that it was not until the 13th of August following 
 that the voyage was accomplished and the aged discoverer of the New World was permitted 
 once more to land in the town which he had founded as the capital of his New Indian 
 Empire. 
 
 We are gratified to learn that upon his arrival the reaction in favor of Columbus was so 
 great that he was hailed with enthusiasm by the very men who had sent him forth with 
 g>'ves on his wrists to be carried as a common criminal to Spain. It is not possible 
 to -suppose that these acts of public applause, temporary and fictitious as they were, could 
 be grateful to Ovando even though his rival were an aged man stricken with many mala-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 2in 
 
 dies aud worn down under the acciiniiilation of many jjricfs. Nevertheless the governor 
 
 made a show of nniting in the kindly reception, taking the Admiral even to his own lionse 
 
 and extending to him the fullest courtesy and respect. In a short 
 
 time, however, causes of difference began to work between the 
 
 two men and their relations henceforth, though superficially 
 
 amicable, were never sincere. The first dispute between them 
 
 arose over their respective authority to punish the prisoners that 
 
 Columbus had brought to the island for trial. The governor claimed 
 
 that Jamaica as well as Hispaniola was a part of his government, 
 
 while Columbus contended that under the last letters issued to him 
 
 by Isabella he had full rights to tr}- and punish any offenders against 
 
 his authority. Another ground of complaint which Columbus urged 
 
 against Ovando was neglect to collect the revenues which were due 
 
 him from the island according to the original compact with the 
 
 sovereigns. Under these stipulations Columbus was entitled to an 
 
 eighth of all the tributes collected from the natives, as well as the 
 
 products of the mines, and he had, therefore, reason to expect a large 
 
 sum to his credit upon his return, unless the re\cnucs had been commuls ki.riR.Ns. 
 
 wasted and his rights neglected. But he found himself practically penniless, and thus 
 
 again dependent upon the generosity of the crown. 
 
 }*»=»-
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ABUSES AND HORRORS UNDER OVANOO'S RULE. 
 
 NDER the governorship of Ovando aflfeirs in Hispaniola 
 had become more deplorable than they had appeared 
 at any time since the Spanish discover^'. We may 
 therefore pause here in the narrative of incidents in 
 the life of Columbus in order to hastily sketch the 
 progress of events in that island from the time of the 
 arrival of Ovando down to the return of Columbus. 
 We have seen how great a company of colonists and 
 adventurers, 2500 in all, he brought with him, and 
 with how much eclat he came to San Domingo and 
 undertook the duties of viceroy after the tempo- 
 rary suspension of Columbus from that office. 
 The men whom Ovando had thus brought to the New 
 World were, with the exception of seventy colonial fami- 
 lies, of the same general character as those who had preceded 
 them. Fully a thousand of the number had gone out with 
 the expectation that gold would be found in such great abun- 
 dance throughout the island of Hispaniola that it would be gathered in unlimited quanti- 
 ties at the expense of no other exertion than the shovelling of it into bags which were 
 brought along for that purpose. They had no sooner arri\'ed, therefore, than a great rush 
 for the gold fields of Hayna was made, each man taking with him his mining implements 
 and a limited supply of provisions. 
 
 There is no disappointment so bitter as that which follows a miner who sets out 
 under the glowing prospects excited by stories of inexhaustible wealth, and coming to the 
 mine so flatteringly described finds that the precious ore exists in the sparsest quantities 
 and is. obtainable only by the most onerous and persistent exertions. This experience has 
 been common to many men in many ages. 
 
 The Spaniards made a rush across the intervening country, and reaching the gold fields 
 undid their packs and began to dig. It required only a day or two to dispel the illusion. 
 Here and there small quantities of fine gold dust might be found in the sand, and occa- 
 sionally particles of the precious metal would glitter in a spadeful of earth thrown iip by 
 hands unused to working with delving implements. But fatigue and exhaustion came after a 
 few hours of this unrequited labor, and then the miners, disgusted and hungr}', sat down by 
 running streams and springs of water to devour their provisions. But ever devouring 
 and never producing soon exhausted the supply which they had brought with them, and 
 the Indians refusing to supply them with either fruit or products of the fields, the hungry 
 miners were brought face to face with famine, and they gave over their golden dreams for 
 the harsh necessity of seeking food to avoid starvation. Worn out, homesick, despondent, 
 starxang, many of them perished in the forests, but a majority returned to San Domiuga 
 and inaugurated a mild reign of terror. 
 
 (292)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 293 
 
 i^imm 
 
 THE INDIANS REDUCED TO SLAVERY UNDER THE LASH. 
 
 The situation was so serious that the governor undertook to deal with the mining 
 question by creating a regular system under which the business of gathering gold might be 
 profitably conducted. He saw that the disappointment of those who had come out under 
 his promise of great gain was such that it might end in compromising him not only with 
 his followers but with the sovereigns; for not a few had influential relatives residing at 
 court who would voice and urge their complaints. To afford them some relief and encour- 
 agement, Ovando issued an edict reducing the percentage of the gold due to the crown to 
 one-fifth, and then inaugurated a system of slaver)- by which each Spaniard was allowed 
 according to his rank the use of the free labor of a certain number of Indians. The very 
 evils which had been the source of so much complaint against the former administration, 
 namely, that the Spaniards were abusive to the Indians, treating them with initold cruel- 
 ties by compulsor>- labor in the mines and fields, were thus revived by Ovando, and it was 
 not long before the severity _ .„_ . — __ — — .-.».,-,^-- -^.. •-5^«» ^'.i^^-^^*^•;5y/_£;^ 
 of his system surpassed all 
 that had been witnessed or 
 heard of before. 
 
 As a justification of his 
 course the governor set fortl 
 to the sovereigns that a re 
 duction of the natives I' 
 regular labor inider the au- 
 thority of a master class was 
 a necessity of the conditions 
 present in the colony; that 
 otherr^-ise the tributes could 
 not be collected; that the 
 natives were by nature in- -"^ 
 dolent, and in short that the ':- 
 only method of bringing ' , 
 them to the blessings of a 
 civilized and Christian life 
 was to subject them to servitude under which a Catholic training could be the more 
 effectuallv given them. The Queen herself was deceived .somewhat by that part of the 
 argument which related to the allotment of the Indians as slaves to the Spaniards, 
 who were expected to exert a Christianizing influence over them. Little did Her Majesty 
 understand the profoimd hypocrisy of tliis excu.se. Likewise .she failed to comprehend 
 the utter indifference of the Spanish masters in Hispaniola to all considerations of the 
 welfare of the wretched natives. 
 
 The Spaniards proceeded under their license to demand of the caciques the required 
 assignment of laborers, and the chieftains were compelled b>- the government to comply. 
 At first there was some show of respect for native rights, but this presently ceased. In the 
 beginning it was agreed that the Indians should have a small wage as recompcn.se for their 
 labor and that they should also be instnicted in the catechism of the church and be bap- 
 tized by the priests. But the whole thing was a mocker>'. Even the limit of the period 
 of senice to six months of the year was presently extended to eight months, and might 
 have been extended to twelve, since the feeble constitution of the natives generally gave 
 way under the intolerable tasks imposed up<3n them during their first term of ser\itude. 
 
 NATIVES SI-AVIM; Al THH PI.ACIK
 
 294 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 No sooner was the system regularly organized than it became apparent that the native 
 foods, mostly of fruits, would not suffice for the men engaged in severe toil. But the Span- 
 iards had no other food to waste upon their Indian slaves, being concerned in getting the 
 most out of them that was possible, regardless of what the result might be. Sometimes a 
 ver^' small distribution of meats was made to them, but such was the hunger of the pool 
 wretches that they struggled and fought like ravening animals for the scraps and bones that 
 
 fell from the tables of their 
 masters. As they sank and fainted 
 under their tasks the lash of 
 exacting masters began to de- 
 scend upon their backs. Their 
 flagging industry,- was quickened 
 by the horrid thong of the driver, 
 so mercilessly applied that to 
 this added miser)- they succumbed 
 in such numbers that only a small 
 proportion survived to the end of 
 their term of service, and many 
 of these perished before they 
 could reach their homes, which 
 in not a few cases were as much 
 as a hundred miles distant from 
 the place of their labors. Thus 
 the roadsides and forests were 
 strewn with the victims of this 
 horror and despair, and the air 
 was polluted with the decay of 
 human bodies. 
 ATROCITIES IN THE FAIR LAND OF 
 XARAGUA. 
 
 While these indescribable 
 abuses prevailed in the vicinity 
 of San Domingo, in the mines 
 of Hayna, another fonn of 
 calamity came iipon the hapless 
 Indians in the fairest western 
 province of Hispaniola. It has 
 been recounted how the followers 
 of Roldan had been granted a 
 partition of land in Xaragua, 
 whither they had betaken them- 
 selves after the collapse of their rebellion. It is needless to affirm that such men, with- 
 out family ties and under no restraint of civil authority, were incapable of developing into 
 anything better than licentious vagabonds. The Spaniards thus distributed throughout a 
 once happy district were a standing menace to the peace and prosperity of the natives. 
 They were no better than robbers and tyrants following no other law than the im- 
 pulse of passion and degenerate will. 
 
 UNHAPPY NATIVES PERISHING OF STARVATION.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COIA'MHIA. 21J5 
 
 A short time after tlie foundcrinj^ of the squadron wliieli Ovando had despatched to 
 Spaiu witli Bobadilla, Roldan and others, IJehechio, who held tlie sceptre of native authority 
 in Xaragaia, died and was succeeded by his sister, the amiable, beautiful and devoted 
 Anacaona. Her acquaintance with Don Bartholomew has been mentioned in a former 
 chapter, wherein was described the royal welcome which she accorded him and the devoted 
 friendship which she ever manifested for the Spaniards. Nevertheless she seems to have 
 discriminated between the good and bad and to have gained by superior intelligence a 
 knowledge of the degraded character of the Roldan followers who were in her territory. 
 Against these she probably cherished a just enmit\-, as they were and hatl been a constant 
 source of menace and trouble to her government. With respect to Ovando and his govern- 
 ment, however, she had so far as the record shows a fa\-orabIe opinion. 
 
 The reader will readily perceive how easily, under such circumstances, the Roldan 
 rebels living in Xaragua might become the agents of mischief between the Spanish 
 authority and the native government. We are, therefore, not surprised to learn that local 
 difficulties and disagreements between the late Roldan rebels and the Xaraguans might be 
 reported with the wildest exaggerations to the authorities at San Domingo, with appeals for 
 interference. The minds of the governor and his counsel would thus be poisoned against 
 the natives, and in the disturbed if not chaotic condition of the government there would 
 be little disposition to accord justice to a people who had been outraged in every possible 
 manner almost from the time that the Spaniards set foot upon Hispaniola. This ad\-antage 
 was accordingly taken. The Spanish Xaraguans began to complain against Anacaona and 
 excited the governor against her on the charge that she was secretly concerting a rebellion 
 and had already made arrangements to that end. They sought to substantiate this by 
 pointing to the fact that the Indians had delayed the payment of the last tribute with a view 
 to collecting provisions and preparing themselves to make a descent ujion the settlers. 
 HOSPITABLE RECEPTION ACCORDED BV THE UNSUSPECTING QUEEN. 
 
 Alarmed at these reports, which he seems to have been disposed to believe without 
 investigation, Ovando detennined to visit Xaragua and settle all difficulties in his own 
 arbitrary' way. Accordingly he collected an army of three hundred infantry and seventy 
 cavalr}' which he equipped in the most thorough manner for an expedition of conquest, 
 though he was careful to give it out that his purpose was merely to pay a state visit of friend- 
 ship to Queen Anacaona. The latter having no distrust of her enemy, gathered all her 
 chieftains, headmen and nobility, including men and women, into her town and prepared 
 to receive the governor in a manner which had been so captivating to Don Bartholomew 
 and his cavaliers. .\ description of their reception may be repeated with added circum- 
 stances of picturesqueness and enthusiasm. Again the beautiful maidens of noble birth 
 came forth dancing, waving palm branches and singing their native songs, many of which 
 had been composed by the Queen herself, for as already stated she was an Indian Sappho. 
 The finest house was set in order for the governor, and the anny was well quartered and 
 provisioned ; nor was anything omitted by the Queen to manifest her regard for the 
 Spaniards. To provide an entertainment for her visitors, many games were introduced and 
 for three days such sports as the Indians had been able to devise for the white men were 
 indulged in to the great delight of all present. But even while this pleasant entertain- 
 ment was in progress and the friendly regard of the Queen was lieing manifested, the purpose 
 grew and matured in the mind of Ovando to destroy with horrid perfidy the unsusix-cting 
 people whose friendly hospitality appeared to be unbounded. He conceived the project of 
 accomplishing his purpose in so dramatic and spectacular a manner as to make the event
 
 296 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 one of the most tragic incidents in the annals of the times. He informed the Indians 
 at the conclusion of their sports that he and his men would in their turn perform a game 
 for the entertainment of the Queen and all present. The spectacle should be given in the 
 public square, and the games would be a jousting match, performed after a manner the 
 Spanish chivalry had borrowed from the Moors. Meanwhile Ovando ordered his soldiers 
 to appear in the public square not only with reeds for lances and sticks for swords, but also 
 with their real weapons whetted and charged for slaughter. 
 
 A FRIGHTFUL MASSACRE OF THE DEFENCELESS NATIVES. 
 The situation was such as to favor the atrocity. Nearly all the caciques and Xaraguans 
 were gathered in a large house which had been assigned to Ovando, while the public square 
 was filled with the common people. The governor had just risen from a dinner given in 
 
 RECEPTION DANCE OF THE XARAGUAN MAIDENS. 
 
 his honor by the Queen, and had gone out into the open air to pitch quoits with some of his 
 officers. As soon as the cavalry arrived it was marshalled in array. Ovando, while lifting 
 a quoit in one hand, raised the other and grasped a gold ornament suspended from his neck 
 as a signal for the massacre to begin ! Instantly a trumpet sounded, the cavalry put their 
 lances at rest, the infantry drew their swords, and simultaneously the murderous army 
 rushed to the assault. The house where the caciques were assembled was surrounded and 
 all of them taken prisoner to the number of forty. Some authorities declare there were 
 eighty. These were bound and then put to torture in order to extort a confession of a plot 
 conceived by the Indians to slaughter the Spaniards. Some of the Indians, in their terror 
 and suffering, shrieked out impossible things respecting their Queen, and these false ejacula-
 
 COLUMBUS AXl) COIA'MHIA. 
 
 297 
 
 tions were considered by the defamers as le)j;al proof of j^iiilt. Tlien the ca\'alr\- began in 
 earnest. The horsemen rode down and tlinist throu<j;h the natives witliont discrimination 
 or mercy. The aged, the children, the women were all given tip together to the horror 
 of a bloody and mutilated deatli. The caciques were confined within the liouse, and being 
 bound to prevent the possibility of their escape, the building was fired and tUey all perished 
 in the most miserable and horrible manner. Anacaona was rudely seized by vulgar soldiers, 
 and being bound with chains was carried to San Domingo, where .she was subjected to the 
 mocker}.- of a trial, and without the shadow of legal evidence and against all indications of 
 guilt was hung in the streets. 
 
 Horror and frightful criminality, however, did not terminate the riot with .\nacaona's 
 execution, for the mas.sacre extended until all the better families in Xaragua were deci- 
 mated. The terrible story runs to the effect that for six months together the Spaniards, 
 breaking into bands and making their way from village to village, and even to the fastnesses 
 of the woods and hills, cut down the unoffending and defenceless natives with all manner 
 of added atrocity, mitil Xaragua was a 'desolation. When the work was finall\- completed 
 and the niin needed no further touch of infamy, 0\'ando wrote to 
 the sovereigns a gilded report of how he had succeeded in restor- 
 ing good order and how he had founded a town in commemoration 
 of the happy deliverance of the Spaniards, to which he had 
 given the significant name of San/a Maria dc la vcrdadcra Paz, 
 that is, SL Mar%- of the True Peace. 
 
 THE PERSECUTION AND DEATH OF COTABANAMA. 
 
 The destruction of Xaragua marked the conquest and con- 
 sequent ruin of the fourth of the native kingdoms of Hispaniola. 
 There now remained only the fifth and last, namely, the mountain- 
 ous district of Higuey. The reader will remember that it was upon 
 the shores of this pro\'ince that the first blood had been shed by 
 Spanish soldiers in the West Indies. The people were Caribbeans by descent, and were, 
 in the year 1504, ruled by a cacique named Cotabanania, an original Goliath of Gath. 
 His stature is represented as being of herculean proportions, and he was no less famous 
 for his strength, while his reputation as a great warrior was coextensive with the island. 
 For the past twelve years the relations between the Indians of this district and the 
 Spaniards had been strained. On one occasion a Spaniard on the coast, accompanied 
 by his blood-hound, had hissed the brute upon one of Cotabanama's under caciques, who 
 was torn to pieces for the sport of the foreigner. This gross outrage rankled in the 
 breasts of the Indians, and they determined to .seize the first opportunit%- to have their 
 revenge. In course of time a boat bearing eight Spaniards came to the little island 
 of Saona, in sight of the coast of Higuey. The natives, fired with a remembrance of 
 the horrible outrage perpetrated upon one of their innocent people, surrounded the 
 crew and massacred them to a man. This was regarded by Governor Ovando as an 
 insurrection, and he immediately fitted out a force of four hundred men, under com- 
 mand of Juan de Esquibel, to march into the Indian conntrv, put ilown opposition and 
 administer exemplary punishment for the crime. 
 
 The story of this expedition is but a repetition of others which have already been 
 described. The Spaniards being in irresi.stiblc force marched through the Indian villages 
 slaughtering without regard to age or sex and perpetrating cruelties which fairly shame the
 
 298 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUIvIBIA. 
 
 race. In many instances not only men but women were hung and quartered, and other 
 inconceivable cruelties, such as the lopping off of hands and feet of natives who had fallen 
 into the power of the remorseless Spaniards, were practised under the name of exemplary 
 punishments. This riot of murder continued until it is estimated by Columbus himself, as 
 
 well as by Las Casas, who was an eye-witness of many 
 of these atrocities, that six-sevenths of the entire native 
 population were destroyed. Human depravity could go 
 no further, and we recoil with hoiTor at the mention of 
 such crimes, especially under banners which bore the 
 
 SLAUGHTER OF THE XARAGOANS AND CAPTURE OF 
 THEIR QUEEN. 
 
 sign of the Cross and in a country- which had 
 
 been consecrated to the propagation of the " 
 
 Holy Faith. Cotabanama was hunted like a lion and refusing all overtures for peace with 
 
 such human blood-hounds, he fought to the last extremity, but was finally seized in a cave 
 
 in which he had taken refuge with his wife and children. Being first overpowered by a
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 2'J'J 
 
 gjcat force he was bound in chains and carried back to San Duniin.ijo, wliere he was j)ublicly 
 executed on the gibbet as another example of the uinnercifuhiess and rapacious cruelty of 
 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 COLUMBUS SAILS FOR SPAIN. 
 
 We have seen in a fonner chapter in what niauner Columbus was received in San 
 
 Domingo after his escape from the perils which for nearly a year beset him in Jamaica. 
 
 We have also mentioned the beginning of the difficulty and misunderstanding between him 
 
 and the governor in the matter of De Porras and his fellow-prisoners. As to his local affairs 
 
 the Admiral found them, as already stated, in an extremely unsatisfactory condition. Alonzo 
 
 de Cavajal informed him on his arrival tiiat the revenue had Ijeen held back in many 
 instances and that his attempts to collect the same had been impeded by the covert or open 
 opposition of the governor. Other causes for couii)laint existed, and the Admiral may well 
 be excused for finding fault with Ovando's policy towards the Indians, which had almost 
 totallv obliterated the native population. But Columbus was also dissatisfied with the whole 
 condition of his environment. The two years which had been named by the King and 
 Queen as the limit of his suspension from office had about expired. The sen.sation and 
 reaction in his favor produced by his late arrival in the colony began to wane, and he decided 
 to return to tlie mother country at the earliest possible date. There before the King and 
 Queen he would renew his plea, and he hoped to be heard by their considerate Majesties in
 
 300 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 his own cause, to the end that they might bestow upon him justice with honor as a reward 
 for his great toils and sacrifices. The Admiral knew not that at this very date Isabella 
 had taken to her couch with that lingering malady strangely mingled of mental and bodily 
 griefs from which she was never to recover. 
 
 It was not long after his arrival at San Domingo, therefore, that Columbus with the con- 
 sent of the governor began to prepare for his departure for Spain. Two ships were fitted out 
 for this purpose, the command of one being given to Don Bartholomew while the Admiral 
 had charge of the other in person. On the 1 2th of September the vessels left the harbor of San 
 Domino-o, but were not far at sea when the weather became stormy and the masts of Colum- 
 bus' ship were broken and carried away, rendering her unfit for the voyage. Being in haste 
 to reach the mother country,' the Admiral sent back the disabled ship and transferred him- 
 self and companions to the vessel commanded by Don Bartholomew. Still the weather con- 
 tinued severe and the masts of the remaining vessel were likewise seriously injured, so that 
 progress was extremely slow. Nor was this condition of affairs improved at au}- time 
 during the voyage ; for the weather continued at all times so extremely rough that it was 
 not until the end of the fifty-eighth day after lea\ing San Domingo that the caravel carr>'ing 
 Columbus and his brother reached the port of San Lucar. Thus concluded the ill-starred 
 fourth expedition of discover}- on the 7th of November, 1504. 
 
 The afflicted Admiral was so exhausted by his physical sufferings that he was unable to 
 support his own weight, and had, therefore, to be bonie on shore in a litter constructed for 
 the purpose. He was then taken at the earliest practicable moment to the city of Seville, 
 where among his friends, attended by faithful kinsmen and loyal companions, he hoped in a 
 short time to revive from the fatigues of his long voyage. Realizing, as he must, his failure 
 to accomplish the glorious things which he had promised for the crowns of Castile and 
 Aragon, harassed by enemies who had the ears of the court, it is and will ever be a matter 
 of surprise and admiration to note the enthusiastic faith by which the veteran explorer, 
 tottering under the accumulated griefs of years, was still borne on buoyant wings in the 
 direction of those dreams and visions that had haunted him since the days of his }-outh. 
 
 '-ctW^4M^.
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 LAST DAYS OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 REAT men as a rule are the victims of great embarrass- 
 ments, and usually through the world's inapprecia- 
 tion. Those wholiave accomplished the most benefi- 
 cent things, who have placed the greenest laurels on 
 the brow of civilization, who have won the eternal 
 applause of mankind and gained a place in the affec- 
 tions of humanity because of what they did in life, 
 have most frequently been targets for the world's 
 abuse. It is a proverb as lamentable as it is true 
 that no man is fully appreciated until after he is 
 dead. Wealth receives its honors in the flesh, while 
 genius finds its reward only beyond the grave : be- 
 cause prejudice and envy cannot cast their poisonous 
 darts across the valley of death. When a nation 
 discovers a redeemer it is to persecute him first and 
 worship him afterwards ; hence, were it not for 
 monuments and the slower justice of biography, liumanit>- would be without emulous exam- 
 ples, and philosophic ambition would not attain to even the shadow of a dream. 
 
 The life and career of Columbus have few parallels in the annals of histor\-. Great 
 men there have been who have met with disappointments and injustice, but there is perhaps 
 no other instance- of a prominent man whom disappointments and injustice did not dis- 
 hearten and disgust ; who had his greatness recognized in his lifetime, and yet was 
 robbed of the emoluments it entitled him to ; and who, after death, was -.so unfortunate 
 as to have his honors conferred upon another, even to the obscuring of his name by the 
 substitution of that of an insignificant vovageur. 
 
 With the great measure of his deserving, who had practically enlarged the world by 
 half and set in the crown of Spain a jewel so lustrous that all the gems of earth grow pale 
 in its light, Columbus v^as suffered not only to remain unrequited, but his distinguished 
 ser\-ice, instead of aggrandizing, rendered him the victim of every wrong that mad env\- and 
 avarice could inflict. And these marplots under the wings of royalty pursued him even to 
 the grave, while anger and hate would fain have disturbed him there, so implacable were 
 these foes of justice. 
 
 Though robbed most shamefully J:)y Bobadilla and Ovando and brought, througii their 
 conniving, to the verge of penur\', yet so buoyant was the nature of Columbus that he hoped 
 for a correction of his \vrongs when he should lay his complaints before Ferdinand and 
 Isabella. Poor and deeply afflicted though he wxs, and confined to his bed in Seville, he 
 trusted to the influence of those few friends who still remained faithful to him. .^mong 
 these was Diego his son, who was now of age but still in the service of the Queen as page ; 
 al£o his brother Don Bartholomew, Diego Mendez, Alonzo dc Cavajal, a nobleman named 
 
 (3"i)
 
 302 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Geronimo, and Diego de Deza, the latter an old friend who had been elevated to the bishopric 
 of Palencia. Through the aid of these and his own efforts, and by letters and proofs which 
 he would lay before his sovereigns, Columbus did not doubt that he would recover the 
 dignities and property to which he was so clearly entitled. 
 
 EFFORTS OF COLUMBUS TO RECOVER THE RIGHTS OF WHICH HE HAD BEEN DEFRAUDED. 
 
 The complaints which Columbus had to make were set forth in a lengthy communica- 
 tion which he addressed to their Majesties very soon after his return to Seville, and contained 
 two specifications : ist. That he had been deprived of his revenues, and that the rentals due 
 from his estates in San Domingo and his percentage from the mines were withheld by 
 officers of the crown, thus virtually reducing him to poverty ; 2d, That his honors, titles and 
 rank which had been conferred and confirmed by royal guarantees in the form of patents 
 and charters were jeopardized, if not nullified, by his suspension from office. 
 
 The enormity of withholding from Columbus his percentage of one-eighth, but after- 
 wards one-tenth, of the gold gathered in Hispaniola, and his consequent reduction almost to 
 mendicancy in his old age, may be estimated when we reflect upon the aggregate jield of 
 the Indian mines during the administration of Ovando. The question has been carefully 
 considered by Robertson for the year 1506. According to his estimates the yield of the 
 mines for that and several preceding }-ears amounted annually to a sum equal to about 
 $500,000. Considering the greater purchasing power of gold and silver in the sixteenth 
 century, it would hardh- be an exaggeration to say that his annual revenues from this source, 
 had they been justly paid him, would have been equivalent in value to more than a million 
 of dollars of our present currency. This would have given to Columbus a revenue which, 
 apart from all other resources, would have lifted him from beggary to wealth and enabled 
 him to prosecute his one supreme ambition of recovering the Holy Sepulchre from the 
 possession of the Mohammedans. 
 
 In the letters which he transmitted to his sovereigns he justly complained of the 
 withholding of his dues, saying that he was compelled to live by borrowing ; that he was 
 unable to own in Spain a roof to shield him from the elements, and that he had no place 
 of resort but the common inn, and that even the small charges for attention there he was 
 unable to pay. But besides these he had other complaints to make. He reminded the 
 sovereigns that the men who had accompanied him on his last perilous voyage had received 
 no pay since the time of their departure, in consequence of which their families had 
 suffered greatly for the necessaries of life. Not only did he urge the King to an immediate 
 payment of the rewards to which the sailors were entitled, but he wrote a special letter to 
 his son Diego urging him to remind the King of the infinite toils and perils which the 
 sailors had endured, and that they had brought home to Spain and to all the world invalu- 
 able tidings for which their Majesties ought to thank God and rejoice. 
 
 Before sufficient time had elapsed for a reply to his communication Columbus trans- 
 mitted another letter to the King, urging upon him the justice as well as the necessity of a 
 restoration of the honors and titles of which he was virtually deprived. At the conclusion 
 of this second letter he appended a note animadverting upon the government of Ovando, 
 citing many facts in the provisional governor's administration about which the sovereigns 
 ought to be greatly solicitous. 
 
 THE MENDACITY OF FERDINAND. 
 
 To these communications, however, the answers of the court were complimentary' but 
 noncommittal, since Ferdinand, anxious to annul the charters under which grants had been 
 bestowed upon Columbus, adopted the policy of temporizing with the situation until the
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 303 
 
 benefician- slionld die, an event wliicli he had every reason to expect would not be long 
 deferred. Heartened within himself, "If we can but placate this aged and importunate 
 Admiral for a little longer his voice and pen will both be still in the incurable paralysis of 
 death ; alter that we shall deal as we may with his son and kinsmen, taking pains always to 
 interpose between them and their rights such excuses and obstacles as shall nuke their let- 
 ters patent and the charters granted to the father of no effect." 
 
 His inability to obtain any decisive answer from the King gave Columbus great worri- 
 nient of mind, intensified by the physical sufferings which confined him for weeks to a bed in 
 the little iuu where he had found refuge after his arrival in Spain. Preparations were being 
 made to bring De Porras to trial under the charges which had been preferred by Cohnnbus, 
 and it was very necessary that he should attend at the court to give his testimony. His 
 anxiety, therefore, was so great that he twice ordered a litter to be prepared on which he 
 might be carried to Granada. But on both occasions the project had to be abandoned 
 through the intensity of his sufferings and the inclemency of the weather. His friends in 
 the meantime were e.xerting themselves in his behalf. But his enemies at court were more 
 numerous and influential, and succeeded in overcoming whatever small inclination the King 
 might have had to accord him justice. And thus, week after week and month after month was 
 spent by Columbus in the deepest anxiety of mind, without the least indication of obtaining 
 that which had been solemnly guaranteed by royal compact, and which he had earned 
 through eight years of toilsome and unremitting service to the Spanish sovereigns. 
 
 THE LAST SAD HOURS OF ISABELLA. 
 
 It at last became clear to the apprehension of the suffering and despairing veteran that 
 the King was against him and his cause. As for the Queen, who had so long been his friend 
 and benefactress, her last days had come. Clouds and shadows darkened around her halls 
 and chamber. Her son, the Prince Juan, was dead, while Juana, married to the Archduke 
 Philip, had contracted an unfortunate alliance with a man whose s>-mpathies and devotion 
 ■were all abroad. The Princess herself was already, in the first years of her married life, 
 "beclouded by a mental malady through wliich her faculties were jangled out of tune and hei 
 mind finalh- brought to chaos. These troubles fell so heavily upon the Queen that she became 
 the victim of melancholv. Disease preyed upon her and she sank under the accumulated 
 griefs of broken womanhood. She had been the best sovereign of her age. Her abilities 
 were great and her beauty was praised bj- all her contemporaries. Her application to the 
 duties of the crown was assiduous and successful, and according to the measure of het 
 powers and the limitations of her education she exerted herself to benefit her subjects and 
 diffuse a generous friendship among the nations. Her tnie greatness and sympathy for the 
 oppressed are evidenced by her interposition between the humble natives of the West Indies 
 and the cruelty of her Spanish subjects. There can be nodoul)t that she faithfully sought 
 to protect them from the wrongs and rapacity of her people and bring them to the standard 
 of such poor civilization and religion as the fifteenth century could supply. How great must 
 have been her grief when in her last days reports reached her ears of the horrible abuses 
 p'-acticed upon the Indians by Ovando and his colleagues. One of her last rational acts 
 was to order his recall, and she exacted of the king a pledge that this deed of justice should 
 be at once fulfilled, a request, however, which was wholly disregarded until circumstances 
 five years afterwards rendered his dismissal a necessity. 
 
 Isabella fully appreciated that the day of her departure was near at hand. She had not 
 yet reached the end of lier fifty-fourth year, but her Ijmlily powers were completely shattered 
 and her deeply religious mind now turned almost with aversion from the noise anil splendor
 
 304 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 of the world to a contemplation of the future She accordingly prepared her will, giving- 
 particular directions not only respecting the disposition of her worldly estates, but also how 
 
 STATUE OF ISABELLA AT MALiKIU. 
 
 she should be buried, asking that her body might be committed to a low sepulchre in the 
 Alhambra of Granada and that no other monument than a plain stone properly inscribed be 
 set to mark her last resting-place. But in her dying naoments she did not forget her loyalty
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 30: 
 
 and devotion to the King, and among her last requests was one that she might at last be 
 laid beside him when all the things of this earth liad faded from his Majesty's view. Thus 
 prepared for the great event, she sank away and on the 26th of Xovembcr, 1504, expired at 
 the town of Medina del Campo. Her body was conveyed with great pomp and interred 
 according to her directions, but was afterwards transferred to a tomb in the royal chapel of 
 the Cathedral at Granada 
 
 where the King, at his death 
 
 on Januar}- 23d, 1516, was 
 
 buried beside her. 
 
 COLUMBUS PRESENTS HIS 
 PETITION IN PERSON. 
 
 The news of the death of 
 
 his friend and patroness was 
 
 all that Columbus could 
 
 bear. To that tnie friend 
 
 r^rzrririrTj'rxLxricxrriaxirsTTrii jcgucx[iii.ixxj,nnEgrargrEnt ' rf,. 
 
 SEPDI,CHRE OP FERDIUAXD AND ISABELLA. 
 
 ^ to petition 
 a restitution of his honors and 
 
 of discovery for many years 
 he had turned, like the 
 crusader gazing on his cruci- 
 fix, and now in his old age 
 was he indeed left naked to his enemies. But deep as was his dejection over the death of 
 his greatest friend, and supreme as were the sufferings which confined him constantly for a 
 long while to his bed, his mind was to revive to a contemplation of glorious accomplish- 
 ments of ambitions conceived even in the depth of his extremity. Continuin 
 
 the King for 
 
 emoluments, and receiving in reply letters that 
 constanLly flattered but gave no substantial pro- 
 mises, Columbus at length finding himself some- 
 what improved decided to proceed to Segovia, to 
 which, place Ferdinand had now transferred his 
 court, and renew in person the importunities 
 which had thus far proved wholly unavailing. 
 At this time there was a govenunent edict for- 
 bidding people to ride on mules, as it was reckoned 
 that the introduction of these cheap and easy- 
 going animals as a means of conveyance had 
 distracted attention from the production ui horses, 
 in consequence of which the breeds of the latter 
 had become deteriorated. Columbus, therefore, 
 desiring to make his journey on this safer con- 
 veyance, asked permission of the proper authori- 
 ties at Seville to make the trip on mule-back. 
 This being granted, in May, 1505, he set out, 
 accompanied by a few faithful attendants, for 
 the Spanish court. 
 
 The arrival of the Admiral at Segovia was attended with no excitement. Tlic jx^ople 
 gazed on him merely as an old, broken-down, sorrowful and di.sappoiuted man, whose dt-eds 
 were already forgotten in the public mind and who from an object of great pomp and cir- 
 20 
 
 COLUMBUS, AFTER CAI'KIULA, IN ROME, I596.
 
 306 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Tr-^; 
 
 cumstance had fallen to a condition so lowly as no longer to attract the attention of any of 
 the populace. The King, however, granted him an audience and even made a pretense of 
 receiving him with accustomed cordiality. He condescended also to hear from the discoverer 
 an account of the fourth expedition and its results. Columbus accordingly narrated the 
 whole, emphasizing in particular the value of the gold mines of Veragua and indicating 
 the benefits which might accrue from the establishment of colonies on that coast. While 
 the Kino- affected interest in the narrative, at the conclusion of the interview he dismissed 
 the Admiral with no substantial evidence of a purpose to restore him to the honors of which 
 he had been so imjustly deprived. But Columbus continued to persist in his demands until 
 the King, as a means of freeing himself from the annoyance of importunity, proposed to 
 refer his claims to arbitration. To this Columbus consented, until he discovered in the 
 
 papers, an agreement to likewise refer his rights to 
 the viceroyalt}- and governor-generalship of the 
 Indies. As an agreement to such arbitration would 
 have put in debate his titles for which he held the 
 royal patents, Columbus could not, while in the posses- 
 sion of his senses, consent to the opening of a question 
 so fatal to all his rights. He accordingly declined 
 to submit his major claim to arbitration, since about 
 that there was under his charter no possible doubt. 
 The whole matter was accordingly put aside 
 and the conference of arbitration was 
 never held. 
 
 A PATHETIC APPEAL TO THE HONOR OF A 
 PERFIDIOUS KING. 
 After this miscarriage of his claims Colum- 
 bus renewed his persistence with the Sover- 
 eign for a restitution of his honors and for 
 such a decree as would compel the officers 
 of Hispaniola to pay him his dues. He ap- 
 pealed to the conscience and justice of the 
 King to save him in his old age from the 
 hardships of poverty and the shame of dis- 
 honor. But month after month continued to 
 roll by, and though Ferdinand treated him 
 with marks of suitable regard, and continued 
 to be effusive with his deceptive assurances, all favorable action was postponed or evaded. 
 
 The last formal effort made by Columbus with King Ferdinand related to the \-oung 
 man Dieeo. To him the fond father looked as his successor and defender of his fame. 
 The jeopardy in which his titles stood admonished the Admiral that the time had arrived 
 when it was advisable for him to abdicate all his claims in favor of his son. In pursuance 
 of this design he sent a last petition to his Sovereign, in which he solemnly proposed to waive 
 his own rights and honors in favor of Diego. He besought the King to confirm the youth 
 under the charters granted to himself in the government of the Indies and in the preroga- 
 tives and benefits of which he had been unwarrantably deprived so long. But this peti- 
 tion, as had been the former, was evaded by Ferdinand, and it became evident, even to 
 the persistent spirit of the discoverer of the New World, that he had nothing further 
 
 COI.UMBUS, AFTER PAOLI C.\PRIOI,A, IN MADRTD 
 GALLERY.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 307 
 
 to expect from his Calliulic Majesty of Spain. Sorrowfully he says in a letter to the 
 Archbishop of Seville: "It appears that his -Majesty does not see fit to fulfil that which he 
 and the Queen (who is now in glor>) promised me by word and seal. For me to contend 
 with the contrary would be to contend with the wind." 
 
 The end of 1505 was now near at hand, havin'<j been spent in a fruitless effort to vindi- 
 cate his rights and to persuade the King to do a simple act of justice as some recompense for 
 the imperishable glory which Columbus had reflected upon his crown. Confined to his bed 
 at a tavern in Segovia, Columbus was now as hopeless in mind as he was infirm in bod\-. 
 Yet out of this sufifering condition he was aroused in the following vear bv a rumor, soon 
 confirmed, that the Princess Juana and the Archduke Philip, her husband, were on their 
 wa\- from Seville to Valladolid, to which place the King had removed his court from 
 Segovia. A brief hope seems to have been inspired in him by this incident, and though in 
 the tortures of old age and infirmity, he determined to seek an audience with their High- 
 nesses. After proceeding a short way, however, his 
 extreme sufierings admonished him of the impos- 
 sibility of carr>'ing. out his intentions, and he was 
 reduced to the necessity of preparing a communica- 
 tion to their Highnesses which he transmitted 
 through his brother Don Bartholomew. In this 
 letter he made profession of his profound loyalty 
 and devotion to the Spanish crown and described 
 the severe afflictions and numberless misfortunes 
 by which he was detained from going to them in 
 person. In the most touching language he reminded 
 them of the great things which he had accomplished 
 for the glor)- of Castile first and the honor of man- 
 kind afterwards, and followed this with a toxiching 
 tribute to the virtues of her mother, the Queen. 
 THE UST GOLDEN DREAM OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 In penning his letter, which evidently arons1.1l 
 in him ambitions as intense as those which promj)ted 
 him to his first voyage, he described with glowing 
 enthusiasm the vision which now arose in dazzling 
 splendor before him. Long cherished hopes and 
 aspirations revived like a d\ing flame, and the aged breast, storm-beaten and exhausted, 
 throbbed and heaved with the fires of an expiring enthusiasm. Old, infirm, tottering on 
 the very brink of the grave as he was, he \et told the Princess that still greater things 
 remained for him to accomplish. It was of course the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre from 
 the infidel Islamites. That great enterprise, most famous of all his ambitions, he declared 
 he could yet undertake and accomplish if her Highness, after the manner of her noble 
 mother, would hear him for his cause. Nothing in human history has a touch of greater 
 sublimity than this dying passion of a decrepit and worn-out man, rising as it were from 
 the couch of his penur>' and despair to place himself at the head of an army of Spanish 
 crusaders to wrest the City of David from the hated Moslcmitcs. 
 
 It is on record that the appeal of Columbus had its due effect upon the princess and 
 her husband. They gave assurances that the cau.sc of the .Xdmiral should receive their 
 earliest attention, the sincerity of which declaration was shown in the cordial reception 
 
 COLUMBUS, AI-TUR A PAINTING MADE BY 
 ORDER OF ISABELLA.
 
 308 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 of Don Bartholomew and the great interest which the communication evidently excited, 
 But however encouraging the reply of their Highnesses, he for whom the tidings were 
 intended was never to know the results of the message which his brother was prepared to 
 bring from the daughter of Isabella. It may well be believed that the expiring force of his 
 great spirit was exhausted in the composition of the letter to Juana and her husband. At 
 all events, after the departure of Bartholomew he sank back upon his couch and never 
 again rallied to his accustomed animation. He was able between the first and middle of 
 May to prepare one or possiblv two codicils to his will, in which he made a more particular 
 disposition of his property. He divided his possessions as though all the revenues to which 
 he was entitled would be paid to his legitimate heirs, and he consequently made provision 
 not onlv for his immediate but even remote relatives, and besides setting aside an annuity 
 for his brothers and Dona Beatrix Enriquez, mother of Fernando, he ordered that certain 
 sums might be used for the benefit of others to whom he had become indebted, and also for 
 the establishing of a charitable institution in Genoa. Besides these bequests the Admiral 
 gave small sums to certain companions and servants whose fidelity had won his trust, 
 among these being Bartholomew Fiesco, the companion of Diego Mendez in the perilous 
 
 canoe voyage from 
 Jamaica to Hispaniola ; 
 nor did he forget Diego 
 Mendez, whom he re- 
 commended to the 
 sovereigns for appoint- 
 ment as governor of 
 some of the West 
 Indian possessions. 
 
 THE DEATH OF 
 COLUMBUS. 
 
 Thus was a c c o m - 
 plished the last act in 
 the life of Christopher Columbus. Death was now at his door. But the Admiral had 
 become so weak tlirough liis sufferings that he hailed him as a welcome guest. 
 
 The glories, the pride, and the lofty ambitions which bound him to earth were now 
 dissolving into clouds, behind which were for the moment concealed those greater and 
 more substantial rewards for which his benignant .soul thirsted. Cruel destiny, unfathom- 
 able wrongs, had denied him a death-bed in a courtly chamber invested with the luxury 
 which kings enjoy infinitely less worthily, but had consigned him to a room that bespoke the 
 poor comforts of a miserable little hotel. No mementos of art, no rich fabrics of the weaver's 
 loom, but with bare floors and walls Inmg Avith no other decorations than the chains which 
 had bound him as the seal of a king's ingratitude ! There on a bed of pain, forgotten by those 
 whom he had enriched with a measureless opulence, he lay watching the advancing shadows 
 that were obscuring the world, and noted the roseate hues that reveal the approach of 
 eternal day breaking beyond. Beside him were sorrowful watchers in the perso; s of his 
 two sons, the devoted Fiesco and some Franciscan fathers, who in fulfilment of his last 
 wishes had clothed him in the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis and prepared him 
 for the last struggle. His mind continued clear even to the moment of dissolution. After 
 exhorting with pious admonitions his sons, he received the sacrament of Penance, then 
 requested that the chains which he had worn as the badge of a nation's shame might be 
 
 dp:atu of coi.rMnrs.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 3()9 
 
 buried with him. The renieinbrance of tlie \vron<^s he had sufTered, which hi.s shackles 
 recalled, appeared to somewhat revive him, and he talked for a while in great seriousness 
 of mind on spiritual matters, indicating that in these was his sole concern in the last hours 
 of his life. When again he felt the chilling paralysis of death stealing over liim he asked 
 for the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and was able to give all the responses himself ; but 
 his pulse was feeble and his breath came fitfully. Turning his head slightly in a la.st 
 movement towards the Franciscan father, who stood sorrowfully awaiting the final summons, 
 he asked in broken speech if it were not Ascension day. Recei%ing an affirmative replv, 
 his face appeared to be illumined with intense satisfaction as he repeated the words of our 
 expiring Saviour on the cross : In ntauKS ittas, Doniine, commctido spiritutu meutu. "Into 
 thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." In this wise, on May 20, 1506, he fell into 
 that sleep which is eternal waking, and his great soul that had been so violently tempest- 
 tossed in the turbulencies of a stonny life sailed now across peaceful waters and entered a 
 harbor where the anchorage is secure and where faithful ser\'ice meets a just reward. His 
 age was about seventy years. 
 
 Ferdinand had succeeded in his infamous policy of evading the claims of one of the 
 most importunate men who had ever haunted 
 his court in quest of justice and restitution. 
 The silent form lying in Valladolid could 
 never trouble him further. The great 
 Admiral was gone from earth to that higher 
 King who would restore to him not only tlie 
 rights for which he had vainly contended, 
 but grant unto him a crown as a reward for 
 the incomparably great services he had 
 rendered to the world. The Sovereign 
 might well assume the virtue of sorrow, 
 particularly when he saw that the death of 
 Columbus produced a great sensation in the 
 kingdom, the people at this late hour 
 beginning to appreciate the lustre which 
 he had reflected upon their country. Preparations were therefore made for an elaborate 
 funeral, which was celebrated with much pomp in the city where the Admiral died, and 
 his body was interred with great civic honors in the parochial church of Santa Maria 
 de la Antigua. 
 
 After seven years, or in 1513, the remains of the discoverer were transferred to the 
 Carthusian monaster}- of Las Cuevas, in Seville, where in the chapel of Santo Christo the 
 body was for a second time committed to the sepulchre. There it reposed for twenty- 
 three years. In Febniar}-, 1526, Don Diego, the son and successor of the Admiral, died and 
 was entombed by the side of his father in the monaster)-. But ten years afterwards the bodies 
 of both father and son were exhumed and transferred to Hispaniola, where they were re- 
 interred in the chapel of the Cathedral at San Domingo. Here it might well be supposed 
 they would remain forever in tlie soil of the beautiful land which he had discovered and 
 settled, but which had been despoiled by the ruthless hand of the avaricious Spaniards. 
 In 1795-96 the island of Hispaniola, however, was ceded by Spain to France, when it was 
 reckoned as a fitting thing that the remains of the discoverer of a new world should be again 
 disturbed and committed to a soil above which the flag of Spain still floated. A commis- 
 
 wiiicii Lui.iMiu.s i)Ji;i).
 
 310 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 sioner was, therefore, appointed to transfer the sacred relics to the Cathedral of Havana in 
 the island of Cuba, where it was supposed, until within the last few years, they reposed. 
 
 Investigation recently made by a learned German historian has led to the belief that 
 the relics found reposing in a square casket in a recess of the Cathedral sanctuar\- of San 
 Domingo and conveyed with such military pomp and religious ceremony to the Cathedral 
 of Havana were not the bones of Columbus, but were those of some ecclesiastical dignitar}- 
 whose remains had been committed to the sacred crypt in a casket without inscription. The 
 
 chief grounds upon which this opinion rests is the 
 statement that Columbus' bones, after the third ex- 
 humation, were placed in a reliquary on which was 
 stamped his coat of arms, list of his titles, name, 
 date of birth, death and time of last removal ; 
 whereas, the chest which contained the mortuary- 
 relics that were transferred to Cuba was without in- 
 scription or lettering of any kind. But this question 
 will in all probability remain as long in contention as 
 the island which he first sighted, the place of his 
 nativity, and the date of his birth, disputes which 
 hardly admit of conclusive settlement. 
 
 But though we may not positively know 
 where the remains of the great Admiral repose, 
 his memory is no less eSectually preserved 
 in history- as well as by monumental tributes 
 that proclaim in granite and marble the im- 
 perishable glory and honor in which the world 
 holds his name and deeds. Already before 
 the death of King Ferdinand that monarch 
 had honored himself rather than the dis- 
 coverer of America b\' order- 
 ing a monument to his 
 memor\-. This was done Avhile 
 the remains of Columbus were 
 still sleeping in the monas- 
 tery of Las Cuevas. The 
 tomb was said to be worthy 
 of the great man to whom 
 it was erected. The inscrip- 
 tion already granted as a 
 
 COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN MEXICO. 
 
 motto to Columbus b}- his sovereigns was repeated in his epitaph : 
 
 " A. CASTILLA Y A I.EON 
 'NUEVA MUNDO DIO COLON." 
 
 "To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a New World."
 
 <^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXTI. 
 
 CAREERS OF THE COLUMBIAN DESCENDANTS. 
 
 HE life of Columbus may be fittinp^ly concluded with 
 some account of his descendants, of their success 
 in maintaininjj their rights and their vicissitudes of 
 fortune down to the time when the male line of the 
 Admiral became extinct. No sooner was his father's 
 body put into the tomb than the \oung Don Diego 
 came forward and claimed under the will all the 
 rights, prerogatives, titles and emoluments which 
 Columbus had enjoyed and of which in recent years lie 
 had been so unjustly deprived. It was hardly to be ex- 
 pected, however, that Ferdinand, who had dealt so unjustly 
 with the father, would be more liberal and just with the 
 son, and we are not surprised, therefore, to learn that he 
 began at once to employ the same temporizing and crafty 
 policy which he had so successfully used with the father. 
 It was not long until the King was drawn b>- the 
 emergencies of his reign into Italy, but not until he had 
 first at Villa Franca in June of 1506, and afterwards at Almazan 
 
 conceded to Don Diego 
 in August of 1507, what may be called his commercial and property rights under the testa- 
 ment of his father. This was, in a word, a grant that the one-tenth of the revenues derixed 
 and derivable from the Indies and terra firma discovered by Cohnnbus in the West should 
 go to his son. But Don Diego, like his father, was more concerned about his titles, his 
 rank, his honors as viceroy and governor-general, than he was about his dues and percent- 
 ages of gold. The young Admiral accordingly lost no opportunity of representing liis 
 claims to the King, and finally made bold to ask the Sovereign in so many words whether he 
 would or would not invest him with the titles which had been granted to his father. The 
 question being thus explicitly put the King could no longer temporize and was thus made 
 to express his will. He therefore refu.sed, and as an excuse for so doing brought forth a 
 principle of the Spanish con.stitution, reaffirmed by an edict of 1480, that henceforth no 
 grant in perpetuit>' should be made of any office by the crown which involved the exercise 
 of judicial functions. He claimed that the viceroyalty of the Indies was of this interdicted 
 kind and that, therefore, though he himself by the stipulations and agreements of 1492 had 
 gfiven such a title to Columbus, the same was unconstitutional and invalid. 
 
 After the return of the King from Naples, in 150S, Don Diego again renewed his claim, 
 but this time in another fonn. He respectfully petitioned tlie Sovereign for the privilege 
 of instituting a suit against the crown before the Council of the Indies in which his cause, 
 and involving therewith, the cause of his father, .should be legally heard and decided. The 
 request was granted and the suit was accordingly instituted, continuing for more than a 
 year and resulting in the triumphant establishing of Don Diego's claims. The crown was 
 
 (3>0
 
 312 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 fairly beaten, and it only remained for the young Admiral, under judgment of the court, to 
 assume the titles and honors of which his father had been so long deprived. 
 
 This trial occupied a great part of the years 1508-9 and the record, which has been 
 investigated by the historian Muiioz, is of great value as throwing light upon all the Colum- 
 bian contro\-ersy. The defence of the crown was first of all that above stated, namely, 
 that an entailed viceroyalty granted to Columbus was only for his natural life ; that even 
 this power had been limited by the suspension of the Admiral from office; that moreover, 
 Columbus had not been, as was claimed, the first discoverer of terra firma but only of the 
 Indian islands; and that finally the crown of Spain must defend itself and its prerogatives 
 against the tendency of unconstitutional and dangerous acts as a measure of self-protection 
 
 and perpetuity. 
 
 ADVANTAGEOUS MARRIAGE OF DON DIEGO. 
 
 All of these questions were abh' and impartially considered before the tribunal, and 
 though decided in favor of Don Diego, the nature of the Spanish administration and the 
 
 power of the crown were such that the application 
 
 of the decision to Diego's rights was for a while 
 
 impeded. The young man, however, had by this 
 
 time secured by marriage an alliance of the greatest 
 
 possible advantage to himself and his posterity. 
 
 He had won the heart of Dona Maria de Toledo, 
 
 daughter of Fernando de Toledo, who was grand 
 
 commander of Leon and a man of great influence and 
 
 rank in the kingdom. Greater even than he was his 
 
 brother Fadrique de Toledo, better known as the 
 
 Duke of Alva, who was not onl}- powerful by his . 
 
 rank and wealth and talents, but was personally a 
 
 favorite at court and with the King himself. 
 
 Such was the reputation which the Columbian 
 
 family, in spite of its foreign origin and the intrigues 
 
 and enmities of hostile factions, had attained not 
 
 only in Spain, but in all the world, that the two 
 
 princes of Toledo, one the father and 
 
 the other the uncle of Dona Maria, 
 
 assented to the marriage of that 
 
 noble lady to Don Diego. Thus was 
 
 secured an alliance whereby the 
 
 Columbian line was to be blent with 
 
 that of the ancient Spanish nobility. 
 
 In view of this condition and rela- 
 tionship Ferdinand gave a reluctant 
 and cold assent to the validity of the 
 judicial decision ; but at the same 
 time he would go no further than to concede to Don Diego the same dignity and rights 
 which had been for some years and were now enjoyed by Ovando, governor of His- 
 paniola. This construction cunningly excluded the title of viceroy, and possibly excluded 
 the extension of the young Admiral's rights to other islands and to terra firma. Never- 
 theless, in a general way, it was agreed that Don Diego should assume the titular 
 
 CWSTUFOmj COMMBO 
 lA. lATnlA. 
 
 MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS IN GENOA
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 313 
 
 dignity of viceroy and that his noble spouse should be recognized as Vice-Queen 
 of the Indies. 
 
 Such was the tennination of the famous controversy. Up to this date Ferdinand had 
 failed to comply with the promise which he had made to the dying Isabella, to recall 
 Ovando. Circumstances now rendered this long-deferred duty imperative, and in 1509 it 
 was accordingly performed. The young Admiral prepared for his voyage to the Indies, 
 gathering around him many noble and courtly people who were to accompany him to San 
 Domingo and compose his court. His uncles, Don Bartholomew, and Don Diego, senior, 
 were of his retinue. By the beginning of summer, 1509, everything was in readiness, and 
 the fleet prepared for the occasion sailed on the 9th of June from the harbor of San Lncar. 
 Diego arrived at his destination and assumed the govennnent of Hispaniola, which he 
 began to administer with great ceremony and splendor. Ovando was relieved of his duties 
 and sent home with the returning fleet ; but he went away in wealth and honor, and the 
 purpose of Isabella to prosecute him for his crime in murdering the innocent people of 
 Xaragua, and in particular for the execution of Anacaona, perished with her merciful 
 Majesty. 
 
 It was not long after Don Diego had assumed the govenament of his island before the 
 purpose of Ferdinand with respect to the Indies was clearly manifested. A royal decree 
 was framed by which the coast of Darien was detached from all connection with the insular 
 parts and was divided into two provinces, the governorship of one of which was assigned to 
 Alonzo de Ojeda and the other to Diego de Nicuesa. This act was resented and resisted by 
 the Governor of the Indies, but all to no purpose. The slow and toilsome processes of 
 history went on and the wishes of Diego Columbus were disregarded, for his vice-royalty 
 was in name rather than in fact. 
 
 It was evidently the purpose of the King that the authority of Diego should be 
 restricted to Hispaniola, or at most to the Indian islands. It was clearly not intended that 
 his jurisdiction should e.xtend to that terra firma which was a part, indeed the principal 
 part, as the event was soon to show, of the new lands discovered by the first Admiral. This 
 conflict of purpose was from the beginning a source of embarrassment and distrust between 
 the crown and the young Governor of the Indies. 
 
 ASSUMPTION OF THE GOVERNORSHIP OF THE INDIES. 
 
 Diego however entered upon his government with nuicli spirit and with many mag- 
 nanimous purposes. Like his fatlier he was an optimist, and like his father he was destined 
 to inherit perplexity and disappointment from the age and the people with whom he had to 
 deal. He soon found that the malcontent, jealous and insubordinate disjxjsitions with 
 which the Admiral had had to contend had been transmitted to himself. First of all a 
 certain Miguel Pasamonte, who was the royal treasurer of the i.sland, became the head of an 
 anti-administration party, the motive of which was an ostentations devotion to the interests 
 of the Spanish crown. 
 
 With this movement Fonseca, head of the Indian Bureau and now a privy councillor 
 of the King, was in hearty accord. Not satisfied with having pursued the elder Admiral 
 to his last dav he now took up and renewed the warfare on the \ounger. Nevertheless 
 Don Diego for a season held his own and presently added laurels and ])a!ms to his adminis- 
 tration by the peaceable occupation or conquest — if conquest it might be called which 
 brought no shedding of blood — of Cuba. This event took place in 1510 and was ut once 
 reported to the King.
 
 314 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Meanwhile the opposition to the government of Don Diego acquired much strength 
 and many complaints were sent home to Spain against him. At length, in 1512, the King 
 gave attention to these murmurings to the extent of sending Don Bartholomew to assist 
 the young Admiral in the duties of his administration. Another circumstance also induced 
 Ferdinand to show this mark of confidence in Bartliolomew, and that was the recent failure 
 of both the royal governors in Panama. Ojeda and Nicuesa, with their governments, went 
 b}- the board ; and the King was constrained, under the circumstances, to recognize the 
 rights of Don Diego on the mainland of the isthmus. 
 
 DEATH OF BARTHOLOMEW. 
 Ferdinand accordingly directed that Don Bartholomew should repair to Veragua and 
 assume the duties of governor under the more general authority' of his nephew. But this 
 
 large and promising scheme was destined to come to 
 naught. Don Bartholomew had already received as his 
 special patrimony the island of j\Iona, off the Cuban 
 coast. But he was now an old man ; the arduous en- 
 terprises in which he had been so long engaged had 
 shattered his constitution. Sickness came on and in 
 the year 1514 Don Bartholomew died, upon which 
 event the island government of ]Mona was recovered 
 b}^ the King, who thus again showed his disposition to 
 limit the Columbian grants to the life or lives of the 
 present holders. 
 
 The death of Don Bartholomew was a serious loss 
 to Diego, for thereafter his enemies became bold in 
 preferring such complaints that in 151 5 he was called to 
 Spain to make a report of his administration and to 
 \-indicate his rule from the charges brought against him. 
 He there conducted his defence with the greatest ability 
 and came forth from the inquest with a flying banner. 
 It is probable that had Ferdinand 
 lived he would henceforth have 
 resoluteh' supported the gover- 
 nor and repressed his enemies, 
 but the King himself now came 
 swiftly to the closing scene. On 
 the 23d of January, 15 16, he 
 died, transmitting his crown as 
 the world knows well, to his 
 grandson, that Charles \'. who 
 was destined to be for more than a quarter of a centur\' the most conspicuous figure of 
 the age. Henceforth Don Diego was thrown into relations with the new sovereign, the 
 vastness of whose inheritance, the complications of whose reign were so pressing and 
 multifarious as to make it almost impracticable for him to give adequate attention to the 
 affairs of the Indies. 
 
 In the meantime a new historical force had become operative in Hispaniola, which was 
 destined to enter largely into the general movements of civilization in the New World and 
 to cast its shadow, portentous and vast, across the annals of several centuries. This was 
 
 COI.UMBI.\N MONUMENT IN MADRID.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. :Uo 
 
 the introduction, first into Hispaniola and afterwards into all the West Indies and Spanish 
 America, of ne<^o slavery. By the time of which we speak, namely about 1515, the Indian 
 inhabitants of Hispaniola had been virtually exterminated. A disconsolate and despairing 
 renmant sur\i\ed from the horrors of the war and the repartimiento. But the survivors 
 were weak and inefficient even under tlie lash of the master. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF SLAVES FROM AFRICA. 
 
 The necessity, or at least the advantage, of slave labor had increased as the native 
 slaves were decimated and swept away, and to supply such labor the suggestion of kid- 
 napping and transporting slaves from Africa was heartily received and adopted. Some 
 shiploads of Guinea negroes were brought over, and it was soon found that they were able 
 to endure the severest trials and cnielties of ser\-itude. The trade became at once popular, 
 and the great infamy of modern times was established under the auspices of the Spanish 
 crown in the new countries which Spanish enterprise had revealed and opened for occupation. 
 
 It was not long, however, until the system of ser\-ile labor brought a measure of retri- 
 bution to those by whom it was instituted. In 1522 a negro revolt broke out in Hispaniola, 
 and it was accompanied with much violence and destruction of life and property before it 
 could be suppressed. 
 
 Don Diego had now established his family on what appeared to be an excellent founda- 
 tion. Five children had already been born of his union with Dona Maria de Toledo. 
 These were two sons, Luis and Christopher, and three daughters, Maria, Juana and 
 Isabella. The Columbian line seemed in fairest prospect of perpetuity and honor, but Don 
 Diego himself was involved in ever-recurring difficulties with the crown. This is to say 
 that his enemies in Hispaniola and the enemies of his family in Spain were constantly 
 active and embroiled him once and again in serious complications with the young Emperor. 
 To counteract the evil influence of his enemies Diego was obliged to spend the last years 
 of his life in Spain, following the court from place to place and seeking to obtain redress, 
 or a vindication of his conduct and the re-establishment of his rights and honors. 
 
 Dona Maria, acting as \'ice-Queen of the Indies, remained with her sons and daugh- 
 ters in San Domingo. Don Diego's death occurred at the town of Montalvan on the 21st of 
 Februar}-, 1526. His rights and titles and honors were transmitted by will, and in accord- 
 ance with the principles of primogeniture, to his oldest son, Don Luis, who became his 
 successor under the authority of the mother. At the time of his father's death Don Luis 
 was but six years of age, and Dona Maria deemed it expedient to go to Spain and have him 
 confirmed in the government which had been derived from his grandfather. An audience 
 was obtained from the young Empress, and the rights and titles of the third Admiral were 
 confinned, with the exception that the title of viceroy was refused to Don Luis by the 
 Emperor. 
 
 A period of comparative quiet now ensued, covering the minority of the third Admiral. 
 In 1538 Don Luis brought suit before the Council of the Indies for the recovery of his title 
 as viceroy. Institution of these proceedings resulted in the question being submitted to 
 arbitration, by which it was declared that henceforth the political honors of Don I.uis 
 should be embraced under the two titles of " .\dmiral of the Indies " and " Captain-General 
 of Hispaniola." In course of time a second compromise was made, in which the young 
 governor accepted as a finality the titles of " Duke of \'eragua " and " Marquis of Jamaica," 
 instead of the more comprehensive and honorable and significant title of viceroy of the 
 Indies.
 
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 (316)
 
 CULIMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 317 
 
 DEATH OF DON LUIS. 
 
 Nor was Don Luis pennitted to cnjo\ fur an\ j;reat time the smaller honors which had 
 been substituted for the greater. He died about 1542 leaving two legitimate daughters by 
 his wife, Dona >Liria de Mosquera, and one illegitimate son named Christopher. The 
 younger of the two daughters entered a convent and became a nun, and the claim of Don 
 Luis seemed to rest upon his remaining daughter Philippa. The fact of the death of Don 
 Luis without a legitimate son terminated the right male line of Christopher Columbus, and 
 brought in shortly afterwards one of the most complicated and, indeed, important lawsuits of 
 the century. There were many parties to the cause, each having his own interests to con- 
 ser\-e, and the issue involved the 
 consideration of the whole Colum- 
 bian generation from the period 
 before the birth of the great 
 Admiral down to the close of the 
 sixteenth ceutur}-. 
 
 The three daughters of the 
 late Don Diego had all been 
 married to important personages. 
 Maria, the eldest, was wedded to 
 Don Sancho de Cardono; Juana, 
 the second, was married to Don 
 Luis de Cueva, and Isabella, the 
 third, to Don George of Portugal, 
 Count of Gelves. There stood 
 also in the field of view as a 
 claimant the illegitimate Christo- 
 pher, son of Don Luis, and in 
 particular his legitimate daughter 
 Philippa. Moreover, Don Diego 
 Columbus, the second Admiral, 
 had two sisters, Francisca and 
 Maria, who came forsvard and 
 entered their claims in virtue of 
 collateral descent. 
 
 Meanwhile a distant and 
 rather factitious figure arose in 
 the person of Bernardo Columbo, 
 of Cogoleto, who declared him- 
 
 ,ri . i r T-k COULiUlI-V-N MONLMKNT UESlGNfcD UV JOSE UE MA.NJARRES. 
 
 self to be a natural son of Don ■' 
 
 Bartholomew. Still more remotely and strangely appeared the figure of Haltha/.ar Colombo, 
 of the ancient house of Cuccaro, the e.\istence of which tlie readei will recall from one 
 of the earlier chapters of the present work. Balthazar came forward with a family scheme, 
 showinfT that a certain Domenico Colombo, who was lord of Cuccaro, was the father of 
 Christopher Colombo of great fame. The Cuccaro Colombos were descended from Dome- 
 nico; therefore thev were the collateral kinsmen of tlie late .\dmirals, and they having 
 become extinct in their male line their rights had p.i.ssed to llie Italian branch. 
 
 Such was the vast and peculiar complication which hail now to be settled in a j\idicial
 
 318 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBL\. 
 
 inquiry before the Council of the Indies. In the first place the decision, which was rendered 
 on the 2d of December, 1608, declared the legal extinction of the male line of Christopher 
 Columbus. In the next place the claims of Balthazar Colombo were under indubitable 
 proofs put aside as spurious. In the third place the family of Dona Isabella, married as 
 abo\^e to Don George of Portugal — she being the sister of Don Luis, the third Admiral — was 
 selected as the true line of Columbian descent. At the time of the decision this famih- was 
 represented b}- Don Nuiio Gelves de Portugallo, grandson of Dona Isabella above referred 
 to, who according to the decision of the court became Duke of Veragua. The Don George 
 of Portugal, grandfather of Don Nufio, was himself one of the collateral princes of the 
 House of Bragan^a, and here the political and civil honors, the titles, ranks and privileges 
 granted aforetime to Christopher Columbus by Ferdinand and Isabella were made finally to 
 rest. The issue was sufficiently strange in the denouement and sufficiently instructive to 
 the student of biograph)-.
 
 PARI" III. 
 
 COLUMBIA. 
 
 BY John Clark Ridfatm.
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 Epoch of Discovery and Planting. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 REVELATION OF THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 
 the men of the ancient world tlie 
 character of the globe — its form, its 
 fashion — was a myster\'. They knew 
 not. The greatest minds of antiquity 
 ()()d pn7zledand dumb before the enigma, 
 is impossible for the man of the present 
 day, by force of imagination, to put him- 
 self in the place of the man of antiquity 
 and consider the earth, the sun and the stars as he considered them. With the lapse of 
 time, the increase of knowledge and the diffusion of light, the mystery has cleared away, 
 the imknown has become the known. The sky is no longer a curtain and the ocean no 
 longer a boundless deep. The earth is no longer an imixj.ssible plain held up from below 
 by mythical monsters and carried forward through an impossible panorama of seasons and 
 21 U»')
 
 322 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 vicissitudes. All things have been resolved from doubt into certainty. The fogs of fear 
 and superstition have been tossed afar by the salubrious wind, and though man does not 
 know all, he does know much of the sphere which he inhabits, the nature of things and 
 the system of universal nature. 
 
 The revelation of the form and bigness of the earth was long retarded. It seemed that 
 the darkness of the ancient and medise\'al night would never give place to day. Every 
 form of ignorance and ever}- spirit of superstition, all the misconceptions of the past and 
 all the folh- and fears of the present stood in the way and brandished weapons and torches 
 like goblins of the night. Nothing less than the sublime law of progress, under the reign 
 of which the old and hurtful darkness gives place at length to the new and beautiful dawn, 
 could have availed to bring in a newer and truer concept of the world and to fi.x it as an 
 unchangeable scientific belief in the minds of men. 
 
 It were an impossible task to discover the origin of the new opinions respecting the 
 form and figure of the earth. It appears that the old belief was never satisfying to the 
 great minds of antiquity. In the writings of Aristotle we alread}- catch glimpses of a con- 
 jecture that the earth is a sphere and not a plain. The popular mythology did not suffice 
 with men like Socrates and his companions and followers, and they reached out vaguely 
 to frame each for himself a concept of the world on whicli he enacted the brief drama 
 of his life. 
 
 But scientific views of nature were soon lost in the decadence and darkness that 
 followed the Classical ages. The decline of the Roman Empire was coincident with a 
 decline in the human mind. The triumph of the Goths was not only the triumph of 
 physical violence over the remains of order and civilization, but it was also the victory 
 of ancient barbaric thought over the science, the philosophy and learning which had 
 flourished for a season inider the auspices of Greek and Roman scholars. The Christian 
 church at length fell into league with the barbarians, and though ever struggling with 
 their brutalities and looking backward with yearning and regret to the vast and orderly 
 society which iiad flourished under the Empire, she herself became in a measure as barbar- 
 ous as the world around her. 
 
 STRANGE THEORIES OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHERS. 
 
 Then it was that the Ptolemaic system of the univer.se was accepted, believed aixd 
 taught not only as a part of science, but as one of the fundamentals of religious truth. 
 The earth was the centre of all things. Around it circled the sun and moon and stars. 
 On all sides the oceans washed the unknown shores. Goblins hovered over the deep. 
 Nature was a mystery which it was sacrilege to investigate, and the world was a problem 
 which none might solve. 
 
 Such was the condition of the human mind with regard to our planet during the 
 Middle Ages. Meanwhile nature herself began to be revealed without the purpose and 
 conceit of man. The Western Hemisphere is no doubt as old and perhaps older than the 
 Eastern. It is probable that the two Americas came out of the primeval waters at an 
 earlier period in geological history than did the western parts of Europe. It is also possible 
 that the aboriginal races of our world are ethnically considered a more ancient people than 
 those of the Eiiropean continent. There are evidences that a great land bridge fonnerh' 
 joined Greenland with Labrador, making easy the pas.sage for human beings from the one 
 country to the other. In this way it is possible that there may have been at a very early 
 period a conununity of inhabitants between the northern parts of Europe and the sub-polar 
 regions of North America.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. ;j23 
 
 Meanwhile there can be little doubt that the Pol>nesiaii.s of Southeastern Asia be^ran 
 to make their way islandwise across the Pacific, and at len-th reached the western sliores 
 ot South America. A^rain. we may trace with tolerable certaintv the incoming of Asiatic 
 Mongoloid tribes by wa>- of Bering Strait into the northwestermnost parts of our continent. 
 I-runi these sources it is easy to conceive of an aboriginal distribution of peoples in the 
 so-called New World at a period as earh- as those events which constitute the subject-matter 
 ot ancient history for Europe and Western Asia. 
 
 It we confine our attention to those westward iiio\cmeiits of mankind b\- which our 
 hemisphere became known to civilization we should fi.x our attention upon the Norse peoples 
 of the tenth and eleventh centuries. Here we touch the remotest border of the c\x>d\ of 
 discovery. It is not likel>- that an>- record made by man will ever be discovered in which 
 the evidences of earlier visitation to our shores are recorded than in the Sagas of the Scan- 
 dinavians. Nor are wc at libert.v to dismiss as mythical the now WL-ll-dftenniued move- 
 
 NORSKMK.N ON THR COAST OF AMKRICA. 
 
 ments of the Norsemen by which the northeastern parts of the present United States were 
 seen and visited and colonized as much as five hundred years before the eixjcli of Colnnibus. 
 Since 1838, when through the efforts of Rafn and the Royal Society of Copenhagen the 
 Scandinavian Sagas have been submitted to the critical judgment of P^nrope, all ground of 
 doubt has been removed relative to the Norse discoveries in the west at the close of the 
 tenth and the beginning of the eleventh century. 
 
 It is now conceded that Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the northeastern 
 parts of the United States were visited and to a limited e.vtent colonized before the Norman 
 conquest of England. While old Sweyn was flaunting the Danish raven in the face of 
 Ethelred the Unready ; while Robert I., son of Hugh CajxH, was on the throne of !•' ranee ; 
 while the Saxon Otho III. swayed the destinies of (^rermaiu' ; antl while the Caliphate of 
 Bagdad was still flourishing under the .\bba.ssides, men of the .\ryau race were estahlisli-
 
 324 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ing a feeble commmiication between the New World and Iceland. It is appropriate, first 
 of all, to give a brief acconnt of the voyages and explorations made by the Norse adven- 
 turers along the coast of America. 
 
 THE NORSE DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA. 
 
 From the Sagas above referred to we learn that the Western continent was first reached 
 
 by Europeans in the year A. D. 986. In that year a Norse sea-captain by the name of 
 
 Heijulfson, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, was caught by a storm, turned somewhat 
 
 from his course and carried to Labrador or Newfoundland. Several times the unknown 
 
 KILI^ING OF THORWAI,D. 
 
 shore was .seen, but no landing was made or attempted. The coast was low and bleak. 
 Tall forests abounded. The outline was so different from the well-known cliffs of Greenland 
 as to make it certain that another shore hitherto unknown had been seen in the West. 
 
 On returning to Greenland, Herjulfson and his companions spread abroad the story of the 
 new country which they had found, but whether it were continent or island none might 
 know. Fourteen years later what may be called the actual discovery of America was made 
 by Prince Leif, son of Eric the Red, usually called Leif Erickson. This noted Icelandic 
 captain, resolving to know the truth about the country which Herjulfson had seen, sailed 
 westward from Greenland, and in the spring of the year looi reached Labrador. Impelled
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMHUV. 
 
 325 
 
 by a spirit of adventure, lie went iisliore with his coinpaiiioiis aiul explored the coast for 
 considerable dist:ir.ces. The country was found at that season to be milder and more 
 attractive than Greenland, and Leif was in no haste to return. He coasted far southward, 
 as far as Massachusetts, where his daring company remained for more than a year. Rhode 
 Island was also visited, and it is alleged that the hard>- adventurers found their wa\- into New 
 York harbor. 
 
 What has once been done, whetlier by accident or design, may easily be repeated. 
 After the discovery of the new country it was a commonplace task for other na\igators to 
 follow the course tiiken b)- Heijulfsou and Prince Leif. In the years that followed the dis- 
 coveries of the latter several companies of Norsemen visited the shores of America. Thor- 
 wald, brother of Prince Leif, made a voyage to Maine and Massachusetts in the year 1002, 
 and the captain is said to have been killed in a conflict with the natives at Fall River in the 
 latter State. Then another brother, named Thorstein, 
 came with his band in the year 1005, and two years 
 afterwards Thorfinn Karlsefne, the most distingui.shed 
 mariner of his day, arri\ed with a crew of a hundred 
 and fifty men and made explorations along the coast 
 of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and perhaps as far 
 south as the capes of Virginia. Other companies 
 of Icelanders and Norwegians visited the countries 
 farther north and planted colonies in Newfoundland 
 and Nova Scotia. 
 
 Little, however, was known or imagined b>' these 
 rude adventurers of the character and extenc of tlie 
 country which they had discovered. They supposed, 
 indeed, that it was only a portion of Western Green- 
 land which bending to the north around an ann of 
 the ocean had reappeared in the west. The Norse 
 American settlements were feeble and soon broken 
 up. Commerce was an impo.ssibility in a cotintn*' 
 where there were only a few wretched savages with 
 no disposition to buy and nothing at all to sell. The ^ n"k-i 
 
 spirit of adventure soon appeased itself and the Norse sea rovers returned to their owa 
 country. To this undefined line of coast now vaguely known to them they gave the name 
 of ViNLAND ; for the wild grape-bearing vine grew abundautl\' in many parts. The old 
 Icelandic chroniclers insist that the countr)' was pleasant and beautiful. As compared with 
 their own mountainous and frozen island of the north the coasts of New England may well 
 have seemed delightful. 
 
 RECKLESS CHARACTER OF THE NORSE SEA-ROVERS. 
 
 The men who thus first visited the northeastern parts of the United States were a race 
 of hardv adventurers as lawless and restless as -my that ever sailed the deep. Their mariners 
 and ca])tains penetrated every clime, .\lready before their discovery of .\merica they had 
 taken the better parts of France and England. .Vll the monarchs of the latter country after 
 William the Conqueror — himself the grandson of a sea-king — are descendants of the Norse 
 men. They were rovers of the sea ; freebooters and pirates ; warriors audacious and head- 
 strong, wearing hoods surmounted with eagles' wings and walruses' tusks, mailed armor, 
 and for robes the skins of polar bears. Woe to the people on whose defenceless coasts the
 
 326 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Vikings landed with sword and torch ! Their wa\\vard life and ferocious disposition are 
 well portrayed in one of their own old ballads : 
 
 He scorns to rest 'neath the smoky rafter. 
 
 He plows with his boat the roaring deep ; 
 The billows boil and the storm howls after — 
 But the tempest is only a thnig of laughter- 
 
 The sea-king loves it better than sleep ! 
 
 The Norse discoveries in America are clouded with uncertainties of time and circum- 
 stance. That settlements were made in Massachustts and Rhode Island cannot be doubted. 
 New bands of rovers came and others returned to Greenland and Iceland. For about three 
 centuries voyages continued to be made by the Norsemen, and it is believed that as late as 
 1347 a Norwegian ship visited Labrador and the northeastern parts of the United States. 
 The Norse remains which have been found at Newport, at Garnet Point, on Fall River and 
 several other places seem to point clearly to some such events as are here described. The 
 Icelandic poets and historians give a uniform and tolerably consistent account of the early 
 exploits of their countrymen in Vinland. When the word America is mentioned in the 
 hearing of the Icelandic schoolboys they will at once answer with enthusiasm, " Oh, yes ; 
 Leif Erickson discovered that coitntry in the year looi." 
 
 These events, however, like all others, are to be weighed b\' their consequences. From 
 the discovery of America by the Norsemen no historical results followed. Mankind were 
 neither wiser nor better. The nature and significance of the disco\'ery were in no wise 
 understood by the men who made it. Among the Icelanders themselves the place and the 
 very name of Vinland were forgotten.. Europe never heard of such a countr}- or such a 
 discovery. Historians have until the last half century been incredulous on the subject and 
 the fact is as though it had never been. The curtain which had been lifted for a moment 
 was stretched again from sky to sea and the New World still lay hidden in the shadows. 
 
 OTHER TRADITIONS OF EARLY DISCOVERY. 
 
 Other traditions of discovery now come into view. It is said that before tlie final 
 relinquishment of America by the Norse adventurers a sea-wanderer from rugged Wales had 
 touched upon our eastern shores. The tradition runs that the Welsh prince ]\Iadoc was not 
 less fortunate than Leif Erickson in finding the western shore of the Atlantic ; but the 
 evidence of this exploit is far less satisfactory than that by which the Icelandic discoveries 
 have been authenticated. According to the legend which the Cambrian chroniclers with 
 patriotic pride have preser\'ed and the poet Southey has transmitted, Madoc was the son of 
 the Welsh king Owen Gwynnedd, who flourished about the middle of the twelfth century. 
 At this time a civil disturbance occitrred in W'ales and Prince Madoc was obliged to save 
 himself bv flight. With a small fleet he left the country in the year 11 70 and after sailing 
 westward for several weeks came to an unknown shore, beautiful and wild, inhabited by a 
 strange race of men unlike the people of Europe. 
 
 For some time the Prince and his sailors tarried in the new land, delighted with its 
 exuberance and with the salubrioits climate. Then all but twenty of the daring company 
 set sail and returned to Wales. It was the intention of Madoc to make preparations and 
 return again. Ten ships were fitted out and the leader with his adventurous crew a second 
 time set his prows to the west. The vessels dropped out of sight one by one and were never 
 heard of more. The thing may have happened. 
 
 Meanwhile human intelligence and reason had had their growth. In the latter Middle 
 Ages there were many symptoms of a revival, a resurrection from the intellectual death
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 which had so lonjj prevailed in the world. Leadiiij.;; thinkers in nian\ couiitrie.s hej^an to 
 donbt the correctne.ss of the accepted view.s respecting; the character and fignrc of the earth. 
 Intellectnal curiosity was excited, as it nnist ever be in the presence of an unsolved problem. 
 Was the world round or flat? Had the ocean another shore? What kind of a verge or 
 precipice was drawn around the cloud\ rim of nature? Wliat vision <>f wonder and n<ril 
 might arise upon the mariner's sight — 
 
 " Beyond the extreme sea-wall ami between the remote sea gates?" 
 
 If a man go could he return again ? 
 
 DIM CONCEPTIONS OF THE EARTH'S SPHERICITY. 
 
 As the shadows of the mediaeval darkness be.!.;an to roll away these queries were quick 
 in the adventurous brain of New Europe. The vigorous sailors of the maritime republic of 
 Italy and the daring travellers who had gone up 
 (as they thought) to Jerusalem and thence doivit 
 to India imagined that they could perceive the 
 sphericity of the earth. They believed that the 
 Holy City was set on the crest or ridge of the 
 world I More particularly did those who journeyed 
 northward and southward behold the stars rising 
 overhead or sinking to the horizon in a wa\' un- 
 accountable except on the notion that the earth 
 is round. 
 
 From the shores of Portugal and Spain, from 
 Brest and Land's End, from the Skaggerack, the 
 Otkneys and Iceland, the man of the fourteenth 
 century looked wistfully, thoughtfully to the 
 ocean of Atlas. He would fain try his power 
 in that world of waters. 
 
 Rumor, tradition said that others had gone 
 and come again in safety. The old knight of 
 St Albans, Sir John de Mandeville, coming from 
 the far East in the >ear 1356 thus discourses 
 on the problem which after a hiuidred and forty years was to receive a final solution at 
 the hands of Columbus and Cabot : 
 
 "Wherefore men may easily perceive that the land and the sea are of round shape and 
 figure, for that part of the firmament which is seen in one countr\- is not seen in atiother. 
 And men may prove both by experience and sound reasoning that if a man, having pa.s.sage 
 by ship, .should go to search the world, he might with his vessel sail around the world both 
 above and under it. This proposition I prove as follows : I have myself in Prussia seen the 
 North Star by the astrolabe fifty-three degree above the liorizon. Further on in Bohemia 
 it rises to the height of fift\-eight degrees. And still further northward it is sixty-two 
 degrees and some minutes high. I nnself have so measured it. Now the South Pole Star 
 is, a-s I have said, opposite the North Pole Star. And about these poles tlie whole celestial 
 sphere revolves like a wheel about the axle ; and the firmament is thus divided into two 
 equal parts. From the north I have turned southward, passed the equator, and fonml that 
 in Libya the .-\ntnrctic Star first appears above the h<iri/.on. Further on in those lands that 
 st.nr rises higher until in Southern Libya it reaches the height of eighteen degrees and
 
 328 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 certain minutes, sixty minutes making a degree. After going by sea and by land towards 
 that country [Australia, perhaps] of which I have spoken, I have found the Antarctic Star 
 more than thirty-three degrees above the horizon. And if I had had company and shipping 
 to ffo still further I know of a certainty that I should have seen the whole circumference 
 of the heavens, . . . and I repeat that men may environ the whole world, as well 
 under as above, and return to their own country if they had company and ships and 
 conduct. And always, as well as in their own land, shall they find inhabited continents 
 and islands. For know you well that they who dwell in the Southern Hemisphere are feet 
 against feet of them who dwell in the Northern Hemisphere, just as we and they that dwell 
 under us are feet to feet. For every part of the sea and the land hath its antipode. 
 
 Moreover, when men go on a journey toward India and the foreign islands, they do 
 on the whole route circle the circumference of the earth even to those countries which are 
 under us. And therefore hath that same thing which I heard recited when I was young 
 happened many times. Howbeit, upon a time a worthy man departed from our countr)- to 
 explore the world. And so he passed India and the islands beyond India — more than five 
 thousand in number — and so long he went by sea and land, environing the world for many 
 seasons, that he found an island where he heard them speaking his own language, halloo- 
 ing at the oxen in the plow with the identical words spoken to beasts in his own country. 
 Forsooth he was astonished, for he knew not how the thing might happen. But I assure 
 you that he had gone so far by land and sea that he had actually gone around the world and 
 was come again through the long circuit to his own district. It only remained for him to 
 go forth and find his particular neighborhood. Unfortunately he turned from the coast 
 which he had reached and thereby lost all his painful labor, as he himself afterwards 
 acknowledged when he returned home. For it happened by and by that he went into 
 Norway, being driven thither by a storm, and there he recognized an island as being the 
 same in which he had heard men calling the o.xen in his own tongue ; and that was a 
 possible thing. And yet it seemeth to simple unlearned rustics that men may not go 
 around the world, and if they did they would fall off! But that absurd thing never could 
 happen unless we ourselves, from where we are, should fall toward heaven ! For upon 
 what part soever of the earth men dwell, whether above or under, it always seemeth to 
 them that they walk more perpendicularly than other folks ! And just as it seemeth to us 
 that our antipodes are under us head downwards, just so it seemeth to them that we are 
 under them head downwards. If a man might fall from the earth towards lieaven, by 
 much more reason the earth itself, being so heavy, should fall to heaven — an impossible 
 thing." 
 
 TYRANNY OF CHURCH AND FEUDALISM. 
 
 Such were the rea.sonings of the old Knight of St. Albans at the middle of the four- 
 teenth centur\-. He was himself a traveller of great renown, and came home from the 
 far east to record, in the thirteenth year of Edward III. , the things which he had gathered 
 by observ^atioh and tradition. To what extent such opinions were abroad among the best 
 thinkers of the age we may never know. It must be remembered that the epoch was one 
 of fear, superstition, dread — that it was an age in which the State taught men what things 
 to do and the Church what things to believe. The correctness of the reasonings and deduc- 
 tions of Sir John Mandeville may well astonish us. It would be difficult to find in them 
 any error except the mistaken reckoning of the length of a degree of longitude, and for 
 that he was in no measure responsible. His suggestions and inferences, however, passed 
 for little. They were regarded as the speculations of an imaginative mind, and the so-called
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. ;{2!) 
 
 "practical men" of the fourteenth century made no effort to apply them to the circum- 
 navijjation of the globe. 
 
 Xearh- a century and a half now elapsed before the problems of the sea were again 
 taken up by navigators and adventurers. The sun of chivalry set and the expiring energies 
 of feudalism ebbed away in Europe. The elder Capets gave place to the Houses of Valois 
 and Orleans in France. The bloody wars of York and Lancaster made England de.solatf> 
 and barren ; but the myster>- of the Atlantic still lay unsolved under the shadows of the 
 west. At last Ivouis XI. rase above the ruins of feudal P" ranee, and Hcnrv \'II. over the 
 fragments of broken England. In Spain Ferdinand and Isabella, expelling both the Jew 
 and the Mohammedan, consolidated their kingdoms, and prepared the way for the Spanish 
 ascendancy in the times of their grandson. Destiny had decreed that this kingdom .sliould 
 become the patron and bear the honor of that great enterpri.se by which a New World was 
 given first to Castile and Leon and afterwards to mankind. As to him who was destined to 
 make the glorious discovery, his birtli had been reserved for Italy. 
 
 The stor\- of Christopher Columbus belongs in its completeness to another part of the 
 present work. There the reader shall see displayed in full the .sad disadvantages and endle.ss 
 disappointments to which the discoverer was doomed. For a moment the career of Columbus 
 blazes out in meteoric splendor, shedding a lustre over half the world ; then he falls into 
 unmerited decline and ignominy and the tragedy ends with national ingratitude and inju.s- 
 tice. There is in the drama ever>' quality calculated to e.xcite sympathy for the greatness 
 of the man and applause for his immortal work. 
 
 For the present we pause only to note with keen regret the misadventures, ill luck and 
 jealousy by which the name of Columbus was withheld from the islands and continents 
 which he discovered. It is known to all the world how Amerigo Vespucci visiting the 
 shores of South America in 1499, and returning to inform Europe that the new countrj- was 
 another continent and not a part of India, secured for himself the name of the New World. 
 History- at length, however, corrects the mistakes of men. There is a gradual elimination 
 of contrivance and fraud from her immaculate pages. Though the name of America may 
 never give place to Columbia the latter has fixed itself in the poetry and art of all lands as 
 the tnie designation of our Western World. 
 
 CIVILIZATION OF THE PERUVIANS AND MEXICANS. 
 
 When Europeans first lauded 'on the eastern sliores of tiie.se continents the country 
 was found inhabited by various races. In some parts, especially towards the north, there 
 was savagery and barbarism. In other portions higher forms of civilization were discovered. 
 In Central America and in the adjacent parts of the two greater continents evidences of the 
 civilized life were found scarcely inferior to the existing conditions in the best parts of the 
 world. In comparing the cities and peoples of Peru, Central America and Mexico with 
 European communities of the same century, or with the civilized races of the ancient world, 
 much allowance must be made for ethnic prejudice and for the fact that the materials of the 
 inquiry- have all been gathered by men of the conquering races. 
 
 The primitise civilized peoples of the three Americas have had no voice. Their 
 poets and philo.sophers and advocates have not been heard in the great assizes where the 
 relative merits of the peoples of the Old World and the New were to be decided. It is 
 known, however, that nearly all the arts and .sciences which were cultivated by the .Ara- 
 bians and Europeans in the later Mitldle Ages were known to the Central .Vinericans, the 
 Peruvians and the Mexicans. Pizarro, conqueror of Peni, wa.s constrained in 15 y to 
 acknowledge that the only superiority which the Spaniards whom he led could claim wxs ia
 
 330 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 militaty discipline and weaponry. In other respects the Pernvians were fnlly the equals of 
 the invaders of their country-. The physical evidences of civilization were on ever}- hand. 
 Post-roads, aqueducts and temples stood as the tangible evidence of what the Peruvian 
 builders were able to accomplish. Mining and manufacturing flourished. Agriculture was 
 carried to a high degree of perfection. The fine arts were patronized, and sculpture rose to 
 a degree of excellence but little below that of Eg}"pt and Greece. 
 
 A similar condition of affairs was found b)- Cortez in Mexico in 15 19. The Mexicans 
 also were adepts in the arts and sciences. The Spaniards chose to affect great horror at the 
 religious rites which were practised by the Aztecs, and particularly at human sacrifice. But 
 the world has failed to balance the account ; for even in this particular the cruelties of the 
 Mexican priests were not equal to those of the Spanish Inquisition. It is forgotten that 
 
 AZTKCS SACklKICINX; to THiv SI N. 
 
 many races have thought it pleasing to the gods to offer human beings on sacrificial altars. 
 Such practices were common in the Orient. At the time of the Carthaginian ascendancy 
 the offering of human beings was a common circumstance of the national religion. While 
 the Romans did not sacrifice men on altars they exposed them to wild beasts in the arena, 
 or compelled them to meet their trained gladiators in the bloody circus. 
 
 It is now conceded that many of the most elevating discoveries of science were made 
 by the Mexicans before they were made in Europe. The astronomy of the Aztecs was by no 
 means despicable. They were familiar with the planets and stars and with the orderly pro- 
 cesses of the heavens. They had perhaps the most complete calendar which men had 
 invented prior to the establishment of the Gregorian system. The great calendar stone 
 ■which has been preserved from the beginning of the sixteenth century- shows conclusively
 
 COLUMBI'S AND COLUMHIA. 
 
 :;;U 
 
 the advanced astronomical knowledge of the people \\ lio productd it. The Mexican archi- 
 tectnre was of so high an order as to rival that of the Moors, and their wealth, according to 
 the testimony of tlieir contHKrors, was quite incalciilablo. 
 
 WHENCE CAME THE FIRST SETTLERS OF AMERICA? 
 
 For four centimes specnlation has been rife respecting the origin of the races of the 
 New World. One hypothesis after another has been started and passed like a wave over 
 the intelligence of the age, only to give place to the next. People withont a knowledge of 
 geography or the historical movements of mankind have attempted to show that the native 
 races of America were the descendants of the Semitic peoples fonnerh living in llu- \ alley 
 
 
 4 fc-:^"-Ta> 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 - — miimliUIHHilll"^<"»y 
 
 AZTEC CALKXDAR STO.Vi;. 
 
 of the Enphrates; bnt snch a snpposition is preposterons and ntcd not occnpy tin.- atttniiun 
 of any rational being. Others again have believed that the races of the New World wtic 
 indigenons, like the animals and plants, which differ nnich from those of KnrojK- and .\sia. 
 Some have thonght that aforetime — as we have said above — a great land bridge extended 
 from Greenland to Labrador, thns fnrnishing a means of transit from the Eastern to the 
 Western world. The easiness of passage across Bering's strait has fnmislied goinl ground 
 for the supposition of ethnic kinship between a part of the .\merican aborigines and the 
 peoples of Northeastern .\sia. Some of the ablest ethnologists have traced lines of progress 
 from island to island across the Pacific from tlu Mala\ ])eninsnla to the western coast of
 
 332 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 South America. As for absolute knowledge of the origin of the American aborigines there 
 is none. There are, however, good grounds for holding the belief in the common origin 
 of all mankind, and it is easy to perceive several methods by which in the almost limitless 
 ages of the past comnjunication between the pastern and the Western hemispheres might 
 have been found and maintained until both were peopled. It is possible that the 
 expressions Old World and New World have little foundation in fact. Indeed there are not 
 wanting geological evidences that — as has already been said — the American continents 
 emerged from the primaeval waters at an earlier epoch than did Europe or Africa. 
 
 The difference in the physical, mental and moral states of the peoples of the East and 
 West four centuries ago has been greatly exaggerated. Difference there certainly was in 
 manners, customs and laws. Difference we may properly allow in the average grade of 
 civilization. But the most striking particular in which the peoples east and west of the 
 Atlantic differed the one from the other was as it respects aggressiveness, progress and 
 ambition. These qualities belonged to the men of Europe. In the men of the New World 
 thev were largely wanting. The civilized communities of Central America, of Peru and 
 Mexico, like some of the Oriental peoples of to-day, were contented with the stage of devel- 
 opment which they had reached. The)- sought nothing beyond, either by discovery or 
 conquest. The peculiar trait which caught the attention of the first Spanish and English 
 marauders in the New World was the general content of the natives with their condition. 
 Doubtless there was among the native communities an imperceptible growth by which the 
 people were slowly carried forward into newer and improved conditions, but the movement 
 was so slow as to escape attention in any given age and to produce results only after long 
 
 lapses of time. 
 
 EFFECTS OF COMMERCE ON CIVILIZATION. 
 
 One of the concomitants — perhaps we might say one of the causes — of this condition 
 was the absence of the commercial spirit and of maritime adventure. Commerce and sea- 
 faring came from east to west. Neither spirit prevailed in any part of the New World. 
 Commerce, even in the most civilized communities, hardly rose above the level of barter, 
 and sea-going extended no further than the na\-igat:on of rivers and the safe waters along 
 the shores of placid seas. 
 
 The Mediterranean countries, on the other hand, were special!)' favorable for the 
 development of commerce and maritime adventure. Voyages from island to island and 
 from coast to coast were easily undertaken, and the maritime spirit rose at a very early age. 
 It became an enthusiasm, a passion. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians and Greeks were 
 men of the sea. The same spirit at length prevailed in the westernmost parts of Europe. 
 Navigation was improved and new means discovered for reaching distant regions of the 
 globe. But in the New World none of these conditions and motives existed. The native 
 peoples of America were land-peoples, and little ambitious of the sea. Content and 
 possibly the spirit of ease prevailed with the Central American races, and commerce and 
 navigation were therefore little cultivated. 
 
 It should not be understood, however, that aboriginal America such as it was four 
 centuries ago was poor in those treasures which excite the ambitions and lusts of men. In 
 many parts of these continents rich mines of gold and silver existed. Many of the giilf 
 waters abounded in pearls. It were long to enumerate the native treasures which might be 
 gathered by brave and adventurous marauders among the peaceable and well-contented 
 peoples who inhabited the central parts of our hemisphere at the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century.
 
 COLl'MBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 8:s:s 
 
 We should renicinbcr, however, that tlic actual treasures of the New World were uot 
 comparable with the fabulous. Stor>- aud iuiajjinatiou wrought a.stoui.shiu<j fictions of the 
 gorgeous wealth which abounded in the new lauds. Kver>- adventurer carried the torch 
 of fancy ; and though each nightfall 
 found him unrewarded he slept and 
 dreamed of the riches that should 
 come with the morrow. 
 
 From this distance we are easily 
 able to summarize the motives which 
 carried the European adventurers to 
 our shores. The men who cros-sei^ 
 the Atlantic at the close of tin 
 fifteenth and the beginning of tli' 
 sixteenth century were inflamed, first 
 of all, with the passion of gold-hunt- 
 ing. A second motive was the ac- 
 quisition of territory, and the third 
 — though less sincere — was the purpose of bringing new races of men to the Christian 
 religion as taught and formulated b\- the Church of Rome, (^n the whole it was a maiter 
 of gain and conquest. Men, for many generations gi\en over to the struggles of war, of 
 barbarism, of wild adventure in eastern lands, found at length to the west of the Atlantic 
 vast new regions in which their energies and passions might have free plav aud reach 
 satiety. 
 
 We are here to take up and consider in their order the various movements by wliicli 
 the new continents were made known to the peoples of Europe. The exploits of Columbus, 
 however — first and greatest of them all — are omitted in this connection, as they consti- 
 tute on a larger scale the subject-matter of another part of the present vohune. It is 
 sufficient to note in this connection that the man of Genoa, though the first of Europeans 
 to reach the West Indian islands and the mainland of South America, was not the first to 
 touch the shores of the North American continent. That great adventure and discovery- 
 were reser\'ed for another man of Italian birth, but .sailing under the flag of England. It 
 is to him and the exploits of his son and succe.s.sors that we are now to gi\e attention. 
 
 A 1-IUI-..MI. IAN Mill-
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 THE CABOTS AND THEIR FOLLOWERS. 
 
 ANY writers have dwelt upon the state of enthusiasm and 
 fervor which prevailed at the European courts when 
 the news was borne abroad that Columbus had returned 
 from the western shores of the Atlantic. True, there 
 was great confusion in the reports. The navigator him- 
 self supposed that he had found the Indies — the land 
 of Cathay which Marco Polo and other story-telling 
 travellers had described as lying on the easternmost 
 parts of Asia. One thing was certain ; he had found 
 land. Many islands had been circumnavigated. Others 
 were so extensive as to seem to be continents. Clearly 
 it was but the beginning of discoveiy. All imagina- 
 tions were inflamed with the intelligence. Incredulity 
 was brushed aside, and a vast trans-Atlantic world rose 
 upon the imagination like a mirage beyond the desert. 
 
 All the maritime nations immediately prepared to 
 discover and to occupy the new lands in the West. The 
 seafaring connnunities were quickest in sending forth their captains on the lines of discovery 
 and adventure. England held — as she has ever done — a peculiarly favorable situation for 
 the work of navigation and conquest over sea. Her mariners were bold and skilful. They 
 had in them the courage of the Vikings, the hardihood of the Saxons and the imaginations 
 of the Normans. When the news of Columbus' discoveries were spread abroad in the 
 harbors of Merry England her captains, not a few, were ready to take up the work and go 
 forth in search of the New World. 
 
 Among the many who were excited to ambition and activity by the great event of 1492 
 was Giovanni Gabotto or Kaboto, or as his name appears in English John Cabot. His 
 birthplace was probably Venice, but his home was in Bristol, in West England. He was a 
 seaman from his childhood. His voyages had reached to the easternmost parts of the 
 Mediterranean. While in that far realm he had visited Mecca and had seen the incoming 
 caravans from India laden with spices and gems. He believed as Columbus did that the 
 far East might be reached by sailing to the westward, and this notion he succeeded in 
 impressing upon three English merchants of Bristol who agreed to bear the expense of an 
 expedition to be commanded by Cabot. 
 
 The consent of the Crown, however, was necessar}'. Henry VII., first king of the 
 House of Tudor, recently victorious over his enemies at the battle of Bosworth Field, cold 
 and calculating, hesitated long before assenting to the request of Cabot. The latter hov- 
 ered about the court for many weeks; but at length the envy of the King, jealous of the 
 great things which had been accomplished under the banners of Castile and Leon, pre- 
 vailed over his narrow and parsimonious spirit; and on the 5th of May, 1496, he issued a 
 
 (334)
 
 COL I' M HIS AND COIA'MHIA. 
 
 33o 
 
 charter tojoliii Cabot "mariner, of Venice," grantinj,' liini privilege and antliority to make 
 iliscoveries and explorations in the Atlantic and Indian oceans, to carry the English flag 
 and to take possession of all islands and continents which he might discover. The 
 expenses of the expedition were to be borne by the three merchants of Bristol; but onc- 
 lifth of all the profits gained by the expedition should be given to the Crown. 
 
 DISCOVERV OF NORTH AMERICA BY CABOT. 
 
 The months of the following autumn and winter were spent in ])reparations for the 
 voyage. A fleet of five vessels was prepared and provisioned; but only one ship, a small 
 caravel called the Mafl/icic, carrying a crew of eighteen men under the immediate com- 
 mand of Cabot sailed on the expedition. Among the crew were John Cabot's three sons, 
 Lewis, Sebastian and Santius. The Malllu-w left Bristol in the latter part of April and 
 after a tempestuous voyage reached the coast of Labrador in the latitude of 56 degrees 
 north, on St. John's Day, the 24th of June, 1497. This was the real discovery 0/ North 
 America. Indeed, it was the tnie discovery of the American continents, for nearly four- 
 teen months elapsed before Columbus him.self touched the mainland on the Ciulf of Paria. 
 More than two years passed 
 before Ojeda and Vespucci 
 traced the shore of South 
 America. 
 
 Although it was the 
 sea.son of midsummer, Cabot 
 found the countr\' which he 
 had discovered to be ice- 
 bound and wrapped in the 
 solitude of an apparently per- 
 petual winter. The coast was 
 forbidding. A few wretched 
 natives ran down to see the L. 
 ship which appeared to them j"i 
 a prodig)- of the sea. The 
 commander attempted to open communications with the natives, but it is believed that no 
 landing was made. The shore line was explored, however, for .several hundred miles. 
 Cabot supposed that he had found the kingdom of the Grand Khan of Tartary; but 
 neither the character of the countr)- nor the ajjpearance of the natives warranted the 
 conclusion. 
 
 Before setting sail for England the navigator went on shore, and according to the terms of 
 his commission planted the flag of England and took po.ssessiou in the name of the English 
 King. The tradition runs that by the side of the flag of his adopted connlr*-, Cabot also 
 >et up the banner of his native land, the Republic of Venice; nor will fancy fail to 
 discover in the event the auspicious omen of a far-off day of greatness when the flag of 
 another and greater Republic should wave from .sea to sea. 
 
 The good ship Mallhe'iv returned to Bristol on the 6th of August, 1497. From the 
 dates we may easily discover the brevity of the voyage. Twice on the right hand the coast 
 of Newfoundland was seen. After a little more than three months of absence the captain, 
 and his crew came safely to shore. Bristol had her holiday. The .\dmirai Cabot was received 
 with rejoicing. .\n entry in the private accounts of Henry \'II. for the iDth of .\ugu.st, 
 1497, is as follows : "For him that found the new isle, ten |x)unds." But the refwrts of 
 
 \ . \!; .1 1 \XDINC. ON THE 
 SIIDRKS or I,ABR.\D:IR.
 
 336 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the event are meagre, and we are left to conjecture with respect to miich that followed. At 
 the present time an ancient manuscript is preserved in a book shop in Bristol in which a 
 brief announcement is made of the safe return of the Matthetv and of the discover)- by 
 Cabot of a new country- beyond the Atlantic. 
 
 The cautious King at length issued a new commission more liberal than the first and 
 the same was signed in Februar;,- of 1498. New ships were fitted and new crews enlisted 
 for a second voyage. Strange as it may seem, after the date of this second paten: the ver}- 
 name of John Cabot disappears from the annals of the times. Where the remainder of his 
 life was passed and the circumstances of his death are involved in complete myster)-. 
 
 DISCOVERIES OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 
 
 But Sebastian Cabot, second of his father's sons, had inherited not only the plans and 
 reputation of the latter, but also his genius. Indeed the younger Cabot appears through 
 the shadows of four centuries as a man of greater capacity and enterprise than his father. 
 As we have said the younger Cabots accompanied the elder on his famous first voyage. 
 Sebastian now took up the cause with all the fer\'or of jouth. It is probable that the same 
 fleet, the equipment of which had been begun for the father, was intnisted to the son. 
 However this may be, Sebastian in the spring of 1498 found himself in command of a 
 squadron of well-manned vessels and on his way to the new continent. But th: new conti- 
 nent was still supposed to be that India which had been the dream of navigators and 
 cosmographers for many generations. The particular object of Sebastian was the commou 
 folly of the times, namely, the discovery of a northwest passage across the Atlantic to the 
 Indies. 
 
 At the close of the fifteenth century nothing was known about the general character of 
 the great ocean currents which so largely modify the temperature of the seas and lands. 
 Navigators had no notion of the great difference in climate of the parts of Europe and 
 America situated on the same parallels of latitude. The humidit}' and comparative warmth 
 of Great Britain were naturally supposed to exist in the new lands at a corresponding dis- 
 tance from the equator. It remained for the Cabots to discover the much greater rigor of 
 the climate on the western shores of the north Atlantic. The voyage of Sebastian proceeded 
 prosperously until he reached the seas west of Greenland. Here he was obliged by the ice- 
 bergs to change his course. 
 
 It was now July and the sun scarceh- set at midnight. Seals were seen in abundance 
 and the ships ploughed through such shoals of codfish as had never before been heard of. 
 The shore of Labrador was reached not far from the scene of the elder Cabot's discoveries. 
 Then the fleet turned southward, but whether across the Gulf of St. Lawrence or to the 
 east of Newfoundland is uncertain. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the coast of Maine 
 were successively explored. The whole shore line of New England and of the Middle 
 States was now for the first time since the dajs of the Norsemen seen and traced by Euro- 
 peans. Nor did Cabot desist from this work which was bestowing the title of discovery on 
 the Crown of England until he had passed beyond the Chesapeake. After all the disputes 
 about the matter it is most probable that Cape Hatteras is the point from which Sebastian 
 began his homeward voj'age. 
 
 It was in this manner that the right of England to the better parts of North America 
 was first declared. The "right" in question may be strongly criticised by posterity, as it 
 rested wholh' upon the fact o'i first vieiv hy a company of English sailors looking shoreward 
 from their vessels in the summer of 1498. But this first view was called discovery, and the
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMHIA. :«7 
 
 Christian kings of Europe had agreed among themselves that discoven- should hold — that 
 it should constitute a right which they would mutually respect and defend. In this com- 
 pact not the slightest attention was paid to the rights of possession and occupancy enjoyed 
 for unknown generations by the nacive peoples of the new lands. All the claims of the 
 aboriginal races were brushed aside as not of the slightest consequence or validity. The 
 flag of Tudor had been carried iu a ship along the coast from Labrador to Cape Hatteras, 
 and English sailors had seen the New World before any of their European rivals; there- 
 fore England had a right to the possession of the continent thus "discovered !" 
 
 As for Sebastian Cabot himself, his future career was as strange as the voyages of his 
 boyhood had been wonderful. The dark-minded, illiberal Henry VII., although quick 
 to appreciate the value of Cabot's discoveries, was slow to reward the discoverer. He, as 
 well as all the Tudor kings who succeeded him, was a scheming and selfish prince. When 
 Henry \TII. died, Ferdinand the Catholic enticed Sebastian Cabot away from England and 
 made him Pilot-major of Spain. While holding this high office he had for a season almost 
 supreme control of the maritime affairs of the kingdom and sent out many successful 
 voyages. He lived to be very old, but the circumstances of his death have not been ascer- 
 tained, and the place of his burial is unknown to this day. 
 
 DA GAMA DISCOVERS A ROUTE TO INDIA. 
 
 We may here pause to note tlie rapid unfoldings of discover.' in the last years of the 
 fifteenth centun-. The true concept of the world came with 1498. That year may be fixed 
 upon as the most marked in the history of modem times. In the month of May, Vasco da 
 Gama, of Portugal, succeeded in doubling the Cape of Storms, afterwards known as the 
 Cape of Good Hope, and after a long and successful voyage reached Hindustan. We have 
 just seen how in the same summer Sebastian Cabot traced the eastern coast of North 
 America through more than twent)' degrees of latitude, thus establishing for all future time 
 the claims of England to what proved to be the better parts of the new continent. In 
 August of the same year Columbus himself, now sailing on his third voyage, reached the 
 mainland of South America not far from the mouth of the Orinoco. Destiny had decreed 
 that of these three great discoveries that of Cabot should prove to be most important in 
 practical results. 
 
 .\ strange obstacle, however, interposed itself for a while in the way of English dis- 
 covery. In the first place it may be doubted whether the Tudor kings, from Henr>- \'II. to 
 Elizabeth, were much concerned about the character and possibilities of the New World. 
 Henrv VIII. during his reign of nearly forty years was occupied with the domestic affairs 
 of his kingdom and with those threatening foreign intrigues which resisted, as their ulterior 
 object, the growth and greatness of England. Meanwhile, as soon as America was discov- 
 ered the kings of Spain and Portugal began to contend for what the first had found and the 
 second had neglected to find. Pope Alexander \'I. was called in to settle the dispute, and 
 in 1493 did so by issuing the famous bull whereby an imaginary line was drawn north and 
 south in the Atlantic three hundred miles west of the Azores, and all the islands and coun- 
 tries west of that meridian given to Spain. Thus by a stroke of the pen about three- 
 fourths of the human race, including their countries and citie.s, were handed over to 
 I'erdinand the Catholic as if they had been a basket of figs presented to a friend ! 
 
 The Pope, taking advantage of the turmoils, wars and cross-purposes of Europe, had 
 
 risen to such power that crowned heads bowed before him. Henry \'III., always contending 
 
 that he himself was the truest of Catholics, was little disposed to dispute the decision which 
 
 the Pope had rendered during the reign of his father. For the time it appeared that Spain 
 
 22
 
 338 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 and Portugal had succeeded, under the Papal sanction, in dividing the new islands and con- 
 tinents between them. For this reason the claims which had originated with the discoveries 
 of the Cabots were allowed to lie donnant. The right of the English king to hold and 
 possess the long continental line between Newfoundland and Caiolina was not pressed by 
 the first Tudor kings lest they should quarrel with the Pope. It was not until after the 
 Reformation had been accomplished in England that the Papal decision came to be disre- 
 garded and finally despised and laughed at. 
 
 With the event of the Reformation, Avhich ma>- be dated in the reign of Edward Yl., 
 came a revival of English maritime adventure. When the break with Rome was once final, 
 or seemed to be final, the decisions of the Pope relative to the rights of the various Euro- 
 pean crowns were not likely to be much regarded by the ministers and advisers of young 
 Edward. In the year 1548 that King's council voted a hundred pounds sterling to induce 
 the now aged Sebastian Cabot to quit Spain and become Grand Pilot of England. The old 
 
 Admiral yielded to the temptation, left Seville, and once 
 
 more 
 'cious 
 
 sailed 
 for the 
 
 under the English flag. The omens were 
 
 aus- 
 had 
 and 
 
 THE FLEET OF FROBISHER. 
 
 speedy recovery of whatever England 
 lost to her rival by the apathy 
 indecision of half a centur\-. 
 
 ENGLAND'S DIVORCE FROM ROME. 
 But the reign of Edward VI. came 
 suddenly to an end. To him succeeded 
 his half-sister Mary, to whom history 
 has given the unpleasing name of the 
 Bloody Mar}-. The Catholic reaction 
 set in with full force. England was 
 bound to Spain as if she were an ap- 
 panage by the marriage of her Queen to 
 Philip II. Under such conditions it was 
 out of the question that the power of 
 England on the sea should be materially extended. With the accession of the princess 
 Elizabeth, however, in the year 1558, a wonderful impulse was given to all enterprises 
 which promised the aggrandizement of her kingdom. 
 
 Elizabeth Tudor was a Protestant by necessity. Destiny had contrived it so before her 
 birth. She had in her the nature and dispositions of a Catholic Princess ; but she had also 
 the accumulated ambitions of the House of Tudor. The alternative was sharp before her. 
 She must choose the one thing and reject the other. She must plant herself like adamant 
 forever against Rome and become the impersonation of English Protestantism. For her to 
 be a Catholic was not only to admit the invalidity of her mother's marriage to her father, 
 the illegitimacy of her own birth, but also to cast to the winds all legal and rightful claims 
 to the English Crown. By being a Protestant she could maintain the rightfulness of her 
 father's first divorce, the lawfulness of her mother's marriage, and her own consequent 
 claims to be a legitimate Princess of the line established by her grandfather. Thus by the 
 contrivance of historj' England was broken away from the continental system, including 
 allegiance to Rome, and was thus freed to pursue her course of insular consolidation and 
 her career of foreign adventure. 
 
 No sooner had the aflTairs of the kingdom been well established after the accession of 
 Elizabeth than maritime enterprises began again to be prompted. The spirit of discovery
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. :«y 
 
 found impersonation in that bold and skilful sailor, Martin F'robisher, of Doncaster. 
 Without means himself to undertake an expedition into foreign seas, he rccei\cd aid 
 from Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who fitted out three small vessels and placed them 
 under Frobisher's command, to go in search of the mythical northwest passage to India. 
 Three-quarters of a centur>' had not sufficed to destroy the fanatical notion of reaching the 
 rich countries of the East by sailing around .Vmerica to the north. 
 
 Frobisher departed from Deptford on the 8th of June, 1576. One of his ships was lost 
 on the voyage. Another was terrified at the prospect and returned to England ; but the 
 dauntless captain proceeded in the third far to the north and west, attaining a higher lati- 
 tude than had ever before been reached by Europeans on the western shore of the Atlantic. 
 About the si.xtieth parallel he discovered the group of islands which lie in the mouth of 
 Hudson's Strait. Still farther to the north he came to a large island which he — under the 
 common delusion of the age — supposed to be the mainland of Asia. To this he gave the 
 name of Mela Incognita. North of this island, in latitude sixty-three degrees and eight 
 minutes, he entered the strait which has ever since borne his name, and then believing that 
 he had found the open way to Asia, set sail for England. He carried home with him one 
 of the natives called Esquimaux and a stone which was thought by the English refiners to 
 contain particles of gold. 
 
 ADVENTURES OF THE ENGLISH GOLD-HUNTERS. 
 
 Great was the excitement in England. London was stirred to action. Queen Eliza- 
 beth herself contributed one ship to the new fleet which in the month of Mav, 1577, de- 
 parted for Meta Incognita. All these vessels were to come home laden with gold ! Strange 
 and vicious delusion which for thousands of years has held dominion over the imaginations 
 of men ! Frobisher's ships soon came among the icebergs of the far North, and there for 
 weeks together they were in imminent danger of being crushed between the floating moun- 
 tains. The summer was cold and unfavorable for discoven,-. The fleet did not succeed in 
 reaching the same high point which Frobisher had gained in his single vessel in the previous 
 summer. The sailors were alarmed at the gloomy perils of sea and shore and availed them- 
 selves of the first opportunity to escape from these dangerous waters and return to England. 
 
 But this unfruitful experience did not suffice. The English gold-hunters were bv no 
 means satisfied. They regarded the return of the expedition as a cowardly failure to 
 accomplish an enterprise which was already in sight. A third fleet of fifteen vessels strong 
 and new was fitted out and Queen Elizabeth again contributed personally to the expense 
 of the voyage. In the early spring of 1578 the squadron departed for the land of gold. 
 It was the intention to plant there a colony of diggers. Some were to remain, others to 
 return with the fleet. Twelve ships were expected to come back freighted with gold-ore 
 to London. 
 
 But the third summer was as severe as the others. At the entrance to Hudson Strait 
 the floating icebergs were .so thick that the ships could not be steered among them. For 
 a long time the vessels were buflieted about in constant peril of destruction. At la.st the\ 
 succeeded in reaching Meta Incognita and soon gathered their cargoes of — dirt ! The 
 provision ship slipped away from the fleet and returned to England. The affairs of the 
 expedition grew desperate. The northwest pas.sage was forgotten. The colony which was 
 to be jilanted was no longer thought of. F^aith in the shiploads of mica and dirt which 
 thev had gathered in the holds gave away; and so with disapjxiinted crews and several 
 tons of the spurious ore under the hatches the ships set sail for home. The Eldorado of 
 the Esquimaux had proved to be an utter delu.sion.
 
 340 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUIMBIA. 
 
 THE PIRACIES OF DRAKE. 
 
 After the death of Queen Mary the break between England and Spain became ever 
 more ominous. The hostility between the two powers amounted almost to constant war. 
 Even when the Spanish and English crowns were nominally at peace and when Philip and 
 Elizabeth were exchanging the hj-pocritical compliments of princes a state of secret 
 enmitv existed, which on the sea at least showed itself in many acts of violence and rob- 
 ber}-. It was at this time that the great English Admiral, Sir Francis Drake, sought for- 
 tune by privateering. Without much regard for the law of nations he began, about 1572, 
 to prev upon the merchant ships of Spain and gained thereb}- enonnous wealth. Five 
 years later, following the route of Magellan, he sailed around to the Pacific coast and 
 became a terror to the Spanish vessels in those waters. He greatly enriched himself and 
 
 CROWNING OF DRAKE AS THE KING OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 his crews by a process not very different from piracy. But satisfied at length with this 
 form of marauding, he formed the project of tracing iip the western coast of North America 
 until he should find perchance the northwest passage at its Pacific mouth, hoping to sail 
 thence eastward around our continent. 
 
 With this object in view, Drake followed the Pacific coast as far north as Oregon, dis- 
 covering San Francisco harbor on the way, where he built a fort, spent the winter and was 
 crowned King by native Indians. But his sailors who had now been for several years 
 within the tropics began to shiver with the cold, and the enterprise which in any event must 
 have ended in failure was given up. Sailing southward the navigator passed the winter of 
 1579-80 in a harbor on the coast of Mexico. To all that portion of the western shores of 
 America which he had thus explored he gave the name of New .\lbion; but the earlier
 
 COLUMHL'S AM) COLl'MHIA. 
 
 341 
 
 discover)' of the same coast by the Spaniards liad rendered tlie Eng;lisli claim of but little 
 value. Thus far no pennanent colony of Englishmen had been established in the New World. 
 Among the first to conceive a rational plan of colonizing America was Sir Humphrey 
 Gilbert. This remarkable personage had already produced a treati.se on the possibility of 
 finding a northwest passage to India, which work is said to have been the inspiring cau.se 
 of the voyages of Frobisher. 
 The results had not equalled 
 expectation, and Gilbert began 
 to brood over the notion ot 
 establishing somewhere on tlu 
 shores of the new continent 
 an agricultural and commercial 
 State. If the hopes of finding- 
 gold had been thus far de- 
 lusive, certainly the hope of 
 agriculture and commerce 
 would not so prove. Sir 
 Humphrey brought his views 
 to the attention of the Queen 
 and sought her aid. Elizabeth 
 received his propositions favor- 
 abl\- and issued to him a liberal 
 patent authorizing him to take 
 possession of any si.x hundred 
 square miles of unoccupied 
 territory in America, and to 
 plant thereon a colony of whicli 
 he himself should be pro- 
 prietor and governor. 
 
 With this commission Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert, assisted by 
 his illustrious step-brother, 
 Walter Raleigh, prepared a 
 fleet of five vessels and in 
 June of 1583 sailed for the 
 west. Only two days aftei 
 their departure the best vessel 
 in the fleet treacherously aban- 
 doned the rest and returned 2''-':>>- la.t/AniTu 
 
 to Plymouth. Gilbert, however, continued his voyage and early in .Vugust reached 
 Newfoundland. There he went on shore and took formal possession of the country 
 in the name of his sovereign. Unfortunately some of the sailors discovered in the side 
 of the hill scales of mica and the judge of metals whom Gilbert had been unwise 
 eiuiugh to bring with him declared that the glittering mineral was silver ore. The crews 
 became at once insuliordinate. Some went to digging the supposed silver and carrving it 
 on board the vessels while otliers gratified their piratical propensities by attacking the 
 Spanish and Portugfuese ships that were engaged in codfishing in the neighboring waters.
 
 342 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 DEATH OF SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 
 
 In a short time it was found that one of Gilbert's vessels was unfit for sea. This ship 
 was abandoned, but with the other three Sir Humphrey left Newfoundland and steered for 
 the south. Off the coast of ]\Iassachusetts the largest of the remaining ships was wrecked 
 and the whole crew and cargo, consisting of a hundred men and a great amount of spurious 
 silver ore, went to the bottom. The disaster was so great that Gilbert gave up the expedition 
 and set sail for England. 
 
 The weather had now become stormy and the two ships that remained were unfit for 
 navigation in such rough waters. Sir Humphrey's ship, which was the weaker of the two, 
 was a little frigate called the Squirrel. This he had chosen in order that the other crew 
 might have the advantage in the attempt to return to England. Both \-essels were shattered 
 and leaking. The storm howled around them. At midnight when the ships were within 
 hailing distance of each other, but out of sight, the raging sea rose between them and the 
 Squirrel was suddenly engulfed. Not a man of the courageous crew was saved.* The 
 other ship finally reached Falmouth in safety. 
 
 It would appear that these reverses and disasters rather quickened the ambitions than 
 aroused the fears of Sir Walter Raleigh. In the following spring that remarkable man 
 obtained from the Queen a new patent fully as liberal as the one granted to Gilbert. The 
 scheme now embraced a fomi of government for an American colony. Sir Walter was to 
 be the Lord Proprietar}' of an extensive tract of country extending from the thirty-third to 
 the fortieth parallel of north latitude. The territory was to be held in the name of the 
 Queen. A State was to be organized and peopled by emigrants from England. 
 
 The character of the northern seas and coasts had now been sufficienth- revealed to turn 
 the attention of explorers to a more hospitable region. The frozen North was henceforth 
 avoided. The sunny country extending from Cape Fear to the Delaware was to be chosen 
 as the seat of the rising empire. A squadron of two ships was fitted out to forerun the 
 enterprise, the command being given to Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow. The first of 
 these was a sea captain from Hull and the second of unknown origin, but distinguished as 
 a navigator. 
 
 The expedition left England on the 27th of April, 1784. The ships touched first at 
 the Canaries and then the West Indies, from which point they made the coast of Carolina. 
 It was on the 13th of July that they entered Ocracoke inlet. The coast was found to be 
 long and low, the sea smooth and glassy. The woods were full of beauty and song. The 
 journal of Barlow is filled with exclamations of delight. The sailors seemed "as if they 
 had been in the midst of some delicate garden." The natives were found to be generoiis 
 
 ■* The fate of Sir Humphrey Ciilbert has been embalmed in song by Longfellow: 
 
 " In the first watch of the night 
 Without a signal's sound, 
 Out of the sea mysteriously 
 The fleet of Death rose all around. 
 
 "Southward through day and dark 
 They drift in close embrace, 
 With mist and rain o'er the open main ; 
 Yet tliere seems no change of place. 
 
 " Southward, forever southward 
 
 Thev drift through dark and day ; 
 And like a dream in the Gulf-stream 
 Sinking, vanish all away."
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 343 
 
 and liospitable. Explorations were made alonj^ tlie shores of Albemarle and Pamlico 
 sonnds and a landing finally effected on Roanoke Island, wheie the English were entertained 
 by the Indian queen. Neither Aniidas nor Barlow, however, had the genius necessary for 
 the prosecution of so great an enterprise. .•\.fter a stay of less than two months they returned 
 to England to exhaust the rhetoric of description in praising the beauties of the new land. 
 In allusion to her own life and reign Elizabeth gave to her delightful country in the New 
 World the name of Virgi.ma. 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh now carried his enterprise to Parliament. In December of 15S4 he 
 secured the passage of a bill by which his former patent was confirmed and enlarged. By 
 this means he secured public attention. The mind of the people was turned more than 
 hitherto to the project 
 of emigration. It wa.s 
 perceived by many that 
 Sir Walter's proposed 
 province in the New 
 World offered the 
 greatest inducements 
 to emigrants and 
 adventurers. The plan 
 of colonization was ac- 
 cordingly taken up 
 anew with zeal and 
 earnestness. The Lord 
 Proprietarj' soon fitted 
 out a second expedi- 
 tion. He appointed the 
 soldierly Sir Ralph 
 Lane to be governor of 
 the colony and gave 
 the command of his 
 fleet to Sir Richard 
 
 Grenville. Sir Ralph was connected with the roval 
 family and had been in the service of Mary and 
 Elizabeth for more than twenty years. Sir Richard 
 was a navigator from Cornwall, had been a soldier, a 
 civil officer, a member of Parliament and finally a knight under patent from Queen Elizabeth. 
 He was a cousin to Raleigh, and embarked eagerly in the project of colonization. 
 
 FOUNDING OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN AMERICA. 
 
 As for emigrants, they were made up to a considerable extent of the adventurous and 
 gallant young nobility of the kingdom. The fleet consisted of seven vessels. The vo\age 
 extended from the gtli of April to the 20th of June, when the shore of Carolina was reached 
 in safety. Soon afterwards a storm arose and the whole squadron was in innninent danger 
 &.'■ destruction — a peril which suggested to Grenville the naming of Cape Fear ^ which the 
 outjutting coast has borne to the present day. 
 
 Escaping from the .storm, the \essels six days afterwards came to Roanoke. Here it 
 was determined to plant the colony. A hundred and eight men were landed and organized 
 
 RUI.N'S OF THR ENGLISH SETTI-EMENT 
 AT ROANOKE.
 
 344 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 under Governor Lane. For several days explorations were made in the neighborhood. 
 One of the Indians ignoranth- took away a silver cup, whereupon Sir Richard laid waste 
 the fields of maize and burned an Indian town. He then set sail for England, taking with 
 him a Spanish treasure-ship which he had captured in the West Indies. Privateering and 
 colonization went hand in hand. 
 
 The Indians were enraged at the cruelties of the white men. The spirit of gentleness 
 which the\- had hitherto displa}-ed towards the Europeans gave place to jealous}-, suspicion 
 and hatred. Lane and some of his companions were enticed with false stories to go on a 
 gold-hunting expedition into the interior. Their destruction was planned, and only avoided 
 by a hast\- retreat to Roanoke, Virginia. The Indian King and several of his chiefs were now 
 in turn allured into the power of the English and inhumanly murdered. Ferocit}' and 
 gloom followed this crime ; then despondency and a sense of danger, until the discourage- 
 
 
 MASSACRE OF SETTLERS AT ROANOKE. 
 
 ment became so great that when Sir Francis Drake, returning with a fleet from his exploits 
 on the Pacific coast, came in sight the colonists prevailed on him to carr}- them back to 
 England. 
 
 It was thus by the cupidity, injustice and crime of the Whites done on the unoffending 
 natives that the chasm of hostility was opened between the English-speaking race and the 
 aborigines of North America. Nor have three hundred years sufficed to bridge over the 
 abyss ! The event soon showed that the abandonment of the colon}' had been needless and 
 hasty. Within a few days a shipload of stores arrived from the pnident Raleigh, but the 
 captain found no colony. The vessel, therefore, could do nothing but return. Two weeks 
 later Sir Richard Grenville came in person to Roanoke with three well laden ships and 
 made a fruitless search for his colonists. All were gone. Not to lose possession of the 
 country altogether, the governor left fifteen men on the island and set sail for home.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COU'MBIA. 345 
 
 MASSACRE OF THE ENGLISH AT ROANOKE. 
 
 The general result in England was discouraging. Tiie ardor of tlic people cooled when 
 it was known that the enterprise had ended in faihire. Nevertheless tnithful descriptions 
 of the magnificent coast of \'irginia and Carolina had now been published and it was only 
 a question of time when the spirit of enterprise and adventure would revive. Sir Walter 
 himself did much to promote and encourage emigration. .\ new company of colonists con- 
 sisting largely of families was made up, and a new charter of municipal government was 
 granted b}- the Proprietar\-. John White was chosen governor, and ever>- precaution was 
 taken to secure the success of the Cit>- of Raleigh soon to be founded in the West. 
 
 In April of 1587 the new fleet departed from England and in the following Julv ar- 
 lived in Carolina. The dangerous Capes of Hatteras and Fear were avoided and the ships 
 came safely to Roanoke. A search was made for the fifteen men who had been left there 
 the jear before ; but the sequel showed that they had been murdered by the now hostile 
 Indians. Nevertheless Captain White selected the northern extremity of the ill-omened 
 island as the cite for his "city " and on the 23d of July the foundations were laid. 
 
 But fortune was still adverse to the enterprise. The new settlers and the Indians 
 renewed their hostilities and went to war. After some destruction of life peace was con- 
 cluded, and Sir Walter conceived the plan of uniting the fortunes of the two races hv a 
 common interest. He accordingly ga\e his sanction to a project which, as the events 
 showed, was sufficiently absurd. The Indian king of Roanoke was Manteo. Him Sir 
 "Walter selected as the link of union between the English and the natives. Manteo was 
 recognized as one of the rulers of the land, and was made a peer of England with the title 
 of Lord of Roanoke ! Of course no salutary- results could follow- such a piece of silliness 
 and misapprehension. 
 
 Notwithstanding the presence of their copper-colored nobleman, the colonists continued 
 to be gloomy and apprehensive. They pretended to fear starvation. In the latter part of 
 August they became half-nuitinous and almost compelled the governor to return to England 
 for additional supplies and new immigrants. The governor, in a mistaken spirit, yielded to 
 tlie pressure and sailed away. Had the colonists been content to employ the suunner in 
 useful labor — in planting and gathering and preparation — they might have easil\- provided 
 themselves against the exigency of winter. But they imagined that their stores nuist be 
 constantly replenished from abroad, and the spirit of independence was thus destroyed. 
 
 An incident of these days was the birth of the first-born of English children in the 
 New World. They gave to the babe the name of \'irginia Dare, and her birthday, the iSth 
 of August, was recorded as a date to be remembered. The colony had fair prosjiects for the 
 future, and when White set sail for England he left the immigrauLs, a hundred and eight in 
 number, in full expectation of ultimate success. What their fiite was, however, has never 
 been ascertained. The stor^- of their going ashore and joining the Indians is unlikely in 
 itself and has no historical evidence to support it. 
 
 Great was the disturbance which now prevailed in England. From a Euiupt in jxijut 
 of view it might well seem doubtful whetlier the House of Tudor could longer hold the 
 throne, or indeed whether the English monarchy could survive the coming ordeal. For the 
 Invincible Armada of Spain was now bearing down upon the English coasts. .Ml the 
 resources and energies of the realm were demanded f(jr defence. .Vlthough Sir Walter 
 managed to send out two supply-ships to succor his staning colony, his efforts to reach 
 them were unavailing. The vessels which he despatched for that jMirpose went cniising 
 after Spanish merchantmen, and were themsclvis nui down and captured by a in.m-of-war.
 
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 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 847 
 
 Not until tlie spring of 1590 did Governor White finally rctnrn to search for the inifortunate 
 colonists. The island was a desert, tenautless and silent No soul remained to tell the 
 stor\- of the lost 
 
 By this time Sir Walter had e.vpended two hundred thousand dollars of his own means 
 in the attempt to found and foster a colony in America. Not able to prosecute the enter- 
 prise further, he gave it up and assigned his proprietary rights to an association of London 
 merchants. It was under the auspices of these that Governor White had made his final search 
 
 for the settlers of Roanoke. The result bore so much of discouragement that daring the 
 last decade of the sixteenth century tlie effort at American colonization w;b; not renewed. 
 It was not until the vear 1602 that maritime enterprise in the direction of America was 
 again promoted under the flag of England. Bartholomew Gosnold was the man to whom 
 belongs the honor of renewing the work and of carrying a successful expedition to our 
 shores.
 
 348 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 GOSNOLD-S EFFORTS TO SETTLE NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 More than a centun' had now elapsed since the discovery of the Western Hemisphere by 
 Columbus and the Cabots. During all this time the old route first taken from Europe to 
 America had continued to be followed by the navigators of England, Spain and France. 
 This route was very circuitous. Ships from the western parts of Europe sailing for Amer- 
 ica voyaged first southward to the Canary- Islands, thence to the West Indies, and thence 
 northward to the coast line of our continent. Abandoning this path as unnecessarily long 
 and out of the way, Gosnold in a single small vessel called the Concord sailed directly 
 across the Atlantic and in seven weeks reached the coast of Maine. The distance thus 
 gained was fully two thousand miles and the demonstration was another evidence that the 
 Atlantic was no longer to constitute an impassable barrier between the Old World and 
 the New. 
 
 Like his predecessors, Gosnold contemplated the founding of a colony, and with this 
 end in view he brought with him to America a company of emigrants; but the selection 
 of a site for his proposed settlement was difficult and for several weeks he continued to 
 explore from the coast of Maine southward. Capes Elizabeth and Cod were reached and 
 at the latter place the captain with four of his men went ashore. It was the first landing 
 of Englishmen within the limits of New England. Cajje Malabar was also passed, and 
 the vessel was at length steered into Buzzard's Bay. Selecting the most westernly island 
 of the Elizabeth group, the colonists debarked and there began the first New England 
 settlement. 
 
 But the work had been badly planned. The true instinct of colonization was want- 
 ing. A traffic was opened with the natives and the Concord was laden with sassafras 
 root, already known in Europe and greatly prized for its fragrance and its supposed virtues 
 in healing. For a season the affairs of the immigrants went well; but when the ship was 
 about to depart for England the settlers became alarmed at the prospect before them and 
 prevailed on Gosnold to take them back to their friends at home. Thus the island was 
 abandoned and the Concord returned to England. 
 
 Although failure followed failure, the accounts which the sailors and colonists invari- 
 ablv gave of the American shores were filled with praises and notes of astonishment. 
 Interest was thus kept alive in the mother country and one expedition quickly succeeded 
 to another. The next squadron of discovery and settlement was fitted out for Martin Pring. 
 Two vessels called the SpeedivcU and the Discoverer were loaded with merchandise suite(i 
 to the tastes of the Indians, and in April of 1603, a few days after tlie death of QueeiS 
 Elizabeth the little fleet sailed for America. They came safely to Penobscot Bay and after- 
 wards explored the harbors and shores of Maine. The coast of Massachusetts was 
 traced southward to the sassafras region, where Pring loaded his ships at Martha's Vineyard 
 and thence returned to England. The two vessels reached Bristol in safety after an absence 
 of about six months. 
 
 It seems that at this time the idea of trade almost superseded the notion of coloniza- 
 tion. The English voyagers came one after another, loaded their ships and either lefl 
 certain of their companions to perish or took the intended immigrants back to England. 
 The purpose of planting was for a while feeble and uncertain. In 1605 George Waymouth, 
 under the patronage of the Earl of Southampton, made a voyage to America and came to 
 anchorage among the Islands of St. George on the coast of Maine. He explored the har- 
 bor and sailed up the outflowing river for a considerable distance, noting the fine forests 
 of fir and the beaut}- of the scenerj'. He also opened a trade with the Indians, some of
 
 COLUMBUS AXl) COLUMHLV. 
 
 349 
 
 whom learned to speak a broken Enjj^lish, and were persuaded by liini to visit En<;land. 
 The home-bound voyage was safely made, the vessels reaching I'lyniouth about the middle 
 of June. This was the last of the trial voyages made by English navigators preparatorv to 
 the actual establishment of an American colony. 
 
 In these movements, extending from the middle of the sixtcentli to the first decade of 
 the seventeenth century, the reader may easily discover the pre\ailing and ever-recurring 
 features of English progress. It is the peculiarit\- of the race thai it docs cvcrvtliing bv 
 tentative stages. The epoch of which we speak was exi)erimcntal. The English race 
 .seemed to touch and handle the coast of America as if to test its qualities and possibilities. 
 The expeditions seemed to be characterized by timidity and caution. It were hard to dis- 
 cover any other reason than the fundamental character of English enterprise and method 
 for the fact that the navigators of Britain wore so long in getting a foothold in the New 
 World. Spanish enterprise was marked with dash and boldness. True there was in it 
 much of the impractical, much of the Quixotical spirit. But the English mariners and first 
 emigrants seemed afraid of the New World, though they longed to po.s.sess it. We shall 
 see hereafter that when once the men who spoke English had obtained a footing in \'irginia 
 and New England they held it with a persistency equal to the caution which they had dis- 
 played in making their first .settlements. 
 
 t^^
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 VOYAGES OF THE FRENCH AND DUTCH. 
 
 [FFICULT is it to say precisely at what date the French 
 sea captains first attempted to follow the pathway 
 of Columbns and Cabot across the Atlantic. It is 
 certain that the Government of France was in a con- 
 dition at the close of the fifteenth centnr}' to patron- 
 ize and encourage such adventures as had gi\-en a 
 New World to Castile and Leon. Certain it is also 
 that not many years elapsed after the West Indies 
 and mainland of the new continents were revealed 
 to Europe before the French were abroad at sea, 
 seeking to share in the treasures of discover)'. 
 France was verj- willing to profit by what the man 
 of Genoa and the man of Venice had done for the 
 world. 
 As early as 1504 the fishennen of Nonnand}- and Brittan}- began 
 to ply their craft on the banks of Newfoundland. A map of the Gulf 
 of St. Lawrence was drawn by a Frenchman in the year 1506. Two years afterwards a 
 French ship carried home for the astonishment of the. court of Louis XII. some of the Ameri- 
 can Indians, and in 1518 the project of colonizing the New World was fonnally taken up 
 by Francis I. In 1523 the first voyage of discovery and exploration was planned and 
 Giovanni Verrazzano, a native of Florence, was appointed to conduct the expedition. The 
 particular thing to be accomijlished was the discovery of the supposed northwest passage to 
 Asia. 
 
 It was near the end of 1523 that Verrazzano left Dieppe, on the frigate Dolphin, to 
 begin his voyage. He reached the Madeira islands, but did not depart thence until January 
 of the following year. The weather was unfavorable, the sailing difficult, and it required 
 fifty-five days of hard struggle against wind and wave to bring him to the American coast. 
 This he reached in the latitude of Wilmington. Coasting t'.ience northward, he disco\ered 
 New York and Narragansett bays. At intervals he made landings and opened traSic with 
 the natives. The Indians were found to be gentle and confiding. A Frenchman who was 
 washed ashore by the surf was treated by them with great kindness and was permitted to 
 return to the ship. 
 
 On the coast of Rhode Island, perhaps in the vicinity of Newport, Verrazzano anchored 
 for fifteen days and there continued his trade with the natives. Before leaving the place, 
 however, the French sailors repaid the confidence of the Indians by kidnapping a child and 
 attempting to steal away one of the "maidens of the tribe. After this the expedition was 
 continued along the broken line of New England for a great distance. The Indians in this 
 part of the country were war)- and suspicious. They would buy neither ornaments nor 
 to\s, but were eager to purchase knives and weapons of iron. Passing to the east of Nora 
 
 (350)
 
 C\)LUMBUS AND COLl'MlilA. 
 
 3ol 
 
 •3 
 
 
 
 Scotia, tlie bold navi,y;ator reached Xewfoundlaiid in the latter part of May, taking posses- 
 sion in the name of his king. On his retnrn to Dieppe, in July of 1524, he wrote for 
 Francis I. a rather rambling cccount of his discoveries. His work, however, was recog- 
 nized by the sovereign, and the name of Xkw Franck was given to that part of our con- 
 tinent the coast line of which had been traced by the adventurous crew of the Doiphin. 
 
 The condition of affairs in Europe at the close of the first quarter of the sixteenth 
 centnry was unfaxorable in the last degree for carrying forward the work of discovery and 
 colonization abroad. The Reformation had broken out in Oennany. Three great mon- 
 archs, Francis I. of France, Henry \'III. of England and Charles \'. of Spain and (iennany, 
 loomed up to a kingly stature that had not been hitherto attained since the days of Charle- 
 magne. Mutual jealousy super\-ened among them. Each watched the other two with 
 ill-concealed animosity and dread. On the whole, Francis I. atid his government suffered 
 most in the contest of cross-purposes which held all things in its meshes. Ten years 
 elapsed after the discoveries and explorations of Verrazzano' before .;. ,^ 
 
 another expedition could be sent ont from France. In 1534, 
 however, Phillippe de Chabot, of Poitou, Admiral of the kingdom, 
 selected Jacques, or James, Cartier, a sea-captain of St. Malo, in t-^^'-.^ 
 Brittany, to make a new voyage to America. Two ships were ^' 
 
 equipped for the enterprise, and after no more than twenty days 
 of sailing* under cloudless skies came 
 to anchor on the i oth of Maj' off the 
 coast of Newfoundland. By the 
 middle of July Cartier had circum- 
 navigated the island, crossed the gnlf 
 of St. Lawrence and found the bay 
 of Chaleurs. 
 
 VOYAGES OF JAMES CARTIER. 
 
 Like liis predecessors, Cartier 
 had expected to discover somewhere 
 in those waters a passage westward 
 to Asia Disappointed in this hope, 
 he changed his course to the north 
 and followed the coast as far as Gaspe 
 Bay. Here upon the point of land 
 he set up the cress, bearing a shield 
 with the lily of France, and proclaimed the French king monarch of the countn*-. Follow- 
 ing his explorations, he next entered the estuar>- and river St. Lawrence. Thijiking it 
 impracticable, however, to pass the winter in the New World, Cartier turned his prows 
 toward France and in thirty days reached St. Malo in safety. 
 
 The news of this voyage and its results produced great excitement. As had been the 
 case in England, the young nobility of France became ambitious to seek fortune in the New 
 World. Another squadron of three vessels was fitted out and many men of high rank joined 
 the expedition. The sails were spread by zealous hands and on the 19th of May, 1535, the 
 new vovage was begun. In this instance, however, stormv weather prevailed on the 
 
 ♦ So say all the authorities, but it is iiicrediUK- that a ruilc ship of the early part of the sixteetitli century should 
 cross the Atlantic in twenty days. The .\iithor sujinesls that the error iu the calendar, then amounting to nine or 
 ten days, should Ix; addeil to the twenty of the hooks. 
 
 CARTIER ON THK SUMMIT OF MONT RKAI.. NOW MONTREAI
 
 352 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Atlantic and Newfoundland was not reached until the loth of August. It was the day of 
 St. Lawrence and the name' of that martyr was accordingly given to the gulf and riven 
 The expedition proceeded up the noble stream to the island of Orleans where the ships 
 were moored in a place of safety. 
 
 Two Indians whom Cartier had taken with him to France now gave information that 
 higher up the river there was an important town on an island called in the native tongue 
 Hochelaga. Cartier proceeding in his boats found it as the natives had said. A beautiful 
 village lav at the foot of a high hill in the middle of the island. Climbing to the top of 
 the hill and viewing the scene, Cartier named the island and town Mont Real — a name 
 which has been transmitted to history b\- the city of ^Montreal. The countr\- Avas declared 
 to belong "bv the right of discovery" to the King of France, and then the boats dropped 
 down the river to the ships. During the winter that ensued twenty-five of Cartier' s men 
 were swept off by the scurfy, a malady hitherto unknown in Europe. 
 
 Other hardships came with the season 
 Snows and excessive cold prevailed foi 
 months together. Unaccustomed to the 
 rigors of such terrible weather, the 
 French sailors and colonists shrank from 
 it, and their enthusiasm died out, so 
 that with the coming of spring prepara- 
 tions were made to return to France. 
 The cross and shield and lily were 
 again planted in the soil of the Xew 
 World and the homeward voyage began. 
 But before the ships left their anchorage 
 
 the 
 
 ;^ 
 
 good king of the 
 
 o o 
 
 CARTIER ENTICING THE KING 
 OF THE HURONS. 
 
 Hurons who had 
 treated Cartier and his men with 
 great generosity, was enticed on 
 shipboard and carried off to die a 
 captive in the hands of the French. 
 On the 6th of July the fleet reached 
 to give of the new country and his 
 discouragement. Neither silver nor 
 AMiat was a New V.'orld orood 
 
 St. Male, but the accounts which Cartier was able 
 experiences therein were such as to produce great 
 gold had been found on the banks of the St. Lawrence, 
 for that had not silver and gold ? 
 
 After the return of Cartier there was another lull of five >ears. .\t length Francis de 
 la Roque, Lord of Rober\-al, in Picardy, revived the project of planting a colony beyond the 
 Atlantic. Following this purpose, he received from the court of France a commission to 
 carry an expedition with emigrants to the countrv- of the St. Lawrence. He was given the 
 titles of Vicerov and Lieutenant-General of New France, and much other vain-glorious 
 ceremonv attended his preparations. Rober\-al was wise enough to avail himself of the 
 experience and abilities of his predecessor. Cartier was retained in the ser\'ice and was 
 induced to conduct the new expedition with the titles of Chief Pilot and Captain-General. 
 
 A COLONY OF DESPERATE CRIMINALS. 
 
 We here reach one of the astonishing circumstances which have recurred time and again 
 in the founding of distant States. The promoters of such enterprises find difficulty in 
 securing a sufficient number of emigrantL^. Hereupon the government comes to the rescue
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 3.53 
 
 with the offer to discharge its criminal classes through the vent of the colonial enterprise, 
 Rober\-al made but little headway in collecting his colon)-, and appealed to the court for aid. 
 The goveniment responded by opening the prisons of the kingdom and giving freedom to 
 whoe\er would join the expedition. There was a rush of robbers, swindlers and murderers, 
 and the lists were immediately filled. Only counterfeiters and traitors were denied the 
 privilege of gaining their liberty in the New World. 
 
 The equipment of the squadron was completed, and the emigrant colony made up — for 
 the most part of criminals and the refuse of French society. Five ships under the com- 
 
 ,1 r,.,,.i„.,i the St. T 
 
 'ice in safetv. The 
 
 maud of Cartier left France in May of i - 
 e.xpedition proceeded to the present sit<. 
 of Quebec, where a fort was erected am! 
 named Charlesbourg. Here the colonist.-^ 
 passed the winter. There was, however, 
 neither peace nor promise of good. 
 Cartier, offended at his subordinate 
 position, was evidently willing that the 
 enterprise should come to naught. He 
 and Roberval were never of one opinion, 
 and when the latter, in June of 1542, 
 arrived at Quebec, bringing immigrants 
 and 'supplies, Cartier secretly got 
 together his own part of the squadron 
 and returned to Europe. Rober\-al found 
 himself alone in New France with three 
 shiploads of criminals, some of whom 
 had to be whipped and others hanged. 
 
 During the autumn the viceroy, 
 instead of laboring to establish hi- 
 colony, spent his time in trjing to dis- 
 cover the northwest passage. The winter t. 
 was passed in gloom, despondency and 
 suffering, and the following spring was 
 welcomed by the colonists, for the op- 
 portunity which it gave them of return- 
 ing to France. Thus the enterpri.'t. 
 which had been undertaken with si> 
 much pomp came to naught. In 1549 
 Sir Francis de la Roque again gathered 
 a large company of emigrants and re- 
 newed the project of colonization. The expedition departed under favorable omens, but 
 the squadron was never heard of afterwards. 
 
 Such was the effect of these failures and such the weakness of French adventures that 
 a half-century now elapsed before the effort to colonize .\mcrica was renewed by the Gov- 
 ernment. Private enterprise, however, and religi(jus persecution in the meantime worked 
 together to accomplish in Florida and Carolina what the Government of France had failed 
 "CO accomplish on the St. Lawrence. For Protestantism had appeared in France, and had 
 begun to suffer at the hands of the King and the Catholic Churcli. It was about the miil- 
 
 23 
 
 KUBEKVAL S SKAKCH FuK \ .\OKfH-Wh6i fAasAoiv
 
 354 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 die of the sixteenth century when the celebrated Gaspard de Coligni, leader of the French 
 Huguenots, and now ser\ing as Admiral of France, fonned the design of establishing in 
 America a refuge for his persecuted fellow-countr>'men. It would appear that the King was 
 at this period not unwilling that the Huguenots should escape from the country to foreign 
 lands. In 1562 Coligni obtained from Charles IX. the privilege of planting a French Pro- 
 testant colony in the New World. John Ribault, of Dieppe, a brave and experienced cap- 
 tain, was selected to lead the Huguenots to the land of promise. 
 
 AN ASYLUM FOR THE PERSECUTED HUGUENOTS. 
 
 A company of the exiles was soon collected. The squadron sailed away and reached 
 the coast of Florida in safety. The river St. Johns was entered bj- the French, and named 
 the River of Ma\-. The fleet then sailed northward to the entrance of Port Royal. The 
 colonists were landed on an island, where a stone engraA-ed with the arms of their native 
 land was set up to mark the place. A fort was built and in honor of Charles IX. was 
 named Carolina. Here Ribault left a garrison of twenty-six men and returned to France 
 for additional emigrants and supplies. Civil war, however, was now raging in the king- 
 dom, and it was found impossible to procure the needed stores or other emigrants. Mean- 
 while the men left in America became mutinous with long waiting, killed their leader, con- 
 structed a rude brig and put to sea. For a long time they were driven at the mercy of the 
 •winds and w-aves, but w^ere at last picked up, half star\-ed, by an English ship and were 
 carried back to France. 
 
 Admiral Coligni, however, resolved to prosecute his enterprise. He planned a second 
 colonv and appointed as its leader Rene de Laudonniere. But the character of the second 
 company of emigrants was bad. The e\-ent showed that they were for the most part aban- 
 doned men, idle and improvident. The leader on reaching the American coast avoided the 
 harbor of Port Royal, and chose the river St. Johns for the proposed colony. Here he built 
 a fort, but the immigrants — the larger part — as soon as opportunit}' offered and acting under 
 the pretence of an escape from famine, contrived to get possession of two of the ships and 
 sailed away. Instead of returning to France, however, they took to piracy until the>- were 
 caught, brought back and hanged. The rest of the settlers were on the eve of breaking up 
 the colony when Ribault, who had commanded the first expedition, arrived from France 
 with a cargo of supplies. It was at this juncture that the Spaniard, Melendez, discovering 
 the whereabouts of the Huguenots and regarding them as intruders in the territor}- of Spain 
 fell upon and destroyed the entire company. 
 
 A DREADFUL VENGEANCE. 
 
 The news of this atrocit}- created great sorrow and indignation among the Huguenots 
 of France. Dominic de Gourges, a soldier of Gascony, prepared to avenge the death of his 
 countrymen. He planned an expedition against the Spanish settlements in Florida and soon 
 came down upon them with signal vengeance. His squadron was fitted at his own expense. 
 With three ships and only fift>- seamen he arrived in midwinter on the coast of Florida. 
 With this handful he surprised successively the three forts on the river St. Johns and made 
 prisoners of the garrisons. Then when he was unable to hold his position any longer he 
 condemned and hanged his leading captives to the branches of trees, putting up this inscrip- 
 tion to explain what he had done : "Not Spaniards, but murderers." 
 
 The sixteenth centur}- drew to a close. It was not until 1598 that the attention of the 
 French Government was once more directed to the claims which the early navigators had 
 established to portions of the American coast. In this year the Marquis de la Roche, a
 
 COLUMBUS A\l) COLUMlilA. 
 
 ■ioo 
 
 tiobleman of influence and distinction, took up the cause and obtained a commission author- 
 izing him to found an empire in the Xew World. Unfortunately the colony was again to 
 be made up by opening the prisons and granting immunity to such of the inmates as would 
 emigrate. The expedition soon reached Nova Scotia and anchored at Sable Island, a place 
 of desolation and gloom. Here the Marquis left forty men to found the colony while he 
 himself returned to France for a cargo of supplies. Soon after his arrival at home he died, 
 and for seven dreary- years the new French empire, composed of forty convicts, langui.shed 
 on Sable Island. At last they were iiKici fully picked up by passing ships and carried back 
 
 DR <-.OIRGRS AVENC.INC. TIIK M17RDER OF THE HrGUENOTS. 
 
 to France. It was reckoned by the authorities that the punishment of the poor wretches 
 had been sufficient and they were never remanded to prison. 
 
 At last, however, the time came when a permanent French colony should be established 
 in .\merica. In the vear 1603 the Government of France granted the sovereignty of the 
 country from the latitude of Philadelphia to one degree north of Montreal to the French 
 Count, Pierre du Guast, commonly kn<nvn as De MonLs. He received from the King a 
 patent giving him a monopoly of the fur trade in the new country and conceding religious 
 freedom for Huguenot immigrants.
 
 356 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 In March of the following year De Monts sailed from France with two shiploads of 
 colonists and reached the Bay of Fundy. The summer was spent in explorations and in 
 trade with the Indians. At length Poutrincourt, captain of one of the ships, having dis- 
 covered on tlie northwest coast of Nova Scotia an excellent harbor, obtained a grant of the 
 lands adjacent and went ashore to plant a colony. The viceroy, with the remainder, crossed 
 the bay and built a rude fort at the mouth of the river St. Croix. But in the following 
 spring this place was abandoned and a company returned to the settlement of Poixtrincourt. 
 Here on the 14th of November, 1605, the foundations of the first pennanent French settle- 
 ment in America were laid. The name of Port Royal was given to the ford and harbor 
 and the country' was called Arcadia. 
 
 Now it was that the famous Samuel Champlain appeared on the scene. Already he 
 had justly earned the reputation of being one of the most soldierly men of his times. As 
 early as 1603 he had been commissioned by a company of Rouen merchants to explore the 
 country of the St. Lawrence and establish a trading-post. The discovery had at last been 
 made that the abundant furs of these regions were a surer source of riches than impossible 
 mines of gold and silver. 
 
 The expedition of Champlain reached the St. Lawrence in safet}-, and the spot on which 
 Quebec now stands was chosen as the site for a fort. In the autumn the leader returned to 
 France and published a favorable account of his enterprise. It was not for five years, how- 
 ever, namely in 160S, that Champlain succeeded in returning to America. On the 3d of 
 July in that year the foundations of Quebec were laid. In 1609 the leader and two other 
 French adventurers joined a company of the Hurons, then at war with the Iroquois of New 
 York. On this expedition Champlain ascended the Sorel River until he discovered the 
 narrow lake which has ever since borne his name. 
 
 FIRST PERMANENT FRENCH SETTLEMENT. 
 
 For three or four years the settlement at Quebec languished ; but in 161 2 the Protest- 
 ant party in France came into power and Champlain was enabled by the favor of the great 
 Conde, Protector of the Protestants, to prosecute his American enterprise. For the third 
 time he returned to New France bringing with him a company of Franciscan friars to 
 preach to the Indians. They and the Huguenots quarrelled not a little and Champlain a sec- 
 ond time joined the Indians. His company was defeated in battle and he himself, seriously 
 wounded, was obliged to remain all winter among the Hurons. In the summer of 16 17 he 
 returned to the colony. Three years afterwards the foundation of the fortress of St. Louis 
 was laid and in 1624 the structure was completed — a circumstance which secured the per- 
 manence of the French settlements in the valley of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 We have now followed with some care the lines of English exploration and French 
 adventure down to the beginning of the seventeenth centur>-. Let us in the next place 
 note the efforts made by the people of Holland to gain a footing in the New World. The 
 first Dutch settlement in America was made on IManhattan Island. The stor\' of the plant- 
 ing introduces to us one of the most remarkable men who left a name and impress on the 
 primitive histon- of our country. This was no other than the illustrious Henr}-, or Hendrik, 
 Hudson. By birth this great navigator was an Englishman. The year 1607 found him in 
 the employ of a company of London merchants, by whom he was commissioned to tra\erse 
 the North Atlantic and discover a route either eastward or westward to the Indies. 
 
 On his first voyage, made in a single ship, Hudson endeavored to circumnavigate 
 Europe to the north. He succeeded in reaching the island of Spitzbergen, but was there 
 obliged by the rigor of the seas, filled as they were with icebergs, to return to England.
 
 (^1)
 
 358 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 In the next year he renewed the vo)-age, but was unable to find the northeastern passage. 
 
 His courage, however, would not brook defeat, and when his employers declined to furnish 
 
 the means for further explorations he went to Holland and succeeded in finding in Amsterdam 
 
 the patronage which had been denied him in his own country. 
 
 At this time there existed at Amsterdam a powerful commercial corporation known as 
 
 the Dutch East India Company. Before the officers of this association Sir Henry appeared, 
 
 and from them soon obtained assistance. He was given a small ship called the Half-Moo;, 
 
 and was directed to prosecute his search for an all-water route to the Indies. In April o; 
 
 1609 he sailed on his third voyage into the seas north of Europe. He passed the capes 01 
 
 Norway, reached the seventy-second parallel of latitude, turned eastward, gained the frozen 
 
 passage between Lapland and Nova Zembla, but was there turned back by the icebergs. 
 
 Perceiving that it was impossible to beat his way to the east through these inhospitable 
 
 waters he turned his prow to the west, determining if possible to find somewhere on the 
 
 American coast an open channel b\' which he might reach first the Pacific and afterwards 
 
 the shores of Asia. 
 
 EXPLORATIONS OF HENRY HUDSON. , 
 
 It was the month of July, 1609, when Sir Henry reached Newfoundland. Repairing 
 his ship he .sailed southward, touched Cape Cod, and by the middle of August came to the 
 Chesapeake. Still the northwest passage was not found. Turning to the north, Hudson 
 began to examine the coast more closely than any of his predecessors had done. On the 
 28th of the month he entered and explored Delaware Bay. He next traced the coast line to 
 New Jersey, and on the 3d of September the Half-Moon found a safe anchorage within 
 Sandy Hook. Two days afterwards a landing was made ; the Indians came in great num- 
 bers to the scene, bringing their gifts of wild fruits, corn and oysters. New York harbor 
 was explored, and on the loth of the month the Half-Mooii entered the noble river which 
 has ever since borne the name of Hudson. 
 
 For eight days the Half Moon ascended the stream. On either hand were magnificent 
 forests,' beautiful hills, palisades, fertile valleys between, planted with Indian corn, and 
 mountains rising in the distance. On the 19th the ship was moored at the place afterwards 
 called Kinderhook. Hudson and a part of the crev\' proceeded in the boats as far as the site 
 of Albany. The up-river exploration continued for several days when the party returned 
 to the HalfMoo7i, the vessel dropped down stream, and on the 4th of October sailed for 
 Holland. On the home-bound voyage Hudson, not unwilling that his former employers 
 should know of his great discoveries, put in at Dartmouth where the ship was detained by 
 orders of King James and the crew claimed as Englishmen. Hudson was obliged to content 
 himself with sending to Amsterdam an account of his great discoveries and his enforced 
 detention in England. 
 
 The sequel showed that Sir Henry was not greatly discomposed by his captivity. The 
 English merchants came forward with alacrity, furnishing the money for another expedition. 
 A ship called the Discovery was given to Hudson and in the summer of 16 10 he again 
 sailed for the West. The vision of the Indies was before his imagination, but he was 
 destined never to see the land of gems and spices or to return to his own country. 
 
 It had now been determined by actual exploration that no northwest passage existed 
 between Florida and Maine. The whole coast had been minutely traced and no inlets found 
 except bays and the estuaries of rivers. Therefore the coveted passage must be found far 
 to the north between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Greenland. Sir Henrj- now followed 
 the track of Frobisher and on the 2d of August reached the strait which was henceforth to
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 359 
 
 bear the name of Hudson. Xo sliip had ever before entered tliese waters. At the entrance 
 the way was barred with many ishmds ; but further to tlie west the bay seemed to ojien, 
 the ocean widened to right and left, and the route to Cathay was at last revealed ! So 
 believed the great captain and his crew; but further to the west the inhospitable shores 
 were seen to narrow again on the more inhospitable sea, and Hudson found himself sur- 
 rounded with the terrors of winter in the frozen gulf of the north. 
 
 He bore up against the hardships of his situation until his provisions were almost 
 exhausted. Spring was at hand and the day of escape liad well nigh arrived wh2n the 
 crew broke out in mutiny. They seized Sir Henn,- and his only son with seven others 
 who had remained faithful to the commander, threw them into an open boat and cast them 
 off among the icebergs. Nothing further was ever heard of the illustrious mariner who 
 had contributed so largely to the geographical knowledge of his times and made possible 
 the establishment of still another nationality in the New World. 
 
 Meanwhile, in 1610, the Half-Moon was liberated at Dartmouth and returned to 
 Amsterdam. The Dutch 
 merchants reached out 
 eagerly to avail them- 
 selves of the discover- 
 ies made by Hudson. 
 Ships were at once 
 sent out to engage in 
 the fur-trade on the 
 banks of the river 
 which that mariner had 
 discovered. This traf- 
 fic was profitable in the 
 highest degree and one if '• ^^^ ,, ^^ 
 voyage followed an- 
 other. In 1614 the 
 States-General of Hol- 
 land passed an act 
 granting to the mer- 
 chants of Amsterdam 
 exclusive rights of trade 
 and establishment with- 
 in the limits of the "^^ hauf-moox in the hldson. 
 country- explored by Sir Henr)- Hudson. Under this commission a squadron of five trading 
 vessels soon arrived at Manhattan Island. Here some rude huts had already been built by 
 former traders; but now a fort for the defence of the place was erected, and the name of 
 New Am.sterd.xm was given to the settlement. 
 
 In this same summer of 1614 Captain Adrian Block, comnmndiug one of the trading 
 ships, made his way through East River into Ivong Island Sound. Thence he explored the 
 coast as far as Narragansett Bay and even to Cape Cod. Meanwhile Cornelius May, captain 
 of the Fortune, sailed southward along the coast as far as Delaware Ba_v. Upon these 
 various voyages Holland set up her uncertain claim to the countr>- which was now named 
 New Netherlands, extending from Cape Henlopen to Cape Cod.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. 
 
 jjY the beginning of the seventeenth century destiny 
 
 had determined the relative parts and places of 
 
 the European possessions in the New World. The 
 
 French had obtained a footing in the extreme 
 
 north. The Dutch had planted a settlement at 
 
 the mouth of the Hudson. The English — as we 
 
 shall presently see — had secured two permanent 
 
 plantations, the first in Virginia and the second 
 
 in Massachusetts. As for Spain, her .portion 
 
 lay to the south. There her adventurers and 
 
 conquerors had established themselves much 
 
 more successfully than had the rival nations in the 
 
 other parts of our continent. We may here with 
 
 propriety revert briefly to the circumstances of Spanish 
 
 discovery and colonization in the southern parts of North 
 
 America. 
 
 After Columbus, in 1499, came Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator of some 
 daring but no great celebrity. He succeeded in reaching the eastern coast of South 
 America ; but it does not appear that his explorations there were of great importance. 
 After an absence of two years, however, he returned to Europe to give to the civilized 
 peoples the first published account of the New World. From this circumstance the name 
 of America was conferred on our continent rather than Columbia, which a true fame would 
 have given to the hemisphere discovered by the man of Genoa. 
 
 Other companions and followers of Columbus came rapidly in his track. Among these 
 we may mention first of all Alonzo de Ojeda. This adventurer, so brave and rash, was a 
 native of Cuenca, in Spain, where he was bom in 1465. He had accompanied Columbus 
 on his second voyage to America, and had done service of many kinds, as well as mischief, 
 in the West Indies. In the year 1499 he obtained pennission to make a voyage on his own 
 account, and set out from Spain on a vessel called the Santa Maria. He was assisted by 
 Juan de la Cosa, who had been the pilot of Columbus. 
 
 It were long to tell the stor}' of the expedition. Ojeda beat about among the Bahamas, 
 gathered a cargo of slaves and returned to Cadiz in June of 1500. Two years afterwards 
 he sailed on a second voyage, and attempted to found a colony in Santa Cruz ; bat his 
 tyranny led to his arrest, and he was taken to Hispaniola in chains. In 1508 we find him 
 engaged in an expedition to the mainland, carr^-ing with him one greater than himself, that 
 Francisco Pizarro who was destined to become the conqueror of Peru. Ojeda founded on 
 the shore of the gulf of Darien the colony of San Sebastien. He attempted to make a 
 voyage to Hispaniola for supplies, but was seized by the captain of the vessel on which he 
 took passage. The ship was soon afterwards wrecked and Ojeda was set free in Cuba. 
 
 (360)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 361 
 
 Meanwhile, Vasco Nunez dc Balboa arrived in Central America and deposed Ojeda from 
 authority. The latter sank into miser)-, and finally died in Hispaniola from a wound given 
 by a poisoned arrow while he was at San Sebasticn. 
 
 Do Balboa had been commissioned as governor of Antigua b\- the Adclantado Diego 
 Columbus. Reaching the land of his destination, he heard rumors of another ocean but a 
 short distance to the west. He accordingly left Antigua in 1513 and began a toilsome 
 journey through the isthmus to the western shore. He struggled through tangled forests, 
 over rugged heights and almost impassable mountains, constantly fighting his way against 
 the hostile natives, until the 25th of September, when gaining a summit he looked down 
 upon the illimitable Pacific. To this he gave the name of " Mar del Sur " or " Sea of the 
 South." Not satisfied with merely seeing the great water, ho waded in a short distance 
 from the shore and drawing his sword, after the pompous Spanish fashion, took possession 
 of {he ocean in the name of the King of Spain. 
 
 PONCE DE LEON IN FLORIDA. 
 
 jNIany of the Spanish noblenicu wliu llourishcd at the beginning of the sixteenth ceutur.- 
 ^ere eager to acquire for themselves new estates and honors in the West Indies and in the 
 unexplored regions of our continent. Among these was the old cavalier. Ponce de Leon, 
 who received the appointment of governor of Porto Rico. Ponce had been a companion 
 of Columbus on his second voyage, but like many others had broken away to become an 
 adventurer on his o^vn account. His governorship of Porto Rico soon brought him riches. 
 But he was already aged and wrinkled, and what were riches to an old cavalier who could 
 no longer enjoy the pleasures of youth? In the meantime a tradition had gained currency 
 to the effect that somewhere in the Bahamas there was a fountain of perpetual youth. Tlie 
 stor\- gained credence in Spain, and particularly among the Spanish adventurers who had 
 found footing in the West Indies and in Central America. 
 
 To none did the tradition of a fountain of youth appeal more strongly than to the 
 aged Ponce de Leon ; for he had need. He resolved to find tlie fountain. Accordingly he 
 fitted out a squadron in Porto Rico and in 151 2 set sail on the quest. He first stopped at 
 San Salvador and the neighboring islands, but afterwards steering northwestward from Cuba 
 he came, on the 27th of March, in sight of an unknown shore. This at first he supposed 
 to be another island of the great group with which he was already- acquainted. The coast 
 line was one of great beauty. As the ships drew near waving forests appeared, 
 green leaves, birds of song and the fragrance of unseen blossoms. It was the day of the 
 Pasqucs de Florcs, or Feast of Flowers, known in the rittial of the Church as Pasciia Florida. 
 Partly as descriptive of the delightful landscape and partly in commemoration of tht- day, 
 De Leon gave to the new land the name of Florida — the Land of Flowers. 
 
 The coast which the adventurer had reached was that which a half century- later was 
 occupied and colonized by the Spaniards. Here in after times were to be laid the founda- 
 tions of St. Augustine, the oldest city in America. The countr\- was claimed for the King 
 of Spain, and De Leon at once began the search for the youth-restoring fcuntain. He 
 turned .southward and explored the coast for man\- leagues, discovered and named tlie Tor- 
 tugas, and then sailed back to Porto Rico, not perce])tibly younger than when he started. 
 
 PONCE DE LEON IS FATALLY WOUNDED. 
 But the voyage had added new lands to the possessions of Spain. Tlie King rewarded 
 Ponce with the governorship of his Land of PMowers and sent him thither again to fonud a 
 colony. But the old cavalier was slow to prosecute the work. Not until 1521 did he reach
 
 362 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 his province and then it was only to find the Indians in hostility. Scarcely had he landed 
 when they gave him battle. Many of the Spaniards were killed and the rest were obliged 
 to find safety on the ships. Ponce de Leon himself received a mortal wonnd and was 
 
 -.SESSION OF THE PACIFIC. 
 
 carried back to Cuba to die. Such was the first passage in the histor>' of Florida. 
 
 Before the events just described, namely in 151 7, Yucatan and the bay of Canipeachy
 
 COLUMiJlS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 >,m 
 
 were discovered by Fernandez de Cordova. Wliile explorinjj^ the northern coast of this 
 country- he also was attacked b)- the hostile Indians and was mortalh- wonnded in battle. 
 In the following year the coast of Mexico was explored for a great distance by J nan de Gri- 
 jalva, nephew of Valasqnez, governor of Cuba. He was accompanied and directed in the 
 expedition by the same pilot who had served under Cordova. Proceeding along the coast 
 he found constantl\- increasing signs of the presence of a civilized race of men. He opened 
 communication with the Mexicans, traded with them and learned of their capital city and 
 of their great monarch Montezuma. Returning to Cuba, \'alasquez was angr)- at his subor- 
 dinate for not taking possession of the country and planting a colony. He accordingly 
 superseded Grijalva and gave command of the new expedition to Hernando Cortez. 
 
 It was now the year 15 19. Cortez landed with his fleet at Tabasco and began his 
 famous conquest of Mexico. The news of the invasion spread abroad and the Mexicans 
 were in consternation. Cortez made his way to Vera Cruz, where he was met by aniba.s.sa- 
 dors from Montezuma. The purpose of the Mexican monarch was to dissuade the terrible 
 
 Spaniards from 
 making their 
 way into the in- 
 terior. But Cor- 
 tez. was not to be 
 ]'nt from his 
 purpose. He 
 marched on the 
 Mexican capital 
 and soon came 
 upon such a 
 scene as had not 
 hitherto been 
 witnessed or even 
 expected in the 
 New World. 
 
 From the mountain tops the Spaniards looked down upon the valley of Mexico. There 
 lay the splendid city, glittering like a vision of spires and temples. In vain did 
 Montezuma tr\- to keep his inexorable foe at bay. On the 8th of November, 1519, tlie 
 Spanish anny entered the city and was quartered in the great square near the temple of 
 the Aztec god of war. 
 
 MARVELLOUS PANORAMA OF THE MEXICAN CAPITAL. 
 It were long to tell tlio ston.- of the events whicli now ensued. Cortez made himself 
 familiar wnth the cit}- and with the manner of life among the Mexicans. He found vast 
 treasures of silver and gold, works of art, aqueducts and causeways, temples where liuman 
 sacrifices were offered, arsenals filled with bows and javelins. But in the midst of all this 
 wealth and abundance the condition of the conqueror grew critical. There were muttor- 
 ings of outbreak. The Spaniards were few. The Mexicans were hundreds of tliousands. 
 In the emergency Cortez devised a plot to obtain pos.session of the person of Montezuma 
 and hold him as a pri.soncr. He was accordingly enticed into tlic power of the Spaniards 
 and was compelled to acknowledge himself a va.s.sal of the King of Spain. A payment 
 of six million three hundred thousand dollars with an enonnous annual tribute, was exacted 
 of the captive emperor. 
 
 FLORIDA INDIANS Fl-RIOUSLV ATTACK THK SI'ANIARDS.
 
 ;564 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The fame of all this was quickly borue to Cuba. Valasquez, the goveruor, was heated 
 with jealousy and determined to arrest the progress of Cortez. He accordingly prepared 
 a new expedition for Mexico and gave the command to Pamphilo de Narvaez, with orders 
 to supersede Cortez in the government and take possession of the country. The forces 
 of Narvaez numbered twelve hundred soldiers besides a thousand Indian servants and 
 guides. But Cortez was on the alert. He learned of the animosit}- of the Cuban gov- 
 ernor and of the means taken for his own overthrow. He determined to meet the forces 
 of Narv'aez and to conquer them or die in the struggle. When the new anny arrived at 
 Vera Cmz, Cortez, leaving behind his lieutenant Alvarado to preserve order in Mexico, was 
 already near at hand to confront his powerful antagonist. On the night of the 26th of 
 May, 1520, he burst suddenly into the camp of Narv'aez and compelled the whole force to 
 surrender. He transferred the new army to his own command and marched back in tri- 
 umph to Mexico. 
 
 In the meantime, however, war had broken out in the city and for months too-ether 
 there was almost constant fighting between the Spaniards and the Mexicans. Cortez com- 
 pelled Montezuma to appear as a prisoner on 
 the top of the palace and advise his people 
 to submit; but they had now become desperate 
 and in the fury of despair let fly their javelins 
 at the Emperor. He was mortalh- wounded 
 and died of wretchedness. At one time Cortez 
 was driven out of the city; but in December 
 of 1520 he returned and began a siege 
 which continued until August of the follow- 
 ing year. At length the city was taken ; the 
 empire of the Montezumas was overthrown 
 and Mexico became a Spanish Province. 
 VOYAGE AND DEATH OF MAGELLAN. 
 
 At the very time of this invasion and 
 conquest Ferdinand Magellan was accom- 
 plishing the most daring enterprise which 
 marked the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury'. To him belongs the honor of having 
 first found the all-water route from Western 
 Europe to Eastern Asia. Magellan was a 
 Portuguese by birth, a navigator by pro- 
 fession. Having formed the purpose to 
 discover a southwest passage to the Indies, he appealed 
 ships and men. But the monarch listened coldly and 
 subject. Magellan hereupon renounced his allegiance, went to Spain and laid his plans 
 before the Emperor Charles V. The Spanish monarch caught eagerly at the opportunit>-, 
 ordered a fleet of five ships at the public expense and gave the command to Magellan. The 
 voyage was undertaken from Seville in August of 15 19. The navigator first reached the 
 coast of South America and then beat his way southward until he reached the eastern mouth 
 of that strait which still bears the name of its discoverer. Through this he passed into the 
 open and boundless ocean, to which he gave the name of the Pacific. 
 
 Sailing to the north of west, the expedition reached the Ladrones in March of 1520. 
 
 HERNANDO CORTEZ. 
 
 to 
 
 the King of Portugal for 
 ; no encouragement to his
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 .H)i> 
 
 Here Magellan was killed in a battle with the natives. A new captain was chosen and the 
 voyage continued to the Moluccas, where a cargo of spices was gathered for the market 
 of Europe. Only a single ship now remained in fit condition for the homebound voyage ; 
 but in this vessel the heroic crew bore on by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 
 17th of September, 1522, arrived in Spain. The circumnavigation of the globe had been 
 
 accomplished. The theor)- of 
 Strabo, of the ' ' olde wise as- 
 tronomers," of Mandeville and 
 of Columbus had been demons- 
 trated, and tlie work which the 
 great Mercator was soon to per- 
 fonn in mapping the seas and 
 continents was made an easy 
 task. 
 
 Meanwhile the work of Span- 
 ish colonization was continued 
 with success, la 1526 Charles W 
 appointed De Nars'aez governor of 
 Florida, with the privilege of con- 
 quest The latter reached his 
 pro\-ince at Tampa Bay in April, 
 152S. His force consisted of 
 two hundred and sixty soldiers 
 and forty horsemen. The Indians 
 had now learned with good 
 reason to distrust the Spaniards 
 under all circumstances. They 
 adopted, therefore, the policy of 
 craft and falsehood in their deal- 
 ings with the otherwise uncon- 
 querable foe. They told the 
 Spaniards that the gold trinkets 
 which they wore had come from 
 the north, where there were great 
 peoples and cities and treasures. 
 Tlie hint was eagerly cavight by 
 the Spaniards and they struck 
 out boldly in the direction indi- 
 cated. They confidently expected 
 to find an empire in the interior, 
 Mexico. Tliey jXMietrated the forest, 
 reached the Withlacoochee and the 
 
 Tills then 
 
 DEATH OP MONTEZUMA. 
 
 and to make such conquest as Cortez had done in 
 
 crossed great swamps, fought with tlie savages, 
 
 Suwanee and finally came to Apalachee, a squalid village of forty cabin.s. 
 
 was the mighty city to which their guides had directed them. 
 
 It now remained for the Spaniards to return to the coast. Through great fatigue and 
 hunger they at last reached the sea at the harbor of St. Mark's, constructed some brigan- 
 tines and attempted to reach Mexico. They were finally driven ashore by a stonn, and ali
 
 \366)
 
 COLUMBUS AXU COLUMBLV. 
 
 :!ii7 
 
 the coinpaiu- perished except four men, who, under the leadersliip of their lieutenant, De 
 Vaca, made their \va\- to tlie Pacific coast, and were at last rescued at the village of San 
 Miguel. 
 
 THE CHIVALROUS EXPEDITION OF DE SOTO. 
 The expedition of Narvaez was only a scene compared with the drama that was to fol- 
 low. The year 1537 witnessed an adventure the most remarkable of any b>- which the 
 interior of Spanish America was made known to the world. In that year Ferdinand De 
 Soto, most cavalier of the cavaliers, was appointed governor of Cuba and Florida with the 
 privilege of exploring and colonizing the country at will. De Soto was a nobleman of 
 great distinction and popularity and he had no difficulty in gathering to liis standard in 
 Spain a company of six hundred wealthy and high-born adventurers. Many of them were 
 of knightly birth and all were clad in the elegant apparel and annor of the Middle Ages. 
 The preparations for the expedition were elaborate to the last degree. Anns and stores 
 were provided ; shackles were wrought for the slaves whom the adventurers expected to 
 
 take in the X e w 
 World ; the tools for 
 the forge and work- 
 shop were supplied ; 
 bloodhounds w- e r e 
 bought and trained 
 for limiting fugitives. 
 A full stock of gaming 
 apparatus was made 
 ready for the young 
 knights. Twelve 
 priests were secured 
 for the introduction 
 of -religion, and last 
 of all a drove of swine 
 was collected to fatten 
 on the maize and 
 m a s t o f t h e n e w 
 countr)-. 
 The expedition left the harbor of San Lucar and came to Havana in safety. De Soto 
 appointed his wife to govern Cuba in his absence, and in June of 1539 the squadron anchored 
 in Tampa Bay. When a landing was effected an expedition was at once organized to explore 
 the interior. For two months the cavaliers marched northward through the silent forests 
 and gloomy morasses. In October they reached F'lint River, where they prepared to spend 
 the winter. In the following spring they were allured with the tradition of an empire niled 
 by a wealthy queen ; but the stor\- proved to be a delusion. The wanderers continued their 
 march down the Alabama River as far as Mauville, or Mobile, where tlicy fought a great 
 battle with the Indians. Two thousand five hundred of the latter were killed and their 
 town destroyed. The losses of the Spaniards were considerable ; hut instead of turning to 
 Pensacola where their supply ships had arrived, the proud and stubborn cavaliers set their 
 faces to the north and marched on till, by the middle of December, they reached the country 
 of the Chickasaws. The following winter they spent in a deserted Indian village and 
 with the opening of spring came to the Mississippi. The point where the majestic I'*ather 
 
 HIS FORCKS IN
 
 368 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 of Waters was first seen by white men was at the lower Chickasaw blufi" near the 34th paral- 
 lel of latitude. Barges were built and in the latter part of May the Sjianiards crossed to 
 the western bank. 
 
 The expedition now proceeded into the land of the Dakotas. The country was abun- 
 dant in wild fruits, and the natives were inoffensive and superstitious. The Spaniards 
 reached the river St. Francis and crossed 
 into the southern limits of the present State 
 of Missouri iu the vicinity of New Madrid. 
 The next stage was about two hundred 
 miles. The adventurers came to the Hot 
 Springs and passed the winter of 1541-42 
 on the Washita River. 
 
 It appears that by this time the ferocity 
 of the Spanish character had been full}' 
 aroused. The cavaliers attacked and de- 
 stroyed the Indian towns which they came 
 to, chopped off Indian hands for a whim 
 and burned captives alive because — being 
 in mortal dread — they had told a falsehood. 
 But the Spaniards themselves were in turn 
 brought to suffering and despair. They 
 made their way down the Washita to the 
 Red River and thence by that stream to 
 the Mississippi. The spirit of De Soto 
 failed him. The vision of Peru and Mexico faded from his sight. A fever seized upoi 
 him and death ended the scene. In the stillness of night his companions wrapped the dcu' 1 
 hero's body in a flag ; the priests chanted a requiem ; a boat conveyed the burial part}- out 
 to the middle of the great river and there Ferdinand De Soto found his endless rest. 
 
 Thus far adventure and exploration had abounded, but no colonization. At length 
 Philip II. commissioned a Spanish soldier, Pedro Melendez, to conduct an expedition to- 
 Florida and to plant therein a colony of not fewer than five hundred persons of whom one 
 hundred should be married men. A company of twenty-five hundred gathered around 
 Melendez, and in July of 1565 the expedition left Spain for Porto Rico. 
 
 The reader will remember the story of the French Huguenots who had before this 
 time found a lodgment on the river St. Johns, in Florida. This fact was known to the 
 Spanish court, and it was one of the objects of Melendez to exterminate the heretical 
 Frenchmen. On the 28th of August the fleet arrived in sight of Florida. It was St. 
 Augustine's day, and that circtimstance gave a name to the colon}- which was now to be 
 established. The harbor was explored and named in honor of the Saint. Philip II. was 
 proclaimed monarch of North America. A solemn mass was said b}- the priests, and there, 
 in the sight of forest and sky and sea, were laid the foiindation stones of the oldest town 
 planted by Europeans within the present limits of the United States. This was seventeen 
 years before the founding of Santa Fe by Antonio de Espego and forty-two years before the 
 settlement of Jamestown. 
 
 M E J€ I 
 
 ROUTE OF DE SOTO'S EXPEDITION.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ENGLISH COLONIZATION. 
 
 HILE the colonial enterprises of the Spaniards 
 foreran those of the English by more than half 
 a centur\- in time, the latter people were finally 
 more snccessfnl than their rivals in the work 
 of colonizing the new continent They were 
 also more fortunate — if fortune is a part of histor\-. 
 For the\- obtained possession, as if by auspicious 
 accident, of the better parts of the New World. 
 They struck the eastern shores of America in 
 the latitude of its broadest and most favorable 
 belt. The circumstances of settlement also, though 
 by no means attended with the pomp and patronage 
 that followed the enterprises of France and Spain, 
 were nevertheless of a kind to foretoken permanence, 
 development and empire. 
 We shall here note m brief paragraphs the leading features of the colonization of 
 Virginia and Massachusetts. The beginning of the seventeenth century brought in a con- 
 dition of affairs more favorable than hitherto to the planting of English settlements in 
 North America. At the very beginning of his reign the attention of King James I. was 
 turned to the project of colonizing his American possessions. On the loth of April, 1606, 
 he issued two great patents to men of his kingdom authorizing them to possess and colonize 
 that portion of North America lying between the 34th and 45th parallels of latitude. 
 
 Geographically the great territon,- thus granted extended from Cape Fear River to 
 Passamaquoddy Bay, and westward to the Pacific. The first patent was directed to certain 
 nobles, gentlemen and merchants residing in London. The corporation was called the 
 London Company and had for its bottom motives colonization and connnerce. The second 
 patent was granted to a like bod\' of men which had been organized at Plymouth, in South- 
 western England, and was known as the Plymouth Company. In the division of territory 
 between the two corporations the countr)' between the 34th and 38th parallels was a.ssigned 
 to the London Company, that between the 41st and 45th parallels to the Plymouth Coiii- 
 pan\-, and the narrow belt of three degrees between the two to each corporation equally, 
 but under the restriction that no settlement of one jiarty should be made within less than 
 one hundred miles of the nearest .settlement of the other. 
 
 The leader in organizing the Ivondon Company was Bartholomew Gosnold. His 
 principal a.s.sociates were Edward Wingficld, a rich merchant; Rolicrt Hunt, a clergyman; 
 and Captain John Smith, a man of genius. Others who aided the enterprise were vSit 
 John Popham, Chicf-Jiistice of E^ugland; Richard Hakluyt, a historian; and Sir Ferdinand 
 Gorges, a distingiii.shed nobleman. 
 
 24 '.3*'Vi
 
 370 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA 
 
 As to the government of the proposed colon\- the royal prerogative was carefully 
 guarded. There was to be a Superior Council resident in England. The members of 
 this body were to be chosen by the King and might be removed at his pleasure. An 
 Inferior Council residing in the colony was provided for; but the members of this body 
 were also to be selected b)' the royal authorit}- and might be removed at the pleasure of 
 the King. All the elements of government were virtually reserved and vested in the mon- 
 arch. Paternalism was carried to the extreme in one of the restrictions which required 
 that all the propert}' of the colonists should be held in common for the first five years after 
 organization. The emigrants, however, were favored in one particular, and that was 
 in the concession that they should retain in the New World all the personal and social 
 rights and privileges of Englishmen. 
 
 VICISSITUDES OF THE PLYMOUTH AND LONDON COMPANIES. 
 
 As early as August, 1606, the Plymouth Company sent out their first ship to America. 
 This vessel, however, was captured by a Spanish man-of-war. Later in the year another 
 ship was despatched by the company and spent 
 the winter on the American coast. In the 
 following summer a colony of a hundred per- 
 sons was gathered and carried safely to the 
 mouth of the River Kennebec, where a settle- 
 ment was planted under favorable omens. A fort 
 was built and named St. George. For a while 
 affairs went well with the settlers. Later in ^i 
 the season about one-half of the company! 
 returned to England ; a dreadful winter set in; 
 the storehouse was burned; some of the settlers ^^^^"1 
 were starved, some frozen; and with the com- 
 ing of the next summer the miserable remnant 
 escaped to England. 
 
 The efforts of the London Company were^ 
 attended with greater success. A squadron of 
 three vessels was fitted out under command 
 of Christopher Newport. A colony of a 
 hundred and five members was collected on 
 board and on the gtli of December, 1606, the capt. john smith. 
 
 ship set sail for the New World. The principal men of the company were Winfield, Smith 
 and Newport. The expedition followed the old line of sailing, by way of the Canaries 
 and the West Indies and did not reach the American coast until April of the following 
 year. The leaders of the colony had steered the fleet for Roanoke Island; but a storm 
 prevailed and the ships were borne northward into the Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 On the southern shore of this broad water the pilots soon found the mouth of a beau- 
 tiful river which was named in honor of King James. Proceeding up this stream about 
 fifty miles, Newport chose a peninsula on the northern bank as the site of his settlement. 
 Here the colonists were debarked and the ships were moored by the shore. On the 1 3th of 
 May, (old style), 1607, were laid at this place the foundations of Jamestown, the oldest 
 English settlement in America. It was within a month of a hundred and ten years after 
 the discovery of the continent by the elder Cabot. So long had it taken in an age of war 
 and doubt and semi-darkne.ss and unprogressive conditions to possess the first square mile
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 •>/ . 
 
 of that vast and virgin New World which had been revealed by the adventurers of .Spain 
 and England in the last decade of the fifteenth century. Xcar]\- forlv-two years had 
 elapsed since the founding of St. Aui^usline by tlie Spaniards and t\vent\-fivc \cars from 
 the planting of Santa Fc by Antonio de Espego. 
 
 In this way did tlie London Company anticipate its rival in establishiuL' an .Vnicrican 
 plantation. For se\eral years the Plymouth Company made little progress. Meanwhile 
 personal genius contributed not a little to the prospects of England in America. Captain 
 John Smith, who had shown himself to be the leading spirit of the Virginia settlement, had 
 been wounded b\ an accident and had returned in 1609 to England. Xo discouragement 
 could daunt the spirit of such a man, and on recovering his health he formed a partnership 
 with four merchants of London with a view to engaging in the fur trade and the work of 
 colonization within the limits of the grant made three years previouslv to the Plvmouth 
 Compan\'. 
 
 Two ships were accordingly equipped under command of Captain Smitli. Thesunnner 
 of 1614 he spent on the lower coast of Maine, carrying on a profitable trade with the Indians. 
 The crews were well satisfied with their gains and with tlie profitable pleasures of fisliing. 
 Captain Smitli, however, engaged his energies in the work of exploration. He traced the 
 wliole coast from the Penobscot to Cape Cod and drew a map of the country which is still 
 extant and is a marvel of accuracy and careful work, hi this map the name of Xkw Eng- 
 land was written as the title of the country — a name which Prince Charles confinned and 
 which history has well preser\-ed for posterity. 
 
 STORY OF THE ENGLISH PURITANS. 
 
 At this juncture we touch the story of the English Puritans. This bodv of religionists 
 had suffered much in England and many liad exiled themselves into Holland. Though not 
 subject to further persecutions they were nevertheless ill at ease in the land of their banish- 
 ment. They were Englishmen ; the unfamiliar tongue of the Dutch grated liarshh- on their 
 ears, and they pined for some other land where they might be secure from molestation and 
 found for themselves a new State in the wilderness. 
 
 With a view to promoting this vague project John Car\-er and Robert Cusliman were 
 despatched from Leyden to England to act as commissioners for the Puritans before the 
 King and his ministers. The agents of the IvOndon Comp-any and the Council of Plvniuuth 
 gave .some encouragement to the petitioners, but the King and the ministry, especiallv I^ord 
 Bacon, set their faces against all measures which might seem to fa\-or heretics. The most 
 that King James would do was to give an informal promise that he would let the I'lni/ans 
 alone in America. 
 
 Such was the poor report which Car\'er and Cushman were able to bear back to Hol- 
 land. But the e.xiles were not easily put from theft ourpo.se. They resolved of their own 
 motion to seek a new home in the wilds of .Vmerica. With the Kin_<j^'s permission or with- 
 out it they would go and plant a new State in the western wilderness. The_\- accordingly, 
 b%- sacrifice and contribution, provided two vessels, the Spccdivcll and the Mayjlenver^ for 
 their voyage across the .Vtlantic. The Spced~u>cll was to carry the emigrants from Leyden 
 to Southampton where they were to be joined by the Mayjhncer with another company 
 from London. 
 
 The Puritan congregation in Ivcyden followed the emijjfrants to the shore. There under 
 the open heaven their pastor, John Robinson, gave them a partinjjf address and benediction. 
 Both vessels with the Pilgrims on board came safely to vSoulliainpton, where the exiu-dition 
 was reorganized. On the 5th of August the two ships put to sea ; but the Speedwell way
 
 372 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 found to be unfit for the voyage and was obliged to put back to Plymouth. The more 
 zealous of the emigrants collected on board the Mayflozccr^ and on the 6th of September 
 the first colony of New England, numbering a hundred and two souls saw the shores of Old 
 England grow dim and sink behind the sea. 
 
 The Mayflower had a stormy voyage of sixty-three da>'s' duration. The vessel was 
 carried out of its course and the first land sighted was the bleak Cape Cod. On the 9th of 
 November the ship came to anchor in Cape Cod Bay ; a meeting was held on board and a 
 compact adopted for the government of the colony. The emigrants declared their loyalty 
 to the English crown and covenanted to live together in peace and harmony, conceding 
 equal rights to all and obeying just laws made for the common good. The compact was 
 signed by all and John Carver was chosen governor of the colony. 
 
 LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 
 For some days the Mayflower lay at anchor while the boats were repaired and other 
 preparations made for debarkation. Miles Standish, the great soldier of the company, went 
 
 ashore with a few of 
 the braver of the colo- 
 nists and made explora- 
 tions through the 
 dreary country, but 
 found nothing of value 
 or interest. Storms 
 of snow and sleet beat 
 upon the company un- 
 til their clothes were 
 converted into coats-of- 
 mail. The ship was steered around the coast 
 until it was driven, half by accident and half 
 b)' the skill of the pilot, into the safe haven on 
 the west side of the bay. Here, on Monday, 
 the nth of December (old st>-le), 1620, the 
 Pilerim Fathers of New England landed on 
 Plymouth Rock. 
 
 Before the Puritans was desolation ; behind them a stormy sea. It was midwinter. 
 The sleet and snow blew upon them in alternate tempests. The houseless immigrants fell 
 a-dying of hunger, cold and despair. A few days were spent in explorations along the 
 coast ; a site was chosen near the first landing ; trees were felled and the snowdrifts cleared 
 away. On the 9th of January, 1621, the heroic toilers began to build New Plymouth. 
 Each man took on himself the work of making his own house ; but the ravages of disease 
 grew daily worse. Strong amis fell powerless ; lung fevers and consumption wasted every 
 family. At one time only seven men were able to work on the sheds which were building 
 for shelter from the rigors of winter, while their provisions were so completely exhausted 
 that starvation was only avoided by the doling out of a few kernels of corn to the famishing 
 women and children. To such a desperate extremity were they reduced for a while that 
 five kernels of the little store of corn that was between them and fatal famine was the 
 allowance three times a day for each member. If an early spring had not come with its 
 sunshine and bird-song and gladness the colony must have perished to a man. Such were 
 the privations and griefs of that memorable event by which New England began to be. 
 
 SIGNING THE COMPACT.
 
 UEAU.NO OUT THE FIVE KERNELS OF CORN. 
 
 (373)
 
 374 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 We are thus at the close of the first quarter of the seventeenth centur>' enabled to view 
 the general situation on the eastern shores of our continent The French had obtained a 
 footing in Nova Scotia and on the banks of the St. Ivawrence. The English had colonized the 
 countr}' of Massachusetts Bay. The Dutch had established themselves on Manhattan Island 
 and in detached settlements along the Hudson and the Delaware. In the country of the 
 Chesapeake the colony of Jamestown was so well founded as to remove all doubt of its per- 
 manency. In Florida the Spaniards had succeeded in planting at St. Augiistine and several 
 other places successful and promising settlements. It was clear to the discerning eye of 
 reason and prophec}' that the white race had fixed itself along the western shores of the 
 Atlantic in situations which were to become the centres of a civilization to which the New 
 World had hitherto been a stranger. We may now properly note in a few paragraphs the 
 spread and development of the European colonies on our shores. 
 
 One of the earliest of these was the colony of Connecticut. The history of the set- 
 tlement of this province begins with the j'ear 1630. In that j-ear the Council of Plymouth, 
 
 which had in the mean- 
 
 t i m e superseded the 
 Plymouth Company, 
 made a grant of Ameri- 
 can territorj' to the Earl 
 of Warwick. In the 
 following year the claim 
 was assigned by War- 
 wick to Lord Say-and- 
 Seal, Lord Brooke, John 
 Hampden and others. 
 Before this company 
 was able to avail itself 
 of the grant some of 
 the Dutch settlers from 
 IManhattan reached the 
 Connecticut river and 
 built on the after site 
 of Hartford a nide for- 
 tress which they called 
 the House of Good 
 Hope. 
 
 Hearing of this intrusion the people of the Plymouth colony, who claimed the valley 
 of the Connecticut, sent out a force to expel their rivals. The English of New Ph-mouth 
 indeed carried theii territorial claim westward indefinitely, extending the same beyond the 
 Connecticut and the Hudson and covering the Dutch settlements of New Netherland. The 
 English expedition from Plymouth entered the Connecticut river, passed the House of Good 
 Hope, defied the Dutch and about seven miles up the stream built a block-house which they 
 called Windsor. 
 
 Not satisfied with this occupation, the people of Boston, in 1635, sent out a colony of 
 sixt)' persons to occupy the Connecticut valle)'. Settlements were made by these at Hart- 
 ford, Windsor and Wethersfield. In the same year John Winthrop, Jr., arrived in New 
 England bearing from the proprietaries of the western colony a commission to fortify the
 
 COLUMIU'S AM) COIAMI'.IA. 
 
 :i75 
 
 mouth of the Connecticut and to expel the Dutch from that region. A fort was built at tlie 
 entrance to the river which was tiie foundinjj; of Saybrook, so named in honor of the 
 proprietaries Lord Say and Lord Brooke. These noblemen, in accordance with their j^rant, 
 had chosen the country of the Connecticut as the scene of their colonization. In this man- 
 ner the nm-^t important river of New Knijlaud was brout;;ht under the control of the I'uri- 
 
 ROr.ER WILLIAMS AT THK COl'NCIL OF CASONMCl'S. 
 
 ; tans. The colony of Connecticut was established and a 
 new vantaj^e fjained for the further spread of settlements. 
 ROGER WILLIAMS, THE LIBERAL RELIGIONIST. 
 The fuuiuliiij; dI" Riioin. I.si.a.nd wa.s the work of 
 the celebrated Ro«;er Williams, a youny: minister of 
 Salem village, north of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 No man in the histor>- of New England deserves a brighter or more enduring 
 fame, not more for what he did in the founding of a successful colony than for the exertion 
 of his influence with Indians whose friendshi]) he had won, by which he several times s;ived 
 the whites from massacre. His sense of justice was ven- like that which distinguished
 
 376 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Penn and it was this character that endeared hiin to the Indians. The Narragansetts and 
 Peqnods were hereditary enemies, but through the persuasion of Williams they became recon- 
 ciled and likewise made a treaty" of friendship with the English. But this compact which 
 seemed propitious of perpetual peace soon became a source of danger, for being relieved 
 of their hereditary foes, the Narragansetts, the Peqnods, whose hatred for the English was 
 irreconcilable, violated their treaty and perpetrated several outrages which, however, were 
 speedily avenged by the militia. Finding themselves tmequal to the English, the Peqnods 
 sought an alliance with the Narragansetts and ]\Iohegans, whom they persuaded to join them 
 in an extermination of the whites. The situation thus became critical in the extreme and 
 the purpose of the alliance was only defeated through the efforts of Williams, who, first 
 notifying Sir Henry Vane, Governor of ^lassachusetts, of the peril, went alone to the camp 
 of the Narragansetts and in the tent of Canonicus he found that chief in council with sev- 
 eral notable Peqnods. For two daj^s he pleaded with Canonicus to withdraw from the 
 alliance and stand steadfast to his vows of peace with the whites, and at length had the intense 
 satisfaction of receiving that chief's promise to renoi;nce his murderous purpose. Being 
 thus bereft of their allies the Peqnods were easily vanquished by the English militia, who 
 attacking them suddenly, burned their fort and destroyed all but seven of their warriors. 
 
 The principles of social and political organization, as well as of religious belief, which 
 Williams adopted were the most liberal and tolerant which had been proclaimed among 
 men since the beginning of the modern era. He assumed that the conscience of the indi- 
 vidual could not be bound b}' the magistrate or the civil government ; that the government 
 had to do only with the collection of taxes, the restraint of law-breakers, the punishment 
 of crime and the protection of all in the enjoyment of equal rights. 
 
 Such utterances as these, however, could not be borne by the narrow-minded religio- 
 lists who had colonized New England. So long had the oppressive forces of society and the 
 abuses of ecclesiasticism borne upon the Puritans that against the dictates of their better 
 natures they had become as wickedl}' and perniciously intolerant as were the persecutors 
 from whom they had escaped in England and Holland. Roger Williams was arraigned for 
 his doctrines and expelled from Plymouth colony. His teachings were declared to be hereti- 
 cal, destructive of the interests of society and inimical to the best interests of men. He 
 was driven awa}' in the dead of winter, and was obliged for fourteen weeks to save himself 
 from the snows and inclemency of the season by sleeping in hollow trees and subsisting on 
 parched corn, acorns and roots. He went among the Indians whose rights he had defended, 
 and was entertained by IMassasoit, chief of the Wampanoags, at his cabin at Pokanoket ; 
 also by Canonicus, king of the Narragansetts. 
 
 The exile at last made his wa}' to the bank of the Blackstone river, near Narragansett 
 Bay, where with the opening of spring he planted a field and built the first nide house in 
 the village of Seekonk. It was soon found, however, that he was still within the territory 
 of Plymouth colon}-. Meanwhile five companions from Salem and Boston had joined him 
 in his banishment, and with these he left his house and crossing to the west side of the 
 bay purchased a new tract of land from Canonicus. Here, in June of 1636, he and his 
 followers laid out the city of Providence, and thus became the fathers of Rhode Island. 
 
 Already a settlement had been effected in the tefritorj- of NEW Hampshire. In 1622 
 the countr}- between the rivers IVIerrimac and Kennebec, reaching from the sea to the St. 
 Lawrence, was granted by the Council of Plymouth to Sir Ferdinand Gorges and John 
 Mason. The proprietaries made haste to secure their rights b\- planting a colony. In the 
 spring of 1623 two small companies of emigrants were sent out by Mason and Gorges to
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 :M7 
 
 hold uicir province. Already a score of years previously New Hampshire had been 
 visited by Martin Pring ; and the adventurous Captain vSinitli, in 1614, had explored and 
 mapped the coast. 
 
 After the settlement at Plymouth the plantations on the Merrimac were the oldest in 
 all New England. The progress of the colony, however, was slow. The first villages 
 were no more than fishing stations. After si.x years the proprietaries divided their dominion 
 between them, Gorges taking the northern and Mason the southern portion of the province. 
 The minister, John Wheelwright, came into New Hampshire and purchased the rights 
 of the natives to the territory- occupied by Mason's colony. A second patent was issued 
 to the proprietar)-, and the name of the province was changed from Laconia to New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 In the meantime the same kind of expansion was taking place from the parent colony 
 in \'irginia. As early as 162 1 William Clayborue, a resolute English sur\'eyor, was sent 
 out by the London Company to make a map of the countr>- of the Chesapeake. The terri- 
 tory- of Virginia had by the terms of the second cliarttr bitn extended on tlu imrth to the 
 forty-first parallel of lati- 
 tude. This included the 
 present States of Mar)- 
 land and Delaware and a 
 great part of New Jersey 
 and Pennsylvania. The 
 ambitions of the London 
 Company were inflamed 
 with the possession of so 
 vast and beautiful a 
 territor}-, and they put 
 forth laudable efforts to 
 explore and occupy it 
 before it s h o u 1 d be 
 sought and seized by 
 rival colonists. 
 
 Claybonie was him- 
 self a member of the 
 Council for Virginia, and 
 was Secretary of State in that colony. In 1631 he was sent out as a royal commis- 
 sioner to discover the sources of the Chesapeake, to establish a trade with the Indians and 
 exercise the right of governor over his companions and any .settlement that he might 
 form. His enterprise was attended with success. He first planted a trading post on Kent 
 Island and another at the head of the bay in the vicinity of Havre de Grace. The 
 rivers that fall into the Chesapeake were explored and traffic established with the 
 natives. It seemed for the time that the territory' of \'irginia was about to be ex- 
 tended to the borders of New Nctlierland. 
 
 RIVALRY BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS. 
 
 In the meantime, however, other lii>lorical forces had been .set in operation by which 
 the intended character of the central American colonies was permanently changed. The 
 religiotis stniggles and persecutions which since the beginning of the Reformation had 
 l>een prevalent in the Old World became the efficient causes of the planting of a new 
 
 AMONG THE INDIANS.
 
 378 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 colony on the north of Virginia, and the limitation of her territories in that direction. 
 The personal agent throngh whose instrnmentality this work was to be accomplished was 
 Sir George Calvert, of Yorkshire. This distinguished nobleman whose name is indissoiubly 
 associated with the colonial history of the United States was educated at Oxford. He had 
 devoted much time to travel and study. He was an ardent and consistent Catholic, a 
 friend of humanity, honored with knighthood and a member of the Irish peerage, with the 
 title of Lord Baltimore. 
 
 In Protestant England the tables had been turned by the Refonned part}- on the 
 Catholics, and the latter suffered not a little through the malevolence and injustice of the 
 fonner. The dominant Church of England persecuted both the Catholics and the dissent- 
 ing Protestants, following them with hatred and violence even to foreign lands. It was 
 this condition of affairs that first suggested to Lord Baltimore the planting of a Catholic 
 
 colon^• in Newfoundland. He secured from 
 
 King James a patent for the southern part of 
 the island and there, in 1623, established a 
 refuge for the distressed people of his faith. 
 
 In such a situation, however, no colony 
 could thrive. The country- was cheerless and 
 desolate. Profitable industry was impossible. 
 Only the fishing interest invited to enter- 
 prise and trade. Besides, the ships of France 
 hovered around the coasts and captured the 
 English fishing-boats. Lord Baltimore 
 became convinced that his countrj-men must 
 be removed to a more favorable situation, and 
 in selecting, his attention was turned to the 
 genial country of the Chesapeake. In 1629 
 he went in person to Virginia and was favor- 
 ably received by the Assembly. That body, 
 however, in offering him citizenship required 
 an oath to which no honest Catholic could 
 subscribe. Sir George pleaded for toleration; 
 but the Assembly would not yield and Lord 
 Baltimore was obliged to turn awav. 
 
 SIR GEO. CALVERT (LORD BALTIMORE). 
 
 In the meantime the London Company had been dissolved and the King of England 
 had recovered whatever rights and privileges he had fonnerly conceded to that corporation. 
 It was therefore within his power to re- grant the vast territory north of the River Potomac, 
 which by the terms of the second charter had been conceded to Virginia. When the 
 Assembly refused toleration to Baltimore, he turned from that body and appealed to the 
 King for a charter for himself and his colony. King Charles I. heard the petition with 
 favor and the charter was drawn and received the royal signature. The Virginians, by 
 their intolerance had saved their religion and lost a province. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF MARYLAND UNDER A CODE OF LIBERAL LAWS. 
 
 The territory- granted to Sir George Calvert was ample. It extended, after the 
 phraseolog}' of the times, from ocean to ocean. The boundar>- on the north was the 40th 
 parallel. On the west the limit was to be a line drawn due south from the 4otli parallel to 
 the westernmost fountain of the Potomac. That river was to constitute the southern boun-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 379 
 
 dar)-. A glance at the map will show that the original grant included the present States of 
 Maryland and Delaware, besides a large part of Peiuisylvania and New Jersey. 
 
 On the whole the charter issued to Sir George Calvert was the most liberal of any 
 which the English kings had thus far granted to their subjects. Christianity was declared 
 to be the religion of the State, but no preference was given to sect or creed. The lives and 
 property of the colonists were put under the careful protection of English law. Free trade 
 was declared as the policy of the province, and arbitrary ta.xation was forbidden. The 
 appointment of the officers of the colonial govern- 
 ment was conceded to the lord proprietary and the 
 right of m;iking and amending the laws to a 
 popular assembly. 
 
 While engaged in this benevolent work Sir 
 George Calvert died and his estates and titles 
 descended to his son 
 Cecil, the second 
 Lord Baltimore. He, 
 however, received '"ItB^' , i*«i<B?U* / *E H ^IS .X 
 
 i^^m 
 
 I.EOX.\RD CALVERT PLANTING THB 
 FIRST COLONY IN MARYLANIl. 
 
 the charter which had been intended for 
 his father. In honor of Henrietta Maria, 
 daughter of Henr>- IV., of France, and 
 wife of King Charles, the name of Mary- 
 land was conferred on the new province. 
 Its independence was guaranteed by the royal constitution and it only remained for Sir 
 Cecil to carry out his father's purposes of planting a free State in the New World. Some 
 time, however, was consumed in gathering a colony and it was not until 1633 ^^^^^ 
 a company of two hundred persons was collected for the voyage. Lord Baltimore had by 
 this time changed his mind with respect to conducting the enterprise in person. Instead 
 of accompanying his colony he appointed his brother, Leonard Calvert, to act as deputy 
 governor, and sent him forth to plant the new American State. 
 
 It was in March of 1634 that the Catholic immigrants arrived at Old I'oint Comfort
 
 380 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Calvert bore a letter from the King charging Governor Harvey, of Virginia, to receive the 
 new comers with conrtesy and favor. The governor was obliged to obe\- ; bnt the, 
 Virginians were inflamed with jealousy at the success of an enterprise which they could but 
 perceive would deprive them of the profitable fur trade of the upper Chesapeake. 
 
 Sailing up the bay, Leonard Calvert and his colony entered the Potomac. After some 
 explorations they selected the countrj' at the mouth of the St. Mary's as the site of their set- 
 tlement. Here the colonists took possession of a half-abandoned Indian town, purchased 
 the surrounding territory, set up a cross as the sign of Catholic occupation and gave the 
 name of St. ]\Iar}''s to this the oldest colony of Maryland. It was thus that by strange 
 vicissitude a company of Catholic immigrants was established in the midst of Protestant 
 dissenters on the American coast. While the Huguenots had been driven into exile by the 
 persecutions of the Mother Church and had sought refuge in New France, the very same 
 kind of proscription and religious vindictiveness thrust forth from Protestant England the 
 Catholic fathers of Maryland. 
 
 We may now glance at the work of colonization in the countr}- south of Virginia. The 
 year 1630 witnessed the first effort to plant a settlement in the region below the territorial 
 limits of the London Company. In that year the territory between the 30th and 36th 
 parallels of latitude was granted b)' the King to Sir Robert Heath. This nobleman, how- 
 ever, did not succeed in organizing a colony. His successor. Lord Maltravers, was equally 
 unsuccessful. The patent continued in force for thirty-three years and was then revoked 
 by the roval authority. Almost the only historical result of the issuance of Sir Robert's 
 charter was the preserv-ation of the name of Carolina which had been given by the Hugue- 
 nots to the countrj' of their choice. 
 
 COLONIZATION OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Before the time of which we speak, nameh-, in 1622, the coast of the southern territory 
 was explored by Pory, secretary of Virginia. In 1642 a company of Virginian adventurers 
 obtained leave of the Assembly to prosecute discovery on the lower Poanoke and open a 
 trade with the Indians. The first actual settlement made in this region was at the mouth 
 of the river Chowan in the year 165 1. Soon afterwards William Claybome, of Mar>dand, 
 made explorations along this part of the coast. In 1661 a company of New England Puri- 
 tans entered the Cape Fear River, purchased lands of the natives and established a colony 
 on Oldtown creek, nearly two hundred miles further south than any other English settle- 
 ment. In 1663 Lord Clarendon, General Monk — now honored with the title of Dnke of 
 Albemarle — and six other noblemen received from King Charles II. a patent for all the 
 country between the 36th parallel and the river St. Johns, in Florida. With this grant the 
 colonial history of North Carolina properly begins. 
 
 The settlement at the mouth of the river Chowan flourished. William Drummond was 
 chosen governor in 1663 and the settlement was named the Albemarle Count^• Colony. 
 Two years afterwards it was discovered that the settlement was north of the 36th parallel 
 and therefore beyond the limits of the grant to Clarendon and Monk. To remedy this the 
 northern boundary of Carolina was fixed at thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes — a line 
 which has ever since remained as the southern limit of the parent American colony. The 
 Puritan settlement on Cape Fear River was broken up by hostile Indians; but soon after- 
 wards a territory including the site, with thirty-two miles square of the surrounding countrj', 
 was purchased by certain planters from Barbadoes. A new county called Clarendon county 
 was laid out and Sir John Yeamans was appointed governor. This adventure prospered 
 greatly; new immigrants eagerly sought the settlement, and within a year the colony num- 
 bered eight hundred souls.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 381 
 
 Several years elapsed, ho\ve\er, before branch settlements were thrown off to the south. 
 It was not until 1670 that a company made its way into the county of vSoiTii Carolina 
 and there laid the foundations of a new State. The colony was enlisted for the most part 
 from England. The leaders were Joseph West and William Sayle. At the date of the pro- 
 jection of the enterprise there was not a European settlement between Cape Fear River 
 and the St. Johns, in Florida. The country, however, was one of the most attractive of 
 the whole American coast. The new colony came by way of Barbadoes, steered far to the 
 south and reached the mainland near the mouth of the Savannah. The vessels entered the 
 harbor of Port Royal. A hundred and eight years had elapsed since John Ribault, leader 
 of the Hugiienots, had set up on the island in this same harbor a rude stone memorial 
 bearing the lilies and emblems of France. But 
 France had failed to colonize the country of 
 her discovery and now the Englishman had 
 come. 
 
 FOUNDING OF CHARLESTON AND SETTLEMENT OF 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 After some explorations through the country 
 the new colony entered the Ashley River, and 
 going on shore laid the foundations of Old 
 Charleston, so named in honor of the English 
 King. Of this, the first settlement of South 
 Carolina, no trace remains except the line of a 
 ditch which was digged around the ancient fort. 
 But the colony was planted and became the 
 nucleus of another American commonwealth. 
 
 Following the order of settlement we next 
 come to the planting of New Jersev. This 
 province has an early history- closely linked 
 with that of New Xetherland. The first settle- 
 ment was that of Elizabethtown, in 1664. As 
 early as 161 8 a trading station had been fi.xed 
 at Bergen, west of the Hudson. But forty years 
 passed before a pennanent settlement was made 
 at that place. In 1623 Fort Nassau was built, 
 where Timber Creek falls into the Delaware. 
 This was the work of Cornelius May and his 
 companions. But these adventurers abandoned their outpost and returned to New 
 Amsterdam. In 1629 the southern part of New Jersey was granted to two Dutch patrons 
 named Godyn and Blomaert, but the proprietaries made no attempt at settlement. 
 
 Many years went by before the colonization of this part of the coimtr>' was again 
 undertaken. At length, in 1651, Augustine Herman purchased a considerable district in 
 Jersey, including the site of Elizabethtown. Seven years later the grant was enlarged so 
 as to take in the trading-post of Bergen. In 1663 a company of Puritans about to emigrate 
 from Long Island obtained permi.ssion of Governor Stuyvcsant to occup\' the lands on the 
 Raritan, but before their purpo.se could be carried out the Dulcli (iovcrnment was over- 
 thrown by the Engli.sh. 
 
 The English crown had never recognized the claims of the Dutch to the conntr>- of
 
 382 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 New Amsterdam. It had only been a question of time when violence would be used to 
 extend the claim of England over the whole region occupied by the immigrants from 
 Holland. King Charles II. at length took up the question, and in 1664 made a grant of 
 New Netherland and the whole country as far south as the Delaware to his brother the 
 Duke of York. The latter in turn granted the province between the Hudson and the 
 Delaware to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. These were the same noblemen who 
 were already proprietaries of Carolina. They had adhered to the King's cause during the 
 civil war in England, and had now come into their reward. Their friend Charles II. 
 added to their former possessions a second American province of great extent and promise. 
 As soon as the authority of the Dutch was overthrown in New Netherland — as soon as the 
 English governor Nicolls had taken the place of Peter Stuyvesant — a company of Puritans 
 
 made application to the governor for the privilege of 
 occupying the lands on Newark Ba}'. This was granted; 
 the Indian titles were purchased by the colonists, and 
 in October of 1664 Elizabethtown, the oldest settlement 
 in New Jersey, was founded and named in honor of the 
 Lady Carteret. 
 
 The grants made by the English kings at the begin- 
 ning of our civil history frequently overlapped one 
 another, the second superseding the first or contradict- 
 ing its provisions. Governor Nicolls of New York had 
 been recognized by the English Crown as in rightful 
 authority over all New Netherland; but in 1665 Philip 
 Carteret, son of Sir George, arrived bearing a commis- 
 sion from the Duke of York as governor of the country 
 between the Hudson and the Delaware. Nicolls resisted 
 this claim, but in vain. Elizabethtown was made the 
 capital of the new province. Other settlements were 
 established on the banks of the Passaic. Newark was 
 soon founded. Hamlets were planted along the shores of 
 the bay from the present site of Jersey City as far as 
 Sandy Hook. It was in honor of Sir George Carteret, 
 who had been govehior of the Isle of Jersey, that his 
 American domain was named New Jersey. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 We are here anticipating the many events of interest with which the colonial history 
 of America in the seventeenth century was filled. We pass over for the present the course 
 of events in the parent colonies to note in order of succession the founding of Pennsyl- 
 vania. This was effected under the auspices of the great Quaker leader William Penn and 
 the Society of Friends whom he led in their American enterprises. Already this people had 
 planted flourishing settlements in New Jersey and were greatly encouraged with their 
 success ; the thought of Penn was to found on the banks of the Delaware a free State, 
 having for its foundation stone the principle of universal brotherhood. 
 
 Great had been the sufferings of the Friends in England. Imprisonment, exile and 
 proscription had been their constant portion. Nor did the signs of the times indicate any 
 relaxation in the policy of the English kings towards this innocent and persecuted people.
 
 COLL'.MBL'S AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 383 
 
 It was under these conditions that Penu and his leadini; associates conceived the project 
 of establishing a complete and glorious refuge for the afflicted Quakers in the unoccupied 
 wilds of America. The leader want boldly to King Charles, made his petition, and on the 
 5th of March, 1681, received a charter bearing the great seal of England and the signature 
 of Charles II. William Penu was made the proprietary of the province which received his 
 name. A vast and virgin territory, bounded east by the Delaware, extending north and 
 south through three degrees of latitude and westward through five decrees of lonaritude, 
 
 <^ *j otto* 
 
 was granted to him and received the name of Pennsyl\-ania. Only the three counties com 
 prising the present State of Delaware were reserved for the Duke of York. 
 
 The g^ant was complicated. Penn had held against the British government a claim 
 for sixteen thousand pounds sterling, due to his father's estate. This he agreed to relinquish 
 in consideration of the grant and charter. He openly declared his purpose to found in 
 America a free commonwealth without re- 
 spect to the color, race or religion of the 
 inhabitants. He believed that the natives 
 might be conciliated and won over by a 
 policy of justice and humanity, that a re- 
 fuge might be established on the Delaware 
 for all oppressed peoples who might choose 
 for conscience' sake to flee from the op- 
 pressions and hardships of their homes in 
 Europe. 
 
 The event fully justified the policy. 
 In an incredibly iihort time three shiploads 
 of Quaker emigrants were sent from 
 England to the land of promise. With 
 these came William Markham, agent of 
 the proprietar\', and deputy -governor of 
 the new province. Penn exerted himself 
 to be at peace with all. He wrote to the 
 Swedes who had established themselves in 
 the country- covered by his charter that they 
 should be in no wise disturbed — that they 
 should keep their homes, make their own 
 laws and fear no oppression. He also 
 instnicted his deptity to make a league of friendshij) with tlie Indians and to see that no 
 injustice was done by the colonists to the original owners of the land. He sent a letter 
 directly to the native chiefs, a.ssuring them of his honest purposes and brotherly affection. 
 
 In the next place Penn drew up a frame of government — liberal almost to a fault. 
 Instead of endeavoring to e.xtort large profits from his colonial enterprise, he conceded 
 ever\'thing to the people, allowing them even to accept or reject the constitution which he 
 had drawn for their government. The world had not hitherto witnessed so great liberalit)', 
 so complete a confidence on the part of a powerful governor in the righteousness of human 
 nature, the essential integrity of man. The proprietary was not satisfied with the excep- 
 tion of the three Delaware counties from his grant. With extraordinary skill and confi- 
 dence he approached tiic Duke of York and induced liiui to surrender the three counties 
 in favor of the Quaker colony. Thus was the whole country on the western bank of the 
 
 WILLIAM I'EXX.
 
 384 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ba>' and river, as far north as the 33d degree of latitude, brought under the dominion of 
 William Penu. This work occupied the years 1681-82. In the summer of the latter 
 year Penn made his preparations to depart for America. He wrote a letter of farewell to 
 the Friends in England. A large- company of emigrants gathered about him. They took 
 ship and departed for America, and on the 27th of October landed at Newcastle, where 
 their friends who had preceded them were waiting to recei\-e them. 
 
 Great was the joy of the new comers and of those who had already established them- 
 selves in the colony. The crowd at the landing was composed not only of the Quaker 
 immigrants, but of Swedes and Dutch and English who had come to greet the new 
 governor. He made an address on the da}- of his landing, renewing his former pledges 
 and exhorting the people to sobriety and honesty. He then ascended the river as far as 
 Chester. He passed the site of Philadelphia, and visited the settlements of the Friends in 
 West New Jersey. He crossed the province to New York and Long Island, speaking word 
 of comfort to the Quakers about Brookh-n, and then returned to the Delaware to assume 
 his duties as chief magistrate. 
 
 PENN IN COUNCIL WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 IMeanwliile jMarkham, the deput}' governor, had faithfully followed his instructions. 
 Friendly relations had been established with the Indians of the neighboring tribes. This 
 feature of policy Penn dwelt upon as essential to the happiness of the two peoples. The 
 Indian lands were in every case honorably purchased by the Quakers, and many pledges 
 of friendship were exchanged between them and their red brethren of the forest Soo.n 
 after the return of Penn from New York a great conference was held with the native chiefs. 
 All the sachems of the Lenni Lenapes and other neighboring tribes were called together on 
 the Delaware. The council was held under the open sky. Penn, accompanied by a few 
 unarmed Friends, clad in the plain garb of the Quakers, came to the appointed spot and 
 took his station under a venerable elm, now leafless, for it was winter. The chieftains also 
 sat unanned at the council. After the manner of their race they arranged themselves in a 
 semi-circle to hear the address of their great brother. Standing before them with quiet 
 demeanor and speaking by his interpreter, Penn said : — 
 
 ' ' ]My Friends : We have met on the broad pathway of good faith. We are all one 
 flesh and blood. Being brethren, no advantage shall be taken on either side. "WTien dis- 
 putes arise we will settle them in council. Between us there shall be nothing but openness 
 and love." 
 
 The chiefs replied : "While the rivers run and the sun shines we will live in peace 
 with the children of William Penn." 
 
 This simple compact of brotherly faith was not reduced to writing, but it was ever 
 obser\'ed with fidelity by both peoples. No deed of violence or injustice on the part of 
 either is recorded to mar the faithfulness of the red men or the simple-hearted folk with 
 whom they made the treat}'. The peace was perpetual. For more than sevent}' years, 
 while the province remained under the control of the Friends, not a war whoop was heard 
 within the borders of Pennsylvania. The Quaker hat and coat proved to be a better 
 defence for the wearer than coat-of-mail and musket. 
 
 The rapid growth of the colony made a legislative Assembly necessary to the general 
 welfare. In December of 1682 a general convention of the colonists was held at Chester. 
 The work of the body occupied but three days. At the close of the session Penn deli\'ered 
 an address to the Assembly and then hastened to visit Lord Baltimore, with wliom he had 
 an important conference relati\-e to the boundaries between the two provinces. After a
 
 COLUiMBUS AND COLUxMBIA. 
 
 :i85 
 
 mouth's absence he leluniecl lo Chester and gave his attention to the selection and mapping 
 of a site for a capital. The neck of land between the Schnylkill and the Delaware was 
 chosen and p^irchased of the Swedes. The forest as yet covered these lauds, and the 
 chestnut, the walnut and the ash furnished the names for the streets of the city that was to 
 be. In 1683 the work of foundinjj was begun. The lines of the streets were first indicated 
 by blazing the forest trees. As for name, Penn chose Pht ^adelphia — City of Brotherly 
 I<ove. 
 
 THE RAPID BUILDING OF THE QUAKER CAPITAL. 
 
 Never before had such success attended the planting of a town in America. It came as 
 if by magic Within a mouth the General Assembly was able to meet at the new capital. 
 The work of legislation was now begun in earnest and a Charter of Liberties was framed 
 in which the powers and prerogatives of the government were defined. The common- 
 wealtli ^as made a representati\-e democrac}.-. The leading officers were the governor, an 
 advisor,- council consisting of a limited number of members chosen for three years and a 
 larger popular assembly to be elected annually. The proprietarj' conceded everything to 
 the people ; but the power of vetoing objectionable 
 acts of the council was left in his bauds. 
 
 Primitive Philadelphia was a mar\el of growth and 
 prosperity. In the summer of 16S3 there were only 
 
 AND 
 
 WClNlTV 
 
 three or four houses. The ground-squirrels were still 
 imdisturbed in their burrows and the wild deer were seen 
 imder the oaks and chestnuts. In 1685 the city contained 
 si.x hundred houses! Schools had been established, and 
 the printing-press had begun its work. In another year 
 Philadelphia had outgrown New York. Of a certainty 
 the spirit in which the city was founded, the sense of 
 security, the cooperation of all men with their neighbors 
 brought the legitimate fruits of prosperity and astonish- 
 ing development. 
 
 We have now sketched the planting of twelve out of the thirteen original colonies of the 
 United States. It only remains to notice the founding of the thirteenth — Georgia. The 
 reader will have noted how far forward we have been carried in following out the history 
 of the colonial establishments. The two Carolinas, Pennsylvania and Georgia belong by 
 the dates of their first planting to the second rather than the first period in our histor>-; but 
 the unity of the work is best preserved by classifying them with the rest 
 
 As in the case of the Quaker State the colony of Georgia was the product of a benev- 
 olent impulse. The English philanthropist James Oglethorpe, struck with compassion at 
 the miserable condition of the English poor conceived the design of fonning for them an 
 asylum in America. The chief abuse to which the poor of England were subjected was 
 imprisonment for debt. Such was the law of the realm. Thousands of English laborers 
 becoming indebted to the rich were annually arrested and thrown into jail. Tlieir 
 families were generally left to misery and starvation. This crime against humanity became 
 so common and so terrible that a cry of the oppressed at last reached Parliament. In 
 1728 James Oglethorpe was appointed at his own request to look into the condition of the 
 English poor and to report measures of relief He pcrfonned his duty in a maimer so 
 creditable that the debtor jails were opened and the poor victims of poverty set free to return 
 to their families. 
 
 25
 
 386 
 
 COLUMBQS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The condition, however, of the classes thns liberated was pitiable in the extreme. 
 The emancipated prisoners were disheartened and disgraced. It was with the purpose of 
 furnishing a refuge and an asylum for this class of sufferers that Oglethorpe appealed to King 
 George II. for the privilege of granting a colony in America. The petition was fortunately 
 not made in vain. On the 9th of June, 1732, a royal charter was issued, by which the 
 territory between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers and westward to the Pacific was 
 granted to a corporation for twenty-one years to be held in trust for the poor. In honor of 
 the King, the new pro\'ince was called Georgia. 
 
 SAVANNAH FOUNDED AS AN ASYLUM FOR THE POOR. 
 
 The character of the founder was such as to attract sympathy and confidence to his 
 enterprise. Oglethorpe was a loyalist by birth and an Oxford man by education. He was 
 a high-churchman, a cavalier, a soldier, a member of Parliament. In his personal character 
 
 he was benevolent, generous, sympathetic, 
 brave as John Smith, chivalrous as De Soto. 
 With his accustomed magnanimity he under- 
 took in person the leadership of the first 
 colon)' to be planted on the Savannah. 
 
 During the summer and autumn Ogle- 
 thorpe collected a colon}- of a hundred and 
 twenty persons. The emigrant ships left 
 England in November and reached Charles- 
 ton in January of 1733. After some explora- 
 tions the high bluff on which the city of 
 Savannah now stands was selected as the 
 site of the settlement. Here, on the ist of 
 February, were laid the foundations of the 
 oldest English town south of the Savannah 
 River. Broad streets were laid out, public 
 squares were reserved, and a beautiful village 
 of tents and board houses soon appeared 
 among the pine trees as the capital of a new 
 commonwealth in which men should not be 
 imprisoned for debt. 
 
 The settlement floiirished and grew. In 
 1736 a second considerable company of im- 
 migrants arrived. Part of these were Moravians, a people of deep piety and fervent spirit. 
 First and most zealous among them was the celebrated John Wesley, founder of Methodism. 
 He came not as a politician, not as a minister merely, but as an apostle to the New World. 
 Such was his own thought of his mission. His idea was to spread the gospel, to convert 
 the Indians, and to introduce a new type of religion, characterized by few fonns and 
 much emotion. His brother Charles, the poet, was a timid and tender-hearted man, who 
 was chosen by the governor as his secretary'. Two jears afterwards came the famous 
 George Whitefield, whose robust and daring nature proved equal to the hardships of the 
 wilderness. These men became the evangelists of those new forms of religious faith and 
 practice which were destined after the Revolution to gain so firm a footing and exercise so 
 wide an influence among the American people. 
 
 JAMES OGLIiTHOKPE.
 
 CHAPTER \I. 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 HE reackr will not have fortjotteii the circumstances of 
 the founding of the oldest American colony ou the 
 river James. At the first the settlement was badly- 
 managed, but the fortune of the colonists was at length 
 restored by the valor, industry- and enterprise of their 
 remarkable leader, Captain John Smith. The other 
 members of the corporation showed little capacity for 
 government; and some of the foremost men were not 
 only incompetent, but dishonest. Under Captaiu 
 Smith's direction, however, Jamestown soon began to 
 show signs of vitality and progress. The first settlers 
 were afflicted with the diseases peculiar to their situa- 
 tion. Captain Smith adopted such improvements in 
 building and food-supply that the health of the .settlers 
 was measurably restored. His own confidence was 
 diffused in those who lacked, and the project of 
 abandoning the settlement was at length given ov^r. 
 As soon as practicable. Captain Smith entered ujxjn 
 that series of explorations and adventures which in the aggregate has converted his life 
 into a romance. We find him now in the Chesapeake, making a map of that broad and 
 important water, naming its tributaries. Now he is a prisoner among the Indians during 
 the greater part of the winter, and escaping from captivity through the intercession of chief 
 Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas, who threw herself between the prostrate body of Smith 
 and the uplifted club of the executioner, but wandering back to the settlement only to 
 find the colony wasted away to thirty-eight persons. At the verj- crisis of distress, how- 
 ever. Captain Newport returned from England with a cargo of supplies and a new company 
 of immigrants. 
 
 For two years John Smith was in the ascendant and the colony was shaped in its desti- 
 nies by his masterly hand. In 1609, however, while sleeping in a boat on the James he 
 was wounded by the explosion of a bag of gunpowder. His flesh was torn in a horrible 
 manner and in his agony he jumped overboard. For some time he lay in the tortures of 
 fever and great suffering from his wound. At length he detennined to seek for medical and 
 surgical aid in England. He accordingly delegated his authority to Sir George Percy and 
 in the autumn of 1609 left the scenes of his toils and sufferings never to return. 
 
 His loss was soon seriously felt in the colony. The first settlers had been an improvi- 
 dent folk, little disposed to labor and economy. The winter of 1609-10 was known as the 
 starving-time. The settlers were reduced to great want, and in the following spring it was 
 determined to abandon Jamestown and return to England. The embarkation was actually 
 effected; but before the settlers had passed out of the mouth of the James the ships of Lord 
 Delaware came in sight with many additional emigrants and abundant stores. The colo- 
 nists reluctantly gave up their design and returned to their abandoned houses. 
 
 (387)
 
 388 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Lord Delaware was succeeded in the goveriunent of Virginia by Sir Thomas Dale, and 
 he in turn by Sir Thomas Gates. The latter held office until 1614 when Dale was recalled, 
 and Gates returned to England. In 161 7 Samuel Argall was chosen governor and entered 
 upon an administration noted rather for fraud and oppression than for wise and humane 
 policv. For two years he remained in authority, until the discontent of the colonists led to 
 his recall and the appointment of Sir George Yeardley in his stead. It was during his 
 administration that the communistic features of the settlement were done awa}- and a 
 better form of civil management introduced. The territory of the colony was divided into 
 eleven districts, called boroughs, and the governor issued a proclamation to the citizens of 
 each borough to select two of their own number to constitute a legislative assembly. Elec- 
 tions were accordingly held and on the 30th July, 1619, the delegates convened at James- 
 town. Here was organized the Virginia House of Burgesses or Colonial Legislature, the 
 first jDopular assembly held in the New World. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF NEGRO SLAVERY. 
 The same year was marked by another event which was destined to exercise a vast 
 influence on the future histor)- of the country, and indeed of mankind. This was the intro- 
 duction of negro slavery into Mrginia. The ser\-ants 
 of the people of Jamestown had hitherto been persons 
 of English or German descent and their tenn of 
 service had varied from a few months to many years. 
 Perpetual servitude, or slavery- proper, had not thus 
 far been recognized. Nor is it likely that the English 
 colonists would of themselves have instituted the sys- 
 tem of slave labor. In the month of August, 161 9, a 
 Dutch man-of-war sailed up the James to the colonial 
 establishment and offered by auction twenty Africans 
 as slaves. They were purchased by the wealthier 
 class of planters and reduced to ser^-itude for life. 
 There does not appear to have been at first any proper 
 sense or estimate of the thing done among the 
 colonists. They were for a long time indifferent to 
 the success and continuance of the s}"stem. It was 
 nearly a half century from the time of the introduc- 
 tion of negro slaver\- before it became a well estab- 
 lished institution in the English colonies. 
 
 In a few \ears after the plantation of Jamestown 
 other settlements were made in the James River 
 countrs- as far up as Richmond and beyond. The 
 commonwealth of Virginia grew and expanded by 
 the natural laws of development. New immigrants 
 came from England, Scotland and Ireland. The native-born multiplied rapidly, and 
 the adventurous pioneers put out from older settlements to claim the better land for 
 themselves and their descendants. Civil and political institutions adapted to the needs of 
 the colony were framed by the leaders and the pennanence of the new State was assured. 
 
 But the one element wanting for the permanent settlement and future prosperity of the 
 colony was — women, without the help of whom man's successes are rareh' pronounced. 
 Very few families had emigrated to Virginia and societ)' was in a nebulous state, not to say 
 
 MAP OF THE CHESAPEAKE.
 
 c 
 
 i>J
 
 390 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 cloudy and forbidding. To remedy tliis uninviting condition in the fall of 1620 ninety 
 young women were induced to cast their fortunes and seek husbands among the Virginia 
 colonists, and in the following spring sixty otlier likely and courageous marriageables landed 
 at the new settlement and became wives to the pioneers. The lyondon Company being too 
 poor to bear the expense of passage, the colonists were allowed to select wives from among 
 the women who had been brought 
 over by pa>'ing a sum of one hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds, or its equiva- 
 lent in tobacco, for the privilege, a 
 condition to which neither party to 
 the contract had the least objection. 
 
 'IHK WAK-SHIP "guinea" ENFORCINC. SUBMISSION. 
 
 This course of affairs continued with 
 little variation from the planting of the 
 colony to the outbreak of the English Re- 
 volution of 1640. Virginia sympathized 
 rather with the King's party than with the 
 
 ^__^ Parliamentarians in the long and bloody 
 
 struggle of the Civil War. The degree of 
 removal, however, from the dissensions and conflicts of the mother countr>' saved 
 the Virginians from the more serious consequences of the struggle. In the first year 
 of the rise of the people against the King, Sir William Berkeley came out to Virginia 
 as royal governor, and with the exception of a brief visit to England in 1645 re- 
 mained in office for ten years. Berkeley was a man of large administrative abilities and 
 notwithstanding the political disturbance in the Old World and the Ncav, Virginia prospered
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 391 
 
 under liis haiul. Tlie settlements were rapidly increased in population and importance. 
 The colonial laws were improved in many particulars and were made more comformable to 
 the laws of England. The long existing controversies about the Virginia land titles were 
 amicably settled. Cruel punishments were abolished, and the ta.xes equalized. Berkeley 
 was, however, a thorough loyalist, and to this extent there was discord between him and the 
 democracy of the colony. 
 
 ■Most of the \'irginians, however, adhered to the cause of Charles 1. even to the day of 
 his death. When that monarch was beheaded they proclaimed his son Charles II. the 
 rightful ruler of England and of the English colonies in America. Oliver Cromwell, the 
 Lord High Protector of the commonwealth, was offended at this conduct of the Virginians 
 and determined to emplo\' force against them. He ordered the war-ship Guinea to be 
 equipped and sent into the Chesapeake to enforce submission; but in the last extreme he 
 showed him.self to be just as well as wrathful. Commissioners of the English common- 
 wealth were sent on board the vessel to make overtures of peace to the colonists. Thev 
 were told to carr)- the olive branch in one hand and the sword in the other. By this time 
 it had become apparent that the cause of the Stuart kings was hopeless. The people of 
 Virginia perceived that their loyalty to an overthrown House was out of season and they 
 cheerfully entered into negotiations with Cromwell's delegates. In a short time they were 
 brought to acknowledge the supreme authority of Parliament and the Protector was not 
 obliged to employ force against his subjects. 
 
 OUTRAGES OF A PROFLIGATE MONARCH, AND BACON'S REBELLION. 
 
 With the failure of the Knglisli cummouwealth Charles II. was restored to the throne 
 of his ancestors. He came to his ancient regal inheritance as one might do to the inherit- 
 ance of an estate. He chose to consider the British P^mpire as personal property to be used 
 for the benefit of himself and his courtiers. In order to reward the worthless profligates 
 who thronged his court he began to grant to them large tracts of land in Virginia. True, 
 these lands had been redeemed from the wilderness by the labor of men and were planted 
 with orchards and gardens ; but it was no uncommon thing for an American planter to 
 find that his fann which had been cultivated for a quarter of a century had been given away 
 to some dissolute flatterer of the royal household. Great distress was produced by these 
 iniquities in the colony, p-inally, however, in 1673, the King .set a limit to his own reck- 
 lessness by giving away the whole State of Virginia ! Lord Culpepper and the Earl of 
 Arlington, two ignoble noblemen, received under the great seal a deed by which was granted 
 to them for thirty-one years -"all the dominion of land and water called \'irginia."' 
 
 The tyranny and exactions of Sir William Berkeley, governor of the colony, brought at 
 length their legitimate fniits of discontent and insurrection. His administration became 
 odious and the people rose in rebellion. The revolt was coupled with and excused by an 
 Indian war. The Susqnehannas became hostile and the pioneers of the border suffering 
 from their incursions took up arms. The insurgent militia found a suitable leader in the 
 young patriot Nathaniel Bacon. The refusal of the governor to support the people in the 
 war with the Indians and to recognize their leader led to a rebellion against the government 
 itself. Ivord Berkeley was e.xpelled from Jamestown and driven across the Chesapeake. The 
 civil broil continued for some time with varying fo'^tunes until Bacon fell sick and died. 
 With his death the spirit of the insurrection failed and the militia was easily dispersed. For 
 a while the populace continued rebellious, seeking to find another leader, but none was 
 found, and the royalists soon triumphed. The latter discovered in Robert Beverly a captain 
 who was as able on their side as Bacon had been on the side of the insurgents. The rebel-
 
 392 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 lion was quickly suppressed and the popular cause was put under the bau of the government 
 Sir William Berkeley now loosed his passions on the defeated rebels. Fines and confis- 
 cations became the order of the day. The governor fully avenged himself and his partisans 
 for the wrongs which they had suffered. Twenty-two of the patriot leaders were seized and 
 hanged with little form of law and with hardly opportunit\- to bid their friends farewell. 
 Such was the vindictive retribution of the governor on his enemies that when the easy- 
 going Charles II. heard of what was done he exclaimed, " Why, that old fool in that poor 
 countr}- has killed more men than I did for the murder of n:}- father." 
 
 Governor Berkeley's first administration ended with 1651; but after the restoration 
 of Charles II. he was recommissioned and held office until 1676. His abilities were such 
 that notwithstanding his illiberal principles the colonial settlements were considerably 
 extended during the long period of his rule. For the rest he set himself against all 
 manner of progress. He was intolerant to the last degree and inflicted a severe persecu- 
 tion on the Quakers. In one of his reports on the condition of the colon}- he is quoted 
 assaying: "Thank God, there are no free schools nor printing-presses and I hope there 
 will be none for a hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience and heresy, and 
 sects into the world, and printing has divulged these and other libels. ' '• 
 
 At the close of Berkeley's administration Lord Culpepper, to whom with Arlington 
 the province had been granted in 1673, received the appointment of governor for life. 
 The new executiv'e arrived in 1680 and took upon himself the duties of his office. His 
 administration, however, was of bad repute. His official conduct was marked with avarice 
 and dishonest}-. It was evident that he regarded the governorship as a speculative oppor- 
 tunity. He accordingly adopted the policy of extortion and hard rulings until the mui- 
 terings of rebellion were again heard among the settlements. 
 
 They who hung upon the favors of Charles II. held by a precarious tenure. In 
 course of time he repented of his ra.sliness in giving away an American colony to worthless 
 favorites. Seeking to amend his error he found in the vices and frauds of Culpepper a 
 sufficient excuse to remove him from office and take away his patent. This was accord- 
 ingly done and in 1684 Virginia from being a proprietar}- government, became a Ro}-al 
 province. Lord Howard of Effingham was appointed governor, and he in turn was suc- 
 ceeded by Francis Nicholson. The administration of the latter was signalized by the 
 founding of William and Mary College, so named in honor of the new King and Queen 
 of England. This next to Harvard was the first institution of liberal learning planted in 
 America. Here the boy Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence shall be 
 educated. Fiom these halls in the famous summer of 1776 shall be sent forth young 
 James Monroe, future President of the United States. 
 
 During the first half of the eighteenth century Virginia pursued an even course of 
 development. Her population steadily — but not rapidly — increased. Her position as oldest 
 of the little American republics was recognized by her sister colonies. Her men began 
 to be scholars and statesmen. At this epoch her Revolutionary heroes that were to be 
 w^ere born. The Virginian character was developed and matured for the exigencies of 
 both war and peace. In tlie times of the Inter-colonial conflicts with New France in 
 alliance with the Indians, Virginia suffered less by her position than did the great colonies 
 of the North; but her patriotism never suffered in comparison, and when the premonitory 
 thrills of National Independence shall at length tremble through the land, the call of 
 countr}' shall in no part be heard with profouuder sympathy or tnore ready answer than in 
 the Commonwealth of \'irginia.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ASSING to New Eiigland we note with interest the pro- 
 gress of the first Puritan settlement planted by the 
 
 beginning 
 
 Pilgrims at Plymouth. At the 
 a stni.ijgle most sharp for existence. 
 
 proved fatal to 
 
 winter liad 
 
 wellnigh 
 
 there was 
 
 The first 
 
 the whole 
 
 i 
 
 ^■'?I^^.^/ - ; feffi J^^ O company who debarked from the Jy^i')77(^av7-. Hope 
 
 however, revived with the spring, and the first bird 
 
 ■^ r*j ' '^>*^ "i BB'^" 4F song brought welcome to the weary heart of man. 
 
 ^ kl^wi^^^sJF ^ " Though one-half of the colonv had been swept off 
 
 ^^_ by disease and exposure the remainder went for- 
 
 •g i'H^B'^Br^^ ward with courageous spirits to the work of destiny. 
 
 'i Nm ilwd W^k^A-JT'^^^.^.i^ The governor and his wife and son went down to 
 
 the grave. But the Pilgrims had in them a soul of 
 resolution, and they who survived rose from the 
 -=^^ snows of winter to plant and build and sing their 
 hymns of thankfulness. 
 
 One of the first exigencies of the colon}' had respect to 
 the disposition of the natives. Captain Miles Standish was 
 sent out with his soldiers to gather information — to see in what manner the Indians would 
 bear themselves in the presence of a European settlement. The army of New England 
 consisted of six men besides the general. Deserted wigwams were found here and there; 
 the smoke of campfires arose in the distance; savages were occasionally seen in the forest. 
 These fled, however, at the approach of the English and Standish marched back unmolested 
 to Plymouth. 
 
 It was now the turn of the Indians to make an attempt at intercourse. A month after 
 the adventure of Standish, a Wampanoag sachem named Samoset came into Plymouth, 
 offered his hand and bade the strangers welcome. He could speak a broken English, for he 
 had been with the whites at inter\'als since the time of the earlier voyages. He gave such 
 account as he might of the number and strength of his people, and told the colonists of a 
 great plague by which a few years before the country' had been swept of its inhabitants. 
 He attributed the present feebleness and dispirited condition of the red men to this malady 
 which had destroyed their fathers. 
 
 Soon afterwards another Indian named Squanto, who Iiad been carried abroad l)y Hunt 
 in 1614 and had learned to speak English, came to Plymouth and confinned what Samoset 
 had said. Then with the early spring came Massasoit, the great sachem of the Wam- 
 panoags, and with him a treaty was made which remained inviolate for fifty years. The 
 compact was simple, providing that no injury should be done by wliite men to the Indians 
 or by the Indians to them, and that all offenders and criminals should be given up by 
 either party for punishment according to the laws and usages of the two peoples.
 
 394 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 SAMOSET WELCOJIIXG THE ENGI^ISH. 
 
 A CHALLENGE BRAVELY MET. 
 
 The effect of the treaty was salutary. Nine of the leading tribes entered into like 
 relations with the English, and acknowledged according to the limits of their understand- 
 ings the sovereignty of the English king. Some of the sachems were suspicious and 
 
 hostile. Standish in one 
 instance was obliged to 
 lead out his soldiers 
 against a refractory chief 
 ^^^fr Canonicus, king of the 
 Narragansetts, sent to 
 Governor Bradford a 
 bundle of arrows wrapped 
 in the skin of a rattle- 
 snake ; but the governor 
 stuffed the skin with 
 powder and balls and sent 
 it back as a significant 
 answer to Canonicus. The 
 latter would not receive 
 it, but sent it on from 
 tribe to tribe until it was 
 finally returned, like an 
 unaccepted challenge, to the governor. 
 
 The first }-ear after the planting of Plymouth was unfruitful and the colonists were 
 brought to the point of starvation. A new company of immigrants without provisions or 
 stores arrived during the 
 season and this circum- 
 stance lieightened the dis- 
 tress, for all must be fed. 
 The new coiners remained 
 over winter with the 
 people of Plymouth, and 
 then crossed to the south 
 side of Boston harbor, 
 where they laid the 
 foundations of Wey- 
 mouth. But the settle- 
 ment did not prosper. 
 The Weymouth people, 
 instead of engaging in 
 necessarj' work, attempted 
 to live by fraudulent trade 
 with the Indians, and 
 when they were about to 
 starve abandoned their settlement and returned to England. 
 
 The third year, 1623, brought a pk-ntiful harvest, and the people of Phniouth began 
 to have abundance. The Indians brought in the products of tlie -chase and exchanged them 
 
 /> »^ >; ^yyy'Awy:> 
 
 -fc>j 
 
 ■■M 
 
 1 
 
 •—f^ 
 
 
 TREATY BtTWEl N l,()\I-KN<>K L\K\I K \ND M4SS\SOir
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. .-jyo- 
 
 liberally for corn. Meanwliik- tht main body of pilgrini.s still tarried at Leyden. John 
 Robinson, tJieir leader, made strenuous efforts to brinjj his people to America, but the 
 London adventurers who had managed the enterprise refused to furnish money or transpor- 
 tation, and at the end of the fourth year there were only a hundred and eight)- persons of 
 the white race in New England. 
 
 In 1624 Cape Ann was settled by a company of Puritans l"ri)m Dorchester, England. 
 They were led by their minister, John White. The place chosen for the colony, however, 
 was found to be unfavorable, and after two years the whole company moved southward to 
 a place called Xaumkaeg, where they laid the foundations of Salem. Two vears later a 
 second company arrived at the same place, under conduct of John Endicott, who was 
 chosen governor. The colonists obtained a patent from Charles I., and the settlements 
 were incorporated under the name of the governor; and Company of Massachusetts Bay in 
 New England. In the same summer two hundred additional immigrants arrived, some of 
 whom settled at Plymouth, while the rest removed to the peninsula on the north side 
 of Boston harbor and laid the foinidations of Charlestown. In 1630 about three hundred 
 of the best Puritan families in England came to America under the direction of John 
 Winthrop, who was chosen governor. Though a royalist by birth, he cast in his lot with 
 the Republican party. Himself an Episcopalian, he chose to suffer affliction with the 
 Puritans. Surrounded with affluence and comfort at home, he left all to share the destiny 
 of the persecuted pilgrims in .\hierica. 
 
 FOUNDING OF BOSTON AND A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMEN*;. 
 
 Of the new comers of 1630 a part settled at Salem. OiIilts paused at Charlestown 
 and Watertown. Others founded Ro.xbur\- and Dorchester. The governor himself, with 
 a few of the leading families, crossed the harbor to the peninsula called Shawmut and 
 there laid the foundation of Boston, destined to be the capital of the colony and the 
 metropolis of New England. 
 
 As in Virginia, so in Massachusetts the civil life of the people tended from the first to 
 Democratic liberty. As early as 1634 a representative form of government was established 
 by the Puritan colonists. This work was accomplished against the strenuous opposition of 
 the ministers. On election day the voters to the number of three or four hundred were 
 called together, and the learned Cotton preached powerfully against the evils of Republican- 
 ism. The assembly listened attentively and then went on with the election ! To make 
 the reform complete, a ballot-box was substituted for the old method of public \oting. 
 The restriction on the right of suffrage, by which only church members were pennitted ta 
 vote, was the only remaining bar to a truly Democratic government in New England. 
 
 The year 1635 was the great year of immigration. Three thousand new colonists ar- 
 rived. The Puritans abroad had come to see that it was worth while to live in a countr\- 
 where the principles of freedom were spreading with such rapidity. The new immigrants 
 were under the leadership of Hugh Peters and Sir Henry Vane. For a .season the settle- 
 ments around Ma.ssachnsetts bay were overcrowded. It seemed that there would not b:^ 
 room for the incoming immigrants from Europe. The more adventurous soon began to 
 plunge into the wilderness and to find new places of abode. One little company of twelve 
 families, under leadership of Simon Willard and Peter Bulkekv marched through the 
 woods until they reached some open meadowlands, about sixteen miles distant from Boston, 
 and there laid the foundations of Concord. Later in the same year another branch colony 
 of sixty persons made their way westward to the Connecticut ri .cr, and in the following 
 spring founded Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield.
 
 396 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Puritans brought with them to America religious toleration — for themselves ! 
 Strange that the\- should not have discerned that the thing needed was toleration for others I 
 But the vices of bigotry and narrow-mindedness had been inherited by them from the 
 middle ages and could not be cast out. As a consequence religious dissensions appeared in 
 the colon\- from the first \-ears of its planting. The mind of this people was deeply con- 
 cerned with religious questions. To debate issues which were impossible of decision was 
 the food and drink of the fathers and mothers of New England. The conversation of those 
 who built houses was about the abstruse questions of theology. The sermons preached by 
 the ministers had to pass the ordeal of review and criticism. Under such circumstances 
 the more audacious minds tended strongly to a larger religious libert}'. 
 
 Such persons, howe\-er, were under surveillance and ban of the more orthodox, and 
 particularly of the preachers. It was this condition of affairs that led to the expulsion of 
 Roger Williams from Salem. 
 
 FOUNDING OF A WOMAN'S REPUBLIC. 
 The dominant class of Puritans understood religious freedom to mean the privilege of 
 others to have the same religious beliefs and practices as themselves. Most prominent among 
 
 those heretical characters at Boston who were said to 
 be "as bad as Roger Williams or worse," was Mrs. 
 Anne Hutchinson, a woman of great gifts, who had come 
 ' >\-er in the ship with Sir Henr}^ Vane. jMoved b>- the 
 spirit within her, she claimed the privilege of speaking 
 at the weeklv meetings. This was refused by the elders. 
 "Women have no business at these assemblies, and 
 most of them need their tongiies bridled at times like 
 common scolds," said they. Hereupon Anne Hutchinson 
 became the champion of her sex, and denounced the 
 ministers for defrauding women of the benefits of the 
 gospel. She called them Pharisees, and was in turn 
 declared by them to be unfit for the society of Christians. 
 She with a large number of friends was banished from 
 ^Massachusetts — sent forth to live or to die as best they 
 might. The exiles made their way first to the home 
 IMiantonomoh, chief of the Narragansetts made them a gift of the 
 beautiful island called Rhode Island, where in March of 1641 they founded a little 
 republic of their own. 
 
 While intolerance darkened the Puritan character, many virtues illumined it. It was 
 what an artist might call a cliiarosairo, in which on the whole the light shone through the 
 darkness. While the Puritans stooped to the character of persecutors for opinion's sake, 
 they rose in many particulars to the level of philanthropists. In 1636 the general court of 
 the colony appropriated between one and two thousand dollars to found and endow a col- 
 lege. The measure met with popular favor and the enterprise went forward to success. 
 Newtown was selected as the sight for the proposed school. Plymouth and Salem gave 
 gifts to help the enterprise, and the villages in the Connecticut valley sent contributions of 
 com and wampum. In 1638 John Harvard, a young minister of Charlestown, being about 
 to die, bequeathed his library and nearly five thousand dollars to the institution. To per- 
 petuate the memor}' of this benefactor, the new school was named Har\-ard College ; and 
 in honor of the place where manv of the leading men of Massachusetts had been educated, 
 the name of Newtown was changed to Cam'bridge. 
 
 A SCOLD G.\GGED. 
 
 of Roger Williams.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 397 
 
 SETTING UP THE PRINTING PRESS. 
 
 The priutiug-press quickly followed. In 1638 Stephen Daye, an English printer, came 
 to Boston bringing a font of types and in the following year set up his press at Cambridge. 
 His first publication was an almanac calculated for New England and the vear 1639. In 
 the next year Thomas Welde and John Eliot — two ministers of Ro.\bur\- — and Richard 
 Mather of Dorchester translated the Hebrew Psalms into English \erse, and published their 
 nide work in a volume of three hundred pages — the first book printed on this side of the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 All the elements of progress followed the Puritans to their American e.xile. The set- 
 tlements flourished and multiplied. New England was becoming rapidly populated. Well- 
 nigh fifty towns and villages dotted the face of the country. It was estimated that during 
 the first twenty years from the 
 founding of Plymouth a million 
 dollars were spent in settling and 
 developing the new State. Material 
 prosperity came also. Enterprises 
 of many kinds were rife. Manu- 
 factures, commerce and the arts 
 soon sprang up. William Stephens, 
 a shipbuilder who had come with 
 the immigrants of 1629, built and 
 launched an American vessel of 
 four hundred tons burden. Before 
 1640 two hundred and ninety-eight 
 emigrant ships had anchored in 
 Massachusetts Bay. The census of 
 the year just referred to showed a 
 population for the State of twenty- 
 one thousand two hundred. 
 
 Political unity is a notion which 
 has always appealed with great the virst pri.xtixg pre 
 force to a certain type of mind. brought to America. 
 Segregation, isolation, individuality, localism, appear 
 such in the nature of chaos and confusion. Very early 
 the histon.' of the New England settlements the question of uniting them under one 
 civil form began to be agitated. In 1639 and again in 1643 '^ practical measure was 
 brought forward, first in the Assembly of Massachusetts and after\vards in those of the 
 neighboring colonies looking to the union of all. The act was adopted, by the 
 terms of which Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven were joined 
 in a loose confederacy, called the United Colonies of New England. The chief 
 authority was vested in a General Assembh- or Congress composed of two representa- 
 tives from each colony. These delegates were chosen annually at an election where all the 
 freemen voted by ballot. Since the colonies were under tiie general authority of the 
 English King, no President was provifled for other than the SjX'aker of the .Assembly ; and 
 he was without executive authority powers. Each community retained as before its own 
 local government and all subordinate questions of legislation were reserved to the individual 
 members of the union.
 
 ^98 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 FIRST CHURCH ERECTED IN HART- 
 FORD, CONNECTICUT, 163S. 
 
 The seutiuieiits of the people of ^Massachusetts with respect to the English Revolution 
 •were very different from those of the people of Virginia. The latter were by their antece- 
 ■dents and habits in sympathy with the King's party, while the people of ^Massachusetts 
 were for opposite reasons attached to the Republican and Parliamentary' cause. The friends 
 of the Puritans had made their way into the English House of Commons, and the peril to 
 the throne was to be feared from those who were in alliance of principle and sentiment with 
 
 the colonists of New England. Throughout the Ci^'il War 
 the American Puritans sustained with \'oice and sympathy 
 the Revolutiouarj- party. Distance, however, modified the 
 feelings of the people of New England, and when Charles 
 I. was brought to the block the}' whose fathers had been 
 exiled by his father lamented his tragic fate, and preser\'ed 
 the memor)' of his virtues. 
 
 Cromwell understood perfectly the temper and senti- 
 ments of the American colonists. He remained from first 
 to last their steadfast friend. We have seen how even in 
 \'irginia the over-loyal people of that province found the 
 Protector to be just as well as severe, but the people cf New 
 England were his special favorites. To them he was bound 
 by all the ties of political and religious sympathy. For 
 more than ten years, while in man}- instances his hand rested heavily upon the people of 
 the home countr}-, Cromwell, though he might ha\-e been the oppressor, remained the 
 benefactor of the English in America. 
 
 PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKEkS. 
 In was in July of 1656 that the first Quakers arrived at Boston. Among these were 
 Ann Austin and Mar}' Fisher. The introduction of the plagaie would have occasioned less 
 -alarm ! Strange does it seem to us, and stranger will it seem to posterity, that such 
 innocent enthusiasts could ha\e been regarded with so <j 
 great antipathy and dread. The two women were caught 
 and searched for marks of witchcraft. Their trunks were 
 broken open, their books burned b}' the hangman, and 
 they themselves thrown into prison. iVfter several weeks' 
 confinement the}' were brought forth and driven beyond 
 the limits of the colony. Others came, and they too 
 were whipped and exiled. As the law against the 
 Quakers was made more cniel and prescriptive, fresh 
 victims rushed forward to brave its terrors. So great was 
 the public alarm that the Assembly of the United Colonies 
 was convened, and Massachusetts was advised to pro- 
 nounce the penalty of death against the fanatical dis- 
 turbers of the public peace. In 1659 four persons were 
 arrested, brought to trial, condemned and hanged with- 
 ■out mercy. Nor did the fact that one of these was a woman move the hearts of the 
 persecuting judges. 
 
 The era of the English commonwealth drew to a close. Charles II., long fugitive 
 from the kingdom of his fathers, was restored to the throne, and ou the 27th of July, 1660, 
 the tidings of the great things done in England reached Boston. It was now the turn of 
 
 FIRST SCENE OF KING PHILIP'S WAR.
 
 COLUMBUS .\ND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ;i'J9 
 
 those who had overthrown the mouarcliy and trampled on the residue to fl)' for their lives. 
 In the same ship that brought intelligence of the Restoration came Edward Whalley and 
 William Goffe, two of the judges who had passed sentence of death on Charles I. Governor 
 Endicott received them with courtesy, but the agents of the British Government followed 
 in liot pursuit. 
 
 The two regicides, or king-killers, as they were called, were aided by the people of 
 Boston to escape from the officers. They made their way to New Haven, where for many 
 weeks they lay concealed, no one, not even the Indians, accepting the reward which was 
 offered for their apprehension. At last the exiles reached the village of Hadley, in the 
 valley of the Connecticut, and there found seclusion and rest during the remainder of their 
 lives. When, in the time of King Philip's war, the village of Hadley was attacked by the 
 savages, the venerable Goffe came forth from his hiding 
 place, rallied the flying people and directed the defence. 
 Then he went back to his covert and was seen no more. 
 
 The outbreak in 1664 of a war between England and 
 Holland furnished opportunity to Charles II. to carr}- out 
 one of his cherished plans. This was the recovery or re- 
 clamation of the American colonies from their proprietar\-, 
 chartered and semi-independent condition to a complete second scene of king ■philips w.\r. 
 subordination to the English crown. Circumstances favored the project, for it became 
 necessar)' at the beginning of the war to send a British fleet to America in order to reduce 
 the Dutch colonies on the Hudson. This armament might easily be used by the 
 King in the work of reestablishing absolutism over those other colonies on our coast which 
 owed their political existence to charters and guarantees given by fonner kings. 
 
 In furtherance of his purpose Charles II., 01 his minister, sent four royal commissioners 
 to America to sit in judgment upon all questions of dispute and intercolonial controversy 
 that might arise among the colonies. It was thought that the acceptance by the -Vmericans 
 of such a court of arbitration would lead to a recognition of the royal authority in other and 
 
 purely political matters. The commissioners came to 
 Boston in July of 1664, but the Americans were quick to 
 discover the meaning of the thing done, and gave the royal 
 judges so cold a reception that they were soon glad to 
 leave the country. 
 
 KING PHILIP'S WAR, AND SIEGE OF BROOKFIELO. 
 
 The time came when the e.xpansiou of the white settle- 
 ments and the reluctance of the natives to retire from their 
 ancient hunting grounds brought on a conflict of great 
 severits' between the two peoples. The Wampanoag Indians 
 
 TlIIRn SCEN'K OF KINT. PHII.lr'S W.\R. ' , , , i . , . , . ^ . -., . tm -i • 
 
 found an able leader in their great chieltain. King Philip, 
 and for awhile they held their own against the superior discipline, steadier courage and 
 better weapons of the English. 
 
 All the causes leading to King Philip's war are not fully known, many having been 
 assigned, but it may be reasonably inferred from that chief's actions that it grew out of 
 jealousy at the encroachment of the whites upon his domains. War would have broken 
 out sooner had not the English presented so strong a front and watched with unrclaxed 
 vigilance even- movement of the Indians. But Philip was a cunning chief and awaited his 
 opi<ortunity, all the while augmenting his forces and completing his prcparucions. At 
 
 ^^ ;fe::pZ^vrT;
 
 400 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 length a friendly Indian, named Sausanian, who was known to be on intimate terms with 
 both his own people and the whites, was murdered by three hostiles who were soon after 
 apprehended and being brought to trial before a jury of six whites and as many Indians 
 were convicted and shot. This incident precipitated the war which had for some years 
 been expected. Philip now assembled his warriors and took up a position in a woods near 
 where the cit}- of Bristol now stands. Here the Indians rendezvoused for a while, sending 
 their women and children to Narragansett, until their full force was mustered and read\- foi 
 the conflict. 
 
 Tlie 24th of June, 1675, the whites spent in fasting and prayers that the threatened 
 horror of an Indian war might be averted, but their supplications were in vain. Three 
 
 daj's later while the 
 people were returning 
 from church in Swansea 
 the}' were fired on by 
 Indians and three were 
 killed, which murder- 
 ous outrage was fol- 
 lowed b}- the burning 
 of bams and cabins. 
 Several \'illages were 
 attacked in turn by the 
 savages until soon all 
 of Plymouth colony 
 was in terror. The 
 Nipmuck Indians went 
 on the war-path in 
 August and when 
 Captain Hutchinson 
 with twent}- men sought a conference with the 
 Indians he was ambushed and eight of his company 
 fell before the deadly fire of the savages. The 
 sur\-ivors fled and contrived to reach Brookfield fol- 
 lowed by their foes. The village, consisting of a 
 few log cabins, directly became the scene of a terrible 
 conflict. Every person able to handle a gun flew to 
 the defence of their homes and prepared to resist the several hundred Indians that 
 nished down upon them with ear-splitting yells, bearing musket or bow in one hand 
 and a blazing torch in the other. In a verj' short time even- cabin was on fire sa\e 
 the single one in which Captain Hutchinson and his men had taken refuge, who 
 from their place of protection poured forth a deadly hail iipon their assailants. The desper- 
 ate fight went on with small advantage to the Indians several of whom fell before the well 
 directed aim of the besieged. Efforts were made by the whites to break through the line of 
 savages, or to send out messengers for relief, but it was not until after the failure of several 
 desperate attempts that one brave fellow succeeded in passing the lines under cover of dark- 
 ness and rushed oS" to Providence to spread the alann. For three days and nights the com- 
 bat continued, during which time the dn.- clap-board roof of the cabin was fired several 
 times by arrows wrapped in blazing flax, but as often brave men broke a hole through the 
 
 THE FIGHT AT SWANSEA CHURCH.
 
 INDIAN ATTACK ON UKOOKFIELU. 
 
 Uoi) 
 
 26
 
 402 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 roof and put out the flames. On the evening of the third day, however, the Indians seized 
 a wagon and loading it with wood and flax set the whole on fire and then by means of poles 
 pushed it against the building. At the moment when their destruction appeared inevitable 
 the sinking hearts of the whites were lifted into joy by a down-pouring rain that extinguished 
 the flames and so saturated everything that all further danger from fire was removed. No 
 sooner were they relieved from this terrible extremity than the shouts of friends were heard 
 rushing to the rescue. ]\Iajor Willard, of Boston, with fifty men, had been apprised of the 
 siege at Brookfield, and with all possible haste rushed to the succor of the whites, whose 
 ammunition and energies were b\' this time almost completely spent. So impetuous was 
 his charge upon the Indians that they were dispersed like chaff", and at the close of the 
 engagement the bodies of eighty savages were found dead around the log-cabin. 
 
 The struggle continued for nearly a year and was attended with great loss of life and 
 destruction of property. But at last the Indians were subdued and Philip himself hunted 
 down and killed near his old home at Mount Hope, in Rhode Island. 
 
 After the rejection of the royal judges the project of Charles II. to regain absolute con- 
 trol of the American colonies was allowed to slumber for several years. With the accession 
 of James II., however, 
 the old charter of Mas- 
 sachusetts was fonnally 
 revoked. All the colonies 
 between Nova Scotia and 
 Narragansett Bay were 
 consolidated into one and 
 Joseph Dudley received 
 the appointment of gover- 
 nor-general, or president 
 New England was ncit 
 able for the time openh 
 to resist this great en- 
 croachment on popular 
 liberty. The colonial 
 assembly was dissolved by 
 its own act and the 
 members returned sul- 
 lenly to their homes. 
 In the following winter Governor Dudley was superseded by Sir Edmond Andros, who had 
 been appointed royal governor of New England. Under his administration Massachusetts 
 and her sister colonies lost their liberties. All sympathy ceased between the government 
 and the people. Andros and his rule became extremely odious and when the news of the 
 expulsion of King James from the throne of England was borne to Boston the royal 
 governor was visited with a like fate at the hands of the American colonists. On the i8th 
 of April, 1689, the citizens of Boston and Charlestown rose in open rebellion. Andros and 
 his minions perceived at a glance that resistance was in vain and they attempted to escape. 
 The people, however, seized them and cast them into prison. The insurrection spread 
 rapidly throughout New England and in less than a month every colony had regained its 
 former liberties. . 
 
 The European wars of the seventeenth century in which England, France and Holland 
 
 DESTRUCTIO.N OF SCHKNECTADY.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 403 
 
 were involved, spread into the respective colonies of those States in America. That conflict 
 which was ended by the treaty of Ryswick involved the English possessions in New 
 England and those of France in Nova Scotia in a .serions war which continned for nearly 
 eight years. The resnlts, however, were indecisive, and in 1697, when the treaty was con- 
 clnded between the parent kingdoms, the boundar\- lines of their respective colonies in 
 America were established as before. 
 
 DREADFUL EPISODES OF THE INDIAN WARS. 
 
 But some of the bloody incidents which preceded this settlement and the causes leading 
 thereto, may be here profitably recounted : The wars between France and England in 
 Europe naturally involved the colonists of America. It was these quarrels which led 
 primarily to*what is known in history as King William's War, from 1689 to 1697 ; Queen 
 Anne's War, 1702 to 17 13 ; King George's War, 1744 to 1748, and the French and Indian 
 War, 1754 to 1763. While there were occasional pauses in the strifes they were no more 
 than truces and the four wars may properly be merged into one continual struggle 
 wherein the question to be decided was which should rule in the New World, the English 
 or the French. This contention led to the most savagely horrible massacres and thrilling 
 episodes that deface the annals of American history. 
 
 In all the early wars the Indians took an important part, and were almost invariably 
 allies of the French. Had it not been for these barbarous foes the English would have 
 gained an impregnable ascendancy in the New World fifty years before they did ; but having 
 such wily and numerous enemies to contend with, whose tactics were stealth, treacher., sur- 
 prise. a.ssassination and merciless slaughter, the English settlers were harassed until life 
 became a constant battle, and horror was in hourly expectation. The school-house. 
 where children gathered ; the church, where families repaired to worship ; the field, 
 where the fanner bent to his toil, were all too familiar scenes of pitiless murder. To 
 guard against attacks of the Indians houses were protected by palisades, while every village 
 had its blockhouse of refuge, and men went everv'where armed in preparation for the 
 fray. But however great the precaution human life was e.vceedingly cheap and every 
 day had its blood\- incident. 
 
 In the depth of the winter of 1690 a party of French and Indians suddenly descended 
 upon the town of Schenectady and under the cover of darkness fell upon the unsus- 
 pecting inhabitants. Bursting in the doors of the hou.ses men, women and children 
 were dragged from their beds and tomahawked and the dwellings were then fired. .\ 
 few of the miserable people contrived to escape, and half clothed made their way 
 through a driving snow-stonn to .\lbany, where a half dozen died from the exposure 
 two days later. 
 
 In June of the preceding year ten squaws secured lodging in the five garrisoned 
 hou-ses of Dover, New Hampshire. The people gave them hospitable entertainment, 
 having no suspicion of the treachery intended. During the night the squaws, two in 
 each house, stealthily arose and unbarred the doors to admit the waiting savages with- 
 out A terrible massacre of people followed, from which only three persons managed to 
 escape. 
 
 Some years later (1697) a band of Indians attacked Haverhill, Massachusetts, mur- 
 dered twenty of the people and carried off as many more women and children, to whom 
 was re.ser\'ed a fate no le.ss terrible than death. .\t the time of the attack a Mr. Dustin 
 was working in a field near by and realizing the im])ort of the excitement .seized his 
 gun and leaping on his horse rode with all sj>eed to the succor of his wife and seven
 
 404 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 children. By extraordinar)- bravery he held the Indians at bay and covered the escape of 
 six of his children, bnt his wife was ill in bed at the time and she, with an infant and 
 nurse, was made captive. While the Indians were hurrying their prisoners away Mrs. 
 Dustin's babe began to cry, whereupon a murderous chief seized it by the feet and 
 dashed out its brains. 
 
 The miserable captives were forced to march at the top of their speed and as fast any 
 became exhausted they were despatched with a tomahawk and their bodies left to mark the 
 route over which they had travelled to their death. 
 
 MR. DUSTIN COVKRING THE RETRKAT l)F HIS CHILDREN. 
 
 HEROISM OF MRS. DUSTIN. 
 
 Mrs. Dustin, though weak from her illness, was a woman of astounding courage 
 and power of will. .She and the nurse held out when the strength of many who appeared 
 much stronger failed and sur\-ived the march of one hundred fift>- miles. Learning that 
 the captives were to be tortured when their destination was reached she resolved to take
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA 
 
 40o 
 
 the most desperate chances to effect her escape. By this time the Indians had divided up 
 into small parties, the prisoners being distributed so that to guard them required little 
 watchfulness. Mrs. Dustiu, her nurse and au English boy of fourteen years were given in 
 charge of ten Indiuii warriors and a squaw. Thinking that their captives were about 
 exhausted b\- their weary march the Indians relaxed their vigilance, and being tired them- 
 selves one night they all fell asleep, each probably thinking that the other was' on guard. 
 Seeing the opportunity for which she had been watching Mrs. Dustiu aroused the nurse and 
 boy and each seizing a tomahawk the\- despatched the sleeping Indians. But not fullv satis- 
 fied yet \vith this brave effort that gave her liberty she glutted her vengeance by scalping 
 her victims, and with these bloody trophies she proceeded to a river bank where she found 
 a canoe and in it returned to Haverhill, where she was soon afterwards reunited with 
 her family. 
 
 In 1704 the same horrifying scenes that had desolated Haverhill were reenacted at Deer- 
 field, Massachusetts. While the snow lay Unir f-"^ •' learly four hundred French and 
 
 -^ Indians surrounded the 
 place and watching theii 
 opportunity they rushed 
 on the place while the 
 >cntinels were off their 
 guard and made a holo- 
 caust of the inhabitants. 
 I"()rt)-seven bodies of the 
 iinirdercd men, women 
 and children were con- 
 sumed in the flames, while 
 one hundred and twelve 
 captives were taken and 
 made to travel Tifty miles 
 through the deep snow. 
 
 MRS. DISTIN KII.I.INr, HKR C.\IT<)RS. OUC b\' OUC tllCV fcll CX- 
 
 hausted on the way and their brains dashed out with the ever ready tomahawk. One of 
 the captives, daughter of a minister named Williams, .saw her mother thus cruelly 
 slaughtered, yet being herself saved from a like fate by the favors of a chief she lived to 
 become the Indian's wife, and in after years visited her friends in Deerfield. In the mean- 
 time she had embraced the Catholic faith, but so channed was .she with the wild life of the 
 savage that she refused to abandon her dusky husband and continued faithful to him until 
 
 her death. 
 
 THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 
 
 We here come to another strange paragraph in the histor\- of primitive New England. 
 
 The reader of historical narrative is obliged at intervals to turn from the stately and 
 
 showy progress of public affairs to consider the occult movement of the human mind, to 
 
 note its diseases and delusions and to mark with astonishment the most inexplicable crimes 
 
 which it is capable of committing in the days of its delirium. Onl\- two hundred \earS 
 
 ago the fathers of New England were subject to that strange intellectual and moral 
 
 malady which resulted in the atrocities of the Salem witchcraft. The delusion broke out 
 
 in that part of vSalem village afterwards called Danvers, and was traceable to the animosity 
 
 of the minister, Samuel Parris again.st (ieorge Burroughs, a fonner pastor of the church at 
 
 that place. By Parris the charge of witchcraft was brought against several of the friends
 
 406 
 
 COLUAIBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 and adherents of Burroughs and these were imprisoned and brought to trial before Stough- 
 tou, deputy-governor of the colony. Parris was in correspondence with the leading 
 ministers of Boston and he procured the assistance of the celebrated Cotton Mather in the 
 prosecution of the alleged witches. Mather undertook the cause and was the person 
 chiefly responsible for the horrors and crimes that ensued. Twenty innocent people, 
 including several women, were condemned and put to death. Fifty-five others were tor- 
 tured into the confession of abominable falsehoods. A hundred and fifty others lay in 
 prison awaiting their fate. Still two hundred others were accused or suspected, and ruin 
 seemed to impend over New England. 
 
 Fortunatelv for mankind, it is in the nature of such atrocities — diseased as they are— ^ 
 to cure themselves by reaction. At the very crisis of this delusion the reaction came and 
 the people arose and righted themselves. Notwithstanding the vociferous clamor and 
 denunciation of Mather, the witch tribunals were overthrown. The General Assembly 
 convened in October and the atrocious court which Governor Phipps had appointed to sit 
 at Salem was at once dismissed. The spell was dissolved. The thraldom of the public 
 mind was broken. Reason shook off the terrors that oppressed it. The prison doors were 
 opened and the poor victims of superstition, malice and delusion went forth free. 
 WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION, OR QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. 
 
 When the War of the Spanish Succession, so called, came on in Europe, the American 
 colonies as dependencies of the foreign Powers became involved in the conflicts. Tlie 
 French settlements of Canada 
 
 and 
 
 the English settlements 
 
 THE OLD WITCH HOUSE — SCENE OF EXAMINATIONS .AT SAI.E.M. 
 
 of Massachusetts, Connecticut 
 and New York went to war 
 because the parent kingdoms 
 were trying to determine with 
 the sword who should occupy 
 the Spanish throne. The 
 Canadian Jesuits instigated the 
 Indians to take up arms 
 against the English colonies. 
 During the year 1703-04, 
 havoc and desolation were spread by the savages along the exposed frontiers of Con- 
 necticut and New York. 
 
 As the war dragged on, a great expedition was planned by Massachusetts for the 
 capture of Port Royal from the French. In 1 707 a fleet bearing a thousand soldiers sailed 
 from Boston harbor for Acadia. But Baron Castin who commanded the French garrison 
 of Port Royal conducted the defence with so much skill and courage that the English 
 were obliged to abandon the undertaking. ^Massachusetts gained nothing but discourage- 
 ment and debt from her costh- and disastrous expedition; but she resolved to prosecute the 
 war with redoubled energy-. 
 
 A second armament was fitted out in 17 10. A squadron of thirty-six vessels bearing 
 four regiments of troops sailed from Boston to Port Royal and began a siege. The gar- 
 rison was now weak and the French commander had not the ability of his predecessor. 
 The supplies ran out; famine came and after a feeble defence of eleven days the place 
 surrendered at discretion. All of Nova Scotia passed by this conquest to the English crown.
 
 > 
 
 f 
 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 > 
 •J 
 
 >■ 
 
 r 
 
 (4 
 2 
 
 (407)
 
 408 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The flag of Great Britian was raised over the conquered fortress and the name of Port 
 Royal gave place to Annapolis, in honor of Queen Anne. 
 
 With the English Revolution of 1688 and the accession of William and Mar^^, the 
 people of Massachusetts hoped for a betterment of their political condition. The event, 
 however did not justify the expectation. It was found that King William was not dis- 
 posed to relinquish the claims of his predecessors in the matter of a royal government 
 over the colonies. This policy of sending out governors from England was continued; but 
 the officers who were sent were received with dislike by the people, and there was constant 
 variance of interests and views between the citizens and the governors. Phipps and 
 his administration were heartily disliked. Governor Shute was equally unpopular. 
 IJtimett who succeeded him and Belcher afterward, were only tolerated because the}- could 
 
 not be shaken off 
 
 In such a condition of affairs the people either find or make a wa)- according to their 
 wishes. The opposition to the royal governors in New England took the fonn of a con- 
 troversy about their salaries. The General Assembly of j\Iassachusetts insisted that the 
 governor and his councillers should be paid in proportion to the importance of their 
 several offices and for actual service onl}-; but the royal commissioners gave to each officer 
 a fixed salary which was frequently out of all proportion to the rank and services of the 
 recipient. After many years of antagonism tlie difficult}- was adjusted with a compromise 
 in which the advantage was wholly on the side of the people. 
 
 We thus reach the middle of the eighteenth century, at which time the common inter- 
 ests of the American colonies began to prevail over their prejudices and to bring them 
 into closer union. The circumstances which led to a community of action and finally to 
 the establishment of a common government will be narrated hereafter. The danger which 
 came to all by the French and Indian War was the most powerful single cause which over- 
 came the spirit of localism and tended to the union of all the colonies. For the present 
 
 as in the case of \'irginia and ^Massachusetts — we take up the progress of the Dutch 
 
 settlements on the Hudson and follow their history down to the time when it merged 
 in the common history of the countr}-.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 NEW NETHERLANO. 
 
 OR ten years after the establishment of the first settler- 
 on Manhattan Island New Amsterdam was governed b\ 
 Directors appointed by the Dntch East India Conipan)'. 
 In 1623 a new colony of thirty f:xmilics arrived at .Man- 
 hattan. The innnigrants, called Walloons, were Dutch 
 Protestant refugees from Flanders. They were of the 
 same religious party with the Huguenots of France and 
 the Puritans of England. They came to America to find 
 repose from the persecutions to which they were sub- 
 jected in their own country. Cornelius May was the 
 leader of these immigrants, the greater number of whom 
 settled with their friends at New Amsterdam; but the 
 captain with a party of fifty sailed down the coast of 
 New Jersey, and entered and explored the bay of Dela- 
 ware. On his return in the following year he was made first governor of New Netherland. 
 The ofiicial duties of May were such as belonged to the superintendent of a trading 
 post. In 1625 he was succeeded in office by William Verhulst. Meanwhile other Dutch 
 ships came to Manhattan Island bringing herds of cattle, sheep and swine. In January 
 of 1626 Peter Minuit, of Wesel, was regularly appointed by the Dutch West India 
 Company as governor of New Netherland. The population increased, and the census of 
 1628 showed two hundred and seventy persons in the colony. The indnstr)- of the first 
 settlers was directed to the fur trade. The Dutch boats and ships were found in all the ba>s, 
 inlets and rivers between Rhode Island and the Delaware. 
 
 As the colony increased in strength and influence, the West India Company prepared a 
 new scheme of colonization. The corporation, in the year 1629, prepared what was called 
 a Charter of Privileges, under which a class of proprietors called Patrons were authorized 
 to possess and colonize the country'. Each patron might select for himself an\wliere in 
 New Netherland a tract of land not more than sixteen miles in length and of a breadth to 
 be determined by the location. In accordance with the provisions of the charter, five 
 estates were soon established. Three of them lying contiguous, embraced a district of 
 twenty-four miles in the valley of the Hudson above and below Fort Orange. The fourth 
 was laid out by Michael de Pauw on Staten Island, and the fifth and most important in- 
 cluded the southern half of the present State of Delaware. At the beginning, success 
 seemed to attend the plans of the West India Company as developed in the Charter of 
 Privileges. 
 
 It was at this date that the Swedes first began to plant .settlements on the American 
 coast. Four of the European nations — Spain, France, England and Holland — had now 
 succeeded in establishing permanent colonies. Sweden was the fifth, and the great 
 King Gustavus Adolphus was the patron of the enterprise. It was in 1626 that a 
 company of Swedish merchants was organized to promote the emigration of a colony to 
 
 (409)
 
 410 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 America. For this purpose a large capital was subscribed, to which the King himself con- 
 tributed four hundred thousand dollars. But before the purpose of the company could be 
 carried out, Gustavus Adolphus was killed in battle, and the work was transmitted to the 
 great Swedish minister Oxenstiem. The charter which the late King had given to the 
 compan}- was renewed, and after four years of preparation the enterprise was brought to a 
 
 successful issue. 
 
 CONFLICT BETWEEN THE SWEDES AND THE DUTCH. 
 
 The first company of Swedes and Finns left the harbor of Stockholm in 1637. ^^ ^^^ 
 following February the colony reached the Delaware Bay in safety. To the men 
 of the North the new country rose like a vision of beauty. They called Cape 
 Henlopen the Point of Paradise. The lands on the west side of the bay and up the river 
 as far as the Falls of Trenton were honorably purchased of the Indians, and in honor of 
 their native land the name of New Sweden was given to the territory. 
 
 The reader will easily perceive the prior claims which other nations had upon the 
 countr}- thus occupied b}- the Swedish colony. 
 The first to assert such a claim was the 
 Dutch governor of New Netherland. The 
 Swedes were notified that the\- were intruders 
 and that they must submit to the authority of 
 Holland. Hostilities broke out, and in 1651 
 the Swedish colon}- was overpowered and 
 reduced to subjection by the Dutch. 
 
 The names of several of the early gover- 
 nors of New Netherland are known to histor}'; 
 but the greatest of them all was the soldierly 
 Peter Stuyvesant, who came out under com- 
 mission of the West India Company in the 
 year 1647. -^^^ influence over the colonists 
 of Manhattan Island and the Hudson valley 
 was salutary', and the Dutch State began to 
 improve under his administration; but the 
 progress was slow. As late as the middle of 
 the centur\' the better parts of Manhattan 
 Island were still uncultivated, though divided 
 among the Dutch fanners. Central Park was as yet a forest of oaks and chestnuts. 
 
 We have already spoken of the conquest of the little State of New Sweden, on the 
 Delaware. Stuyvesant regarded this province as a part of his dominions. Not much was to 
 be feared from the Swedes, for they were only as one to ten of the Dutch. There was a dis- 
 position among the fonner, however, to establish and maintain independence. They built 
 a fort on the present site of Newcastle; but this the Swedes, under Governor Rising, soon 
 captured. The circumstances gave excuse to Stuyvesant for the invasion of New Sweden, 
 and in 1655 he marched at the head of six hundred soldiers against that colony. Resist- 
 ance on the part of the Swedes was useless. Their fortified places were taken, and the flag 
 of Holland raised instead of that of Sweden. 
 
 The disposition of Charles II. to reclaim the chartered and proprietary governments of 
 the American colonies has already been mentioned. In March of 1664 that monarch issued to 
 his brother James, Duke of York and Albany, two extensive patents for American territory. 
 
 PETKR STU^'VESANT.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 411 
 
 The first o^ant included the country from the Kennebec to tlie St. Croix river, and the second 
 embraced the whole reijion between the Connecticut and the Delaware. Without regard to 
 the claims and settlements made by the Dutch West India Company under the authority of 
 Holland, and with no respect for the wishes and interests of the Dutch people who had 
 populated Manhattan and the valley of the Hudson, and disregarding even the voice of his 
 own Parliament, Charles II. in a single hour despoiled a sister kingdom of a well-earned 
 province in America. 
 
 THE DUTCH CONQUERED BV THE ENGLISH. 
 
 This done the English king gave orders for taking possession of the country granted 
 to his brotlier the Duke. James himself made haste to secure the benefits and honors 
 which were conceded by the new patents. An armament was sent out under command of 
 Richard Xicolls, whom the Duke of York had named as governor. On his arrival at New 
 Amsterdam with his squadron Nicolls called on Governor Stuyvesant to surrender. The 
 latter was justly angered at the arrogance of this demand, and tried to induce his Dutch 
 councillors to declare war. He stormed at them and at the indifferent people of Manhattan 
 with all the passion of a patriot, but they would not fight. 
 
 Doubtless the Dutch were not wanting in courage, but their property interests were 
 imperilled, and they chose to save their homes at the expense of patriotism. On the 8th of 
 September, 1664, New Amsterdam surrendered and New Netherland ceased to e.xist. The 
 English flag was raised over the fort and the name of New York was substituted for that of 
 New Amsterdam and as the name of the whole province. Two weeks afterwards Fort 
 Orange on the Hudson was surrendered and received the name of Albany, in commemora- 
 tion of the Duke's second title. The Swedish and Dutch settlements on the Delaware also 
 capitulated. England triumphed over her rivals. The conquest was complete. The 
 supremacy of Great Britain in central North America was henceforth firmly established. 
 From the northeastern extremity of Maine to the southern limits of Georgia ever}- mile of 
 the American coast acknowledged the dominion of the English flag and crown. 
 
 With this revolution of 1664 we come to a succession of English governors who held 
 rule in New York to tlie close of the centui\- Of these Richard Nicolls remained in office 
 for three years, when he was superseded by Lord Lovelace. The latter left behind him a 
 reputation for tyranny- and arbitrary rule. He held authority until 1673, when the counter- 
 revolution of that year occurred. The Dutch, having gone to war with England, sent out a 
 squadron to reclaim their American colony. For the nonce the expedition was successful. 
 New York was seized and the supremacy of Holland was for a brief season restored in the 
 countn,' between the Connecticut and the Maryland. In the following year Charles II. was 
 obliged by Parliament to make a treaty of peace with the Dutch government. This was 
 done, but the treaty contained a clause for the restoration of all conquests made during the 
 war. New York thus reverted to England and the rights of the Duke of York, whatever 
 they were, were again confinned over the province. The Duke, however, took the precau- 
 tion to make his authorit>' doubly secure by obtaining from liis brother, the King, a new 
 patent confinnator\' of the former charter. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the arrival of Sir Edmond Andros as governor of 
 New York. Andros attempted to establish his authority, but the people resisted him to the 
 verge of insurrection. He hoped to obtain recognition as governor of all the middle colo- 
 nies; but in this expectation, however, he was resisted and frustrated in the .same manner 
 3S he was destined to be by the people of New England. There was a constant broil
 
 412 COLUMBUS AND COI,UMBIA. 
 
 between the governor and his council on the one side and the popular assembly and citizens 
 on the other. This state of civil commotion extended to 1683, when Andros was superseded 
 by Thomas Dongan, a Catholic. 
 
 Under the administration of Dongan the form of the government was changed. The 
 assembly of the people was recognized as a part of the colonial management. All freeholders 
 were oranted the right of suffrage ; trial b\- jur\- was established, and it was agreed that 
 taxes should not henceforth be levied upon the people except by consent of the General 
 Assemblv. It was provided that soldiers should not be quartered on the people ; that marital 
 law should not exist; that men should not be distressed or persecuted on account of their 
 relio-ious beliefs. All the rights and privileges which the people of IVIassachusetts and 
 Virginia had gained under their charters and by the plan of self-government were carefully 
 adopted by the law-makers of New York in tlieir early constitution. 
 
 TYRANNY OF JAMES II. 
 
 In the year after the beginning of Dongan's administration an important treaty was 
 concluded at Albany. In July of that year the governors of New York and \'irginia were 
 met in convention by the sachems of the Iroquois, arid the terms of a lasting peace were 
 agreed upon. At this time the reign of Charles II., of bad fame, drew to a close. In 1685 
 he died, and his brother, the Duke of York, was raised to the throne with the title of James 
 II. For more than twenty years now past a reaction against popular liberty and against 
 Protestantism had been going in England under the patronage and leadership of the crown. 
 In his later years Charles II. had virtually gone back to the Mother Church. King James 
 who succeeded him was in heart and fact a Catholic. The old principles of government 
 which had been avowed and practised by the House of Tudor were again assumed as axioms 
 of the administration and were acted upon as far as the temper of the 'English nation 
 would permit. 
 
 In this reactionary policy James II. was bolder than his brother. He applied his theory 
 not only to the home administration of England, but everywhere. As soon as he was seated 
 on the throne he proceeded to violate the pledges which he had made to his American sub- 
 jects. He became the open antagonist of the ver\- government which had been established 
 under his own lieutenants in New York. He abrogated the popular legislature of that prov- 
 ince. He imposed an odious tax by arbitrary decree on the people. He forbade printing 
 presses, and restored all the old abuses under which the colony had labored and groaned in 
 times past. 
 
 Late in 1686 Sir Edmond Andros received his commission as governor of all New Eng- 
 land. As his deputy he sent to New York and New Jersey Francis Nicholson to act in his 
 name and b\- his authority. Governor Dongan was superseded, and New York was con- 
 verted into a dependency of New England. Reference has already been made to the revo- 
 lution of 1688 which expelled James II. from the kingdom and carried away with him all 
 of his dependents and partisans. The government of Andros in New England and of his 
 lieutenant, Nicholson, in New York was immediately overthrown. The governor and his 
 adherents were glad to escape from the countn*-, hearing behind them as they fled the huzzas 
 with which the Americans hailed the accession of William of Orange to the throne of 
 England. 
 
 REBELLION AND PIRACY. 
 
 In New York the expulsion of Nicholson from the government had been effected by an 
 actual rebellion of the people. The leader of the insurrection was a certain Jacob Leisler 
 and his son-in-law named Milbome. These led the revolt with a high hand and though
 
 COLUMBUS A^•D COLUMBIA. Alii 
 
 their action could hardly be condemned by the crown since it was a part of the revolution 
 in Enojlaiid, yet the deputx-ijovernor, Colonel Slou;j;hter, who was sent out by William and 
 Mary, was induced by the enemies of Leislcr and Milborne to have them arrested, condemned 
 and hanged. 
 
 Sloughter's administration began in 1691; but he was soon superseded by Benjamin 
 Fletcher, who held office initil the invasion of New York by the French under Governor 
 Frontenac, of Canada, in 1696. Two years afterwards came the Earl of Bellomont, an Irish 
 nobleman of excellent character and popular sympathies. His administration, succeeding 
 that of Fletcher, lasted for nearly four years and was the happiest period in the histor)- of 
 the colony. His authority was recognized as far as the river Housatonic. At one time 
 Massachusetts and New Hampshire were under his jurisdiction. The colonies of Rhode 
 Island and Connecticut, howe\er, refused to acknowledge his rule. It was during his 
 administration thai the coasts and merchant vessels of the eastern and middle colonies 
 were kept in alarm b\ the ravages of the famous sea-marauder, Captain William Kidd, the 
 pirate. 
 
 Bellomont's administration ended in 17(12. He was succeeded by Lord Cornbur)-, wlio 
 arrived at New York in May of that year; but his cliaracter, manners and policy were wholly 
 different from those of his predecessor. He soon l^roke with the popular assembly, and each 
 succeeding legislature resisted his authority more and more. Petitions were circulated for 
 his removal from office. The councillors chose their own treasurer, refused to make appro- 
 priations, cut down the revenue and vexed the governor witli opposition until after six years 
 of tunnoil and dissension he was not only compelled to retire from office, but was impover- 
 ished and ruined. He was succeeded by Lord Lovelace, who bore a commission from Queen 
 Anne, the new sovereign of England. As for Cornbur\-, he was seized by the people and 
 imprisoned for debt, until by his father's death he became a peer of England and could no 
 longer be held in confinement. 
 
 QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. 
 
 New York participated with New England in the events of King William's and Queen 
 Anne's war. The soldiers of the western province joined the army of New England to the 
 number of eighteen hundred in the unsuccessful expedition against Montreal. The united 
 forces of the colonies proceeded as far as South River, east of Lake George. Here the news 
 came that the English fleet which had been expected to cooperate with the American pro- 
 vincials in the reduction of Quebec had been sent to Portugal. The squadron of New Eng- 
 land was not sufficiently strong to attempt the capture of the Canadian stronghold, and the 
 troops of New York and New Jersey were o])liged to retreat to their own countries. A sec- 
 ond time, in 171 1, an expedition was sent forward to the borders of Canada. In this instance 
 Sir Hovenden Walker conducted an English squadron up the St. Lawrence, but the sequel 
 showed that he was incompetent for such an enterprise. The American forces meanwhile 
 reached Lake George; but tlie news of the disaster to Walker's fleet removed all hope of 
 success and the provincials once more returned to their homes. 
 
 We have now, as in the case of Ma.ssachusetts and \'irginia, carried the narrative of 
 events in New York well forward into the eighteenth century. In 1732 Governor Cosby 
 came into office and his administration was marked with a struggle of the people for the 
 freedom of the press. The liberal newspapers of the province held that the acts of the 
 government were subject to review and criticism in the pul)lic journals. The aristocratic 
 party denounced such liberty as mere license, dangerous to the established order and likely 
 to sap the foundation of all auliuirity. In one instance an editor named Zenger published
 
 414 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 certain hostile criticisms on the policy of the governor and was arrested and imprisoned for 
 so doing. Great excitement ensued ; the people became clamorous for the liberation of 
 their champion. Andrew Hamilton, a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia, was sent for 
 to defend Zenger, who was brought to trial at New York in July of 1735. He was charged 
 with libel against the government; the cause was ably argued and the jury quickly brought 
 in a verdict of acquittal. The aldermen of the city testified their appreciation of Hamil- 
 ton's services in the cause of liberty by making him a present of an elegant gold box and 
 the people kindled bonfires in their enthusiasm over the victory which they had gained for 
 
 a free press. 
 
 THE NEGRO RIOTS. 
 
 The year 1741 was marked by the occurrence of what was called the Negro Plot. At 
 this time negro slavery existed in New York and the slaves constituted a considerable frac- 
 tion of the population. Several destruc- 
 
 tive fires occurred, and the belief 
 gained currency that these were the 
 work of incendiaries. For some un- 
 known reason the slaves were first 
 distrusted and then suspected. They 
 became objects of fear and hatred. 
 In this condition of affairs some 
 abandoned women came forward and 
 informed the authorities that the 
 negroes had conspired to burn the 
 cit}', kill all who opposed them, and 
 set up one of their own number as 
 governor. 
 
 Notwithstanding the absurdity of 
 this rumor, the people in their terror 
 were ready to believe it. The reward 
 of freedom was offered to any slave 
 who would reveal the plot. ]\Iany 
 witnesses rushed forward, telling foolish 
 and contradictor}' stories about the 
 conspiracy, and the jails were soon 
 filled with the accused. More than 
 thirty of the miserable creatures, with 
 hardly a form of trial, were convicted 
 and then hanged or burned to death. Others were transported and sold as slaves in 
 foreign lands. No sooner, however, had the excitement passed and the people regained 
 their senses than it came to be doubted whether the whole shocking affair had not been 
 the result of terror and fanaticism. The verdict of aftertimes has been that there was 
 no plot at all. 
 
 In the time of King George's war New York was several times invaded by the French, 
 and Indians, but these incursions were easily repelled. In the northern part of the State a 
 few villages were abandoned and considerable property in exposed localities destroyed. 
 
 OUEEN ANNE.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 MINOR COLONIES AND THE PEQUOO WAR. 
 
 K have already narrated the settlement of the first colonics 
 in Connecticnt. With the Ibnuding of Saybrook the 
 \alley of the most important river of New England was 
 secnred for English plantations. Settlers came and a few 
 years sufficed to populate the valley with several enter- 
 prising communities. Scarcely, however, had these 
 established themselves in their future homes when the 
 settlers became involved in a war with the Pequods. 
 This broke out in the year 1633. The cre-,v of a trading 
 \essel was ambushed and murdered by the Indians. 
 What provocation the whites had given is not known. 
 An embassy of sachems went to Boston to apologize for 
 the crime and a treat}' was patched up, by the terms 
 of which the Pequods acknowledged the sovereigutv of 
 the English king and agreed to become civilized, what- 
 ever that might mean. 
 The Xarragansetts had already made a similar agreement with the English. It thus 
 happened that the two principal nations of Indians were brought to peace with each other, 
 and the hereditary- fear which the Pequods had entertained of the Narragansetts was removed. 
 It appears that the Pequods soon took advantage of the immunity thus gained to break 
 their compact with the English and to begin on the frontier a series of hostilities. Old- 
 ham, captain of a trading vessel, was killed by them, and 
 they in turned were pursued and shot down by the Con- 
 necticut militia. Hereupon the suppressed rage of the red 
 men burst out in flames, and war began in earnest. 
 
 As soon as fighting was the order of the day the 
 Pequods .sought to unite the Narragansetts with them for 
 the extermination of the whites. In this serious mischief 
 they were well nigh successful. The conspiracy, however, 
 was defeated by the heroic generosity of Roger Williams, 
 who used his influence with the sachems of the Narragan- ' ' - Q 
 
 setts to prevent them from making the alliance, as already and more full\- described. The 
 Mohegans were in like manner induced to remain at peace with the whites. 
 
 In the spring of 1637 an expedition was organized mider the command of Captain 
 Mason, who advanced against the Pequods in their own country. He came upon the prin- 
 cipal fort of the tribe, attacked it, set the wigwams on fire and made a holocaust of the 
 village and its wretched inhabitants. Only seven of the warriors arc .said to have escaped. 
 Six hundred men, women and children perished, nearly all of them being roasted to death 
 in one hideous heap in the flames. The Pequod nation was destroyed. Not a wigwam was 
 spared. The few whf> were taken prisoners were distributed as ser\'ants among the 
 Mohegans and the Narragansctt.s. 
 
 (415)
 
 416 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 THE BIBLE AS THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE. 
 
 Just after the close of the Pequod war New Haven was founded by a company of 
 colonists from Boston. In 1639 the settlers held a convention /;/ a barn, and adopted the 
 Bible as the constitution of the 
 State ! The gov'ernnient was called 
 the "House of Wisdom," and seven 
 of the leading men were called the 
 Seven Pillars. Theophilus Eaton, 
 first and greatest of the Pillars, was 
 chosen governor for twenty years con- 
 secutively. About this time the first 
 settlements were planted on the 
 opposite shores of Long Island Sound, 
 where pleasant villages appeared before 
 the middle of the century. 
 
 The civil organization of Con- 
 necticut may be dated from 1639. 
 Delegates from the three principal 
 towns came together at Hartford and adopted a 
 simple constitution, in which the only qualification 
 of citizenship was an oath of allegiance to the State. 
 All religious opinions were alike tolerated and 
 respected. 
 
 In 1643 Connecticut became a member of the 
 
 union of New 
 
 CAPT. MASON FIRING THE INDIAN VILLAGE. 
 
 England. New Haven, which 
 had not adopted the Connecticut constitution, 
 was also admitted. In the following year 
 Saybrook was annexed to the parent colon)'. 
 Up to the middle of the century fears were 
 constantly entertained of a conflict with the 
 Dutch. In 1650, however, Governor Stuy- 
 vesant and the commissioners of Connecticut 
 met at Hartford and framed a treat)- by 
 which the boundary between his province 
 and that of the English was established. In 
 the brief space of a year war broke out 
 between England and Holland, and the 
 conflict was about to be renewed in America ; 
 but before the colonists actually took up 
 arms news of peace arrived, and the war was 
 happily averted. 
 
 When monarchy was restored in England, 
 Connecticut at once recognized Charles II. 
 as their rightful sovereign. In doing so, they 
 were moved not so much by their political 
 principles as by the hope of obtaining from 
 that monarch a charter for their colony ; for none such had as yet been secured. The 
 younger Winthrop was sent in this interest to London with a constitution which the 
 
 THK YOUNGER WINTHROP.
 
 COLUMBUS* AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 417 
 
 Hartford patriots had drawn for themselves. This the Kin^ was induced to sign, and 
 Wiuthrop came back in high spirits to the rejoicing people of Connecticut. The 
 charter was liberal to the last degree, conceding everything but independence to the 
 people. After this Winthrop was chosen governor annually for fourteen consecutive 
 years. Meanwhile the population greatly increased ; peace reigned ; the husbandman 
 was undisturbed in the field and the workman in his shop. 
 
 In 1675 — as already narrated — Sir Edmond Andros arrived as the governor of New 
 York, and Captain Bull, who commanded the fort at Saybrook, was ordered to surrender 
 the fort to the new official. The order w-as disregarded, and when Andros having come to 
 land undertook to read his commission, he was resisted, and finally obliged to go back 
 foaming with anger to his ship. Eleven \ears later, however, Andros became governor of 
 all New England. He established his authority first in the three eastern colonies and theu 
 came to Hartford. He went into the provincial assembly 
 and wrote Finis at the bottom of the secretary's book 
 of minutes! He demanded the surrender of the charter; _ 
 but a debate ensued, and as the shades of evening fell 
 Captain Joseph Wadsworth 
 
 stole the coveted instrument 
 and hid it in the famous 
 Charter Oak — so called from 
 this heroic and romantic 
 incident. Andros succeeded 
 for the time in establishing 
 his authority; but two jears 
 afterwards was overthrown 
 and expelled from the colo- 
 nies, as already narrated. 
 
 THE DRUMS OF LIBERTY BEAT 
 
 DOWN THE VOICE OF 
 
 USURPATION 
 
 In 1693, when Gover- 
 nor Fletcher of New York 
 was holding nile in tliat 
 province he made an un- 
 warranted attempt to ex- 
 tend his authority over Con- 
 necticut. His commission from King William gave warrant for such a proceeding but 
 the colonial charter forbade it. When he attempted, therefore, to assume command of 
 the militia at Hartford Captain Wadsworth caused the drums to be beaten. " vSilence, 
 silence!" exclaimed the enraged governor. "Drum, drum!" shouted the captain. 
 The controversy waxed liot, until Wadsworth threatened the would-be governor witli a 
 volley from the colonial muskets. Thereupon Fletcher retreated from the contest and 
 Connecticut retained her liberties. 
 
 "I give these books for the founding of a college in this colony." Such were the 
 
 words of ten ministers who, in the year 1700, met at the village of Branford, a few miles 
 
 east of New Haven. Each of them as he uttered the words deposited a few volumes on tlie 
 
 table around which they were sitting. Such was the founding of Yale College. Two years 
 
 27 
 
 THE VOICE OK USURPATION DROWNED BY riRUM BEATS.
 
 418 " COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 afterwards the school was formally opened at Saybrook, from which place it was removed to 
 New Haven in 17 17. One of the most liberal patrons of the college was Elihn Yale, from 
 whom the famous institution of learning derived it'- name. 
 
 During the first half of the eighteenth century and up to the outbreak of the French and 
 Indian War, all the western districts of New England enjoyed a period of prosperity. The 
 blessings of free institutions and of unbroken peace were realized in full measure by the 
 people of Connecticut. Want was unknown and pauperism unheard of in the colony. 
 Wealth was little cared for and crime of rare occurrence among a people with whom intel- 
 ligence and virtue were the only foundations of nobility. 
 
 The story of "the exile of Roger Williams from Salem and Boston has already been told. 
 West of the Narrangansett the wanderer, with a few companions who had joined him at 
 Seekonk, laid out the settlement of Providence Plantation. This was in the summer of 
 1636. Williams was a man of the largest abilities and great attainments in scholarship- 
 according to the standard of the age. Religiously he was affiliated with that most radical 
 body of dissenters called Anabaptists. He had himself received baptism in infancy ; but 
 he came at length to doubt the validity of the ordinance so performed and determined to 
 receive a second baptism. For this duty he selected a layman by whom he was baptized 
 and whom he in turn baptized, with ten other exiles of the colony. Such was the organi- 
 zation of the first Baptist Church in America. * 
 
 Civil government followed in the simplest of simple forms. The beginning of formal 
 
 society in Rhode Island was democratic in the last degree. Williams reser\'ed for himself 
 
 uo rank or privilege. The lands which were purchased from the Indians were freely and 
 
 equally distributed among the colonists. The governor toiled like the rest in the tilling of 
 
 his two small fields. The constitution was at first a simple agreement signed by all the 
 
 settlers that in all matters except those of conscience they would yield to the rule of the 
 
 majority. 
 
 AN EXPERIMENTAL THEOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 The "Government," moreover, bore the test of experience. Providence Plantation 
 had peace and prosperity. At one time the magnanimity of Roger Williams led to a move- 
 ment among his friends at Boston for his recall from banishment ; but the ministers of 
 Boston hotly opposed the proposition, saying that his principles and teachings would subvert 
 the commonwealth of Massachusetts ! So the proposal was rejected. 
 
 In 1638 a new company of exiles from the parent colony arrived at Rhode Island. 
 These were led by John Clarke, William Coddington and j\Irs. Ann Hutchinson. Thi. 
 exiles left Massachusetts to found a new colony on the Delaware ; but Roger Williams bad< 
 them welcome, and Sir Henry Vane, at that time governor of Massachusetts, induced Mian- 
 tonomoh, sachem of the Narragansetts, to make to the exiles a gift of the island of Rhod< 
 Island. Here the colony was planted. Portsmouth was founded first. As to a frame of 
 government, the little band concluded that they would take ancient Israel as a model. Tlie\ 
 accordingly established a little theocracy and William Coddington was elected judge. 
 Strange spectacle to behold on an island in Narragansett Bay the restoration or attempted 
 revival of a fonn of society which had perished three thousand years before ! 
 
 It was not long till the Israel of Narragansett Bay proved a failure ; but the colony 
 
 * The regular Baptists do not concede the organization of their Church to Roger WilUanis, but regard Dr. 
 John Clarke, ol Rhode Island, as the true father of the Baptist denomination in America. Much controversy has 
 grown out of the dispute between the two parties. Volumes have been written in behalf of each. The congre- 
 gation organized-by Williams was first in time ; that organized by Dr. Clarke had the sanction of regularity and 
 is accepted by regular Baptists as their original.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 419 
 
 did not fail or wane. On the contrary', it waxed and multiplied. The establishment of a 
 civil government succeeded the theocracy in 1641. The new style of civil affairs was 
 entitled a " Democracie," or government by the people. The supreme authority was 
 lodged with the whole body of freemen ; and freemen iu this instance meant everybody. 
 On the seal of the State was written Amor Vincet Omnia — Love will conquer all things. 
 
 Rhode Island was not penu'tted tc enter the union of New England. The refusal 
 of the parent colony to accept those of Narragansett Bay on terms of equality and the 
 claim now advanced by Plymouth to jurisdiction over the prosperous settlements in that 
 region alarmed the people of Rhode Island, and they determined to make secure their 
 political existence by obtaining a royal charter. For this purpose Roger Williams was 
 appointed plenipotentiar)' of the two plantations and sent to London. There he was 
 received by his old friend. Sir Henry Vane, who aided him in obtaining from Parliament 
 the grant cf a chartei. Great was the rejoicing when the ambassador came back to his 
 people bearing the Parliamentar,- patent. He was received with shouts by the people of 
 Seekonk, who conducted him in triumph to his home at Providence. 
 
 The future history of Rhode Island was prosperous and full of promise. .-Vfter the resto- 
 ration of the colony through the agency of George Baxter, the people secured from Kino- 
 Charles II. the confirmation and reissuance of their charter and were thus iinnly established 
 as an independent democratic State. Such was the condition of affairs when near the close of 
 the century Sir Edniond Andros arrived, broke the seal of the colony, subverted the gov- 
 ernment, appointed an irresponsible council and left the little " Democracie " in ruins. 
 
 The usurpation, however, was brief In 16S9 James II. and his royal governors and 
 satellites passed away together. On Mayday of the following year the people of Rhode 
 Island "restored their liberties. The old democratic institutions were revived and Walter 
 Clarke was reelected governor. He was, however, fearful of accepting, as was also Gov- 
 ernor Almy who was chosen in his stead. It remained for an octogenarian Quaker named 
 Henry Bull to accept the tnist And restore the old form of government. Again the little 
 State around the Bay of the Narragansetts began to prosper. For a period of fifty years the 
 peace of the colony was unbroken. The principles of the great founder became in large 
 measure the principles of the commonwealth — and have remained such to the present day. 
 
 PROSPERITY ATTENDS THE COLONY IN MARYLAND. 
 
 Before closing the present chapter, we ina\- glance at llie development of ]\Iar>-land, the 
 principal southern colony after Virginia. Leonard Calvert treated the natives in the 
 neighborhood of his settlement of St. Mar>''s with great liberality. The consequence was 
 that the settlers had peace and plenty. The Indians and the colonists interchanged com- 
 modities and both were profited. Within six months the colony at St. Man's grew into 
 greater prosperity than that at Jamestown had reached in as many years. The pledge of 
 civil and religious liberty made by the founder was fully redeemed; nor should the reader 
 fail to remember that this example of almost perfect toleration on the part of the Catholics 
 preceded by fully two years the first settlement of Rhode Island. 
 
 In 1633 the first assembly of the freemen of Maryland was convened at St. Mary's. 
 Colonial legislation proper began two years afte^^vards; but owing to the destruction of the 
 records for the first ten years not much is known of the spirit and tendency of tlic primitive 
 legislation of the colony. It is certain, however, that there were .serious difficulties to 
 contend with. Claybome, who had planted a settlement on Kent Island resisted L^rd Bal- 
 timore's authority. A petty war broke out. A few were killed and one or two jx^rsous 
 executed before the Clayborne settlement was subdued.
 
 420 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 In 1639, representative government was established in Maryland. Soon afterwards 
 when the news came of the English Revolution the Indians began to show signs of hos- 
 tility, and in 1642 war broke out between the colonists and the natives. The conflict was 
 less destractive and barbarous than usually happened in the case of Indian wars, and after 
 two years of hostility a treaty was made with the savages. 
 
 The religious statutes of the colony favoring toleration date from 1649. I^ these free- 
 dom of conscience was guaranteed to all. One of the remarkable spectacles of the time 
 was witnessed in the refuge which was furnished by the Catholic colonists of the Chesa- 
 peake for certain persecuted Protestants who had been proscribed and banished by other 
 Protestants of the neighboring colonies. The bigotry of the age was further illustrated 
 in the conduct of the Puritan and Republican party when that party gained the ascendant 
 during the time of the commonwealth in England. The first act of the body was to 
 acknowledge the supremacy of Cromwell, and the next was to disfranchise and outlaw the 
 Catholics! The result was necessarily a civil war. 
 
 For several years the conflict continued until, iu 1658, a compromise was aflfected by 
 
 which Josias Fendall, 
 deputy of Lord Balti- 
 more, was acknow- 
 ledged as governor. 
 The acts of the Protes- 
 tant assemblies, on the 
 other hand, were re- 
 cognized as valid and 
 a general amnesty was 
 declared for all offences. 
 After the death of 
 Oliver Cromwell the 
 people of Maryland 
 were perplexed to 
 choose a policy. At . 
 length, however, they 
 declared their inde- 
 pendence. This led to a setting aside of the rights of Lord Baltimore and the abrogation 
 of his council. The same course was taken by the people of Virginia. As soon as it was 
 known, however, that Charles II. had been restored to the throne the rights of the 
 Baltimores were revived and recognized. Governor Fendall, wlio had in the meantime 
 espoused the cause of independence, was now seized and tried for treason, but his life was 
 saved by the clemency of Lord Baltimore. 
 
 WARS BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS. 
 In 1675 Sir Charles Calvert succeeded to the estates and titles of the Baltimores, and 
 for sixteen years exercised proprietary' rights as governor of Mar}dand. The population of 
 the colony had now increased to more than ten thousand. The laws of the province were 
 carefully revised on the same liberal principles which had been adopted by the first Lord 
 Baltimore. The English Revolution of 1688 brought great confusion to the colonists of the 
 Chesapeake. The deputy of Lord Baltimore hesitated to acknowledge William and Mar>- 
 as the rightful sovereigns. A rumor was spread abroad by the Protestant party that the 
 Catholics had leagued with the Indians for the destruction of all who opposed them. This 
 led again to war, and the Catholic party was compelled to surrender the government 
 
 
 TRAINING-DAY IN THE OLDEN TlMl,
 
 COLUxMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 421 
 
 These circumstauces gave opportuuit\- and excuse to King William to interfere 
 decisively in the affairs of the colony. On the ist of June, 1691, the charter of Lord Balti- 
 more was arbitrarily taken away and a royal governor appointed over the province. Sir 
 Lionel Copley was commissioned and came out to Maryland in 1692. Not only the old 
 patent, but the principles on which that patent was founded, were swept away. The 
 Episcopal Church was established b\- law and a system of ta.vation was invented for its 
 support. Religious toleration was abolished on the ver>' scene of its greatest triumphs! 
 For twenty-four years this condition of affairs continued until, in 1715, Queen Anne was 
 induced to restore the heir of Lord Baltimore to the rights of his ancestors. Maryland 
 again became a proprietary- go\'ernment, under the authorit}- of the Calverts, and so con- 
 tinued until the Revolutionary War. 
 
 It remains to notice briefl\- the progress of the two Carolinas. The Albemarle county 
 colony had for its first governor William Dnimmond. Shortly afterwards the Clarendon 
 county colony was planted under the governorship of Sir John Yeamans. Both settlements 
 flourished. Immigration was rapid, and within a single year eight hundred people settled 
 along the River Chowan. 
 
 As for government, the task was assigned to Sir Ashley Cooper, who appointed the 
 philo-sopher John Locke to prepare a constitution. In 1669 that learned man produced his 
 frame of government called the Grand IModel. The sequel showed that it had been better 
 named the Grand Absurdity. Locke had provided in the pompous instniment for the 
 organization of an empire in which there were to be many orders of nobilitv — dukes, earls 
 and marquises, knights, lords and esquires, baronial courts, heraldic ceremony and everj- 
 sort of feudal nonsense that the human imagination could conceive. Such was the mag- 
 nificent constitution which wisdom had planned for the government of a few colonists who 
 lived on \enisou and potatoes and paid their debts with tobacco. 
 
 The people of Carolina, however, proceeded to organize for self-goveniment after the 
 simple manner of pioneers. The Grand Model was found impossible of application and after 
 twenty years was cast aside. The soil of Clarendon county was poor, and in 1671 the 
 greater number of colonists were removed to the mouth of the Ashley River. By the close 
 of the century the primitive settlement was abandoned, but Albemarle county- was more 
 prosperous. 
 
 DiSTRACTrONS AND OPPRESSIONS. 
 
 In 1680 the notorious Seth Sothel became dcput\' governor of Carolina ; but he was 
 fortunately captured by pirates, and did not arrive until 1683. For five years he defrauded 
 and oppressed the people, until he was finally overthrown and sentenced by the General 
 Assembly to disfranchisement and twelve months' banishment from North Carolina. Other 
 governors followed of greater prudence and probitw Immigration continued, priucijxilly 
 from Virginia and Maryland. Quakers came from New England and the Delaware. 
 
 In 1707 a band of French Huguenots arrived from France. A hundred families of 
 Genuan refugees escaped from their distant homes beyoiad the Rhine to find asylum on the 
 banks of the Neuse. Peasants from Switzerland came, and founded New Benie at the 
 mouth of Trent River. Meanwhile the Indian nations receded and wasted away. Peace 
 was maintained with the natives until 171 1, when a brief war completed the ruin of the 
 natives and expelled them from the better parts of North Carolina. 
 
 Such in general was the course of events in the northern colony until its separation 
 from the southern. This was effected in 1729. The Cape Fear River was made the divid- 
 ing line, and a royal governor was appointed for each of the two colonies. In South
 
 422 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Carolina immigration had not lagged. ]\Iany circumstances favored the settlement of this 
 province and few disasters retarded it. Old Charleston remained the capital until the year 
 1680, when the present metropolis was founded on the peninsula called Oyster Point, 
 between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. 
 
 The best nations of Europe contributed to the population of New Charleston and of 
 the whole country between the Cape Fear and the Savannah. Hither came in great 
 numbers the French Huguenots. They were met by the proprietaries with pledges of pro- 
 tection and promise of citizenship ; but for a season they were treated with distrust by the 
 English colonists. Not until 1697 were all discriminations against the French immigrants 
 removed. A just civil administration of the colony was not obtained until 1695, when 
 John Archdale, a distinguished and talented Quaker, was appointed governor. Under his 
 influence a law was enacted by which the Huguenots were admitted to full citizenship, and 
 all Christians except the Catholics were enfranchised. The ungenerous exception was made 
 by the assembly against the governor's will. 
 
 Early in the eighteenth centurj- the Church of England was established by law in 
 South Carolina. All the dissenters were disfranchised. An appeal was made by the 
 minority to the proprietaries of the province, but they refused to listen. The appeal was 
 then carried to Parliament, and by that body it was decided that the proprietaries had for- 
 feited their charter. The legislature thereupon revoked its own act ; but the Episcopal 
 Church remained as the religious establishment of South Carolina. 
 
 In 1729 seven of the eight proprietaries of the Carolinas sold their entire claims in 
 the provinces to the King. Lord Carteret, the eighth, would surrender nothing but his 
 right of jurisdiction, reserving his share in the soil. Royal governors were hereupon 
 appointed, and the affairs of South Carolina were settled on a permanent basis not to be 
 disturbed for more than fort}^ years. 
 
 The people who colonized the Carolinas were brave and chivalrous. On the banks of 
 the Santee, the Edisto and the Combahee were gathered some of the best elements of the 
 European nations. Equally with the rugged Puritans of the north the Carolinians were 
 lovers of libert}-. Without the severe morality and fonnal manners of the Pilgrims, the 
 people became the leaders in courtly politeness and high-toned honor between man and 
 man. In the coming struggle for freedom and independence the colonists of the South, 
 now risen to the stature of American citizens, showed themselves to be worth}' descendants 
 of their ancestors. They joined hands with their fellows of the North in the Declaration 
 of Independence, suffered in that great cause, and helped as much as any to vindicate it with 
 their swords.
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 Epoch of Independence. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE OLD THIRTEEN. 
 
 E are here to enter upon an account of the first movements 
 made in coinniou by the American colonies — the first half- 
 conscious attempts of our thirteen primitive republics to 
 enter into union. Such had been the nature of the various 
 colonial establishments — such the diverse nationalities and 
 antagonistic principles which had contributed to fonn the 
 early plantations — that few or none of our citizens 
 of the first half of the eighteenth century accepted as 
 true the aphorism, " In union there is strength." 
 
 On the contrary' the fathers held practically the notion 
 that strength lay in diversity and independence. The 
 founders of the American colonies came to America to find 
 individuality, freedom, the liberty of localism, exemption 
 from the exactions of authority and the hardships of power. 
 Tiie isolation of the early American settlements may well 
 remind the reader of the bristling individualism of the 
 ancient Greek democracies. If there ever is to be an American Union, therefore, the old- 
 time spirit and purpo.se of the colonists must be changed, transfonned into a new mood and 
 tense, turned into a different channel of will and action. 
 
 It is needless to point out the manner in which such changes are historically effected. 
 War is the usual agent which histon- adopts in the destruction of social and race prejudices. 
 Although new prejudices are produced thereby, the old are extinguished. It was destined 
 to be so in the ca.se of our American colonies. Their segregation was to be overcome and 
 their prejudices finally abated, not indeed by one war, but by many. We have now arrived 
 at the time wlien an inter-colonial conflict was imminent and when the English colonists in 
 America must out of the sentiment of safety join their issues in a common cause against a 
 common foe. Tliis movement was the beginning of American independence. We should 
 not wait for the passage of tlie Stamp Act, for the Boston Tca-]xirty, tlie Port Bill, the com- 
 ing of a British anny from Halifax to tlie metropolis of New England, tlie meeting of a 
 Colonial Congress, the flash of musketry at Lexington or on the slopes of Breed's pasture — 
 to note the beginning of our War for Independence. That decisive and world-changing
 
 424 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 event began with the first tentative efforts of the American colonies to act as one. The 
 sentiment of unit}' was the germ of nationality and whenever the first appeared the second 
 began to be. 
 
 Before entering upon an account of the French and Indian war (for that is the conflict 
 to which reference is made in the preceding paragraphs) it is appropriate to sketch briefly 
 the general condition of our colonial republics at the middle of the eighteenth century — to 
 give some account of their attainments, dispositions, tendencies and purposes while they 
 still stood asunder under the influence of the forces which had created them as distinct 
 entities on our coasts. 
 
 The colonies were thirteen in number. Four of them constituted New England, namely, 
 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Four were Middle Colo- 
 nies — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Five were Southern Colonies — 
 Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. All had grown and 
 prospered. True, the rate of progress — as progress is estimated at the close of the nineteenth 
 century- — was exceedingly slow, but it was nevertheless progress. The elements of power, 
 rather than the exhibition of power, were present in all the colonies. A wilful, patriotic 
 and vigorous race of democrats had taken possession of the Atlantic seaboard and had fitted 
 themselves with skill and courage to their new environment. Institutions unknown in 
 Europe, peculiar to the situations of these peoples in the New World, made necessary by the 
 conditions and surroundings of the colonies, had sprung up and taken deep root in American 
 soil. 
 
 POPULATION OF THE COLONIAL STATES, 
 
 At the middle of the eighteenth century the entire population of the old thirteen 
 colonies was about a million and a half. Ten years later the estimates recorded a million 
 six hundred and ninety-five thousand souls. Of these about three hundred and ten thousand 
 were blacks. Massachusetts was at this period the strongest colony, having more than two 
 hundred thousand people of European ancestr}' within her borders. True, Virginia had a 
 greater aggregate population, numbering altogether two hundred and eighty-four thousand 
 inhabitants; but of these a hundred and sixteen thousand were Africans — slaves. Next in 
 order stood Pennsylvania with her population of nearly two hundred thousand; next Con- 
 necticut with her hundred and thirty thousand people; next Maryland with a hundred and 
 four thousand; then New York with eighty-five thousand; New Jersey not quite as many; 
 then South Carolina, and so through the feebler colonies to Georgia, in whose borders were 
 fewer than five thousand inhabitants, including the negroes. 
 
 By the middle of the century the people of the American colonies had, to a certain ex- 
 tent, approximated a common character. The old-time differences, however, still existed 
 to a marked degree. The peculiarities which the ancestors of the colonists had brought 
 with them from Europe were retained by their descendants, though with a measure of modi- 
 fication. In New England, particularly in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the principles 
 and practices of Puritanism still prevailed, and were universally recognized as the founda- 
 tions of good society. To a certain extent, however, the lineaments of the system as it had 
 existed at the middle of the seventeenth century were softened and relaxed. Though the 
 Church was still dominant over secular society, its tyranny was not so absolute and galling 
 as it had been aforetime. 
 
 On the banks of the Hudson the manners and customs of Holland were still prevalent, 
 in some districts almost as prevalent as they had been a hundred years before. In other 
 parts of New York, the English language and people had predominated. This was particu-
 
 CULUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 425 
 
 larly tnie at New York city, wliich by this time had become thoroughly Anglicized. Be- 
 yond the Delaware the Quakers had gathered in great numbers. They controlled the Legis- 
 lature of Pennsylvania, and gave form to society. Other elements had been freeh- admit- 
 
 
 PKKSixrrioN oi- Till-; mokavia.vs. 
 
 ^^■:t^>^'^^_ 
 
 ted into the colony; but were not thus far sufficiently strong to bring serious innovations 
 upon the simple methods of civil and social life introduced by Penu and his coujpanions.
 
 426 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 An exception to this peaceful condition and freedom of opinion was found, however, in 
 the general bearing of society against the IMoravians, who, though somewhat like the Qua- 
 kers, were yet madeobjects of the bitterest persecutions, particularly in New York and Connect- 
 icut, where the Catholics held them in extreme aversion. They were charged with inciting 
 the Iroquois Indians to hostility in the interest of France, and other specific allegations of 
 perfidy were made to incite popular hatred and thus to justify the abuses to which they were 
 subjected. Refusing to subscribe to an oath on religious scruples, this refusal was made 
 the excuse for the passage of a law prohibiting any person living in the province who ob- 
 jected to being bound by such obligation. In order to carr}- this iniquitous law into eifect, 
 the Moravians were attacked in the most inhuman -manner and driven with blows from their 
 fields, homes and workshops, by which persecutions the Moravian missions had to be aban- 
 doned. Intolerance did its work, and bigotry was accordingly increased, to the insecurity 
 
 of society. 
 
 SOCIETY IN THE STATES. 
 
 On the northern bank of the Potomac, the youthful Frederick, the sixth Lord Balti- 
 more, a frivolous and dissolute personage, ruled the people who still conformed to the order 
 of things established a century and a quarter pre\'iously by Sirs George, Cecil and Leonard 
 Calvert. The revolutions to which the province had been subjected had abated somewhat 
 its distinctly Catholic character; but the ^Mother Church was still in great reputation and 
 power. Baltimore had grown to be an important city, though the province as a whole had 
 been pressed between the two powerful colonies of Peunsjlvania and \^irginia, until the ter- 
 ritory had been narrowed in some parts almost to a thread. 
 
 In Virginia, the mother of States and statesmen, the people had retained their old 
 peculiarities. Here pride of ancestry more than elsewhere had prevailed to give an aristo- 
 cratic cast to society. The Virginians had ci.ltivated a somewhat haughty demeanor. 
 They had taken their models from the English nobility. Broad estates gave honor to those 
 who possessed them. Fondness for the aristocratic life, and in particular for the sports of 
 the aristocracy had become a passion. There was much seclusiveness, but it was accompa- 
 nied with hospitality; great -dignity, hauteur, artificialities of honor; but these were 
 blended with a sincere love of freedom. 
 
 The North Carolinians were at this epoch the same rugged and insubordinate race of 
 hunters that they had always been. They were pioneers by preference. To them com- 
 merce and the city life had few attractions. They carried their personal peculiarities into 
 the civil affairs of the colon}-. The legislative assembly in its controversies with Governor 
 Dobbs manifested all the intractable stubbornness which characterized that bod}- in the da}-s 
 of Seth Sothel. 
 
 In South Carolina there was much prosperit}- and happiness; but there, too, popular 
 liberty had been enlarged by the constant encroachment of the Legislature upon the ro}-al 
 prerogative. The people were mostly of French descent, and were as hot-blooded and jeal- 
 ous of their rights as their Hngiienot ancestors had been in the time of their exile and ban- 
 ishment. Very elegant and proud and high-mannered was the little society of the upper 
 blood, which might be seen in the homes and evening parties of Charleston at the middle 
 of the eighteenth century. Not a little fine dress was there — much chi^'alr}- among the 
 young men of the day — ^much beaut}- and fine bearing among the ladies of the little 
 seaport city. 
 
 Of all the colonies Georgia had at this time the least strength and spirit. Under the sys- 
 tem of government established at the first the commonwealth had languished. Perhaps the 
 liberated debtors from the English jails and their first descendants were not able to rise at
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 427 
 
 ouce into a large prosperity. It was not until 1754, when Governor Reynolds assumed con- 
 trol of the colony, that the aflairs of the people on the Savannah began to flourish. Even 
 afterwards something of the indigence and want of thrift and spirit which had marked the 
 followers of Oglethorpe still prevailed in Georgia. Nevertheless, after making allowance 
 for all these differences of colonial character as they might be noted in the sixth decade of 
 the centur)-, a considerable degree of American unity had been attained. Inter-colonial 
 relations had been established by which even the remotest colonies were in some slight 
 degree bound the one to the other. The old religious prejudices had softened under the 
 influence of time and intelligence, and the people as a whole were far less antagonistic, 
 individual and sectional than they had been in the seventeenth century. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 
 
 In the matter of education New England had from the first taken the lead. She had 
 at an early date established the system of free schools and these were now extended to every 
 
 village and hamlet from the 
 Penobscot to the Hudson. Each 
 town or district furnished its 
 owni local facilities for the ac- 
 quirement of knowledge. So 
 complete and universal were the 
 means of instruction that in the 
 epoch immediately preceding 
 the Revolution there was said 
 not to be found in all New Eng- 
 land an adult born in the 
 countn,- who could not read 
 and write ! Whatever, there- 
 fore, may have been the narrow- 
 ness and bigotr)- of Puritanism 
 as a system of religion, its 
 record on the question of educa- 
 tion is worthy to be written in 
 gold, 
 universal education of a people 
 first half the eighteenth century 
 
 I'KlMiTiVt, NEW ENGLAND 
 SCHOOL. 
 
 True it is that the 
 situated as the New England colonists were during the 
 is an easy task as compared with the universal instniction of such a people as now 
 inhabit the same States of the Union. In the present age the volume of population is 
 vastly expanded. The difficulty- of a general super\-ision over society is infinitely greater 
 than when a few towns and villages with salubrious country districts stretching between 
 furnished the whole body of the people. Now the waters of population are disturbed 
 with cross currents and made muddy with tiie discharge therein of a hundred foreign 
 streams. A vast municipal life of depravity, ignorance, vice, ambition, lu.xup*' on the one 
 hand and squalor on the other, has succeeded to the simple and wholesome life which still 
 prevailed in the New England of a hundred and fifty years ago. Still, after allowance for 
 all this shall have been fully made, we must be convinced, as before, that the success 
 of the Puritan colonies in promoting the institution of free schools and in making 
 universal education not only a possibility but a fact stands unparalleled in the history 
 of the western nations.
 
 428 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 In the Middle Colonies education was not so general. In Pennsylvania, however, 
 there was a wholesome system of public schools and much intelligent activity among the 
 people. In this colony the greatest distinction was achieved by individuals. Here it was 
 that the illustrious Franklin scattered the light of learning, not onh' in Philadelphia and 
 the Quaker commonwealth, not only throughout the American colonies, but eveu to foreign 
 shores. 
 
 South of the Potomac educational facilities were insufficient and irregular. The 
 schools in these parts were generally designed for the benefit of the wealthier classes. In 
 some localities, however, the means of enlightenment were well provided. Institutions of 
 learning sprang up scarcely inferior to those of the eastern provinces or of Europe. Edu- 
 cation in the South, however, was rather a matter of personal than of social enterprise. 
 Men established schools, while A-illages and hamlets and towns neglected to do so. It 
 could hardly be said, therefore, that in the South — taking Virginia as the standard — the 
 people were educated. Certainly they were not universalh' instructed even in the rudi- 
 ments of learning. The private schools generall)- owed their origin to those who taught 
 therein. Many men — Scottish reformers, Irish liberals and French patriots — despising the 
 bigotrj' and intolerance of their countr}-men, fled for refuge to the New World and there by 
 the banks of the Housatonic, the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, the Ashle}- and 
 the Savannah, taught the lore of books and the lesson of civil liberty to the rugged boys of 
 the American wilderness. 
 
 LOG SCHOOL-HOUSE AND THE SCREW PRINTING PRESS. 
 Among the Southern Colonies \'irginia led the van in educational enterprises. The 
 Virginian youth bom in tlie middle decades of the eighteenth century were among the largest 
 
 brained of the sons of men. Such must needs be 
 educated. They themselves would find a way or 
 make it. Some foiind it in private academies; some 
 with individual teachers who had been well educated 
 in the universities of Eiirope; others in the colleges 
 of the commonwealth; while only a few were sent 
 abroad for instruction. The planters of this 
 period were fully able to give their sons liberal 
 educations in the universities of the mother country-; 
 but there was clearly a growing dislike of foreign 
 instruction and an increasing preference for the home 
 institution of learning such as it was. 
 
 In Mar^'land, the Carolinas and Georgia the 
 cause of ediication lagged behind. Previous to the 
 Revolution nine colleges worth}' of the name had 
 been established in the American colonies. These 
 Yale, Princeton, King's, (now Columbia), Brown, 
 
 In 1764 the 
 
 PRINTING THE BOSTON NEWS LETTER. 
 
 were Harvard, William and Marv, 
 
 This great 
 
 Queen's (after^vards called Rutger's), Dartmouth, and Hampden and Sydney 
 first medical college in America was founded at Philadelphia. 
 
 We have already spoken of the early institution of the printing press, 
 agent and forerunner of civilization abounded — not in the sense that it aboimds at the 
 present day, but relatively to the condition and activities of society. Before the Revolu- 
 tion the press was already effective as an organ of opinion and promoter of public rights. 
 As early as 1774 the Boston Neii's Letter, first of periodicals in the New World, was pub-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. .li>'j 
 
 lished ia the cit\- of the Puritans. Fifteen years elapsed, however, before another experi- 
 ment of tlie same sort was made. In 1721 the New Enjjlaud Couranl^ a little sheet 
 devoted to free thought and the extinction of rascality was established at Boston by the 
 two Franklins — James and Benjamin. As late as 1740 New York had but one periodical; 
 Virginia one, and South Carolina one; and at the close of the French and Indian War 
 there were no more than ten newspapers published in the American colonies. 
 
 Perhaps the chief obstacles to such publications were the absence of great cities and 
 the difficulty of communication betw-een distant sections of the countrj-. Boston and 
 Philadelphia had each at this period no more than eighteen thousand inhabitants ; New 
 York had but twelve thousand. In all Virginia there was not one important town ; while 
 from her southern limit as far south as the borders of Florida there was scarcely a consider- 
 able village. To reach this widely scattered population with periodical publications was 
 quite impossible. As for popular literature, there was little or none. Books were few, and 
 man}- of those which the colonial libraries afforded were as husks and straw to the hungr\- 
 mind of man. Some dr>- volumes of annals (dignified by the name of histor}), theologj- 
 and politics were the only stock and store. On the latter subject the publications were 
 sometimes full of pith and spirit. 
 
 It was in the political treatise, great or small, that the pre-Revolutionary author found 
 vent for what wit and wisdom soe\-er nature had gi\-en him withal. In this there was 
 freedom. As for religious books the old theology' was in full force and sat like a nightmare 
 on every page. Historical literature had not yet appeared in the earth, at least not since 
 the deatli of the classical ages, and the novel was generally ruled out by the dogmatic spirit 
 of the age. But notwithstanding this barrenness of books and general poverty of the 
 resources of knowledge, it was no unusual thing to find at the foot of the Virginia moun- 
 tains, in the quiet precincts of Philadelphia, by the banks of the Hudson, or in the valleys 
 and towns of New England, a mau of great and solid leaniing. Such a man was Thomas 
 Jefferson ; such were Franklin and Livingston, and the Adamses, and of a later date Hamil- 
 ton — men of profound scholarship, bold in thought, ready with the pen, skilful in argument, 
 studious, witty and eloquent. 
 
 MEANS OF TRAVEL AND COMMUNICATION. 
 
 Nothing proved to be a greater impediment to the progress of the colonies than the 
 want of roads and thoroughfares. Easy and rapid communication between the different 
 sections was tuiknown. No general system of post-offices or post-roads had as yet been 
 established ; and the people were thus left in comparative or total ignorance of events in 
 neighborhoods and settlements not ven,- remote from their own. .\s a rule, the people of 
 one colony heard only at a late day, and then by imperfect tradition and fl>ing rumor, of the 
 events of another colony^-even events of the greatest importance. No common sentiments 
 could be expressed — no common enthusiasm be kindled in the country by the slow-going 
 mails and packets. The sea-coast towns and cities found a readier intercourse by means 
 of small sloops plying the Atlantic ; but the inland districts were almost wholly cut off 
 from this advantage. Roads were slowly built from point to point and lines of travel by 
 coach and wagon were gradually established. 
 
 It thus happened that to the ver)- beginning of the Revolution the American colonists 
 lived apart. They were isolated and dependent upon their own resources for life and eujoy- 
 menL Doubtless there was in the condition quite a tinge of solitude ; but it should be 
 remembered that solitude is one of the greatest and most efficient schools of instruction. 
 In it the faculties acquire a peculiar robustness, a strength and vi^'or which ma\ well
 
 430 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 betoken heroic action, patriotism and longevity. It was at this epoch that the means of 
 inter-communication began to be enlarged and improved. In 1766 an express wagon made 
 the trip from New York to Philadelphia in two days. Such rata of speed was considered a 
 marvel of rapidity ! Six years later the first stage coach began to run regularly between 
 Boston and Providence. * 
 
 If we elance at the industrial life we shall find that before the Revolution the Ameri- 
 cans were for the most part an agricultural people. Within the tidewater line of Virginia 
 the lands weie divided into estates, and the planters devoted themselves almost exclusively 
 to the cultivation of tobacco. Further inland the products were more various. Above the 
 line of tidewater wheat, com, potatoes, upland cotton, hemp and flax were easily and 
 abundantly produced. In the Carolinas and Georgia the rice crop was most important ; 
 after that, indigo, cotton and some silk ; tar, turpentine, and what the hunter and fisherman 
 gathered from the woods and streams. New York, Philadelphia and Boston were then as 
 now the great centres of trade ; but commerce was carried on in a slow and awkward 
 manner wholly unlike the rushing activity of more recent times. 
 
 One of the most important industrial interests of the colonies was shipbuilding. In 
 New England the people of the coasts were generally experts in the building and manage- 
 ment of ships, such as ships were at the middle of the eighteenth century. In the yeai 
 1738 no fewer than forty-one sailing vessels, with an average burden of a hundred and fifty 
 tons, were built and launched at the shipyards of Boston. This was done, as all the world 
 knows, in the face of the restrictions laid by the mother country on every marine enter- 
 prise promoted among the Americans. 
 
 New England w^s the seat of the principal manufacturing interests of the coimtry. 
 Everything in this direction, however, was checked and impeded by the British Board of 
 Trade, whose arbitrary restrictions acted as a damper on all manner of colonial thrift and 
 enterprise. No sooner would some young and prosperous company of New England men 
 begin the building of a factory than this ofiicious Board would interfere in such a way as to 
 make success impossible. So jealous was the English Ministry of American progress ! If 
 previous to the Revolution any colonial manufactures were successfully established, it was 
 done against the will of Great Britain and in spite of her mean and churlish opposition. 
 
 Such were the American colonies at the time when they first began to act as one in a 
 common cause. New generations had now arisen with kindlier feelings and more charitable 
 sentiments than had been entertained by the austere fathers of the seventeenth century. 
 New conditions had appeared, new relations of a complex and international character, 
 which were well calculated to bring the people of the American communities into concord 
 and final union of action. The event which history had reserved as the immediate cause 
 of such approximation and union of effort was the event of war. 
 
 * The reader may naturally conclude that the American colonies were greatly behindhand in developing the 
 means of inter-communication ; but not -o. The classical nations of antiquity built great thoroughfares from 
 State to State ; but in the Middle Ages great road^ were almost unknown in Europe. Even in England such 
 works lagged to a late period. In so old a country as Scotland there were no great thoroughfares constructed 
 until after the Scotch rebellion of 1745.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 
 
 
 T was the sense of a coininou danger that led our colonial 
 fathers of 1754 to nnite their energies in repelling a foe 
 equally inimical to all. The time was now at hand 
 when the final struggle should occur between France 
 and England for colonial supremacy in America. It 
 was necessity that compelled the English colonies to 
 combine their energies against the French. We may 
 here note briefly the causes of the war which ensued, 
 first in America and afterwards between the parent 
 nations in Europe. 
 
 The first and most efficient of these causes was the con- 
 flicting territorial claims of France and England. The 
 latter had colonized the American seaboard; the fonner 
 had colonized the interior of the continent. Great Britain 
 occupied the coast, but her claims reached far bevond he: 
 colonies. The English kings had always proceeded upon the llicor}- that the prior dis- 
 coveries of the Cabots had established a just claim, not only to the countries along tlie 
 coast, but also to the great inland region stretching westward to the Pacific. 
 
 The claims of France were of a different kind. She had colonized first of all the 
 valley of the St. Lawrence. Montreal, one of her earliest settlements, was planted five 
 hundred miles from the sea. In the latter half of the seventeenth century- the French 
 pushed their way westward and southward, first along the shores of the Great Lakes, then 
 to the headwaters of the Wabash, the Illinois, the Wisconsin and the St. Croi.x, then down 
 these streams to the Mississippi, and then to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 The historical eflfect and perhaps the conscious purpose of these jnovements were easily 
 discoverable. The result was to divide North America b\- circumscribing the English 
 colonies with a broad band of French territory' which would enable France to possess first 
 the great river valleys of the interior, and afterwards the better half of the continent. It 
 might indeed have been apprehended a priori that France and England, occupying the 
 hither verge of Europe, would be the leading nations to colonize the central parts of North 
 America, and also that these two States would ultimately contend for the master}" in the 
 New World. The events corresponded to expectation. 
 
 The work of French colonization in America had been chiefly effected by the Jesuit 
 missionaries. In 1641 Charles Raymbault, first of the great explorers, passed through the 
 northern straits of Lake Huron and entered Lake Superior. In the thirty years that 
 followed the Jesuit missionaries continued their explorations with prodigious activity'. 
 Missions were established at various points north of the lakes and in the countries aftersvards 
 called Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. In 1673 Fathers Jolict and Marquette passed 
 from the headwaters of Fox River over the watershed to the upper tributaries of the Wis- 
 
 (430
 
 432 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 consiu, and thence down that river in a seven day's voyage to the Mississippi. It was now 
 a hundred and thirt\-three years since the discovery' of the Father of Waters by De Soto. 
 For a full month the canoe of Joliet and Marquette bore them downward toward the sea. 
 They passed the mouth of the Arkansas River and reached the limit of their voyage at the 
 thirty-third parallel of latitude. Turning their boat up stream they entered the mouth 
 of the Illinois, and returned by the site of Chicago into Lake Michigan and thence to 
 
 Detroit. 
 
 EXPLORATIONS OF LA SALLE, AND HIS ASSASSINATION. 
 
 It remained for Robert de La Salle,, most illustrious of the French explorers, to trace 
 the Mississippi to its mouth. This indomitable adventurer built and launched the first ship 
 
 above Niagara Falls. He sailed westward 
 
 through Lake Erie and Lake Huron, anchored 
 
 in Green Bay, crossed Lake Michigan to the 
 
 mouth of the St. Joseph, ascended that stream 
 
 with a few companions, traversed the country 
 
 to the upper Kankakee and dropped down 
 
 that stream into the Illinois. Here disasters 
 
 overtook the expedition and 
 
 La Salle was obliged to return 
 
 on foot to Fort Frontenac, a 
 
 distance of nearly a thousand 
 
 miles! During his absence 
 
 Father Hennepin, a member 
 
 of the company, traversed 
 
 Illinois, found the Mississippi 
 
 and ascended the great river 
 
 as far as the falls of St. 
 
 i\nthony. 
 
 In 1681 La Salle reor- 
 ganized his expedition and 
 sailed down the Mississippi to 
 the Gulf of Mexico. After- 
 wards he made his way back 
 to Quebec and then returned to France. He formed vast plans for colonizing the valley of 
 the Mississippi and induced Louis XIV. to take an interest in the enterprise. Four ships, 
 bearing two hundred and eighty emigrants, were equipped and left France in July of 1684. 
 Beaujeu commanded the fleet and La Salle led the colony in person. His plan was to 
 plant a new State on the banks of the lower Mississippi. The captain, however, was head- 
 strong and against La Salle's entreaties steered the squadron out of its course to the west, 
 so that instead of reaching the mouth of the Mississippi he entered the bd}' of Matagorda. 
 Here a landing was effected, but the store-ship was wrecked and lost. Nevertheless a 
 colony was established and Texas became a part of Louisiana. 
 
 La Salle now made unwearied efforts to rediscover the Mississippi. It would appear 
 that he was not well informed as to the best direction to be taken in order to reach the great 
 river. His expeditions were attended with many misfortunes; but his own resolute spirit 
 remained tranquil in the midst of calamity. At last he set out with sixteen companions to 
 cross the continent to Canada. The march began in January of 1687 and continued for 
 
 FATHER JOLIET AND MARQUETTE DESCENDING THE MISSISSIPPI.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 433 
 
 sixty days. Tlie w.iiulerers reached the b.isiu of the Colorado. Discontent and treachery 
 had in the meantime arisen in his camp. On the 20th of March, while La Salle was at 
 some distance from the rendezvous two conspirators of his own company hiding in the prairie 
 grass took a fatal aim and shot the famous explorer dead in his tracks. Only seven of the 
 adventurers succeeded in reaching a French settlement on the Mississippi. 
 
 It was thus that the great inland circuit of the American lakes and rivers was revealed 
 by exploration to the knowledge of men. France was not slow to occupy the vast region 
 traversed by the Jesuit fathers. As early as 16S8 militar}' posts and missions had been 
 established at Frontenac, at Niagara, at the straits of Mackinac and on the Illinois River. 
 Before the middle of the eighteenth centur}' pennanent settlements had been planted by the 
 French on the Maumee, at Detroit, at the mouth of the St. Joseph, at Green Bay, at Vincennes^ 
 on the lower Wabash, on the Mississippi at the mouth of the Kaskaskia, at Fort Rosalie — 
 the present sight of Natchez — and on the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 JEALOUSIES BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 
 
 A second cause of the conflict about to ensue was the long-standing animosity of France 
 and England. The rivalry- between these two great States of Western Europe was as old as 
 
 LA SAM. 
 
 COMrANIOKS ON TIIH MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 the Dark Ages. The jealousy of the one for the other extended over both land and sea. 
 When at the close of the seventeenth centur>- it was seen that the people of the English 
 colonies outnumbered those of New France by nearly twent}' to one the French govennnent 
 was filled with envy. When by the enterprise of the Jesuit missionaries and explorers the 
 French began to dot the basin of the Mississippi with fortresses and to monopolize the fur 
 trade with the Indians England could not conceal her wrath. 
 
 A third and more immediate cause of the oncoming war was the conflict of interests, and 
 soon aftenvards the conflict of arms between the frontiersmen of the two nations in the Ohio 
 valley. These difficulties began about the year 1749. By this time the strolling traders 
 and hunters of Virginia and Pennsylvania had made their way through the mountains and 
 begun to frequent the Indian towns on the tributaries of the Ohio. The French traders 
 of Canada visited the same villages and they and the English were brought into competi* 
 tion in the purchase of furs from the natives. 
 28
 
 434 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Virginia in accordance with the terms of her ancient charters claimed the whole country 
 between her western borders and the southern shores of Lake Erie. Tlie French fur 
 o-atherers of this district were under this construction intruders in the territories of another 
 State. The Virginians were in no measure disposed to yield or modify their claim. In 
 order to prevent further encroachment a number of the leading men of the colony joined 
 themselves too^ether in a body called the Ohio Company with a view to the immediate occu- 
 pation of the disputed countr}-. The leading members of the corporation were Governor 
 Robert Dinwiddle, Lawrence and Augustus Washington and Thomas Lee, President of the 
 Virginia Council. 
 
 In March of 1749 George II. of England granted to this company an extensive tract 
 of land covering an aggregate of five hundred thousand acres. The grant was to be located 
 between the Kanawha and the Monongahela 
 
 Before the 
 the French 
 
 northern bank of the River Ohio, 
 could send out a colony, however, 
 of Canada despatched three 
 hundred men to preoccupy the 
 upper Ohio valley. In the next 
 year the Ohio Company sent out 
 its first exploring party under 
 Christopher Gist, who traversed 
 the country and returned to 
 Virginia in 1751. 
 
 The issue was now clear. 
 It was simply who should pre- 
 occupy and possess the region 
 where the Ohio gathers his 
 waters. The expedition of Gist 
 was followed by vigorous counter 
 movements on the part of the 
 French. The latter built a fort 
 called Le Boeuf on French 
 creek, and another named Ven- 
 ango on the Alleghany. About 
 the same time the country south 
 of the Ohio was a second time 
 explored by Christopher Gist 
 and a party of armed surve\-ors. 
 In 1753 the English constructed a road from Wills's creek through the mountains, and 
 fhe first small colony was planted on the Youghiogheny. 
 
 THE ISSUES OF WAR. 
 
 All of these movements proceeded in superb disregard of the rights of the native 
 races. The Indians were greatly alarmed at this double intrusion of the whites into their 
 country. Thus far the English rather than the French had secured the favor of the red 
 men; but the allegiance of the latter was uncertain. In the spring of 1753 the Miami 
 tribes, under the leadership of a chieftain called the Half-King, met Benjamin Franklin at 
 Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and made a satisfactory treaty with the English ; but the ties thus 
 established were, as the sequel showed, but slight and easily broken. 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF LA SAI.LE.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 435 
 
 The great diflSculty thus precipitated between the French and the English in the Ohio 
 valley was for some time almost unnoticed and unknown by the parent nations. The people 
 of the English colonies, however, were greatly excited. The \'irginians were ready for 
 war, but Governor Dinwiddie determined in the first place to try diplomacy. He would 
 send a formal remonstrance to the French authorities warning them to withdraw and stand 
 off from the territory belonging to Virginia. A paper was drawn up setting forth the 
 nature and validit\- of the English claim to the valley of the river Ohio, and warning the 
 
 CHIEF HALF-KING OF THE MIAMIS CONCLUDING A TKEATY WITH THE ENGLISH. 
 
 French against further intrusion. The >oung surveyor, George Washington, was called 
 upon by the governor to carr>' this paper from Williamsburg to General .St. Pierre, com- 
 mandant of the French at Presque Isle, on Lake Erie. 
 
 On the last of October, 1753, the youthful Washington set out on his mission. He 
 was attended bv four comrades, besides an interpreter and Christopher Gist, the guide. The 
 part}- reached the Youghiogheny and pas.sed down that stream to the site of Pittsburgh. 
 At a place called I^ogstown Washington held a friendly council with the Indians and then 
 pressed forward to Venango. From this point he traversed the trackless forest to Fort Le
 
 436 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Boeuf. Here the conference was held with St. Pierre. Washington was received with 
 French politeness ; but the General refused to enter into any discussion of the great ques- 
 tions involved in the remonstrance of Virginia. He was acting, he said, under military 
 instructions, and would presently eject ever)- Englishman from the Ohio valley. 
 
 Bearing this uusatisfactor>' reply, Washington took leave of the French and returned 
 to the Alleo-hany with Gist as his only companion. That stream was so filled with floating 
 ice that crossing was extremely perilous. But regardless of the danger, the two intrepid 
 travellers made a rude raft of logs which they launched and upon which they pushed their 
 
 way through the ice to 
 the opposite shore. Wash- 
 ington left the river at 
 Fort Venango and struck 
 into the woods. Clad in 
 the robe of an Indian ; 
 sleeping with frozen 
 clothes on a bed of pine 
 brush ; guided at night 
 by the North star ; fired 
 at by a prowling savage 
 from his covert ; lodging, 
 on an island in the Alle- 
 ghany until the river was 
 frozen over ; plunging 
 again into the forest ; 
 reaching Gist's settlement 
 and then the Potomac — 
 the strong-limbed young ambassador came back without wound or scar to the capital of 
 Virginia. The defiant despatch of St. Pierre was laid before Governor Dinwiddle, and 
 the first public service of Washington was accomplished. 
 
 THE FOUNDING OF PITTSBURGH. 
 The next movement of the English was made in the early spring of 1754. A volun- 
 teer party led by an explorer named Trent reached the confluence of the Alleghany and the 
 Monongahela, and built the first rude stockade on the site of Pittsburgh. After all the 
 boasting and threats of the French, the English had beaten them and seized the key to the 
 Ohio Valley. It was not to be expected, however, that such an occupation as that of 
 Trent could long be made good in the face of the purpose and forces of the French. 
 The successful establishment of the English fort at the juncture of the two rivers was a 
 short-lived triumph. As soon as the Alleghany was opened for navigation to boats, the 
 French fleet which had been prepared at Venango came sweeping down the river. Trent 
 with his handful of men cotild offer no successful resistance. He was driven away by the 
 French, who immediately occupied the place, felled the forest trees, built barracks and laid 
 the foundations of Fort Du Quesne. 
 
 As for Washington he had now been commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Virginia 
 militia and stationed at Alexandria to enlist recruits for a campaign into the disputed 
 country. A regiment of a hundred and fifty men had been enrolled; but it was impossible 
 to bring succoi to Trent in time to save the post. On the 17th of April the commanding 
 position at the head of the Ohio was surrendered, while Washington was not able to set 
 
 WASHINGTON FIRED AT BY A LURKING SAVAGE.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 •1:57 
 
 out Irom Wills's Creek until the latter part of the same month. Negotiations had now failed, 
 Remonstrauces had been tried in vain. The possession of the disputed territory was at 
 length to be detennined by the harsher methods of war. 
 
 But as yet there was no fonnal war. France and England were at peace. Dating 
 from the spring of 1754, it was fully two years before the fonnal outbreak of the seven 
 years' war in Europe; but the French and English colonies in America were already 
 involved in that conflict which was to decide the possession of the larger and better part 
 of the continent. For good reason, therefore, the struggle upon an account of which we 
 are now to enter has generally been called in American history the French and Indian War. 
 
 It fell to Colonel Washington, acting under the authority of \'irginia, to begin the 
 conflict. According to -his instructions he was to proceed with a regiment of frontier 
 soldiers, like himself wholly inexperienced in war, to build a fort at the source of the Ohio 
 and to repel all who should interrupt the English settlements in that part of the country- 
 Late in April the young commander, now but twenty-two years of age, left Wills's Creek 
 on the toilsome march for his destination. The men were obliged to drag their cannon. 
 The roads were in miserable condition from the spring rains. Rivers were bridgeless and 
 
 provisions insufficient. 
 
 WASHINGTON FIRES THE FIRST GUN. 
 
 Late in May, 1754, the English reached a place called the Great Meadows, in Penn- 
 sylvania. Here Washington learned that the French had anticipated liis mnveineiit and 
 were on the march to meet 
 
 him. The little anny was 
 halted. A stockade was im- 
 mediately erected and named 
 Fort Necessit)-. Washington 
 then conferred with the 
 Mingo chiefs and decided to 
 strike the first blow. Indian 
 guides led the way to where 
 the French were encamped. 
 The latter, however, were on 
 the alert and sprang to arms. 
 "Fire!" was the command 
 of Washington and the first 
 volley of a great war went 
 flying throtigh the forest 
 Jumonville, leader of the 
 French and ten of his party 
 were killed, and tweirty-one 
 were made prisoners. 
 
 Having won in the initial encounter, Washington returned to Fort Necessity and 
 waited for reinforcements. His waiting, however, was fruitless. Only a single company 
 of volunteers arrived. The young commander spent the time in cutting a road for 
 twenty miles in the direction of Pittsburgh. He had hoped that the Indians from the 
 Muskingum and the Miami countr>' would join hin: in the movement against the French, 
 but in this he was disappointed. His whole force numbered about four hundred men. 
 While engaged in opening a road in the direction of the enemy Washington learned that 
 
 ^^Vutli 
 
 WASHfNGTON ATTACKING THK FRENCH ENCAMP.MKNT.
 
 438 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the French general, De Villiers, was approaching with a large force and he therefore deemed 
 it prudent to plant himself at Fort Necessity. Scarcely had he succeeded in reaching the 
 fort when on the 3d of July De Villiers came in sight. The stockade was at once sur- 
 rounded by the French. They stationed themseh'es on an eminence about sixt}- }-ards 
 distant in a position from which they could fire down upon the English with fatal effect. 
 The Indian allies of De V^illiers climbed into the tree-tops where in concealment they could 
 see into the fort. For nine hours, during a rain storm, the assailants poured an incessant 
 shower of balls upon the little band in the fort. Thirty of Washington's men were 
 killed; but his tranquil presence encouraged the rest and the battle was continued. At 
 length the French commander proposed a parley. Washington seeing that it would be 
 impossible to hold out much longer, accepted the honorable terras of capitulation which 
 were offered by De Villiers. On the 4th of July — significant day of the future — the Eng- 
 lish garrison, retaining all its accoutrements marched out of the little fort so bravely 
 defended and withdrew from the countr}-. 
 
 Meanwhile a Congress of the American colonies had been called to meet at Alban\'. 
 The objects had in view were twofold: first to renew the treat)' with the Iroquois confed- 
 eracy, and secondly, to stir up the colonial authorities to some sort of concerted action 
 against the French. The colonists had become convinced of a disposition on the part of 
 the Iroquois to go over to the eneni}-. The recent reverses had encouraged the Indians 
 to renounce their alliance with the English. It was clear that something must be done 
 speedily or the flag of England could never be borne into the vast regions west of the 
 Alleghanies. 
 
 The Albany Congress was not wanting in great abilities. No such venerable and 
 dignified body of men had ever before assembled on the American continent. There were 
 Hutchison of Massachusetts, Hopkins of Rhode Island, Franklin of Pennsylvania and 
 others scarcely less distinguished. After a few days' consultation the Iroquois chieftains, 
 though but half satisfied were induced to renew their treat}-. They promised to remain 
 faithful to the whites in the war with the French and then departed to their own A-illages. 
 
 AN AMERICAN UNION PROPOSED. 
 
 Already the notion of an American Union had ajjpeared in the vision of the thoughtful. 
 Could the American colonies be united in a single government ? This question came be- 
 fore the Albany Convention. On the loth of July Benjamin Franklin laid before the com- 
 missioners the draught of a general constitution. His vast and comprehensive mind, more 
 than any other, had realized the true condition and wants of the countr\-, and he perceived 
 that the thing demanded for the safety and future development of the colonies was a cen- 
 tral government for all. How else could revenues be raised, annies be organized, and the 
 common welfare be provided for ? 
 
 According to the proposed plan of union, Philadelphia was to be the capital. The city 
 was central and might be more easily reached than any other, even by the delegates of New 
 Hampshire and Georgia. It was thought and argued that such delegates could reach the 
 seat of government in fifteen or twenty days ! Slow-going old patriots ! The chief execu- 
 tive of the new confederation was to be a governor-general appointed and supported by the 
 King. The legislative authority' was vested in a Congress, to be composed of delegates 
 chosen triennially by the General Assemblies of the respective provinces. Each colony 
 should be represented in proportion to its contributions to the federal government; but no 
 colony should have fewer than two, or more than seven representatives in Congress. 
 
 As to the distribution of powers, the right of appointing all military officers and of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 439 
 
 vetoing objectionable laws was lodged with the governor-general. On the other hand the 
 appointment of civil officers, the raising of troops, the levying of ta.xes, the snperin- 
 tendence of Indian affairs, the regnlation of commerce, and all the general dnties of gov- 
 ernment shonld belong to Congress. This body was to convene once a year, to choose its 
 own officers, and remain iu session not longer than six weeks. Franklin's plan contained 
 no provision respecting the establishment of a general jndiciar>- for the colonies. 
 
 Copies of this constitution were at once transmitted to the several colonial capitals, and 
 were everywhere received with disfavor. Nothing could more clearly illustrate the views 
 and dispositions of the fathers at the middle of the eighteenth century than the reasons 
 which were assigned for the non-acceptance of Franklin's constitution. In Connecticut the 
 paper was rejected. In Massachusetts it w^as opposed, and in New York coldly and indif- 
 ferently adopted. The chief objection urged against the instrument was the power of veto 
 given to the governor-general. Some thought that the consolidation of the colonies was too 
 close, and that the tendency was to reestablish despotism. A few were of opinion that it 
 was a covert project of the Crown to regain a lost ascendancy over the American Republics, 
 and most were of opinion that the principles of Democracy would be endangered and local 
 liberty destroyed by the establishment of a central go\'ernment. Nor did the new constitu- 
 tion fare any better in the mother country. The English Board of Trade rejected it with 
 disdain, saying that the forward Americans were trying to make a government of their 
 own ! 
 
 By this time it had been discerned in England that the interests of the British Crown 
 in America were seriously imperilled. It was clear that the French must be repelled from 
 the countries west of the Alleghanies or the better parts 
 of the continent would be lost to English rule. It \\as 
 determined to send at once a British army to America, to 
 accept the ser\'ice of such provincial troops as the colonies 
 might be able to furnish, and to repel the aggressions of 
 France along the western border. 
 
 As yet, however, there had been no declaration of war. 
 The ministers of France and England kept assuring each 
 other of their peaceable intentions; but Louis XV. took 
 care to send three thousand soldiers to Canada, and the 
 British Government ordered General Edward Braddock to 
 proceed to America with two regiments of regulars. The 
 latter having arrived in the colonies met the governors in 
 a conference at Alexandria, \'irginia, and the plans of a 
 campaign against the French were discussed and adopted. * 
 On the last of May, 1755, Braddock set out from Cumber- 
 land to recapture Fort Dn Ouesne from the Frencli. 
 
 BATTLE BEFORE DU QUESNE AND DEATH OF BRADDOCK. 
 
 The expedition was undertaken with full confidence and great spirit. The advance 
 was made during the month of June, and by the Sth of July the English vanguard had 
 reached a point within twelve miles of the position of the French. On the following day 
 
 * The old house in .-Mexaii<lria in which Braddock met the coh)nial >;ovcrnor9 is still ])reserve<l iti stii/ii quo. 
 The room in which the conference w.as held is shown to visitors, and the traveller is ahle l>y imagination to restore 
 the scene of a humlred and thirty-seven years ajjo. Perhaps no other American house of the epoch of the French 
 and Indian war is txrtter preserved than this oM wooden hoti-1 whiili u is n-,.d In llra.ldoofc jis his headquarters 
 at the time of his arrival in .America. 
 
 BATTLE GROUND OF FRENXH AND 
 INDIAN WAR, 1755.
 
 440 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the English march was continued down the left bank of the Mouongahela, and at noon 
 Braddock crossed the stream near the confluence of Turtle creek. Thus far he had noticed 
 no signs of the presence of the enemy. 
 
 The advance was now along a narrow road through the forest. Colonel Thomas Gage 
 was in command of the vangiiard. The country was uneven and thickly wooded. On 
 either hand was a dense undergrowth of bramble and thicket; rocks and ravines; a hill on 
 the right and a dry hollow on the left. A few guides led the advance, and some feeble 
 flanking parties had been thrown out. In the rear came the general with the main division 
 of the army, the artillery' and the baggage. All at once a quick and heavy fire was heard 
 in front. For the French and Indians, believing themselves unable to hold Fort Du Quesne, 
 had gone forth and laid an ambuscade for the English. The place selected was a woody 
 ravine, well adapted to protect those who were concealed in ambush, and to entrap the ap- 
 proaching anny. The unsuspecting British marched directly into the net. 
 
 The battle began with a panic. The English, unable to see the enemy, fired con- 
 stantly, but at random. The French perceived at once the success of their plan and the 
 yianifest confusion of the invading army. Braddock hurried to the front, and rallied his 
 tnen; but it was all in vain. They stood huddled together like sheep. In a short time the 
 
 forest was strewn with British dead. Out of eight}--two 
 officers, twenty-six were killed. Of all the aids, only Colonel 
 Washington remained to distribute ordeirs. It was evident 
 that the French and Indians in ambush were coolly taking 
 aim and shooting down the officers and men at will. Of the 
 f)rivates, seven hundred and fourteen had fallen. Braddock 
 himself was mortally wounded. A retreat began at once, 
 and Washington with all that remained of the Virginian 
 rangers covered the flight of the army. The disaster was 
 complete, overwhelming, irremediable. 
 
 It appears that the French and Indians were surprised 
 at their own victory. The native chiefs on the next day 
 returned to Fort Du Quesne, clad in the laced coats of the 
 British officers. The savages after their manner had despoiled 
 the dead of the battlefield, and left them unburied. The 
 dying Braddock was borne along in the train of the fugitives. On the evening of the 
 fourth day he expired, and was buried near Dunbar's camp. When the fugitives reached 
 that place, the confusion and alarm were greater than ever. The artillery, baggage and 
 public stores were destroj-ed and a hasty retreat begun, first to Fort Cumberland, and 
 afterwards to Philadelphia. The failure and ruin of the expedition could hardly have 
 been more complete and irretrievable. 
 
 EXILE OF THE ACADIANS. 
 The reader will readily recall the conquest of Port Royal and Nova Scotia by the Eng- 
 lish. Though the authority of England was fully established in place of that of France, 
 the French population continued as before greatly to outnumber their conquerors. The 
 general result of the campaign had been to establish a British military occupation. When 
 Braddock met the colonial governors at Alexandria, it was urged that the new expedition 
 against Acadia would be necessarj-, in case of hostilities, in order to overawe the French 
 people and maintain British authority'. With this end in view, an expedition was organized 
 under Colonel Monckton, and in May of 1755 the squadron sailed with three thousand 
 troops from Boston for the Bay of Fundy. 
 
 SCENE OF BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT, 
 
 1755-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 441 
 
 The French liad in the province two fortresses, called Beau-Sejour and Gaspereau. 
 The couimandant, Dt^ \\i\;.m-, liail n'> inliination of tlic apprn;u'li of O.w l",iiL;li-li until ilie 
 squadron sailed 
 into the ba>- 
 and anchored 
 before the walls 
 of Beau-Sejour. 
 On the 3d of 
 June. 1755, the 
 English forces 
 effected a land- 
 ing and made 
 their way across 
 Messagouche 
 creek to beg^n 
 the siege of the 
 fortress, but no 
 siege was neces- 
 saiA'. Fear and 
 confusion pre- 
 vailed among 
 the garrison, 
 and no success- 
 ful resistance 
 could be of- 
 fered. Beau- 
 Sejour capitu- 
 lated and was 
 named Fort 
 Cumberland. 
 The whole of 
 Nova Scotia 
 was overrun in 
 a brief cam- 
 p a i g n and 
 brought under 
 dominion of the 
 English flag. 
 
 Although 
 this conquest 
 had been thus 
 easily effected, 
 the French in- 
 habitants still 
 greatly out 
 numbered the 
 
 English. Governor Lawrence determined, tiierefore, to bring about a different state of 
 circumstances by driving the inhabitants into banishment. In the first place an oath
 
 442 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ISTHMUS OF ACADIA. 
 
 of allegiance was demanded, and then the snrrender of all the firearms and boats belong- 
 ing to the French. British ships were then made ready to carry the French peasants 
 into exile. The conntiy about the isthmus was ruthlessly laid waste and the flying 
 people driven into the larger towns. Wherever a considerable number could be got 
 together they were compelled to go on shipboard. At. the village of Grand Pre more 
 
 than nineteen hundred people were driven into the boats 
 at the point of the baj'onet. Wives and children, old 
 men and mothers, the sick and the infirm, all shared 
 the common fate. IMore than three thousand of the 
 Acadians were carried away by the British squadron and 
 scattered in helplessness and starvation among the English 
 colonies as far south as Louisiana. Thus in complete 
 disaster to the cause of France ended the second campaign 
 which had been planned at Alexandria. 
 
 The third expedition outlined at the same conference 
 was to be conducted by Governor Shirley, of Massa- 
 3iL" chusetts, against the French at Fort Niagara. Early 
 in August the governor at the head of two thousand men 
 set out from Alban)-. Arriving at Oswego the commander spent four weeks in preparing 
 boats. Then tempests prevailed and sickness broke out in the camp. The Indians 
 deserted the standard of the English, and late in October the provincial forces led by 
 Shirley marched homeward without striking a blow. 
 
 THE ATTACK ON FORT EDWARD. 
 The fourth expedition had been intrusted by Braddock to General William Johnson, 
 of New York. The object of the movement was to capture Crown Point and drive the 
 French from Lake Champ- ^ -^ 
 
 lain. Early in August -slAs^S": ^.^ % 
 
 Johnson, at the head of his i^^fc 
 
 forces, reached the Hudson , i, -aa^^ 
 
 above Albany and built 
 
 Fort Edward. Thence he 
 
 proceeded to Lake George 
 
 and established a military 
 
 camp. To this place the 
 
 artillery and stores of the 
 
 expedition were brought 
 
 forward. Meanwhile Count 
 
 Dieskau, commandant of 
 
 the French at Crown Point, 
 
 advanced with fourteen 
 
 hundred French, Canadians 
 
 and Indians against Fort 
 
 Edward. General Johnson ==-'''^'^ °p "^""^ acadians from grand pre. 
 
 sent Colonel Williams and Hendrick, chief of the Mohawks, with twelve hundred men 
 
 to the relief of the fort. On the 8th of September Williams's regiment and the Mohawks 
 
 were ambushed by Dieskau's forces and driven back with loss to Johnson's camp. 
 
 The victorious Canadians and French regulars followed and attacked the English
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 443 
 
 position. A severe engagement ensued. For five hours the battle was incessant. Nearly 
 all of Dieskau's men were killed. At last the English troops made a sortie and completed 
 the rout of the enem>-. Dieskau was mortally wounded. Two Imndrcd and sixteen of the 
 English were killed, but the victory was complete. General Johnson proceeded to build on 
 the site of his camp Fort William Henr>-. hi the meantime the French fell back, but 
 fortified Ticonderoga. Such was the condition of affair^ at the close of the first year 
 of the war. 
 
 With the beginning of 1756 the command-in-chief of the English forces was given to 
 Governor Shirley. Virginia relied mostly on her own provincials, whom she placed under 
 connnand of Washington and sent into the valley of the Shenandoah to repel the French 
 and Indians. The Pennsylvanians chose Franklin for their colonel, built a fort on the 
 Lehigh, and made a successful campaign. The expeditions which were planned for the 
 year embraced the conquest of Quebec and the capture of Forts Frontenac, Toronto, Niagara 
 and Du Quesne. 
 
 Meanwhile the British government took up the cause and sent out two battalions of 
 regulars to New York. These arrived in the spring of 1 756. The Earl of Loudoun was 
 appointed connnander-in-chief of all the forces in America. General Abercrombie was 
 second in rank. On the 1 7th of May in this year Great Britain, after nearly two years of 
 actual hostilities, involving campaigns and conquests and loss of life and annies, made a 
 formal declaration of war against France. 
 
 In July Lord Loudoun took command of the colonial army. After the death of 
 Dieskau the Marquis of Montcalm succeeded to the command of the French, and on his 
 first campaign besieged and captured Oswego. Six vessels of war, three hundred boats, a 
 hundred and twenty- cannon and three chests of money were the fruits of his victor)-. 
 During this summer the Delaware Indians of western Pennsylvania broke into hostility and 
 killed or captured more than a thousand people. In August Colonel Annstrong at the 
 head of three hundred volunteers marched against the Indian town of Kittaning, and on 
 the 8th of December routed the savages with great losses. The village was bunied and 
 the spirit of the Indians completely broken. 
 
 STRANGE INACTION OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 Lord Loudoun planned for the summer of 1757 the conquest of Louisburg. He had 
 under his command an anny of si.x thousand regulars and abundant resources in the way of 
 supply and transportation. His fleet left New York on the proposed expedition on the 20th 
 of June and came to Halifa.x where the connnander was joined by Admiral Holboum with a 
 fleet of sixteen men-of-war. Five thousand additional troops fresh from the annies of 
 Europe were on board the squadron; but Loudoun with amazing incompetency, instead of 
 proceeding at once to Cape Breton, tarried awhile at Halifax,* and then sailed back to New 
 York without striking a blow or even seriou.sly attempting to accomplish the work in which 
 he was engaged. 
 
 If paralysis seemed to re.st upon the English commander it was very different witli the 
 French. The Marquis of Montcalm collected for his campaign of this year seven thousand 
 regulars, Canadians and Indians. With this force he advanced into New York for the cap- 
 ture of Fort William Henr>-. This stronghold was held by five hundred men under Colonel 
 Monro. For six days the French besieged the fort until the ammunition of the garrison 
 was expended and nothing remained but to capitulate. Honorable terms were granted by 
 
 • It was here that I.onl I.oiulonn Iml a Lir^e area of the cultiv.ihle lamls ahoat HaliTax planted in onions lest 
 his men utig/il take the scur\-j' !
 
 444 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the captors. On the 9th of August the}- took possession of the fortress. Among the sup- 
 plies of the English was a quantity of spirits. In spite of the exertions of Montcalm the 
 
 MhuK cii- MJKT WILIJAM HHN'RV. 
 
 Indians, becoming intoxicated, 
 fell upon the prisoners and 
 massacred thirty of them in 
 cold blood. 
 
 On the whole the war wa- 
 _ ■ ,^ greatly in favor of 
 France. Such had been the 
 success of the French arms | 
 that the English had not at 
 this juncture a single hamlet left in the whole basin of the St. Lawrence. 
 wa,s true in the west. Everj- cabin where English was spoken had been sw 
 
 The same 
 ept out of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 445 
 
 LOIISBCRU 
 
 '-iSA.M VS 
 
 the Ohio Valley. At the close of 1757 France possessed ticcnty limes as much territor)' 
 in America as did England and five times as much as England and Spain together I 
 
 The ill-success of England thus far in the war was doubtless attributable to the 
 inefficiency of the government, resulting, iis it did, in the appointment of incompetent com- 
 manders and inadequate preparations for conquering the French in America. In 1757, 
 however, a change occurred in British politics and William Pitt was placed at the head of 
 the ministr>-. A new spirit was at once diffused in the mailagement and conduct of the war. 
 Loudoun was deposed from the command of the American anny. General Abercrombie 
 was made his successor, but the main reliance was placed 
 on an efficient corps of subordinate commanders. Admiral 
 Boscawen was put in charge of the fleet. General 
 Amherst was given a division. Young Lord Howe was 
 appointed to rank next to Abercrombie. James Wolfe, 
 also in his youth, was made brigadier, and Colonel Richard 
 Montgomer\- was put at the head of a regiment. 
 
 CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG AND ASSAULT ON TICONDEROGA. 
 The campaigns planned for 175^ were three in number. 
 The first was to undertake the capture of Louisburg; the ' ^'"^^^ "• -- ' " '- 
 second to reduce Cro^\^l Point and Ticonderoga, and the third to recapture Fort Du 
 Quesne from the French. In the latter part of May General Amherst arrived at Hali- 
 fax with an army of ten thousand men. In the brief space of six days the British fleet 
 was anchored before Louisbnrg. Soon afterwards three French vessels were burned 
 in the harbor. The town was bombarded imtil it was reduced to a heap of ruins. On 
 the 2Stli of July Louisburg, together with Cape Breton and Prince Edward's Island, were 
 surrendered to Great Britain. The garrisons, numbering about six thousand men, became 
 prisoners of war. The expedition had been speedily crowned with signal success for the 
 English. 
 
 Meanwhile General Abercrombie with fifteen thousand men moved forward in the 
 beginning of July against Ticonderoga. On the morning of the 6th of the month the Eng- 
 lish fell in with the French picket line and a severe skirmish 
 ensued in which the F'rench were overwhelmed and Lord 
 Howe was killed in the onset. On the morning of the Sth 
 the English anny was arranged for an assault on Ticon- 
 deroga. The countPk' round about was broken .and ini- 
 favorable for militan.' operations, but obstacles were over- 
 come and a desperate battle was fought continuing for four 
 hours, until at six o'clock in the evening the E^nglish 
 were finally repulsed. The loss on the side of the assailants 
 amounted in killed and wounded to nineteen hundred and sixteen. In no battle of the 
 Revolution did the British have so large a force engaged or meet so terrible a loss. 
 
 With the failure of the assault the English army retreated to Fort George. Soon after- 
 wards a division of three thousand men under command of Colonel Bradstreet was sent 
 against Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario. This movement of the English was attended with 
 complete success. Fort Frontenac was only able to endure a siege of two davs' duration. 
 The fortress was taken and demolished. The capture of the place was regarded by the 
 English as a counterpoise to their failure at Ticonderoga. 
 
 
 RUnrS OF TICONDEROG.\.
 
 446 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 WONDERFUL COURAGE OF MAJOR STRABO. 
 
 About the same time Major Strabo harassed the enemy by several bold strokes and 
 sudden descents upon their shipping in the St. Lawrence. One of his desperate enter- 
 prises was the capture of a French sloop that was conveying a company of Indians and a 
 large quantity of supplies to Quebec. At the time of this undertaking Strabo was march- 
 ino- down the river on the New York side with a company of ten men, when seeing a French 
 .schooner in the offing he signaled.it to land. The officer in charge suspecting no treachery 
 
 WOXDERFUL EXPLuiT ol- AiAJOR STRABO. 
 
 came ashore and was generously treated by Strabo with some choice mm; but at an auspi- 
 cious moment he gave a sign at which his men rushed out of their concealment and in a 
 trice made the officer and his men prisoners. T)'ing them and leaving them on shore, 
 Strabo boarded the schooner and set out in pursuit of a French sloop en route for Quebec. 
 Being a master of the French tongue Strabo had no difficulty, after approaching near 
 the vessel, in convincing the commander that he was bearing a message to Ralfe at Quebec.
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 n; 
 
 Under pretence that he desired to coininunicate confidentially with the sloop's oflficer he 
 was pennitted to draw along side. In the next moment his men fired on the exposed 
 crew and lashing the schooner to the sloop boarded the prize so qnicklj- that no time was 
 given for defence. Strabo drove nearly all the Indians into the waters, killed most of 
 the crew and then setting fire to the schooner he sailed away on the sloop with all its stores 
 and brought her into the port of Louisburg. 
 
 The third expedition of this year was entrusted to General Forbes. His division 
 numbered nine thousand men and his part in the campaign was the capture of Fort Du 
 Quesne. The \"irginia provincials were again placed under command of Colonel Wash- 
 ington. The main body of the anny moved slowly; but Major Grant with the advance 
 pressed on in the direction of Fort Du Quesne. When within a few miles of that place, 
 he ran carelessly into an ambuscade in which he lost a third of his forces. But it was not 
 to be expected that the game which the French and Indians had so successfully played with 
 Braddock could be repeated. 
 
 Washington now took the lead and on the 24th of November reached a point within 
 ten miles of the fort. During that night the garrison of Du Quesne, apprised of the 
 approach of the British anny, took the alarm, burned the fortress, embarked in boats and 
 dropped down the Ohio. On the 25th the victorious English marched in, raised the ban- 
 ner of St. George and named the place Pittsburgh. A suinmar\' of the movements of the 
 year 1758 shows that in two of the priucipal cauipaigns the English had been overwhelm- 
 ingly successful, while in the third the result was a drawn battle, the French being 
 victorious before Ticonderoga and losing on the other hand their fortress and garrison at 
 Frontenac. 
 
 CAPTURE OF NIAGARA. 
 
 General Amherst now succeeded Abercrombie in command of the American army. 
 Great Britain became terribly in earnest in the prosecution of the war against the French. 
 
 A bloody incident of this year (1759) transpired in ; » . 
 
 the vicinity of Fort Miller, on the Hudson River six miles 
 from Schuyler\-ille. A party of soldiers from the garrison 
 went fishing in a clear stream of water eight miles from 
 the fort. While thus engaged they were attacked by a 
 band of Indians who were in concealment in the thick 
 covert on the bank. Being wholly unprepared for resist- 
 ance tlie soldiers were panic stricken at the first fire 
 and nine were killed who were afterwards scalped and 
 their bodies left lying where they fell. On occount of this 
 fatal occurrence the stream has ever since been called 
 "Bloody Run." 
 
 Bv the beginning of summer, 1759, the British and colonial forces under arms num- 
 bered nearly fifty thousand men. On the other side the entire French army scarcely 
 exceeded seven thousand. Three campaigns were planned for the year. General Prideaux 
 was appointed to lead an expedition against Niagara. The couunander-in-chief at the 
 head of the main division was to proceed against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. General 
 Wolfe, with his contingent was sent up the St. Lawrence for the capture of Quebec. 
 
 The first expeditiou was crowned with success. General Prideaux succeeded in mid- 
 summer in the investment of Fort Niagara. The French commander, D'.Vubry, with twelve 
 hundred men, came to the relief of the fort. On the 15th of the month, Prideaux was 
 
 nvj 
 
 OOUy KIN.
 
 448 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 killed by the bursting of a gun, and the command devolved on Sir William Johnson. On 
 
 the 24th, the French army came in sight, and a bloody battle was fought in which the 
 
 French were completely routed. On the following day Niagara capitulated, and the garri- 
 son to the number of six hundred became prisoners of war. 
 
 The central division, numbering eleven thousand men, marched against Ticonderoga.' 
 
 The army was debarked before the fortress 
 on the 22d of July; but the French did not 
 dare to stand against such overwhelming 
 numbers. After four days the garrison, hav- 
 ing partly destroyed the fortifications, abandoned 
 Ticonderoga, and retreated to Crown Point. 
 On the 31st of July they deserted this place 
 also, and fell back to Isle-aux-Noix, in the 
 river Sorel. 
 
 The third division of the British forces 
 was led forward by General Wolfe to the St 
 LauTence. In the early spring he began the 
 ascent of that river. His division consisted 
 of nearly eight thousand men, assisted by a 
 fleet of forty-four vessels. On the 27th of 
 June, Wolfe reached the Isle of Orleans, four 
 miles below Quebec, where the English camp 
 was pitched at the upper end of the island. 
 The fleet gave the English command of the 
 river and the southern bank was undefended. 
 On the second night after Wolfe's arrival, he 
 sent General Monckton to seize Point Levi. 
 From this position the lower town ■rt'as soon 
 
 reduced to ruins and the upper town much injured; but the fortress held out and some 
 
 other plan of attack had to be invented. 
 
 BATTLE OF QUEBEC. 
 General Wolfe in the early part of July crossed the St. Lawrence and encamped near 
 
 the mouth of the Montmorenci. This stream was fordable at low water, and the English 
 
 undertook to force a crossing in the face of the French, 
 
 but were repulsed with serious losses. Wolfe was obliged 
 
 to withdraw his camp, and again change his plans. He 
 
 nov fell into a fever, and for some time was confined to 
 
 his tent. A council was held, and the young general 
 
 proposed a second assault, but" was overruled. It was 
 
 then detennined to ascend the St. Lawrence by night, 
 
 and if possible gain the Plains of Abraham in the rear of 
 
 the city. 
 
 The lower camp of the English was accordingly broken 
 
 up, and on the 6th of September the troops were convened 
 
 from that position to Point Levi. In the next place 
 
 Wolfe succeeded in transferring his army without the 
 
 knowledge of the French to a point several miles up the 
 
 GEN. JAMES WOLFE. 
 
 VICINITY OF QUEBEC, I759. 
 
 river. He then examined the
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. w.J 
 
 northern bank of the St. Lawrence, and discovered a pathway up the steep cliffs leadin<r 
 to the plains in the rear of Quebec. 
 
 On the night of the 12th of September the English forces again embarked and dropped 
 down the river to the place now called Wolfe's Cove. It was with the greatest difficulty 
 that the soldiers, supporting themselves b_\- the bushes and rocks, clambered up the preci- 
 pice. The Canadian guard on the summit was easily dispersed, and in the dawn of morn- 
 ing Wolfe marshalled his army for battle. Montcalm was in amazement when he heard the 
 news. The French forces were hastily brought from the trenches on the Montmorenci and 
 thrown between Quebec and the English. 
 
 The battle was begun without dela\\ At the first there was a cannonade of an hour's 
 duration, and then Montcalm, with his inadequate forces attempting to turn the English 
 flank, was beaten back. The Canadian provincials and their Indian allies were soon routed. 
 The French regulars wavered, and were thrown into confusion. Wolfe led his anny in per- 
 son. Early in the engagement he was wounded in the wrist, but pressed on without atten- 
 tion to his injury-. Again he was struck, but still kept his place at the head of the column. 
 At the moment of victon.- a third ball pierced his breast, and he sank to the earth. " Thev 
 run,"* said the attendant who bent over him. "Who run?" was the response. "The 
 French are flying everywhere," replied the officer. "Do they run alreadv ? Then I die 
 happy," said the expiring hero. 
 
 Montcalm shared a like fate. Attempting to rally his regiments he was struck with a 
 ball and fell mortally wounded. "Shall I survive?" said he to his surgeon. " Only a 
 few hours at most," answered the attendant. "So much the better," replied the heroic 
 Frenchman; " I shall not live to witness the surrender of Quebec! " 
 
 Five days after the battle the cit}- capitulated and an English garrison took possession 
 of the citadel. France soon made an unsuccessful effort to recover her loss. In the spring 
 of 1760 a French arm\- gained a position a few miles west of Quebec and the English were 
 driven within the defences, but the city was soon reinforced and the assailants were beaten 
 back. In the year following the capture by Wolfe, General Amherst conducted a successful 
 expedition against Montreal, the last important post of France in the valley of the St. Law- 
 rence. On the 8th of September the place was taken and the whole of Canada passed under 
 the dominion of. England. 
 
 A REAPPORTIONMENT OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 Thus with the great campaigns of 1759-60 the French empire in America was subverted. 
 New France passed away. The result was reached by the determined and powerful support 
 which Great Britian gave to her American interests and by the feeble, wavering and 
 unworthy efforts of France to support her own can.se in the New World. There came to 
 pass a vast disparity between the contending parties. At one time the English and .\meri- 
 can provincials were as twenty to one to the French and at nearly the same time the .\meri- 
 can territorial possessions of France were as twenty to one to those of her rival. There was 
 
 • It i.s narrated that while the English fleet on this memorable night were silently gliding down the St Law- 
 rence under the dark shadow of the overhanging banks the brave and imaginative Wolfe, standing in the how of 
 his boat and discovering with the keen instincts of a prophet the probabilities of his fate, repeated over and over 
 to his companions the stanza from Gray's E/eg-y in a Country Churchyard, which had been published only a short 
 time before in England : 
 
 " The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power 
 
 .\nd all that beauty, all that wealth c\-r gave, 
 Await alike the inevitable hour ; 
 
 The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 
 
 29
 
 450 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 thus on the side of England the concentration of resources and power and on thf side of 
 France the dissipation of her diminished energies over a vast and indefensible region of 
 countr}'. 
 
 But while the vicissitudes of war favored the English in all their latter conflicts with 
 the French other harassments vexed the settlers in sections not within the immediate 
 territory in dispute. In the spring of 1760 the Cherokee Indians of eastern Tennessee arose 
 ao-ainst the English and besieged Fort Loudon which was forced to capitulate, but no sooner 
 was the o-arrison disarmed than the Indians in ^■iolation of the terms of surrender massacred 
 the o-reater number and carried oif the others into captivit}'. To punish the savages for this 
 
 THE DEATH OF GENKRAL WOEFE. 
 
 atrocity Colonels Grant and Montgomery were sent against them, who after a vigorous cam- 
 paign compelled the Indians to sue for peace. 
 
 PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY AND ATTACK ON DETROIT. 
 But after the overthrow of the French it devolved upon the English to take actual 
 possession of all the territory bordering on the Great Lakes and Major Roberts was accord- 
 ingly despatched by General Amherst with two hundred rangers to receive the surrender of 
 the outposts. In this duty Major Roberts met with no resistance and by the close of 1760 
 the English flag waved above all the forts along the lakes. No sooner, however, had the 
 occupation been accomplished when the English began a system of petty persecutions upon 
 the Indians, whose violent resentment was speedily aroused, excited, as it was, not more by 
 their ill-treatment than by the instigations of the French, who though conquered became
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 451 
 
 even more bitterly hostile in their feclin<;;s towards the Englisli. In the summer of 1761 
 the Senecas and Wyandots conspired to capture Detroit by treachery and massacre the gar- 
 rison, but the plot was revealed and thwarted b>' the commandant, Colonel Campbell. Soon 
 after another attempt was made, but likewise failed through timely warning given by a 
 friendl\- Indian. Thereafter peace prevailed for a while though at no time was .security felt, 
 the ugly temper of the Indians being indicated by mutterings of discontent which gave con- 
 stant fear of an outbreak. 
 
 Towards the close of 1 762 Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, a brave and sagacious warrior, 
 conceived the design of uniting all the tribes from the AUeghanies to the Mississippi into 
 one confederacy and hurling them in resistless bodies against the English by attacking simul- 
 taneously all the forts and settlements. The 7th of ^May, 1763, was appointed to begin the 
 general massacre, but at the last moment the tribes refused, through rivalries and old enmi- 
 ties, to act in concert and ultimate failure was the consequence, though the direct result was 
 terribly disastrous. 
 
 Pontiac reser\-ed for himself the most dangerous task of capturing Detroit and butcher- 
 ing the garrison and so adroitly did he perfect the details of his horrible plot that their 
 execution must have , ,, „ 
 
 proved successful but for (»..• i^\vi\ 
 
 the timely exposure of 
 the conspiracy. On the 
 day preceding the time 
 set for the treacherous 
 and murderous act an 
 Ojibway girl visited the 
 fort bearing a pair of 
 moccasins which she de- 
 signed as a present for 
 Major Gladwyn, the com- 
 mandant. By this subter- 
 fuge she gained his pres- 
 ence and when the two 
 were aione she revealed 
 to that officer the particu- 
 lars of the plot. The 
 major lost no time in 
 putting the fort in the 
 sought to put their treacherous plans into execution on the following day they confronted 
 a strono- force of English fully prepared to receive them, every citizen as well as soldier 
 being drawn up in line of battle. 
 
 Pontiac withdrew from the fort mortified at the failure of his plans, but unwilling to 
 abandon his purpose he invested Detroit with nearly two thou.sand Indians and entered upon 
 a siege of the place. Some desperate .sorties and counter a.ssaulLs characterized the siege, 
 in which the Indians lost heavily and after three days of fruitless effort to burn (in which 
 they partially succeeded) or reduce the place they withdrew to join other bands of Indians 
 who were doing great execution elsewhere. Under the attacks wliich followed and were 
 led by Pontiac every fort in tlic west except Niagara, Detroit and Fort Pitt was cap- 
 tured bv the Indians, who in nearly every instance ma.ssacrcd the garrisons. 
 
 OJIBWAY MAIDEN EXPOSING THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 most thorough state of defence and when Pontiac and his band
 
 452 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Though the fighting on land between France and England practically ceased with the 
 capture of Quebec and the surrender of the lake forts the conflict continued on the sea with 
 almost invariable success to the English arms until the loth of February, 1863, when a 
 treaty of peace was made between the two nations at Paris by which all the French posses- 
 sions in North America eastward of the ^Mississippi from its source to the River Iberville and 
 thence through Lakes ilaurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico were surrendered 
 to Great Britain. It was the transfer of an empire. At the same time Spain, with whopi 
 England had been at war, ceded East and West Florida to the English crown. As reciprocal 
 with this pro\-ision France was constrained by Great Britain to make a cession to Spain of 
 all that vast territor}- west of the Mississippi known as the Province of Louisiana. It thus 
 happened that the Spanish possessions on our continent were vastly extended, while those 
 of France were extinguished. The French king lost his entire empire in the New World 
 and England became dominant over all east of the Mississippi. West of the Father of 
 Waters Spain took all for her own. 
 
 As yet the question had not publicly risen of the independence of the English States 
 in North America; but already, before the treat}' of Paris, namely, in 1775, John Adams, 
 at that time a young school teacher in Connecticut wrote this in his diary: "In another 
 centur>', all Europe will not be able to subdue us. The only way to keep us from setting 
 up for ourselves is to disunite us." Significant words these were, containing in them the 
 germs of the great struggle which was already at the door, which, indeed, had already begun, 
 but of the presence of which neither the British government nor the American colonists 
 were as )'et aware. 
 
 The French and Indian War— so called in the phraseolog}' of American history — was 
 one of the most important in the annals of mankind. By this conflict it was decided that 
 the decaying institutions of the middle ages should not prevail in the countries west of the 
 Atlantic and that the powerful language, laws and liberties of the English-speaking race 
 should be planted forever in the vast domains of the New World.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 |S we have said, the war of American Independence — the Revo- 
 lution so-called — by which the American colonies were 
 detached from their allegiance to the mother country 
 and at length made a nation, began with those con- 
 ditions and circumstances which first brought the 
 Americans into union of effort and purpose. In the 
 preceding chapter we have seen how the colonists 
 discovered in themselves the elements of unity and 
 strength. The provincial soldiers soon found out 
 that the British regulars were not superior to them- 
 selves in battle — that the discipline of the regulars from the 
 mother countn,' was compensated by the knowledge which 
 the Americans possessed of the manners and tactics of the 
 
 enemy. 
 
 To the British regulars the new arena of war in America 
 was full of unknown perils and pitfalls. The continent was an expanse of woods and 
 mountains and rivers. The Indian method of warfare was unheard of and at first despised. 
 The Braddock campaign showed clearly that the provincials, whose bad reputation with 
 the British officers had become traditional, were really the most available contingent of 
 he anny. 
 
 Many things tended in the sixth and seventh decades of the century to develop a 
 national consciousness in America. Nations are even as men. They have their periods 
 of childhood and adolescence. At length, with growth and development, consciousness 
 appears. True, it were difficult to discover from what sources in the individual life per- 
 sonal consciousness at length arises; and so in the case of nations. For the present it 
 suffices to point out the fact that the time at which we have now arrived in American 
 histop.' was the time when consciousness appeared — consciousness of individuality-, of 
 strength, of personal will and ultimately of independent right. 
 
 There is a great popular error in underestimating the character and significance of the 
 French and Indian War. As matters of fact the conflict was of longer duration than the 
 Revolution proper. The forces engaged — the English forces — were greater in numbers and 
 equipment than were at any time seen in America during the war of Independence. The 
 battles fought, though not more numerous, were on the whole more detennined and much 
 more bloody. As has been said, the losses in the battle of Ticondcroga, almost unknown 
 as it is in the popular memor)', were much more severe and destructive of life than any 
 single conflict of the Revolution. 
 
 A REMARKABLE CHANGE OF POLITICAL FEELING. 
 
 We are here to take iip the narrative after llie treal> of Paris and to note the causes 
 which led to the rebellion and final independence of the American colonies. After the 
 
 (453)
 
 454 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 treaty of peace there was a brief period of recuperation. The British armies were with- 
 drawn from America to be used abroad. It is now clear in the retrospect that the rela- 
 tions between the soldiers of the colonies and the foreign regulars had never been gracious 
 or agreeable. The British officers were disliked and in some instances the dislike rose — or 
 sank — to the level of hatred. 
 
 It is one of the strange circumstances of the histor}- of these times that the French., the 
 enemy with whom the American colonists were for several years engaged in bloody war, 
 appear not to have been so seriously disliked as the British, under whose patronage and by 
 whose overwhelming power and alliance the war was brought to a successful end. We shall 
 see with astonishment how in the course of a \-ery few }-ears all the conditions were reversed 
 and a new sentiment created by which the French were converted into friends and the 
 British made enemies — a state of feeling and opinion which much more than a century of 
 time has not availed to obliterate. 
 
 The epoch upon which we now enter was one in which existing institutions were 
 rapidl}- transformed. Many old things passed away. A new man and a new society were 
 born out of a sort of fruitful anarchy, as if from a soil long prepared with the care of the 
 husbandman. There was a civil and social revolt of the people against the existing order, 
 and in particular against the institution of monarchy which had so long intrenched itself 
 as the prevailing political form among the western nations. 
 
 Our Revolution of 1776 was one of the leading incidents of a large and world-wide 
 movement which has not }-et by any means reached its limits. It is important that we 
 should note with some care at least the more immediate causes of our conflict with the 
 mother country. Doubtless the first and most general of these was the claim and exercise 
 of the right of arbitrary government by Great Britain, which "right" was denied and 
 resisted by the colonies. At the first the enunciation of such a right on the part of the 
 mother country was a matter of little importance. The claim was theoretical rather than 
 practical. The colonies had not yet reached the stage of autonomy, but when the English 
 government began to force the principle in practice upon full-grown States having more 
 than two hundred thousand inhabitants within their borders, and lying at a distance of 
 three thousand miles from the mother countr}-, the colonies resisted. 
 
 The qTiestions involved in the coming controversy began to be openh- discussed about 
 the time of the treaty of Aix la Chapelle in 1748, and from that period until the outbreak 
 of hostilities in 1775 each year witnessed, in some fonn, a renewal of the agitation. But 
 there were also many subordinate causes tending to bring on a conflict. First among these 
 may be named the influence of France, which was constantly exerted so as to excite a spirit 
 of resistance in the American colonies. Doubtless the French king would never have 
 agreed to the treaty of 1763, by which Canada was ceded to Great Britain, had it not been 
 with the ulterior hope and aim of securing American Independence. 
 
 THE FORESHADOWING OF REBELLION. 
 
 It was the theory' of France that by giving up Canada to the other English colonies in 
 America, the whole group would become so strong as to renounce their allegiance to the 
 crown. Such a result was feared by the British government. More than once it was 
 openly proposed in Parliament to recede Canada to France for the avowed purpose of check- 
 ing the ominous growth of the American States. ' ' There, now, ' ' said the French states- 
 man Vergennes, when the treaty of 1763 was signed, "we have arranged matters for an 
 American rebellion in which England will lose her empire in the west!" Such was the
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. Aoo 
 
 prescience of the shrewd politicians of Western Europe who played at dice with our repub- 
 lican commonwealths in the seventh decade of the eighteenth century. 
 
 A second cause leading to our war for independence may be discovered in the natural 
 disposition and inherited character of the colonists. They were for the most part republi- 
 cans in political sentiment and dissenters in religion. The people of the home country 
 were monarchists and high-churchmen. The American colonists had never seen the king 
 who ruled them, or any king. The broad Atlantic lay between them and the British min- 
 istr}-. Their dealings for a century past and more with the royal officers had been such as 
 to engender a dislike, not only for the officers themselves, but for the system of govern- 
 ment which they represented. The people of America had not forgotten, could not well 
 forget, the circumstances of hardship and abuse under which their ancestors had come to the 
 New World. Moreover, for six generations the colonists had managed their own affairs. 
 They had been accustomed to popular assemblies and to certain methods of conducting 
 public business until the instinct of democratic management had become hereditarv. The 
 experiences of the French and Indian war had shown the Americans that their own best 
 reliance in the day of trouble was themselves — that they were able to defend themselves and 
 their countr}' against aggression. 
 
 There was a natural evolution of public opinion in the colonies tending to indepen- 
 dence. The more advanced thinkers came to believe that a complete separation from 
 England was not onl)- possible but desirable. The remark of young John Adams, recorded 
 in his dian- for 1755, has already been quoted on a fonner page. His opinion and the 
 opinions of others like him were at first expressed only in private, then by hints in pam- 
 phlets and newspapers, and at last publich- and ever\-where. It is needless to say, howe\-er, 
 that ideas so radical and seemingly dangerous were accepted by the people at large verv 
 slowly, cautiously, reluctantly. Not until the war of the Revolution had actually begun 
 could the majority- of the colonists be brought to declare for independence. 
 
 THE POLITICAL CHARACTER OF GEORGE III. 
 
 Another subordinate cause of the contlict with tlie mother country was found in the 
 personal character and political methods of the King, George III., w-ho ascended the 
 English throne in 1760, and who proved to be one of the worst monarchs of modern times. 
 His notions of government were altogether despotic. He was by mental constitution a 
 stubborn, thick-headed, stupid man, in whose mind the notion of human rights was almost 
 wholly wanting. His beliefs and aphorisms were derived from the Middle Ages. It was 
 well nigh impossible for him to conceive of a magnanimous public project or to appreciate 
 the value and desirability of civil liberty. In his personal life he was a man of e.xemplary 
 habits, not incapable of domestic affections and fidelity ; but his public administration was 
 as bad as any which Europe had seen since the dcatli of Louis XI\'. His reign of sixtv 
 years was as odious to patriotism as it was long in duration. It was a part of his public 
 policy to employ only those who were the narrow-minded partisans of himself and his Tory 
 ministn,-. Tiie members of his cabinet and council were for the most part men as incom- 
 petent and illiberal as their king. With such a ruler and such a ministry' it was not likely 
 that the descendants of the Pilgrims in America woiM get on smoothly. 
 
 The more immediate cause of the Revolution, however, was the passage by Parliament 
 of a series of act? destructive of colonial liberty. These acts were first opposed and then 
 resisted by the colonies, and the attempt was made by (ireat Britain to enforce them, first 
 with authority and then with the bayonet. The general question involved in these acts was 
 that of taxation. It is a well-grounded principle of the English common law that the
 
 456 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 subjects of the crown b\- their representatives in the House of Commons have the right 
 of \oting whatever taxes and customs are necessary for the support of the kingdom. It was 
 but natural that this right should be claimed by the American colonists ; for they were 
 English subjects with the full rights of Englishmen. 
 
 AVith good reason the General Assemblies of the colonies urged that they, the Assem- 
 blies, held, out of the nature of the case, the same relation to the American people as the 
 
 House of Commons 
 held to the people of 
 England. To this pro- 
 position the English 
 ministers replied that 
 Parliament, and not the 
 colonial Assemblies, was 
 the proper body to vote 
 taxes in any and all 
 parts of the British em- 
 pire. ' ' But we are not 
 represented in Parlia- 
 ment," was the answer 
 of the Americans ; ' ' the 
 House of Commons mar 
 therefore justly assess 
 taxes in England, but 
 not in America." 
 "Many of the towns, 
 boroughs and shires in. 
 these British isles have 
 no representatives in 
 Parliament, and yet the 
 Parliament ta.xes //lem, ' ' 
 replied the ministers, 
 now driven to sophistry. 
 " If any of your towns, 
 boroughs and shires are 
 not represented in the 
 House of Commons, 
 they ought to be," was 
 the American rejoinder, 
 and there the argument 
 ended. It is easy for the reader to discover in this incipient controversy the elements of a 
 profound dispute relative to the rights of local self-government and home-rule — a dispute 
 which has not yet ceased to agitate and disturb the British empire. 
 
 SPECIFIC COMPLAINTS AGAINST ENGLAND. 
 
 Such were the essentials of the controvers\- between the colonies and the mother 
 
 country. It is now proper to notice the principal parliamentary acts which the colonists 
 
 complained of and resisted. The first of these was called the Importation .-Vet. It was 
 
 passed in the year 1733. The statute was itself a kind of supplement and revival of the 
 
 (^^^^ra^^cJ^ra'^^m/''^^
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. -407 
 
 old Navigation Act of 165 1. By the terms of the new law exorbitant dnties were laid oa 
 all the sugar, molasses and rum imported into the colonies. The effect was, as a matter of 
 course, to raise the price of these articles to the consumers, with the consequent discontent 
 and distress which such measures always produce. At first the payment of the unreason- 
 able customs was evaded by the merchants, and then the statute was openly set at nauglit, 
 disobeyed and neglected as though it were not. In 1750 an act was passed forbidding the 
 erection of iron works in America. The manufacture of steel was specially interdicted, 
 and the felling of pines outside of law was made a nii.sdenieanor under penalt)\ 
 
 All of these laws were at length disregarded, as thc\- were from the first denounced by 
 the people of the colonies as being unjust and tyrannical. In 1761 the question of these 
 violated statutes was taken up and a strenuous effort was made to enforce the Importatioa 
 Act. The colonial courts in America were directed to issue to the King's officers a kind 
 of search-warrants called writs of assistance. With the.se in hand it was possible for petty 
 constables to enter any and every place, searching for and seizing goods which were suspected 
 of having evaded the duty. It was but natural that this proceeding should be resisted. 
 At Salem and Boston the greatest excitement prevailed. Tiie question of resistance was 
 carried to the courts, and James Otis, an able and temperate man, pleaded eloquently for 
 the right of the colonies, denouncing the parliamentar)- acts as contrary- to the British con- 
 stitution. The address of Otis was accepted as a masterly defence of the people, and the 
 event produced a profound feeling throughout the colonies. Already there began to be 
 hints of resistance by force of arms. 
 
 Two years after these events the English ministers again took up the question of en- 
 forcing the law which required the payment of duties on sugar, molasses and mm. The 
 officers of the admiralty were directed to seize and confiscate all vessels engaged in the 
 transportation of these articles except under certificate that the duties thereon had been 
 paid. While this act was pending in Parliament and before a knowledge of its passage 
 had reached Boston a great town-meeting was held in that cit\-. The orator of the day was 
 the patriot Samuel Adams. He produced a powerful argument, showing conclusively that 
 under the British constitution taxation and representation are inseparable. Meanwhile ves- 
 sels from the English navy, under direction of the admiralty, were sent to hover around the 
 American harbors and enforce the provisions of the Importation .\ct. By these a great num- 
 ber of merchantmen bearing cargoes of sugar and spirits were seized, in so much that the 
 colonial trade with the West Indies was almost destroyed. 
 
 These events occupied public attention during the years 1763—64. In the latter year 
 was made in Parliament the first formal declaration of a purpose to tax the colonies. Sir 
 George Grenville was at this time Prime Minister of England. By his influence on the 
 loth of March, 1764, a resolution was adopted in the House of Commons declaring that it 
 would be proper to charge certain stamp duties on the American colonies. It was an- 
 nounced that a bill embodying this principle would be prepared by the ministers and 
 brought forward at the next session of Parliament. 
 
 EXCITEMENT PRODUCED BY THE STAMP ACT. 
 
 The news of this measure was to tlie Americans like a sjiark in a magazine of com- 
 bustibles. Universal excitement and indignation prevailed throughout the colonics. Politi- 
 cal meetings became the order of the day. Orators were in great demand. The newspapers 
 teemed with arguments against the proposed enactment. Resolutions were passed in opposi- 
 tion at almost ever>' town-meeting. F'ormal remonstrances were drawn up and forwarded 
 to the King and Parliament. vSome of the ablest men of the colonies were appointed agents 
 and sent to Ivondon in the hope of pre\eiiting the pa.ssage of such a law.
 
 458 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The reader may be curious to know by what argument a British Commoner of 1764 
 would defend the provisions of the Stamp Act. It was thus : The French and Indian 
 war had just been concluded with a treaty of peace. Great Britain had been at large ex- 
 pense and had incurred heavy debt. The war had been fought for the English colonies in 
 America, in their defence against the French, for the extension of their territorial domains 
 beyond the mountains. It would be just and right that the expense of the war should be 
 borne by the colonies. The debt incurred might be properly and equitably provided for by 
 levying stamp duties on the business of the colonists. 
 
 To all this the Americans replied that England ought to defend her colonies for the 
 reason that they were hers and for motives of humanit}-; that in the prosecution of the late 
 war the colonies had aided Great Britain as much as she had aided them ; that the American 
 provincials had devoted their treasure and shed their blood in ihat cause which was to secure 
 the supremacy of the British crown in the vast region east of the Mississippi; that the re- 
 cent cession of Canada had amplj- compensated 
 England for her losses in the war; and finally 
 that it was not the payment of money which 
 the colonists dreaded, but the loss of their 
 liberties. It was a principle for which they 
 contended — the principle of representa- 
 tion and tax. The Americans were not re- 
 presented in Parliament, and Parliament there- 
 fore should not tax them either directly or in- 
 directly. To all this was added with some 
 acerbity that in case of another war the 
 Americans would fight their own battle. In 
 the light of the retrospect and the impartial 
 judgment of history it is easy to see that the 
 American argument had in it a force, a cogency, 
 an element of truth and justice for which we 
 should look in vain in the reasonings of the 
 British ministr}-. 
 
 At the beginning of the contro^•ers^• in the 
 British Parliament, the cause of the Ameri- 
 cans was defended by the celebrated William 
 Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham. But with 
 the coming of 1765 that statesman had been obliged to yield his place in the House of 
 Commons, and with that event the Stamp Act was passed. In the Lower House the 
 measure was adopted by a majority- of five to one. In the House of Lords the vote was 
 unanimous. At the time of the passage, the King was in a fit of insanity, and was unable 
 to sign the bill. On the 2 2d of March the royal assent was given by a board of commis- 
 sioners acting in the King's name. "The sun of American liberty has set," wrote Benjamin 
 Franklin to a friend at home. " Now we must light the lamp of industry and economy." 
 ' ' Be assured, ' ' said the friend in reply, ' ' that we shall light torches of another sort ." * 
 And the answer reflected the sentiment and detennination of the whole countn-. 
 
 The leading provisions of the Stamp Act were as follows : Ever\' note, bond, deed, 
 mortgage, lease, license and legal document of whatever sort required in the colonies should, 
 after the ist day of November, 1765, be executed on paper bearing an English stamp. 
 
 BENJ. FRANKUN.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 459 
 
 This stamped paper was to be furnished b>' the British government, and for each sheet the 
 colonists were required to pay a sum varying, according to the nature of tlic document to 
 be written or printed thereon, from three-pence to six pounds sterling. Ever\- colonial 
 pamphlet, almanac and newspaper was required to be printed on the stamped paper, the 
 value of the stamps in this case ranging from a half-penny to four-pence ; ever)- advertise- 
 ment was taxed two shillings. No contract was to be of any binding force unless written 
 on paper bearing the royal stamp. 
 
 THE TORCH OF REBELLION LIGHTED. 
 
 It was not likely that an act such as this would be received in other than a wrathful 
 spirit by the already goaded American colonists. The news of the passage of the act swept 
 over the country- like a thunder-cloud. The weaker of the people gave way to grief ; but 
 the stronger, the more courageous, 
 were indignant, angrj-, defiant. 
 Crowds of excited men surged into 
 
 the towns and there were some acts 
 of violence. In Philadelphia and 
 Boston the bells rung a funeral peal 
 and the people called it the death- 
 knell of liberty. At New York 
 there was a procession ; a copy of 
 the Stamp Act was carried through 
 the streets with a death's-head nailed 
 to it and a placard bearing this in- 
 scription — "The folly of England 
 and the ruin of America." 
 
 The orators added fuel to the 
 flame. In the Virginia House of 
 Burgesses there was a memorable 
 scene. Patrick Henp*-, the youngest 
 member of the House, an un- 
 educated mountaineer from Louisa 
 county, waited for some' older 
 delegate to lead the Burgesses in 
 opposition to Parliament. But the 
 older members were of that con- 
 ser\-ative folk with whom ease and 
 estates and possessions have tri- 
 umphed over the hazards of freedom and aggression, 
 went home. 
 
 Offended at this lukewannness, Henr>- in his passionate way snatched a blank leaf out 
 of an old law-book and hastily drew up a series of fier\' resolutions declaring that the 
 Virginians were Englishmen with English rights ; that the people of Great Britain had the 
 exclusive privilege of voting their own taxes and so had the Americans ; that the colonists 
 were not bound to yield obedience to any law imposing taxation on them ; and that who- 
 ever said the contrary was an enemy to the country. The resolutions were at once laid 
 before the House. 
 
 It was the signal for excitement and tumult. A violent debate ensued, in which the 
 
 PROCESSION IN" NKW YORK IN OPPOSITION TO THE STAMP ACT. 
 
 Some of these hesitated ; others
 
 460 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 patriots had the best of the argument. It was a moment of intense interest. The legisla- 
 tive assembly of the oldest and most populous of all the colonies was about to act. Two 
 future Presidents of the United States were in the audience ; Washington occupied his seat 
 as a delegate and Thomas Jefferson, fresh from college, stood just outside the railing. The 
 eloquent and audacious Henry bore down all opposition. " Tarquin and Csesar had each 
 
 iifl ''lil|ir'"'TT''l liis Brutus, " said the in- 
 dignant orator; "Charles 
 I. had his Cromwell, and 
 George III." — 
 ' ' Treason ! ' ' shouted 
 the Speaker. ' ' Trea- 
 son, treason ! ' ' cried the 
 terrified loyalists, 
 springing to their feet. 
 —"And George III. 
 may profit by their ex- 
 ample, " continued 
 Henry ; and then added 
 as he took his seat, "If 
 that be treason, make 
 the most of it !" The 
 resolutions were put to 
 the House and adopted ; 
 but the majorities on 
 some of the votes were 
 small, and the next day when Henr>' was absent the most 
 violent paragraph was reconsidered and expunged ; some 
 of the members were greatly frightened at their own 
 audacit}-. But the resolutions in their entire form had gone before the country as the ex- 
 pression of the oldest American commonwealth and the effect on the other colonies was as 
 the shock of a batten-. 
 
 ASSEMBLING OF THE FIRST COLONIAL CONGRESS. 
 Other Assemblies proceeded in a similar strain. Resolutions like those of the Virginia 
 House were adopted in New York and Massachusetts — in the Assembly of the latter State 
 before the action of Virginia was known. At Boston James Otis proposed the holding of 
 an American Congress. His plan was to the effect that each colony, without leave of the 
 King, should appoint delegates to meet in the following autumn and discuss the affairs of 
 the nation. The proposition was received with much favor. Nine of the colonies appointed 
 delegates and on the 7th of October, 1765, the First Colonial Congress assembled at New 
 York. 
 
 Twenty-eight representatives were present at the session of this memorable body. 
 Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, was chosen president. After much discussion a Decla- 
 ration of Rights was adopted setting forth in moderate but unmistakable terms that the 
 American colonists, as Englishmen, could not and would not consent to be taxed save by 
 their own representatives. Memorials were also prepared and addressed to the two Houses 
 of Parliament. A manly petition declaring loyalty and praying for a just and humane 
 policy toward his American siibjects was drawn up and directed to the King.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 4r,l 
 
 The Stamp Act was to have .a^one into effect on the ist of November. The British 
 goveniment went straight ahead with the preHminaries fully expecting the American colo- 
 nies to accept the measure. Duriug the summer great quantities of the stamped paper were 
 prepared and sent to America. Everywliere it was rejected or destroyed. The ist of 
 November instead of marking the beginning of a new era of British revenue in the colonies 
 was observed as a day of mourning. At first legal business was suspended. The court 
 houses and other public offices were shut up. Not even a marriage license could be legally 
 issued and the affianced of the young men and women put off the consummation of their 
 unions. 
 
 By and by, however, the offices began to be opened and business was resumed, but it 
 was not transacted with stamped paper. The antagonism against the act had now pene- 
 trated to the secret depths of society. It was at this time that the patriotic order known as 
 the Sons of Liberty was organized under an oath of secrecy and with the one profound pur- 
 pose of resisting the arbitrary acts and t\Tanny of the British ministry. The patriot mer- 
 chants at New York, Boston and Philadelphia took up the cause and entered into an agree- 
 ment to purchase no more goods of Great Britain until the Stamp Act should be repealed. 
 
 Meanwhile the ministr\- had to meet the rising tide of an indignant opposition in Eng- 
 land as well as America. It was found that the American colonists were not without their 
 friends. Some of the most eminent British statesmen espoused their cause. In the House 
 of Commons William Pitt planted himself squarely in the pathway of the government. On 
 one occasion he delivered a powerful address on the relations of the mother country to the 
 colonies. "You have," said he, " no right to tax America. I rejoice that America has 
 resisted!" The opposition prevailed and on the i8th of March, 1766, the Stamp Act was 
 formally repealed. At the same time, however, and as a sort of salve to the Parliamentary 
 honor it was declared by resolution that Parliament had the right "to bind the colonies in 
 
 all cases whatsoever." 
 
 IMPOSITION OF OTHER OPPRESSIVE DUTIES. 
 
 Great was the joy in both England and America when the news of the repeal of the 
 Stamp Act was borne abroad. The reversal in British policy was so complete as to effect a 
 change in the ministry-. Earl Grenville was obliged to retire from the place of Prime Minis- 
 ter and the leadership of the cabinet was given to William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. That 
 statesman, however, was already fallen into the decrepitude which preceded his death. In 
 the veiA' crisis of affairs he was confined by sickness to his countr>' home. In accordance 
 with usage Charles Townshend, a member of the cabinet, acted in the place of the Prime 
 Minister, and while holding that position for a brief period brought forward with . strange 
 fatuity a new scheme for taxing America. On the 29th of June, 1767, a system of American 
 customs-duties was devised and an act passed imposing an import tariff on all the glass, 
 paper, painters' colors and tea which should thereafter be shipped to .Vmerican harbors. 
 
 With the passage of this act the slumbering resentment of the colonists burst out anew. 
 A second agreement was made b\- the American merchants not to pnrcha.sc British goods 
 until the objectionable acts should be repealed. The colonial newspapers were filled with 
 denunciations of Parliament. The question was again taken up by the patriots in the vari- 
 ous lej^islatnres. Early in 1768 the A». embly of Ma.ssachusetts prepared a circular and sent 
 it abroad calling jipon the other colonies for assistance in the effort to obtain redress of 
 grievances. This paper had the effect of enraging the British ministers and they required 
 the Assembly to rescind their action and to express regret for that "rash and hasty 
 pnxi ceding."
 
 462 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The merchantmen trading with the colonies caught their spirit. In many instances 
 they chose to violate the customs act and dutiable goods were thus brought in free. In June 
 of 1768 a sloop charged with evading the payment of duty was seized by the custom house 
 ofl&cers at Boston. This done, a tumult broke out The people became insurgent, attacked 
 the houses of the officers and obliged the occupants to save themselves by flight to Castle 
 William, on an island in the harbor. Affairs soon came to so high a pass as to betoken 
 revolution. General Gage, commandant of a regiment of British regulars at Halifax, was 
 accordingly ordered to repair to Boston and overawe the insurgents. He arrived at that 
 city on the ist of October bringing with him seven hundred soldiers. With these he 
 marched into the capital of Massachusetts after the manner of a conqueror. 
 
 The excitement in Parliament rose to an equal height. In February of 1769 that 
 body passed an act declaring the people of Massachusetts to be rebels and directing the 
 governor to arrest such as might be deemed guilty and send them to Etiglajtd for trial! 
 This act was fuel to the flame. The General Assembly of Massachusetts met the outrage 
 with defiant resolutions. Similar measures were taken by the Assemblies in Virginia and 
 North Carolina. In the latter State there was a popular insurrection, but Governor Tryon 
 succeeded in suppressing it. The insurgents being outlawed escaped across the mountains 
 to become the founders of Tennessee. 
 
 THE BOSTON MASSACRE. 
 
 Already in the principal American cities the peace was broken between the British 
 soldiery and the people. The former constituted a kind of garrisons, with no respect indeed 
 to a foreign foe, but having the manifest purpose of suppressing the inhabitants among 
 whom they were quartered. In 1770 the British soldiers in New York cut down a liberty- 
 pole which had been erected in the Park. Hereupon a conflict ensued in which the people 
 were victorious. In Boston a more serious difficulty occurred. In that cit>', on the 5th of 
 March, a crowd of people, rough but patriotic, surrounded Captain Preston's company 
 of the city guard, addressed them with epithets, hooted at them and dared them to fire. 
 At length the soldiers becoming angry took the challenge, discharged a volley and killed 
 three of the citizens, wounding several others. This riot of blood aud lawlessness became 
 known as the Boston massacre. The event created a profound sensation. Captain Preston 
 and his company were arrested and tried for murder, and two of the oflenders were con- 
 victed of manslaughter. 
 
 By this time it had become apparent even in England that a different policy must be 
 adopted with the American colonies. The method of conciliation was now attempted, and 
 Parliament passed an act repealing all duties on American imports except that on tea. The 
 people in answer pledged themselves to use no more tea until the duty should be uncon- 
 ditionally repealed. In 1772 an act was passed making the salaries of the King's officers 
 in Massachusetts payable out of the treasury without consent of the Assembly. This 
 measure was resisted as the others before it had been. About the same time the Gaspee, a 
 royal schooner anchored at Providence, was boarded by the patriots of that city and burned. 
 
 A VIOLENT RESENTMENT OF THE TAX ON TEA. 
 
 In the following year Parliament, acting after the manner of a petulant boy leaving 
 the wrong side of a quarrel, and abandoning his former untenable position as if by stages 
 of apology and reparation, passed an act removing the export duty which had hitherto 
 been charged on tea shipped yJ'ow England. The price was by so much lowered, and the 
 ministers flattered themselves with the belief that when the cheaper tea was oflered in the 
 American market the colonists would pay the import duty without suspicion. Ships were
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 403 
 
 accordingly loaded with tea for America. Some of the vessels reached Charlestown ; but tlie 
 tea chests being refused by the merchants were stored in cellars and the contents mined. 
 At New York and Philadelphia the ships were forbidden to enter the docks. At Boston 
 the authorities would not permit the tea to be landed. 
 
 Now it was that one of the striking incidents precursive of the coming war occurred 
 at the capital of Massachusetts. On the i6th of December, 1773, there was a great town- 
 meeting, at which about seven thousand people were present. Samuel Adams and Josiah 
 Quincy spoke to the multitude. Evening 
 came on, and the meeting was about to 
 adjourn when a war w-lioop was heard, and 
 fifty men disguised as Indians marched to 
 the wharf where the tea-chests ships were at 
 anchor. The masqueraded men quickly 
 boarded the vessels and emptied three hundred 
 and fort}' chests of tea into the baj-. Such 
 was the Boston Tea Party! In the language 
 of Carlyle, "Boston harbor was black with 
 unexpected tea !' ' 
 
 Great was the wrath produced by the 
 intelligence of this event in Great Britain. 
 Parliament made haste to find re\-enge. On 
 the 31st of March, 1774, the Boston Port Bill 
 was passed, by which it was enacted that no 
 kind of merchandise should any longer be 
 landed or shipped at the wharves of Boston. 
 The custom-house was removed to Salem ; 
 but the people of that town refused to accept 
 it ! What must have been the temper and 
 sentiment of a town which refused to accept 
 a custom-house as a free gift from the mother countr>- ? The inhabitants of Marblehead 
 gave the free use of their warehouses to the merchants of Boston. 
 
 When the news of the passage of the Port Bill reached Virginia the burgesses 
 promptly entered a protest on their journal. Hereupon Governor Dunmore ordered the 
 members to their homes ; but they adjourned only to meet in another place and continue 
 their work. On the 20th of May a climax was reached in Parliament by the passage of 
 an act revoking and annulling the charter of Massachusetts. Tlie people of that province 
 ■were declared rebels, and the governor was ordered to send abroad for trial all persons who 
 should resist the roj'al officers. 
 
 Now it was, namely, in September of 1774, that the Second Colonial Congress assem- 
 bled at Philadelphia. Eleven colonies were represented. One address was prepared and 
 sent to the King, a second to the English nation and a third to the people of Canada. A 
 resolution was adopted to suspend all commercial intercourse with Great Britain ! When 
 information of this daring measure reached England Parliament retaliated by ordering 
 General Gage to reduce the colonists by force. A fleet and ten thousand .soldiers were .sent 
 to aid him in the work of subjugation. Boston Neck was seized and fortified by the Britisli. 
 The militar)' stores at Cambridge and Charlestown were conveyed to Boston and the General 
 Assembly was ordered to disband. Tiie members, however, instead of dispersing, voted to 
 raise and equip an army of twelve thousand men for defence. 
 
 ■^"'y^.'.c 
 
 SAMIEI. AD.\MS.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 FROM CONCORD TO QUEBEC. 
 
 ^^- 
 
 ^i^^ 
 
 • iw 
 
 7^.-'^%. "■•""* 
 
 ROM the first the people of Boston were on one side and 
 General Gage and his anny on the other. There was 
 hardly a middle ground of conser\'atisni between them. 
 As soon as the British occupancy was effected, the Bos- 
 tonians, concealing their ammunition in carts, conveyed 
 it out of the city to the village of Concord, about sixteen 
 miles away. The possession of these military- stores was 
 of the greatest importance to the colony, and their recap- 
 ture of like importance to the British commander. On 
 the night on the i8th of April he accordingly despatched 
 a regiment of eight hundred men to recapture or destroy 
 the stores which the patriots had collected at Concord. 
 The plan of the British was made with great secrecy, but 
 the provincials discovered the movement, and when the 
 regiment, under command of Colonel Smith and Major 
 Pitcairn, set out for Concord, the people of Boston were roused by the ringing of bells and 
 the firing of cannon. ' Two messengers, William Dawes and Paul Revere, rode with all 
 speed to Lexington and spread the alarm through the country. 
 
 At two o'clock in the morning of the 19th of April a company of a hundred and 
 thirt\' minute-men gathered on the common at Lexington. They came with arms to resist 
 the approaching enemy. But no enemy appeared until about five o'clock, when the British 
 advance under Pitcairn, came into sight. The pro\'incials were led by Captain Parker. 
 Pitcairn rode up and exclaimed : " Disperse, ye villains! Throw down your arms!"' The 
 minute-men stood still, and Pitcairn cried "Fire!" The first volley of the Revolution 
 whistled through the air and sixteen of the patriots fell dead or wounded. The rest fired 
 
 a few random shots and dispersed. 
 
 BATTLE OF CONCORD. 
 
 After this passage at anns the British passed on without further molestation to Concord. 
 But the inhabitants had removed the stores to a place of safety and there was but little left 
 for destruction. While the British were ransacking the town the minute-men gathered and 
 confronted a company of soldiers who were guarding the North Bridge. Here the Ameri- 
 cans first fired under orders of their officers and two British soldiers were killed. The 
 volley was hotter than the enemy had expected, and the company, abandoning the bridge, 
 began a retreat through the town and thence in the direction of Lexington. 
 
 This movement was the signal for the patriots to rally. They came flocking from all 
 directions. They rose on ever}- side as if from the earth. For six miles they kept up the 
 battle along the road. They hid behind trees, fences and barns and poured a constant fire 
 upon the retreating British. At one time it seemed that the whole regiment would be 
 obliged to surrender. As it was, the enemy lost two hundred and sevent>-three men, 
 while the American loss was forty-nine killed, thirty-four wounded and fi->'e missing. 
 
 (464)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ■Hid 
 
 Great was the fame of the battle, 
 and sped away through all the colonies. 
 
 P.i.L"L REVERE SPREADING THE ALARM. 
 
 Rumor took the news thereof upon her wings 
 Not even the Allcf^fhanies stiyed the intelligence 
 
 until it had reached the 
 remotest English cabins 
 :i the Ohio Valley, 
 Kentucky and Tennes- 
 see. The country was 
 fired with the passion 
 of war. Men anned 
 themselves of their own 
 accord and within a 
 few days an army of 
 twenty thousand patriot 
 ildiers gathered about 
 Moston. A line of en- 
 trenchments was drawn 
 around the city from 
 
 Roxbur>- to Chelsea. It was the common talk of the tumultuous host that they 
 
 would soon drive Gage and his red-coats into the sea. Captain John Stark came down 
 
 with the militia of New Hampshire. Old Israel Putnam, with his leather waistcoat on, 
 
 hurried to the nearest town, mounted a horse and rode to Cambridge, a distance of a 
 
 hundred miles in eighteen hours! Rhode 
 
 Island sent her men under Colonel Nathaniel 
 
 Greene, and Benedict Arnold came with the 
 
 provincials of New Haven. 
 
 CAF^URE OF TICONDEROGA. 
 Ethan Allen, of Vennont, made war in 
 
 the other direction. With a company of 
 
 two hundred and seventy patriots from the 
 
 Green Mountains he advanced against Ticon- 
 
 deroga. Arnold joined the expedition as a 
 
 private. On the evening of the 9th of May, 
 
 the force reached the shore of Lake George 
 
 opposite the fort. On the following morn- 
 ing eighty-three men succeeded in crossing. 
 
 With this mere handful Allen made a dash 
 
 and gained the gateway of the fort. The 
 
 sentinel was driven in closely followed by the 
 
 patriot mountaineers. The audacious captain 
 
 mshed to the quarters of the commandant and 
 
 cried out, "Surrender this fort instantly!" 
 
 " By what authorit>' ? " inquired the officer. 
 
 " In the name of the great Jehovah and the 
 
 Continental Congress," said Allen, flourishing his sword.* 
 
 GEN. NATHANIEL CREKNK. 
 
 There was no alternative. 
 
 • The bravado of Ethan .Mien and his answer have ever U-en precious morsels in Revohitionar>- tradition. 
 His conduct and words were as humorous as they were emphatic. His citation of authority was a luilicrous 
 anachronism, for the capture of the fort was made about five hours before the Continental Congress convened. 
 
 30
 
 466 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ETHAN AIXEN DEMANDING THE SURRENDER OF TICONDEROGA. 
 
 So thought the officer, and he surrendered at discretion. The garrison were made prisoners 
 and sent to Conuecticut. By this daring exploit vast quantities of military stores fell into 
 the hands of the Americans. f Two da>s afterward Crown Point was taken and the 
 British authority ended on the shores of L,ake George. 
 
 Great Britain after her manner rose to the emergency. She had now made the 
 issue and must meet it. An ami)- of reinforcements under Generals Howe, Clinton and 
 Burgoyne reached Bos- 
 ton on the 25th of 
 May. The British 
 forces were thus aug- 
 mented to more than 
 ten thousand men. 
 Rumors now flew 
 abroad that General 
 Gage was about to 
 begin a campaign from 
 Boston into the countr\- 
 for the purpose of 
 burning the neighbor- 
 ing towns and laying 
 waste the region round 
 about. Belief in the 
 truth of this rumor 
 produced great activity 
 among the Americans, and they determined to anticipate the movement of the enemy by 
 seizing and fortifying Bunker Hill which commanded the Peninsula of Charlestown. 
 
 It was now midsummer of 1775. On the night of the i6th of June Colonel William 
 Prescott was sent forward from Cambridge with about twelve hundred 
 men to occupy and entrench the hill. The provincials passed over the 
 Neck in safety and reached the eminence known as Bunker Hill; but 
 Prescott and his engineer, Gridley, not liking the position, proceeded down 
 the peninsula to the place called Breed's Pasture, afterwards named 
 Breed's Hill, within cannon range of Boston. On this height a redoubt 
 was thrown up during the night. The British ships in the harbor were 
 so near at hand that the American pickets along the shore could hear 
 the sentinels of the enemy repeating the night call, " All is well! " 
 
 With the coming of morning General Gage, perceiving the 
 extraordinary thing which patriotism had accomplished during the 
 night, ordered the ships in the harbor to begin the cannonade of the 
 American position. The British batteries on Copp's Hill, which is the 
 eminence in Boston over against Breed's Hill also opened fire. Just aftei 
 noon three thousand British veterans comuiauded by Generals Howe and Pigot landed al 
 Morton's point on Charlestown peninsula and prepared to can-\' the American redoubt. 
 
 T One of the marvellous things in Bancroft is the following : " Thus Ticonderoga, which had cost the British 
 nation eight millions sterling, a succession of campaigns and many lives, was won in ten minutes by a few undis- 
 ciplined volunteers without the loss of life or limb." — Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. vii., p. 340. 
 The historian here gives as the cost of Ticonderoga a sum more than ten times greater than it would require tf 
 rebuild Fortress Monroe ! 
 
 -1- 
 
 €^ 
 
 —]' 
 
 It7 
 
 Crown'Point! 
 
 ^■^K 
 
 r 
 
 ^'i 
 
 M^Botfaerosft' 
 
 K^JitileFieia^ %. 
 
 rFortEawaa " 
 
 ,5 
 
 ■•- -^ 
 
 VICINITY OF LAKE 
 GEORGE.
 
 COLUMBUS A\D COUUMRIA. 
 
 4C,7 
 
 The entire force of the provincials now ready for action was fewer llian fifteen hun- 
 dred men. Generals Pntnam and Warren had both arrived at the redonbt, bnt each 
 refused to take the command from Colonel Prescott and both served as privates in the 
 trenches. During the British advance Charlestown was set on fire and soon reduced 
 to ashes. Thousands of spectators climbed to the housetops in Boston to watch the battle. 
 On came the British in a stately and inii)osin<T column. 
 
 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 
 
 The Americans, as directed by their officers, reserved their fire until tlie advancing line 
 of the enemy was within a hundred and fifty feet. Then from the breastworks suddenly 
 there burst a sheet of flame, and the front ranks of the British withered in the blast. Aftei 
 a few volleys of this deadly fire the rest of the enemy fell into retreat. Once out of range 
 of the patriot muskets, Howe rallied his men and led them to the second charge. Again 
 the Americans withheld their fire until the enemy was but a few rods from the works, and 
 then with steady aim the deadly work of the first charge was repeated. The provincials 
 
 took steady aim and \'olley after volley was poured upon 
 the British column until it was broken and driven into 
 flight. 
 
 Before the second repulse the ships of the enemy's fleet 
 changed position so as to get the range of the American 
 redoubt and that position became almost untenable. For 
 the third time the British soldiers were refonned and sent 
 forward up the hillside with fi.ved bayonets. Unfortunately 
 for the patriots they had been but poorly supplied with 
 ammunition. They were also exhausted with the battle, 
 and with the indiscretion of raw troops, had eaten up their 
 rations earl\- in the day. The provincials had but three or 
 four rounds of powder and balls remaining. These they 
 expended on the advancing enemy and then there was a lull. The British reached the 
 ramparts and clambered over. The Americans, now out of ammunition, clubbed their 
 guns and hurled stones at the assailants. There was a brief hand-to-hand conflict But 
 the courage of the defenders was in vain and they were driven out of the works at the 
 point of the ba\onet. 
 
 One of the last to leave the trenches was the heroic Warren, who was struck with a 
 British ball, and gave his life for freedom. The losses on both sides had been out of all 
 proportion to the numbers engaged. That of the British was a thousand and fifty-four in 
 killed and wounded, while the Americans lost a hundred and fifteen killed, three hundred 
 and five wounded and thirty-two prisoners. More than a third on each side had been put 
 /tors du combat in the struggle on the sunnnit of Breed's Hill. The Americans fell back 
 over Bunker Hill, and were led in retreat by Prescott and Putnam, first to Prospect Hill 
 and then across Charlestown Neck to Cambridge. 
 
 Thus was the war of the Revolution precipitated by a bloody battle. To the patriots 
 the conflict on Bunker Hill was a circumstance of inspiration rather than discouragement. 
 There was no longer any doubt that provincial militiamen, ununifonned and undisciplined, 
 each with his own hunting-shirt and powder-horn and rifle, would stand against the veteran 
 columns of Great Britain. This was much. The news of the battle was borne swiftly 
 through the colonies as far as Georgia and the spirit of determined opposition was every- 
 
 PLAN OF THE HATTLF. OF BCTNKER 
 HILL.
 
 468 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 where aroused. The people began to speak of the United Colonies of America. They 
 talked openly of independence as a possible consequence of the war. At Charlotte, in 
 the Mecklenburg district of North Carolina, the citizens ran together in a convention and 
 actually passed a resolution and preamble declaring Independence. 
 
 WASHINGTON APPOINTED TO COMMAND THE AMERICAN ARMY. 
 Meanwhile, on the same day as the capture of Ticonderoga, the Colonial Congress con- 
 vened at Philadelphia. It was a noted assembh". Washington was there and John Adams 
 and Samuel Adams, Franklin and Patrick Henry ; Jefferson came soon afterwards. It was 
 a meeting of heroes and patriots. A last appeal was drawn up and sent to the King, 
 
 telling that monarch that 
 the American colonists, 
 driven by exaction and 
 injustice, had chosen war 
 in preference to slavery. 
 
 Early in the session 
 John Adams made an 
 address in the course of 
 which he referred to the 
 necessity of appointing a 
 commander-in-chief for the 
 American army, and noted 
 the qualities requisite in 
 that high officer. The 
 speaker concluded by put- 
 ting in nomination George 
 Washington, of Virginia. 
 On the mention of his 
 name Washington arose 
 and withdrew from the hall, saying to a friend outside, 
 "I fear that this day will mark the beginning of the 
 downfall of my military reputation." On the 15th of 
 June, two days before the battle of Bunker Hill, the 
 nomination was confirmed by Congress, and the man 
 who had saved the wreck of Braddock's army was 
 called upon to stand between the colonies as a whole 
 and the wrath of the mother countn-, and to save, possibly to build, a nation. 
 
 Washington was at the time of his election as commander-in-chief a little more than 
 forty-three years of age. His reputation was already that of a hero, patriot and statesman. 
 He was out of Virginia — born in Westmoreland county, on the nth of Februarv- (old style), 
 1732. At the age of eleven he had been left to the sole care of his mother. His education 
 was limited to the common branches of learning ; he was not a collegian. Surveying was 
 his favorite study. At the early age of sixteen he had been sent by his uncle to survey a 
 tract of land in the valley of the South Potomac. His first public duties performed in 
 the service of the Ohio Company, under direction of Governor Dinwiddle, and in the disas- 
 trous campaign of Braddock, have already been narrated. With great dignity and difii- 
 dence.he accepted the appointment of commander-in-chief, and set out to join the army at 
 Cambridge. Henceforth to the end of the war the destinies of the American cause were in 
 the largest measure entrusted to his keeping.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ACO 
 
 At the ven' beginninof of the session Concrress voted to equip an anny of twenty thou- 
 sand men, but the means of doin<j so wore not furnislied. Here, for the first time, we note 
 the essential vice of that confederative plan of government with which the history' of the 
 American people as a nation begins. Tlie raising of revenue, the furnishing of supplies, 
 the payment of levies, and all things included in this important branch of administration, 
 were left to the individual States. Congress, under the existing compact, had no right to 
 collect revenues or gather the supplies requisite for the prosecution of the war. Through- 
 out the revolutionary struggle both Congress and the general of the annies were constantly 
 hampered and impeded by this fatal defect in that system of administration which went by 
 the name of government, but was in reality no govennnent at all. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. 
 On taking command of the army at Cambridge Washington found himself at the head 
 of a force of fourteen thousand five hundred volunteers ; but they were undisciplined and 
 
 insubordinate. Worse than this, they did 
 not for the most part desire to be disciplined 
 or to become subordinate. The spirit of 
 individuality and localism was rampant 
 The supplies of war were almost wholly 
 wanting. But the army was soon organized 
 
 and arranged in three divisions. 
 
 The right 
 
 wing was assigned to General Artemas 
 
 Ward and stationed at Roxbur}-. The left 
 was put under command of General Charles 
 Lee and given position at Prospect IlilL 
 The centre under the commander-in-chief 
 lay at Cambridge. After Bunker Kill the 
 British held possession of Boston, including 
 the Charlestown peninsula; but the patiiots 
 yielded no inch of their ground, and soon 
 returned to the siege of the city. The in- 
 vestment was made with vigor and deter- 
 mination, and the British generals soon 
 found themselves cooped up with no pros- 
 pect of free campaigns or success in the 
 
 GF.ORGE WASHINGTON. OpCU ficld. 
 
 The King's authority was ver>' soon overthrown in all the colonies. In most of them 
 there was little resistance to the popular movement. In Virginia the governor, Lord Dun- 
 more, after being driven from office, proclaimed freedom to the slaves, and raised a force 
 of loyalists and inaugurated civil war ; but he was soon defeated by the patriots in an 
 engagement near Norfolk. By the autumn of 1775 the royal officers were all expelled, 
 and popular governments on the republican plan instituted in every one of the thirteen 
 colonies. 
 
 It was expected by the .Vmericans that Canada would make counnon cause with the 
 rest, but this expectation was doomed to disappointment. In the hope of encouraging the 
 people of that province to renounce the mother country and take up arms, Generals 
 Schuyler and Montgomery were ordered to proceed against St. John's and Montreal. The 
 former fort was reached on the lolh of Seiiteml)er, and General Montgomer\' succeeded at
 
 470 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 length in capturing it from the British garrison. Montreal was invested shortly afterwards 
 and on the 13 th of November was obliged to capitulate. General Montgomery in the next 
 place marched with three hundred men against Quebec. In the meantime Colonel Benedict 
 Arnold had set out for the same destination with a thousand men drawn from the anny at 
 Cambridge. After a march of untold hardship and suffering that daring commander 
 reached the St. Lawrence and climbed to the Plains of Abraham above Quebec. At Point 
 aux Tremples he was joined by Montgomer>', who as the senior officer took command. 
 The whole force fit for effective duty did not now exceed nine hundred men, so greatly had 
 they sufiered. Quebec, in addi- 
 tion to being a place of great 
 natural and artificial strength, 
 was defended by greatly superior 
 numbers. Yet for three weeks 
 with his mere handful of troops 
 Montgomery besieged the town, 
 and finally staked everything on 
 the issue of an assault. 
 
 ASSAULT ON QUEBEC. 
 
 Before daybreak of the 31st 
 of December, 1775, the first 
 division of the Americans, led 
 b}- Montgomer}' in person, at- 
 tacked the Lower Town. The 
 second column, under Arnold, 
 attempted to storm the Prescott 
 gate. As Montgomer\''s men 
 were rushing forward a masked 
 battery before them burst forth 
 with a stonn of grapeshot, and 
 at the first discharge Mont- 
 
 gomery fell dead. The men, 
 heartbroken at the loss of their 
 leader, retreated and made their 
 way to Wolfe's Cove, above the city. 
 
 Arnold had meanwhile, by extraordinary daring, fought his way into the Lower Town; 
 but while leading a charge he was severely wounded and borne to the rear. Captain 
 Morgan assumed command, and not knowing the fate of Montgomer}' pressed on through 
 the narrow streets until he was overwhelmed and compelled to surrender. Arnold with the 
 remnant of his forces retired to a point three miles above the citv. The small-pox broke 
 out in the camp ; Quebec was strengthened ; and in the following June the Americans 
 evacuated Canada. The event fixed the destiny of the northern province. The Canadians 
 remained in allegiance to the British crown, and Canada was used as a base of operations 
 by the British in the further prosecution of the war. 
 
 THE ATTACK ON QUEBEC AND DEATH OF MONTGOMERY.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE YEAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 CAME the King's answer to the appeal of Congress. The 
 petitions of the colonies were rejected with contempt 
 George III. and his minister planted themselves in a posi- 
 tion from which there was no retreat. The issue was 
 made np. Subjugation was the method deliberately 
 adopted by the British Government with respect to the 
 American colonies. By this policy and by the t)rannical 
 answer of the King the day of Independence was brought 
 near, even to the door. 
 
 After Bunker Hill, General Howe succeeded Gage in 
 the command of the British forces of Boston. All winter 
 long the city was besieged by \Vashington, and by the opening of spring, 1776, he felt himself 
 strong enough to risk an assault; but the officers of his staff were of a different opinion, and 
 a less hazardous plan was adopted. It was resolved instead of the direct assault to seize 
 Dorchester Heights, gain a position from which the American batteries might command the 
 city, and thus drive Howe out of Boston. 
 
 For two days the attention of the British was drawn by a constant fire from the Ameri- 
 can guns. Then, on the night of the 4th of March, a strong detachment was thrown forward 
 under cover of the darkness and reached the Heights of Dorchester unperceived. The British 
 gained no hint of the movement until morning; but with the coming of light, Howe per- 
 ceived at a glance that he was suddenly thrown on the defensive and that he must immedi- 
 ately carry the American position or abandon the city. He 
 accordingly ordered a force of two thousand four hundred 
 men to storm the Heights before nightfall. 
 
 Washington, noting the plans and purposes of his 
 adversary, visited the trenches, exhorted his men and gave 
 directions to his officers. A spirit of battle flamed up like 
 that at Bunker Hill. It was the auniversar)- of the Boston 
 massacre, and that circumstance added fuel to the fires of 
 patriotism. A battle was momentarily expected; but in the 
 lull of preparation a storm arose, and rendered the harbor 
 impassable for ships. The tempest continued to rage 
 for a whole day, and the attack could not be made. Before 
 the following morning the Americans had so strengthened 
 tneir fortifications that all thoughts of an assault were 
 abandoned, and General Howe found himself reduced to the extremity of giving up the 
 capital of Xew England. 
 
 It was still in the power of the British, however, to destroy what they could not hold. 
 Boston might he burned to the ground. Such a disaster nuist needs weigh heavily upon 
 the patriots. Washington entered into negotiations with the British commander, and it 
 
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 SIKCE OF lUlMUN, 1;
 
 472 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 was aoreed that the latter should retire from Boston unmolested on condition that the 
 city should not be injured. On the 17th of March, the whole British army went on 
 board the fleet and sailed away. About fifteen hundred lo\-alists who had chosen to 
 hold to the King's cause against the cause of their country, and dreading to remain in a 
 citv and among a people by whom they must henceforth be ostracized as Tories and traitors, 
 escaped with the British squadron. On the 20th of the month Washington made a fonnal 
 entry at the head of his triumphant army. The countrj^ was wild with delight at the expul- 
 sion of the enemy. Congress ordered a gold medal stnick in honor of Washington ''victo- 
 rious over the enemy for the first time put to flight." 
 
 THE CONFLICT OPENS IN OTHER SECTIONS. 
 
 The recovery of Boston from the British entailed two kinds of results on the patriot 
 cause. New England at once recovered herself ; Boston was fortified ; a sense of relief 
 came, and the people of New England feeling themselves freed, as they hoped for ever, of 
 the presence of the British, regarded the conflict as virtually over and the victory won- 
 This confidence was salutary so far as New England was concerned ; but owing to the strong 
 local prejudices existing among the colonies, it was injurious to the cause in other parts of 
 the field. In a word, the men of New England were ready to fight to the death for the de- 
 fence of New England, but did not feel the force of that higher patriotism which would 
 lead them to fight with equal resolution and courage in the defence of the other American 
 States. 
 
 The e\-il influences of these feelings were felt as soon as the commander-in-chief began 
 to withdraw his army from Boston for the defence of New York. Washington perceived 
 that, though Boston was rescued. New York was exposed. General Lee was sent forward 
 to the latter city with Connecticut militia, and reached New York just in time to baffle an 
 attempt of Sir Henry Clinton, whose fleet arrived off" Sandy Hook. 
 He found that the city was already preoccupied by the patriot 
 forces, and thereupon sailed away southward, to be joined by Sir 
 Peter Parker and Lord Cornwallis, with two thousand fi\-e hundred 
 additional British troops. 
 
 This force was reckoned suflficient for the capture of Charles- 
 t(m, but the Carolinians were by no means sleeping. Led by 
 General Lee thev rose in arms and flocked to the city as the men of 
 
 New England had rushed to Boston after Concord and Lexington. ^^^^^ ^^ Charleston. 
 Charleston was quickly fortified and a fort commanding the entrance 
 
 to the harbor was built on Sullivan's Island. On the 4th of June the British squadron 
 came in sight, but it was not until the 28th that the hostile fleet began a bombardment 
 of the fortress which was commanded b}- Colonel William Moultrie. The British vessels 
 obtained a good position and poured a torrent of balls upon the fort, but the walls, built 
 of palmetto wood, were little injured. The flag-staff" was shot away, but Sergeant Jasper 
 leaped down outside the parapet, recovered the flag and set it in its place again — an 
 incident famous in the revolutionary tradition. As evening came on the British, finding 
 that they could make no impression upon the fortification, were obliged to withdraw after 
 losing two hundred men. The patriot loss was thirt>--t\vo. As soon as the British could 
 repair their fleet they abandoned Charleston and sailed for New York. 
 
 It was now evident that the military operations of 1776 were to be centred at New 
 York and vicinity. During the summer Washington's forces were nominally increased by 
 volunteering to about twenty-seven thousand men, but the eff"ective force was little more
 
 PUTNAM'S DARING RIDE 
 
 Al/>MIrt CIIArrKI PIWl'T.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 473 
 
 than half that number. The recruits were raw, undisciplined, unused to hardship, strangers 
 to battle, poorly supplied, poorly equipped and in some instances badly commanded ; or 
 not all of the patriot officers were equal to their responsibilities. 
 
 On the other side Great Britain with her enormous resources made the vastest prepara- 
 tions. She entered into a treaty with some of the minor German States by which .seventeen 
 thousand Hessians were hired for the American war. George HI. was going to quell his 
 revolted provinces by sending against them a mercenar\", brutal, foreign soldier)-. Twcnt\-- 
 five thousand additional English troops were levied. A powerful squadron was fitted out to 
 aid in the reduction of the colonies and a million dollars voted for the extraordinary expenses 
 of the war department 
 
 DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 L'ntil this epoch the hope had been entertained in .Vmerica that the battle for English 
 rights could be fought and won without the separation of the colonies from the British crown. 
 The anger of the Ameri- 
 cans had been against 
 the ministrj' and the 
 King rather than agaiiast 
 the British people or the 
 institution of monarchy. 
 The vast majority of the 
 patriots were np to this 
 time wholly averse to 
 the notion of independ- 
 ence. As late as the 
 spring of 1776 Washing- 
 ton himself had said that 
 he abhorred the idea of 
 separating the colonies 
 from the mother country. 
 But the heats of war 
 soon melted and transfused the senti- 
 ment of the Americans into another 
 form. It was in the early part of 1776 
 that this change of opinion was effected. The y 
 change was wellnigh iniivensal. Only a few still 
 clung to England and the ancient system. Though the 
 colonists had thus far claimed to be lo\al subjects of the 
 crown they now became rebels and insurgents in earnest. 
 Now the hope of reconciliation seemed utterly abolished. 
 The people began to urge the Assemblies and the 
 Assemblies to urge Congress to declare the independence of the colonies. Congress re- 
 sponded at first by recommending the colonies to adopt each and several for them- 
 selves such governments as might seem most conducive to tlie .safety and welfare of the 
 people. Meanwhile the discissions of Congress tended constantly in tlie direction indicated 
 by the popular voice. 
 
 It was on the 7th of June, 1776, that Richard Henr>' Ivcc, a delegate from Virginia, 
 offered in Congress the first resolution declaring that the United Colonies were and of right 
 
 TIIK ATTACK ON FORT MOl'LTRIE.
 
 474 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 oiiglit to be Free and Independent States. A long and exciting debate ensued in which 
 the advocates of independence constantly gained ground and the minority of opposition 
 wasted away. It was first agreed that the final consideration of Lee's resolution should be 
 postponed until the ist of July. Meanwhile on the nth of June, four days after the first 
 introduction of the measure, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger 
 Sherman and Robert R. Livingston were appointed a committee to prepare a formal 
 declaration. * 
 
 Accordingly on the ist of July the committee made its report to Congress. On the 
 next day — the 2d — Lee's resolution was adopted iu the original words. During the 3d the 
 formal declaration as reported by the com- 
 mittee was debated with great spirit. The 
 discussion was resumed on the 4th, though it 
 was now clear both within and without the 
 halls of Congress that the members had risen 
 to the level of their convictions and that the 
 report would be adopted. At 2 o'clock on 
 the afternoon of the memorable day the vote 
 on the Declaration of American Independence 
 was called and the measure carried by a 
 unanimous vote of all the colonies. 
 
 The tradition runs that the old bellman 
 of the Statehouse, waiting with the rope in 
 his hands until afternoon, became discouraged 
 and said to the bystanders, "They will 
 never do it. They will never do it." But 
 they did do it, and the old bellman rang out 
 the note of freedom to the nation. The multi- 
 tudes caught the signal and ansvv^ered with 
 shouts. Everywhere the Declaration was re- 
 ceived with enthusiastic applause. The people 
 of Philadelphia proceeded at once to throw down the king's arms and burn them in the 
 streets. At Williamsburg, Charleston and Savannah bonfires were kindled, and orators 
 roused the people with declamation and appeal for freedom. At Boston the Declaration was 
 read in Faneuil Hall. At New York the populace pulled down the leaden statue of George 
 III. and cast it into bullets. Washington for his part ordered the Declaration to be read 
 at the head of each brigade of the army. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE DECLARATION. 
 
 But what was this, our new Charter of Liberties ? The leading principles of it are 
 as follows : That all men are created equal ; that all have a natural right to life, liberty 
 and the pursuit of happiness ; that human governments are instituted, not for the benefit 
 of kings and princes, but for the sole purpose of securing the welfare of the people ; that 
 the people have a natural nght to alter or even abolish their government whenever it 
 
 * The committee on the Declaration had at first for its chairman the mover of the resolution, Richard Henry 
 Lee, but before the consideration of the subject was formally taken up Lee was called home to Virginia by sick- 
 ness in his family. Thereupon Jefferson was appointed to serve in his place. The duty of preparing the Declara- 
 tion devolved by seniority on John Adams, but he requested Jefferson to prepare the draught, giving as he does in 
 his Works as a reason that he himself was a Massachusetts man, Jefferson a Virginian, and that he had noted with 
 iAxanaWon Jefferson's incisive style 0/ writing! 
 
 THOMAS. JEFFERSON.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 475 
 
 becomes dcstnictive of liberty ; that the j:jovernini.'iU of George III. had become destructive 
 of liberty, and had thus passed under the ban of condemnation ; that tiie despotism of the 
 King of England and his ministers could be shown by a long list of indisputable proofs, and 
 the pioofs are given ; that time and again tlic colonies' had humbly petitioned for a redress 
 of grievances ; that all their petitions had been spurned with derision and contempt; that 
 the King's irrational tyranny over his American subjects was no longer endurable by free- 
 men ; that an appeal to the sword is preferable to slaver\', and that, therefore, the United 
 Colonies of America are and of right ought to be Free and Independent States. To the 
 support of this nobie, manly declaration of principles the members of the Continental 
 Congress mutually pledged their lives, their fortimes and their sacred honor. 
 
 Already the people of the colonics were rcad>' for the work done by Congress. Indeed 
 the public mind, in its anger at British aggression and tyranny, had forenm the act of their 
 
 ADOPTION OF THK nKCI.ARATION OF IXDEPENDENXE. 
 
 representatives. The people had been indoctrinated with the concept and purpose of 
 Independence. Tiie writings of tiic .Vdamscs, Otis and Jefferson had disseminated tlie 
 principles of political freedom, and the taste thereof was sweet on llie palate of the jxople. 
 Thomas Paine's celebrated pamphlet on Omnunu Sritsi\ which more than any other single 
 writino' furnished the logical basis of Independence, had sapped the fouiulatiou of the 
 reniainin" lovalt\' to the Brilisli crown. Xo scidiur w.is tlu- grtat Dcilan.ti.Mi jiniuiul'^ated
 
 470 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 than the people of the colonies, now the people of the United States, like the signers of 
 their Charter of Liberty, pledged to its support their lives, their fortunes and their sacred 
 honor. 
 
 It was now a question of war and international ity. Could the American colonies 
 sustain themselves against the overwhelming force of Great Britain? The enemy was 
 already strong, not only in the home resources of the kingdom, but in her forces on 
 American soil. In the beginning of July, General Howe was able to plant a force of 
 nine thousand men on Staten Island. Thither Clinton and Cornwallis came from their 
 unsuccessful attack on Charleston, and Admiral Howe, brother of the general, arrived from 
 England. The whole British force now concentrated in the vicinity of New York amounted 
 to not fewer than thirty thousand men. About half of these were the imported Hessians, 
 for whose transit through his dominions Frederick the Great had charged so much a head, 
 saying in magnificent sarcasm that that was the rate which he charged for driving live-stock 
 across his kingdom ! Washington's ami)- was greatly inferior to the enemy in every 
 respect — in numbers, in equipment, in experience, in discipline. 
 
 ENGLAND, ALARMED, SEEKS TO CONCILIATE THE AMERICANS. 
 
 Great Britain had not expected the startling denouement of Independence. She had 
 considered herself thus far as dealing with a lot of refractory, contrary, penurious, half- 
 rebellious colonists, whom she might easily overawe and then punish for their contumacy. 
 Now she suddenly awoke to the fact that she was confronted by a nation of people who 
 ■would fight and die for their rights. The Declaration of Independence was read with 
 astonishment, not only in England, but in every court of Europe. No other such docu- 
 ment had been drawn since the beginning of the modern era. Indeed, it was doubtful, and 
 is still doubtful, whether any other such political paper had ever been produced among 
 men. It was admitted by the gravest sages and statesmen that the Declaration prepared 
 and sent abroad by the American people in Congress could not have been surpassed by the 
 most astute, learned and patriotic tliinkers of ancient or modern times. The effect of it was 
 tremendous in the public opinion of Europe, insomuch that Great Britain, for the moment 
 shocked into her senses, deemed it prudent to try conciliation. 
 
 Could the Americans be conciliated ? That was the question. Lord Howe was 
 instructed to open negotiations and attempt conciliator}- measures with the Americans. 
 He and his brothers had aforetime been the friends and companions of Benjamin Franklin 
 in London. With them that great philosopher and patriot had held many conferences, 
 urging them to interpose against the folly of England in driving the Americans to rebel- 
 lion and independence. Now the tables were turned. The miscjiief had been done and 
 Lord Howe must become the ambassador of his countr\- in the attempt to reestablish 
 peace. Howe addressed Franklin, and through him would fain exercise an influence over 
 his fellow-countrymen. Franklin replied in one of those polite but caustic letters which 
 so frequently in the days of trial proceeded from his pen, concluding with these words to 
 his former friend, Lord Howe: " Henceforth you are my enemy, and I am 
 
 Yours, 
 
 B. Fr.\nklin." 
 
 Lord Howe sent to the American Camp a despatch directed to "George Washington, 
 Esquire.'''' Washington refused to receive the communication which purposely ignored 
 his official position as General of the American Armies. Howe then sent another 
 communication addressed to "George Washington, etc., etc., etc. ; " and the bearer insisted 
 that and-so-forth might mean General of the American Army. But Washington sent the
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 47; 
 
 officer away. It was not likely that the proud and sedate Virginian would permit a mes- 
 senger to insult him by ignoring his official title. It was known, moreover, that Lord 
 Howe's authority' extended only to granting pardons at discretion to those who would 
 submit to the authority of the mother country. To this the prudent Washington replied 
 that since no ofiFeuce had been committed, no pardon was required. 
 
 BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. 
 
 With the breaking off of these inane negotiations Lord Howe and his brother at once 
 began hostilities. On the 22d of August the British to the number of ten thousand crossed 
 over to Long Island. The Americans at this time, to the number of seven or eight thou- 
 sand, lay in the vicinity of Brooklyn. The British at once began an advance along several 
 
 of the 27th General Grant's 
 
 roads in the direction of that city and on the 
 division of the British army reached the position now occupied by the southwestern out- 
 skirts of Greenwood cemetery-. Here he was met by General Lord Stirling of the patriot 
 anny with a division of fifteen hundred men. The battle at once began, but in this part 
 of the field there was no decisive result. In the meantime General Von Heister, who 
 commanded the British centre advanced beyond Flatbush and engaged the American centre 
 
 under General Sullivan. Here the Hessians, who com- 
 posed the larger part of Von Heister" s di\'ision gained 
 little or no ground, until Sullivan was suddenly alarmed 
 by the noise of battle on his left and rear. 
 
 The American left had been assigned to General Put- 
 nam; but that officer had neglected to guard the passes in 
 the direction of Bedford and the sequel showed that this 
 neglect was fatal, for during the night General Sir 
 Henr>- Clinton had made a detour from the British right 
 and had occupied the heights to the cast and north of the 
 Jamaica road. It was his division that now came down 
 by way of Bedford and fell upon the unsuspecting left of 
 the American army. Sullivan in the centre found him- 
 self thus surrounded and cut off; for Putnam's division 
 on the left had been bn)ken to pieces by the onset of the 
 British. The patriots in the other parts of the line fought bravely and many broke 
 through the closing ranks of the British and escaped; but the rest were scattered, killed or 
 taken prisoners. 
 
 In the meantime Cornwallis had attempted to cut off General Stirling's retreat, but 
 was for the moment repulsed. Stirling's division, however, was in the greatest peril. 
 Most of the men threw themselves into the rising waters at the head of a narrow inlet called 
 Gowanus Bay, struggled across and .saved themselves by joining the .\merican lines at 
 Brooklyn. The three generals, Stirling, Sullivan and Woodhull, were taken prisoners. 
 Nearly a thousand patriots were killed and missing. The British losses were but slight. It 
 seemed an easy thing for Clinton and Howe to clo.se in on Brooklyn and complete their 
 work by capturing the remainder of tlie .Vmerican army. But this they neglected to do. 
 Washington from his headquarters in New York heard the news with as much dismay as 
 his strong nature was capable of manifesting. He hurried across to Brooklyn and made 
 the most unwearied efforts to save his army from further disaster. Perceiving that he could 
 not hold his position he resolved to withdraw to New York. The enterprise was extremely 
 hazardous. At eight o'clock on the evening of the 29th of August the embarkation of 
 
 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OP LONG 
 ISLAND.
 
 478 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the troops was begun. All night with muffled oars the boatmen rowed silently back and 
 forth, and at davlight on the morning of the 30th the last detachment had taken to the 
 boats. With sunrise tlie British discovered the movement of the Americans and rushed 
 forward over the defences only to find them abandoned. Nothing but a few worthless guns 
 remained. The courage and sagacity of the American commander had sufficed to extricate 
 his army from the extremity of peril, and the British were for the time baffled in pursuit. 
 
 DARK PROSPECTS FOLLOWING DEFEAT. 
 
 But the defeat on L,ong Island proved to be most disastrous to the American cause. 
 The patriot losses had been severe. At this time the terms of enlistment of many of the 
 troops expired, and instead of again entering the ranks they returned to their homes. 
 There were evidences of disintegration, and it was only by the constant e.xertion of Wash- 
 ington that the remainder of his army was kept from disbanding. 
 
 The British fleet now moved up the bay, and anchored withing cannon shot of New 
 York cit}'. The place became untenable, and Washington was obliged to retire to the 
 Heights of Harlem. On the 15th of September, the British 
 effected a landing three miles above New York — for the city 
 then occupied only the lower part of the island — and extended 
 their lines across Manhattan. By this means they gained pos- 
 session of the city. On the i6th of the month, there was a 
 skirmish between advanced parties of the two armies, in which 
 the British were worsted and lost nearly a hundred men. 
 
 A month later Howe embarked his forces, passed into Long 
 Island sound, and landed in the vicinity of Westchester. His 
 object was to get upon the American left flank and cut off" Wash- 
 ington's communications with the eastern States ; but the 
 American general detected the movement and faced the enemy 
 east of Harlem river. On the 28th a battle of some severit}' was 
 brought on at White Plains. Howe began the engagement with 
 a brisk cannonade, which was answered with equal spirit by the 
 Americans. The latter, however, lost one position, but im- 
 mediately intrenched themselves in another. Night came on, and 
 Washington deemed it prudent to withdraw to the Heights of Northcastle. General Howe 
 remained for a few days at White Plains, and then returned with his forces to New York. 
 
 Soon afterwards the American army gave up Manhattan Island and crossed to the west 
 bank of the Hudson, taking post at Fort Lee. Four thousand men were left for the time at 
 Northcastle, under command of General Lee. Fort Washington, on Manhattan Island, 
 was also held for the time by three thousand men, under Colonel Magaw. The skilful con- 
 struction of this fort had attracted the attention of Washington and led to an acquaintance 
 with the engineer, Alexander Hamilton, then a stripling but twenty 3'ears of age. 
 
 A series of disasters now ensued very disheartening to the American cause. On the 
 1 5th of November, Fort Washington was captured by the British. The garrison were made 
 prisoners of war and were ciowded into the jails of New York. Two days afterwards Fort Lee 
 also was taken by Lord Cornwallis. By these ruinous captures Washington's army was re- 
 dviced to about three thousand men, and with these he began to retreat from the Hudson to 
 Newark. Cornwallis and Knyphausen pressed hard after the fugitives. The patriots con- 
 tinued their flight to Princeton, and finally to Trenton on the Delaware. Nothing but the 
 skill of the commander saved the remnant of his forces from dispersion and capture. 
 
 SCENE OF OPERATIONS ABOUT 
 NEW YORK, 1776.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 479 
 
 It was on the 8th of Uecemljc-r tliat Washington finally sncceeded in putting the Dela- 
 ware between himself and the pursuing foe. Cornwallis liaving no boats was obliged to 
 wait for the freezing of the river before continuing the pursuit. In the interim the British 
 army was stationed in the towns and villages on the left bank of the river. Of these 
 stations Trenton was the most important. The place was held by about two thou- 
 sand Hessians, under Colonel Rahl. It was the design of the British as soon as tlie river 
 should be frozen to march on Philadelphia, capture that cit}-, scatter the remnants of the 
 American army and restore the authority of Great Britain. Such a result was greatly 
 feared by prudent Americans, and it was deemed expedient as a precautionar)- measure that 
 Congress should be adjourned from Philadelphia to Baltimore. 
 
 DISCOURAGEMENTS TO THE AMERICAN CAUSE. 
 
 In the meantime the fleet of .Vduiiral Parker which liad been engaged in the attack on 
 Charleston bore down upon the coast of New England. On the same day that Washington 
 crossed the Delaware the islands of Rhode Island and Conanicut were taken b\- the British 
 squadron. The American fleet, under Commander Hopkins, was blockaded in the month 
 of the Blackstone River. During all these movements General Charles Lee, with a large 
 division of the American forces, had remained at Northcastle. To him Washington sent 
 one despatch after another to abandon the place and repair with his troops to the west bank 
 of the Delaware, where all might be concentrated under the commander-in-chief. Lee 
 marched with his division as far as Morristown, and established his own quarters at a place 
 called Basking Ridge. Here on the 13th of December a squad of British cavalry suddenly 
 appeared, captured Lee and hurried him off to New York. General Sullivan took com- 
 mand of the division and hastened to join Washington beyond the Delaware. The entire 
 American forces were thus augmented to a little more than six thousand men. 
 
 But it was the midnight of the patriot cause. It appeared that the hope of Indepen- 
 dence flickered to the socket. Tiie forces at the command of Wa.shington were imable to 
 cope with the enemy, and the whole country was greatly dispirited. It was emergency 
 such as this, however, that ser\'ed to bring out the grandeur and strength of Washington. 
 With him there was no thought of yielding. He saw in the present ebb of fortune that 
 extreme of affairs from which a reaction must necessarily arise. He perceived in the dis- 
 position of the British forces an opportunity to strike a blow for his countr>'. It was 
 evident that the leaders of the enemy were off their giiard. The Hessians on the east side 
 of the river were scattered in their quarters from Trenton to Burlington. Washington 
 conceived the bold design of crossing the Delaware and striking the detachment at Trenton 
 before a concentration of the enemy's forces could be effected. This design he now pro- 
 ceeded to carrs' into execution. 
 
 The American army was arranged in three divisions. The first, under General John 
 Cadwallader, was ordered to cross the river at Bristol and attack the enemy encamped in 
 that neighborhood. General liwiug was directed to pass over a little below Trenton, in 
 order to intercept the possible retreat of the enemy. Washington liim.self, with twenty-four 
 hundred men under immediate command of Sullivan and Greene, was to cross tlie Delaware 
 nine miles above Trenton and march down the river to surprise and capture the town. For 
 all these movements the night of Christmas was selected as furnishing the best opportunity 
 of success. 
 
 Cold weather had now super\'ened and the Delaware was already filled with floating 
 ice. Generals Ewing and Cadwallader were both baffled in their efforts to cross the river, 
 as was also General Putnam, who had been ordered to effect a crossing at Philadeljjhia and
 
 480 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 _l^L- 
 
 i? 
 
 PLAN OF BATTLES OF 
 
 PRINCETON AND 
 
 TRENTON. 
 
 make a feint against the British in that quarter. Washington, however, succeeded in 
 getting over at the place now called Taylorsville. But the crossing was attended with the 
 greatest difficulty and liazard. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S CAPTURE OF THE HESSIANS. 
 
 The commander once on the Jersey shore divided his army into two columns and 
 pressed forward by two different roads, one of which entered- Trenton on the west side next 
 the river and the other from the east The crossing was greatly delayed, and it was already 
 eight o'clock in the morning of the 26th before the Americans came in sight of the prize. 
 But their courage rose to the occasion. It had been correctly- divined by Washington that 
 the Hessian soldiers and their of&cers would spend the Christmas day 
 in holiday- and rioting. They were still in their quarters, or onh- 
 beginning to stir in the early morning, when the Americans from two 
 directions burst into the town. 
 
 The Hessians sprang from their quarters and attempted to form in 
 line. The American cannon began to roar and flashes of musketr}- 
 sent deadh- volle}-s whistling along the streets. Colonel Rahl was 
 mortally wounded at the first onset. There was momentary confusion, 
 and then nearly a thousand of the Hessians threw down their arms 
 and surrendered at discretion. Only about six hundred, principally a 
 body of light-horse, succeeded in making their escape in the direction 
 of Princeton. Washington at once drew off with his prisoners and 
 captured munitions and supplies. Before nightfall he was safe with 
 his arni%- on the other side of the Delaware. 
 
 The trophies of the battle were not inconsiderable. The Americans for their part lost 
 not a man in the engagement, which had continued hotly for thirty-five minutes. The 
 enemy lost seventeen killed and seventy-eight wounded. The number of prisoners taken 
 was nine hundred and forty-six, nearh- all of them the mercenaries from Hesse. Of anus 
 the patriots captured twelve hundred British nniskets, six brass cannon, two of them being 
 i2-pounders, and all the flags and standards of the brigade. It was with good reason that 
 Lord George Germain, the British Secretar>- for the Colonies, wrote, "All our hopes were 
 blasted by the luihappy affair at Trenton. ' ' 
 
 The British, with good reason surprised at these movements of a foe whom they had 
 supposed to be \-irtualh- vanquished, began to fall back from their outposts and concentrated 
 at Princeton. Lord Cornwallis, earlier in the season believing the war to be over, had gone 
 to New York and prepared to return to Europe. Now he must hasten back to his imperiled 
 forces. Reaching Princeton he resumed command and began at once to devise plans for 
 recovering the ground v/hich had been lost by the unexpected successes of the Americans. 
 
 So closed the year 1776 — the year of Independence. Only ten days previously General 
 Howe had waited only for the freezing of the Delaware before taking up his quarters in 
 Philadelphia. That done, already in anticipation he busied himself with the restoration of 
 British authority and the final extinction of local resistance here and there. Already in 
 imagination he saw the banner of St. George floating peacefully over ever>- colonial capital 
 and already received the thanks of his gracious sovereign, George III., of England. Now 
 all this dream was suddenly dissipated. Now all the conditions of the conflict were reversed. 
 Now the question was whether he and his army would be able to hold a single town in New 
 Jersey against the onsets of reviving patriotism.
 
 » vM, 4^ 
 
 CHAPTKR XV. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 NEW YEAR'S sun of 1777 saw the anny of Washing- 
 ton about five thousand stroncj encamped at Trenton. 
 Lord Cornwallis was by no means disposed to vield the 
 field to his enemy without battle. Arriving at Prince- 
 ton he gathered together his forces and proceeded at 
 once against the Americans. The Rritisli were much 
 superior in numerical strength and equipment. Corn- 
 wallis readied Trenton on the afternoon of the ist and 
 a severe skirmish occurred in the outskirts of 'Jie 
 town. 
 The position of Washington was critical in the last degree. Should he be defeated 
 in the approaching battle it would be impossible for him to retreat to a place of .safety. 
 In the emergency he deemed it pnident to withdraw from Trenton and take a more 
 defensible position on the south bank of the Assanpink Creek. The British took possession 
 (if the town and in the afternoon attempted to force a passage of the stream, but were driven 
 back. Night was approaching and Cornwallis deferred his principal attack till to-morrow. 
 With the coming of nightfall Washington called a council and it was determined to 
 leave the camp, pass the British left and march upon the enemy at Princeton, about thirteen 
 miles away. There Cornwallis had left one division of his forces. Washington caught at 
 the opportunity thus afforded to strike the enemy in detail. He accordingly removed his 
 baggage to Burlington, on the Delaware. The campfires were brightly kindled and kept 
 burning through the night Then the anny was put in motion in the direction of Prince- 
 ton. Everything was done in silence; the movement was undiscovered by the enemy and 
 the morning light showed the British sentries on the Assanpink a deserted camp. 
 
 At the very time when Cornwallis' s pickets discovered the withdrawal of the Americans 
 Washington was entering Princeton. At sunrise Cornwallis heard the dull roar of the 
 American guns in battle. The event showed that the British division at Princeton had been 
 ordered the day before to withdraw on the morning of the 2d and proceed to Trenton. 
 This order they were beginning to obey when Washington reached the town. The .\meri- 
 cans met them on the outskirts of Princeton and the battle at once began. .-\t tiie first 
 charge of the British regulars the raw militia gave away in confusion, bu*^ they were rallied 
 and brought into line again by Washington. The Pennsylvania regulars, under lead of the 
 commandcr-in-chirf, held their ground until the rally was effected. The tide of battle 
 turned and the British were routed with a loss of four hundred and thirty men in killed, 
 wounded and missing. On the .\mcrican side the brave (xcneral Mercer was mortally 
 wounded at the beginning of the engagement. Struck down by a blow from the butt of a 
 musket, he refused to surrender and was bayonetted to death. The .\merican loss from the 
 rank and file was not nearly so great as that of the enemy. 
 31 (4S1)
 
 482 
 
 COLU^IBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 
 
 Washington, though \ictorious, was in peril of the powerful Cornwallis, who came on 
 hastily from Trenton, but was not in time to save his division from defeat. The American 
 
 commander at 
 
 once 
 withdrew and on the 
 Stli of Jannar\- found 
 a defensible position 
 at JMorristown. Corn- 
 wallis for his part 
 retired to New Bruns- 
 wick. This was clearly 
 a retreat. The New 
 Jerse\- provincials per- 
 ceived that in the last 
 ten days conditions 
 had been reversed and 
 that the enemy was 
 worsted. The greater 
 
 THE DE.A.TH OF GENER.\t, MERCER. part of tllC State WaS 
 
 soon recovered by the patriots. Cornwallis continued to contract 
 
 his line until all his forces were concentrated at New Brunswick and 
 
 .\mboy. 
 
 A SERIES OF ENGAGEMENTS. 
 
 Thus passed the winter of 1776-77. The first movement of tlie 
 
 following spring was a success for the British. They marched against the American 
 
 force at Peekskill and destroyed the patriot stores collected at that place. On the 13th 
 
 of April Cornwallis in person attacked General Lincoln, wlio was stationed on the 
 
 Raritan; but the latter being inferior in numbers made good his retreat. 
 
 TRYON'S INVASION OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 On the 25th of April, General Trjon made an invasion of Connecticut and his opera- 
 tions were characterized by a savagery which General Howe heartily condemned as dis- 
 graceful to the name of Briton. Tr}-on not onl)- wantonly destroyed Danbury, Norwalk 
 and Fairfield, but he massacred a part of Baylor's corps at Tappan a-nd destroyed with the 
 same merciless slaughter a detachment of Wayne's troops at Paoli, refusing to receive 
 their oflfers of capitulation. It was during this incendiary and murderous riot that Bene- 
 dict Arnold displayed for the first time his matchless heroism, and made good his escape 
 through such fortune as grave to the incident a color of miracle. 
 
 After burning a large number of houses, both public and private, and visiting all 
 manner of insults upon the helpless people, Tn,-on designed to complete the plunder and 
 destruction of all the considerable places in Connecticut. Report of his marauding excur- 
 sions, however, soon brought out a force of six hundred militia, under General David 
 Wooster and Benedict Arnold, who by forced marches attempted to intercept Tryon at 
 Danbury. Being apprised of their approach he retreated towards Ridgefield, but was 
 followed so rapidly that Wooster at the head of his divided corps, with four hundred men 
 struck Tryon' s rear, capturing forty prisoners after a brief skirmish. Tr}'on, whose force 
 was fully two thousand men was too cowardly to risk a battle, but continued his retreat 
 until Arnold made a circuit and came up in front of the fleeing English and threw up a
 
 COLl'MIU'S AXI) COLUMBIA. 
 
 •183 
 
 barricade of logs, stone and earth, intending to intercept the enenn and force an engage- 
 ment regardless of his vastly inferior force. \Vh>.n Tryon came in sight of Arnold's 
 
 EXPLOIT OF BKNKDICT ARNOLD. 
 
 fortified position and realized that his retreat \va.s cnt off either wa\-, he ordered General 
 Agnew to advance in solid column with the main body while detachments were sent to
 
 484 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 outflank Arnold and gain his rear. Tlie position of Arnold was by this movement 
 rendered perilous in the extreme. Wooster still hung with tenacity on the enemy's rear, 
 but very soon after the engagement opened he was struck by a musket ball and knocked 
 from his horse. Though not instantly killed he died two days later, having survived for 
 that length of time a broken back, the bone of which was shattered by the ball. Upon 
 Arnold now devolved the chief command and right bravely he assumed the responsibility. 
 Instead of seeking an escape he heroically confronted the enemy and easily held his posi- 
 tion against the heavy odds until Agnew succeeded in gaining a ledge of rocks from which 
 he poured a concentrated fire upon the Americans. A panic followed this slaughter, but 
 Arnold stood defiant amid the dreadful hail-storm of bullets. It is said a whole platoon 
 of British fired at him at a distance of not more than thirty yards but not a bullet struck 
 him ; his horse, however, fell pierced by several balls and for a moment the foot of Arnold 
 
 was held fast in a stirrup. At this juncture a Tory 
 rushed forward with musket and bayonet shouting, "You 
 are my prisoner!" Drawing a pistol Arnold shot the 
 Tory dead and in a trice he had liberated his foot and 
 bounded into a neighboring thicket pursued by a shower 
 of bullets. Arnold's escape appeared so remarkable to 
 the British that no further effort was made to catch him, 
 while both sides had suffered so severely in the engage- 
 " "'''"" •''"■"-■''.•XCiS.' ment that neither desired its renewal. A few days later, 
 
 PLACE OF THE BARRICADE. , ^ -NT 11 1, 1 ' J .-1 i. 
 
 however, as 1 lyon was near Norwalk he learned that 
 Arnold had turned again to pursue him, having placed himself at the head of five 
 hundred men and formed a junction at Sangatuck with Colonel Huntington with as 
 many more. Several sharp skirmishes now followed with the retreating enemy and always 
 to the advantage of the Americans, but the British finally succeeded in making their 
 escape, though not until they had lost three hundred men and nearly all their munitions. 
 
 On the American side there were a few successful movements. On the evening of the 
 22d of May, Colonel Meigs, of Connecticut, embarked two hundred men in whaleboats, 
 crossed Long Island Sound, and attacked Sag Harbor. The British garrison at that place 
 was overpowered ; only four of the number escaped, five or six were killed, and the remain- 
 ing ninety taken prisoners. The British stores were destroyed by the patriots, who without 
 the loss of a man returned to Guilford. The exploit was famous in the tradition of the 
 year, and Colonel Meigs was rewarded by Congress with an elegant sword. 
 
 With the opening of the new year it was the policy of Washington to concentrate his 
 forces on the Hudson. At the same time a camp of instruction and discipline was laid out 
 on the Delaware and placed under charge of Arnold. In the latter part of May, the com- 
 mander-in-chief left his winter-quarters and advanced to a position within ten miles of the 
 British camp. General Howe crossed over from New York and threatened an attack on the 
 American lines, but no serious onset was made. For a month the two armies counter- 
 marched and skirmished with no decisive result to either. Finally the British began to 
 fall back, and retired at length to Amboy. On the 30th of June, they finally abandoned 
 New Jersey, and crossed over to Staten Island. ' 
 
 The American Congress had in the meantime recovered its equanimity with the 
 expulsion of the Bi'itish from New Jersey, and had returned from Baltimore to Philadel- 
 phia. A spirit of confidence was restored throughout the country. The retirement of the 
 enemy served a better purpose than a great victory in the field. The patriots rallied and
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLl^MBIA. 
 
 485 
 
 the time-sen-ers were tlirown into coiifusiou. In Philadelphia Totyisin had been rampant. 
 Only two months before the retreat of the British, prayers had been pnblicly read for tht 
 King! Now all that was ended, and the first anniversary- of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence was proudly celebrated in the (.iiy. 
 
 THE SYMPATHY OF FRANCE IS MANIFESTED FOR THE NEW UNION. 
 
 Now it was that the question of international relations between the United States and 
 other nations arose upon the attention of the American Congress and of several foreign gov- 
 emuieuts. More than two years had elapsed since the outbreak of hostilities. More than 
 one year had gone by since the Declaration of Independence; and the Aiiiericans were by 
 no merjis subdued. Aye, more, they presented a bold front to the British, and had actually 
 succeeded in expelling the armies of the mother countr\- from at least one State of tlie 
 new Union. 
 
 These circumstances were calculated to excite the interest and sjmpathy of foreign na- 
 tions. From the outbreak of the war the people of France had been most friendly to the 
 American cause. England and France were at peace; Imt tlv -~\ !ii]>:ithy of the French 
 court for the new American Republic could hardly 
 be concealed. The ministers of Louis XVI. were 
 not read)- openh- to provoke a war with Great 
 Britain, but they secretly applauded the American 
 colonists and rejoiced at every British misfortune. 
 At length this sympathy was more outspoken. The 
 Americans came to understand that if money was 
 required France would lend it ; if arms were to be 
 purchased, France had arms to sell. During the 
 year 1777 the French people in ptiblic and private 
 capacit}-, b\- intrigue or direct merchandise, suc- 
 ceeded in supplying the colonies with twenty 
 thousand muskets and a thousand barrels of pow-der. 
 
 The student of general history knows that at 
 this epoch republicanism as a form of political 
 thought and a dream of enthusiasm began to w-ann 
 the mind of France, premonitory of the great Re- 
 volution. French Republicans and Idealists began to speak for the American cause 
 and presently to embark under the wannth of their enthusiasm for the American 
 shore. Foremost of all came Gilbert Motier, that young Marquis of Lafayette 
 whose name was destined to be immortally associated with our struggle fot Independence. 
 Fitting a vessel at his own expense, he eluded the officers of the French ports — for he had 
 been forbidden to sail — and with the brave Baron de Kalb and a small company of followers 
 reached South Carolina in April of 1777. He entered the Continental ann\- as a volunteer 
 and private, but was rapidly promoted, and in July of this year was connnissioned a major- 
 general. 
 
 From a military- point of view the British now began to beat about as though they 
 would find a more advantageous method of attack. In considering the field of operations 
 they set their eye on Canada. That province having remained loyal to liie crown afforded 
 by way of the St. Lawrence an easy avenue of entrance by which an anny might be carried 
 far into the interior of our continent and be brought, so to speak, upon the flank of the 
 colonies, now the United States. 
 
 MAR(n-IS OF I.AI-.WKTTU.
 
 48G 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 These considerations led to the planning of a great campaign for the year 1777. The 
 expedition was entrusted to General John Burgoyne, who superseded Sir Guy Careton in 
 command of all the British forces in Canada. Burgoyne spent the spring in organizing an 
 army of ten thousand men for the invasiou of New York from the north. The forces con- 
 sistect of British, Hessians and Canadians with a considerable contingent of Indian allies. 
 The plan of the invasion embraced a descent upon Albany and New York Cit\' and the 
 cutting- off of New England from the middle and southern colonies. 
 
 By the first of June the expedition proceeded as far as Lake Champlain and on the i6tli 
 of that month Crown Point was taken. Here there was a pauSe, but on the 5th of July 
 Ticonderoga, which was held by General Arthur St. Clair with three thousand men was 
 captured. The garrison, however, escaped and retreated to Hubbardton, Vermont. The 
 retreating force was pursued and overtaken near that place, but the Americans turning 
 -. upon the British fought 
 
 so stubboml}' as to check 
 the pursuit. On the 
 following day the British 
 succeeded in capturing 
 White Hall with a large 
 quantity of stores which 
 the patriots had collected 
 at that place. 
 
 While affairs were 
 thus somewhat favorable 
 to the British in the ex- 
 treme northwest, though 
 they had lost Ticonde- 
 roga, the patriots in other 
 sections were making 
 themselves felt by deliver- 
 ing effective blows upon 
 the enemy. Oi: July 10, 
 
 CAPllKh ub I ) M K\I PRtSCOlT. 
 
 1777, Colonel William Barton planned a bold stratagem 
 to capture General Prescott, commander-in-chief of 
 the British forces in Rhode Island. Prescott had his 
 quarters in a fann-house near Newport, and as affairs 
 were quiet in that vicinity he failed to take any pre- 
 cautions to ensure his safety. Learning the situation, 
 Colonel Barton with forty militiamen in boats rowed 
 - " _ .'■ across Narragansett Bay at night and landed in a cove 
 
 ms^- " ' less than one hundred yards from the house in which 
 
 unconscious of danger, was sleeping. Noiselessly Barton ascended the 
 company and surrounded the house before his presence was detected. At 
 
 Prescott, all 
 
 hill with his 
 
 the instant of alarm the half-sleeping sentinel who guarded the door was seized and in 
 
 another moment the militiamen forced their wa>- into the house, compelling a negro servant 
 
 to show them the general's room. They captured him in his rode dc chamhrc and then rushed 
 
 their prisoner off to the waiting boats. So quietly was the capture effected that Barton sue-
 
 COLU.MBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 4R7 
 
 ceeded in passing nnder the very stern of an ICnglisli man-of-war witlmnt his presence being 
 discovered and escaped with his distinguished prisoner to Providence, for wliicli gallant ser- 
 vice Congress presented him with a sword. 
 
 BATTLE OF BENNINGTON. 
 
 The American army of the iiurth at this time nnnihered no more than four or five thou- 
 sand men. It was under command of General Philip Schuyler ami was posted at Fort 
 Edward. On came the British to this place and the 
 Americans were obliged to retreat down the Hudson. F'ort 
 Edward was taken on the 30tli of July, but by this time 
 the supplies of Bnrgoyne's army began to fail and he made 
 a pause, sending out Colonels Baum and Breyniann with 
 strong detachments to seize the American stores at Ben- 
 nington, Vennont. But Colonel John Stark rallied the 
 New Hampshire militia and confronted the enemy. On the 
 T 5th of August he met the British near the village of BEN-siNCToMivi n.i. ..k. 
 
 Bennington and on the following morning there was a furious battle. The Green 
 Mountain bo\s fought in a manner to remind the enemy of Lexington and Bunker Hill. 
 Colonel Baum's force instead of gathering supplies was utterly routed, the British losing 
 in killed, wounded and prisoners more than eight hundred men. It was really a stagger- 
 ing blow to the invasion and the country was thrilled with the news of the victor\'. 
 
 In the meantime a still greater reverse to Burgoyne had occurred in another part of the 
 field. At the beginning of the campaign a large force of Canadians and Indians had been 
 
 sent under General St. 
 Leger against Fort 
 Schuyler, on the Mo- 
 hawk. On the 3d of 
 August (1777) St. Leger 
 reached his destination 
 and invested the fort 
 General Herkimer on the 
 other side rallied the 
 militia of the country, 
 but was defeated with the 
 loss of a hundred and 
 si.xty men. About the 
 _ __^___,___.. ._, ^_^^__^. same time the audacious 
 
 ""Y^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^if'^^^-^i^^- ^' Aniold had led a detach- 
 <^ ,i. '^'^^t^^^^^'^^iM^ ^^i J^'^^k^^-^^^ff^^^^^^' ment from the Hudson 
 
 for the relief of Fort 
 Schuyler, but he employ- 
 ed a singular stratagem 
 to give the enemy an exaggerated idea of his forces. A half-witted boy was captured and 
 holes being cut in his clothes similar to the marks of bullets he was promised his freedom 
 if he would go into the camp of St. Le:!:cr and there exhibit the rents in his coat in proof 
 of the narrowness of his escape and represent the .\mericans as leaves for number. This 
 the boy did with such dramatic effect that the Indian allies of St. I^egcr broke and fled. 
 The British commauler, dismayed at their treachery and cowardice, raised the siege and 
 retreated. This news also was borne to Burgo\iic at Fort K Iward. 
 
 
 THE ALARM AT FORT SCHrVI.KR.
 
 488 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 BURGOVNl.'S (_AMr ON THE HUDSON. 
 
 Having failed in these two efforts to gather supplies from the invaded country Burgoyue 
 was now obliged to halt for a month while military stores and provisions were brought down 
 from Canada. Reports from every field of action being favorable the patriots gathered 
 courage with each day and rallied to the standard of General Schuyler, until his force num- 
 bered nine thousand men, thus equalling the strength of the enemy. General Lincoln 
 arrived with the militia of New England. Washington sent to the north several detach- 
 ments from the regular army. Colonel Daniel Morgan came witli his division of riflemen 
 from the South — verj' dangerous men in battle. General Horatio Gates superseded Schuyler 
 
 in command of the northern army. By the beginning of 
 fall the Americans were able to assume the offensive and 
 on the 8th of September Gates's headquarters were 
 advanced as far as Stillwater. At Bemis's Heights, a 
 short distance north of this place, a camp was laid out 
 and fortified under direction of the noted Polish engineer 
 and patriot, Thaddeus Kosciusko. 
 
 THE DEFEAT AND CAPTURE OF BURGOYNE. 
 
 Already Burgoyne perceived before him a pathway 
 of hazardous battles; but he must advance or ingloriously 
 recede. On the 14th of September he crossed the Hudson and took post at Saratoga. 
 Now the two annies came face to face. On the 19th a general battle ensued, continuing 
 until nightfall. The conflict though severe was indecisive; but indecision with the 
 Americans was victor}-. The latter retired within their lines and the British slept on the 
 neld. The condition of Burgoyne momentarily grew more critical. His supplies failed. 
 His Canadian and Indian allies deserted his standard. His forces wasted away while those 
 of his antagonist constantly increased. 
 
 By this time it became known at New York that the British anny of tlie north was 
 imperiled. General Sir Henry Clinton, the commander-in-chief, made most unwearied 
 efforts to save Burgoyne from impending disaster. He organized an 
 expedition, sailed up the Hudson and captured Forts Clinton and 
 Montgomery ; but nothing further could be accomplished. The 
 diversion failed and Burgoyne became desperate. On the 7th of 
 October he hazarded another battle in which he lost several of his 
 bravest officers and nearly se\-en hundred privates. The accom- 
 plished British General Frasier, who commanded the right wing of 
 Burgoyne' s army, was killed on the field. His men disheartened at his 
 fall, turned and fled. On the American side General Arnold was 
 the inspiring genius of the battle. The result of the engagement 
 was a complete victory for the Americans. 
 
 Burgoyne must now retreat. He began a retro^ade movement 
 and two days after the battle reached Saratoga. Here he was 
 intercepted by Gates and Lincoln and the game was up. Nothing 
 remained but capitulation or destruction. On the 17th of the month the tenns offered 
 by General Gates were accepted by Burgoyne, and the whole British arm\-, numbering five 
 thousand seven hundred and ninety-one men, became prisoners of war. Among the 
 captives were six members of the British Parliament! Forty-two pieces of brass 
 artillery, five thousand muskets and an immense quantity- of stores were the added 
 
 SCENE OF BURGOYNE'S 
 INVASION.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBL\. 
 
 IS'.l 
 
 fruits of the victon-. The o^eat invasion had ended in disaster to tiie British canse, 
 overwhelming, total and final. 
 
 After the surrender, with rare magnanimity General Gates invited Burgoyne and the 
 otlter captive officers to join him at his head- 
 quarters, which was a modest farm-house of 
 inconsiderable size and accept his hospitalities. 
 The scene which followed has few examples 
 in histor)'. A magnificent dinner was pre- 
 pared at which Gates acted as host, and re- 
 garding the English officers as his guest, he 
 
 SrRRKNDKR OI" BirRGOVNE. 
 
 treated them with 
 the most profuse 
 cordiality, w h i c h 
 mitigated the humi- 
 liation of their de- 
 feat so far that they 
 drank several hcart\' 
 
 bumpers to the health alike of their host and magnauim<ju> victor. 
 
 Jn another part of the field, however, affairs had not gone well for the Americans. 
 
 la
 
 490 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 GATES'S HEADQUARTERS, WHERE HE BANQUETED 
 BURGOYNE AFTER HIS SURRENDER. 
 
 the south a great campaign had been in progress during the summer and the patriots 
 were sorely pressed. On the 23d of July (1777) General Howe with eigliteen thousand men 
 had sailed from New York for an attack on Philadelphia. The plan of a land campaign 
 across New Jersey was now abandoned for an expedition by .sea and up the Ba\- of Dela- 
 ware. The Americans, however, had obstructed that water and the British General, chano-- 
 ing his plan, entered the Chesapeake with the design of reaching the head of the bay and 
 from that point making the attack by land. 
 
 In order to meet this danger Washington advanced his headquarters from Philadelphia 
 to Wilmington. At that place he drew in the detachments of his arnn- to the number of 
 
 nearly twelve thousand men. The forces of 
 General Howe were vastly superior, but Washing- 
 ton was not without hope that he might be able 
 to beat back the invaders and save the capital. 
 BATTLE OF THE BRANDYWINE. 
 The British squadron made its way into the 
 Chesapeake to the headwaters of the bay and the 
 troops were landed at Elk River in Maryland. 
 PVom that point the invasion was begun overland 
 in the direction of Philadelphia. Washington 
 placed himself in the path of the enemy and selected 
 the small river Brandywine as his line of defence. 
 He stationed the left wing of his arnu- at a crossine 
 called Chadd's Ford, while the right, under General Sullivan, was extended for some 
 distance up the river, for Washington could not discover with certainty at what point 
 the enemy would attempt to cross. On the nth of September the British reached 
 the Brandywine and a battle was begun. The Hessians, under command of Knyphausen, 
 attacked the American left at the ford ; but the main division of the British, led by 
 Cornwallis and Howe, marched up the right bank of the Brandywine and crossed 
 at a point be\-ond the American right. General Sullivan was thus outflanked. Wash- 
 ington was misled by false information ; the right wing was broken in by a charge of 
 Cornwallis, and the day was hopelessly lost. A retreat ensued during the night and the 
 Americans drew off in tolerable order to West Chester. 
 
 The loss of the ,\mericans in the battle of the Brandywine amounted to a thousand 
 men ; that of the British to five hundred and eighty-four. General Lafayette was severely 
 wounded. Count Pulaski so distinguished himself in this engagement that Congress 
 honored him with the rank of Brigadier. Washington continued his retreat from West 
 Chester across the Schuylkill to Germantown. On the 15th of September, however, he 
 recrossed the river and joined battle with Howe at Warren's tavern. The engagement 
 opened with a spirited skirmish and it was believed by both commanders that a decisive action 
 was at hand ; but jnst at the beginning of the conflict a violent tempest of wind and 
 rain swept over the field and the combatants were deluged. Their cartridges were 
 soaked and fighting was made impossible. Washington, however, still attempted to keep 
 between the British and the cit\- ; but General Howe succeeded in crossing the Sclunlkill 
 and hastened onward to Philadeljjhia. On the 26th of September the cit>- was taken with- 
 out resistance and the main division of the British arm\- was quartered at Germantown. 
 
 THE FIGHT FOR GERMANTOWN. 
 Tlie loss of Philadelphia again made it necessary for Congress to remove its sittings. 
 That body adjourned first to Lancaster and afterwards to York, where it continued to
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 4!tl 
 
 hold its sessions until the next snnuner. The American headqnarters were established on 
 Skippack creek, abont twenty miles from the city. Thongh the British had possession of 
 Philadelphia, Washington, after his manner, was on the alert to strike a blow that might 
 again, as in the case of Trenton and Princeton, reverse the condition of the contending 
 parties. This he attempted to do on the night of the 3d of October, at (iennantown, a 
 snburb on the uortli of Philadelphia. 
 
 The movement, however, was impeded by tlie ronghness of the roads. The advancing 
 colnmns reached their destination at irregnlar intervals and the British ontposts were thus 
 able to concentrate and offer battle. The surprise was a failure ; but there was much severe 
 fighting and at one time it seemed that the British would be overwhelmed. In the crisis 
 of the battle, however, the\- gained possession of a large stone mansion, the residence of 
 Judge Chew, and could 
 not be dislodged. The 
 Americans fought 
 valiantly in their attempt 
 to storm this position, but 
 the tide of battle turned 
 against them and the 
 day was lost. Of the 
 Americans about a thou- 
 sand were killed, wounded 
 and missing, while the 
 total British loss was br.t 
 five hundred and thirt> - 
 five. • 
 
 Thus far, though ihu 
 British held the capital, 
 their position was pre- 
 carious, or at least uncomfortable, from the fact that the Americans held control of the 
 river Delaware. Two forts, Mercer and Mifflin, below Philadelphia, were garrisoned by the 
 Americans, and the guns of the bastions were sufficient to connnand the river. On the 
 22d of October Fort Mercer was attacked by a Hessian force twelve hundred strong, led 
 by Count Dunop ; but the assault was unsuccessful. Nearly one-third of those engaged 
 in it fell before the .\nierican entrenchments. Coincidenth- with this affair the British 
 fleet made an attack on Fort Mifflin, on Mud Island. This place they besieged until 
 the 15th of November, when the fortress becoming untenable was set on fire and thc 
 garrison escaped to Fort Mercer. On the 20th of the month this place also was aban- 
 doned to the British, and General Howe at last obtained full control of the Delaware. 
 
 .\fter the unsuccessful attack on Germantown Washington withdrew beyond the 
 Schuylkill to a place called White Marsh and there established his headquarters. The 
 patriots began at this time to .suffer for both food and clothing. The colonies failed to 
 send forward the requisite supplies for the snjjport of the army. Meanwhile the British, 
 thongh winter had set in, laid a plan to surprise Washington in his camp and over- 
 whelm him and his forces. General Howe held a council of war on the evening of the 
 2d of December at the house of Lydia Darrah, in Phihuklphia, and there the arrange- 
 ments were made to march out and attack the Americans. But Mrs. Darrah, who 
 overheard the plans of Howe, left the city on pretence of going to the mill, rode to 
 
 BATTLE OF CKRMANTOWN — ATTACK ON CHEW'S HOUSE.
 
 492 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the American lines and gave the alarm. When, on the morning of the 4th, the British 
 approached the American camp at White Marsh they found the cannon mounted and 
 the patriots in order of battle. The preparation was so complete that Howe did not 
 dare to make the attack. For four days he manoeuvred in the hope of striking a blow, 
 but was then obliged to march back without an action to Philadelphia. 
 SUFFERINGS OF WASHINGTON'S ARMY AT VALLEY FORGE. 
 Winter now set in severely, and Washington established his quarters at a place called 
 Valley Forge, on the right bank of the Schuylkill. But the situation was desperate. The 
 supplies were short. Thousands of the soldiers had no shoes, and in man)' cases the frozen 
 ground was marked with their bloody footprints. Log cabins were hastih' built for pro- 
 tection, and everything was done that could be done to secure the comfort of the suffering 
 patriots ; but it was a long, dreary winter. These were perhaps the darkest days of Wash- 
 ington's life. There was a reaction in the public mind against him and his management 
 of the patriot cause. This unjust sentiment found its way into Congress, and that body in 
 a measure abandoned him. The success of the Army of the North under Gates was 
 invidiously compared with the reverses of the Arm\- of the South. Many men high in 
 
 militar\' and civil station left the great leader unsupported ; 
 but the army remained true in its allegiance. The clouds at 
 length began to break and the nation's confidence in the chief- 
 tain became stronger than ever. At the close of the year, 
 however, the cause of independence was still obscured with 
 clouds and thick darkness. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the friendliness of 
 France to the new republic. Never were sympathy and sup- 
 encampment at valley forge, port more needed. From the outbreak of the war the Ameri- 
 cans, knowing the traditional enmity existing between the French and the English, had 
 hoped for an alliance with the former against the latter. As early as November, 1776, 
 Silas Deane, of Connecticut, had been appointed commissioner of the United States to 
 the court of Louis XVI. The French King was then in the third year of his reign ; 
 it was known that he desired the success of the American cause, and was willing, 
 at least by indirection, to contribute to that result. On the arrival of Deane at Ver- 
 sailles he succeeded in making a secret arrangement with the French ministry- for the 
 supply of the Americans with materials for carrying on the war. In the autumn of 
 1777 a ship laden with two hundred thousand dollars' worth of anns, ammunition and 
 specie was sent to America. Almost as valuable as this large contribution to the 
 military' resources of the patriots was the Baron Frederick William of Steuben, who 
 came in the same ship with the French supplies, and was soon afterwards commiss- 
 ioned by Congress as inspector-general of the army. In this relation he was of the 
 greatest ser\'ice to the cause, for he was a man not only of great abilities, but of wide 
 experience in the management and supply of military- forces. 
 
 Soon after the departure of Deane, Arthur Lee and Benjamin Franklin were appointed 
 by Congress to go to Paris, and if possible to negotiate a treaty of alliance with the French 
 King. They reached their destination in December of 1776 ; but the reader will recall the 
 low ebb of fortune to which the American cause at that time had fallen. For this rr.son 
 Louis XVI. and his ministers were wary- of making a treaty with what appeared to be a 
 sinking State. Nevertheless, on account of their hatred of Great Britain they continued 
 to give .secret encouragement to the colonies. .\n open treah" with the Americans would
 
 COLUiMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 403 
 
 be equivalent to a war with England, and that the French court was at this time slow to 
 undertake ; but private sympathy and secret aid to the Americans could be given without 
 imperiling the general peace of Western Europe. 
 
 FRANKLIN NEGOTIATES AN ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE. 
 It was in this peculiar juncture of affairs and condition of opinion and policy that the 
 genius of Dr. Franklin shone with a peculiar lustre. At the gay court of Louis XVI. lie 
 appeared as the representative of his countr>-. His gigantic intellect, his reputation in 
 science and his personal manners soon won for him at the French capital an immense 
 reputation. His wit and genial humor made him admired ; his humanit>- and courteous 
 bearing commanded universal respect ; his patience and perseverance gave him final 
 success. He became at length the idol of the French people. During the whole of 1777 
 he remained at Paris and Versailles, leaving nothing undone that might conduce to the 
 cause of his country'. 
 
 At last came the news of Burgoyne's surrender. Franklin was enabled to infonn the 
 French ministers that a powerful British anny had been conquered and captured b\- the 
 
 colonists without aid 
 from abroad. This 
 marked success of the 
 American anns and 
 the influence of the 
 French minister of 
 finance, Beaumarchais, 
 who for several years 
 had been in corre- 
 spondence with the 
 American agents 
 abroad, induced the 
 King to accept the 
 proposed alliance with 
 the colonies. On the 
 6th of Febniar>-, .1778, 
 a treaty was c o n - 
 eluded. France acknowledged the independence of 
 the United States, and entered into relations of friend- 
 ship with the new nation. The event was of vast 
 moment, for it presaged the final success of the 
 .\inerican cause. It was perceived at a glance through- 
 out the civilized world that France had virtually token up the gauntlet, and that Great 
 Britain, in the multitude of her enemies, must ultimately vield, at lca.st to the extent 
 of acknowledging the independence of the .\merican States. 
 
 This work, so far as human agency was concerned, was attributable to Benjamin 
 Franklin. He was the author of the treaty— first compact between the new United States 
 and a foreign nation. Franklin was at this time already an old man. according to the law 
 of nature. He was in his seventy-third year, having been boni in Boston on the 17th of 
 Tannar>-, 1706. His father was a manufacturer of soap and candles. At the age of twelve 
 the boy Benjamin was apprenticed to his elder brother to learn the art of printing. In 
 1723 he went to Philadelphia, entered a printing office, and soon rase to distinction. He 
 
 IN CAMP AT VALLEY FORGE.
 
 494 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 visited England, resided a while in London, returned to Philadelphia, founded the first 
 circulating librar\- in America, edited Poor Richard's A/»iaiiac — wisest book of proverbs 
 since the days of Solomon ; became a man of science ; discovered the identit}- of electricity 
 and lightning ; prepared a constitution for the united colonies as early as 1755 ; espoused 
 the patriot cause ; became the greatest representative of his country- abroad, and devoted 
 his old age to perfecting the American Union. To the end of days Benjamin Franklin 
 w'ill perhaps remain the most tjpical American of all his countrj-men. Yet great as he was, 
 his grave in Philadelphia is marked by nothing more than a simple slab of stone, from 
 which the inscription is almost effaced. 
 
 Congress made haste to ratif}- the advantageous treaty with France. Already- a month 
 previously, namely, in April, 1778, a French fleet under Count d'Estaing had been 
 despatched to America. Both France and Great Britain immediately prepared for war on 
 an extended scale. At this juncture Great Britain would gladly have made peace with the 
 Americans on any tenns consistent with their return to allegiance and loyalty to the English 
 ciown. The King himself became willing to treat with his American subjects. Lord 
 North, now at the head of the ministr}-, brought forward two bills in which ever\-thing 
 which the colonists had claimed was conceded. The bills were passed b}- Parliament 
 and the King gave his assent. Commissioners were sent to America, but Congress 
 courageously informed them that an acknowledgment of the independence of the United 
 States was a necessary preliminary^ to negotiations. Nothing short of that would now be 
 accepted by the new Republic. It thus happened that the obstinac\- of George III. and 
 his ministers during the last four years had conduced to the ultimate success of the 
 American struggle for independence and to the enlargement of the civil liberties of mankind. 
 
 IN HOT PURSUIT OF THE BRITISH. 
 
 Owing to these attempted negotiations, military operations were not oi^ened with 
 alacrity in the spring of 1778. The British army remained at Philadelphia until the month 
 of June. The fleet of Admiral Howe lay in the Delaware. When it was learned, however, 
 that the squadron of Count d'Estaing had sailed for America, Admiral Howe withdrew 
 from his position in support of his brother in Philadelphia and sailed for New York. It 
 was deemed more important that the latter city should be held against a possible attack of 
 the French, but general Howe was unwilling to remain in Philadelphia without the support 
 of his fleet. Accordingly, on the iSth of June, he evacuated the cit}- and began to make 
 his way across New Jersey. Washington at once marched into the metropolis and then 
 followed the retiring British. 
 
 At IMonmouth the enemy was overtaken on the 27th of June. On the following 
 morning General Lee was ordered to make the attack. The American cavalry, under 
 Lafayette, leading the charge, was at first driven back by Cornwallis. General Lee, instead of 
 supporting Lafayette, ordered his line to retire to a stronger position. It appears that Lee's 
 troops mistook the nature of the order and began a confused retreat. \\'ashington was by 
 this time at hand in person. He met the fugitives, rallied them and administered a severe 
 rebuke to Lee. The battle then continued in a desultory and indecisive manner till night- 
 fall. Such was the extreme heat that almost as many soldiers were prostrated thereb)- as 
 fell in the fight. But Washington anxiously waited for the morning, still hoping for a 
 decisive victory-. During the night, however, the British forces under direction of Sir 
 Henr\- Clinton were withdrawn and escaped unperceived from the American front. 
 
 The loss of the Americans in the battle of Monmouth was two hundred and twenty- 
 seven ; that of the enemy much greater. The British left nearly three hundred dead on
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 495 
 
 the field. On the (la\ after tlie l)altle W'ashinjrton received an insulting letter from General 
 Lee deniandinij an apoloy;y. \\'ashinn;ton replied severely that his lanj^naj^e had been 
 warranted by the circunistance.s. I^e answered in a still more offensive manner and 
 was thereupon arrested. He was tried b\- court-martial and dismissed under reprimand for 
 one year. He never reentered the service and did not live to witness the achievement of 
 independence. A thrilling and heroic incident of this battle may be thus briefl\- told, 
 to the glor\' of American womanhood. A brave woman named Mary Pitcher had accom- 
 panied her husband, a young artilleryman, through the many privations of several cam- 
 paigns and had distinguished herself at Fort Clinton. During the engagement at 
 Monuiouth she employed her services in bringing water from a spring near the place 
 where the batter\- was planted, and in refreshing with cool draughts the powder-blackened 
 men who W( ■ 
 handling li 
 field guns. 
 While retuT^:.- 
 i n g wit li ,. 
 bucket filled 
 with water she 
 saw her hus- 
 band fall dead 
 as he was charg- 
 ing a giin. In 
 another instant, 
 tired with a pa- 
 triotic enthusi- 
 asm that repres- 
 sed her grief, 
 she .seized the 
 rammer and 
 discharged with ^ 
 ability and 
 delity the duties 
 which her hus- 
 band had per- 
 formed ; and in 
 this station she 
 
 resolutel\' re- the American cavalry charge at monmouth. 
 
 mained until the close of the battle. She was presented to Washington, who rewarded her 
 with a sergeant's commi.ssion, and she was then retired on half pay for life. 
 
 After Monmouth the British forces made their way to New York. Washington followed, 
 and took up his headquarters at White Plains. Meanwhile the fleet of Coinit d'Estaing 
 arrived, and attempted to attack the Hritish squadron in N'ew York harbor. Hut the bar 
 at the entrance prevented the passage of his vessels. D'Estaing hereupon withdrew and 
 made a descent on Rhfxle Lsland. (ieneral Sullivan was sent to cooperate with D'Estaing 
 ill an attack on Newport. The American forces were brought into position, and on the 
 9tli of August Sullivan informed his ally of his readiness for battle on the next day. On 
 that morning, however, the fleet of Admiral Howe came in sight and D'Estaing .sailed out
 
 496 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 to give battle to that enemy on his own element. But just as the two sqtiadrons were 
 about to begin a naval battle a ^torni arose by which the fleets were parted and both greatly- 
 damaged. D'Estaing sailed for Boston for repairs and Howe returned to New York. 
 
 As for General Sullivan, he undertook a siege of Newport without the cooperation 
 of the French fleet, but was soon obliged to withdraw. The British followed in pursuit 
 and a battle was fought in which the enemy was worsted, with a loss of two hundred and 
 sixty men. On the following night Sullivan made good his withdrawal from the island 
 and General Clinton returned to New York. 
 
 OUTRAGES BY GUERRILLAS AND INDIANS. 
 
 At this time the command of all the British naval forces operating on the American 
 coasts was given to Admiral Byron. The year 1778 was noted for many irregular and 
 desultory episodes of warfare not very creditable to those engaged, and having but little 
 general effect upon the progress of the Revolution. Early in October a band of guerrillas 
 led by Colonel Ferguson burned the American ships at Little Egg Harbor. Already in 
 the preceeding July the Tory, Major John Butler, commanding sixteen hundred loyalists, 
 Canadians and Indians marched into the Valley of Wyoming, Pennsylvania. The settle- 
 ment was defenceless. On the approach of the Tories and savages, a few militia, old men 
 and boys, rallied to protect their homes. A battle was fought, and the patriots without 
 discipline or efficient command were routed. The fugitives fled into a rude fort which 
 they had erected and which was soon crowded not only with the militia, but with the 
 women and children of the settlement. Honorable terras were promised by Butler, and 
 the garrison capitulated. On the 5th of July the gates were opened and the Canadians 
 entered followed by the Indians. The latter and some of the former immediately began to 
 plunder and kill. The passion of butchery rose with the work and nearly all the prisoners 
 fell under the hatchet and the scalping-knife. 
 
 Four months later a similar massacre occurred at Cherry Valley, New York. The 
 invaders in this instance were led by the celebrated Joseph Brandt, the half-breed chief of 
 the Mohawks, and by Walter Butler, a son of Mayor John Butler. The people of Cherry 
 Valley were driven from their homes without mercy. Women and children were toma- 
 hawked and scalped, and forty prisoners carried into captivity by the Indians. To avenge 
 these outrages an expedition was organized and sent against the savages on the Susque- 
 hanna; these in their turn were made to feel the terrors of lawless war. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the preceding spring, Major George Rogers Clarke had marched against 
 the Indians west of the AUeghanies. The expedition descended the Ohio nearly to the 
 juncture of that stream with the Mississippi. On the 4th of July, Clarke, having 
 marched with his command across the lower Illinois, captured Kaskaskia. Other important 
 posts were taken, and on the 24th of February, 1779, Vincennes, the last stronghold of the 
 British in the country of the Wabash was forced to capitulate. 
 
 The year was marked by more than a score of thrilling episodes in which brave fron- 
 tiersmen either perished in defence of their homes or exhibited extraordinary courage in 
 successful efforts to beat back the savages. Among the more distinguished heroes of this 
 period were the Bradys and Wetzels, whose valorous deeds have served to perpetuate their 
 names until the annals that describe the redemption of America from barbarism are no 
 longer printed. The Bradys were singularly marked as victims of Indian savagery. Cap- 
 tain John Brady, a brave pioneer, was assassinated by three Indians as he was riding along 
 a highway. James, the son of John Brady, with three companions, was set upon by a com-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 407 
 
 pany of Indians; his comrades deserted at tlie first signs of dangler, bnt he stood his 
 ground and disdaining all overtures for surrender, fought with his back to a tree until ten 
 bullets from guns of his enemies extinguished his brave life. 
 
 An elder brother, named Samuel, swore to avenge the death of James and thereafter 
 devoted many years to satisfying his vengeance, in which service he rose to the vcr\- pinna- 
 cle of fame as a scout of unexampled daring, who passed through perils greater and more 
 numerous perhaps than beset any other pioneer. 
 
 HEROISM OF THE WETZELS. 
 
 Equally famous as the Brad>s were the Wetzel brothers, whose dashing daring has 
 been made the subject of many a thrilling UiK of a Iventure with Indians. The father, 
 John Wetzel, an honest plodding 
 Dutchman, built a cabin in the 
 Ohio valley, but he had scarcely 
 become settled and began clear- 
 ing some of his ground wlien 
 one day while working in tli. 
 woods he was pitilessly murdered 
 by lurking savages. Though a 
 man indisposed to strife him- 
 self he was father to five sons 
 who became desperadoes in 
 their unappeasable thirst for 
 a bloody vengeance. The eldest 
 of these, named Martin, was 
 soon after made captive by a 
 band of Indians to whose life he 
 adapted himself in order the 
 more effectually to satisfy his de- 
 sire for vengeance. While thus 
 living on apparently aniiabU 
 tenns with the tribe into which 
 he was adopted he contrived to 
 kill no less than twentj- beforr 
 his criminal intents were dis- 
 covered, and by this time he hai 
 retreated and was a leader of 
 the settlers. Each of the 
 brothers in turn became a 
 sleuth-hound upon the tracks 
 of the Indians, slaying at every 
 opportunity and ever demand- 
 
 THE DEATH OF JAMES BRADY. 
 
 ing the blood of atonement for their father's slaughter. 
 
 The youngest of the Wetzels was Lewis and he was the most implacable oi the 
 five. So great was his thirst for vengeance that when in 1787-SS efTurls were made by 
 General Hannar to make a treaty of peace with the Indians, Lewis opposed such temporiz- 
 ing measures and with many other settlers preferred to have the war go on until the .savages 
 were exterminated. When, therefore, a council was called at Fort Harmar, Wetzel waylaid 
 32
 
 498 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 and shot an Indian who was on the way to the treat}- ground. This act created such intense 
 indignation that General Harniar set a price ujDon Wetzel's head, which incentive prompted 
 a company of soldiers to set out upon his tracks and after a week's pursuit the}- arrested 
 him while he was sleeping in the house of a friend. Securing him with heavy manacles 
 they carried the desperate Indian hunter back to tlie fort, where he was kept under a close 
 guard for some weeks. At length relaxing somewhat his severity under specious promises 
 of the prisoner General Harmar permitted Lewis to exercise about the fort, but always under 
 strict surveillance of two or more guards and never without handcuffs upon his wrist. On 
 
 one occasion, however, Wetzel 
 
 seized the small opportunity 
 offered for his escape and made 
 a surprising dash for liberty. 
 The guards were quick to 
 detect his bold manoeuvre and 
 each fired at the fugitive but 
 without effect. Running like 
 a deer Wetzel plunged into a 
 thicket, baffled all pursuit and 
 managed to cross the Ohio, 
 where he met a friend who 
 relieved him of his fetters and 
 he returned to his old vocation 
 of killing Indians. Subse- 
 quently he was again arrested, 
 but the settlers rallied to his 
 defence and threatened an in- 
 surrection if he was not re- 
 leased. Under this pressure 
 the court granted a writ of 
 habeas corpus and again he 
 was free. He was the hero of 
 m a n v escapades thereafter 
 which were by no means 
 J creditable to his reputation as 
 an Indian fighter, iDut desper- 
 ado as he was, Lewis Wetzel 
 died a natural death at Wheel- 
 ing in the summer of 1 808. 
 Bv the autumn of the 
 year 1779 the naval contest had drifted somewhat abroad. On the 3d of November, 
 Count D'Estaing's fleet sailed for the West Indies. In December, Admiral Byron 
 finding little to occupy his restless fancy and ambitions at New York, sailed away 
 to try the fortunes of war on the high seas. As to movements by land. Colonel 
 Campbell, with two thousand men, was sent by General Clinton for the conquest of Georgia. 
 On the 29th of December the expedition reached Savannah. Georgia was by much the 
 weakest of all the colonies. Savannah was defended by a garrison of eight hundred men under 
 command of General Robert Howe. The British attacked it and the Americans were soon 
 
 THE ESCAPE OF LEWIS WElZEIv
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 499 
 
 driven out of the city. The patriots retreated into South Carolina, and found refuge at 
 Charleston. This, however, proved to be the onl\- real conquest made by the British during 
 the year — a conquest sufBciently insignificant. 
 
 REVERSES TO THE AMERICAN CAUSE. 
 
 The American Army Went into winlcr-qiuuur.-. lur 1 778-' 79 at Middle Brook, New 
 Jersey. There was much discouragement, much discontent among the patriot soldiers, for 
 they were neither paid nor fed. Time and again the personal influence of Washington was 
 required to prevent a general mutiu\-. In February of 1779 Go\-ernoi Tryon, of Xew York, 
 a Tory of the Tories, marched with fifteen hundred men against the salt-works at Horse 
 Neck, Connecticut. Old General Putnan rallied the militia of the countr\', and made a 
 brave defence; but the Americans were outflanked b>- the enemy and obliged to fly. It was 
 here that General Putnam, when about to be overtaken, spurred his horse down a precipice 
 and escaped. 
 
 With the opening of spring General Sir Henry Clinton looked around for a field of 
 operations. In the latter part of j\Iay he sent an army up the Hudson to Stony Point, a 
 fortress commanding the river. The garrison, unable to resist the overwhelming forces of 
 the British, made good their escape from the fortifications. On the ist of June, the British 
 also captured Verplancks Point, on the opposite side of the Hudson. In July, Governor 
 Tryon, with twenty-six hundred Hessians and Tories, made a sudden descent on New 
 Haven, Connecticut, and compelled a surrender. The towns of East Haven and Fairfield 
 were set on fire and burned to ashes. One of the traditions of the day runs to the effect 
 that, at Norwalk, Tr)on having ordered the burning of the village, sat in a rocking-chair on 
 a neighboring hill and laughed heartily at the scene. 
 
 It was much to the disadvantage of the Americans that Stony Point, commanding the 
 central Hudson, should be held by the British. Washington accordingly planned its recap- 
 ture from the enem>-. To this work he assigned General Anthony Wajne. That officer on 
 the 15th of July, 1779, marched against the stronghold, and in the evening halted near the 
 fort His movements had not been discovered by the British. Wayne was enabled to make 
 his plan of assault and issue his orders without attracting the attention of the enemv's 
 pickets, who were presentlj- caught and gagged in the darkness. Everything was conducted 
 in silence. The muskets of the Americans were unloaded and the bayonets fixed. Not a 
 gun was to be fired. Wayne waited until a little after midnight before ordering the assault 
 The patriots made the charge with great spirit, and scaled the ramparts. The British find- 
 ing themselves between two lines of closing bayonets, cried out for quarter. Sixty-three of 
 the enemy fell. The remaining five hundred and forty-three were taken prisoners. Of the 
 Americans only fifteen were killed and eighty-three wounded. General Wayne, having 
 secured the ordnance and stores, destroyed the fort and marched off" with his prisoners. 
 
 On the 1 8th of July, Major Lee with a detachment of patriots captured the British gar- 
 rison at Jersey City. On the 25th of the month a fleet was sent to attack a post which the 
 enemy had established at the mouth of the Penobscot The squadron reached its destina- 
 tion, blockaded the mouth of the river, and began a siege. On the 13th of August, how- 
 ever, a British squadron appeared, superior in number of vessels and equipment, and falling 
 upon the American fleet destroyed or captured the whole. 
 
 SUCCESSES AND REVERSES. 
 
 In the same summer it was found necessary to organize a campaign against the Indians 
 in the countr\- of the Susquehanna. An expedition of six hundred men was cquipjied and 
 placed under command of fienerals Sullivan and James Clinton. The American force
 
 500 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 marched first against the savages and Tories who had fortified themselves at Ehnira. This 
 place was besieged, and on the 29th of August the enemy was routed from his stronghold 
 and scattered in all directions. The country between the upper Susquehanna and the 
 Genesee was then laid waste by the patriots, who destroyed forty Indian towns and villages 
 before the campaign was ended. 
 
 On the part of the enemy some successes were achieved. On the 9th of Januarj-, 1779, 
 a British force under General Prevost attacked and captured Fort Sunbury, on St. Cathe- 
 rine's Sound. Prevost was then assigned to the command of the British anny in the south. 
 A force of two thousand regulars and loyalists was despatched from Savannah for the cap- 
 ture of Augusta. On the 29th of January, the latter city was taken with but little resist- 
 ance. In these days the southern colonies were greatly plagued by the Tor>' partisans of 
 Great Britain, who organized in guerilla bands against their own countrymen. One of 
 these companies under Colonel Boyd, advancing from the country- districts to join the 
 
 British at Augusta, was attacked 
 
 and routed by patriots iinder 
 Colonel Anderson. On the 14th 
 of February, the same body was 
 again defeated by Colonel Andrew 
 Pickens. Boyd and several of 
 his men were killed, seventy-five 
 others were captured, and five of 
 the leading Tories hanged. 
 
 In this manner the western 
 half of Georgia was quickly 
 recovered by the patriots. Mean- 
 while a regular expedition under 
 General Ashe had been sent out 
 from Charleston to intercept the 
 enemy. On the 25th of February, 
 the Americans crossed the Savannah and began 
 pursuit of the British Colonel Campbell and his 
 band as far as Brier Creek. At this stream the 
 patriots halted, and, encamping with incaution, 
 were surrounded by the British under General 
 Prevost. A battle was fought on the 3d of March, and the Americans in total rout were 
 driven in scattered bands into the swamps. By this victory of the British, Georgia was 
 again prostrated and a royal government was established over the State. 
 
 The defeat of General Ashe was the dispersion, not the capture, of his division. The 
 Americans soon rallied, and within a mouth General Lincoln, commandant of Charleston, 
 was able to take the field with five thousand men. He proceeded up the Savannah River 
 in the direction of Augusta ; but at the same time his antagonist, General Prevost, crossed 
 that stream and marched rapidly against Charleston. General Lincoln was obliged to turn 
 back, and the British soon made a hasty retreat. The Americans followed, overtook the 
 enemy at a place called Stone Ferr}', ten miles west of Charleston, and attacked but were 
 repulsed with considerable losses. Prevost, however, avoided battle, and fell back to 
 Savannah. From June until September military operations were suspended, for the season 
 was one of intense heat, and neither General chose to follow or engage the other. 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE AMERICANS AT BRIER CREEK.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 oUl 
 
 UNSUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON SAVANNAH. 
 
 It was at this juncture of affairs that Count D'Estaing, who had been cruising with the 
 French fleet in the West Indies, arrived at Charleston to cooperate with General Lincohi in 
 the reduction of Savannah. Discovering the intent of the Americans, Prevost withdrew 
 his forces within the defences of that city and stood at bay. On the i2th of Stpteinbcr the 
 French, numbering si.x thousand, effected a landing near Savannah and advanced to the 
 siege. General Lincoln, however, was slow in arriving before the city. On the i6th 
 D'Estaing, acting without the assistance of the Americans, fU-inandrcl a ^tirrtndcr : but 
 Pre\-ost answered with defiance. A siege was begun and 
 pressed with vigor. The city was constantly bombarded, 
 but the defences were strong and were little injured. On 
 the 23d of September Lincoln arrived, and D'Estaing 
 entered into cooperation for the reduction of the city. 
 At length he notified the American connnander that the 
 place nuist be taken by assault, and the morning of the 9th 
 of October was named as the time for the hazardous attack. 
 
 Before sunrise on 
 that morning the allied 
 French and Americans 
 mo\-ed forward against 
 the British redoubts. At 
 one time it seemed that 
 the works would be 
 carried, for the attack 
 was made with great 
 spirit and determination. 
 The flags of Carolina and 
 France were planted on 
 the parapet, but the}- 
 were soon hurled down 
 by the British. It was 
 in the melee along the 
 walls that Sergeant Ja'^- 
 per, the hero of Fort 
 Moultrie, was killed. 
 The allied columns were 
 driven back with fearful 
 losses. Count Pulaski was stnick with a 
 
 lilNi; Till-; SlCKAl'lS. 
 
 grapeshot and borne dying from the field. 
 D'Estaing retired on board the fleet; Lincoln retreated to Charleston; and Savannah 
 remained in the hands of the British. 
 
 THE HEROISM OF PAUL JONES. 
 
 It was on the 23d of September in this year that Commodore John Paul Jones, cruis- 
 ing off the coast of Scotland with a fleet of French and .\merican vcs.scls, fell in with a 
 British squadron, and a bloody and famous battle ensued. The Serapis, a British frigate 
 of forty-four guns, engaged the Bon Homme Richard, the flag-ship of Paul Jones, in a 
 deadly encounter. After a terrific cannonade the two ships came within musket-sliot, and 
 each was riddled bv the fire of the other. .\t last the ships were lashed together. The
 
 502 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Americans, or rather the crew of the Bon Homme Richard (for that crew was made up of 
 many nationalities) boarded the Scrapis^ and the latter was obliged in blood and fire and 
 ruin to strike her colors. Alread}', however, the Bon Homme Richard had become 
 unmanageable and was in a sinking condition. Jones hastily transferred his men to the 
 conquered vessel, and his own ship went down. Of the three hundred and seventy-five 
 men who composed Paul Jones's crew three hundred were either killed or wounded. 
 
 Thus indecisively and with certain heroic episodes ended the year 1779. The colonies 
 had not yet won their independence. The French alliance, sad to say, had brought but 
 
 little seeming benefit. The national treasurj- was 
 
 bankrupt. The patriots of the anny were poorly 
 
 fed and were paid for the most part with unkept 
 
 promises. Nor was there any weakening on the part 
 
 of the enemy. Great Britain still supported the 
 
 war with unabated vigor. Tnie, her anger had now 
 
 been diverted somewhat from the colonies to her 
 
 ancient rival France ; but Parliament and the King 
 
 were still for war and the subjugation of America. 
 
 , ^ jsr isi^itii^ ,^^^a ^^^^ ^^^y °^ sailors and soldiers now made amounted 
 
 ^-.^ _ . -~ j|p^^^^^^ ^ 5~.;--'a^^^^ to a hundred and twent}' thousand, while the ex- 
 
 wASHiNGTON's HEADQUARTERS AT pcuscs of thc War department were raised to twenty 
 
 MORRisTowN. uiilliou pouuds sterling. The cloud of war rested 
 
 ominously over our thirteen struggling States and the day of independence still seemed 
 
 far away. 
 
 The winter of 1779-80 Washington passed at his headquarters near Morristown while 
 the main body of his army lay encamped on the southern slope of Kemball mountain, 
 sufficiently near to be called into immediate service in case of necessity. The winter was 
 so excessively severe as to retard operations, and was spent in no greater activity than 
 watching the British on Staten Island and in foraging for provisions, for the anny was so 
 inadequately provided that self-preser\-ation compelled a resort to marauding levies upon 
 surrounding barnyards. The cold and privations were so great that the scenes at Valley 
 Forge were reenacted, and but for the influence which Washington exerted his army would 
 no doubt have mutinied, as it was more than once upon the eve of doing.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AMERICA WINS THE BATTLE. 
 
 THOUGHTFUL reader of the liistor}' of the American 
 Revohitioii can discern one significant fact, and that 
 is that tlie British armies in America did not make 
 war upon our fathers witli their accustomed vigor. 
 Was it possible that a Uirking desire had pervaded 
 these armies of England that the Americans might 
 win the contest and go free? Certain it is that in 
 man)' instances the war was waged in an eas)-going 
 and perfunctory- way that might create the suspicion 
 of an underlying and half-donnant sympathy of the 
 British for the American cause. At any rate, there 
 were seasons when the war almost ceased. This was 
 true in the north during the greater part of the year 
 1780. Little was done on either side until midsummer. Early in July Admiral de 
 Teniay, of the French navy, arrived at Newport with a large fleet and six thousand infantry 
 under Count Rochambeau. 
 
 The Americans were greatly elated at the coming of their allies. By this event the 
 conflict suddenly loomed up to vaster proportions than ever, and this fact greatly strength- 
 ened the faith of the patriots in their ultimate success. In September General Washington 
 went to Dobb's Ferrj-, on the Hudson ; was there met in conference by Count Rochambeau, 
 and the plans of future campaig^is were determined. These events, however, were all of 
 importance that occurred in the north during the year 1780. 
 
 In the south, however, there was much desultor}- activity and the patriots suffered 
 many and serious reverses. The southern colonies were weak. As we have said before 
 they were also troubled with many nests of Tories, who for some reason not easily dis- 
 coverable had chosen to turn upon their fellow-countn-men in a manner not ver>- different 
 from treason. During the year South Carolina was at one time completely overrun by 
 the enemy. Admiral Arbuthnot came with a fleet of British ships and on the nth of 
 Febnian." anchored before Charleston. He had on board Sir Henr}- Clinton and an anny 
 of five thousand men. The city was feebly defended. General Lincoln, the connnandant, 
 had an effective force of no more than fourteen hundred. The British easily effected a 
 landing and marched up the right bank of .\shley River to a position from whicli they 
 might advantageously attack the city. On the 7th of April General Lincoln was reinforced 
 by a brigade of seven hundred Virginians. Two days afterwards Arbuthnot succeeded in 
 passing the g^ns of Fort Moultrie and came within cannon shot of the city. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON. 
 
 The siege of Charleston was now begun by land and water. General Lincoln sent out 
 a regiment of three hundred men under General .\uger to scour the country and keep open 
 
 ^503)
 
 604 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Halifax o^ 
 
 communications through the district north of Cooper River. Apprised of this movement, 
 Colonel Tarleton, commanding the British cavalry, fell upon Auger's forces at a place 
 called IMonk's Comer and dispersed or captured the whole company. The city was thus 
 hemmed in. Such was the disparity between the contending forces that from the first the 
 defence seemed hopeless. In a short time the fortifications crumbled under the cannonade 
 of the British batteries and General Lincoln, perceiving that the city would be carried by 
 
 assault, agreed to a capitulation. On the 12th of 
 ]\Iay Charleston was surrendered to the enemy and 
 General Lincoln and his forces became prisoners 
 of war. 
 
 Meanwhile Colonel Tarleton had continued 
 his ravages in the open countr}-. A few days 
 before the surrender he surprised and dispersed 
 a body of militia which had been gathered on the 
 San tee. After the capture of Charleston three 
 expeditions were sent into different parts of the 
 State. The first of these was against the American 
 post at the place called Ninet}'-Six. This station 
 was captured b}" the enemy. A second detachment 
 of British invaded the country of the Savannah. 
 A third under Comwallis crossed the Santee and 
 captured Georgetown. Tarleton continued his 
 depredations. At the head of seven hundred 
 cavalry he fell upon the Americans under Colonel 
 Buford and on the Waxhaw charged upon and dispersed them in all directions. 
 
 By these successes the authority of Great Britain was nominally restored in South 
 Carolina. For the present resistance seemed at an end. The patriots were beaten down 
 and for the day remained in silence. Sir Henry Clinton and Arbuthnot, flattering themselves 
 with the complete success of their expedition, now returned to New York, leaving Lords 
 Cornwallis and Rawdon with a part of the British army to hold the conquered territor}'. 
 
 THE BRAVERY OF FRANCIS MARION. 
 
 It was soon seen, however, that the spirit of patriotism was not extinguished. A number 
 of popular military heroes appeared on the scene and gained for themselves an imperishable 
 fame as the champions of the people. Such in particular were Thomas Sumter and Francis 
 Marion. These brave men came as the protectors of the State. The>' rallied the militia 
 here and there and began an audacious partisan warfare. Exposed detachments of the 
 British were suddenj>- attacked and swept off here and there as though an enemy had 
 swooped upon them from the clouds. At a place called Rocky Mount, Colonel Sumter burst 
 upon a party of British dragoons who were glad to save themselves by flight. On the 6th 
 of August he attacked another detachment of the enemy at Hanging Rock, defeated them 
 and made good his retreat. It was in this battle that young Andrew Jackson, then but 
 thirteen years of age, began his career as a soldier. 
 
 Marion's band consisted at first of twenty men and boys, white and black, half-clad, 
 and poorly armed ; but the number increased and it was not long until the "Ragged Regi- 
 ment ' ' became a terror to the enemy. It was the policy of Marion and Sumter to keep 
 their headquarters and places of refuge in almost inaccessible swamps. From these coverts 
 
 SCENE OF OPERATIONS IN THE .SOUTH, I780-I.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 505 
 
 i 
 
 
 they would suddenly issue forth by night or day and dart upon the enemy with such fur)' as 
 to sweep all before them. There was no telling when or where the swords of these fearless 
 leaders would fall. During the whole summer and autumn of 1780 Colonel Marion con- 
 tinued to sweep around Coniwallis's positions, cutting his lines of communication and 
 making incessant onsets upon exposed parties of the l?ritish. 
 
 DEATH OF BARON DE KALB. 
 
 Washington now sent forward General Gates into the Carolinas with the hope of pro- 
 tecting the old North State and perhaps recovering the South. Learning of his advance, 
 Cornwallis threw forward a large division of his forces under Lord Rawdon to Camden. 
 Coniwallis himself followed with reinforcements, while the Americans concentrated at 
 Clennont not far away. The sequel showed that both Cornwallis and Gates had formed 
 the design of attacking each other in the night. Each 
 selected the evening of the 15th of August for the forward 
 mo\emenL Both accordingly broke up their camps, and 
 the two annies met midway on Sander's Creek. Here a 
 severe battle was fought, and the Americans were defeated 
 with a loss of more than a thousand men. Here it was 
 that the distinguished Baron de Kalb received his mortal t. 
 wound. A review of the 
 battle showed that the 
 American forces had not 
 been managed with either 
 ability or courage. The 
 reputation of Gates as a 
 commander was blown 
 away like chaff, and he 
 was superseded by General 
 Greene. 
 
 In another part of the 
 field the brave and dash- 
 ing Carleton had avenged 
 himself and the British 
 cause by overtaking and 
 routing the corps of 
 Colonel Sumter at Fishing 
 Creek. Sumter's division 
 was put /tors die combat by 
 this defeat; but Marion still remained abroad leading the patriot partisans and greatly 
 harassing the enemy. On the 8th of September the British advanced into North Carolina 
 and on the 25th reached Charlotte without molestation. From this station Cornwallis 
 sent out Colonel Ferguson with a mounted division of eleven hundred regulars and 
 Tories to scour the country west of the River Catawba and to organize the loyalists of 
 that section. 
 
 Ferguson reached King's Mountain, where he encamped at his ease; but on the 7th 
 of October he was suddenly attacked by a thousand riflemen led by the daring Colonel 
 Campbell. A desperate fight here ensued. Ferguson was slain and three hundred of his 
 men were killed or wounded. The remaining eight hundred were forced into such close 
 
 i^^S^i^?"^ 
 
 
 RENDEZVOrS OF MARION AND HIS MEN.
 
 506 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 quarters tliat they threw down their arms and surrendered at discretion. Quarter was 
 granted freely to the British; but the patriot blood was hot, and ten of the leading Tor>' 
 prisoners were condemned b}- a court-martial and hanged. 
 
 After this brief account of affairs in the South we may pause to notice the civil con- 
 dition of the American people at this juncture. The credit of the nation was rapidly 
 sinking to the lowest ebb. Congress was obliged to resort to the free issuance of paper 
 money. At first the Continental bills were received at par; but their value rapidly fell off 
 until by the middle of 1780 they were scarcely worth two cents to the dollar. Business 
 was paralyzed for the want of an efficient currency. In the midst of the financial distress 
 of the times Robert Morris and a few other wealthy patriots, putting their all on the cast 
 of the die, came forward with their private fortunes and saved the colonies from impend- 
 ing ruin. The mothers of America also lent a helping hand by the preparation and free 
 contribution of clothing and supplies for the army. A large part of the food and clothes 
 of the patriot soldiers was at this time furnished as a gift from women who, equally with 
 their husbands and brothers and fathers, had adopted the motto of Independence or Death. 
 
 TREASON OF ARNOLD. 
 The autumn of 1780 was a period of gloom, and in the midst of it the country was 
 shocked b\- the news that General Benedict Arnold had turned traitor to his country! 
 Arnold had been in the early years of the war one of the bravest of the brave. After the 
 battle of Bemis's Heights in the fall of 1777, he had been promoted to the rank of ]\Iajor- 
 General and made commandant of Philadelphia; for the severe wound which he had 
 received precluded him for a season from the service of the field. While living at Phila- 
 delphia he married the daughter of a loyalist, came thus into high society and entered 
 upon a career of extravagance which soon overwhelmed him with debt. Having come 
 financially into a strait place he stooped to the commission of certain frauds on the supply 
 
 department of the array. This discovered, charges were preferred 
 against him by Congress, and he was convicted by a court-martial. 
 Seeming to forget his disgrace, however, Arnold soon after- 
 wards obtained command of the fortress of West Point, on the 
 Hudson. On the last day of July, 1780, he assumed control of 
 the important arsenal and depot of stores at that place. It 
 would appear that from the date of his trial and disgrace he 
 began to entertain the design of avenging himself on his countr}'- 
 and countrj^men. At all events, after arriving at West Point he 
 presently entered into a secret correspondence with Sir Henr}' 
 Clinton at New York, and finally offered, or at least accepted 
 an offer, to betra}- his country- for British gold. It was agreed 
 that the British fleet should ascend the Hudson and that the 
 earrison and fortress of West Point should be surrendered to the 
 enemy without a struggle. 
 
 As his representative General Clinton had chosen Alajor 
 John Andre, the Adjutant General of the British army, to go in person and hold a con- 
 ference with Arnold. The fonner was sent up the Hudson on the 21st of September 
 and was directed to complete the arrangements with the traitor for the delivery of the 
 fortress. Andre went in full unifonn and the meeting was held outside of the American 
 lines; for Clinton had directed his subordinate not to incur the danger which would follow 
 his entering within the pickets of the American forces. 
 
 SCENE OF ARNOI.D'S TREASON, 
 1780.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 -)(>/ 
 
 
 *« 
 
 ^^■■^5* ^ 
 
 
 About midnipjht of the 21st Andre reached tlie desi},niated spot, went ashore from 
 the ship / '/i/Zurr, and met Arnold in the thicket. Daydawn approaclied before the nefarious 
 business was done and the conspirators entered the American lines. .-\ndre was obliged 
 by this contingency to disg^iise himself, and by so doing he assumed the character of 
 a spy. 
 
 The two ill-starred men spent the next day at a house near by and there the business 
 was completed. Arnold agreed to surrender West Point for ten thousand pounds and a 
 commission as Brigadier in the British army. Andre for his part received papers contain- 
 a description of West Point, its resources in men and stores, its defences and the best 
 method of attack. Meanwhile, the / 'ultiirc lying at anchor in the Hudson had been dis- 
 covered by some American artillery-men, who planted a batter>' and drove the ship down 
 the river. 
 
 CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF ANDRE. 
 
 When Andre finished his business with Arnold and would return to his ship he found 
 the vessel gone. For this reason he was obliged to cross to the other side of the river and 
 return to New York by land. He passed the .\merican outposts in safety bearing Arnold's 
 passport and giving the 
 name of John Anderson. 
 At Tarr>town, however, 
 he was confronted b)' 
 three militiamen, John 
 Paulding, Da\'id 
 Williams and Isaac Van 
 Wart, who arrested his 
 progress, stripped him, 
 found his papers and 
 delivered him to Colonel 
 Jameson at Xorthcastle. 
 Through that officer's 
 amazing stupidity 
 Arnold was at once noti- 
 fied that "John Ander- 
 son ' ' had been taken 
 with his passport and 
 some papers " of a very 
 dangerous tendency! " 
 
 Arnold on hearing the news sprang up from his breakfast, exchanged a few hurried 
 words with his wife, fled to the river, took a boat and succeeded in reaching the / 'ullitrc. 
 The unfortunate .\ndre was thus left to his fate. He was tried by a court-martial at Tappan 
 and condemned to death as a spy. On the 2d of October he was led to the gallows and 
 under the stern code of war — thougli he pleaded vainly to lie shot as a soldier — was hanged. 
 Though dying the death of a felon he met his doom as tlie brave man goes to death, and 
 aftertimes have not failed to commiserate his deplorable fate. Arnold for his part received 
 \\\'> pay ! 
 
 Thus drew to a close the year 1780. It did not appear that independence was nearer 
 or surer than it had been at the beginning. In the dark days of December, however, there 
 came a ray of light from Europe. For several years the people of Holland, like the Freuch, 
 
 
 CAPTURE OF MAJOR ANDRE. 
 
 ^^B^^.
 
 508 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 had secretly sympathized with the Americans and the government extended silent help and 
 support to the cause in which they were engaged. After the conclusion of the alliance with 
 France negotiations were opened with the Dutch for a commercial treaty similar to that 
 which had been obtained by Franklin from the French court. The agents of Great Britain 
 discovered the purpose of the Dutch government, but the latter was not to be turned from 
 its intent. At first the British agents angrily remonstrated, and then on the 20th of Decem- 
 ber there was an open declaration of war. Thus the Netherlands were added to the alliance 
 against Great Britain. It seemed that the King of England and his ministers would have 
 enough to do without further efforts to enforce a Stamp Act on the Americans or to levy a 
 tax on their imported tea. 
 
 Notwithstanding the advantage gained by the accession of Holland the year 1781 
 opened gloomily for the patriot cause. The condition of the army at times became desper- 
 ate; no food, no pay, no clothing. In their distress the soldiers once and again became 
 mutinous. The whole Pennsylvania line on New Year's Day broke from their barracks 
 and marched on Philadelphia. At Princeton they were met by emissaries from Sir Henry 
 Clinton, who tempted them with offers of money and clothing if they would desert the 
 standard of their country. The mutinous patriots, however, were not of that mettle. They 
 made answer by seizing the British agents and delivering them to General Wayne to be 
 hanged as spies. For this deed the commissioners of Congress, who now arrived at the 
 American camp, offered the insurgents a large reward, but this also was against the temper 
 of the angry patriots, who though mutinous scornfully rejected the overtures of both friends 
 and enemies. Washington knowing how shamefully the army had been neglected by Con- 
 gress was not unwilling that the insurrection should take its own course. The Congres- 
 sional agents were therefore left to adjust the difficulty as best they could with the rebellious 
 troops. 
 
 EXECUTION OF MUTINEERS. 
 
 The success of the mutineers in obtaining their rights furnished a bad example to 
 others who were discontented for less valid reasons. About the middle of Januan,' the New 
 Jersey brigade stationed at Pompton revolted. This movement Washington deemed it 
 necessary to put down by force. • General Robert Howe was sent with five hundred regulars 
 against the camp of the insurgents and they were obliged to submit to severe discipline. 
 Twelve of the ringleaders were taken and obliged to execute two of their own number as a 
 warning to the army. From that day to the close of the Revolution order was completely 
 restored. 
 
 These insurrections had on the whole a good rather than a bad effect; Congress was 
 thoroughly alarmed and immediate provisions were made for the better support of the army. 
 Washington himself after having enforced order and discipline in the ranks wrote indignant 
 letters to Congress in behalf of his suffering soldiery and that body was thus lashed into 
 doing something for the better support and greater comfort of the men who were fighting 
 the battle for independence. An agent of the government in the days of this emergency 
 was sent to France to obtain a further loan of money. Robert Morris was appointed Secre- 
 tary of Finance, and the Bank of North America was organized as the nucleus of a new 
 monetary system for the country. Although the outstanding debts of the United States 
 could not for the present be paid, yet all future obligations were promptly met. Morris 
 and his friends pledged their private fortunes to the maintenance of the financial credit of 
 the nation. 
 
 As to military operations the same were begun in the north by an expedition of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 oOU 
 
 SERGKANT CHAMPE'S DEPARTURE. 
 
 Arnold. That maligri genius, after his treason, had succeeded in reaching New York, had 
 received the promised compensation and accompanying commission as Ijrigadier-gcneral in 
 the British army. 
 Before the setting-in 
 of winter, namely, in 
 November of 1780, 
 Washington and Major 
 Henry Lee, or rather 
 the latter, with the 
 consent of the fonner, 
 had fonned a plan to 
 take Arnold prisoner. 
 Sergeant John Champe 
 was appointed to un- 
 dertake the daring en- 
 terprise. The sergeant 
 made a mock desertion 
 from the arm}', fled to 
 the enemy, entered 
 New York, and witli 
 two assistants joined 
 Arnold's company. 
 These three concerted 
 measures to abduct the 
 
 traitor from the city and convey him to the American camp. The scheme had almost 
 proved successful, but Arnold chanced to move his quarters to another part of the city 
 and the plan was defeated. A month afterward he was given command of a fleet and a 
 land-force of si.xteen hundred men, and on tlie i6th of December he left New York to 
 make a descent on the coasts of \'irginia. 
 
 CAREER OF ARNOLD AS A BRITISH OFFICER. 
 
 The expedition readied its destination in the James River valley in January, 1781. 
 There Arnold began his war on his countrymen. His expedition was a foray rather than a 
 campaign, and his march was marked with many ferocious and vindictive deeds. It might 
 be discerned, however, tint the daring and ability which had characterized his former 
 exploits were henceforth wanting. He was a ruined man. He had sold himself instead 
 of his country-. Weakness had come with crime, and the havoc of conscience and remorse 
 were in him and around him. His command succeeded in destroying a large amount of 
 public and private property in the vicinity of Richmond. Tlie conntn.- along the James 
 was laid waste until there was little left to excite the cupidity or gratify the revenge of the 
 traitor and his followers. Arnold then took up his headquarters in Portsmouth, a few miles 
 south of Hampton Roads. 
 
 The success of the expedition as a destroying force had been such as to induce Sir 
 Henr\- Clinton to support the movement, .\bout the middle of April he sent General 
 Phillips to Portsmoutli with a force of two thousand men. These were joined with Arnold's 
 men and Phillips assumed command of the whole. A second time the expedition was 
 directed through the fertile districts of lower Virginia, and pillage and devastation and fire 
 marked the pathway of the invaders. Arnold had been humiliated by the fact that Phillips
 
 510 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 was placed over him in command, for Clinton never gave his confidence to the man who 
 had betrayed his country. 
 
 In a short time, however, death assisted the anil^itions of the traitor b}- clntching 
 General Phillips and sending him to the grave. This devolved the command on Arnold, 
 and for the short space of seven days he 
 stood at the head of the British forces in 
 Virginia. That, however, was the 
 height of his treasonable glory. On the 
 20th of May Lord Cornwallis arrived at 
 Petersburg and ordered him begone. 
 
 ,ifei- 
 
 '-^'^ 
 
 A FRENZfED GIRL'S ATTEMPT UPON THE 
 LIFE OF ARNOLD. 
 
 Returning to New York, he received 
 from Clinton a second detachment. 
 
 with which he entered Long Island Sound, landed at New London in his new native 
 State, and captured the town. Fort Griswold, which was defended by Colonel Led- 
 yard, was taken by assault, but when the commandant surrendered, he and seventy-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. oil 
 
 three of his garrison were murdered in cold blood. The town was then set on fire 
 and nearly every house of importance, including the custom-house, court-house, jail, 
 market and churches, was consumed. It is a tradition that Arnold took his position 
 in the belfry of a church and watched the destruction of the city. During this riot of 
 massacre and holocaust Arnold rode through the streets and stimulated his soldiers in their 
 work of murder and demolition, as if his savager>- could never be glutted. It is related 
 that a young woman, frenzied by the murder of her father atrd the ruin of her home, seized 
 a loaded musket and in her desperation attempted the life of the traitor, a purpose in which 
 she was only prevented by the gun missing fire. Moved by her bravery, no less than bv 
 her great sorrow, Arnold refused to punish the girl for attempting his life, leaving her amid 
 the wreckage and slaughter that he had wrought. 
 
 BATTLE OF COWPENS. 
 
 We have already noted the change in commanders at the south. The American army, 
 after its defeat at Sander's Creek, had concentrated at Charlotte, North Carolina, and passed 
 under command of General Greene. By this time General Daniel Morgan had risen to 
 great reputation in the south, and was trusted by Greene as one of his principal supporters. 
 Early in January' Morgan at the head of a considerable body of troops was sent into the 
 Spartanburg district of South Carolina to repress the Tories. Thither he was followed by 
 the able and daring Colonel Tarleton with the British cavalr\-. The Americans took 
 position at a place called the Cowpens where, on the 17th of January, they were attacked by 
 the enemy. Tarleton made the onset with his usual impetuosity, but Morgan's men bravely 
 held their ground. After some hard fighting the American horse, under Colonel William 
 Washington, made a charge and scattered the Britisli dragoons in all directions. Ten 
 of the enemy's officers and ninety privates were killed in the battle. The victor}- was 
 decisive and Tarleton's force was for the time dispersed. 
 
 The intelligence of the fight at Cowpens astonished Cornwallis, but he hastilv marched 
 up the river in the hope of cutting off Morgan's retreat. General Greene, however, reached 
 Morgan's camp and took command in person. Then began a long retreat of the Americans 
 and pursuit by the British. On the 28tli of January, 1782, the former reached the Catawba 
 and crossed safely to the northern bank. Within two hours the British reached the ford 
 with full e.xpectation of continuing the pursuit in the morning, but during the night the 
 rain poured down in torrents, the river was swollen to a flood, and it was manv days before 
 the British could cross. 
 
 Then began a race for the Yadkin. The distance between the two rivers was sixty 
 miles, but in two days the Americans arrived at the Yadkin and had nearly completed the 
 crossing when the British came in sight. That night the Yadkin also was made impass- 
 able by auspicious rains and Cornwallis suffered a second delay, l^ot until the 9th of 
 Februan.- did he succeed in crossing to the northern bank. From this position the lines of 
 retreat and pursuit lay nearly parallel to the north. .\ third time the race began, and for 
 the third time the Americans won. On the 13th of the month Greene, with the main 
 division of the army, safely crossed the Dan into Virginia. 
 
 DEFEAT AT GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 
 
 But it was not his purpose to continue rdrculing or lu remain inactive at the end of the 
 race. On the 22d of Febrnan,-, he returned to North Carolina. Meanwhile, Tarleton had 
 been sent by Cornwallis into the region between the Haw and Deep rivers, to encourage a 
 rising of the Tories. They came at his call, and about three hundred loyalist recruits rose
 
 512 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 to him; but while they were marching to Tarleton's camp they were intercepted, cut ofiF, 
 and the whole company scattered by the patriot Colonel Lee. 
 
 Greene's army now numbered more than four thousand men, and the enem}- under 
 Cornwallis were of about equal strength. The American general decided to avoid battle no 
 longer, and breaking his camp marched to Guilford Court-House. The British came on in 
 the same direction, and on the 15th of ]\Iarch, the two armies met and joined battle. The 
 action was severe but indecisive. The Americans lost the field, and were indeed repelled 
 for several miles; but in killed and wounded the British suffered the greater losses. 
 
 After the battle of Guilford, Cornwallis decided to withdraw from the south in the 
 direction of Virginia. His retreat was first to Wilmington, and then before the end of April, 
 to his destination. The British forces in the south remained under command of Lord Raw- 
 don. Greene did not at the first follow Cornwallis, but advanced into South Carolina, and 
 captured Fort Watson on the Santee. He then took post at Hobkirk's Hill, near Camden. 
 Here on the 25th of April, he was attacked by the British under Rawdon, and a severe bat- 
 tle was fought in which for a while victor}' strongly inclined to the American side. But 
 Greene's centre, through some mismovement, gave way, and the day was lost 
 
 After this engagement Lord Rawdon retired with his command to Eutaw Springs. It 
 had now been discovered by the British that their various conquests in the thinly populated 
 districts of the Carolinas brought them nothing but vacuity. Neither the sentiments of the 
 people were changed nor was their ultimate ability to continue the war seriously aflfected by 
 the British successes. The forces of the enemy after a victor}- would find themseh'es in an 
 open countr}- surrounded by a hostile population whom they could not strike, and it gener- 
 ally happened that the enemy was satisfied to return to some town or city where greater com- 
 fort might be found. After the retreat of Rawdon to Eutaw Springs the British posts at 
 Orangeburg and Augusta were retaken by the patriots. The place called Ninet}--Six was 
 besieged by Greene, and was about to succumb when Rawdon turned back for battle, and the 
 American commander deemed it prudent to retire, during the sickly months of summer, to 
 the woody hill-countr}' of the Santee. 
 
 In the interval that followed, Sumter, Lee and Marion with their partisan bands became 
 more active than ever. These patriot leaders were constantly abroad in the saddle and 
 smote the Tories right and left. It was at this juncture that Lord Rawdon went to Charles- 
 ton and there became a principal actor in one of the most shameful scenes of the ^Revolu- 
 tion. Colonel Isaac Hayne, a patriot officer who had formerly taken an oath of allegiance 
 to the King, was caught in command of a troop of American cavalry. His justification 
 was that the oath which had been imposed on him by the conquest of the State by the Brit- 
 ish had been annulled by the reconquest of Carolina by the Americans; but this claim was 
 treated with derision by a court-martial which was organized under Colonel Balfour, com- 
 mandant of Charleston. Colonel Hayne was tried, condemned and under the sanction of 
 
 Lord Rawdon was hanged. 
 
 BATTLE OF EUTAW SPRINGS. 
 
 With the subsidence of the heated season General Greene, on the 2 2d of August, 
 
 marched towards Orangebhrg. Rawdon hereupon fell back to Eutaw Springs, where he 
 
 was overtaken by the Americans on the SJi of September. One of the fiercest battles of 
 
 the war ensued, and General Greene was denied the decisive victory only by the unexpected 
 
 bad conduct of som.; of his troops. He was obliged after a loss of five hundred and fifty 
 
 men to give over tl'e struggle, but not until he had inflicted on the British a loss in killed 
 
 and wounded of nearly seven hundred. General Stuart, who commanded the British on
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 513 
 
 this field, now retreated to Monk's Corner, whither he was followed by Greene, (iiadnully 
 the British outposts were drawn in, the country was given up, and after two months of 
 mancEU\Ting the entire force of the enemy was driven into Cliarleston. 
 
 In the whole south only this city and Savannali now remained in the power of the 
 King's army ; aud there were already premonitions that both of these would be abandoned. 
 On the nth of July, 17S1, Savannah was actually evacuated, but Cliarleston remained in 
 the occupation of the British until the 14th of December, 1782. Such wiis the close of the 
 Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia. The southern States had suffered most of all by 
 the ravages of the enemy, and had been least able to bear such devastation. But with the 
 recover}.- of independence there was an immediate revival, and the traces of war and disaster 
 were soon obliterated. 
 
 The movement of Lord Cornwallis towards \'irginia has already- been noted. That General 
 reached the Old Dominion in the early part of May, 1781, and took immediate command 
 
 CHARGE OK THE AMKK1C.\NS UNDER GREENE. 
 
 of the Briti.sh army. Like his predecessors, Arnold and Phillips, he conducted in the first 
 place a desolating expedition in the valley of the James. The country was ravaged and 
 property, jniblic aud private, destroyed to the value of fifteen millions of dollars. Wash- 
 ington had entrusted the defence of Virginia to the Marquis of Lafayette ; but that brave 
 young officer had an inadequate force under his command, and was unable to meet Corn- 
 wallis in the field. 
 
 The British General proceeded to the vicinity of Richmond without serious opposition,, 
 and sent out thence a detachment under Tarleton to Charlottesville, where the \'irginia 
 government had its seat. Tarleton moved with his accustomed rapiuit\-, surprised the town 
 and captured seven members of the legislature. Governor Thomas Jefferson barely saved 
 himself by flight, escaping into the mountains. 
 
 The 6th of July was marked by an audacious episode in the campaigns of this year. 
 General .\nthony Wayne, leading Lafayette's advance, came suddenly upon tlie whole 
 
 33
 
 514 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 British arin\' at a place called Green's Springs, on the James. Perceiving the peril into 
 which he had thrown himself by incaution, Wayne made an audacious attack, at which 
 Comwallis was so much surprised that the American commander was able to fall back and 
 save himself b\- a hast}- retreat. No pursuit was attempted, and the Americans got away 
 after inflicting an equal loss upon the enemy. 
 
 ' Comwallis now crossing the James marched to Portsmouth, where Arnold had made 
 his quarters in the previous spring. It is believed that the able British general had now 
 divined the probable success of the American cause and would fain have fortified himself in 
 a secure position at Portsmouth, but Sir Henr}- Clinton, the commander-in-chief, ordered 
 otherwise ; and in the early part of August the British anny was embarked and convejed 
 to Yorktown, on the southern bank of York River a few miles above the confluence of that 
 stream with the Chesapeake. Destiny had reser\'ed this obscure place as the concluding 
 scene of the most important war of the eighteenth centur\'. 
 
 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CORNWALLIS. 
 The courageous Lafayette quickly advanced into the peninsula between the York and 
 the James, and took post only eight miles distant from the British. From this position he 
 sent urgent despatches to Washington beseeching him to come to Virginia and direct in 
 striking the enemy a fatal blow. A powerful French annament commanded by the Coimt 
 de Grasse was hourly expected in the Chesapeake, and the eager Lafa}-ette saw at a glance 
 that if a friendly fleet could be anchored in the mouth of the York River and a suitable 
 land-force brought to bear iipon Comwallis, the doom of that able General and his whole 
 command would be sealed. 
 
 Washington also divined the situation, and from his camp on the Hudson kept looking 
 wistfully to the south. During the months of July and August his mind was greatly exer- 
 cised with the prospect. Thus far the militar}- situation had demanded that he should 
 remain in the north confronting Sir Henr}- Clinton and watching his opportunity to recover 
 New York City from the British. But the condition of affairs in Virginia was such as to 
 lure him thither, and he determined to direct a campaign against Comwallis. He- took the 
 
 precaution, however, to mislead Sir Henrj- Clinton 
 b}- confirming him in the belief that a descent was 
 about to be made on New York. The Americans 
 and French would immediately begin a siege of 
 that cit\\ Such was the tenor of the delusive 
 despatches which Washington wrote w^th the in- 
 tention that they should fall into the hands of the 
 enemy. The ruse was successful and Clinton made 
 ready for the expected attack on New York. E\-en 
 when, in the last days of August, information was 
 borne to Clinton that the American army had 
 broken camp and was on the march across New 
 Jersey to the south he would not believe it, but 
 on the contrar)- went ahead preparing for the antici- 
 pated assault on himself 
 
 In the meantime Washington pressed rapidly 
 forward and soon entered Virginia. He paused two days at Mount Vernon, where he had 
 not been for six years. At Williamsburg he met Lafayette and received from him an 
 account of the situation in Lower Virginia. There he learned that on the 30th of August 
 
 Adj.Gener*!^ '■ j?'*. Md. Pen 
 -,ntB* J /?- Aft. 
 
 Go?Nel3on^ 
 
 Rt^'j 
 
 ^1 
 
 SIEGE OF YORKTOWN.
 
 COLUMBUS AXl) COLUMBL\. 
 
 .515 
 
 Count de Grasse's fleet, uumberinij twenty-eight ships of the line with nearly four thousand 
 infiintry on board, had reached the Chesapeake and come to safe anchor in the mouth of 
 York River. Alreadx Cornwallis was secureh' blockaded hotli by sea and land. 
 
 THE SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF YORKTOWN. 
 The sequel showed that the French navy in its several parts was acting in concert. 
 Just after the arrival of Count de Grassc came also Count de Barras, who cominaiukd tlf 
 French flotilla at Newport. 
 He brought with liim into 
 the Chesapeake eight addi- 
 tional ships of the line and 
 ten transports ; also cannon 
 for the siege of Yorktown. 
 By the beginning of Septem- 
 ber York River was effectu- 
 ally closed at the mouth and 
 the Americans and the 
 French began to strengthen 
 their lines by land. On the 
 5tli of the month the English 
 Admiral Graves appeared in 
 the bay with his squadron, 
 and a naval battle ensued 
 in which the British ships 
 were so roughly handled 
 that thev were o'lad to draw amkricans captlring a redoubt at yorktown. 
 
 off" and return to New York. On the 28th of September the allied annies, now greath 
 superior in numbers to the enemy and confident of success, encamped closely around York- 
 town, and the siege was 
 regularly begun. The 
 inve.stnient was destined 
 to be of short duration. 
 Tarleton, who occupied 
 Gloucester Point on the 
 opposite side of York 
 River, made one spirited 
 sally but was driven back 
 with severe losses. 
 
 By the 6th of October 
 the trenches had been 
 contracted to a distance 
 of only six hundred 
 yards from the British 
 works. From this posi- 
 tion the c a n n o n a d e 
 became constant and 
 effective. On the nth of the month the allies secured a second parallel only three hundred 
 yards distant from the redoubts of Cornwallis. Three days afterwards, in the night, the 
 
 SIRRKNDRR OF CORNWALLIS AT YORKTOWN.
 
 516 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Americans made an assault, and the outer works of the British were carried by storm. At 
 daydawn on the i6th the British made a sortie from their intrenchments, but were wholly 
 unsuccessful. They could neither loosen the grip of the allies nor break through the 
 closing lines. 
 
 On the 17th of the month Cornwallis proposed to surrender, and on the i8th terms of 
 capitulation were drawn up and signed. At two o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th Major 
 General O'Hara led out the whole British army from the trenches into the open field, where 
 in the presence of the allied ranks of France and America seven thousand two hundred and 
 forty-seven English and Hessian soldiers laid down their arms, delivered their standards 
 and became prisoners of war. Lord Cornwallis, sick in his tent — or feigning sickness, as 
 the tradition of the times asserted — did not go forth to witness the humiliation of his army. 
 Washington for his part designated General Lincoln who was of equal rank with 0'Har.i, 
 to receive his sword and represent the commander-in-chief. British marines to the number of 
 eight hundred and forty were also surrendered. Seventy-five brass and thirty-one iron guns, 
 together with all the accoutrements of Cornwallis's army, were the added fruits of victory. 
 DEMONSTRATIONS OF JOY AND PUBLIC THANKSGIVING. 
 
 Great was the enthusiasm of the country on the spread of this triumphant intelligence. 
 A swift courier was sent with the news to Congress. On the evening of the 23d of October 
 the messenger rode unannounced into Philadelphia. Wlien the sentinels of the cit\- called 
 the hour of ten o'clock that night their cry was this : " Ten o'clock, starlight night, and 
 Cornwallis is taken ! " It was a fitting thing that the glorious proclamation of victory should 
 thus be made under the benignant stars in the streets of that old town which first among the 
 cities built by men had heard and attested the declaration that all men are created equal! 
 
 On the morning of the 24th of October, Congress joyfully assembled. Never before 
 had that body come together, not even on the day of Independence, with so great alacrity 
 and enthusiasm. Before the august assembly the modest despatches of Washington were read 
 announcing the complete success of the allied campaign of Virginia and the capture of 
 Cornwallis and his army. The members exulting and many weeping for gladness adjourned 
 and went in concourse with the citizens to the Dutch Lutheran church, where the afternoon 
 was turned into Thanksgiving day. The note of rejoicing sounded through the length and 
 breadth of the land. Even the humblest took up the shout of emancipation and civil 
 libertv ; for it was seen that the dominion of Great Britain in America was forever broken. 
 
 The surrendered armv of Cornwallis was marched under guard to the militar)- barracks 
 at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, there to await exchange or a treaty of peace. Washington 
 with the victorious allies returned to his camps in New Jersey and on the Hudson. Not 
 onlv in America, but on the continent of Europe as well, the news of the capture of Corn- 
 wallis was received with every demonstration of gladness. But in England the King and 
 his ministers heard the tidings with mortification and rage. The chagrin and anger of the 
 government was intensified by the fact that a large part of the English people were either 
 secretly or openly pleased with the success of the American cause. 
 
 The popular feeling in Great Britain soon expressed itself in Parliament. During the 
 fall and winter of 1781 the ministerial majority in that body fell off rapidly. The existent 
 government tottered to its fall, and on the 20th of March, 1782, Lord North and his friends, 
 unable longer to command the support of Parliament, resigned their oflices. A new min- 
 istry was immediately formed, favorable to America, favorable to freedom, favorable to 
 peace. It became apparent to all men that the independence of the United States was 
 virtually achieved.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 517 
 
 In the bej^iiniuf;^ of May the command of the British forces in the United States 
 was transferred from Sir Henry Clinton to Sir CtU>- Carleton. Tlie latter was known 
 to be friendly to the canse of the Americans, and he accepted his appointment as the 
 beginnin.ii^ of the end. Meanwhile the hostile demonstrations of the enemy, who were now 
 confined to New York and Charleston, ceased, and the prndent Washington, discerning the 
 advantages of moderation, made no efforts to dislodge the foe, for the war had virtually 
 come to an end. 
 
 ENGUND ACKNOWLEDGES AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Congress now became active in the work of securing a treaty of peace. In the summer 
 of 1782 Richard Oswald was sent by Parliament to Paris — a favorable omen ; for the object 
 of his mission was to confer with Franklin and Jay, the ambassadors of the United States, 
 in regard to the terms of an international settlement. Before the discussions were ended 
 John Adams, arriving from Amsterdam — for he was American minister to Holland — and 
 Henry Laurens, from London, came to Paris and were joined with Franklin and Jay in the 
 negotiations. The commissioners became assiduous in their work, and on the 30th of 
 November, 1 782, preliminarA- articles of peace were agreed to and signed on the part of 
 Great Britain by Oswald and on behalf of the United States by Franklin, Adams, Jay and 
 Laurens. In the following April the terms were ratified by Congress, but the proclamation 
 of peace was for a considerable season deferred. 
 
 This postponement of a public peace between the United States and the mother 
 country- was occasioned by the existing international complications. As soon as Great 
 Britain discerned that American independence was a foregone conclusion she conceived the 
 design of interposing herself between the new republic and France. It was clearly perceived 
 that F''rance, by her ready alliance with the Americans and her practical and successful 
 support of their cause, had gained a great and perhaps permanent advantage in the affec- 
 tions of the new nation, and this circumstance was well calculated to arouse the extreme 
 jealousy of the British nation and people. 
 
 England felt herself to be the parental State. True, there had been a war, but the 
 war was now at an end. Could she not, therefore, reingratiate herself with her late colonies, 
 recover her standing with them, resume her sway over their commerce and continue to gain 
 as hitherto by the industries and products of the English-speaking race in the Xew World ? 
 
 The condition was such as to test the fidelity of the Americans to their allies. The 
 event showed, however, that a profound alienation had been produced in the hearts of the 
 American people towards the mother country. They had suffered too much of wrong and 
 oppression, of persecution and outpouring of life and scanty treasure to get over the wound 
 and return with good-will to the embrace of the ancestral islands. Peace was, therefore, 
 postponed, for France and England were still at war. It was not until the 3d of Septeinber, 
 1783, that a final treaty was effected between all the nations that had been in the conflict. 
 On that day the ambassadors of Holland, Spain, England, France and the United States, 
 in a solenni conference at Paris, agreed to and signed the articles of a permanent and 
 definitive treaty of peace. Then it was that the American people might for the first time 
 break forth into universal rejoicing over the achievement of national independence. 
 
 RETURN OF PEACE. 
 
 The treaty of 17S3 was full, fair and sufficient fur the new republic. The terms of the 
 compact were briefly the.se : .V full and complete recognition of the independence, sov- 
 ereignty and equality of the United vStates of .\merica ; the recession by Great Britain of 
 Florida to Spain ; the surrender of all the remaining territory east of the Mississippi and
 
 518 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 
 
 south of the great Lakes to the United States ; the free navigation of the Mississippi and 
 the Lakes by American vessels ; the concession of mutual rights in the Newfoundland 
 fisheries ; and the retention by Great Britain of Canada and Nova Scotia, with the exclusive 
 control of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 We may here note in a few words the final withdrawal from our shores of the militar}' 
 forces of the enemy. Early in August of 1783 Sir Guy Carleton received instructions to 
 evacuate New York City. It was some time, however, before this could be conveniently 
 accomplished. Three months were spent by the British officers in making arrangements 
 for this important event. Finally, on the 25th of November, ever}-thing was in readiness 
 and the British army was embarked on board the fleet Then the sails were spread ; the 
 ships stood out to sea ; dwindled to white specks on the horizon ; disappeared. The Briton 
 was gone. With what sentiments must the American patriots from the whar\-es, the 
 windows, the housetops of old New York have watched that receding squadron bearing 
 away forever from the American coast that hateful force which had so long impeded the 
 independence, the liberty, the nationality of the new United States ! Shall we say that the 
 American of 1783, as he gazed on that November day adown the harbor of New York at 
 the British fleet sinking behind the waters, exulted with mingled joy and hatred over the 
 disappearance of his mortal foe ? Shall we believe that rather he remembered with anger 
 and feelings of malevolent triumph his victor}' over the British King and ministr}-, and that 
 his feelings towards the visible enemy, now becoming invisible across the sea, were those 
 of a half-kindly regret and sympathy as for fellow-countrsinen of a common race and 
 tongue ? 
 
 However this may be, the conflict was over and the victor}- won. After the struggles 
 and sacrifices of an eight years' war the old Continental patriots had achieved the inde- 
 pendence of their country. The United 
 States of America 
 reign, and might 
 
 station among the nations of the earth. 
 As for Charleston, that city had already 
 been evacuated by the British on th 
 14th of December, 1782. Thus at 
 last were the American coasts, 
 from the borders of Florida to the 
 Penobscot, freed from the presence 
 of the unnatural foe which had so 
 long struggled with sword and 
 intrigue and invasion to reduce 
 the people of the colonies to sub- 
 jection and political servitude. 
 
 AFFECTING SCENES. 
 
 The concluding scenes of the 
 Revolution now passed rapidly, 
 like the final acts of a drama. 
 On the 4th of December there was a most affecting scene in New York City. Wash- 
 ington assembled his officers and bade them a final adieu. When they were met the 
 chieftain arose and spoke a few affectionate words to his tried comrades in arms. Washing- 
 ton was now in his fifty-second year, and had aged perceptibly under the arduous trials and 
 
 had become a sove- 
 now take an equal 
 
 WASHINGTON BIDDING FAREWELL TO HIS GENERALS
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 519 
 
 responsibilities of the long-continued war. His fidelity to the cause had led him to suffer 
 much. We have already noted the fact that for six years after taking command of the 
 army at Cambridge he never once revisited his home at ]Mount Vernon. 
 
 On the day of the separation, when he had ended liis remarks he requested each of 
 his officers to come forward in turn and take his hand. This they did, and with tears and 
 sobs which they no longer cared to conceal the veterans bade him farewell. Washington 
 then went on foot to Whitehall, followed by a vast concourse of citizens and soldiers, and 
 thence departed en route for Annapolis, where Congress was in session. He paused on his 
 way at Philadelphia and made to the proper officers a report of his expenses during the 
 war. The account was in his own handwriting, and covered a total expenditure of seventy- 
 four thousand four himdred and eighty-five dollars — all correct to a cent. The route of the 
 chief from Pallus's Hook to Annapolis was a continuous triumph. The people by hundreds 
 and thousands flocked to the villages and roadsides to see him pass. Gray-haired statesmen 
 came to speak words of praise ; young men to shout with enthusiasm ; maidens to strew his 
 way with flowers. 
 
 On the 23d of December, Washington reached Annapolis and was introduced to Con- 
 gress. To that body of patriots and sages he delivered an address full of feeling, wisdom 
 and modesty. Then with that dignity which always marked his conduct he surrendered 
 his commission as commander-in-chief of the American anny. General Mifflin, at that 
 time President of Congress, responded in an eloquent manner, and then the hero retired to 
 his home at Mount Vernon. It was evident to his countrymen and to all the world that he 
 gladly relinquished the honors of command, the excitements and ambitions of war for the 
 quiet and seclusion of his own home. The man whom only a year before some disaffected 
 soldiers and ill-advised citizens were going to make king of America now by his own act 
 became a citizen of the new republic which by his genius and sword had become a 
 possibilit}'.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 THE CONFEDERATION. 
 
 READER will remember that at the time of the adop- 
 tion of the Declaration of Independence a committee 
 had been appointed to prepare a frame of government 
 for the United States. This committee had upon its 
 hands a serious and difficult task. The sword of Great 
 Britain suspended over the colonies made union neces- 
 sary ; but the long-standing independence of each 
 tended to obstnict and hinder the needed consolida- 
 tion. The Committee on Confederation reported their 
 work to Congress in July of 1776. A month was 
 spent in fniitless debates, and then the question of 
 adopting the articles of union prepared b\' the com- 
 mittee was laid over until the following spring. 
 
 In April of 1777 the report on the Confederation 
 of the States was taken up and continued through the summer. The war was now on in 
 earnest. The power of Great Britain was overthrown in all the States, and each adopted a 
 republican form of government for itself. The sentiment for national union made some 
 headway ; but there was on the part of many a covert purpose to win independence for the 
 States severally instead of collectiveh', thus leaving each at the end of a successful war to 
 pursue its own course in accordance with its old-time principles, policy and purpose. 
 
 ADOPTION OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 
 It was not until the 15th of November, 1777, that a vote was taken in Congress and 
 the Articles of Confederation reported by the committee reluctanth' approved. The ne.xt 
 step was to transmit the new constitution to the several State legislatures for their adop- 
 tion or rejection. The time thus occupied extended to the month of June, 1778, and even 
 then the new frame of government was returned to Congress with many amendments. Each 
 colonial legislature deemed itself able to improve in some particulars the work to which a 
 committee of Congress had given a year of profound consideration. 
 
 Congress, however, was constrained by the nature of its own constitution to consider, 
 and indeed to adopt, with many alterations and amendments, the clauses which had been 
 added to the articles b}- the colonial assemblies. The most serious objections of the peo- 
 ple were thus removed, and the Articles of the Confederation were signed b}- the delegates 
 of eight states on the 9th of July, 1778. Later in the same month the representatives of 
 two other states, Georgia and North Carolina, affixed their signatures. In November 
 the delegates of New Jersey acceded to the compact; and in Februar\' of 1779 the repre- 
 sentatives of Delaware added the signature of that small commonwealth. Mar\dand, 
 however, still held aloof, and it was not until March of 1781 that the consent of that 
 State was finally obtained. It thus happened that the war of the Revolution was nearly 
 ended before the new system of government was fully ratified. 
 
 (520)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 521 
 
 The reader will not fail to discover in these circumstances tlie essentially niilitan.' 
 character of the Revolution of 1776. The civil revolution lagged beiiind. Doubtless 
 the rational patriotism of the times was greatly discouraged and at times disgusted with 
 the folly of the people acting in their civil capacity. It would seem in the retrospect 
 that so easy and democratic a form of government as was contemplated under the .Articles 
 of Confederation would have been at once and gladly accepted by the people, an.xious to 
 obtain a more efficient frame and organ of civil authority; but not so. Everywhere there 
 was cavil, objection, opposition, delay. Meanwhile the Congress of the Revolution, so- 
 called, was obliged to labor on without the powers or prerogatives of government. Cer- 
 tainly but for the abilities, sound principles and courage of the leaders in the field the 
 whole Revolutionary- movement must have ended in a complete and dismal failure. 
 
 Thus at the end of the War of Independence the United States found themselves 
 under the .\rticles of Confederation. The government so instituted was a sort of demo- 
 cratic repu^blic. It presented itself under the form of a Loose Union of Independent 
 Commonwealths — a Confederacy of Sovereign States. Both the executive and legislative 
 powers of the government were \-ested in a Congress. That bod\- was to be composed of 
 not fewer tnan two nor more than seven representatives from each state. These representa- 
 tives were to constitute a single House — no Senate or Upper House was provided for. 
 Congress could exercise no other than delegated powers. The sovereignty- was reserved to 
 the States. The most important of the exclusive privileges of Congress were the right of 
 making war and peace, the regulation of foreign commerce, the power to receive and send 
 ambassadors, the control of the coinage, the settlement of disputed boundaries and the care 
 of the public domain. There was no president or chief magistrate of the republic; and 
 no general judiciary- was provided for. The consent of nine States was necessarj- to com- 
 plete an act of legislation. In voting in Congress, each State was by its delegates to cfast 
 but a single ballot. The union of the States, or their confederation, thus established was 
 declared to be perpetual. 
 
 TRIALS THAT CONFRONTED THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Until March of 1781, when the Articles of Confederation were finally ratified by 
 Maryland, the goveniment — if such it might be called — continued to be directed bv the 
 Continental Congress. On the day, however, of the ratification of the Articles by Man,-- 
 land the Congress of the Revolution adjourned, and on the following morning reassem- 
 bled under the new form of government. Almost immediately it became apparent that 
 that government was inadequate to the exigencies of the times. In the first place it con- 
 tradicted the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence. It was found that the power 
 of Congress under the Articles was no more than a shadow; that shadow instead of being 
 derived from the people emanated from the States and these were declared to be .sovereign 
 and independent. There was therefore no nationalil\', and indeed the movement towards 
 nationality was greatly obstructed by the frame of government which was presumptively 
 in its favor. It was fortunate indeed that the War of the Revolution was already virtuallv 
 at an end before this alleged new government was instituted. The sequel showed that 
 imder trial the Articles of Confederation might have proved to be an agent of miscaniage 
 and confusion in the ver\' presence of the enemy. 
 
 The first duty which was devolved on the new government was to provide for the pay- 
 ment of the war debt, which had now reached the sum of thirty-eight million dollars. 
 Congress could only recommend to the .several States the levying of a sufficient tax to 
 meet the indebtedness. Some of the States made the required levy; others wen- dilatory,
 
 522 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 others refused. Thus at the very outset the government was balked and thwarted, and this 
 too in one of the most important essentials of sovereignty. Serious troubles attended the 
 disbanding of the army ; and these also were traceable to the weakness of the new system. 
 The soldiers must be paid; but how could Congress pay from an empty treasury? It was 
 rather the inability than the indisposition of that body which led to the embarrassment of 
 the times. 
 
 The princely fortune of Robert Morris was, at this crisis, exhausted in the vain effort 
 to uphold the credit of the country-. He himself was brought to poverty and ruin, and 
 finally abandoned to his fate by the very power which he had contributed so much to uphold. 
 For three years after the treaty of peace the public affairs of the new nation were in a con- 
 dition bordering on chaos. The imperilled state of the republic was viewed with alann by 
 the sagacious patriots who had brought the Revolution to a successful issue. It was seen in 
 a very short time that unless the Articles of Confederation could be replaced with a better 
 system, the nation would be dissolved into its original elements. 
 
 We shall not in this connection recount the immediate circumstances which led to the 
 abandonment of the Articles of Confederation and the substitution therefor of a new Consti- 
 tution. Suffice it to say that from 1783 to 1787 the civil powers of the United States 
 tended strongly to disintegration and ruin. Washington spoke the truth when he said iu 
 infinite sorrow that after all the sacrifices of the war for independence the government of 
 his countr}- had become a thing of contempt in the eyes of all nations. It was really a 
 government of shreds and patches, and the conviction forced itself upon the minds of the 
 more thoughtful that a new political system would have to be devised or else the fruits be 
 lost of the heroic struggle in which the patriots of 1776 had achieved the possibility of 
 national existence. 
 
 TERRITORY OF THE GREAT WEST. 
 
 Before concluding the present chapter, we may note with interest two of the important 
 works accomplished by that go-between system of government known as the confederation. 
 More properly we should say two of the important works accomplished b}' some of the great 
 men who, hampered by the confederative system, still wrought at the problem of nationality. 
 The first of these was the organization of the Territory- Northwest of the River Ohio. It 
 will be remembered that the campaigns of George Rogers Clarke, in the year 1 778-' 79, had 
 wrested from the British the vast domain between the AUeghanies and the Mississippi. 
 This region was held by the united colonies at the time of the treaty of 1783. The rule of 
 ?iti posscdetis, therefore, prevailed; the parties to the compact should " hold as much as they 
 possessed." 
 
 Thus the territory of the new United States was extended westward to the Father of 
 Waters. But how should this great domain be brought under organization and put in pro- 
 cess of development? As a preliminan,^ measure, the vast region in question was ceded to 
 the United States by Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. For the govern- 
 ment of the territory' an ordinance was drawn up originalh' by Thomas Jefferson, and 
 finally adopted by Congress on the 13th of July, 1787. By the fenns of the ordinance it 
 was stipulated that not fewer than three nor more than five States should be fonned out of 
 the great territory thus brought within the possibilities of civilization; that the States when 
 organized should be admitted on tenns of equality with the Old Thirteen; that a liberal 
 system of education should be assured to the inhabitants of the new commonwealths; and
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. ">23 
 
 that slaver)' or involuntar}- servitude, except for the punisliment of crime, should be forever 
 prohibited thereiu. 
 
 Over the new territorj- General Arthur St. Claire, then President of Congress, was ap- 
 pointed militar>- governor; and in the summer of the following year he established his head- 
 quarters at Marietta and entered upon the duties of his office. Out of the noble domain 
 over which the authority of the English-speaking race was thus extended the five great 
 States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin were destined in course of time 
 to be organized and admitted into the Union. 
 
 A second nieasure of this epoch is worthy of particular notice, as it insured to the peo- 
 ple of the United States the not imimportant advantages of an easy and scientific system 
 of money and account Up to the last quarter of the eighteenth centur}' the monetary sys- 
 tems of the different nations had been — as they still are in many instances — inconvenient in 
 the last degree. In the Old Thirteen colonies the monetary count had been by guineas, 
 pounds, shillings and pence, after the manner of the mother country. With the achieve- 
 ment of independence some of the American statesmen became dissatisfied with the mone- 
 tarj' system that had hitherto prevailed and proposed a newer and better. 
 
 The leader of this movement, as in the case of the organization of the northwest ter- 
 ritor}-, was Thomas Jefferson. As early as January of 1782 he had turned his attention to 
 the moneys current in the several States, and had urged Robert Morris, the Secretarj- of 
 Finance, to report a unifonn system to Congress. The work of-preparing the report was in- 
 trusted by the Secretary to Gouvemeur Morris, who prepared a system based on that of ex- 
 isting foreign coins, chiefly those of Great Britain. 
 
 Against this report Jefferson objected. He himself prepared what he calls in his 
 Memoirs a new "system of money-arithmetic. " "I propose," he said, "to adopt the 
 DOLL.^R as our unit of account payment, and that its divisions and subdivisions shall be in 
 the decimal ratio.'''' Hereupon a controversy sprang up between Jefferson and the officers of 
 the treasury-, but the fonner carried his measure to Congress and prevailed. His system 
 was adopted, and the benefits, we might almost say the blessings, of decimal coinage and 
 accounting were forever secured to the people of the United States. 
 
 It was thus that the independence of the Thirteen United Colonies of North America 
 was achieved. The work had been imdertaken with scarcely a prospect of success. In the 
 light of the retrospect it were difficult to conceive by what agency or agencies the colo- 
 nies could succeed in a war with the mother countr>-. The disproportion in resources be- 
 tween Great Britain and America was ver\- great. The British monarchy was already one 
 of the oldest and most substantial political structures in the world. On our side there was 
 no structure at all. Eventhing as yet in America remained not only local, but peculiar 
 and individual. A general government had to be fonned in the verv front and teeth of the 
 emergency. The sentiment of union could not be immediately evoked in the midst of such 
 a people and under such conditions. The colonies were as weak for war as they were poor 
 in those resources with which every warlike enterprise must be supplied. On the other 
 hand. Great Britain was in these particulars as strong as the strongest. Nevertheless, the 
 battle went against the strong and in favor of the weak. It was an issue settled by right- 
 eousness, and fortune, and truth rather than by the might of superior armies.
 
 AMERICAN GENERAI3 OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 (524)
 
 BOOK THIRD. 
 
 Epoch of Nationality. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 
 
 iiREAT was the distress of the new United States under their 
 so-called Articles of Confederation. The Revolutionary 
 tumult had not died away until the more thoughtful 
 patriots discovered the essential weakness of their frame 
 of government. The confederation was indeed neither 
 the one thing nor the other. It was neither distinctly 
 national nor clearly local in its character. It partook 
 more of the nature of what the Gennans call the Statten- 
 bund, or State-league, than of the nature of the Bundes- 
 staat, or true imion. It was clear to the statesmen of the 
 period that no effectual consolidation of the States had 
 been accomplished by the confederation, and that another 
 movement of a different and more radical character would 
 be necessar)' to secure a real union of the United States 
 of America. 
 
 It is not needed in this connection to recount the many and diverse projects which the 
 wisdom of the time suggested in the direction of establishing a better government for the 
 new American nation. The real impulse towards the remodelling of the e.visting system 
 appears to have originated at Mount Vernon and in the thought and heart of \\'ashington. 
 It will perhaps never be known precisely to what extent the Father of his Country accepted 
 and adopted the thoughts and suggestions of others respecting the new frame of go\ern- 
 ment, and to what extent his notions were excogitated from his own slow but capacious 
 mind. There were at the epoch under consideration many thinkers of larger and more 
 active intellectuality than was Washington. Such personages were accustomed to cor- 
 respond with the sage of Mount Vernon, to visit and converse witli him and to discuss the 
 civil condition and political needs of the new republic. Perhaps it was out of such 
 elements that the project of remodelling the Articles of Confederation at length took vital 
 form. 
 
 However this may be, Washington, in the year 1 785, in conference with certain .statesmen 
 at his own home, advised the calling of a convention to meet at .\nnapolis in the following 
 year for the general consideration of the political and commercial needs of the nation. Tlie 
 proposition was received with favor, and in Septcniber of 1786 tiie representatives of five 
 
 (5*5)
 
 526 COLUIMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 States assembled at Annapolis. The question of a tariff on imports was discussed, for that 
 was the fundamental business of the meeting, and then the attention of the delegates was 
 turned to the subject of revising the Articles of Confederation. 
 
 Such a work seemed to be demanded by every interest of public policy. Since, how- 
 ever, only a minority of the States were represented in the conference, it was resolved to 
 adjourn until ^Nlay of the following year. All the States were in the meantime to be 
 uro-ently requested to send representatives to the second meeting. The interest of Congress 
 was awakened, and that body invited the legislatures of the several States to appoint dele- 
 gates to the proposed convention. 
 
 To this invitation all the State assemblies except that of Rhode Island responded fa\-or- 
 ably. The motives of such a movement were actively present in all parts of the countr}-. 
 A mined credit, a bankrupt treasury', a disordered finance, a crazy constitution and a gov- 
 ernment without vital energ>' or prerogative all seemed to appeal to the patriotic mind as 
 the strongest possible incentives to the movement for a better constitution. It was under 
 such impulses that the people were sufficiently lifted above their prejudices to give a 
 measure of favor to the proposal for a convention ; and accordingly on the second IMonday 
 in May, 1787, the representatives of the various States assembled at Philadelphia. Such 
 was the origin of the Constitutional Convention. 
 
 THE QUESTION AT ISSUE. 
 
 Washington had lent himself with zeal to the project. He came to the convention as 
 a delegate from Virginia, and was at once chosen president of the body. It appears in the 
 light of the retrospect that at the first the common understanding was that the business in 
 hand was to remodel the Articles of Confederation. About fifty of the leading citizens of 
 tha United Stales were present as delegates, and their first deliberations looked no further 
 than the modification of the existing system, so as to give to it a greater efficiency 
 and power of administration. A few leading spirits in the convention, however, such as 
 Washington, Franklin, Charles Pinckney and jMadison, saw further than this, and it was 
 not long until the issue of making a new constitution was sprung upon the convention. 
 Indeed, with the progress of debate it became more and more evident that no mere revision 
 of the old form of government would suffice for the future of America. 
 
 It was on the 29th of May that Edmimd Randolph, of Virginia, introduced a bold 
 resolution to set aside the old Articles of Confederation and to adopt a new constitution. 
 This proposition brought out a great and long-continued debate. A committee was 
 finally appointed to revise the existing frame of government, but with large liberty' to 
 consider the whole question at issue. The committee went into session, and it was not 
 until the beginning of September that a report was submitted. The report was essentially 
 the present Constitution of the United States. The debate thereon was renewed. !\Iany 
 modifications, changes and amendments were made in the report of the committee, but a 
 draught which finally came from the pen of Gouvenaeur Morris was adopted. This in 
 its turn was sent to a committee of revision, of which Alexander Hamilton was chair 
 man, and he it was who gave to the instrument its final touches. These included the 
 prefixing of the Preamble, which makes the Constitution of the United States to proceed 
 from the people instead of from the States, thereby giving to it an air and expression of 
 nationality for which we should look in vain in other parts of the instrument. 
 
 As soon as the Constitution was prepared and adopted by the convention of 1787 
 copies of the instalment were made out and forwarded to the several legislatures for ratifi- 
 cation or rejection. It was already known that the people of the States were far from
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 527 
 
 unanimous on the question of the proposed new government. They were divided in their 
 sentiments and opinions first of all as to whether it was desirable to have any consolidated 
 union of the States, but more particularly they were divided as to whether, granting the 
 desirability of the proposed union, the Constitution prepared b\- the cou\ention of 1787 
 was desirable as the fundamental law of the land. 
 
 It soon appeared indeed that a great majority of the people were, for the time at least, 
 in the negative on both these questions. The danger from the oppressions and tyranny of 
 Great Britain had now passed away. Independence had been secured. Local independence 
 seemed to satisfy, and the desirability of nationalitx' and union was not strongly felt by the 
 average patriot of 17S7. 
 
 THE BIRTH OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN AMERICA. 
 
 It was out of these conditions that the first great political agitation of our country was 
 engendered. Those who favored the new frame of government were called Federalists ; 
 those who opposed, Anti-Federalists or Republicans. The leaders of the former party were 
 Washington, Jay, Madison and Hamilton, the latter statesman throwing the whole force 
 of his e.vtraordinar}- genius and learning into the controversy. In those able papers called 
 the Federalist he and Madison and Jay successfully answered even.- objection of the Anti- 
 Federal party. It was in this noble argumentation that Hamilton won the place of first 
 an(f perhaps greatest expounder of constitutional libert}- in America. To him the republic 
 owes a debt of perpetual gratitude for his part in establishing on a firm and enduring basis 
 the present constitutional system of the United States. 
 
 The contest in the several States in the union was heated and protracted. In each 
 State an election was held by the people, and delegates chosen to a convention by which 
 the proposed Constitution was to be adopted or rejected. In several States the opposition 
 had a majority. It was found, however, on the assembling of the conventions that the 
 principles on which the opposition rested had already been sapped and destroyed, at least in 
 their vital elements. The supporters of a consolidated union had everj-where gained 
 ground. The Federalist had been scattered into ever>- State, and its arguments had pre- 
 vailed over all except imconqnerable prejudice. Nevertheless it was an open question 
 whether the people would accept the new government prepared by the convention of 1787. 
 
 The little State of Delaware was the first to answer, and her answer was in the affinna- 
 tive. In her convention on the 3d of December, 1787, the voice of the commonwealth was 
 unanimously recorded in favor of the new Constitution. Ten days later Pennsylvania gave 
 her decision by a vote of forty-six to twenty-three in fa\or of ratification. On the 19th of 
 the same month the New Jersey convention added the approval of that State by a unani- 
 mous vote, and on the 2d of December, Georgia followed with the same action. Then on 
 the 9th of January came the decision of the Connecticut convention, rendered with a vote 
 of a hundred and twenty-eight to forty in favor of adoption. 
 
 In Massachusetts the Constitution encountered the most .serious opposition. Much of 
 the ancient Puritan democracy was set against it. Patriotism was suspicious of the pro- 
 posed union. Patriotism saw in the President provided for by the Constitution a new sort 
 of king, and in the whole system a new sort of monarchy to be substituted for the heredi- 
 tary monarchy which had been destroyed. The battle for adoption was hard fought and 
 barely won. The ballot taken in the convention on the 6th of February*, 1778, resulted in 
 ratification by the close vote of a hundred and eighty seven to a hundred and sixty-eight. 
 The decision of Massachusetts, however, virtually decided the contest. On the 28th of 
 the following April Maryland gave her decision by the strong vote of sixty-three to twelve.
 
 528 COLUAIBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Next came the convention of Sonth Carolina, in which the vote for adoption was carried 
 by a hnndred and forty-nine to seventy-three. 
 
 In New Hampshire there was another hard struggle, as indeed there was in all parts 
 of New England. Bnt the vote for adoption finally prevailed by fifty-seven to forty-six, 
 June 2ist, 1788. This was the nintli State in the aflirmative, and the work was done. For 
 by its own terms the new government was to go into operation when nine States should 
 ratif}-. Thus far the great commonwealth of Virginia had hesitated. There, too, the 
 spirit of democracy and localism was rampant. Washington and Madison were for the 
 Constitution ; but Jefferson and Henry were opposed. Not until the 25th of June did her 
 convention declare for adoption, and then only by a vote of eighty-nine to sevent\"-nine. 
 
 OBSTINACY OF CERTAIN STATES. 
 
 It was now clear throughout the countr\' that the new government would be organ- 
 ized, and this fact was used as a powerful argument in favor of adopting the Constitution by 
 the convention of New York, at Poughkeepsie. The hope that New York city would be the 
 seat of the Federal government also acted as a moti\-e. Two-thirds of the convention had 
 been chosen on a platform of pronounced opposition to the Constitution; but the minority, 
 under the powerful lead of Hamilton, gradually gained in the debates, until July 27th, 1788, 
 when a motion to ratify was finalh^ carried by a fair majoritj-. 
 
 Only Rhode Island and North Carolina now persisted in their refusal. But in the latter 
 state a new convention was called, and on the 13th of November, 1789, the Constitution 
 was formally adopted. As to Rhode Island, her pertinacity was in inverse ratio to her 
 importance. At length Providence and Newport seceded from the commonwealth; the 
 question of dividing the territory between Massachusetts and Connecticut was raised and a 
 wholesome alarm produced among the people. The little refractory State at last yielded by 
 adopting the Constitution May 29th, 1790. The new government had alread} been 
 organized for thirteen months so that Rhode Island was virtually admitted into a Union 
 already existent. Then for the first time the English-speaking race in the New World, 
 with the exception of the remote Canadians, was united under a common government 
 strong enough for safety and liberal enough for freedom. 
 
 A DIGEST OF THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 What, then, was the instrument which the American people thus adopted for the civil 
 government of themselves and their posterity? The Constitution of the United States 
 provides that the governmental powers of the republic shall e.xist under three general 
 heads — Legi.slative, Executive and Judicial. The legislative power is vested in Congress — 
 a body composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The members of the Senate 
 are chosen by the legislatures of the several States and sers^e for a period of six \-ears. 
 Each State — whatever may be its area and population — is represented b>- two Senators. 
 The members of the House of Representatives are elected by the people of the respective 
 States; and each State is entitled to a number of Repiesentatives proportionate to the popu- 
 lation of that State. The members of this branch are chosen for a term of two }-ears. 
 Congress is the law-making power of the nation, and all legislative questions of a general 
 character are the appropriate subjects of Congressional action. 
 
 The executive power of the United States is vested in a President, who is chosen for a 
 period of four years by a body of men called the Electoral College. The electors compos- 
 ing the college are chosen by the people of the several States for the particular purpose of 
 electing a President and Vice-President. Each state is entitled to a number of electors iu
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. .329 
 
 the college equal to the number of its Senators and Representatives in Congress. The 
 duty of the President is to enforce the laws of Congress in accordance with the Constitution. 
 He is conimander-iu-chief of the armies and navies of the United States. Over the legis- 
 lation of Congress he has the power of veto; but a two-thirds Congressional majority may 
 pass a law, the President's veto to the contrary notwithstanding. He has the right of 
 appointing cabiuet officers and foreign ministers; but all of his appointments must be 
 approved by the Senate. The treaty-making power is likewise lodged with the President; 
 but in this also the concurrence of the Senate is necessary. In ca.sc of the death, resignation 
 or removal of the President, the Vice-President becomes chief magistrate, or Acting- Presi- 
 dent of the United States; otherwise his duties are limited to presiding over the Senate. 
 
 The judicial power of the United States is by the Constitution vested in a supreme 
 court and in inferior courts established by Congress. The highest judicial officer is the 
 Chief Justice. All the judges of the supreme and inferior courts hold their offices during 
 life or good behavior. The jurisdiction of these courts extends to all causes arising under 
 the Constitution, laws and treaties of the United States. The right of trial by jur\- is 
 granted in all cases except the impeachment of public officers. Treason against the United 
 States consists only in levying war against them or in giving aid and comfort to their 
 enemies. Nor can the charge of treason be established against any person except on the 
 concurrent testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act. 
 
 The Constitution further provides that full faith shall be given in all the States to the 
 records of even.- State; that the citizens of any State shall be entitled to the privileges of 
 citizens in all the States; that new territories may be organized and new States admitted 
 into the Union on conditions of equality with the old; that to every State shall be guar- 
 anteed a republican fonn of government; and that the Constitution may be altered and 
 amended whenever such alteration or amendment shall be proposed by a two-thirds majority 
 of both Houses of Congress and ratified by three-fourths of the legislatures of all the 
 States. In accordance with this last provision, fifteen amendments have been made to 
 the Constitution. Most important of these are the articles which guarantee religious free- 
 dom, change the method of electing President and Vice-President, abolish slavery and for- 
 bid the abridgment of suffrage on account of race or color. 
 
 A CRITICISM OF THE CONSTITUTION. 
 It is a theme of the greatest importance, nu\v that more than a centur}' of time has 
 elapsed since the adoption of the Constitution, to inquire into its effectiveness, and more 
 particularly to note its defects in practical application as the fundamental law of the Ameri- 
 can people. Among the latter may be noticed first of all the too extensive power and domi- 
 nation of the President. A President of the United States, once elected and inaugurated, 
 becomes for the time a more powerful ruler, a more absolute monarch we might say, than is 
 the occupant of any of the enlightened thrones of Europe. It is clear in the light of the 
 retrospect that the framers of the Constitution did not intend that the President should be a 
 temporary sovereigii in the sense that he has become in practice. A second evil relates to 
 the same office, and this pertains to the manner of the President's election. The will of 
 the people is not fairly and well expressed by the cumbrous inter\-ening electoral college 
 provided for in the Constitution. The Presidential election in the United States is not suf- 
 ficiently popular and direct. The choice of the chief magistrate should be like ever>' other 
 function of the government — of the people, for the people and by the people — according to 
 the aphorism of Lincoln. This it cannot be so long as the complicated and machine- 
 like electoral college is interposed as the agent and organ of the quadrennial election. 
 
 34
 
 530 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 In the third place, it is clear in the retrospect that the fathers erred in fixing the term 
 of the Presidency at four, instead of six or seven years. The extension of the term 
 to the latter period should of course imply ineligibility to reelection, thereby assuring to the 
 people an administration totally free from the prevalent intent, manner and method of pre- 
 paring for a reelection of the incumbent and the maintenance of his partisans in ofRce. 
 Nothing can be more disastrous to the integrity of the national government than its conver- 
 sion by the President and his party into a machine for his reelection. On the other hand 
 it may be truly said that the period of four years is hardly sufficient for the establishment 
 of a given administration and the attestation of its policy. 
 
 Among the powers of the Presidential office is that of appointing a cabinet. This idea 
 sprang partly out of the exigencies of the case, and was partly caught from the existing 
 system of Great Britain. The American method has virtually proved a failure. The error 
 lies in the fact that the responsibility of American cabinet officers appertains to the Presi- 
 dent^ instead of to Congress. In this regard the English system is greatly superior to that 
 of the United States. The President appoints certain of his own partisans to be what are 
 called his constitutional advisers. As a matter of fact, the)- become simply the head-men 
 of his party retinue. They have and can have no independent advice to give to the admin- 
 istration. They are virtually the President's men. The various secretaries have no power 
 of originating policies and presenting and defending the same before Congress; nor have the 
 people any check upon objectionable cabinet officers. It is within the power, and tinfortu- 
 nately within the practice, of American Presidents to keep in office at the head of important 
 cabinet departments men whom four-fifths of the American people would join in ejecting 
 from their places. The abuse which has arisen in this respect under our Constitution is 
 serious and deep-seated. 
 
 CRiTrCISM OF THE CONGRESSIONAL SYSTEM. 
 
 As to the Senate of the United States, there is a great and radical error in the Consti- 
 tution of the body in that the members are chosen by the States, as it were in their official 
 capacities, instead of by the people. The Senators are elected by the legislatures of the 
 several States. The manner of senatorial elections has in many instances become corrupt 
 and disgraceful to the extent of filling the Senate Hall of the United States with men far 
 below the grade of statesmen. 
 
 But the more cr\'ing evil does not lie in the dangerous methods employed in senatorial 
 elections, but rather in the fact that all the States, great and small, are, under our Consti- 
 tution, made equal in the upper House of Congress. Rhode Island and Delaware have two 
 Senators each, and so have New York, Ohio and Texas. The system is undemocratic, im- 
 republican. It is against the genius of American institutions. It contradicts the doctrines 
 of the Declaration of Independence. The Senators instead of being chosen by the people, 
 of Senatorial districts, laid off according to area and population, and with little or no regard 
 for State lines, are elected by the local legislatures of the different States, two for each, with- 
 out regard to their magnitude and importance. The Senate of the United States is, there- 
 fore, not a representative body. It offends the spirit and principle of popular government, 
 and if we mistake not the system which now prevails under the Constitution will not stand 
 the ordeal of public opinion in the times to come. 
 
 As to the House of Representatives, the system of election is sufficiently popular and 
 equitable. The error in this respect is the too frequent recurrence of Congressional elec- 
 tions. Three years, instead of two, should be the minimum for the repetition of those 
 partisan agitations which now biennially sweep the countiy to the distraction of industrial
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 531 
 
 enterprises, the confusion of all arts aud progress, the eiubillernieiit of the public niiud, 
 and the jubilee of demagogues. In all of these particulars it were possible luider out 
 Constitution to make amendments which should conduce greatly to the civil and political 
 advantage of the American people. 
 
 ELECTION OF THE FIRST PRESIDENT. 
 
 In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and a resolution of Congress, 
 the first Wednesday of January, 1789, was named as the time for the election of a President, 
 In this matter the people had but one voice. 
 All eyes were turned instinctively to the man 
 who should be honored with the chief magis- 
 tracy of the United States. The election 
 was held, and early in April the ballots of 
 the electors were counted in the presence of 
 Congress. George Washington was unani- 
 mously chosen President and John Adams 
 Vice-President of the new republic. 
 
 On the 14th of the month Washington 
 received notification of his election and 
 departed for New York. His route thither 
 overland was a constant triumph. Marj'land 
 welcomed him at Georgetown. Philadelphia, 
 by her executive council, the trustees of her 
 imiversit}', and the officers of the Cincinnati, 
 honored him as their guest. How did the 
 people of Trenton exult in the presence of 
 the hero who twelve years before had fought 
 their battle! There over the bridge of the 
 Assanpink they built a triumphal arch, and 
 girls in white ran before singing and strewing the 
 bethtown, he was met by the principal officers of the government and welcomed to the 
 capital where he was to become the first chief magistrate of a free and grateful people. 
 Thus came he to old New York, aud after a few days of rest and preparation was ready to 
 take upon himself the duties of the Presidential office. 
 
 way 
 
 nth 
 
 ■'■//// 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 flowers. Arriving at 
 
 Eliza-
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FIRST THREE ADMINISTRATIONS. 
 
 
 ^J^^^ 
 
 <ttl 
 
 e) 
 
 We. §p 
 
 was on the 30th of April, 1789, that Washington was 
 inaugurated first President of the United States. The 
 new government was to have begini its existence on 
 the 4th of March; but the event was delayed by un- 
 foreseen circumstances for nearly two months. The 
 inaugural ceremony was performed on the balcony of 
 the old City Hall, on the present site of the Custom 
 House, in Wall Street. Chancellor Livingston of New 
 York administered the oath of office. The occasion was 
 obsen-ed with great rejoicings throughoiit the city and 
 the whole country. The streets and housetops of New 
 York were thronged with people; flags fluttered; can- 
 non boomed from the batter}^ As soon as the public 
 ceremony was ended Washington retired to the Senate 
 chamber and delivered his inaugural address. The 
 organization of the two Houses of Congress had 
 already been effected, so that the inauguration of the President completed the ceremony of 
 instituting the new government under the Constitution. 
 
 That government was, however, at the outset embarrassed with many and serious 
 difficulties. They who had opposed the adoption of the Constitution now became a party, 
 cavilling at the new order of things and in particular at the measures of the administration. 
 By the treaty of 1783 the free navigation of the Mississippi had been guaranteed to vessels 
 of the United States. Now the jealous Spaniards of New Orleans hindered the passage of 
 American ships. The people west of the AUeghanies looked to the great river as the 
 natural outlet of their connnerce and the duty was devolved on the government of pro- 
 tecting them in their rights and making good their expectations of the future. 
 
 On many parts of the frontier the Indians, for good reason dissatisfied with their dis- 
 placement from their ancient hunting-grounds, were hostile and did not hesitate to make 
 war on the American frontiersmen. As to financial credit, the United States had none. 
 In the very beginning of his arduous duties Washington was prostrated with sickness. For 
 several weeks he was confined to his couch, and when at length he was measurably 
 restored the evidences of rapidl}' approaching old age were still more distinctly seen upon 
 him. In the interim of his sickness the business of government was much delayed. 
 
 It was not until September that the first important measures were adopted by the new 
 administration. On the loth of that month an act was passed by Congress instituting a 
 department of foreign affairs, a treasury department and a department of war. As mem- 
 bers of his cabinet Washington nominated Jefferson, Hamilton and Knox ; the first as 
 Secretar>' of Foreign Afiairs, the second of the treasury and the third of war. In accordance
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 6S^ 
 
 ■with the provisions of the Constitution a Supreme Court was also organized, John Jay 
 receiving the appointment of first Chief Justice. With him were joined as Associate Justices 
 John Rutlodjre, of vSouth Carolina; James Wilson, of Pennsylvania ; William Cashing, 
 
 WASHINGTON TAKIM. illl. OATH AS PRESIDENT. 
 
 of Mas.sachusetts ; Jolin Blair, of Virginia ; and James Iredell, of North Carolina. Edmond 
 Randolph recei%-ed the appointment of Attorne>-gencral. 
 
 THE ANTAGONISM BETWEEN JEFFERSON AND HAMILTON. 
 Nothing could more clearly illuslvatc tlic spirit and purpose of Washington than the 
 non-partisan character of the administration which he thus began. His thought was to
 
 534 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Jefferson. 
 
 :iox. K.tu .. i,. I Hamilton. 
 
 WASHINGTON AND HIS CABINET. 
 
 Washington. 
 
 avoid the division of the American people into parties, and to unite the best opinions and 
 the best men of whatsoever views in the support of the government. At this time no two 
 public men in America were more pitted against each other than Jefferson and Hamilton. 
 The first represented those extreme democratic views which had prevailed in the Declaration 
 
 of Independence. The other was 
 the embodiment of extreme federa- 
 listic opinion. The one wholly dis- 
 trusted the new s^'stem of govern- 
 ment because of its alleged mon- 
 archical tendencies ; the other would 
 fain have given to that goveniment 
 additional powers and prerogatives. 
 The two leaders stood at the extremes 
 of the political thought of the epoch, 
 and yet Washington called them 
 both into his cabinet ! He made 
 no discrimination against either, but 
 sought to utilize in support of his 
 administration the talents and genius 
 of both. 
 
 At this time many constitutional 
 amendments were brought forward, 
 and ten of them adopted. Some 
 of the States had accepted the Constitution 07i condition that certain amendments 
 should be accepted. Other States, as North Carolina and Rhode Island, had refused 
 to adopt until amendments which they desired should be approved bj* Congress. By 
 the action of that body in accepting ten of the proposed amendments, the objections of the 
 two jealous States were removed, and both, by ratifying the Constitution, came into the 
 Union, thus completing the circle of the old Thirteen Colonies. 
 
 Such were the first important acts of the Congress of 1789. On the 29th of September 
 that body adjoiinied until the following Januar}-. Washington availed himself of the 
 opportunity thus afforded to make a tour of the Eastern States. Accompanied by his 
 secretaries he set out in his carriage from New York on the 15th of October, traversed 
 Connecticut, and in nine days arrived at Boston. Ever^'where on the route the affection 
 of the people, and especially of the Revolntionar}- veterans, burst out in unbounded 
 applause. At Boston the President was welcomed b}- John Hancock, then governor of the 
 State, and by the selectmen of the cit}'. No pains were spared that could add to the 
 comfort and pleasiire of the new chief magistrate. After remaining a week among the 
 scenes associated with his first command of the American army he proceeded to Ports- 
 mouth, and thence, with improved health and peace of mind, by way of Hartford to New 
 
 York. 
 
 QUESTIONS OF ETIQUETTE. 
 
 It was at this time that many peculiar questions arose respecting the fonnalities and 
 methods of administering the government. One of the most troublesome of these related 
 to the ceremony and etiquette which ought to pre\-ail at the presidential mansion. How 
 should the President demean himself in his contact with officers and the people ? How 
 should he appear in public ? How often? Wliat kind of entertainment should he give?
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA- 535 
 
 Who should be invited? What title should the President bear? With what formality 
 should he be introduced ? In these matters there was no precedent to guide. For who had 
 ever held such a station before? The President must not on the one hand bear himself like 
 a king surrounded with noblemen and courtiers, nor on the other must he degrade his high 
 office by such blunt democratical manners as would render himself ridiculous and the 
 presidency contemptible. 
 
 Such situations as they occasionally arise in the movements of human society- are not 
 a little embarrassing. Washington, had he followed his own disposition and the suggestions 
 of his antecedents as a Virginia planter, would doubtless have inclined much to a severe 
 and lofty fonnality. It would perhaps not have been much against his habits and manners 
 that the presidency should have a "court;" but the American people as a whole were in 
 no humor for any courtly proceedings. This was particularly tnie in New England. It 
 could not be said that the President was out of sympathy and touch with the masses of his 
 conntPiinen ; but he was by nature a severe and sedate man, one of the most unapproach- 
 able indeed that modern histor\' has produced. 
 
 Washington sought the advice of Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and others in regard to 
 a suitable etiquette and ceremonial for the republican court. Strangely enough, John 
 Adams favored much ceremony, naturally enough, Jefferson favored none at all. The latter 
 said: "I hope that the tenns Excellency, Honor, W^orship, Esquire, and even Mr., shall 
 shortly and^forever disappear from among us." Hamilton's reply favored a moderate and 
 simple fonnalit}-, and this view was adopted by Washington as both consistent with the 
 spirit of the new government and accordant with his own tastes. In the meantime the 
 question made its way into Congress, and that body declared that the chief magistrate 
 should bear no title other than that of his office, namely. President of the United States. 
 So with ceremonies few and simple the order of affairs and etiquette in the presidential 
 office was established. 
 
 Of all the questions of the hour the greatest and gravest and most threatening was that 
 of the national debt. The United States had gone into the war of the Revolution without 
 resources or credit Year after year the indebtedness of the struggling young republic had 
 increased, and though the aggregate at the end of the war was small, as compared with the 
 tremendous national debts that have accumulated during and since the Napoleonic wars, yet 
 proportionally to the resources of the people the sum was sufficiently appalling. The 
 total indebtedness of the United States at the close of the Revolutionary epoch, inclusive 
 of the Revolutionar\' expenses of the several States, amounted to nearly eighty millions 
 of dollars. 
 
 The problem of meeting this comparatively immense obligation was devolved on 
 Hamilton. He as Secretary of the Treasury adopted a broad and honest policy, and his 
 genius at length triumphed over every obstacle. His plan for meeting the debt by the pro- 
 cesses of refunding, revenue and payment was matured and laid before Congress at the 
 beginning of the second session. The scheme embraced the feature of the assumption of 
 the several State war debts by the national government. The plan was based fundameutallv 
 upon the proposition that the debt should be fully and honestly paid. This policy once 
 established tended strongly to create confidence on the part of capitalists, and it was not 
 long until, by the measures of the Secrctan-, the countr>- was fu]]\ established and actual 
 payment of the debt begun. 
 
 As a means of augmenting the revenues of the government a duty was laid on the 
 tonnage of merchant ships, with a discrimination in favor of .Vmcrican vessels. A system
 
 536 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 of customs-duties was devised on all imported articles, with a view not only to revenue, but 
 
 to the temporary protection and encouragement of American industries. Hamilton's 
 
 financial schemes were violently opposed ; but his policy, which was supported by the 
 
 Federal party and by the President, prevailed, and the credit of the American government 
 
 was soon firmly established. 
 
 A WAR WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 As said above, the financial scheme embraced the assumption of the debts of the 
 several States by the national government, and this was coupled with the proposition to 
 fix the place of the capital. In this matter there was strong competition, particularly 
 between New York and Philadelphia. The latter was- more centrally situated, but the 
 claim of the former was strong and was generally supported by the representatives from 
 New England. It was finally agreed to establish the seat of government for a period of ten 
 years at Philadelphia and afterwards at some suitable locality on the river Potomac. 
 
 The next important measure was the organization of the territory southwest of the 
 Ohio. The region including the country west of the Carolinas and lying between wliat was 
 afterwards known as the Territory of the Mississippi and the western extension of Virginia 
 was included in the act of 1790, but was soon afterwards modified into the State of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 In the autumn of this same year a war broke out with the Miami Indians. Fort 
 Washington, on the present site of Cincinnati, had been built, and the capital of the north- 
 west territory had been 
 transferred to that place 
 from Marietta. There 
 General St. Clair established 
 his headquarters as military 
 governor. The Indians had 
 relinquished their territorial 
 rights in the surrounding 
 country, but other tribes, 
 refusing to recognize the 
 treaty, came forward with 
 claims to the ceded country 
 and then went to war to 
 recover their lost possessions. 
 In the latter part of September, 1790, 
 General Harinar with fourteen hundred men 
 set out on an expedition from Fort Wash- 
 ington against the hostile Miamis. He 
 destroyed several villages and wasted the 
 . GEN. HARM.\R DEFEATED BY THE INDIANS. couutry as far as the Maumee, or North 
 
 Miami. Harmar adopted the tactics of dividing his army into detachments, and thus ex- 
 posed himself to the wiles of the Indians. Colonel Hardin, who commanded the Ken- 
 tucky volunteers, was ambuscaded and his forces routed at an Indian town eleven miles 
 from Fort Wayne, and on the 21st of October the main division was defeated by the 
 savages, with great loss, at Maumee Ford. General Harmer was obliged to get out of 
 the Indian country as best he could and make his way back to Fort Washington. The 
 situation at the close of the year was threatening, ominous indeed, in all the country north- 
 west of the Ohio. 
 
 
 -y^-^^^^-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 537 
 
 Meanwhile the government continued to wrestle with questions of finance and revenue. 
 In the earl\- part of 1791 an act was passed by Congress establishing the Bank of the United 
 States. The measure originated with Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, and was vio- 
 lently opposed by Jefferson and the Anti-Federal party. But federal opinion, which was 
 essentially the assumption of large implied powers in the government of the United States, 
 prevailed, and the bank was established without direct warrant of the Constitution. In the 
 same year, namely 1791, Vermont, which had been for the last fourteen years an inde- 
 pendent territor\-, adopted the Constitution, and on the 18th of Februan,- was admitted into 
 the Union as the fourteenth State. The claim of New York to the jurisdiction of the prov- 
 ince had been purchased in 1789 for thirty thousand dollars. At this time the first census 
 of the United States, completed for the year 1790, was published, showing that the popula- 
 tion of the countn.' had increased to three million nine hundred and twenty-nine thousand 
 
 souls. 
 
 DISASTROUS DEFEAT OF GENERAL ST. CLAIR. 
 
 The defeat of General Hurmar gave great uneasiness to the government, and more vig- 
 orous measures were at once adopted for the repression of Indian hostilities. A new anny 
 ■was organized, two thousand strong, and placed at the disposal of Governor St. Clair. On 
 the 6th of September, 1791, the expedition set out from Fort Washington and was directed 
 against the 
 Miami confede- 
 racy. On the 
 night of Nov- 
 ember 3d, St. 
 Clair reached a 
 point about a 
 hundred miles 
 north of Fort 
 Washington, 
 ' and encamped 
 on one of the 
 upper t r i b n - 
 taries of the 
 Wabash in 
 what is now 
 the southwest 
 angle of Mercer 
 county, Ohio. 
 Earlv on the 
 
 following morn- 
 
 si Ki'Ki-ir or 
 
 MR \I. ST CI. AlK. 
 
 ing his camp 
 
 was suddenly attacked by an army of Indians numbering more than two thousand, under 
 command of the chief Little Turtle and several American renegades who had joined the 
 savages. A terrible battle ensued, in which, after a conflict of three hours' duration, St. 
 Clair was completely defeated. He lost fully one-half of his men and was fortunate to 
 escape with the remainder. The fugitive militia retreated precipitately to Fort Washing- 
 ton, where they arrived four days after the battle. 
 
 If the defeat of Harmar had spread alarm, that of St. Clair brought terror. Kver\ wher^
 
 638 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 were gloom and sorrow. Hardly any battle of the Revolution had entailed greater loss of 
 life and suffering. Even the national government at Philadelphia was for a while in con- 
 sternation. The responsibility for the defeat was laid with some justice at the feet of 
 General St Clair, who had not conducted the campaign with the necessary vigilance and 
 caution. For once the benignant spirit of Washington gave way to wrath. He was sitting 
 at the table when the despatches announcing the ruinous defeat of the arm\- were laid 
 beside him. Presently he arose and retired to his office. "Here," said he in a tempest of 
 indignation,- — "here in this very room I took leave of General St. Clair. I wished him 
 success and honor. I said to him, ' You have careful instructions from the Secretary of 
 War, and I myself will add one word — Beware of a surprise ! You know how the Indians 
 fight us. Beware of a SURPRISE !' He went off with that my last warning ringing in his 
 ears. And yet he has suffered that army to be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered, toma- 
 hawked by a surprise, — the ver\' thing I 
 guarded him against ! How can he answer 
 to his coimtrj' ? The blood of the slain is 
 upon him, — the curse of widows and 
 orphans !' ' 
 
 Mr. Lear, the secretary, 
 in whose presence this storm 
 of wrath burst forth, sat 
 speechless. Presently Wash- 
 ington grew silent. ' ' What 
 I have uttered must not go 
 beyond this room, ' ' said he in 
 a manner of great seriousness. 
 Another pause of several 
 minutes ensued, and then he 
 continued in a slow and 
 bolemn tone, " I looked at 
 ^/ the despatches hastil}', and 
 did not note all the particu- 
 lars. General St. Clair shall 
 have justice. I will receive 
 him without displeasure, — he 
 shall have full justice ! ' ' 
 WASHINGTON RECEFviNG THE REPORT OF ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT. Notwithstaudiug lils exculpa- 
 
 tion by a committee of Congress, poor St. Clair, overwhelmed with censures and reproaches, 
 resigned his command, and was succeeded by General Wayne, whom the people had 
 named Mad Anthony. 
 
 It was not long until Kentucky followed Vermont into the Union. The population of 
 the former territory' had now reached sevent \--three thousand. Only seventeen years before 
 Daniel Boone, the hardy hunter of North Carolina, had made his way across the mountains 
 and settled with his companions at Boonesborough. Harrodsburgh and Lexington were 
 founded about the same time. During the Revolutionan- period the pioneers were con- 
 stantly beset by the savages. Kentucky gained the name of the Dark and Bloody Ground. 
 It was not until after the expedition of George Rogers Clarke in 1779 that the frontier 
 became comparatively secure. In the years following the treaty of 1783 thousands of immi-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 539 
 
 grants arrived annually. Meanwhile \'iri^inia relinquished her claim to the territor/, and 
 on the ist of June, 1792, Kentucky was admitted into the Union. 
 
 Thus the first quadrennium of the American government drew to a close. The Con- 
 stitution was silent in regard to the eligibility of a President for reelection. The people, 
 however, in their sovereign capacity decided in favor of continuing the administration of 
 Washington. Accordingly in the autunni of 1792 the Father of his Countr)-, now in the 
 sixtj-first year of his age, was again unanimously chosen to the Presidency ; as Vice-Presi- 
 dent John Adams was also reelected. 
 
 TROUBLES OF THE SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Histop.- had reser\-ed, however, for the second adniiuislration of Washington many 
 vexations complications and serious troubles, particularly in the foreign relations of the gov- 
 ernment. Western Europe was now in an uproar. The French Revolution had broken 
 out coincidently with the institution of the new American government, and was running its 
 dreadful course. The French democracy, liberated by its own e.xertion from the thraldom of 
 centuries, had arisen against the existing order, and after three years of unparalleled excesses, 
 had tried, convicted and beheaded the King. The Jacobins were rampant. The French mon- 
 archy was abolished. Citizen Genet was sent by the new French republic as minister to 
 the United States. On his arrival at Charleston, and on his way to Philadelphia lie was 
 greeted with the greatest enthusiasm. The anti-Federal or Republican party had watched 
 the course of the French Revolution with sympathy and delight, seeing, as they believed, in 
 the same the European counterpart of the American war for independence. Citizen Genet, 
 making the most of his popularity, soon began to abuse his authority by fitting out priva- 
 teers to prey on the commerce of Great Britain. He planned an expedition against Louis- 
 iana, and although the President had proclaimed neutrality, began to demand an alliance 
 of the American government with France. 
 
 The situation was peculiar, critical. It was not long since France, in a manner as 
 irregular as it was generous, had come to the aid of the American Revolutionists. The 
 French alliance had been the mainstay of the patriots in the darkest days of their stniggle 
 for independence. War between France and Great Britain had resulted from this open sym- 
 pathy and support of the American cause. .\11 this must needs have produced in the minds 
 of the democratic fathers an immense prejudice in favor of France and against Great Britain. 
 The situation in 1793 was such that the United States must almost out of the nature of the 
 case join hands with France, whatever might be her course and policy. 
 
 It was therefore in great measure against the sentiment of the people that Washington 
 and his cabinet finnly refused the demands of Citizen Genet, held faithfully to the existing 
 treat\- with Great Britain, and declined the proposed warlike alliance with the F'rench. At 
 this the audacious ambassador threatened to appeal to the people of the United States 
 against the government. In this conduct, so much in violation of the principles of intenia- 
 tional intercourse, Genet was sustained and encouraged b}' the anti-Federal party. For a while 
 the government was menaced and endangered. But Washington stood unmoved in the midst 
 of the clamor, declared the conduct of the French minister insulting to the sovereignty of 
 the United States, and demanded his recall as a person not acceptable to the American gov- 
 ernment. The Republican authorities of France heeded the demand, and Citizen Genet 
 was superseded by Citizen Fouchet, who .showed himself to be a man of greater equanimity 
 and steadier temperament than his predecessor.
 
 640 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 POLITICAL DISSENSIONS IN THE CABINET. 
 
 Unfortunately, the spirit of partisanship had now measurably prevailed over the plan 
 and purpose of Washington. It had been the intention and policy of the President to know 
 no part}' in his administration. But the party had come, and the government became 
 greatly embarrassed by political dissensions in the cabinet. From the beginning, indeed, the 
 Secretaries of State and the Treasury had maintained towards each other an attitude of im- 
 placable political hostility. The divergence between Hamilton and Jefferson was one of 
 thought and constitution. They differed fundamentally in their concepts of society and 
 government. The intense democracy of the one was set against the intense Federalism of 
 the other. Hamilton believed in a vast and orderly organization of society on the general 
 plan of the British government. It does not appear that he believed in monarchy as a 
 theor\', or that he favored its reinstitution in America — though he was vehemently charged 
 with this purpose by his political opponents. Hamilton sought rather to give to the Ameri- 
 can republic solidity, regularity, permanence, firmness of prerogative, and in particular 
 whatsoever implied powers were requisite for its own maintenance against either domestic 
 insurrection or foreign violence. Jefferson on the other hand was broadly and radically 
 democratic. He believed that, on the whole, governmental systems had been the bane of 
 libert}' and the curse of the human race. He would fain have little government and great 
 local freedom. He would run all risks of anarchy aud disintegration rather than incur the 
 danger of a centralized despotism. 
 
 The reader may well perceive the difficulty which a President would experience in at- 
 tempting to get on smoothly with two men of so great ability and such antagonistic princi- 
 ples occupying the two principal seats in his cabinet. Doubtless the trouble was intensified 
 by the natural disposition of both secretaries to gain an ascendancy over the mind of the 
 President. It was in this posture of affairs that Hamilton and Jefferson became the heads 
 of rival parties in the government. The financial measures of the fonner were attacked 
 with vehement animosity by the latter, and the policy of Jefferson in his relations and duties 
 as Secretary' of Foreign Affairs was the subject of much bitter criticism from Hamilton's 
 scathing pen. 
 
 The breach between the rivals grew wider and wider. Washington's influence was 
 hardly sufficient to prevent an open break in his cabinet. So great were the abilities and 
 so valuable the experience of the two secretaries, and so pronounced was the patriotism of 
 each that the services of neither could be spared without serious detriment to the adminis- 
 tration. Both officers were in high esteem by their fellow-citizens, and justly so; for no 
 other men of the eighteenth century had reached a higher level of statesmanlike abilities 
 and devotion. Both had insisted on the reelection of Washington to the Presidency. 
 Gradually the spirit of party prevailed in the administration, and Washington himself 
 became recognized more and more as a Federalist. Jefferson, without ceasing to sympathize 
 with the President in his responsibilities and in most of his public measures, nevertheless 
 drew off,. and in January- of 1794 resigned his office and retired to private life at Monticello. 
 A year afterwards Hamilton also retired from the cabinet, and was succeeded by Oliver 
 Wolcott, of Connecticut. 
 
 THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION. 
 
 The year 1 794 was marked by a serious domestic disturbance in western Pennsylvania, 
 known as the whiskey insurrection. The trouble seems to have originated, in part at least, 
 in the democratic agitations which had attended the coming of Citizen Genet from France. 
 The government, in the hope of improving its revenues, had in 1791 imposed a tax on all
 
 COLUMBUS A\D COLUMBIA. 
 
 041 
 
 
 ardent spirits distilled in the United States. While Genet was at Philadelphia lie and his 
 partisans had nsed the whiskey tax as an ary^nment for inciting the people, especially those 
 of the distilling regions, to hostility against the existing legislation and resistance of the 
 collectors of revenne. 
 
 At length an open insnrrection broke ont. \Va.shington issned two proclamations 
 warning the insnrgents to disperse and obey the laws; bnt instead of doing so, they fired 
 upon and captured the officers of the government. The President found it necessarj- to 
 
 send a strong military force under General Henry 
 Lee into the rebellious districts in order to restore 
 order and enforce the law. With the approach 
 of this force the rioters took counsel of discretion 
 and dispersed. The sequel showed that the in- 
 surrection had been a political 
 rather than a social or civil 
 outbreak; for the an ti- Federa- 
 lists were in the majority in 
 the distilling region and the 
 whiskey income-tax was a 
 measure of the Federal party. 
 After the defeat of General 
 ~^t. Clair and the destruction 
 1 his army the government 
 must needs take measures for 
 the protection of the north- 
 west territory and the sup- 
 pression of the hostile Indian 
 tribes. The latter were com- 
 bined in what was known as 
 the Miami confederacy. General Wayne, on taking command in the west, organized as 
 soon as practicable a force of three thousand men. In the fall of 1793 he began a campaign 
 into the Indian countr>' and soon reached the scene of St. Clair's defeat. There he 
 built a stockade named Fort Recovery, and then pressed on to the junction of the An 
 Glaize and the Maumee in the present county of Williams, Ohio. At this place Fort 
 Defiance was built and garrisoned. Wayne then descended the Maumee to the rapids, 
 from which place he sent proposals of peace to the Indians who were in council only 
 a few miles away. 
 
 WAYNE'S VICTORY OVER THE INDIANS. 
 
 Among the ablest chieftains of the native races of the Ohio Valley was that Little 
 Turtle whose name and deeds enter so largely into the frontier history of the epoch. Like 
 Tecumtha, he was able to understand when to fight and when to refrain from fighting. At 
 the great council on the Maumee he advised that a treaty of peace be made with the 
 whites on the best tenns that might be obtained; but the rash majority were for battle, 
 and the council so decided. On the 20th of August Wayne marched against the savages, 
 and came upon them where the present town of Waynesfield stands. Here he attacked the 
 Red men without delay, and routed them with terrible losses. He then compelled the 
 humbled chieftains to purchase peace by ceding to the United Stixtes all the territory east 
 of a line drawn from F^ort Recovery to the mouth of the Great Miami. The campaign 
 
 CAPTURE OF THE WHISKEY-TAX COLLECTORS.
 
 542 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 was crowned with complete success; but it was the last of the public services of Anthony 
 Wayne. Remaining for a while in the Indian country, he embarked on L,ake Erie to 
 return to Philadelphia; but in December of 1796 he died on board the vessel, and was 
 buried at Presque Isle, Pennsylvania. 
 
 As the eighteenth century drew to a close, Western Europe seemed given over to the 
 ferocity and horror of universal war. It was fortunate for the United States that the 
 broad atlantic rolled and swelled between. Otherwise it would perhaps have been impos- 
 sible that our new republic should not be embroiled in the common struggle. The 
 prudence and probity of Washington held back hard against the tendency which would 
 have drawn his country into the vortex. It was the fact of maritime commercial relations 
 which seemed most likely to involve the young nation in the common fate of war. 
 
 Very little was Great Britain disposed to regard the interests, rights and wishes of the 
 United States while she prosecuted her warlike enterprises against the French. As early as 
 November of 1793 the British King issued secret instructions to privateers to seize all 
 neutral vessels that might be found trading in the West Indies. The United States had no 
 notification of the purpose of England in this respect, and the high-handed outrage fell upon 
 American trading-vessels without warning. The commerce of the United States to the 
 value of many millions of dollars was swept from the sea by a process differing only in name 
 from highway robbery. But for the temperate spirit of the government the country must 
 have been plunged at once into war. 
 
 Prudence, however, prevailed over passion, and instead of a declaration of hostilities 
 Chief Justice Jay was sent, in the spring of 1794, as envoy extraordinary to demand redress 
 and justice at the hands of the British government. Contrary to expectation, his mission 
 was successful, and in the following November an honorable treaty was added to that of 
 1783. The tenns of settlement, however, were exceedingly distasteful to the anti-Federal 
 partisans of France in America, and they determined to prevent its ratification. The excite- 
 ment in the country rose to a high pitch of bitterness and passion. Every argument and 
 motive which ingenuity and prejudice could supply was eagerly made and repeated before 
 the people. Discontent was the order of the day. Public meetings were held, and orators 
 harangued the multitudes. In New York a copy of the treaty was burned before the 
 governor's mansion. In Philadelphia there were similar proceedings. 
 
 Washington, standing serenely at the helm of State, was assailed with incendiary 
 invectives and slanders. Never in his whole career had he been subjected to a like storm 
 of malice, indignity and shameless animadversions. In one instance his house was 
 approached by a mob who hooted, threw stones and clubs in the manner of madmen at the 
 official residence. But the President, believing the late treaty to be just in its main pro- 
 visions and earnestly hoping to avoid a war, stood his ground, and the treaty was ratified. 
 In June of 1795 the new compact was accepted by the Senate and signed by the President. 
 It was specified in the treaty that Great Britain should make ample reparation for the 
 injuries done by her privateers, and surrender to the United States certain western posts 
 which until now had been held by English garrisons. 
 
 TROUBLE WITH THE ALGERINE PIRATES. 
 
 It was an important matter at this epoch to settle the international boundary between 
 the United States and Spain on the side of Louisiana. This work was accomplished by a 
 treaty in October, 1795. The Spanish king gave a guarantee to the Americans of the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi, just as England had done in the treaty of independence.
 
 COLUMBUS A\D COLUMBIA. 543 
 
 Less honorable by far was the compact made at this time with the kingdom of Algiers. 
 For a long time Algerine pirates had infested the Mediterranean. Probably since the times 
 of Pompey the Great that inland ocean had never been free from the depredations of the 
 African freebooters of the deep. They preyed upon the commerce of all civilized nations 
 alike, and those nations had chosen to purchase exemption from such ravages by the ruinous 
 policy of paying to the Dey of Algiers an annual tribute. 
 
 In consideration of the tribute the Dey agreed (with astonishing magnanimity!) that his 
 pirate ships should confine themselves to the Mediterranean and should not attack the 
 vessels of such nations as made the payment. At this time, however, and with the purpose 
 of injuring her rival, France, Great Britain winked at an agreement with the Dey, by which 
 the Algerine sea-robbers were turned loose on the Atlantic. Once afloat in those broad 
 waters, the pirate-ships made little discrimination among the victims of their piracy ; and 
 American commerce suffered greatly with the rest. The government of the United States 
 in this juncture of affairs deemed it prudent to purchase safety and exemption by the pay- 
 ment of the shameful tribute. 
 
 In the summer of 1796, Tennessee was admitted into the Union as the third new State. 
 Six years previously North Carolina had surrendered her claims to her territory- west of the 
 mountains in the .same manner as Virginia had done in the case of Kentucky. At that 
 time, namely in 1790, Tennessee contained a population of thirty -five thousand ; but within 
 the follo\ving five years the number was more than doubled. The first inhabiiants of Ten- 
 nessee, as will be recalled by the reader, were fugitives from the wrath of the royal governor 
 of Carolina, against whom they had revolted in the early days of independence. They 
 were of that hardy race of pioneers to whom the perils of the wilderness are as nothing 
 provided the wilderness is free. By the addition of the two States southwest of the Ohio, 
 more than eighty-three thousand square miles of territory were brought under the dominion 
 of civilization. 
 
 The democratic hostility' to Washington passed away with the passion in which it was 
 engendered. Few things in history, indeed, are more surprising than the ascendancy which 
 he to the end of his official career contiiuied to e.xercise over the minds of his countrymen. 
 His integrity had in these late years of his life, as well as in the times of the Revolution 
 and back to the days of his youth, been tested by every ordeal to which human character 
 may be subjected. True, in the House of Representatives during the last two sessions of 
 his administration, there had been a clear anti- Federal majority against him and his policy ; 
 and yet the House continued the support of his measures. Even the provisions necessary 
 to carr\- into effect the hated treaty with Great Britain were made by that body, though the 
 vote was close. So powerful were the President's views and wishes in determining the 
 actions of the people that Jefferson, writing to James Monroe at Paris, said: " Congress have 
 risen. You will see by their proceedings the tnith of what I always told you, namely that 
 one man outweighs them all in influence over the people, who support his judgment against 
 their own and that of their representatives. Republicanism resigns its vessel to the pilot." 
 
 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 In the beginning of a govcrnniLUl like lluit of llie United States many things must be 
 left to establish themselves by custom, trial and precedent. This was particularly true in 
 the case of our own country-, for the Constitution was comparatively brief, and the nature 
 of the government was such as to forbid explicit details on many important points. One 
 question of wide and far-reaching interest was the eligibility of the incumbent President to 
 reelection. .\t the close of Washington's first term this was decided in the aflSrmative by
 
 544 COLU.MBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ■ 
 
 a kind of common consent. The question of a second reelection remained, however, to be 
 considered in the year 1796. The second administration drew to a close. Should Wash- 
 ington be chosen for a third term or should some other be taken in his place ? Popular 
 opinion was in favor of the continuance of the President in office. He was strongly 
 solicited to permit the use of his name in candidature for a third election, but he would not. 
 His resolution had been taken to end his public career with the close of his second tenn. 
 With him the evening of life drew on and rest was necessar}-. 
 
 Accordingly in September of 1796 Washington issued to the people of the United 
 States his farewell address — a document crowded with precepts of political wisdom, prudent 
 counsels and chastened patriotism. Perhaps no other communication has ever been sent to 
 a free people in which so much wisdom, devotion and unselfish counsel was given as in this 
 the last address of the Father of his Countr}-. 
 
 As soon as Washington's determination to retire from the Presidency was known the 
 political parties marshalled their forces and put forward their champions. John Adams 
 appeared as the candidate of the Federal and Thomas Jefferson of the anti-Federal party. 
 Antagonism to the Constitution, which had thus far been the chief question dividing the 
 American politicians and statesmen, now gave place to another issue — whether it was the true 
 policy of the United States to enter into intimate relations with the republic of France. 
 The anti-Federalists or Republicans said Yes ; that all republics have a common end, and 
 that Great Britain was the common enemy of them all. The Federalists said No ; that the 
 American republic must mark out an independent course among the nations and avoid all 
 foreign alliances. On that issue John Adams was elected to the Presidency ; but ]\Ir. Jeffer- 
 son having the next highest number of votes became Vice-President. For according to the 
 old provision of the Constitution the person who stood second on the list of those voted for 
 for the Presidency was declared the second officer in the government. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, THE SECOND PRESIDENT. 
 
 It was thus decided that the Federal administration upheld and promoted by Washing- 
 ton during the first eight years of our national existence should be continued under his 
 successor. John Adams was a native of the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, where he 
 was born on the 19th of October, 1735. He was the great-grandson of that Henr>- Adams 
 who, emigrating from Great Britain in 1640, founded in America a famih- which was 
 destined to be made famous by many illustrious names. Eight sons of the elder Adams 
 settled around Massachusetts Bay. One of these, the grandfather of the President, made 
 his home in that part of Braintree afterwards called Quincy. The father of John Adams 
 was a Puritan deacon, a selectman of the town, a fanner of small means and a shoemaker. 
 The son received a classical education, being graduated at the age of twenty from Har\'ard 
 College. For a while he taught school ; but finding that vocation to be, as he expressed it, 
 a school of affliction, he turned his attention to the study of law. In this his chosen pro- 
 fession he soon became eminent, removed to Boston, engaged with great zeal in the 
 controversy with the mother countr\- and became in a short time a recognized leader of 
 public opinion. 
 
 From this time forth the services of Adams were in constant demand both in his 
 native State and in the successive Colonial Congresses. He was a member of the celebrated 
 committee appointed to draw the Declaration of Independence ; and in the debates on that 
 instrument was its chief defender. He was an able jurist, well versed in the principles of 
 international law, and during the last years of the Revolution ser\'ed his country' as ambas- 
 sador to France, Holland and Great Britain. He was the first minister of the United
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. o45 
 
 States to the mother couiUi\ aiu-r the reco.L,nntioii of American indepciKlence. From this 
 important station lie returned in 178S to be elected to the \'ice- Presidency under the new 
 Constitution. In this high office he served by the side of Washington for eight years and 
 was then chosen as his successor to the Presidenc\-. 
 
 The beginning of the administration of Adams was a time of trouble and alarm both 
 national and international. The anti-Federal party in the United States, now beginning 
 to take the name of Democratic, constituted both in and out of Congress a powerful and 
 well-organized opposition to the government. Tiie minister of the French republic was at 
 this time M. Adet, who had succeeded Fouchet. His business in the United States 
 appeared to be principally the securing of a league, defensive and offensive, against Great 
 Britain. The President and Congress stood firmly on the doctrine of neutralit\- which had 
 been advanced by Washington as the tnie policy of the United States. 
 
 Adet, failing with the government, began to make inflammatorj- appeals to the people, 
 among whom lie found a great and audacious following. The French Director\- meanwhile 
 grew insolent, and began to demand an alliance. Tlie treat)- which John Jay had con- 
 cluded with England was especialh- complained of by the partisans of France. On the 
 loth of March, only six days after the inauguration of Adams, the Director}- issued instruc- 
 tions to French men-of-war to assail the commerce of the United States. Soon afterwards 
 Mr. Pinckney, the American minister at Paris, was ordered to leave the territor\- of France. 
 
 WAR WITH FRANCE. 
 
 Such proceedings were the equivalent of a declaration of war. The President immedi- 
 ately convened Congress in extraordinan- session and preliminary measures were taken to 
 repel the aggressions of the French. Elbridge Gerr}- and John Marshall were directed to 
 juin Mr. Pinckney in a final effort for a peaceable adjustment of the pending difficnltv, but 
 the effort was fruitless. The Director)- of France would not receive the American ambassadors 
 except upon condition that the>- would pledge tlie payment into the French treasurv of a 
 quarter of a million dollars. Then it was that Pinckney made answer with the aphoristic 
 declaration that the United States had vnllions for defence, hut not a cent for tribute .' The 
 envoys were then ordered to leave the countn,-, but Gerr\-, who was an anti- Federalist, was 
 at length permitted to remain. These events occupied the summer and fall of 1797. 
 
 War with France was now anticipated as a certainty. Congress began to make pro- 
 •vision for the emergency, and, in the early part of 1798, passed an act completing the 
 organization of the army. Washington 
 was called from the retirement of his old 
 age and appointed commander-in-chief. 
 He accepted the position on the two con- 
 ditions that he should not be obliged to 
 
 take the field e.xcept in case of actual in- '^ ^ 
 
 vasion, and that he should have the right 
 to name his own subordinates. Alexander 
 Hamilton was chosen first major-general. 
 A navy of six frigates, besides many priva- 
 teers, had been provided for during the -.. ""*'•' 
 previous year and a national loan had been 1 ... , .:.i.latio.n- and the 
 authorized. The patriotism of the people insurgent. 
 was at length thoroughly aroused. Even the strung sympathy of the anti-Federalist party 
 for the cause of Republican France was not sufficient to prevail against the sentiments 
 of the people stung by the affronts and injustice of the French Directory. 
 
 35
 
 640 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The existing treaties with France were promptly anmilled and vigorous preparations 
 made for the impending war. The American frigates put to sea, and in the summer and 
 fall of 1799 did good service for the commerce of the country. Commodore Truxton in the 
 ship Coustellatioji won distinguished honors for his flag and inflicted great injury upon the 
 enemy. On the 9th of February, while cruising in the West Indies he attacked the 
 Insurgent, a French man-of-war carrying fort}- guns and more than four hundred seamen. 
 A desperate engagement ensued, and Truxton though inferior in guns and men gained a 
 complete victory. A }-ear later he fell in with another frigate called the Vengeance, and 
 after five hours' battle in the night would have captured his antagonist but for a storm and 
 the darkness. The cruise by its success added greatly to the reputation of the American 
 Hag on the high seas. 
 
 Meanwhile the organization of the provisional army w^ent forward and was soon com- 
 pleted. The commander-in-chief established his headquarters at Philadelphia, where he 
 remained for five weeks in consultation with Generals Hamilton and Pinckney. Such 
 measures were devised as were deemed adequate to the defence of the honor of the nation. 
 Washington then retired to Mount Vernon, leaving the greater part of the responsibility to 
 be bonie by Hamilton. 
 
 The news of these warlike proceedings was soon borne to France. The relation 
 between the two republics was as unnatural as it was strained. The question might well 
 be asked why these two friendly peoples, lately fighting shoulder to shoulder in the trenches 
 before Yorktown, should now take up arms in a fratricidal war. The shrewd Tallej-rand, 
 French Minister of Foreign Affairs, seeing that his dismissal of Mr. Monroe and General 
 Pinckney had given mortal offence to the American people, signified to Vans Murray, 
 ambassador of the United vStates to Holland, that if President Adams should send anothe? 
 minister to Paris he would be cordially received. This hint was transmitted by ^Murray to 
 the American President, who eagerly seized the opportunity to extricate the country from 
 apprehended war. On the i8th of February, 1799, he sent a message to the Senate nomi- 
 nating Mr. Murray as Minister Plenipotentian,- to the French Republic. The nomination 
 was confirmed and the ambassador was ordered to proceed at once to France. W^ith him 
 were joined, by the action of the American Senate, two other envoys, Oliver Ellsworth and 
 William R. Davie. These two hastened to Amsterdam to join ^Murray on his important 
 mission to the French capital. 
 
 NAPOLEON'S FRIENDLY ATTITUDE TOWARDS AMERICA. 
 
 By this time, however, the French Directory had itself gone into oblivion. The youth- 
 ful Napoleon Bonaparte, rising suddenly as a militarx- hero on the dazzled vision of the 
 French republic, had displaced the governing Director}- and made himself First Consul. 
 More wise than his predecessors and associates, he immediateh- sought peace with the United 
 States. He saw clearly enough that the impending war would, if prosecuted, result in an 
 alliance between America and England — a thing naost unfavorable to the interests of France. 
 Thereby the strong friendship already becoming traditional between France and America 
 would be annulled, the political and social dislike of the Americans for the mother country 
 obliterated, and the whole replaced with what might well seem to him an unnatural league 
 of the lately rebellious States of the New World with the monarchy which had tried to op- 
 press and destro}- them. 
 
 Bonaparte was confident that peaceful overtures on his part would be met with favor. 
 VVhen the three American ambassadors — Murray, Ellsworth and Davie — reached Paris in 
 the beginning of March, 1800, they were well received by the First Consul, and negotia-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 547 
 
 tions were at once opened for peace. In the following September all difficulties were hap- 
 pily terminated with the new treaty, entirely satisfactory in its provisions to the people of 
 the United States. In all his relations with our country — whatever may have been his 
 underlying motives of action — Napoleon acted the part of a consistent and honorable 
 ruler. 
 
 UST DAYS AND DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Before the war-clond was scattered by the now lreat>- with the French republic, 
 America was called to mourn the loss of Washington. On the 14th of December, 1799, 
 after an illness of only a day, the venerated chieftain passed from among the living. It ap- 
 pears that though Washington was by nature of an unusually vigorous constitution, his 
 vital forces failed, or began to fail, at a comparatively early period of his life. The hard- 
 ships and anxieties of the Revolution told heavily upon him. It is probable that at heart 
 the Father of his Conntr\- was capable of feeling the greatest distress on account of the suf- 
 ferings and sorrows of his countrymen. At all events, on his retirement from the Presi- 
 denc\-, just after the completion of his sixty-fifth year, he was already an aged man; but he 
 returned to Mount \'ernon in happy spirits, and began by personal supervision the restora- 
 tion and improvement of his estates. It was his custom and jo>- to ride abroad each morn- 
 ing in the personal superintendence of the various enterprises whereb\- he hoped soon to 
 make IMount \'ernon the ideal and resting place of his declining days. 
 
 Two days before his death, though the weather was bleak and threatening, Washington 
 rode forth to a distant part of the estate, and did not return until after dark. Meanwhile a 
 cold rain had come, and the General was wet and chilled in the December evening. An 
 attack of tonsilitis, to which disease he had been subject at intervals for many vears, super- 
 vened, and on the following day he was seriously sick. The physician was called in, and, 
 acting after the folly of the times, bled his illustrious patient almost to exhaustion. During 
 the next day he sank away, and in the evening fell into that peaceful slumber from which 
 neither the affectionate voice of his countrymen nor the blare of the trumpet of war might 
 ever wake him more. 
 
 The event touched all hearts with inexpressible sorrow. The people instinctively put 
 on the garb of mourning. Congress on receiving the intelligence went in funeral procession 
 to the German Lutheran Church, where General Henr>' Ivce, the personal friend of Wash- 
 ington, delivered that touching and eloquent oration in which the expression, " First in 
 war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens," was recorded. Throughout 
 the civilized world the memory of the Father of his Country was honored with appropriate 
 ceremonies. To the legions of France the event was announced by Bonaparte, who paid a 
 beautiful tribute to the virtues of "the warrior, the legislator, and tlic citizen without re- 
 proach." As the body of Washington was laid in the sepulchre, the voice of partisan ma- 
 lignity that had not hesitated to assail his name was hushed into e\-erlasting silence, and the 
 world with uncovered head agreed with Lord B\rou in declaring the illustrious dead to have 
 been among warriors, statesmen and patriots — 
 
 "The first, thi; last, the best— 
 Tlie Ciiuiiiiiatiis of the Wist." 
 
 PEACE, PROSPERITY AND PERMANENCE. 
 
 Great was the relief to the public mind when the threatening cloud of war with France 
 passed by. It could not be said that with the masses of the people the prospect of such a 
 war was ever entertained with favor. The recollection of the recent great good of the 
 French alliance was too recent to pass readily from the brain and heart of the people.
 
 548 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 There was, therefore, a sense of relief when the clouds parted and the liglit of returning good- 
 will streamed through. Meanwhile the administration of the elder Adams and the ei^h- 
 teenth century drew to a close together. In spite of domestic dissensions and foreign 
 alarms, the new republic had greatly grown in strength and influence. The second census, 
 that of 1800, showed that the population of the countr\-, including the blacks, had in- 
 creased to over five millions. The sevent\--five post offices reported by the census of 1790 
 had been multiplied to nine hundred and three. The exports of the United States had in- 
 creased from twenty millions to nearly seventy-one millions of dollars. Better than all, the 
 permanency of the new political order under the Constitution as the supreme law of the 
 land had become an established fact and was cheerfully recognized by the people. 
 
 In December of 1800 Congress for the first time assembled in Washington City, the 
 new capital of the nation. Virginia and ]\Iar\land had ceded to the United States the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, a tract ten miles square, hing on both sides of the Potomac. But the 
 part given by Virginia was afterward re-ceded to that State. The city which was designed 
 as the seat of government was laid out in 1792, and in 1800 the population had reached an 
 aggregate of about eight thousand five hundred. 
 
 The political question now arose as to which party and policy should obtain preponder- 
 ance in the government. It would appear that with prudent management and unanimity 
 the Federalists might ha\e remained in the ascendant ; but that policy had now incurred 
 much popular reprobation. There were dissensions in Adams's cabinet. I\Iuch of the re- 
 cent legislation of Congress had been unwise and perhaps partisan. The Alien law, by 
 which the President was authorized to send out of the country any foreigners whose 
 presence might be reckoned prejudicial to the interests of the United States, was especialh' 
 odious. The Sedition law, which punished with fine and imprisonment the freedom of 
 speech and of the press when directed abusively against the government, was denounced by 
 the opposition as an act of tyranny. Partisan excitement ran high. It was clear that the 
 destinies of the American government were to fall exclusively into the hands of the one 
 party or the other. 
 
 John Adams and Charles C. Pinckney were put forward as the candidates of the Fed- 
 eralists, and Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Buit of the Republicans, or Democrats. The 
 latter were triumphant. In the electoral college Jeiferson and Bun' each received seventy- 
 three votes ; Adams sixt\'-five, and Pinckney sixty-four. In order to decide between the 
 Democratic candidates, the election was referred to the House of Representatives. After 
 thirty-five ballotings the choice of that body fell on Jefferson, and Burr, who was now 
 second on the list was declared Vice-President. After controlling the government for the 
 first twelve years of its existence the Federal party, thus defeated, passed from power never 
 to be restored. 
 
 CHARACTER OF JEFFERSON. 
 
 The reader may readily discover the natural evolution which was beginning in the 
 political history of the government. The elder Adams had served as Vice-President to 
 Washington. Jefferson had served in a like relation with Adams. Both had been long dis- 
 ciplined in public life. Both had represented the government abroad in its most critical in- 
 ternational relations. There was clearly a- disposition on the part of the people to choose 
 the greatest and strongest men for the highest official trusts. 
 
 There was also a gravitation towards a broader democracy. This was expressed in the 
 election of Jefferson over Adams. The new chief magistrate was one of the most intel- 
 lectual men of the century' — one of the greatest patriots ; but he was by no means a mili-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 .54y 
 
 tan- leader. Jefferson \v;is born in the connty of Albemarle, Virj^^inia, on the 2d of April, 
 1743. Of his ancestr)- history has preserved no record other than the name of his father, 
 Colonel Peter Jefferson, who in the pre-revolntionar\' period rose to note by his native abili- 
 ties and force of character. The son had excellent advantages of early training, both at 
 home and in a private school established by an exiled Scottish clergyman. Afterwards he 
 completed his education at William and Mary College. He then entered upon the study of 
 law, and soon rose to distinction. He became in early manhood deeply absorbed in the ris- 
 ing controversy with the mother country, and by his radical views in the House of Bur- 
 gesses contributed much to fix the sentiments of that body against the arbitran,- measures 
 of the English ministry. 
 
 The provincial council of \'irginia, however, could not limit the activities and fame of 
 Jefferson, and he was sent to the Continental Congress. His coming was an.xiously awaited 
 in that body in 1776; for his fame as a thinker and Democrat had preceded him. To his 
 pen and brain the authorship of the Declaration of Independence nuist be awarded. During 
 the struggles of the Revolution he was among the most distinguished, active and uncompro- 
 mising of the patriot 
 leaders. After the war 
 was over he was sent 
 abroad with Adams and 
 Franklin to negotiate 
 treaties of amity and com- 
 merce with the nations of 
 Europe. He was then 
 appointed minister pleni- 
 potentiar%- of the new 
 republic to France. From 
 this high trust he was 
 recalled to become Secre- 
 tar>- of State under Wash- 
 ington. In 1796 he was 
 elected Vice-President, 
 and in 1800 President of 
 the United States. 
 
 Though of aristocratic 
 birth, Jefferson was the most extreme Democrat 
 of his time. He was first of his .social class to 
 substitute pantaloons for knee breeches, and to 
 fasten his shoes by leather strings instead of bv 
 silver buckles. When elected President he set 
 
 JEFFHRSON" COINT. 
 
 HIS INArGl'RATION. 
 
 aside the custom of his predecessors, who rode 
 to the place of their inauguration in a magnificent court-like carriage drawn by four 
 horses, and accompanied by liveried servants, but proceeded thither on horseback and un- 
 attended. Arriving at the place, he hitched his horse to a rack, and going into the 
 Capitol delivered an address that occupied less than fifteen minutes. So opposed was he 
 to ostentation and the homage paid to greatness, that he aljolished Presidential levees, and 
 kept the date of his birth secret in order that it might not be celebrated. The American 
 decimal system of coinage, the statute of religious freedom in Virginia, the Declaration of
 
 550 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Independence, the University of Virginia, and the Presidency of the Union are the 
 immutable foundations of his fame. 
 
 The tendency towards a party and partisan administration of the government has 
 already been noted as one of the early features in the political history of our republic. At 
 the beginning of his administration Jefferson transferred the chief offices of the govern- 
 ment to members of the Democratic party. This policy had in some measure been adopted 
 by his predecessor; but the principle was now made universal. Such action was justified 
 by the President and his adherents on the ground that the affairs of a republic will be best 
 administered when the officers hold the same political opinions. Congress had passed with 
 the elections of 1800 into the hands of a Democratic majority, and one of the first acts of 
 that body was to abolish the system of internal revenue. The Alien law and the Sedition 
 law which had been directed against foreigners and the freedom of the press were also re- 
 pealed. But the territorial legislation of Jefferson's first term was the most important of all 
 the measures of his administration. 
 
 The work of dividing and organizing the great region known as the territory northwest 
 of the River Ohio was i:ndertaken in the year 1800. In the first place a line was drawn 
 through that territory from the mouth of the Great Miami river to Fort Recovery, and 
 thence to Canada. * Two years afterward the country east of this line was erected into the 
 State of Ohio and admitted into the Union. The portion west of the line, embracing the 
 present States of Indiana, Illinois, i\Iichigan, Wisconsin, and a part of -Minnesota, was or- 
 ganized under the name of the Indiana territory. Vincennes, on the Wabash river, was 
 made the capital, and General William Henr}- Haixison received the appointment of territo- 
 rial governor. About the same time the Mississippi territory, extending from the western 
 limits of Georgia to the great river, was organized. Thus another grand and fertile district 
 of a hundred thousand square miles was reclaimed, at least potentiall)', from primitive bar- 
 barism. 
 
 THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 
 
 More important still was the purchase of Louisiana. The reader will recall the roman- 
 tic and adventurous incidents by which the vast region lying west of the ^lississippi had 
 fallen first to France and afterwards to Spain. In the year 1800, ven,- soon after his acces- 
 .sion to power. Napoleon Bonaparte compelled Spain to make a secret cession of this vast 
 territory to France. The First Consul then prepared to send an army to New Orleans for 
 the purpose of establishing his authorit}-. All this was done with no ill-will to the United 
 States, but with the ulterior design of overbalancing the interests of Great Britain and 
 North America. 
 
 The government of the United States, howe^'er, remonstrated against such a proceed- 
 ing. France at this time was threatened with multiplied wars in Europe, and Bonaparte, 
 perceiving the difficulty of maintaining a colonial empire at so great a distance, authorized 
 his minister to dispose of Louisiana by sale. President Jefferson appointed Mr. Livingston 
 and James Monroe to negotiate the purchase. The circumstances were such as greatly to 
 embarrass the President, for his views of the limited powers of the American government 
 under the Constitution were of a kind to forbid the executive purchase of new territorj-. 
 But the great opportunity' brooked no delay, and on the 30tli of April, 1803, the terms of 
 
 *\Vhen the territorial division was first effected, the di\'iding line setting off Ohio was run from the mouth 
 of the Kentucky river to Fort Recover}', but afterwards, wheu the territorial boundary of Ohio was determined, 
 the mouth of the Great Miami instead of the mouth of the Kentucky was taken as the point of origin — a change 
 which considerably affected the territorial limits of the two States lying east and west of the line.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. r.oi 
 
 transfer were agreed on by the agents of the two nations. The snni of eleven million two 
 hundred and fift\- thousand dollars was fixed as the priee of the cession, and Louisiana was 
 transferred to the United States. * In another agreement, which was signed on the same 
 day, it was stipulated that the United States should assume the payment of certain debts 
 due from France to American citizens; but the sum thus a.ssunied should not, inclusive of 
 interest, exceed three million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Thus did the vast 
 domain west of the Mississippi, embracing an area of more than a million square miles, 
 pass under the dominion of the United States. 
 
 In this great territorial transaction four nations — France, the United States, Great 
 Britain and Spain — were concerned. The question of boundaries of the ceded territory 
 was of far-reaching importance. .\s to the eastern limit, all four of the contracting parties 
 —or rather the parties concerned — agreed that it sliould be the Mississippi River from its 
 source to the thirt\-first parallel of latitude. On the southeast the boundary contended for by 
 the United States, Great Britain and France was the thirty-first parallel from the Mississippi 
 to the Appalachicola, and down that river to the gulf. From this line, however, Spain 
 dissented, claiming the Iberville and Lake Maurepas and Pontchartrain ; but she was obliged 
 to yield to the decision of her rivals. On the south, by the consent of all, the boundary was 
 the Gulf of ^Me.xico as far as the mouth of the river Sabine. The southwestern limit was 
 established along the last named stream as far as the thirty-first parallel ; thence due north 
 to the Red River; up that stream to the one-hundredth meridian from Greenwich; thence 
 north again to the Arkansas; thence with that river to the mountains, and thence nortli with 
 the mountain-chain to the forty-second parallel of latitude. 
 
 Thus far all four of the nations were agreed; but the United States, Great Britain and 
 France — again coinciding — claimed the extension of the boundar\- along the forty-second 
 parallel to the Pacific Ocean; and to this extension vSpain for several years refused her 
 assent; but in the treaty of 1819, by which Florida was ceded to the United States, the 
 objections of Spain were fonnally withdrawn. The claim, therefore, of the United States, 
 to the extension of Louisiana to the Pacific, though disallowed by Spain for sixteen years, 
 was finally conceded by her, and a true map of tlie cession so represents the purchase. In 
 fixing the nothern boundary, only the United States and Great Britain were concerned, and 
 the forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Pacific was established as the 
 international line. 
 
 OTHER IMPORTANT RESULTS OF THE JEFFERSON ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 This great territorial acquisition was tlie most imporlanl event of the Jeffersonian 
 administration. Of the southern portion of the new acquisition the Territory' of Orleans 
 was soon organized with the same limits as the present State of Louisiana. The remainder 
 of the vast cession continued to be called the Territon- of Louisiana, or the Louisiana 
 Purchase. By the cession the free navigation of the Mississippi was no longer matter of 
 dispute, since that river lay henceforth within the territories of the United States. Ven,- 
 justly did Mr. Livingston remark to the French minister, as they arose from signing the 
 treaty: "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives." 
 
 In another respect Jefferson's administration may be noted with interest and favor. It 
 was during this time that the jurispnidence of the new Republic became regular and well 
 e.stablished in its principles. In i8or John Marshall was confirmed as Chief Justice of the 
 United States. His appointment marked an epoch in the judicial history of the countr\'. 
 
 * Bonaparte accepted in payment six per cent, bonds of the United Slates, payable fifteen years after date. 
 He also agreed not to sell the bonds at such a price as would injure the credit of the American government.
 
 552 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 
 
 In the colonial times the English constitution and coinr'on law had prevailed in America, 
 and judicial decisions were based exclusively on precedents established in the English 
 courts. With the establishment of the new republic in 1789, it became necessarj- to 
 
 modify to a certain extent the principles of 
 jurisprudence and to adapt them to the altered 
 theory of government. This great work was 
 undertaken in the days of Chief Justice 
 Jay ; but it remained for Chief Justice Mar- 
 shall to establish on a firm and enduring 
 basis the noble structure of American law. 
 For thirty-five years he remained in his 
 high office, bequeathing to after times a great 
 number of valuable decisions in which the 
 principles of American jurispnidence are set 
 forth with unvarying clearness and invincible 
 logic. 
 
 Mention has ahead)- been made of the 
 compact which most of the European nations 
 had been constrained to make with the Algerine 
 pirates. The new republic of the United 
 States at first yielded to what seemed to be a 
 shameful necessity and paid tribute to the Dey 
 of Algiers, in order that American com- 
 merce might be exempt from capture; but the 
 merchantmen continued to be annoyed and 
 
 States — as the Moor- 
 common plan of 
 
 CHIEF JUSTICE MARSH.\I,I„ 
 
 exemption was not obser\'ed. American 
 
 levying 
 
 attacked by the freebooters of the IMediterranean. All of the Barban 
 ish kingdoms of northern Africa are called — had adopted the 
 tribute on the commerce of the civilized nations. 
 
 WAR WITH THE BARBARY STATES. 
 
 The leaders of this great maritime conspiracj' were the Emperors of Morocco, Algiers 
 and Tripoli. It became necessary that the young American government should do some- 
 thing for self-protection. Accordingly, in 1803, Commodore Preble, of the American naxy, 
 was despatched to the I\Iediterranean to protect the merchantmen of the United States. 
 His squadron proceeded first against Morocco; but the iri^3X& Philadelphia^ under Captain 
 Bainbridge, was sent directly to Tripoli. Wlien nearing that city, Bainbridge gave chase 
 to a Tripolitan pirate Avhich fled for safety into the harbor. The Philadelphia^ attempting 
 to pursue ran upon a reef of rocks near the shore and was captured by the Tripolitans. 
 The officers were treated with some respect but the crew were sold as slaves. The Emperor 
 Yusef was greatly elated at his vmexpected success. 
 
 Though the Tripolitans had taken an American man-of-war they were not able to keep 
 their prize. In February' of 1804 Captain Decatur, sailing from Sicily in a small vessel 
 called the Intrepid^ came at nightfall in sight of the harbor of Tripoli, where the Philadel- 
 i>hia was moored. The Intrepid being a jNIoorish ship w'as either unseen or unsuspected by 
 the enemy, so that Decatur in the darkness was able to enter the harbor and come alongside 
 of the Philadelphia. He quickly lashed the two ships together, sprang on deck with his 
 daring crew of only seventy-four men and killed or drove overboard every ]\Ioor on the 
 vessel. The frigate was immediately fired and Decatur and his men, returning to the
 
 4Ln?l»n rI!4PPKL pihx't. 
 
 236 
 
 SAVING THE LIFE OF COMMODORE DECATUR.
 
 COLUMBUS AXI) COLUMBIA. -,-,;? 
 
 Intrepid, sailed out of the liarbor by the lij^ht of llie flames. The Tripolitan batteries 
 opened upon tlie .Vnierican ship, but not a man was lost and only four were wounded. 
 
 The e.xploit of Decatur was only the bei^inning of a series of movements b\- which 
 the Algerine pirates were destined to be virtually extenninated. In July of 1804 Com- 
 modore Preble arrived at Tripoli with a fleet and beg^an a siejje which lasted till the 
 following spring. The town was frequenth' bombarded and nuuiy of the enemy's ships 
 destroyed, but the emperor Yusef would not come to terms. Meanwhile it was ascertained 
 by the Americans that Hamet, Yusef s brother, who had been deposed from the throne of 
 Tripoli, might be induced to aid in the war against the existing government. Hamet was 
 at this time in command of an army of Mamelukes in Upper Egypt. To him General 
 William Eaton, American consul at Tunis, was .sent with proposals of an alliance against 
 the usurping Yusef 
 
 Hamet was not slow to accept the offer. He detached from his arni\- a fine body of 
 Arabian cavalry and seventy Greek soldiers and placed the same at the service of General 
 Eaton. The latter set out from Alexandria on the 5th of !March, 1S05, and traversed the 
 de-sert of Barca for a thousand miles. On the 25th of April he reached Derne, one of 
 Yusef 's eastern seaports. This place was, with the aid of an American fleet, taken by storm. 
 The attacking forces were made up of Arab cavalry, Greek infantry, IMoorish rebels and 
 American sailors ser\-ing on land. Perhaps the American flag never at any other time 
 waved above so motley an assemblage ! Emperor Yusef now became thoroughly alarmed 
 and made overtures for peace. His offers were accepted by Mr. Lear, the American consul- 
 general for the Barbary States, and a treaty was concluded on the 4th of June, 1805. 
 Yusef agreed that the commerce of the United States should no longer be attacked in the 
 Mediterranean waters, and this pledge in favor of the American flag was observed for 
 several years. 
 
 DUEL BETWEEN BURR AND HAMILTON. 
 
 While these events were taking place in the far east an incident occurred which will 
 forever be memorable in our history. This was the killing of Alexander Hamilton by 
 Aaron Burr, at that time Vice-President of the United States. The deed was done in a 
 duel. As the first administration of Jefferson drew to a close Burr foresaw that the Presi- 
 dent would be renominated and that he himself would not be selected as the candidate of 
 his party for a second term. Burr was a proud and ambitious man who had long had his 
 eye on the Presidency, and was determined not to be baflled! He. therefore, while still 
 holding the office of Vice-President, became the Democratic candidate for governor of New 
 York. From that position he would pass to the Presidency at the close of Jefferson's 
 second term. 
 
 But Hamilton's influence in New York was overwhelming, and Burr was defeated. 
 His presidential ambition received thereby a stunning blow. From that day he determined 
 to kill the man whom he regarded, or pretended to regard, as the destroyer of his hopes. 
 He accordingly sought a quarrel with Hamilton, and though the latter studiously tried to 
 avoid the difficult)- he was drawn into the meshes, and Burr challenged him to mortal 
 combat. Hamilton believed that to refuse to accept the challenge would, in the existing 
 condition of public opinion, destroy his own influence and usefulness in his part>- and the 
 nation. He accordingly accepted the challenge and met Biirr at Wcchawkcu, opposite New 
 York, on the morning of the nth of July, and was there shot at the first discharge by his 
 antagonist. Hamilton for his part refused to fire, but when Burr's ball entered his breast 
 and he was staggering to the fall he involuntarily clutched his pistol and it was discliarged
 
 554 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLU^IBIA. 
 
 — not. 'however, in the direction of his murderer. Thus, under the savage and abominable 
 custom of duelling, the brightest intellect, the most capacious understanding in America 
 was put out in darkness. 
 
 As had been foreseen, Jefferson was renominated and reelected by his party to the Presi- 
 dency. For Vice-President, in the election of 1S04, George Clinton, of New York, was 
 chosen in place of Burr. The government in all its departments contimied imder the con- 
 trol of the Democratic party. In the year following the election that part of Indiana Ter- 
 ritory* called Wayne Count\- was organized under a separate territorial governi:ient, with 
 the name of Alichigan. It was in this year, namely in the spring of 1805, that Captains 
 
 DUEL BETWEEN ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND AARON BURR. 
 
 Lewis and Clarke, acting under orders of the President, set out from the falls of the IMis- 
 souri River with a party of thirty-five soldiers and hunters to cross the Rocky Mountains 
 and explore Oregon. 
 
 Many months were consumed in'this the first overland expedition performed by white 
 men across the continent. Xot imtil November did the company reacli its destination. 
 For two }-ears, through forests of gigantic pines, along the banks of tinkuown rivers, and 
 down to the shores of the Pacific, did the adventurers continue their explorations. The 
 story of the journey, of its perils and hardships, might well remind the reader of the days 
 of De Soto. After wandering among unknown tribes of barbarians, encountering grizzly 
 bears more ferocious than Bengal tigers, escaping perils by forest and flood, and traversing 
 a route of six thousand miles, the hardy company, with the loss of but one man, returned 
 to civilization, bringing with them authentic geographical reports of the vast domains of 
 the west. 
 
 BURR'S SCHEME TO MAKE HIMSELF DICTATOR OF THE SOUTHWEST. 
 
 The triumph of Aaron Burr in the death of Hamilton pro\-ed to be the end of his 
 political hopes. A great popular indignation arose over the event which, when the cir-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUxMBIA. 555 
 
 cumstauces of the duel were once known, was seen to be nothing less than a murder. Burr 
 was constrained to flee for refuge into the remote South. At the opening of the ne.xt session 
 of Congress he returned to the capital and was permitted to preside over the Senate until 
 the expiration of his term of office. With that event he delivered a valedictorj-, went to 
 the west, travelled through .several States, an\ took up a residence with an Irish exile 
 named Hannan Blannerhassett, who had laid out an estate and built a mansion on an island 
 in the Ohio just below the mouth of the ^luskiugum. Here it was that Burr made a 
 wicked and treasonable scheme against the peace and happiness of his country. He con- 
 spired to raise a sufficient military force for the invasion of Mexico. His plan was to wrest 
 that countr>- from the Spaniards, detach the western and southern States from the Union, 
 make himself dictator of a southwestern empire, and perhaps subvert the government of 
 the United States. 
 
 At these plans and conspiracies Burr labored assiduously for two years ; but his pur- 
 poses were suspected. In accordance with a proclamation of the President the military 
 preparations which were making at Blannerhassett' s island were broken up, and in February 
 of 1S07 Burr himself was arrested and taken to Richmond to be tried on a charge of treason. 
 Chief Justice Marshall presided at the trial, and the country was agitated not a little. Burr 
 conducted his own defence, and was finally acquitted. The verdict of the jur}.- was "Not 
 guilty for want of sufficient proof.'' The escape of the prisoner, however, was narrow, and 
 under an assumed name he fled from the country'. Returning a few years afterward, he re- 
 sumed the practice of law in Xew York city. There he lived to extreme old age, and died 
 in September of 1836 alone and in abject poverty. 
 
 The condition of the nations of Western Europe had now become such as to draw the 
 United States strongly towards the vortex of war. Great Britain and France had come to 
 death-grips on both land and sea. The British navy had achieved supremacy, while the 
 French were victorious by land. It became the policy of Great Britain to ward off foreign 
 commerce from the coasts of France. That kind of commercial intercourse known as neutral 
 trade suffered greatly ; for thus would Great Britain injure her rival. The American merchant 
 marine in common with that of other nations, though engaged in innocent trade, wasas.sailed 
 on the high seas, kept from its destination, injured or destroyed. Great Britain struck 
 blow after blow against the trade which France would fain carry on with foreign neutral 
 nations, and Napoleon began to retaliate with equal energ}' and vindictiveness against the 
 commercial relations of Great Britain. The measures of the two belligerent governments 
 took the fonn of blockade — that is the surrounding of each other's ports with men-of-war — 
 to prevent the ingress and egress of neutral ships. By such means the commerce of the 
 United States which had within the last decade grdwh to be vast and valuable, while the 
 European nations were fighting, was greatly distressed or swept to destmction. 
 
 AMERICA SUFFERS BETWEEN CROSS-FIRES. 
 
 The measures of the two hostile nations became more and more extreme. In May of 
 1806 England declared the whole coast of France, from Brest to the Elbe, to be in a state 
 of blockade. Neutral nations had no notice of the impending decree, and many American 
 vessels approaching the French ports were seized and condennied as prizes. All this was 
 done while the harbors of France were not actually, but only declared to be, blockaded. 
 The pjle of war is that a blockade in order to be binding upon neutrals must be effective, 
 that is, maintained by an effective force of the navy of the hostile State declaring the 
 blockade. 
 
 This was not done by Great Britain, and Napoleon retaliated against his foe by issuing
 
 656 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 a decree blockading the British Isles. By this measure the unsuspecting merchant ships of 
 the United States were subjected to unwarranted seizure by the cruisers of France. In Jan- 
 uarj' of 1807 the British government retaliated with a proclamation prohibiting the French 
 coasting- trade. The idea was that France should be hermetically sealed against all inter- 
 course with foreign States. The belligerents had no shadow of right to take such steps 
 towards each other, but they proceeeded from one stage of arrogance to a greater, until the 
 rights of neutral nations were not only disregarded, but treated with contempt. Of all 
 such neutrals the nation that suffered most was the United States. 
 
 Another grievance, criminal in its character, was meanwhile revived by England, to 
 the great distress of American commerce. This act related to trade with the colonies of 
 France. At the beginning of the French and Indian war George II. had issued an edict 
 forbidding neutral trade with the French colonies or with the provinces of any country with 
 ■which Great Britain might be at war. This edict was known as the Rule of 1756. Its 
 arbitrary character and injustice were sufficient to condemn it in a moment in the court of 
 any civilized nation ; but it has alwa\s been the policy of Great Britain to uphold advan- 
 tageous abuses as long as possible. 
 
 During the administration of Washington the Rule of 1756 had been applied by the 
 mother country and complained of by the American government. In June of 1801, in a 
 treaty between England and Russia the former agreed to modify the rule in favor of common 
 justice. The effect was beneficial to neutral commerce, particularly to that of the United 
 States, which soon increased five-fold while that of England declined in a nearly correspond- 
 ing ratio. Great Britain has for centuries been exceedingly sensitive about her commercial 
 supremacy. Seeing the growth of American commerce and the decline of her own, she 
 chose in the summer of 1805 to revive by edict the Rule of 1756, and to declare it a part 
 of the law of nations. The result, as had been foreseen, was that American commerce was 
 virtually driven from the ocean and shrank suddenly into insignificance. 
 
 RIGHT OF SEIZURE AND SEARCH. 
 
 Next came another measure aggravating the injustice of Great Britain and provoking 
 the anger of America. The English theory of citizenship has been that whoever is bom 
 in England remains through life an English subject. The privilege of an Englishman to 
 expatriate himself — that is, to go abroad to throw off his allegiance to the British crown 
 and to assume ^he necessary' obligations of citizenship in another nation — is absolutely 
 denied. The rule is "once an Englishman always an Englishman ;" and this principle the 
 government of Great Britain in the first decade of our ceuturj' imdertook to enforce by 
 searching American vessels and taking therefrom all persons suspected of being subjects of 
 the British crown. 
 
 One of the chief objects had in view in this iniquitous business was the prevention of 
 Irish emigration to the United States. The Irish people had become enamored by report of 
 the free institutions and boundless prospects of America, and were flocking hither in great 
 numbers. Something must, therefore, be done to stop the movement. George III. and his 
 ministry marshalled forth the British theory of citizenship and set it up like a death's head 
 at every port of emigration. Every Irishman or Scotchman who should venture on board 
 an American vessel would henceforth expose himself to seizure and impressment ; it was 
 believed that not many would take so great a risk. 
 
 The apprehensions of the emigrants were well founded ; for those who had the misfor- 
 tune to be overtaken at sea were seized from under the American flag and without further 
 inquiry were impressed as marines in the British navy. To crowd the decks of their men-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 00/ 
 
 of-war with unwilling recruits torn from home and friends was the end which the British 
 King and ministry were willing to reach at whatever sacrifice of national honor. One 
 American ship after another was chased, overtaken and .searched, until the hope of reaching 
 the United States from Western Europe, that is, the hope of emigration, was almost extin- 
 guished. Finally to these general wrongs was added a specific act of violence which kin- 
 dled the indignation of the Americans to the highest pitch. 
 
 On the 2 2d of June, 1S07, the American frigate Chesapeake was hailed near Fortress 
 Monroe by a British man-of-war called the leopard. British officers came on board aftei 
 their manner and demanded to search the vessel for deserters. The demand was refused 
 and the ship cleared for action ; but before the American guns could be charged the Leopard, 
 being already in preparation, poured in a destructive fire and compelled a surrender. Four 
 men were taken from the captured ship, three of whom were afterwards proved to be Ameri- 
 can citizens. Great Britian disavowed the outrage and promised reparation, but the promise 
 was never fulfilled. 
 
 It thus became necessary for the American government to adopt the policy of retalia- 
 tion. The President, in the stnnmer of 1807, issued a proclamation forbidding British ships 
 to enter American harbors. On the 21st of December Congress passed the celebrated 
 Embargo Act, by which as a measure of compulsion to hostile nations all American vessels 
 were detained in the ports of the United States. The object was to cut off commercial 
 intercourse with France and Great Britain. The act fell heavily upon those who were 
 engaged in foreign commerce, and there was great complaint against the policy of the gov- 
 ernment. The measure itself was of little avail, and after fourteen months of trial, the 
 Embargo Act was repealed. Meanwhile, in November of 1818, the British government 
 published an "Order in Council," 
 hibiting all trade with France and 
 allies. Thereupon Napoleon issued 
 ' ' Milan Decree, ' ' forbidding all trade 
 England and her colonies. By these 
 outrages done to international law the 
 merce of the United States was well 
 destroyed. 
 
 ROBERT FULTON'S STEAMBOAT. 
 
 It is interesting to turn from these dis- 
 tressing foreign complications, involving as 
 they do the ambitions and follies and crimes 
 of governments, to note the progress of the 
 individual mind in its work of ameliorating 
 the condition of the world. While the 
 country was still distracted with the Anglo- 
 French commercial imbroglio Robert Fulton 
 was engaged in the invention and construc- 
 tion of the first steamboat. This event 
 exercised a vast influence on the future 
 development of the .\mcrican nation. It was of the greatest im]K)rtance to the people of 
 the inland States of the Union that their rivers .should be enlivened with rapid navigation. 
 This without the application of steam was im])os.sible. The steamboat thus came as one 
 of the harbingers of civilization in the great valleys of the Ohio and the Mississipj)!. 
 
 ROBKRT FULTON.
 
 558 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Fultou was an Irishman by descent, a Pennsylvanian by birth. His education in boy- 
 hood was imperfect, but was afterwards improved by study at London and Paris. From the 
 latter city he returned to New York, and there began the construction of a steamboat. 
 Already his predecessors had done something in the application of steam to navigation. As 
 early as 1786 a ferryboat at Philadelphia had been propelled back and forth across the Dela- 
 ware by steam. In 1804 a steam craft capable of action was launched on the lake in what is 
 now Central Park, New York. It remained for Fulton, however, to bring the enterprise to 
 a practical and successful issue. He invented an ungainly boat with a steam engine for 
 propulsion, and invited his friends to go on board for a trip from New York to Albany. On 
 the 2d of September, 1807, a crowd gathered at the wharf to witness the experiment. The 
 word was given, and the boat did not move. Fulton went below. Again the word was 
 given, and the boat moved ! She started up stream, and on the next day the company 
 reached Albany in safety. For many years this first rude steamer, called the Clermont^ con- 
 tinued to ply the Hudson. 
 
 The second term of Jefferson in the Presidency drew to a close with the spring of 1809. 
 The great change which had been wrought during his administration was the addition of 
 territory. The area of the United States had been vastly extended. Burr's wicked and 
 dangerous conspiracy had come to naught. Pioneers were pouring into the valley of the 
 Mississippi. The woods by the river shores resounded with the cry of steam. The foreign 
 relations of the United States, however, were troubled and foreboding. Jefferson declined a 
 third election, as Washington had done, and was succeeded in the presidential office by- 
 James Madison, of Virginia. For Vice-President, George Clinton, of New York, was hon- 
 ored with reelection.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND. 
 
 «^AMHS :\IADISOX, tliiis raised to the highest office in 
 the gift of the American people, was another of those 
 scholarly Virginia statesmen who constituted in the 
 political jargon of aftertimes what was called the 
 " \'irginia Dynasty." The new chief magistrate was 
 born in Fort Conwa>-, Virginia, on the i6th of March, 
 1 75 1. He was the eldest of twelve children. Like 
 Jefferson, the boy Madison received his first educa- 
 tional training in the school of a Scotch teacher, 
 named Donald Robertson. Afterwards he became a 
 student at Princeton, and was graduated therefrom in 
 1772. For two or three years he devoted himself to 
 ■scholastic pursuits, and, for a young man, became pro- 
 foundly versed in such learning as the age offered to 
 
 students. He entered public life in 1776 and espoused the popular cause with the breadth 
 
 and fervor of a true democrat. Madison was a member of the Continental Congress, and 
 
 afterwards a delegate to the constitutional 
 
 convention of 1787. He was one of the 
 
 makers and defenders of the Constitution of 
 
 the United States. Under Jefferson he served 
 
 as Secretary of State. His election to the 
 
 Presidency he owed to the Democratic part}', 
 
 whose sympathy with France and hostility to 
 
 Great Britain were well known. 
 
 On the ist of March the Embargo Act 
 
 was repealed by Congress,* and another 
 
 measure adopted instead, by which American 
 
 ships were permitted to go abroad but were 
 
 forbidden to trade with Great Britain. Mr. 
 
 Erskine, the British minister to the United 
 
 States, now gave notice that by the loth of 
 
 June the "Orders in Council " so far as they 
 
 affected the United States should be repealed. 
 
 In the following spring Bonaparte issued a 
 
 decree for the seizure of all .\merican ships 
 
 th.at might approach the harbors of France ; 
 
 but this edict was soon annulled, and all restrictions on .American commerce removed. 
 
 The government of Great Britain, however, adhered to its former measures and .sent ships 
 
 of war to enforce the " Orders in Council." 
 
 JAMKS MAIU.SON. 
 
 •The EiiiharKO Act was the suhject of much recrimiiiatimi ami riilicule. 
 derisively spelled the word backward, making; it the O Grab mi; Act I 
 
 '559) 
 
 The enemies of the tucasure
 
 560 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLmiBIA. 
 
 It now became evident that a crisis was at hand in the affairs of the United States and 
 Great Britain. The government of onr conntry liad fallen completely nnder control of the 
 party which sympathized with France. The American people, smarting nnder the insults 
 of the mother countr}-, adopted the motto of "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights." They had 
 made up their minds to fight rather than endure any longer the wrongs which they had 
 suffered for fully ten years. The elections held between 1808 and 181 1 showed the drift 
 of public opinion. The sentiment of the countr}- ran to the effect that war at even,- hazard 
 was preferable to national disgrace. 
 
 The third census of the United States was taken in the spring of 1810. The popula- 
 tion had now increased to seven million two hundred and forty thousand souls. Four new 
 
 ELKSWATAWA TRYING TO CONJURE GENERAL HARRISON. 
 
 States had been added to the original thirteen, and several of the territories were preparing 
 for admission into the Union. 
 
 HARRISON'S VICTORY OVER TECUMTHA. 
 In domestic affairs everj-thing went well with the new nation except the contact of 
 civilization with the Indian races. The rapid march westward had aroused the jealous}' 
 of the red men, and Indiana Territory became the scene of a serious Indian war. 
 The hostile tribes were led by the great Shawnee chief, Tecuintha (or Tecumseh), and 
 his brother, Elkswatawa the Prophet. These two sent messages to General Harrison,
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBLV 561 
 
 and finally visited him at Vincennes to make known tlieir "^ievances. The General 
 received the Indians and consented to discnss the qnestions at issne. The Prophet, liowever, 
 instead of proceeding at once to set forth his complaints, indulged in many singular antics 
 with the intention, as he expressed it, of conjnring the white man, after which strange 
 exhibition he paused and made an imperious demand that the United States surrender the 
 lands which had been ceded by treaty with the several separate tribes. The alternative 
 being war. General Harrison accepted the challenge and the council broke up with both 
 parties resolved upon hostilities. The Prophet and Tecumtha proceeded immediately to 
 collect their forces on the Tippecanoe, a few miles north of the present city of Lafayette. 
 Thither General Harrison, the territorial governor, in command of the whites, had marched 
 by way of the Wabash stations from Vincennes. 
 
 Harrison reached the destined battle-ground and encamped there on the evening of 
 the 6th of November, 1811. Negotiations had been opened with the Indians, but the 
 natives were treacherous, aftei their manner, and had plotted the destruction of the Ameri- 
 cans. In the early morning of the 7th the savages, seven hinidred strong, crept tiirough 
 the marshes to the east of Harrison's camp, surrounded his position and made an impetuous 
 attack. The militia, fighting in the darkness, held the Indians in check until daylight 
 and then routed them in several vigorous charges. On the next day the .\mericans burned 
 the Prophet's town, not far away, and soon afterwards returned victorious to Vincennes. 
 The campaign was so successful as to bring great reptitation to General Harrison, and to 
 lay the foundation for his future preferment to the Presidency of the United States. 
 
 FIRST GUN OF THE WAR OF 1813. 
 
 While peace was thus established by the sword in the Ohio valley, war had begun on 
 the ocean. Cxreat Britain and the L^nited States renewed the conflict which it had been 
 hoped was forever ended by the treaty of 1783. On the i6th of May, 181 r, Commodore 
 Rodgers, commanding the frigate President^ hailed a vessel off the coast of Virginia. 
 Instead of a polite answer he received a cannon ball in the mainmast. Rodgers responded 
 with a broad.side and the enemy's gims were silenced. W'hen light came with the moniing 
 the hostile ship was found to be the British sloop of war called Little Belt. The event pro- 
 duced great excitement throughout the countr>-. 
 
 The engagement of the two vessels had been without law or declaration of hostility. 
 In general the countr\- still hoped for peace, but the hope was delusive. On tlie 4tli of 
 November the Twelfth Congress of the United States assembled. Though the Democrats 
 were in the ascendant, many of the members believed that hostilities might be avoided, and 
 thus the winter passed without decisive measures. On the 4th of the following April it 
 was deemed necessar\- to pass an act laying embargo for ninety days on all British vessels 
 that might be found v.ithin the harbors of the United States. This comparatively mild 
 measure was adopted in the hope that war, actual war, might be avoided. But Great 
 Britain, heated in her conflict with France, would not recede from her hostile attitudes and 
 methods. Her anger was so great that she was willing to engage in an irrational and imjust 
 war with the .American republic, and the time had come for the beginning of the stniggle. 
 Meanwhile, before the actual outbreak of hostilities, Ivouisiana, the fifth new State, was, on 
 the 8th of .\pril, 1812, admitted into the Union. Her population had at the time of 
 admission reached seventy-seven thousand. 
 
 On the 19th of June in this year a declaration of war was issued by Congress against 
 Great Britain. Vigorous preparations were made for the conflict. It was ordered to raise 
 twenty-five thousand regular troops and fiftv thou.sand volunteers. The several States were 
 
 36
 
 '/ 
 
 562 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 requested to call out their militia contiugents to the number of a hundred thousand. A 
 national loan of eleven million dollars was authorized and General Henry Dearborn, of 
 Massachusetts, was chosen commander-in-chief of the American armies. 
 
 Though hostilities existed on the sea between .the merchantmen and cruisers of the 
 two nations, the actual war was begun in what was then the northwest of the United 
 States. General William Hull, governor of Michigan Territory, led the first campaign, 
 which proved to be sufficiently disastrous. On the ist of June, 1812, he set out from 
 Dayton, Ohio, with a force of fifteen hundred men. For a full month the army toiled 
 through the forests to the western extremity of Lake Erie. Arriving 
 at the Maumee, Hull attempted to send his baggage by water to 
 Detroit, but the British at Maiden were on the alert and captured 
 Hull's boat with ever>'thing on board. Nevertheless the Americans 
 pressed on to Detroit, and on the 12th of July crossed the river to 
 '*] Sandwich. 
 
 At this point Hull received information that Mackinaw had fallen 
 into the hands of the British. He, therefore, retraced his course to 
 Detroit, and from this place sent back Major Van Home to meet a 
 'IsLsi^ division of reinforcements which had arrived under Major Brush at 
 the River Raisin. Tecumtha, chief of the Shawnees, had after the 
 SCENE OF HULL'S battle of Tippecanoe, in which he was not a participant, made his way 
 CAMPAIGN, 1812. ^Q Canada and associated himself with the British. The chief, learning 
 of the advance of Van Home's forces, laid an ambush for them near a place called 
 Brownstown and succeeded in destroying or dispersing the detachment. Colonel Miller 
 with another division, however, attacked and routed the savages with great losses and 
 then made his way to Detroit. 
 
 Meanwhile the British and Canadians under Governor Brock rallied at Maiden, and 
 from that place advanced on the i6th of August to lay siege to Detroit The Americans 
 were well prepared to receive the enemy. They lay in their trenches and awaited the battle 
 during the British advance. When the latter were within five hundred yards Hull hoisted 
 a white flag over the fljrt ! Then followed a surrender the most shameful in the history 
 of the United States. All the forces imder Hull's command became prisoners of war. 
 The whole of Michigan Territory was surrendered to the British. Hull was afterwards 
 court-martialed for cowardice and was sentenced to be shot, but the President pardoned him. 
 Thus inauspiciously for the United States began the second war with Great Britain. 
 Three days after the surrender of Detroit the American frigate Constitution^ commanded by 
 Captain Isaac Hull, a man of very- diflFerent mettle from the General, overtook the British 
 Giierriere off the coast of Massachusetts. The vessels manoeuvred for a while, the Consti- 
 tution closing with her antagonist until at half-pistol shot she poured in a broadside, 
 sweeping the decks of the Gtierriere and deciding the contest at a single discharge. On 
 the following morning the British vessel having become unmanageable was blown up, but 
 Captain Hull secured his prisoners and spoils and returned in safety to port. 
 
 CAPTURE OF THE BRIG FROLIC. 
 Such was the opening of the contest on the sea. On the 1 8th of October the Ameri- 
 can man-of-war Wasp, under Captain Jones, fell in with a fleet of merchantmen off the 
 coast of Virginia. The squadron was under convoy of a war vessel called the Frolic, com- 
 manded by Captain Whinyates. A terrible engagement ensued, lasting for three-quarters 
 of an hour. Finally the American ship was brought alongside, and Jones's crew boarding
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 563 
 
 the Frolic struck the British flag and captured the ship outright. Soon afterwards, however, 
 the Poictiers^ a British seventy-four gun ship, hove iu sight and bore dowu upon the 
 victorious Americans. The Wasp was captured and the wreck of the Frolic retaken by the 
 superior force of the enemy. 
 
 After his work in the Mediterranean Commodore Stephen Decatur had returned to the 
 American waters and was given command of the frigate United Slates. In this vessel he 
 went on a cniise to the Canary Islands and a short distance from that group fell iu with and 
 captured the British war ship Macedonian. The loss of the enemy in killed and wounded 
 was more than a hundred 
 men. On the I2th of Decem- 
 ber the ship Essex, under com- 
 mand of Captain Porter, cap- 
 tured the Nocton, a British 
 packet having on board fifty- 
 five thousand dollars in specie. 
 Ou the 29th of the month the 
 Constilitlion, now commanded 
 b>- Commodore Bainbridge, 
 overtook the British Java on 
 the coast of Brazil. A furious 
 battle ensued and after two 
 hours of fighting the /ava was 
 reduced to a wreck. The 
 British flag was struck and 
 the crew and passengers num- 
 bering upwards of four hun- 
 dred were transferred to the Constitution. What remained of the enemy's vessel wa."- 
 burned at sea. The news of these unvarying successes roused the enthusiasm of the 
 American people to the highest pitch. 
 
 As soon as practicable after the capitulation of Hull a new expedition was organized 
 against Canada. On the 13th of October a force of a thousand men under command of 
 General Stephen Van Rensselaer crossed the Niagara River to captiire Queenstown. The 
 British had learned of the movement and stationed a force at the water's edge. This, how 
 ever, was driven away and the batteries of the enemy on the adjacent heights were carried. 
 In a short time the British rallied, but were a second time repulsed. Here it was that Gen- 
 eral Brock, governor of Canada, was mortally wounded. The Americans, thus for the 
 time victorious, entrenched themselves and awaited reinforcements; but no recruits came 
 to the rescue; the British returned to battle and the Americans after losing a hundred and 
 si.xty men were obliged to surrender. At this juncture General \'an Rensselaer resigned 
 the command of the northern forces and was succeeded by General .Vlcxander Smyth. 
 
 The Canadian border became the scene of renewed hostilities. The Americans 
 'gathered in force at Black Rock, a few miles north of Buffalo, and on the aSth of November 
 a detachment crossed to tlie Canada shore. This movement, however, was recalled b_\ 
 General Smyth as premature. A few days later a second crossing was undertaken, but 
 was not effected, and the Americans went into winter quarters. It soon appeared thai 
 General Smyth was incompetent for the command. The militia became mutinous, and the 
 General under charge of cowardice was deposed. Thus came tlie autumn of 1812 and with 
 
 CAi'fLKE ul- TilU 1 KOI.Ii.
 
 564 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 it the presidential election. Madison was chosen for a second term; but the Vice- Presidency 
 passed from Clinton to Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts. 
 
 DEFEAT AND MASSACRE AT RAISIN RIVER. 
 
 Thus far the war had been feeble and desultory. With the spring of 1813 the Ameri- 
 can forces were organized into three divisions, known as the Army of the North, under 
 General Wade Hampton; the Army of the Centre, under the commander-in-chief; the 
 Army of the West, under General Winchester, who was soon superseded by General Har- 
 rison. The last named division was first to move. In the early part of January Winches- 
 ter set out in the direction of Lake Erie to regain the ground lost by Hull. On the loth of 
 the month the advance came to the rapids of Maumee. A detachment then pressed forward 
 to Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, captured the place, and on the 20th of the month were 
 joined by Winchester with the main division. 
 
 On the 32d of January, the Americans were assaulted by a British and Indian army, 
 twenty-five hundred strong, under command of General Proctor. The fight went against 
 
 the Americans. Winchester was taken 
 *^# ^wi^ prisoner and sent word to his army to 
 
 capitulate. This done, the American 
 woimded were attacked by the Indians 
 and butchered after the manner of 
 savager}-. The American prisoners were 
 dragged off through untold sufferings 
 to Detroit, where they were held until 
 their ransom was effected by the govern- 
 ment. These two disasters, one in 181 2 
 and the other in the following year, gave 
 to the river Raisin an ominous memory 
 until the survivors, and even their chil- 
 dren, finally passed away. 
 
 General Harrison now left in com- 
 mand of the Army of the West, or of 
 what remained of it, built Fort Meigs on the Maumee. Here he was besieged by a British 
 army numbering two thousand, inclusive of the Indian allies under command of Proctor 
 and Tecumtha. Meanwhile General Clay, with a force of twelve hundred Kentuckians, 
 had set out from his own State and was advancing to the relief of the fort. With the 
 rumor of his coming the Indians in large numbers deserted and Proctor, thus weakened, 
 abandoned the siege and retreated to Maiden. At the latter place the British were reinforced 
 to nearly four thousand men and in July made a second expedition against Fort Meigs. 
 
 GALLANT DEFENCE OF FORT STEPHENSON. 
 
 The garrison of this fort, however, could not be drawn from the fortifications or driven 
 out bv battle. Proctor was at length obliged to file off with half his forces for an attack on 
 Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky — a place which seemed to the British General more 
 accessible to assault. The fort was defended by only a hundred and sixty men under 
 Colonel Croghan, a stripling but twenty-one }'ears of age. The event showed, however, 
 that he had in him the instinct and passion of battle. On the 2d of August, the confident 
 British came on to storm the fort. They crowded into the trench, but the sequel showed 
 that Croghan had so planted his guns as to command the approach. When the trench was 
 
 luRT MEIGS.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 5r>o 
 
 filled with iiicu, the cannons were discharged and tiie attacking column was swept away 
 almost to a man. Tlie repulse was complete. Proctor at once raised the siege of Fort 
 Meigs, and returned to Maiden. 
 
 Thus far in the contest on our northwest border tlie advantage had been witli the 
 British, from the fact that they controlled Lake Erie. On that, water they had a squadron 
 of six vessels. It was now deemed necessar\' to gain control of the lake from the enemy, 
 and the work was intnisted to Commodore Oliver H. Perry. His antagonist, the com- 
 mander of the British fleet, was Commodore Barcla>- a veteran from the wars of Europe. 
 Perr\' equipped his vessels, nine in number, at Put-in-Bay, and was soon able, through the 
 extraordinan.- energ\' which he displayed, 
 to get afloat. On the loth of September 
 the two squadrons met not far from land, 
 and a battle at once ensued. 
 
 The engagement was begun b\- the 
 American squadron. Perry's flag-ship, tlie 
 Lawrence^ leading the attack. Barclay's 
 ship was the Detroit. The Britisli vessels 
 were fewer in number, but their guns had 
 a longer range and were better ser\ed. 
 The contest between the two flag-ships was 
 desperate. The Laivreiicc was mined, and 
 the Detroit was almost wrecked. It became 
 necessary for Pert)- to transfer his flag to 
 another vessel. He accordingly got over- 
 board into an open boat, and carried his 
 pennant to the Niagara. With this power- 
 ful vessel he immediately bore down upon the enemy's line, drove through tlie midst, 
 discharging deadly broadsides to right and left. In fifteen minutes the British fleet was 
 reduced to a state of helplessness. Perr\- returned to the floating hull of the Lawrence and 
 there received the surrender of the enemy's squadron. He then sent to General Harrison 
 his laconic despatch : ' ' We have met the enemy and the\' are ours. ' ' 
 
 The control of Lake Erie was thus gained by the A mericans, and a way opened for the 
 invasion of Canada. On the 27th of September, General Harrison's anny was carried 
 across to Maiden. The British fell back before him as far as the river Thames, but there 
 halted and prepared for battle. .\ field was chosen liaving the river on one side of the 
 British position and a swamp on the other. Here, on the fifth of October, Proctor was 
 attacked by Harrison and Shelbx . 
 
 DEFEAT AND DEATH OF TECUMTHA. 
 
 In the beginning of the battle the liritisli general fled. The regulars were broken by 
 an attack of the Kentuckians under Colonel Richard M. John.son. The Americans were 
 thus enabled to turn against the Indians, who, to the number of fifteen hundred, had taken 
 one of their favorite positions in the adjacent swamp. Tlierc Tccumtha had staked all on 
 the issue of battle. For a while the war-whoop of the great chieftain was heard above the 
 din of the conflict. Presently, iiowever, his voice ceased to call to his warriors; for 
 Tecnmtha was no more. The savages, appalled by the death of their leader, fled in 
 despair, and the .\mericans were left completeh- victorious. So ended the campaign of 
 
 COMMODORE PERRY LEAVING HIS FLAG-SHIP FOR 
 THE NIAGARA.
 
 566 
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 SCENE OF THE CREEK WAR 
 1813-I4. 
 
 1813 in the west. All that Hull had lost in the previous year was regained, and mnch 
 
 more takeu. 
 
 The Indian races of the Mississippi valley had now, with good reason, come to dread 
 
 the aggression and progress of the white race. They saw in the Americans a force before 
 
 which their own people must recede into oblivion. From north to 
 south the native tribes of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys were in 
 a state of vigilant hostility. While Harrison's campaign in the 
 northwest was under way, the Creek nation of Alabama rose in 
 anns. In the latter part of August, Fort Mims, forty miles north 
 of Mobile, was attacked and taken b}- the savages, who destroyed 
 about four hundred people iu their sudden insurrection. 
 
 The governors of Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi were 
 obliged to make immediate and strenuous preparations for the 
 repulse of the savages. The Tennesseeans under General Andrew 
 Jackson were the first to rise to the rescue. The advance force 
 of nine hundred men, led by General Coffee, first struck the 
 enemy at their town of Tallushatchee, burned it, and left not an 
 
 Indian alive. It was the first blow of a desperate and bloody stniggle. On the 8th 
 
 of November, a second battle was fought at Talladega, aud the savages were again 
 
 defeated with heavy losses. A third fight occurred on the Tallapoosa, at the Indian town 
 
 of Antosse, where the 
 
 natives were again dis- 
 astrously routed. 
 
 By these movements 
 
 the daring Jackson had 
 
 carried his forces far 
 ■ into the Indian country 
 
 Nor were his supplies 
 
 sufficient for such an 
 
 expedition. His hungry 
 
 men became mutinous, 
 
 and were going to march 
 
 homeward; but a mutiny 
 
 among Jackson's men 
 
 was a dangerous thing 
 
 for the mutineers. The 
 
 general set his men the 
 
 example of living on 
 
 acorns which he roasted 
 
 and carried in his 
 
 pockets. After this ex- 
 hibition of endurance he 
 
 threatened with death 
 
 the first man who should 
 
 atir from the ranks ; and 
 
 no man stirred ! By the middle of Januar>' Jackson was able to renew hostilities. On 
 
 the 22d of the month he gave the enemy battle at Mucfau, where the Tennesseeans were 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE INDIANS AT TALLAPOOSA.
 
 COLl'MBUS AND COLUMBIA. 507 
 
 again victorious. At Horse-shoe Bend, the Creeks gathered in force and made their final 
 stand. On tlie 27th of March the Wliites, under General Jackson stonned the breastworks 
 and drove the Indians into the bend of the river. There huddled together a thousand 
 Creek warriors, with the women and children of the tribe, met their doom. The nation 
 was completeh- conquered, almost extenninated. 
 
 CAPTURE OF TORONTO AND DEATH OF GENERAL PIKE. 
 
 We may now return u> the spring of 1813 and trace the movements of the Anny of 
 the Centre under the commander-in-chief. On the 25th of April, in that year. General 
 Dearborn embarking his forces at Sackett's Harbor, proceeded against Toronto. This 
 place was the most important depot of supplies in British America. Bv this time an 
 American fleet imder command of Commodore Chauncey had obtained control of Lake 
 Ontario. On the 27th of the month the American advance, seventeen hundred strong, 
 under General Pike, landed near Toronto. The British were driven from the water's edge 
 and their first batteries were carried by the Americans, who then rushed for\vard to storm 
 the main defences. At that moment, however, the British magazine blew up with terrific 
 violence. Two hundred men were killed or wounded by the explosion. General Pike 
 himself was fatally injured. But the Americans continued the charge and the Britisli were 
 driven out of Toronto. Property to the value of a half million dollars was secured to the 
 victors who were not verj" careful to use their victory as not abusing it. 
 
 Meanwhile a counter movement was made by the British against Sackett's Harbor. The 
 expedition, however, was not successful ; for General Brown, rallying the American militia, 
 drove back the assailants. For reasons that do not well appear the American force at 
 Toronto was soon withdrawn from its vantage ground and recrossed the lake to the mouth 
 of the Niagara. Soon afterwards, on the 27tli of Ma>-, a force led by Generals Chandler 
 and Winder carried the British position of Fort George by stonn. The garrison escaping, 
 retreated to Burlington Bay, at the western extremity of the lake. 
 
 Much confusion marks the niilitar>- liistor>- of the year 1813. After the battle of the 
 Thames General Harrison transferred his forces to Buffalo, and then, tliough seemingly in 
 great favor with the public, resigned his commission. General Dearborn also withdrew 
 from the service and the command-in-chief was transferred to General James Wilkinson, 
 already aged and incompetent. The ne.xt active campaign was planned by General Ann- 
 strong and was designed for the conquest of Montreal. The Ann)- of the Centre was ordered 
 to join the .\nny of the North on the St. Lawrence ; but the movement was not effected 
 with energ)- or celerity. On the 5th of November, seven thousand .Vmcricans, embarking 
 twenty miles north of Sackett's Harbor, sailed against Montreal. Parties of British, Cana- 
 dians and Indians gathering on the left bank of the St. Lawrence, impeded the progress of 
 the expedition. General Brown was sent ashore with a considerable detachment to drive 
 the enemy into the interior. On the nth of November was fought the severe but inde- 
 cisive battle of CImsler's Field. The Americans then passed down the river to St. Regis, 
 where the forces ot General Hampton were expected to form a junction with Wilkinson's 
 command. But Hampton did not arrive ; and the division of Wilkinson went into winter 
 quarters at Fort Covington. 
 
 Meanwhile the British on the Niagara frontier rallied and recaptured Fort George. 
 Before abandoning the place, however, General .McClure, comniaiulant of the American 
 garrison, burned the town of Newark. This act cost the people of Northern New York 
 dearly ; for the British and Indians soon effected a crossing of the river, took Fort Niagara
 
 568 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUI^IBIA. 
 
 and iu retaliation burned the villages of Youngstown, Lewiston and Manchester. On the 
 30th of December Black Rock and Buffalo were laid in ashes by the enemy. 
 
 DESPERATE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE CHESAPEAKE AND THE SHANNON. 
 From this indecisive and half-barbarous war on the northern frontier we may turn again 
 to the sea. On the 24th of Februar}', 1813, the American war-sloop Hornet^ commanded 
 by Captain James Lawrence, overtook the British brig Peacock off the coast of Demerara. 
 A terrible battle of fifteen minutes ensued and the Peacock surrendered. While the Ameri- 
 cans were transferring the conquered crew, the wrecked brig gave a lurch and was swallowed 
 from sight. Nine British sailors and three of Lawrence's men were sucked down in the 
 whirlpool. 
 
 Captain Lawrence by his victory gained great reputation. On returning to Boston he 
 was transferred to the command of the Chesapeake. With this strong ship he put to sea 
 
 and was soon challenged by Captain 
 
 Broke of the British Shannon. The 
 
 two vessels joined battle eastward 
 
 from Cape Ann on the ist of June, 
 
 1 81 3. The conflict was obstinate, 
 
 brief and dreadful. The Chesapeake 
 
 was wrecked. In a short time every 
 
 officer on board was either killed or 
 
 wounded. Captain Lawrence himself 
 
 was struck with a ball and fell dying 
 
 on the deck. As the}' bore him 
 
 down the hatchway he gave his last 
 
 famous order, which became the 
 
 motto of the American sailors — 
 
 "Don't give up the ship!" 
 
 The Shannon towed her prize 
 
 into the harbor of Halifax, 
 
 where the bodies of Lawrence 
 
 and Lieutenant Ludlow were 
 
 buried with the honors of war 
 
 by the British. 
 
 The capture of the Chesa- 
 peake seemed to be a turn in the 
 tide by which the fortunes of the American navy were bonie down and lost in ever-recurring 
 defeat. On the 14th of August, the British Pelican overtook the American brig Argus, 
 and obliged her to surrender. On the 5th of September, the British brig Boxer was in turn 
 captured by the American Enterprise, off the coast of Maine. Captain Blyth, the British 
 commander, and Captain Burrows, of the Enterprise, were both killed in the battle, and 
 were buried side by side at Portland. On the 28th of March, 1814, while the ship Essex, 
 under command of Captain Porter, was lying in the harbor of Valparaiso she was attacked 
 by two British vessels, the Pho'be and the Cherub. Captain Porter fought bra\-eh- 
 until nearly all his crew were killed or wounded, and then sun-endered the remnant to 
 his antagonists. 
 
 Next came an era of marauding. Early in 1814, Lewiston was bombarded and taken 
 by a British squadron. Other British men-of-war entered the Chesapeake, and sending de- 
 
 ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE CHESAPEAKE AND SHANNON.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 5(j9 
 
 tachments ashore here and there, burned the villages on the bay. At the town of Hampton, 
 the soldiers and marines perpetrated great outrages. On the coast of New England the war 
 was conducted in a more humane manner. There Commodore Hardy, a regular officer of 
 the British navy, was in command, and tiie .Vmcricaus had no cause to complain of other 
 than the uecessar\' hardships of war. 
 
 With the spring of 1814 another invasion of Canada was planned by the Americans; 
 but there was much delay in beginning the campaign. Not until the 3d of July did Gen- 
 erals Scott and Ripley, with three thousand men, cross the Niagara river and capture Fort 
 Erie. On the next day the Americans advanced on Chippewa village ; but before reaching 
 that place they were met 
 by the British ann\ 
 under command of 
 General Riall. On the 
 ne.xt day, towards e\en- 
 ing. a severe battle wa- 
 fought on the plain sout 
 of Chippewa river, au' 
 the .Americans, c o m 
 mandcd by Scott ane 
 Ripley, won the field. ^ 
 General Riall fell back 
 to Burlington Heights, 
 and the Americans 
 advanced to a positioii , 
 
 on the high grounds in i 
 
 sight of Niagara Falls. attack ox os\\-ego. 
 
 " The summer campaign opened with the capture b\- the British of the fort at Oswego, 
 although it was stubbornly and bravely defended by its commander. Colonel Mitchell. May 
 5th the town was bombarded and a fruitless attempt made to land. The next da>- the 
 effort was renewed snccessfnlh'. Mitchell thereupon abandoned the fort, which mounted 
 only five gims, and after annoying the English as much as he could he retreated to Oswego 
 Falls. Having dismantled the works and burned the l^arracks, the enemy retired." 
 
 BLOODY LUNDY'S LANE. 
 
 Here, on the evening of the 25th of July, was fought the hardest battle of the war. 
 General Scott, commanding the American right, was hard pressed by Riall, but held his 
 ground until reinforced by the other divisions of the anny. The British reser\'es were 
 brought into action, and as twilight faded into darkness both armies were at death-grips in 
 the struggle. A detachment of .Vmericans getting upon the British rear, succeeded in cap- 
 turing General Riall and his .staff; but the main line was still unbroken. The key 
 to the enemy's position was a high ground crowned with a batten*-. Calling Colonel 
 James Miller to his side. General Brown, according to the tradition of the battle, 
 .said "Colonel, take your regiment and storm that batter). " "I will tr}-, sir," was 
 Miller's answer; and the battery was taken and held against three successive assaults of 
 the British. General Drummond was wotmded, and the British anny, numbering abottt five 
 thousand, was driven from the field witli a loss of more than eight hundred men. The 
 Americans lost an equal ntimber; but were jubilant with their victory. 
 
 Soon after this battle of Niagara, or Lundy's Lane, as it was popularly called, the
 
 570 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 American forces fell back to Fort Erie. General Gaines, at this time in command at Buf- 
 falo, crossed over from that place and assumed command of the army. General Drummond, 
 who had succeeded General Riall, was reinforced, and on the 4tli of August invested Fort 
 Erie. The siege continued until the 17th of September, when the Americans made a sortie, 
 and the British siege was raised. On the 5th of November, Fort Erie was destroyed by the 
 Americans, who recrossed the Niagara, and took up winter quarters at Black Rock and 
 Buffalo. 
 
 Meanwhile General Wilkinson, with the army of the North, had passed the winter of 
 1 81 3-1 4 at Fort Covington. With the coming of spring the American commander under- 
 took an invasion of Canada. At a place called La Colle, on the river Sorrel, he attacked 
 the British and was defeated. He then fell back to Plattsburg, was relieved of the com- 
 mand and superseded b\' General Izard. 
 
 At this time Lake Champlain was under control of an American fleet, commanded by 
 Commodore McDonough. The British General Prevost advanced into New York with an 
 army of fourteen thousand men, and at the same time ordered Commodore Downie to ascend 
 the Sorel with his fleet. The invading army succeeded in reaching Plattsburg, where Com- 
 modore McDonough' s squadron lay at anchor in the bay. On the 6th of September, Gen- 
 eral Macomb retired with his forces to the south bank of tlie Saranac. This stream was 
 made the line of defence, and for four days the British made ineffectual efforts to cross the 
 river. Downie' s fleet had now come into position for action, and a general battle was 
 planned for the nth. Prevost's army was to carry Macomb's position and the British 
 squadron was to attack McDonough at the same time. 
 
 The naval battle began first, and was obstinately fought for two and a-half hours. 
 Gradually victon- inclined to the side of the American vessels. Commodore Downie and 
 man)' of his officers were killed. The heavier British ships were disabled one by. one, and 
 obliged to strike their colors ; the smaller escaped. The British ami)- on shore gave battle, 
 but after a severe action that also was defeated, with considerable losses. Prevost retired 
 precipitately to Canada, and the English ministr)- began to devise measures of peace. 
 
 At the same time the war on the Atlantic coast was prosecuted with more vigor than 
 the enemy had hitherto shown. Late in the summer Admiral Cochran arrived off the Vir- 
 ginia coast with a squadron of twenty-one vessels. He had on board, besides his crews, a 
 veteran army numbering four thousand, under General Ross. The American fleet in the- 
 Chesapeake, under command of Commodore Barney, was unable to oppose so powerful an 
 armament. The British entered the bay with the purpose of attacking Washington and 
 Baltimore. The larger division sailed into the Patuxent, and on the 19th of August Gen- 
 eral Ross debarked with his division at Benedict. 
 
 CAPTURE AND BURNING OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Commodore Barney was now obliged to blow iip his vessel and take to the shore. The 
 British advanced against Washington. No adequate preparations had been made for their 
 resistance. At Bladensburg, six miles from the capital, the enemy was met, on the 24th of 
 the month, by the forces of Commodore Barney. Here a battle was fought, but the militia 
 behaved badly, and Barney was defeated and taken prisoner. Tlie way was thus opened to , 
 the capital. It only remained for the President, the cabinet and the people to betake 
 themselves to flight. As for Ross and his anny, they marched unopposed into Washing- 
 ton. All the public buildings except the Patent Office were burned. The unfinislied 
 Capitol and the President's house were left a mass of ruins. In justification of these pro-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. .-,71 
 
 ceedings, amounting to barbarism, the British alleged tlie principle of retaliation and the 
 previous bad conduct of the Americans, who at Toronto and other places on the Canadian 
 frontier had behaved but little better. 
 
 The other division of the British fleet came presently to Alexandria. The inhabitants 
 finding themselves at the mercy of the enemy, purchased forbearance by the surrender of 
 twent\--one ships, si.xteen thousand barrels of flour and a thousand hogsheads of tobacco. 
 As soon as General Ross had completed his work at Washington he proceeded with his 
 army and fleet to Baltimore. There the American militia to the number of ten thousand 
 gathered for defence under connnand of General Samuel Smith. On the 12th of Sep- 
 tember, the British came to land at the mouth of the Patapsco, and the fleet began the 
 ascent of the river. The land division was soon confronted by the American advance 
 under General Strieker. A skirmish ensued in which General Ross was killed ; but Colonel 
 Brooks assumed command, and the invasion was continued until the British came upon the 
 American lines near the city and were brought to a halt. 
 
 Bv this time the British .squadron had ascended the Patapsco and begtm a cannonade 
 of Fort McHenr}-. From sunrise of the 13th of September until after midnight the guns 
 and mortars of the fleet poured a tempest of shells upon the fortress, but no impression 
 could be made upon the works.* It was clear that Fort McHenry was too strong for the 
 assailants. The British became disheartened, and ceased to fire. The land forces retired 
 coincidently with the fleet, and Baltimore was saved from capture. 
 
 The coast of New England suffered here and there from the incursions of the enemy. 
 On the 9th and loth of August the village of Stonington, Connecticut, was bombarded by 
 Commodore Hardy ; but the British, attempting to land, were driven back. The New Eng- 
 land fisheries, however, were in most places broken up. The salt-works at Cape Cod were 
 about to be destroyed, but escaped by the payment of heavy ransoms. The blockade wa.s 
 severe. All the harbors from Maine to Delaware w^ere sealed to foreign commerce. The 
 trade of the Eastern States, upon which so much of the prosperity of that section of the 
 Union depended, was almost totally destroyed. 
 
 POLITICAL DISSENSIONS GROWING OUT OF THE WAR. 
 
 For these reasons many of the men of New luigland were opposed to the prosecution 
 of the war. The Federalists, as a measure of political opposition, cried out against its 
 continuance. The legislature of Massachusetts advised the calling of a convention to con- 
 sider the condition of the country and the means of reaching a peace. The other Eastern 
 States responded to the call, and on the 14th of December the delegates assembled at 
 Hartford. 
 
 As a political movement this meeting drew great odium to its promoters. The leaders 
 of the Democratic party did not hesitate to say that the purposes of the assembly were dis- 
 loyal and treasonable. On convening the delegates sat with closed doors. What their dis- 
 cussions were has never been fully known. The session lasted for nearly three x* eeks, and 
 was ended with the p\iblication of an address in which the injustice and impolicy of the 
 war were held up to condemnation. But the convention was of little effect as it related to 
 the course of events, except that the political prospects of those who participated in the 
 proceedings were ruined. 
 
 The war of 181 2 — so-called — was now drawing to a close. A student of general hi.s- 
 
 • It was duriiiK the night of the iK.mh.anlment that Francis M. Key, detained on board of a British ship and 
 watching the American flaj,' over I-'ort MrlTiiirv— <;een at intervals l«y the ulare of rockets and th* fla-sh of eannott 
 ^<omposed The Star Spant;led Banner.
 
 572 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 tory will remember that the Napoleonic dynasty in France was tottering to its downfall. The 
 continental nations were concentrating their energies aronnd the French empire, and the 
 little ]\Ian of Destiny, who for nearly twenty years had made them tremble in their capitals, 
 was alread)' an exile at Elba. The American war was attracting but little attention abroad. 
 Great Britain herself prosecuted her American campaigns and expeditions languidly and 
 with indifference. 
 
 During the progress of the conflict Spain — particularly the Spanish authorities of 
 Florida — had sympathized with the British. In August of 1814, a British fleet was pennitted 
 by the commandant of Pensacola to use that port for the purpose of preparing an expedition 
 against Fort Bowyer, on the bay of Mobile. General Jackson, who commanded in the South, 
 remonstrated with the Spaniards for this breach of neutrality-, but received no satisfaction. 
 He thereupon marched a force against Pensacola, took the town by assault, and expelled 
 the British from Florida. 
 
 It was in the prosecution of this campaign that Jackson learned of the preparations of the 
 British for the conquest of Louisiana. This information was altogether to his liking, as it 
 gave free scope for his restless and daring nature to strike the enemy at his own discretion. 
 He repaired at once to New Orleans, where he declared martial law, mustered the militia, 
 and adopted measures for repelling the invasion. From La Fitte, the notorious smuggler 
 of the West Indies, he learned the enemy's plans. A British army twelve thousand strong, 
 under command of Sir Edward Pakenham, was coming from Jamaica. On the loth of De- 
 cember, the squadron entered Lake Borgne, sixty miles northeast of New Orleans. 
 
 BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 From this point Pakenham began to make his advance towards the city. On the 2 2d 
 of the month he reached the Mississippi about nine miles below New Orleans, and on the 
 next night Generals Jackson and Coffee made a bloody assault on the British position. But 
 the Americans were not in sufficient strength to succeed in such manner, and were obliged 
 to fall back to a more favorable position on the canal, about four miles below the city. 
 Pakenham advanced, and on the 28th began a cannonade of the American position. On 
 New Year's Day, 1815, he renewed the attack with some spirit, but was repulsed. After 
 this the British commander made preparations for a general battle. 
 
 For this Jackson was ready. He had constructed earthworks and thrown up a long 
 line of cotton-bales and sand-bags for the protection of his forces. The British moved for- 
 ward, and after some manoeuvring came to battle on the 8th of Januar}-. The conflict 
 began with the early morning, and was ended before nine o'clock. Column after column of 
 the British regiilars was thrown forward against the American intrenchments, only to be 
 smitten with irretrievable ruin. Jackson's men were almost entirely secure from the 
 enemy's fire, while every discharge of the Tennessee and Kentucky rifles told with fearful 
 effect on the British. Pakenham was killed. General Gibbs was mortally wounded. Only" 
 General Lambert was left to call the fragments of the army from the field. 
 
 The victory of Jackson was perhaps the most decisive and startling in the history of 
 American warfare. Of the British forces seven hundred were killed, fourteen hundred 
 wounded and five hundred taken prisoners. The loss of the Americans amounted to eight 
 men killed and thirteen wounded ! General Lambert retired with the wreck of his army 
 into Lake Borgne, while Jackson, marching into New Orleans, was received with the 
 greatest enthusiasm. 
 
 The battle of New Orleans was the last blow of our second war with the mother 
 countrv. There were no further engagements on land. On the sea there were a few
 
 COLUMBUS AND CULUMIUA. 
 
 573 
 
 
 additional conflicts like those whicii had characterized the beginning of hostilities. On the 
 20th ot February, the American Conslitulian, cruising off Cape St. \'iiicent, captured two 
 British vessels, the Cyane and the Levant. On the 2 2d of March, 1815, the Aniericau 
 Hornet made an end by capturing the British Penguin off the coast of Brazil. 
 
 But these sea-battles, as well as the battle of New Orleans itself, had been fought under 
 flags which were no longer hostile. Alread)- a treaty of peace had been concluded. In the 
 summer of 1814 American 
 commissioners were sent to 
 Client, in Belgium, and were 
 there met by the ambassadors 
 of Great Britain. The agents 
 of the United States were 
 John Quincy Adams, Janie- 
 A. Bayard, Henr>' Clay, 
 Jonathan Russell and Albert 
 Gallatin. The British com- 
 missioners were Lord Gai 
 bier, Henry Goulbum, ant: 
 William Adams. On the 24th 
 of December the tenns of 
 reconciliation and settlement 
 were agreed to and signed. 
 In both countries the news 
 was received with profound 
 satisfaction. The causes of battle of nkw oki.mans. 
 
 the war had been from the first factitious and without definition. On the i8th of Febniarv, 
 1 81 5, the treaty was ratified by the Senate of the United States and peace was publicly 
 proclaimed. 
 
 It could not be said that either nation was the victor. Both had fought and suffered to 
 little purpose. These facts of the irrationality of the war came out strongly in the terms 
 of pacification. Indeed, there never was a more absurd treaty than that of Ghent Its onlv 
 significance was that Great Britain and the United States, having been at war, agreed to be 
 at peace. Not a single one of the distinctive issues to decide v/hich the war had been 
 undertaken was settled or even mentioned in the compact with which it was ended. Of the 
 impressment of American seamen not a word was said. The wrongs done to the commerce 
 of the United States were not even referred to. The rights of neutral nations were left as 
 undetermined as before. Of " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," which had been the battle- 
 cry of the American navy, no mention was made. The whole treaty was circumlocutorv 
 and inconsequential. The principal articles were devoted to the settlement of unimportant 
 boundaries and the possession of some petty i.slands in the bay of Passamaquoddy ! 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE WAR. 
 
 There is little doubt, however, that at the time of the treat>' of Ghent Great Britain 
 gave private assurance to the United States that impressment on the high seas and 
 the other wrongs complained of by the Americans should be practised against them 
 no more. Thus much at least was gained. For the space of more than sevcutv-five 
 years ves.sels bearing the flag of the United States have been exempt from such insults as 
 led to the war of 181 2. Another advantage gained by America was the recognition of her
 
 574 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 naval strength and prowess. It was no longer doubtful that the American sailors were the 
 equals of any in the world. Their valor and patriotism had challenged the admiration of 
 all nations. It was no small triumph for the republic that her flag should henceforth be 
 honored on all seas and oceans. 
 
 The troubles of the American na\y with the Algerine pirates of the IVIediterranean 
 have more than once been mentioned on former pages. The war between the United States 
 and Great Britain gave opportunity to the Moorish sea-robbers to renew their depredations. 
 At the close of the conflict the government of the United States made haste to settle the score 
 with the African pirates. Commodore Decatur was ordered to proceed to the Mediterranean 
 and to chastise them into final submission. He had the good fortune, on the 17th of June, to 
 fall in with the principal frigate of the Algerine squadron, and this ship, after a severe fight, 
 was compelled to surrender. Two days afterwards he captured another frigate. In a short 
 time he sailed boldly into the bay of Algiers and was able to dictate to the frightened Dey 
 an advantageous and honorable treaty. The Moorish Emperor agreed to release his Ameri- 
 can prisoners without ransom, to reliuquish all claims to tribute and to give a pledge that 
 his ships should trouble American merchantmen no more. Decatur followed up the good 
 work by sailing against Tunis and Tripoli, both of which powers he compelled to give 
 pledges of good conduct and to pay large sums in the way of indemnity for former 
 depredations. 
 
 FOUNDING OF A NEGRO FREE STATE. 
 
 We thus reach the close of the epoch of our second war with the mother country. 
 Before the end of Madison's administration the Territory' of Indiana was organized and 
 admitted into the Union. The new commonwealth was received by act of Congress on the 
 nth of December, 1816. About the same time was founded the Colonization Society of the 
 United States, having for its object the establishment of a refuge for free persons of color. 
 Many distinguished American citizens became members of the association and sought to 
 promote its interests. Liberia, on the western coast of Africa, was selected as the seat of a 
 proposed colony to be founded by the freemen of the African race emigrating from America. 
 A sufficient number of these went abroad to establish a flourishing negro state ; but the 
 enterprise has never answered to the expectations and hopes of its promoters. The capital 
 of Liberia was named Monrovia, in honor of James ]\Ionroe, who in the fall of 181 6 was 
 chosen as Aladison's successor in the Presidency. For Vice-President the choice fell on 
 Daniel D. Tompkins of New York. 
 
 The one g^eat benefit of the war of 181 2, so far as our country was concerned, was 
 that the conflict conduced greatly to the independence of the United States. The American 
 nation became more conscious of its own existence, more self-sufiicient than ever before. 
 The reader of general history will have readily perceived that the war was really a side 
 issue of the greater struggle going on in Europe. On the part of Great Britain the 
 conflict was conducted but feebly — as though she knew herself to be in the wrong. As 
 soon as a fair opportunity was presented she receded from a contest in which she had 
 engaged in only a half-hearted and irresolute way and of which she had good cause to be 
 ashamed. At the close of the conflict the historian comes to what may be called the ^Middle 
 Ages of the United States — an epoch in which the tides of population rolled through the 
 notches of the Alleghanies into the Mississippi Valley, tending to a powerful physical civili- 
 zation, in which, however, the institution of African slavery began to throw its black and 
 portentous shadow athwart the historical landscape.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 MIDDLE AGES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 FTER the war of 1812 the United States entered a 
 period of an unheroic cliaracter. Tragedy disap- 
 peared from our annals. Nor could it be tnithfullj' 
 said that great deeds of peace took the place of the 
 excitement and vicissitudes of the battle-field. Never- 
 theless, the era upon which we are here to enter will 
 be found replete with interest. A new and more 
 humane spirit may be discovered among the people. 
 The nineteenth centur)-, towards the close of its first 
 quarter and the beginning of the second, yielded itself 
 somewhat to a more benign genius than that which 
 had dominated the eigliteenth to its close. In the 
 present chapter we are to follow the annals of our 
 country' from the accession of James Monroe to the 
 Presidency to the epoch of the war with Mexico. 
 
 The new President was a Virginian by birth and education, being the fourth and last 
 of the so-called "Virginia Dynasty." .'\.ll the chief magistrates thus far, with the excep- 
 tion of the elder Adams, had been chosen from the Old Dominion. Monroe was born on 
 the 28th of April, 1758. He was educated at William and Mary College, from which insti- 
 tution he went out in 1776 to become a soldier of the Revolution. He was a young man 
 of valor and great abilities. In the battle of Trenton he received a British ball in his 
 shoulder. He ser\-ed under Lord Stirling in the severe campaigns of 1777-78, being in the 
 battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. After the Revolution he became a 
 student of law with Thomas Jefferson, at that time governor of Virginia. He set^-ed in the 
 Virginia assembly ; and at the age of twenty-si.K was sent to Congress. He was one of 
 those who first discerned the inutility -^f the Articles of Confederation and who exerted 
 themselves for the adoption of a betLer constitution for the United States. 
 
 Monroe was a member of the constitutional convention of 1787, and three years after- 
 wards was elected Senator of the United States from Virginia. In 1794 he was sent as 
 plenipotentiarj- to France, and was one of those who negotiated the purchase of Louisiana. 
 Aftenvards he was appointed American minister to the court of St. James. He was one 
 of the many who, beginning public life as a Federalist, under the leadership of Washington 
 changed gradually to a more democratic type of opinion and policy, until he took his place 
 in the same category of statesmen with Jefferson and Madison. In 1811 Monroe was 
 chosen governor of Virginia, and when Madison came to the Presidenc\- was appointed Ser- 
 retar; of State. His election to the Presidency was reached b\- an overwhelming vote o! a 
 hundred and eighty-three out of a total of two hundred and seventeen. He chose for his 
 cabinet John Quincy .'\dams as Secretary of State, William H. Crawford as Secretary of
 
 676 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the Treasury, John C. Calhoun as Secretar>' of War, Eenjaniin W. Crowuinshield as Secre- 
 tar>' of the Navy, and William Wirt as Attorney-General. 
 
 MONROE'S ADMINISTRATrON. 
 The Democratic principles which had marked the administrations of Jefferson and 
 Madison were adopted and furthered by Monroe. The stormy times of the second decade 
 of the century, however, now gave place to years of unbroken peace. The animosities and 
 party strifes which had prevailed to so great an extent since the death of Washington 
 seemed for a season to subside. The statesmen who determined the policy of the govern- 
 ment devoted themselves earnestly to the payment of the national debt. Wise measures 
 adopted for the 
 
 were 
 
 liquidation and funding 
 of the national burden, 
 and commerce w a s 
 speedily revived. The 
 government was econo- 
 mically and faithfully 
 administered. Monroe 
 had many of the political 
 characteristics of the 
 Father of his Countrj', 
 and his official duties were 
 performed in the spirit 
 of patriotism and devo- 
 tion to the public welfare. 
 The population of the 
 countr\' rapidly increased. 
 Wealth, as the result of 
 production and c o m - 
 merce, began to flow in, 
 and in a few years the 
 war debt was fully and 
 honestly discharged. 
 
 The first foreign 
 trouble of the United 
 States was a difficulty 
 between the government 
 and the little kingdom 
 of Hayti in the northern 
 part of San Domingo. 
 Suspicions arose that 
 Louis XVIII., the newly 
 restored Bourbon King of 
 France, would endeavor 
 
 to obtain the sovereignty of the island and secure its annexation to the French kingdom. 
 Under the Napoleonic ascendancy Hayti had been for a time one of the possessions of 
 France, and there was an attempt to maintain under the restoration what had been won 
 by the sword of Bonaparte. 
 
 CONFIRMING A TRE.^TY BETWEEN WHITES .\ND INDIANS.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 577 
 
 At this juncture the sovereij^u of Hayti was a certain Christophe, who became anxious 
 to secure the reco<,!iition of his independence by the <;ovornnient of the United States. 
 Nor was this expectation disappointed. The President, altogether unwilling that France 
 should be intermeddling with the political affairs of the American islands, met the over- 
 tures of the Haytian king with favor. A:i agent of the government was sent out in the 
 frigate Congress to conclude a treaty of amity and commerce with the insular kingdom. 
 The President, however, took pains that his agent should not rank as a plenipotei^tiary. 
 On this score the Haytian authorities were offended, and the negotiations were broken off. 
 
 Better success attended the work of forming a new treaty with the Indians of the terri- 
 torj- northwest of the River Ohio. The tribes most concerned in the new compact were 
 the Wyandots, the Delawares, the Senecas and the Sliawnees. Other native nations interested 
 were the Chippewas, the Ottowas and the Pottawattamies. The question at issue related to- 
 the Indian lands in the broad country between the upper Ohio and Lake Erie. It was at 
 this time that the Indian title to the valley of the IMauinee was procured. The cession and 
 purchase of about four millions of acres were accomplished as one feature of the treaty, and 
 it may well surprise the reader to know that the sum paid for this vast and fertile tract did 
 not exceed fourteen thousand dollars ! In addition to this purchase-money, the Delawares 
 were for their part to receive an annuity of five hundred dollars, while the combined 
 annuities guaranteed to the Wyandots, the Senecas, the Shawnees and the Ottawas amounted 
 to about ten thousand dollars. The Chippewas and Pottawattamies were granted an annuity 
 of three thousand five hundred dollars for fifteen years. Certain tracts were also reserved 
 by the red men for their homes and hunting grounds amounting to an aggregate of about 
 three hundred thousand acres. 
 
 The belief of our publicists at this time was that the Indians, surrounded by the vast 
 and progressive settlements of the white race, w'ould soon be assimilated to the civilized 
 life and be gradually absorbed as a part of the nation. This expectation, however, was 
 doomed to disappointment. It was soon discovered that the Indians had little symjwthy 
 with American farms and villages and civilized methods of life. The habits of barbarism 
 were too strongly fi.xed through ages of heredity and no aptitude for the anticipated change 
 was seen on the part of the sequestrated aborigines. i 
 
 Thirty years had now elapsed since the formation of the Constitution. The new system 
 of government seemed to be working well and to have lodgment in the hearts of the people. 
 In no respect did the provisions of the fundamental law apply more successfully than in the 
 admission or addition of new States to the Union. The next territory' after Indiana to 
 apply for the privileges and rights of Statehood was the Territory of Mississippi, which 
 was organized and admitted in 1817. The new comnionwealth contained an area of forty- 
 seven thousand square miles and brought a population of sixty-five thousand. This work 
 completed the extension of tlie State system on the southwest as far as the Mississippi, 
 from the mouth of the Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 REVIVAL OF BUCCANEERING. 
 
 In the planting of new civilizations on our conlinenLs vast opportunities were given to 
 the restless and lawless classes to imdertake and pursue systems of crime against national 
 and international authority. One of the most favorable scenes for such manner of life ■\vas 
 the West Indies and the littoral parts of Florida. Off the nortlieasteni coa.st of the last- 
 named State a nest of buccaneers was established on Amelia Island. The jMratical com- 
 bination had its origin and opportnnit\' in the Revolutionary movements which had been 
 going on in New Grenada and Venezuela. A cerLiin Grcgor McGregor who held a commis- 
 
 37
 
 578 COLUMBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 
 
 sioii from tlie insurgent authorities of New Grenada gathered a band of freebooters from 
 many parts, particularly from Charleston and Savannah, and with these fortified and held 
 Amelia Island, making it a sort of headquarters for slave-traders and South American 
 privateers. 
 
 It was doubtless believed by the audacious rascals that the sympathy of the United 
 States for the republican tendency shown in South America at this time would save them 
 from disturbance. The buccaneers seemed to be acting in the cause of South American 
 liberty, and they hoped by this attitude to escape attack from the government of the United 
 States. They began under this infatuation to carr}- matters with a high hand, and presently 
 proceeded to blockade the port of St. Augustine. In doing so they demeaned themselves 
 as if there were no civilization or retributive justice which they had cause to fear. The gov- 
 ernment of the United States, however, soon took action against the pirates and sent a fleet 
 which succeeded in breaking up their establishment on Amelia Island. A similar assem- 
 blage of freebooters which had been established on the island of Galveston, off the coast of 
 Texas, was in like manner suppressed. 
 
 Now it was that the question of the internal improvement of the United States as a 
 measure of national policy first presented itself as a practical issue. The population of the 
 republic was rapidly moving westward and filling up the Mississippi valley. The necessity 
 for thoroughfares and other physical means of intercourse and commerce rose upon the 
 people as a condition of their further progress. The territorial vastness of the country 
 made it imperative to devise suitable means of communication between the distant parts. 
 Without thoroughfares and canals it was evident that the rich products of the almost limitless 
 interior of the country could never reach a general emporium or foreign market. It was 
 also evident that private capital and enterprise were not sufficient for the production of the 
 needed improvements ; but had Congress, under the Constitution, the right to vote money 
 for the prosecution of such enterprises ? 
 
 CONTENTION BETWEEN DEMOCRATS AND FEDERALISTS. 
 
 This question became one of political division. The Democratic party had from the 
 first been what is known as the party of strict construction. The Democratic doctrine was 
 that whatever is not positively conceded and expressed in the Constitution has no existence 
 in the American system of government. The Federalists, on the other hand, claimed that 
 the Constitution of the United States is pregnant with implied powers, and that these may 
 be evoked under the necessities of any given situation and directed to the accomplishment 
 of any desired end. Jefferson and Madison had been the leaders and organizers of the doc- 
 trine of strict construction. They and their party had opposed internal improvements 
 under national patronage. Monroe held a similar view — though less strenuously — and the 
 propositions in Congress to make appropriations for the internal improvement of the country 
 were either voted down or vetoed. 
 
 To this policy there was only a single exceptional instance. A bill was passed appro- 
 priating the necessary means for the construction of a National Road across the AUeghanies 
 from Cumberland to Wheeling. This was an extension of the great thoroughfare which 
 had already been constructed from Peninsular Virginia to Cumberland, and which was after- 
 wards carried, though without completion, from Wheeling westward through Ohio, Indiana 
 and Illinois to St. Louis. 
 
 With the passage of the act for the building of the National Road the question of 
 other internal improvements was referred to the several States as a concession to their rights.
 
 COLUiMBUS AND COLUMBIA. -)79 
 
 Under this legislative action, Xew York took the lead by constructing at the public expense 
 a magnificent canal from Buffalo to Alban\-, a distance of three hnndred and sixtv miles. 
 By this means the waters of the great lakes were conveniently united with those of the 
 Hudson and the Alantic. The cost of the canal was more than seven and a half million 
 dollars, and the whole period of Monroe's administration was occui^ied in completing 
 the work. 
 
 JACKSON'S HEROIC MEASURES FOR SUPPRESSING THE SEMINOLES. 
 
 In the year uSi; the Seminoles, occupying llie frontiers of (ieorgia and Alabama, broke 
 into hostilities against the whites. It has frequently been difficult in the history of our 
 countr\- to ascertain the exact causes of Indian hostilities. Perhaps the hereditary instincts 
 of war on the part of the savage races sought expression at intervals in blood and violence. 
 Otherwise the land question may be ascribed as the true cause of the larger part of Indian 
 hostilities in America. In the case of the Seminole outbreak considerable numbers of half- 
 savage Xegroes and Creek Indians joined in the depredations. 
 
 At the beginning of hostilities the government ordered General Gates, commandant of 
 the post on Flint River, to march into the Seminole country- and reduce the sa\agcs to sub- 
 mission: but that officer after destroying a few villages found himself unable to proceed. 
 It was alleged that his forces were inadequate for the campaign. General Jackson, of Ten- 
 nessee, was hereupon ordered to collect from the adjacent States a sufficient armv to reduce 
 the Seminoles to submission. The general, however, took his own course in the matter, 
 and mustered about a thousand riflemen out of west Tennessee, with whom in the following 
 spring he marched against the Indians and overran the hostile country. General Jackson 
 had acquired among the natives the sobriquet of the Big Knife^ and his name spread terror 
 among them. 
 
 The expedition of Jackson was followed by a serious episode. The General, while 
 jn his march against the Indians, had entered Florida and taken possession of the Spanish 
 post at St. Marks. He gave as a reason for doing so that the place was necessary as a base 
 of operations against the savages. The Spanish garrison which had held St. Marks was re- 
 moved to Pensacola. At the time of the capture of the place two Knglishmen, named 
 Arbuthuot and Ambrister, were found at St. Marks, and charges were preferred against them 
 of having incited the Seminole insurrection. They were tried, convicted of treacherous 
 acts, condemned and executed. 
 
 Jackson then marched against Pensacola, took the town, besieged the fortress and com- 
 pelled the Spanish authorities to take ship for Havana. Tliese measures e.xcited a bitter 
 animosity against General Jackson, and he was subjected by his enemies to unmeasured con- 
 demnation and abuse. The President and Congress, however, upheld him in his reckless 
 proceedings, and his reputation was increased rather than diminished by his arbitrary con- 
 duct. The great secret of his popularity and influence was his success and honesty. A 
 resolution of censure upon him introduced into the House of Representatives was defeated 
 by a large vote. 
 
 Other important results followed in the train. When the news from Florida was 
 borne to Spain the king entered protests against Jackson, but his remonstrance was little 
 heeded by the ."Vmericau government. The Spanish monarch began to perceive the 
 unprofitableness and difficulty of maintaining such a provincial government as Florida at so 
 great a distance from the liome administration of the kingdom. It became c\'ident that the 
 defence of Florida would in all probability cost him more than the country was worth. He 
 accordingly proposed a cession of the province to the United States. I'\ir this purpose
 
 580 COLUIMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 negotiations were begun at Washington, and on the 22d of Februar}-, 1819, a new treaty 
 was concluded, by which East and West Florida and the outlying islands were surrendered 
 forever to the United States. In consideration of the cession, the American government 
 agreed to relinquish all claims to the Territory of Texas, and to pay to citizens of the 
 United States for depredations committed b}' Spanish vessels a sum not exceeding five 
 millions of dollars. By the same treaty it was agreed that the boundary line between the 
 United States and Mexico should be the river Sabine. 
 
 MONEY CRISIS OF 1819- 
 
 Almost coincidently with this important treaty came the first great financial crisis to 
 the United States. The American Republic had been poor in resources. The people as a 
 rule were small property-holders to whom capital, as that term is understood in more recent 
 times, was a stranger. At length, however, wealth increased and financial institutions 
 grew into such importance as to make possible a crisis in monetary and commercial affairs. 
 We have already seen how, in the year 1817, the Bank of the United States was reorganized. 
 With that event came improved facilities for credit, and with these facilities the spirit and 
 fact of speculation. With the coming of speculation, dishonest}- and fraud arose, and the 
 circle of finance ran its usual course, until the strain was broken in a crisis. The control 
 of the Branch Bank of the United States at Baltimore was obtained by a band of speculators 
 who secured the connivance of the public officers in their schemes. About two millions of 
 dollars were withdrawn from the institution over and above its securities. President Cheves, 
 however, who belonged to the Superior Board of Directors, adopted a policy by which the 
 rascality of the management was discovered and exposed. An end was put to the system 
 of unlimited credits, and the business of the country at length swung back into its 
 accustomed channels. 
 
 Other new States soon followed Mississippi into the Union. In 181 8 Illinois, being 
 the twenty-first in number, or the eighth new State, was organized and admitted. The new 
 commonwealth embraced an area of over fifty-five thousand square miles. The population 
 at the time of admission was about forty-seven thousand. In December of the following 
 year Alabama was added to the Union. The new State in this instance brought a popula- 
 tion of a hundred and twenty-five thousand and an area of nearly fifty-one thousand square 
 miles. 
 
 About the same time civilization as expressed in civil rule took its stride across the 
 Mississippi. The great territorj' of Missouri was divided into two. The southern part was 
 organized into Arkansas Territory, while the northern half continued to bear the name of 
 Missouri. In 1820 the province of Maine, which had remained under the jurisdiction of 
 Massachusetts since 1652, was separated from that commonwealth and admitted into the 
 Union as a State. The population of ]\Iaine at this time had reached two hundred and 
 ninety-eight thousand ; the territory embraced nearly thirty-two thousand square miles. In 
 August of 1 82 1 the Territory of Missouri, embracing an area of sixty-seven thousand 
 square miles and a population of seventy-four thousand, was admitted as the twenty-fourth 
 member of the Union. But the admission was attended with a political agitation so violent 
 as to threaten the peace of the United States and to foretoken a long series of events the 
 effects of which have not yet disappeared from the history of our country. 
 
 THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 
 
 The question at issue was that of African slavers- in the proposed ' State of Missouri. 
 The bill for the admission of that commonwealth, or rather for the organization of the
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. oHl 
 
 Territon- for admission, was brought before Congress in Fcbruar>' of 1819. Before this 
 time, however, slave-holders in large numbers had gone into Missouri carr%ing their human 
 chattels with them. The issue was at once raised in Congress whether a new State should 
 be admitted with the system of slave labor prevalent therein, or whether by Congressional 
 action slaveholdiug should be prohibited. A motion to amend the territorial bill was intro- 
 duced by James Tallmadge, of New York, to the effect that any further introduction of 
 slaves into Missouri should be forbidden, and that all slave children in the new common- 
 wealth should be granted their freedom on reaching the age of twenty-five. 
 
 This amendment was adopted and became for the time a part of the organic law for the 
 Territor\-. A few days afterwards, when a bill was presented for the Territorial organiza- 
 tion of Arkansas, a motion was made for the insertion of a clause similar to the Tallmadge 
 amendment in the Missouri bill. In this case there was a heated debate, and the proposed 
 amendment was defeated. The mover of the same, John W. Taylor, of New York, then 
 introduced a resolution that thereafter, in the organization of Territories out of that part 
 of the Louisiana purchase which lay north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty 
 minutes, slavery- should be prohibited. This resolution was also defeated after a heated 
 debate. Meanwhile Tallmadge's amendment to the Missouri bill was brought up in the 
 Senate, and was defeated in that body. As a consequence of this legislation, real and 
 attempted, the two new Territories of Missouri and Arkansas were organized zvithoiit rcslric- 
 tions in the matter of slavery. 
 
 The people of Missouri now proceeded to fonn their State Constitution according to 
 the provisions of the Enabling Act. In January of 1820 a bill for the admission of the State 
 under the Constitution so formed was brought up in Congress. The resolution of admission 
 was, however, strenuously opposed by the large and growing party of those who favored the 
 exclusion of slavery from the public domain of the United States. At this juncture, how- 
 ever, a proposition was made for the admission into the Union of the new free State of 
 Maine. The situation was advantageous to the pro-slavcr>' party ; for that partv might 
 oppose the admission of Maine as a free State until the admission of Missouri as a slave 
 State should be conceded. 
 
 The debates became angry and were extended until the i6th of Februar\-, when 
 a bill coupling the two new States together, one with and the other without slavery, was 
 passed. Hereupon Senator Thomas, of Illinois, made a motion that henceforth and forever 
 slavery should be excluded from all that part of the Louisiana cession — Missouri excepted — 
 lyii>g north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes. This motion prevailed 
 and became known as the Missouri Compromise, one of the most celebrated and important 
 acts of American legislation — a measure chiefly supported and carried through Congress by 
 the genius and persistent efforts of Henr)- Clay. 
 
 A summar}- of the principal provisions of the Missouri compromise shows the follow- 
 ing results : First, the admission of Missouri as a slave-holding State ; second, the division 
 of the rest of the Louisiana purchase by the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes ; 
 third, the admission of new States to be formed out of the territory south of that line with 
 or without slaver\' as the people might determine ; fourth, the prohibition of slavery in all the 
 new States to be organized out of the territory north of the dividing line. Thus by a 
 measure of compromise and concession, tlie slaver.- agitation was allayed for twenty -eight 
 years. The event, however, showed that the national disease was too deep-seated to be 
 eradicated with a compromise.
 
 582 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The conditions of prosperity in the country were now so universal that the administra- 
 tion, as is common in such cases, was rewarded with good opinion and good will. The 
 President came into high favor with the people. In the fall of 1820 he was reelected with 
 great unanimity, as was also Mr. Tompkins, Vice-President. Perhaps at no other time in 
 the history- of our country- since the administration of Washington has the bitterness of par- 
 tisanship so nearly expired as in the year and with the event here mentioned. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF WEST INDIAN PIRACV. 
 
 Early in Monroe's second term the attention of the government was recalled to the 
 alarming system of piracy which had sprung up in the West Indies. Commerce became so 
 unsafe in all those parts of the sea into which the piratical craft could make their way that 
 an armament had to be sent out for protection. In the spring of 1822 the frigate Con- 
 gress^ with eight smaller vessels, sailed to the West Indies, and before the end of the year 
 more than twenty pirate ships were run down and captured. In the following summer 
 another squadron, under command of Commodore Porter, was sent to cruise about Cuba and 
 the neighboring islands. The piratical retreats were found and the sea robbers who had for 
 their leader the famous buccaneer Jean La Fitte were driven from their lair. Their 
 establishments were broken up and their business ended by suppression. Not a pirate ship 
 was left afloat to trouble further the honorable commerce of the sea. 
 
 It was at this epoch that the government of the United States and the American 
 people became deeply interested in the republican revolutions which were taking place 
 in the countries of South America. Since the days of Pizarro the States in question 
 had been dependencies of European monarchies ; but the political ties thus stretching 
 across the Atlantic were broken ever and anon with declarations of independence and revo- 
 lutionary wars. The situation was ver>^ similar to that which existed in 1776 between 
 the Old Thirteen Colonies of North America and the mother countrs*. It was but natural 
 that the United States, successful in winning their independence, should sympathize with 
 the revolutionists and patriots of the southern continent. Many leading American states- 
 men espoused the cause of South American liberty and their voices were heard in behalf 
 of the struggling republics beyond the isthmus of Darien. 
 
 THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 
 
 Foremost among the public men of the period who spoke out for the emancipation 
 of the South American States was Henry Clay. He carried his views into Congress 
 and gained the endorsement of that body to the principles which he advocated. In 
 March of 1822 a bill was passed recognizing the independence of the new States of 
 South America. The President sympathized with these movements and in the fol- 
 lowing year took up the question in his annual message. In that document he stated 
 the principle by which his administration should be governed as follows : That for 
 the future the American continents were not to be considered as subjects for coloniza- 
 tion by any European power. The declaration thus made, however vague it may 
 seem in the retrospect, became famous at the time, and has ever since held its place in the 
 politics and diplomacy of the United States, under the name of the Monroe Doctrine — a 
 doctrine by which the United States seemed to be committed to the principle that the 
 western hemisphere shall be, at least theoretically, consecrated to free institutions. 
 
 The summer of 1824 brought an incident of great rejoicing to the American people. 
 The opportunity was aSbrded them to revive and express their gratitude to France for the 
 sympathy and aid which she had given to the United States in the War of Independence. 
 The venerable Marquis de Lafayette, now aged and gra}-, returned once more to visit the
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. .383 
 
 land for whose political freedom he had given the energies of his yonth and indeed shed his 
 blood. Many of the veteran patriots witli whom he had fought side by side came fortii to 
 greet him, and the younger heroes, sons of the Revolution, crowded around liiin. His 
 journey from city to cit>- was a continuous triumph. One of the chief objects of his 
 coming was to visit the tomb of Washington. Over the dust of the Father of his Countrj' 
 the patriot of France paid the homage of his tears. He remained in the country' until Sep- 
 tember of 1825, when he bade final adieu to the American people and sailed for his native 
 land. At his departure the frigate Brandyzvine — a name significant to him — was prepared 
 to bear him awa>- ; and the liour of his going was obser\'ed with ever>- mark of affection 
 and gratitude on the part of the great and rising people of the west. 
 
 Thus came to a close the second administration of James Monroe. Political excitement 
 had now reappeared in the country and there was a strong division of sentiment, largely 
 sectional in its origin. Bitter personalities likewise appeared in the contest. For the first 
 time the names of South and East and West were heard, and the patriotic eye might discern 
 the premonitions of danger in the political phraseology' of the day. 
 
 The marshalling of parties was to a certain extent along sectional lines. John Ouincy 
 Adams, son of the second President, was put forward as the candidate of the East ; William 
 H. Crawford, of Georgia, as the choice of the South; while Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson 
 appeared as the favorites of the West. The overwhelming preponderance of the Democratic 
 party at this time made it possible for several candidates thus to enter the field ; for the rise 
 of the convention system had not yet destroyed individuality in American politics. 
 
 In the election of 1824 no one obtained the requisite majority of electoral votes. By 
 this circumstance tiie election was thrown, for the second time in the histor\' of the country, 
 into the House of Representatives. By that body John Quincy Adams, though not the 
 foremost candidate, was duly elected. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, had already 
 received the requisite majority in the electoral college and was thus chosen Vice-President. 
 The old administration expired and the new began with the 4th of March, 1825. 
 
 CAREER OF J. Q. ADAMS. 
 
 It is probable that in talents and acconiplislimeiits tlie new chief magistrate was the 
 superior of any man who has ever occupied the presidential chair. It is not meant that in 
 force of character or ability to meet great emergencies he was the equal of \\'ashington or 
 Lincoln or Grant ; but he had genius, scholarship, great attainments. From his boyhood 
 he had been educated to the career of a statesman. When he was but eleven years old he 
 accompanied his father, John Adams, to Europe. At Paris, Amsterdam and St. Petersburg 
 the son continued his studies and thus became acquainted with the manners, languages and 
 politics of the Old World. The vast opportunities of his youth were improved to the fullest 
 extent He was destined to a public career. While still young he served his country' as 
 ambassador to the Xetherlands, to Portugal, to Russia and to England. His abilities were 
 such as to draw from Washington the cxtraordinar>' praise of being the ablest minister of 
 which America could boa.st. From 1774 to 181 7 his life was devoted almost wholly to 
 diplomatic ser\'ices at the various European capitals. 
 
 It should be remembered that at this period the foreign relations of tlie United States 
 were critical in the extreme. Indeed the new republic had hardh- yet been fully estab- 
 lished as an independent power amongst the nations. The genius of .\dams secured for his 
 countn,' the adoption of treaty after treaty. Such was his acumen, his patriotism, that in 
 even.- treaty the rights and dignity of tlie United States were fully .as.serted and maintained. 
 [q 1806 Adams was chosen Professor of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres in Harvard College.
 
 584 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Afterwards he was Senator for the United States from Massachusetts. On the accession of 
 Monroe to the Presidenc}' he was appointed Secretar}' of State. All the antecedents of his 
 life were such as to produce in him the rarest qualifications for the Presidency to which he 
 was now called. 
 
 In one respect the new administration was less successful, less peaceful than its 
 predecessor. The revival of partisanship, the animosity of great party leaders, conspired to 
 distract the countr)-, to keep the public mind from the calm pursuits of peace and to mar 
 the harmony of the nation. Indeed from this epoch we may date the beginning of politics 
 as a despicable trade in which the interests of the people of the United States have been 
 hawked and torn, bartered and sold at the dictation of unscrupulous ambition and for mere 
 personal ends. 
 
 Soon after the accession of Adams the adherents of General Jackson and ]\Ir. Crawford 
 united in opposition to the policy of the President A want of unanimity appeared among 
 the different departments of the government. It was soon found that the supporters of the 
 administration were in the minority in the Senate, while their majority in the House of 
 Representatives was held only to the close of the first session of the ciirrent Congress. The 
 President favored the policy of internal improvements. That system of polity, however, 
 was antagonized b}- the majority of the Democratic party, and that majority soon came into 
 the ascendant. As a consequence of this break the recommendations of the President were 
 neglected or condemned in Congress, and that system of internal improvements to which 
 Mr. Clay gave the full resources of his genius was checked for a generation. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OVER INDIAN TITLES. 
 
 Difficulties with the Indians now arose on the side of Georgia. During the first 
 quarter of the century considerable portions of territory east of the T^Iississippi were still held 
 by the natives. In Georgia they possessed a wide domain. Here dwelt the great nation 
 of the Creeks with whom the white men had had relations since the founding of the first 
 colonies. In 1802 Georgia as a State relinquished her claim to the Mississippi Territory-, but 
 one of the conditions of the surrender was that the government of the United States should 
 purchase in the interest of Georgia all the Creek lands lying within her borders. This 
 pledge the government failed to fulfil. Georgia became seriously dissatisfied. The 
 difficulty grew alanning, and the general government was constrained to carr)- out the 
 compact by forming a new treat}' with the Creek chiefs for the purchase of their lands and 
 the removal of their people to new territories beyond the ^Mississippi. 
 
 Here were the elements of the ever-recurring difficulty. The Indians have been, as a 
 rule, unwilling to recognize the validity of pledges made by their ancestors relative to their 
 national lands. Such a thing as ownership in fee simple was unknown originally among 
 the native races. They recognized the right of quit-claim, by which those occupying lands 
 could alienate their own titles thereto, but not the titles of their descendants. It is for this 
 reason that, since the days of King Philip, the government has found great difficulty in 
 securing the extinction of the Indian titles to their lands — this for the reason that each 
 generation of natives bom in a given territor}' arises to claim the tribal lands with no 
 recognition of a right on the part of their fathers and grandfathers to alienate those lands 
 by sale or cession. 
 
 We may pause to notice an incident of the summer of 1826. On the memorable Fourth 
 of July in that year Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both expired at nearly the same 
 hour. It might well impress the American mind that just fifty years to a day from the 
 adoption of the Declaration of Independence the great author of that famous document and
 
 :?^ 
 
 ^
 
 COLUiMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 585 
 
 its principal promoter in Congress should have passed away together. They were the two 
 most conspicuous patriots of the Revolutionary epoch. They more, perhaps, than any other 
 two men had agitated the question of independence and supported tlie measure as a policy 
 for the United Colonies. Both had lifted their voices for freedom in tlie earliest and most 
 perilous days of the Revolutionar)' era. Both had lived to see tlieir country's independence 
 achieved. Both had served that country in its highest official station. Both had reached 
 extreme old age ; Adams was ninety, Jefferson eighty-two. Though opposed to each other 
 as it respected many political principles, both were alike in patriotism and loyaltj- to the 
 republic. It was a significant circumstance that while the cannon were booming for the 
 fiftieth anniversar}^ of the nation the two illustrious patriots should pass from among the 
 living at the hour of reaching tlie lialf-centcnnial of their greatest work. 
 
 DISAPPEARANCE OF WILLIAM MORGAN. 
 
 It was in the autumn of this year that a serious social disturbance in the State of New 
 York led to a temporarj- deflection in the political history of the times. William Morgan, 
 of that State, a member of the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, broke with tlie order 
 and threatened to publish its secrets. He suddenly disappeared and was never autlientically 
 heard of afterward. Rumors of his whereabouts gained currency, but none could ever be 
 traced to a trustworthy origin. The belief became common that either his life had been 
 taken or that he had been privately and permanentl)- exiled into the obscurity of some 
 foreign countr}'. The Masons fell under the suspicion of having abducted him, and a great 
 clamor was raised against the fraternity in New York. The animosity against the Masons 
 extended in other parts of the countn' and their enemies became united as a political party. 
 For many years the anti-Masonic party exercised a considerable influence in local and 
 general elections. De Witt Clinton, one of the most prominent and valuable statesmen of 
 New York, lost his political place and influence on account of his membership in the 
 Masonic order. 
 
 More important than these temporary agitations was the debate which now began in 
 Congress with respect to the tariff. The discussions of this vital issue may be dated from 
 the year 1828. By a tariff is understood a customs duty levied on imported goods. The 
 object of the same is two-fold : first, to produce a revenue for the government ; secondly, to 
 raise the price of the article on which the duty is laid, in order that the domestic manu- 
 facturer of the thing taxed may be able to compete with the foreign producer. In a subse- 
 quent part of this work a full discussion of this question will be presented. In the present 
 connection it is sufficient to note that when a customs duty is levied for the purpose of 
 raising the price of the article on which the duty is laid it is called a protective tariflT. 
 
 The soundness of the policy of such a tariff has been agitated in nearly all the 
 civilized countries. As a rule, in the earlier parts of a nation's history, protective tariffs 
 are adopted, even to the extent of shutting off foreign competition ; but with the lapse of 
 time and the accumulation of capital in the given countr\- the tendency is in the opposite 
 direction. The mature people generally incline to the principle of free trade and open 
 competition among the nations. 
 
 The Congressional debates of 1828 revealed the fact that the administration and its 
 supporters proper were in favor of a protective tariff In that year a schedule of customs 
 was prepared by which the duties on fabrics made of wool, cotton, linen and silk, and those 
 on articles manufactured of iron, lead, etc., were much increased. This legislation wai 
 had with the primar>' motive of stinnilating the manufacturing interests of the country. 
 The question of a tarifif in the United States has always taken a somewhat sectional aspect.
 
 586 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 At first the people of the Eastern and Middle States, where factories abounded, were 
 favorable to protective duties, while the people of the agricultural regions of the South and 
 West opposed the protective polic}-. 
 
 NEW ISSUES BEFORE THE NATION. 
 
 Several general facts respecting the period of Adams's administration may well impress 
 themselves upon the attention of the reader. It was at this epoch that the influences of 
 the Revolution, more particularly of the War for Independence, subsided by the death or 
 retiracy of the great actors in that early scene, and the sentiments of a new era began to 
 prevail. It was the beginning of the second epoch in the lii.stor\' of the United States. A 
 new class of statesmen, born after the era of independence, began to direct public opinion 
 and manage the affairs of government. Even the war of 1812 with its bitter antagonisms 
 and absurd ending, faded gradually from the memories of men. New dispositions, new 
 tastes, appeared among the people, and new issues confronted the public. Old party lines 
 could no longer be traced with distinctness. The old party names had become a jargon. 
 Meanwhile the United States as a nation had surpassed the most sanguine expectations of 
 the fathers. The one serious danger of the times was the evidences apparent in Congress 
 that the people of the United States had fallen under the dominion of that very system 
 against which the Father of his Country had uttered his most solemn warnings, namely, 
 the system of partisanship and purely political government, instead of a government of the 
 whole people, for them and by them. 
 
 Like his father, the younger Adams was disappointed in securing a second election to 
 the Presidency. The people of the countrj-, especially those of the great and rising West, 
 had never taken kindly to the plan and fact of Adams's election. It was claimed that the 
 result four years previoush- had been reached by a coalition in which there was a virtual 
 agreement that the supporters of Mr. Clay in the House of Representatives should elect 
 Adams on condition that the latter would make their favorite Secretary of State. This was 
 done ; but there is no evidence that there was any corrupt bargain between the two dis- 
 tinguished statesmen. 
 
 Adams received the support of Clay for reelection ; but the President was handicapped 
 from the start. A new political division now became distinct, the opposition to the admin- 
 istration taking the Democratic name, while the administration party took the new name 
 of Whigs. Of the former Andrew Jackson became the acknowledged leader and standard- 
 bearer in the presidential contest. He was triun'iphantly elected, receiving a hundred and 
 seventy-eight electoral votes against eighty-three for his opponent. The election was one 
 of great excitement and passion ; but the elements fell to a calm when the decision was 
 reached, and the thoughts of the people were turned to other than political interests. 
 
 JACKSON THE MILITARY HERO. 
 
 Andrew Jackson was a native of North Carolina. He was born in the Waxhaw countr}', 
 March 15th, 1767. ■ Even in his boj'hood he showed in his character and conduct the 
 belligerent and stormy nature within him. His mother's plan of devoting him to the 
 ministry was hopelessly defeated. Already at the age of thirteen we have seen him in battle 
 with Sumter at Hanging Rock. Captured by the British, he was maltreated and left to die 
 of small-pox; but his mother secured his release from the Charleston prison and he soon 
 began the study of law. 
 
 At twenty-one young Jackson went to Nashville. At twenty-nine he was chosen to 
 the National House of Representatives from his district in Tennessee. Here his turbulent
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 587 
 
 and arbitran disposition manifested itself in fnll force. In 1797 he was elected to the Senate 
 of the United States, where he remained for a year without makino^ a speech or castinj; a 
 vote. He was thoroughh- disgusted with the urbane and lofty life of the Senate and 
 resigned his seat to return to Tennessee. His subsequent career as a warrior and com- 
 mander of men we have noted in the preceding pages. 
 
 It is needless to remark that it was Jackson the military- hero who was chosen to the 
 Presidential office. He was the first man of his kind to reach the chief masfistracv of the 
 Union ; but he was more *han a militar\' hero. He possessed great native powers and 
 inflexible honesty. His talents were strong, but unpolished, unadorned. His personal 
 integrity was unassailable and his will like iron. He was a man of ferocity, but of the 
 strictest regard for that kind of honor which was in his age uppermost in the esteem of the 
 multitudes. He was one of those men for whom no toils are too arduous, no responsibilities 
 too great. His personal character became strongly impressed upon the administration. 
 Believing that public affairs would be best conducted by such means, he removed nearly 
 seven Innidred office-holders and appointed in their stead his own political friends. In 
 defence of this course he was able to cite the precedent established by Jefferson and promoted 
 to a certain extent mider all the subsequent administrations. 
 
 The accession of Jackson to the Presidency was in the nature of a revolution, not only 
 political, but social. The tone of the administration was suddenly and greatly changed. 
 Hitherto all the Presidents had been men of accomplishments. They had been gentlemen, 
 educated and experienced in public affairs. They knew something of public policies and 
 were civilians, as well as — in some cases — military' leaders. Coarseness and vulgarity during 
 the first five Presidencies had been unknown in the government. With the rise of Jackson, 
 however, the underside of American life came to the surface. The debonair and stylish 
 demeanor which had marked the manners and methods of the former chief magistrates 
 disappeared from the Presidential mansion and measurably from the other departments of 
 government. Jackson made no pretensions to culture or refinement and many of the coarse 
 and ferocious elements of his former life obtruded themselves in the high places of power. 
 It would be ver\" erroneous to say that all dignity was wanting in the administration. On 
 the contrary there was much that was dignified, more that was respectable; but the acces- 
 sion of Jackson was on the whole derogatory' to the refinement and culture and propriet\- 
 which had previously prevailed about the Presidential mansion. 
 
 ISSUES OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The question of rechartering the Bank of the United States now camd prominently 
 before the conntr)-. It was a question with which the government had to deal. The 
 President took strong grounds against issuing a new charter for that institution. He 
 believed the bank to be both inexpedient and unconstitutional. He recommended that the 
 charter should be allowed to expire by limitation in 1836. It could not be expected, how- 
 ever, that a concern so strong and far-reaching in its influence would yield without a 
 struggle. The controversy with respect to the bank was precipitated by the President at 
 an earlier date than was natural to the situation. In 1832 a bill was passed by Congress 
 to recharter the bank; but the President interposed his veto, and since a two-thirds 
 majority could not be commanded for the measure the proposition for a new charter failed 
 and the Bank of the United States ceased to exist. 
 
 We have already remarked upon the new political alignment which was at lliis lime 
 effected. The people became divided into the two great factions of Whig and Democrat. 
 The old Federal party had lost control of national affairs with the retiracy of the elder
 
 588 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Adams. The party, however, continued in the field until after the war of 1812, when its 
 alleged connection and responsibility for the Hartford Convention gave it a final quietus. 
 Federalists, so-called, still remained in public and private life as late as the times of the 
 great debates on slavery in 1820-21; but after that epoch they disappeared. Meanwhile 
 the anti-Federalists had been metamorphosed, first into Republicans and afterwards into 
 Democrats. The latter name held fast from the time of Jefferson's administration. With 
 John Quincy Adams the name of Whig was introduced, and under the leadership of 
 Clay and Webster the party bearing that name became organic, powerful and well fortified 
 in the principles and policies which it advocated and sought to establish in the government 
 of the country'. 
 
 Now it was that the tariff question, inherited from the preceding administration, was 
 revived with great force and excitement. In the Congress of 1831-32 the passage of a bill 
 had been secured laying additional duties on manufactured goods imported from abroad. 
 By this measure the manufacturing districts of the United States were again favored at the 
 expense of the agricultural districts. The act was especially offensive to South Carolina. 
 In that commonwealth the excitement rose to a great height ; a convention of the people 
 was called, and it was resolved that the tariff law of Congress was unconstitutional, and 
 therefore null and void. The declaration ended with a threat of resistance should an 
 attempt be made to collect the revenues in the harbor of Charleston. One division of the 
 Democratic statesmen took up the cause of South Carolina, and supported what was called 
 her doctrine of nullification. 
 
 This doctrine was advocated even to practical secession. It was boldly proclaimed in 
 the United States Senate. On that issue occurred the most famous debate ever heard in 
 the halls of Congress, namely, that between the eloquent Colonel Robert Young Hayne, 
 Senator from South Carolina, and Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, perhaps the greatest 
 master of American orator}'. The former spoke as the champion of the so-called doctrine 
 of State rights, including as its practical application the right of nullification and seces- 
 sion under the Constitution ; the latter as the advocate of the Constitutional supremacy of 
 Congress over all the Union. 
 
 THREATENED SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 History, however, had reserved another force than that of Congressional debate for the 
 decision of the question. The President took the matter in hand, and issued a proclama- 
 tion denying the right of any State to nullify the laws of Congress. It was at this juncture 
 that Mr. Calhoun, the Vice-President, resigned his office, to accept a seat in the Senate, 
 where he might better support the doctrines and purposes of his State. The President 
 solemnly warned the people of South Carolina against the consequences of pushing further 
 the doctrine of nullification. He then ordered General Scott to proceed with a body of 
 troops to Charleston, and also sent thither a man-of-war. Before this display of force the 
 leaders of the nullifying party quailed, and the fatal event of secession was postponed for 
 thirty years. The excitement and discontent of the people of Carolina were presently 
 allayed by a compromise proposed by Henry Clay. A bill was passed, under his strong 
 advocacy, providing for the gradual reduction of the duties complained of, until at the end 
 of ten years they should reach a standard which would be satisfactory to the South. 
 
 While the attention of the government was thus occupied with the dangerous and far- 
 reaching question of the right of a State under the Constitution to nullify an act of Con- 
 gress an Indian war broke out on the western frontier. The Sacs, Foxes and Winnebagos, 
 of Wisconsin Territory, became hostile and took up arms in defence of what they conceived
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. .",89 
 
 to be their rights as a nation. They went into the field under the leadership and instiga- 
 tion of their great chief, Black Hawk. Like Tcciuntha and many other sachems who had 
 risen to inflnence during the last century, Black Ilawk dreamed of the possibility of uniting 
 all the Indian nations into a confederacy against the wliites. The lands of the Sacs and 
 Foxes lay in what is known as the Rock River country of Illinois. While Jefferson was 
 still President these lands had been purchased by the govenimeut from the chiefs of the 
 tribes, but the Indian population had never removed from the ceded territory. 
 
 At length immigration carried the white settlemeuts into proximity with the Indian 
 country, and the natives were required to give possession. A new race of warriors had now 
 arisen, however, who did not understand or recognize the force of a co-compact made by 
 their fathers. They said that their fathers might quit-claim the national domain, but could 
 not alienate the rights of their descendants. The government insisted on the fulfilment 
 of the treaty according to the principle of warranty and fee simple. Tiie Indians would 
 not recede from their position, and war broke out. 
 
 At the outset the militia of Illinois was called into the field. General Scott was sent 
 T\-ith nine companies of artillery to make his headquarters on the site of Chicago. His 
 forces, however, were overtaken with the cholera, which now for the first time made its 
 appearance in the United States. Scott was unable to cooperate with General Atkinson, 
 and the latter was obliged to make the campaign against the Indians with an army of 
 volunteers ; but he succeeded in defeating them in several actions and Black Hawk was 
 taken prisoner. He was conveyed to Washington and other Eastern cities, wdiere his 
 understanding was opened to the power of the great nation against which he had been 
 foolish enough to lift the hatchet. Being set at liberty, he returned to his own country and 
 advised his people to make no further war. His influence prevailed, and the Indians soon 
 aftens'ards abandoning the disputed lands removed into Iowa. These events belonged to the 
 years 1832-33. 
 
 WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES AND CREEKS. 
 
 Difficulties next arose with the Cherokees of Georgia. These people had risen to the 
 civilized life, and were perhaps the most humane of all the Indian races. They had 
 adopted many of the manners and customs of the whites. Fanns had been opened, towns 
 built, schools established, printing presses set up, and a code of laws prepared in the 
 civilized manner. It will be remembered that the government of the United States had 
 given a pledge to Georgia to extinguish the title of the Indian lands within her borders — 
 this in compensation for her cession to the government of the territory of Mississippi. The 
 pledge on the part of the United States was not fulfilled ; and the Legislature of Georgia, 
 weary of the delay in the removal of the Indians, passed a law abrogating the Indian gov- 
 ernments within the limits of the State, and extending the laws of that commonwealth over 
 all the Indian domains. 
 
 Vainly did the natives seek to resi.st this iniquitous legislation. The Cherokees and 
 the Creeks sought the privilege of using the State courts in the attempt to maintain their 
 rights ; but such privilege was denied and the petitioners were outlawed. The Supreme 
 Court of the United States, however, refused to ratify the acts of Georgia, declaring the 
 same to be unconstitutional. The Indians appealed to the President, but he refused to 
 interfere. On the contrary, he recommended that the Cherokees be removed to new lands 
 bevond the Mi.ssissippi. Such was the contingency which led in the year 1834 to the 
 organization of the Indian Territory as a sort of reservation for the broken tribes. With 
 great reluctance the Cherokees yielded to the necessity of removal. Though they had been
 
 590 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 paid more than fi\e million dollars for their homes, they clung to the land of their fathers. 
 Only when General Scott was directed to remove them by force did they yield to the 
 inevitable and take up their march for their new homes in the West. A third conflict now 
 came on with the Seminoles of Florida. The difficulty in this case was much more 
 serious and resulted in a bloody war. The question involved was the right of the govern- 
 ment to remove the Seminole nation to a new domain beyond the Mississippi. This 
 measure the Indians resisted. In 1835 hostilities broke out and continued with little 
 interruption for about four years. The chief of the Seminoles was the famous Osceola, a 
 half-breed of great talents, warlike ambitions and audacity. He, together with Micauopy, 
 another chieftain of the nation, declared that the treaty by which the Seminole lands had 
 been ceded to the government was invalid ; that the fathers could only quit-claim their 
 own rights and could not alienate the rights of their descendants. 
 
 At first these protests were made openly and peaceably to the agents of the govern- 
 ment ; but General Thompson, who represented the United States, offended at the haughty 
 bearing of Osceola, ordered his arrest and put him in irons. While thus confined the 
 chieftain, dissembling his purpose, gave his assent to the old treaty and was set free. As 
 might have been foreseen, however, he immediately in revenge formed a conspiracy against 
 
 the whites. 
 
 DEATH OF GENERAL THOMPSON. 
 
 In anticipation of difficulties, the government had sent General Clinch to Fort Drane, 
 in the interior of Florida. The Indians gathered in the same vicinity in such numbers as 
 to threaten the post. Major Dade, commandant of a station at the head of Tampa Bay, set 
 
 out with a hundred and 
 seventeen men to the sup- 
 port of Clinch. For this 
 force the Indians lay in 
 ambush, fell upon them, 
 and slaughtered them all 
 except one man. On the 
 same day Osceola made a 
 sudden attack upon the 
 quarters of General Thomp- 
 son, only fifty yards dis- 
 tant from the garrison, and 
 killed and scalped the 
 General and his nine 
 companions. General 
 Clinch issued from Fort 
 Drane, and on the 31st of 
 December fought a hard 
 battle with the Indians 
 however, were obliged to fall 
 back again to Fort Drane. 
 
 Several divisions of soldiers, one under General Scott and another under General 
 Gaines, now advanced for the relief of Clinch. Gaines met the Indians on the same battle- 
 field where Clinch had fought, and in February of 1835 again repulsed the savages with 
 severe losses. At this time the remnants of the Creeks were obliged to quit the country- and 
 repair to their reser\'ation beyond the Mississippi. 
 
 IIHATH OF GENERAL THOMPSON. 
 
 and repulsed them on the Withlacootchie. The whites.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. o'.>l 
 
 The Seniinoles, liowever, held out, occiipyinj^ the woods and low marsh-lands of 
 Florida until October of 1836, when Governor Call, of that State, marched against them 
 with a force of two thousand men. A battle was fought in the Wahoo Swamp and the 
 Indians were again defeated with heavy losses. They retreated for a while into the Ever- 
 glades, but later in the season came forth and fought another severe battle on nearly the 
 same ground. In this instance they were again defeated, but not decisively, and the war 
 was transmitted to the next administration. 
 
 We may here recount the final stniggle of the President with the Bank of the United 
 State.*^. After vetoing the recharter of that institution he had determined to prosecute his 
 hostilit\- by ordering that the surplus funds which had accumulated in the vaults of the 
 bank should be distributed among the States. He had no warrant of law for such a course, 
 but believing himself to be in the right he acted after his manner and took the responsi- 
 bility. Accordingly, in October of 1833, he gave orders that the accumulated surplus 
 funds of the great bank, amounting to fully ten million dollars, should be distributed 
 among certain State banks which he designated. His idea was that the accumulation of 
 so large an amount of capital at the seat of government, and in an institution having a 
 quasi relation therewith was dangerous to \he freedom of Congressional and executive 
 action— ^a menace to government and a source of corniption. 
 
 The high-handed measure of the President evoked the most violent opposition. The 
 Whigs denounced the removal of the funds as unwarranted, arbitrary, dangerous and of 
 incalculable mischief. A coalition was fonned in the Senate under the leadership of 
 Calhoun, Clay and Webster, and the President's distributing officers — nominated by him 
 for the removal of the funds — were rejected. A measure of censure was passed in the 
 Senate against him; but the proposition failed in the House of Representatives. Such was 
 the outcry throughout the conntr}- that the administration appeared for a season to be 
 almost engiilfed. 
 
 Such storms as these, however, brought out the strength of the Jacksonian character. 
 The President was as fearless as he was self-willed and stubborn. He held on his course 
 unmoved by the clamor. The resolution of censure stood on the journal of the Senate for 
 four \ears, and was then not onh- repealed but expunged from the record through the 
 influence of Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri. 
 
 FINANCIAL PANIC, AND TROUBLE WITH FRANCE. 
 
 The distribution of the surplus funds to the designated State bauKS was now effected. 
 This work was followed in 1836-37 by a second and most serious financial panic. Whether 
 the removal of the funds and the panic stood to each other in the relation of cause and 
 effect was the great political contention of the day. The Whigs charged that the arbitrary- 
 measures of the President, by disturbing the finances of the countr\- had precipitated the 
 crisis, while the Democrats answered that the Bank of the United States with its multifonn 
 abuses, was itself the cause of the financial distress. It was urged by the latter party that 
 such an institution was too mercenary, too powerful, too despotic to exist in a free govern- 
 ment. The President himself was little concerned with the wrangling over this question; 
 for he had but recently been reelected for a second term with Martin Van Buren of New 
 York for Vice-President, instead of Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 Before the Presidential election of 1S30, however, the strong will of Jackson was 
 exhibited in full force in a complication with France. During the Napoleonic wars Ameri- 
 can commerce had suffered much through the recklessness of French sea-captains. 
 Certain claims had thus arisen and were held by the American go\ernment against the
 
 592 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 French kingdom. The question of a settlement had been agitated many times. In 1831 
 Lonis Phillippe, the new King of France had agreed to the payment of five millions of 
 dollars indemnity for the injuries done aforetime by French cruisers to American commerce. 
 The authorities of the kingdom, however, were dilatory in making payment. The matter 
 was procrastinated until the wrath of the American President broke out in a message which 
 he sent to Congress recommending that reprisals be made on the commerce of France. He 
 also directed the American minister at Paris to demand his passports and come home. 
 These measures had the desired effect, and the indemnity was promptly paid. The govern- 
 ment of Portugal, which had sinned in like manner against American commerce, was 
 brought to terms with similar measures. 
 
 The remaining statesmen and leaders of the Revolutionary epoch now rapidly passed 
 away. On the 4th of July, 1831, ex-President James Monroe died in New York city. He, 
 like Adams and Jefferson, expired amid the rejoicings of tlie national anniversary'. In the 
 following year Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, last surviving signer of the Declaration of 
 Independence passed away at the age of ninety-six. Soon afterwards Philip Freneau, who 
 had gained the distinction and name of the Poet of the Revolution, departed from the land of 
 the living. The bard had reached the good age of eighty. On the 24th of June, 1833, 
 John Randolph, of Roanoke, died in Philadelphia. He was a man who, though eccentric in 
 character, was admired for his talents and respected for his integrity, as well as dreaded for 
 his wit and sarcasm. In 1835 Chief Justice Marshall expired, at the age of four score 
 years, and in the next year ex-President Madison worn with the toils of eighty-five 
 years, passed away. It will be noted by the reader that most of the strong men of the 
 Revolutionary epoch, with the distinguished exception of the Father of his Country-, lived 
 to extreme old age. 
 
 Disasters to property may be added to the losses of life during this epoch. On the 
 16th of December, 1835, a fire broke out in the lower part of New York city and the build- 
 ings covering thirty acres of ground were laid in ashes. Five hundred and twenty-nine 
 houses and property valued at eighteen million dollars were consumed. Just one year 
 afterward the Patent Office and Post Office at Washington City were destroyed in the same 
 manner. On the ruins of these valuable buildings more noble and imposing structures — 
 which are likely to outlast the century — were soon erected. 
 
 JACKSON'S FAREWELL. 
 
 Other States were now added to the Union. In June of 1836, Arkansas with her 
 fifty-two thousand square miles and population of seventy thousand, was admitted. In 
 January' of the following year Michigan Territory was organized as a State and added to the 
 Union. The new commonwealth brought a population of a hundred and fifty-seven 
 thousand and an area of fifty-six thousand square miles. 
 
 As Jackson's second administration drew to a close that stern, rough patriot followed 
 the example of Washington in issuing a farewell address. The document was characterized 
 by the severe justice and something of the intolerant spirit which had marked the man in 
 his administration. The danger of discord and sectionalism among the States was set 
 forth with all the masculine energy of the Jacksonian dialect. It should be said of the 
 epoch and in its favor that it was a time in which the President was still President, and 
 when the sleek effiisions of private-secretaries and chairmen of executive committees were 
 not in vogue. Jackson solemnly warned the people of the United States, as Washington 
 had done, against the baneful influence of demagogues ; the horrors of disunion were por-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. o'.»;] 
 
 trayecl in the strongest colors and the people of every rank and section were exhorted to 
 maintain and defend the American Union as they would the last fortress of human libert)-. 
 Such was the last public paper contributed by Andrew Jackson to the political literature of 
 the age. The presidential election of 1S36 resulted in the choice of Martin Van Buren, of 
 New York, the candidate of the Democratic party. The opposing standard-bearer was 
 General William H. Harrison, of Ohio, who received the support of the new Whig party. As 
 to the Vice-Presidency no one secured a majority in the electoral college, and the choice 
 was devolved on the Senate. By that body Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, 
 was duly elected. 
 
 Martin Van Buren was bom at Kinderhook, New York, December 5th, 1782. His 
 education was limited. He studied law and became a politician. In his thirtieth year he 
 was elected to the Senate of his native State and six years afterwards, taking advantage of 
 the anti-Masonic excitement, he succeded in supplanting De Witt Clinton as the leader of 
 the Democratic party in New York. In 1821, and again in 1827, he was chosen Senator 
 of the United States ; but in the first year of his second tenn he resigned the office to accept 
 the governorship of his native State. Under Jackson he received the appointment of 
 Secretary of State, but soon resigned that place to become minister plenipotentiary' to 
 England. The President appointed him to the latter position, but when the appointment 
 came before the Senate, Vice-President Calhoun, assisted by the Whig leaders Clay and 
 Webster, succeeded in rejecting the nomination. Van Buren, who had been appointed 
 during a recess of the Senate, returned from his unfulfilled mission, became the candidate 
 for the \'ice-Presidency in 1S32 and w'as elected. Four years later he led the powerful party 
 to which he belonged and succeeded General Jackson in the Presidency. 
 
 BLOODY BATTLE WITH THE SEMINOLES. 
 
 As already said, the Seminole war was carried over as an unfinished task to the admin- 
 istration of Van Buren. The command of the southern annywas transferred in 1837 from 
 General Scott to General Jessup. Osceola had by this time perceived the final hopelessness 
 of his cause. His revenge had been gratified by the destruction of General Thompson. 
 The chief, taking advantage of the laws of war, came under a flag of truce to the Ameri- 
 can camp, but being suspected of treachery' was seized by the authorities and sent a 
 prisoner to Fort Moultrie, where he languished for a year and died. 
 
 The Seminoles, though disheartened by the loss of their chieftain, continued the war. 
 In December of 1838, Colonel Zachan,- Taylor, with a force of over a thousand men, pene- 
 trated the Everglad-is of Florida, and routed the savages from their lairs. After unparalleled 
 sufferings he overtook the main body of the Seminoles on Christmas day, near Lake 
 Okeechobee. Here a hard battle was fought, and the Indians were defeated, but not until 
 they had inflicted a loss on the whites of a hundred and thirty-nine men. For more than 
 a year Taylor continued his expeditions into the swamps. The spirit of the Indians was 
 finally broken, and in 1839 the chiefs sent in their submission. They signed an additional 
 treaty ; but even after this their removal to tlie West was made with much reluctance. 
 
 FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 1837. 
 
 We have already referred to the financial crisis of 1837. There had been a preceding 
 brief interim of great prosperity. The national debt had been entirely liquidated. A 
 surplus of nearly forty million dollars had accumulated in tlic treasury' of the I'nited 
 States. We have already seen how President Jackson, by arbitrary measures, succeeded in 
 distributing the accumulations in tlie Bank of the United States among the several States. 
 By this uieasure monev became suddeulv abundant and speculations of all sorts grew rife. 
 3«
 
 594 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The credit system sprang up and prevailed more and more in all departments of bnsiness. 
 The banks of the country were multiplied to nearly seven hundred, and vast issues of irre- 
 deemable paper money were made, as if to increase the opportunities for fraud. 
 
 These circumstances and the rapid increase of population in the West produced a great 
 demand for homesteads, and the public lands were rapidly taken up. The paper money 
 of the multiplied local banks was receivable at the various land-ofhces, and speculators as 
 well as actual settlers made a rush, with a plentiful supply of bills, to secure the best lands. 
 General Jackson, at that time President, perceiving that an unsound currency received in 
 exchange for the national domain was likely to defraud the government out of millions of 
 dollars, issued his so-called Specie Circular, in which he directed the land agents to receive 
 henceforth nothing but coin in payment for the public lands. 
 
 The effect of this measure fell upon the country at the beginning of Van Buren's 
 administration. The interests of the government had undoubtedly been secured ; but the 
 business of the countr}' was prostrated by the shock. The banks suspended specie pay- 
 ments. Mercantile houses tottered and fell. Disaster spread through every avenue of 
 trade. Within two months after the accession of Van Buren the failures in New York and 
 New Orleans amounted to neai'ly one hundred and fifty million dollars. A committee of 
 the business men of the former city besought the President to rescind the Specie Circular 
 and to call a special session of Congress. The former request was refused and the latter 
 complied with, but not until the disasters of the countn,-, rather than the clamors of an 
 interested committee, had moved the executive to action. 
 
 THE INDEPENDENT TREASURY BILL. 
 
 When Congress convened in September, 1837, many measures of relief were proposed. 
 As a temporary expedient a bill was passed for the issuance of treasury notes, not to exceed 
 an aggregate of ten million dollars. The President's- plan of relief was embodied in the 
 measure which is known in Congressional history as the Independent Treasury Bill. The 
 act provided that the public funds of the nation should be kept on deposit in a treasury to 
 be established for that special purpose. It was argued in support of the scheme that the 
 surplus nionc}' — the excessive circulation of the country — would in the processes of trade 
 and revenue drift into the independent treasure-, and lodge there, and that by this 
 expedient the speculative mania would be effectually checked and prevented. It was 
 believed, not without good grounds in reason and experience, that extensive speculations 
 could not be carried on without a redundant currency. The philosophical basis of the 
 President's plan was the notion of a separation between the business of the government and 
 the general bnsiness of the country. 
 
 The strength of the administration was sufficient to secure the passage of the Inde- 
 pendent Treasury Bill by the Senate, but not sufficient to overcome the opposition to the 
 measure in the House of Representatives. At the ensuing regular session of Congress, 
 however, the bill was a second time brought forward and passed. By this time the shock 
 of the commercial panic had subsided ; public confidence had been restored, and business 
 measurably revived. During the year 1838 most of the banks were able to resume specie 
 payment. Commerce flowed back into its usual channels. The current, however, was 
 sluggish, and for some time a half-paralysis rested on the trade of the country. Many 
 enterprises of public and private moment were checked or defeated. Merchants and traders 
 adopted a timid and conservative policy ; discontent prevailed among the people, and the 
 administration was blamed with everjthing.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 595 
 
 THREATENING COMPLICATION WITH CANADA. 
 
 The reader will not have lorgoUeii llic pulicv Lvstablishcd b_\ Washington of total non- 
 interference with the affairs of foreign nations. The American theor)-, which was strictly 
 adhered to dnring the first half-century of our national existence, was that of no complica- 
 tion or entanglement with any foreign power. The year 1837 was marked by an event 
 which seemed for a season to disturb and render comple.\ the relations between the United 
 States and Canada Even at that early day a part of the people of the Canadian provinces 
 liad become dissatisfied with British rule, and an insurrection broke out having for its 
 ultimate purpose the establishment of independence. 
 
 Along the northern frontier of the United States a certain sympathy was excited for the 
 rebels across the border. The insurgents received some encouragement and aid from the 
 people of northern New York. A body of seven hundred men arose in that State, took up 
 arms, seized and fortified Navy Island, in the Niagara ri\'er. The loyalists of Canada — they 
 who remained in allegiance to the British crown and who constituted the great majority — 
 made an attack on the Americans on the island, but failed to capture the place. They suc- 
 ceeded, however, in gaining possession of the Caroline^ the suppl\-ship of the adventurers, 
 and setting the vessel on fire cut her moorings and sent her over Niagara Falls, a spectacle 
 to men! 
 
 These events created much excitement in both Canada and the United States. It 
 seemed indeed for a season that the peace of our country' and Great Britain was in danger 
 of rupture. The President, however, took the matter up and issued a proclamation of 
 neutrality, in which the action of the American insurgents was disavowed. The people 
 were warned against any further interference with the affairs of Canada. General Wool was 
 sent to the Niagara frontier with a sufficient force to quell the disturbance so far as the 
 Americans were concerned and to punish those who had broken the peace. The New York 
 insurgents on Navy Island were obliged to surrender and order was presenth- restored. 
 
 Perhaps this international pass with Canada was the most exciting event of Van 
 Buren's administration. For the rest the period was regarded as commonplace. In the 
 absence of real questions about which the people might concern themselves tlie politicians 
 were left to create factitious issues to supply the material of popular agitation. With tlie 
 coming of 1 840 the question as to Van Buren's successor was raised; the candidates were 
 soon in the field and the canvass was undertaken in a -spirit of partisan bitterness. The 
 measures of the administration, no less than the condition of the countr\-, had been of a 
 kind to provoke the sharpest political antagonisms. The Whigs were now animated with 
 the hope of capturing the government. Almost a year before the Presidential election they 
 sent General William H. Harrison into the field as their standard-bearer in the contest. On 
 the Democratic side Van Buren was named for reelection. He had at this juncture no 
 fonnidable competitor for the leadership of his party; but the unanimity of the Democrats 
 could not atone for the blunders and unsuccess, not to say the misfortunes, of the current 
 administration. 
 
 It is a strange and lamentable circumstance in the history of our country that in times 
 of peace the animosities wliich prevail in times of war find vent in the excitements and 
 passions of political battle. 
 
 ELECTION OF HARRISON. 
 
 This was true in particular of llic clLcliou of 1840. Tlie Whigs made the attack with 
 great vehemence. Van Buren was blamed with everything. The financial distresses of 
 the country were laid at his door. Extravagance, briber)- and corruption were charged
 
 696 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 against him. Men of business already associated for the most part with the political 
 opinions of the Whigs advertised to pay six dollars a barrel for flour if Harrison should be 
 elected; three dollars a barrel if Van Buren should be successful. The opposition orators 
 tossed about the luckless administration through all the figures and forms of speech and 
 the President himself was shot at with every sort of dart that partisan wit and malice could 
 invent. The enthusiasm in the ranks of the Whigs rose higher and higher and Van Buren 
 was overwhelmingly defeated. The result showed two hundred and thirty-four electoral 
 votes for General Harrison and only sixty for his opponent. After controlling the destinies 
 of the government without a break for thirt>--six }-ears the Democratic party was tempo- 
 rarily routed. For Vice-President John Tyler, of Virginia, was the successful candidate. 
 
 Now was completed the sixth census of the United States. The results were replete 
 with the evidences of national growth and progress. The revenues of the nation for 1 840 
 amounted to nearly twenty millions of dollars. At this time that important statistical 
 information for which the subsequent reports have been noted began to appear in its full 
 value. The centre of population had in the last ten years moved westward along the 
 thirty-ninth parallel of latitude from the south fork of the Potomac to Clarksburg in the 
 present State of West Virginia, a distance of fifty-five miles. The inhabited area of the 
 United States now amounted to eight hundred and seven thousand square miles, being an 
 increase since 1830 of twenty-seven and six-tenths per cent. The frontier line circum- 
 scribing the population passed through Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and the western borders 
 of Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana, a distance of three thousand three hundred miles. 
 The population had reached an aggregate of seventeen million souls, being an increase since 
 1830 of more than six millions. It was found from the tables that eleven-twelfths of the 
 people lived outside of the larger cities and towns, showing a strong preponderance of the 
 agricultural over the manufacturing and commercial interests. One of the most cheering 
 lessons of the census was found in the fact that the wonderful growth of the United States 
 was in extent and area and not in accumulation — in the spread of civilization rather than 
 in an increase in intensity^ for during the last decade the average of the population of the 
 country had not increased by so much as one person to the square mile. 
 
 The common judgment has been that the administration of Van Buren was weak and 
 inglorious. It appears to have been characterized by few important episodes and to have 
 been controlled by principles some of which were bad. But the President and his times 
 tosrether were unfortunate rather than vicious. He was the victim of the evils which fol- 
 lowed hard upon the relaxation of the Jacksonian methods of government. That kind of 
 government could not long be maintained in the United States. The four years of Van 
 Buren's administration were the ebb tide between the belligerent excitements of 1832 and 
 the war with Mexico. The financial panic added opprobrium to the popular estimate of 
 the imbecility of the government. "The administration of Van Buren," said a bitter 
 satirist, " is like a parenthesis; it may be read in a low tone of voice, or altogether omitted 
 without injuring the sense." But the sarcasm was not true — or true only in part. 
 
 The new President was by birth a Virginian. He was a son of Benjamin Harri.son, 
 signer of the Declaration of Independence ; the adopted son of Robert Morris. He was 
 a graduate of Hampden and vSydney College, and afterwards a student of medicine ; but the 
 military life drew him from his study and he entered the army of St. Clair. He rose by 
 rapid promotion to be governor of Indiana Territor>^ His militar>- career in the northwest 
 has been already narrated. He was inaugurated President on the 4th of March, 1841, and 
 began his duties by issuing a call for a special session of Congress, to consider ' ' sundry
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 597 
 
 important matters connected with the finances of the country." An able cabinet was 
 organized, witli Daniel Webster at tlie head as Secretary of State. 
 
 DEATH OF HARRISON AND ACCESSION OF TYLER. 
 
 At the outset everj-thing seemed to promise well for the new Whig administration ; but 
 before Congress could convene the venerable President, already si.vty-eight years of age, 
 sickened and died just one month after his inauguration. It was the first time that such an 
 event had occurred in American history. Profound and universal grief was manifested over 
 the death of the chief magistrate. 
 
 On the 6th of April, 1841, John Tyler took the oath of office and became President of 
 the United States. He was a statesman of considerable distinction, a native of Virginia, a 
 graduate of William and Marw At first a lawyer, he soon left his profession to become a 
 politician. He was chosen a member of Congress and in 1825 was elected governor of 
 Virginia. From that position he was sent to the Senate of the United States and now at 
 the age of fifty-one was called to the Presidency. He had been put upon the ticket with 
 General Harrison through motives of expediency ; for although a Whig in most of his 
 political principles, he was known to be hostile to the Bank of the United States. This 
 hostility was soon to be manifested in a remarkable manner. 
 
 The Whig Congress convened in the highest spirits. One of the first measures pro- 
 posed at the session, which lasted from May to September, was the repeal of the Independ- 
 ent Treasury Bill. A general Bankrupt law was passed by which a great number of 
 insolvent business men were released from the disabilities under which they had fallen 
 in the financial panic. The next measure was the proposition to recharter the Bank of the 
 United States. The old charter had expired five years previously; but the bank had con- 
 tinued in operation under a charter granted b\- the State of Pennsylvania. A bill to 
 rehabilitate the institution in its national character was now brought forward and passed; 
 but the President interposed his veto. A second time the bill was presented in a modified 
 form and received the sanction of both Houses, only to be rejected by the executi\-e. This 
 action produced a fatal rupture between the President and his party. The indignant Whigs, 
 unable to command a two-thirds' majority in Congress, turned upon him with storms of 
 invective. All the members of the Cabinet except Mr. Webster resigned their seats; and 
 that statesman retained his place only because of a pending difficulty with Great Britain. 
 
 A contention had arisen with that country relative to the northeastern boundar>' of the 
 United States. Our territorial limit in that direction had not been clearly defined b>- the 
 treaty of 1783. The commissioners at Ghent in 1814 had contributed little to the solution 
 of the difficulty. That polite and easily satisfied convention had postponed the question 
 rather than settled it. It was agreed, however, to refer the establishment of the entire line 
 between the United States and Canada to the decision of three commissions which were 
 to be appointed by the respective governments. The first of these three bodies awarded to 
 the United States the islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy. The third commission per- 
 fonned its duty by fixing the international line from the intersection of the forty-fifth 
 parallel of latitude with the river St. Lawrence to the western point of Lake Huron. To 
 the second commission was assigned the more difficult task of settling the bound:ir\ from 
 the Atlantic to the St. Lawrence. This work they failed to accomplish. 
 
 THE WEBSTER-ASHBURTON TREATY. 
 
 For nearly a quarter of a century llic buiuulary of the United States on the northeast 
 remained in uncertainty. At times the difficulty a.ssumed a serious aspect. At last the 
 whole question was referred to Lord Ashburton, acting on the part of Great Britain, and
 
 698 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Daniel Webster, the American Secretary of State. The discussion of the question was as 
 able as the matter involved was intricate. Finally, however, a satisfactory solution was 
 reached; and the international boundary was established as follows: From the mouth of the 
 river St. Croix, ascending that stream to its westernmost fountain; from that fountain due 
 north to the St. John's; thence with that river to its source on the watershed between the 
 Atlantic and the St. Lawrence; thence in a south westernly direction along the crest of the 
 highlands to the northwestern source of the river Connecticut; thence down that stream 
 to the forty-fifth parallel of latitude, and thence with that parallel to the St. Lawrence. 
 
 By a second agreement of the commissioners the boundary was established from the 
 western point of Lake Huron through Lake Superior to the northwestern extremity of the 
 Lake of the Woods ; thence — confirming the treaty of October, 1818 — southward to the 
 forty-ninth parallel of latitude, and thence with that parallel to the Rocky Mountains. This 
 important settlement, known as the Webster- Ashburton treatj', was completed on the 9th 
 of August, 1842, and was ratified by the Senate on the 2otli of the same month. 
 
 The following year was marked by a peculiar domestic trouble in Rhode Island. For 
 nearly two centuries the government of that commonwealth had rested upon the old charter 
 granted by Charles II. There had always been in Rhode Island a certain residue of loj'alism 
 unfavorable to republican institutions. The ancient charter contained a clause restricting 
 the right of suffrage to property-holders of a certain grade. The spirit of modern democracy 
 fretted against this restriction, and an attempt was made to remove it from the Constitution 
 of the State. 
 
 On this question the people were almost unanimous, but the manner of effecting the 
 change was violently debated. One faction calling itself the Law and Order party, and 
 proceeding under the old Constitution, chose Samuel W. King as governor. The other 
 faction, known as the Suffrage party, acting in an irregular way, elected Thomas W. Dorr. 
 In May of 1842 both parties proceeded to organize their rival governments. The Law and 
 Order party undertook to suppress the Suffragists and the latter attempted to capture the 
 State arsenal. Defeated in this purpose, they took arms a second time, until they were 
 dispersed by a detachment of soldiers sent to Rhode Island by the general government. 
 Dorr fled from the State, but returning soon afterwards was caught, tried for treason, 
 convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for life. He was offered pardon on condition of 
 taking the oath of allegiance, but he stubbornly refused and was confined until June of 
 1845, when he was liberated without conditions. 
 
 DEDICATION OF BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 
 
 In 1842 was completed the Bunker Hill monument. The event called forth great 
 enthusiasm, not only in Boston, but throughout the country. The foundation of the great 
 shaft had been laid on the 17th of June, 1825, the comer-stone being put into place by the 
 venerable Lafayette. Daniel Webster, then young in years and fame, delivered the oration, 
 while two hundred Revolutionary- veterans — fort\' of them survivors of the battle fought on 
 that hill-crest just fifty years before — gathered with the throng to hear him. The work of 
 erection went on slowly. Seventeen }-ears elapsed before the shaft was finished. The 
 column was of Ouincy granite, thirt\'-one feet square at the base and two hundred and 
 twenty-one feet in height. The dedication was postponed until the next succeeding anni- 
 versary' of the battle. On the 17th of June, 1843, an immense multitude, including most 
 of the survivors of the Revolution, gathered from all parts of the conntP>- to participate in 
 the ceremonies. Webster, now full of years and honors, delivered tlie dedicator}' oration.
 
 C(^T.r.MBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 o9i> 
 
 one of the most able and eloqnent ever pronounced in ancient or modern times. Tlie 
 exercises were concluded with a public dinner in I'aneuil Hall, the cradle of .Vniorican 
 liberty. 
 
 During; the last years of Tyler's administration the State of New York was serionslv 
 disturbed b\- a dispute concerning the land titles in that part of the countr\- once held bv 
 the Dutch patrons. Until the year 1840 the descendants of \'an Rensselaer had held claims 
 on certain lands in the counties of Rensselaer, Columbia and Delaware. In consideration 
 of these claims they had continued to receive from the farmers owning the lands certain 
 trifling reuLs, but the payment of these rents at length became annoying to the farmers and 
 they rebelled against the \'an Rensselaer claims. The question was in the legislature of 
 New York from 1840 to 1844. By the latter date the anti-rent party had become so strong 
 as to prevent the payment of the quit-rents, even by those who were willing to make them. 
 The paving renters were coated with tar and feathers ntid driven from the settlements. 
 
 VIEW OF SALT LAKK CITY. 
 
 Officers were sent to apprehend the rioters and them they killed. Time and again liic 
 authorities of the State were invoked to quell the disturbances, and it was a long time before 
 the excitement subsided. T<j the present da\-, indeed, there never has been any formal 
 adjustment o( the difficulty. 
 
 RISE OF THE MORMONS. ' 
 To this period in our country's history belongs the ri.se of the Monnons. This sect, 
 under the leadership of their prophet, Joseph Smith, made their first imporLant settlements 
 in Jackson count\', Mis.souri. Here their numbers increased to fifteen hmidred. They were a 
 peaceable people, and others flocked to the community. Elated with their success, the Mor- 
 mons began to .sav that the dreat West was destined to be their inheritance. The anti-
 
 600 COLU^IBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Monnon population round about became excited, and determined to rid themselves of 
 their prosperous neighbors. The militia was called out and the ]\Ionnons were driven from 
 the State. In the spring of 1839 they crossed the Mississippi into Illinois, and on a high 
 plateau overlooking the river laid out a new city, to which they gave the name of Nauvoo, 
 meaning The Beautiful. Here they proceeded to build a splendid temple, for the ideas of 
 the communitN- were those of antiquity and the Orient. There was to be a governing 
 priesthood, and the Mormon people, like ancient Israel, were to have their life-centre in the 
 temple. 
 
 The Latter Dav Saints — for by that name the Mormons would be called — rapidly 
 increased. Immigrants and converts came from many parts of the United States and from 
 Europe. The settlement soon reached a population of ten thousand. This extraordinary 
 growth and the peculiar manners and doctrines of the Saints roused the hatred of the peo- 
 ple round about, who in abilities, refinement and culture were b\- no means the equals of 
 the Mormons. There were soon two parties. Some of the laws enacted by Smith's fol- 
 lowers were contrary to the statute of Illinois. The Monnons were charged with certain 
 thefts and murders and it was said that the courts about Nauvoo were powerless to adminis- 
 ter justice in the case of these criminals. 
 
 As the excitement rose, Smith and his brother Hiram were arrested, taken to Carthage 
 and put in jail. On the 27th of June, 1844, a mob gathered, broke open the jail doors 
 and killed the prisoners. Other hostilities followed during the summer. In 1845 the State 
 Legislature annulled the charter of Nauvoo, and the Mormons were left at the mercy of 
 their enemies. At length they despaired of keeping their place in Illinois and a great 
 majority determined to exile themselves beyond the limits of civilization. They made their 
 preparations for an exodus, and in 1846 began their march to the far-off, unknown West. 
 In September Nauvoo was cannonaded for three da}-s and the remnant of the Saints were 
 driven forth to join their companions in exile. The second band came up with the main 
 company at Councils Bluffs, Iowa. Thence the great march was begun across the illimita- 
 ble prairies and the Rock}- Mountains. The Mormons reached the basin of the Great Salt 
 Lake by way of Marshall's Pass and the Gunnison. There they founded Utah Territory, 
 believing themselves, as indeed they were, beyond the pale of their enemies. Such were 
 the beginnings of that complication which after the lapse of nearly half a centun,- has not 
 yielded either to the force of logic or the logic of force. 
 

 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 WAR WITH MEXICO. 
 
 have now arrived at the bci^innings of the most serious 
 complications in which the United States was involved 
 between the treaty of Ghent and the outbreak of the 
 civil war. The flux of Anglo-American civilization 
 westward brought the \-anguard of our American race 
 at length to the borders of Mexico, and with that His- 
 panio- American power we were now to be involved in 
 a brief but severe conflict for the possession of the 
 imperial territories stretching from Missouri to the 
 Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The agitation, upon an account of which we are 
 here to enter, arose respecting the republic of Texas. 
 That great State, if State it might be called, lying 
 between Louisiana and Mexico had been from 182 1 to 1836 a province of the latter repub- 
 lic. It had been the policy of Spain aforetime, while ^Mexico flourished and the United 
 States grew apace to keep Texas unpeopled; for by this policy it was possible to interpose 
 an impassable barrier between the aggressive American race and the Mexican borders. This 
 method of checking the expansion of the United States on the south-west was taken up by 
 Mexico after the achievement of her independence in 1821, and Texas remained as before; 
 an unpeopled empire. 
 
 At length, however, Moses Austin, of Connecticut, obtained a large laud-grant on 
 condition that he should establish a colony of three hundred .Vmerican families within the 
 limits of his Te.xan domain. This grant was confirmed to his son Stephen Austin, with 
 the enlarged privilege of establishing five hundred families of immigrants. These charters 
 were obtained from the government of Mexico, and between the years of 1820 and 1S33 
 the American settlements in Te.xas had become so strong and well established as to furnish 
 the nucleus of the Te.xan rebellion against the government of Mexico. That government 
 had become oppressive, and held in its methods all the vices which have characterized the 
 Spaniards and Spanish- Americans in the attempted establishment of free institution.s. 
 
 REMEMBER THE ALAMO! 
 
 Against such methods the Texans, already enjoying a sort of semi-independence, took 
 up anns in the year 1835 and rallied in a general rebellion. War broke out between the 
 parent State and the revolted province. Hereupon tnany adventurers and some heroes from 
 the United States came hurr\ing to the scene of action and espoused the Te.xan cau.se. 
 The first battle of the war was fought at Gonzales, and here a Mexican army numbering 
 about a thousand was defeated by a Texan force of half the number. On the 6th of March, 
 1836, the old Texan fort of the .\lamo de Rexar, near San .\ntonio, was surrounded by the 
 Mexicans, eight thousand strong, under ctjuimand of Santi .\nna. President of Mexico. 
 The garrison, though feeble in numbers, made a heroic defence, but was overpowered and 
 
 (601)
 
 602 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 massacred under circumstances of great atrocity. Here it was that the daring David 
 Crockett, an ex-Congressman of Tennessee and a famous hunter of beasts and men, was 
 killed. In the following month was fought the decisive battle or San Jacinto, in which 
 the small American armv, commanded by General Sam Houston, annihilated the host of 
 Santa Anna and achieved the freedom of Texas at a blow. The independence of the new 
 State was acknowledged by the United States, by Great Britain and by France, and Mexico 
 was oblio-ed to vield. Texas became an independent republic and a government was 
 organized on the model of that of the United States. 
 
 It soon appeared, however, that the movement for Texan independence had been 
 inspired by the ulterior motive of gaining admission into the American Union. No sooner 
 had the Texans gained their independence than they began to make petition for a place as 
 a State in our republic. The first application of this kind was made during the adminis- 
 tration of Van Buren ; but the Presi- 
 
 dent, fearing a war with ]\Iexico, 
 declined to entertain the proposal. 
 For four or five years the question 
 la}- donnant, but by no means dead. 
 In the last year of Tyler's adminis- 
 tration it sprang up more vital than 
 ever. The population of Texas had 
 b}- this time reached more than two 
 hundred thousand souls. The Terri- 
 torj' had an area of two hundred and 
 thirty-seven square miles, more than 
 five times as great as the State of 
 Pennsylvania! It was like the annex- 
 ation of an empire. 
 
 Immediately the question of 
 MEETING PLACE OF THE FIRST TEXAN coNCREss. anucxiug Tcxas to tlic Amcrican 
 
 Union became political. It was indeed the great question on which the people divided in 
 the Presidential election of 1844. Nor will the thoughtful reader, nearing the close of the 
 centun,-, fail to discern in this old question of annexation the profound problem of slaver>-. 
 Freedom in the free States had found a vent in the northwest, looking even beyond the 
 Rock^• Mountains to the Pacific ; but slavery and the slave States seemed to be hampered 
 the .southwest. Would not Texas open to the "peculiar institution" a field as broad 
 
 on 
 
 Could not the equipoise between 
 
 and promising as that possessed by the Northern States ? 
 the two parts of the Union be thus maintained ? 
 
 In these questions and through them we may discover the bottom reason why the 
 people of the South for the most part fa%-ored the annexation of Texas and wh>- the propo- 
 sition was received so coldly in the North. Again, the project was favored by the Democrats 
 and opposed by the Whigs ; so that here we have the beginning of that sectionalism in 
 party politics which has not yet disappeared from the nation. 
 
 In the presidential contest of 1844 the two parties were nearly equally matched in 
 strength. For this reason, and for the exciting nature of the issues involved, the contest 
 surpassed in vehemence anything which had hitherto been known in American historj-. 
 James K. Polk, of Tennessee, was nominated as the Democratic candidate, while the Whigs 
 chose their favorite leader Henrs- Clay. The former was elected. Though the fame of the
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. COS 
 
 latter and his idolatry by the Whij:^ party were unabated, yet his hope of reaching the 
 Presidency was forever eclipsed. As Vice-President George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, 
 was chosen. 
 
 FIRST USE OF THE TELEGRAPH. 
 
 An incident of another kind belonging to these days is worthy of special note. ( )n 
 the 29th of May, 1844, the news of the nomination of Polk was transmitted from Balti- 
 more to Washington City by the magnetic telegraph. It was the first despatch of sr.ch 
 kind ever sent by man, and the event marks an era in the history of civilization. The 
 inventor of the telegraph which was destined to revolutionize the method of the rapid trans- 
 mission of infonnation and to introduce a new epoch in history, was Professor Samuel F. 
 B. Morse, of Massachusetts. The magnetic principle on which the telegraph depends for 
 its efficiency had been known to scientific men since 1774; but Professor Morse was the 
 first to put the great discover)' into the form of invention. He began his experiments iu 
 1S32, and wTOUght at the problem for five years before he obtained his first patent. He 
 had in the meantime to contend with ever\' species of prejudice and ignorance which the 
 low grade of human intelligence could produce, .\fter the issuance of the patent there was 
 a long delay, and it was not until the last days of the Congressional session in 1843 that 
 the inventor succeeded in obtaining an appropriation of thirty thousand dollars. With 
 that appropriation was constructed between Washington and Baltimore the first telegraphic 
 line in tlie world. Perhaps no other single invention has exercised a wider or more benefi- 
 cent influence on the welfare, progress and happiness of mankind. 
 
 The question of the annexation of Texas would not down. In December of 1844 a 
 fonnal proposition for the addition of that republic to the Union was made in Congress. 
 Debates followed at inter\'als during the winter, and on the ist of March, 1845, the bill of 
 annexation was passed. The President immediately gave his assent, and the Lone Star 
 took its place in the American constellation. On the day before the inauguration of Polk, 
 bills for the admission of Florida and Iowa were signed by Tyler; but the latter State, 
 being the twenty-ninth in number, was not formally admitted until the following year. 
 
 James Knox Polk, sixteenth President of the L^nited States, was a native of North 
 Carolina, boni November 2d, 1795. At the age of eleven he removed with his father to the 
 new State of Tennessee. In 1818 he was graduated from the University of North Carolina. 
 During his early manhood he was the //-(7/^f^ of Andrew Jackson. His first public office 
 was a membership in the legislature of Tennessee. .Afterwards lie was elected to Congress 
 where he ser\-ed as Speaker for fourteen years. In 1839 he was chosen governor of Ten- 
 nessee and from that position was called at the age of fort>'-nine to the Presidential chair. 
 At the head of the new cabinet as Secretan,- of State was placed James Buchanan, of Penn- 
 sylvania. It was an office requiring high abilities, for the threatening question with 
 Mexico came at once to a crisis. 
 
 .\s soon as the resolution for Texan annexation to the United States was adopted by 
 Congress, Almonte, the Mexican Minister at Washington, demanded his passports and 
 indignantly left the country. The Congressional resolution of annexation was formally 
 approved by the legislature of Texas on the 4th of July, 1845; the union was an accom- 
 plished fact. But the Texan authorities knew well that Mexico would go to war rather 
 than accept the extension of the American borders to her frontier line A deputation was 
 accordingly sent with all haste to the President of the United States requesting that an 
 .AiUierican army be at once despatched to Texas for the protection of the State In response 
 to this petition General Zachar>' Taylor was ordered to march from Camp Jessup iu Western 
 Louisiana to occupy Texas.
 
 604 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 QUESTIONS WHICH LED TO THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 
 
 The real question between that State — now a member of the American Union and 
 supported by the general government — on the one side and Mexico on the other was the 
 question of boundaries. Perhaps the bare fact of annexation would have been borne by- 
 Mexico, for she had already assented nearly ten years previously to Texan independence ; 
 but her assent to annexation was conditioned upon her right to dictate the boundary line 
 between her own territories and those of Texas. 
 
 The issue here presented went back to the date of Mexican independence. In 1821 
 Mexico had thrown off the authority of Spain and instituted a government of her own. In 
 doing so she had rearranged her provinces. She had united in one the two provinces of 
 Coahuila and Texas. These were the frontier Mexican States east of the Rio Grande. 
 Over this united province she had established a common government and this government 
 was maintained until it was broken by the Texan rebellion of 1836. Texas being suc- 
 cessful in her revolt against the parent State, naturally claimed that her own independence 
 so achieved carried zvith it the independence of Coahuila and that therefore the territory of 
 the latter province became by the re\'olirtion an integral part of the new Texan republic. 
 These views were held also by the people of Coahuila. The joint legislature of that State 
 and of Texas passed a statute in December of 1836 declaring the integrity of the two 
 States under the common name of Texas. Mexico insisted, however, that Texas only and 
 not Coahuila had revolted against her authority and that the latter State was therefore still 
 rightfulh' a part of the Mexican dominions. 
 
 It thus happened that the new State of Texas, now a member of the American Union, 
 claimed the Rio Grande as her western limit, while Mexico was determined to have the 
 river Nueces for the separating line. The large territory between the two provinces was in 
 dispute. The Government of the United States made a proposal to have the difficulty 
 settled by negotiation, but Mexico scornfully refused. To her the question was clear and 
 needed no arbitration. The refusal was construed by the Americans as a virtual confession 
 that the Mexican government was in the wrong and upon this conviction the claim of the 
 Rio Grande was stoutly maintained by our government. General Taylor was instructed to 
 advance his anny as near to that river as circumstances would warrant and to hold his posi- 
 tion aeainst aeeression. Under these orders the American forces were moved forward to 
 Corpus Christi, at the mouth of the Nueces, where a camp was established and there Taylor 
 gathered an army of four thousand five hundred nien. Such was the situation at the end 
 of 1845. 
 
 With the opening of the next year a critical step was taken. Taylor was ordered for- 
 ward to the Rio Grande. It was known that the Mexican government would not receive 
 an American ambassador. It was also learned that a Mexican anny was gathering in the 
 northern part of the republic for a counter-invasion of Texas, or at least for the occupation 
 of the disputed territory. 
 
 General Taylor obeyed his orders. On the 8th of March, 1846, he advanced from 
 Corpus Christi to Point Isabel on the Gulf of Mexico. There a depot of supplies was 
 established and the march was continued to the Rio Grande. The American army reached 
 that river at a point opposite the town of Matamoras and there erected a fortress named 
 Fort Brown. 
 
 EEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES. 
 
 This invasion of what had once been the province of Coahuila was regarded by Mexico 
 as an act of war. Qn the 26tli of April General Arista arrived at Matamoras and took com-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 COS 
 
 mand of the Mexican forces. On the followinj^ da\- Taylor reached tlic otiicr side of the 
 river. Arista at once notified him tiiat liostilities liad begun. On the same day a company 
 of American dragoons commanded by Captain Thornton was attacked by a body of Mexi- 
 cans who had crossed the Rio Grande into the disputed territory. Here the war began. 
 Sixteen of the American force were killed or wounded and the remainder were obliged to 
 surrender. 
 
 On the right bank of the Rio Grande there was now great activity. A Mexican force 
 cros.sed the river below the American position and threatened Taylor's communications. 
 The American General deemed it expedient to retire to Point Isabel and strengthen his 
 defences. The fort opposite Matamoras, however, was left in charge of Major Brown with 
 a garrison of three hundred men. The Mexicans witnessed the falling back of the Ameri- 
 can anny with great jubilation. The Republican Monitor^ a Mexican newspaper of Mata- 
 moras, published a flaming editorial declaring that the cowardly invaders of Mexico had fled 
 like a gang of poltroons and were using every exertion to get out of the country. General 
 Arista shared this delusion, believing that the Americans had fled away and that his only 
 remaining duty was to cannonade and demolish Fort Brown; this should end the war. 
 
 Taylor, however, had little thought of receding before the foe. Having strengthened 
 his position at Point Isabel, he at once set out with his trains and an army pf two thousand 
 men to return to Fort Brown. The Mexicans to the number of six thousand had now 
 crossed the Rio Grande and taken position at Palo Alto. This place lay directly in Tay- 
 lor's way. At noon on the 8th of May the Americans came up and the first general battle 
 of the war was begun. The engagement was severe, lasting fi\e hours. The Mexicans 
 near sunset were driven from the field with the loss of a hundred men. The American 
 artiller\' inflicted the 
 
 amount of 
 damage. It could but 
 be observed b\- Taylor 
 that the fighting of the 
 Mexicans was clumsy 
 and ineffective. Only 
 four Americans were 
 killedand forty wounded; 
 but among the fonner , ^^^ ^ 
 was the gallant Major V^'"^-' 
 Ringgold, of the artil- 
 lery." 
 
 The fight of Palo 
 Alto was indecisive. 
 The Mexicans fell back 
 and General Taylor 
 prosecuted his march. 
 
 When the American anny was within three miles of P'ort Brown, the Mexicans 
 again encountered. They had rallied in full force and planted tliemselves at a 
 called Resaca de la Palma. Here an old river bed, dr\ and overgrown with cacti, 
 lav across the road along which the Americans were making their way in the direclion 
 of Fort Brown. The Mexican artillery was planted to command the approach. At 
 tlic first the Americans were galled; but a charge was made by Captain May with his 
 
 greater 
 
 CAITIRK OF Till-: Mll.XICAN IIATTIKV IIV CAPTAIN MAY 
 
 were 
 place
 
 606 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 dragoons; the Mexican batteries were captured and General L,a Vega taken at the guns. 
 Hereupon the ]\Iexicans flung away their accoutrements and fled. Nor did they pause until 
 they had put the Rio Grande between themselves and their pursuers. 
 
 After his battle and victorj^ Taylor continued his march to Fort Brown. He found 
 that that place had been constantly bombarded from ]\latamoras during his absence. A 
 brave defence had been made and the garrison had held out, but Major Brown, the com- 
 mandant had fallen. Such were the first passes of the struggle. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE STRUGGLE. 
 
 The news of the things done on the Rio Grande carried wild excitement to all parts of 
 the United States. The war spirit flamed out everywhere. 'Even party dissensions were 
 for a while hushed and Whigs and Democrats alike rushed forward to fill the ranks. The 
 President sent a message to Congress in which he laid the blame of the conflict on the law- 
 less soldiery of Mexico, alleging that they had shed the blood of American soldiers on 
 American soil. Congress promptly responded and on the nth of May, 1846, declared that 
 "war already existed by the act of the Mexican government." Ten millions of dollars 
 were promptly placed at the disposal of the government and the President was authorized 
 to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers. In all the States war meetings were 
 held and in a short time about three hundred thousand men ofiered themselves for the 
 ser\dce. 
 
 Only a small part of this number could be accepted. It remained, indeed, for the regu- 
 lar army of the United States to do most of the fighting in our war with Mexico. Trained 
 officers were sent to the field of operations. General Scott was made commander-in-chief. 
 The American forces were organized in three divisions: the Army of the West, under 
 General Kearney, to cross the Rocky Mountains and conquer the northern Mexican provinces; 
 the Army of the Centre, under General Scott himself, to march from the gulf coast into the 
 lieart of the enemy's country', and the Army of Occupation, commanded b}- General Taylor, 
 to subdue and hold the districts on the Rio Grande. 
 
 The dut}' of mustering in and organizing the volunteer forces was assigned to General 
 Wool. By midsummer of 1846 that officer succeeded in despatching to General Taylor a 
 force of nine thousand men. He then established his headquarters and camp at San 
 Antonio, Texas. From this vantage he sent forward the various divisions of recruits to the 
 field. Meanwhile active operations were resumed on the Rio Grande. Ten days after the 
 battle of Resaca de la Palma General Taylor crossed to the Mexican side and captured 
 Matamoras. He then began to march up the right bank of the river and into the interior. 
 By this time the ^Mexicans having felt the impact of American mettle grew wary of their 
 antagonists. They fell back to the old town of Monterey, which they fortified and held 
 against Taylor's advance. The latter was not able at this time to leave the Rio Grande on 
 account of the smallness of his forces. He was obliged to remain inactive until August 
 before his army was sufficiently augmented to justify further battle with the enemy. 
 
 STORMING OF MONTEREY. 
 
 B\- this time, however, his force was increased to six thousand men, and he at once set 
 out against Monterey. Arriving at that place on the 19th of September, he immediately 
 invested the town. Monterey was occupied by the Mexicans ten thousand strong under 
 General Auipudia. But disparity of numbers had already come to be disregarded by the 
 Americans. They began the siege of ]\Ionterey with great vigor, and on the 21st of Sep- 
 tember made an assault on the rear of the town. The heights on that side were carried bv
 
 CCM.rMHrS AND COLl'.MBIA. 
 
 r.(»7 
 
 ~>r 
 
 the forces under Worth. Here was siuiatcd tlie Hishop's Palace, a stronj^; huildiiii; coin- 
 niaiiding the entrance. Hut on- the next day this place also was carried, and on the next 
 .Monterey was stormed by the divisions of General Quintniau and Butler. The Americans 
 charjjing through the streets gained the Grand Plaza, hoisted the Union flag, and routed the 
 enemy from the buildings in which the)- had taken refuge. The attacking parties were 
 obliged to charge up dark stairwajs, explore unknown passages, traverse the flat roofs of 
 houses and expose themselves to ever\' hazard. But the enemy was driven to an igno- 
 minious surrender. Ampudia was granted the honors of war on condition that he vacate 
 the city, which he did on the morrow. Taylor's victory kindled the enthusiasm and war 
 spirit of the Americans to a higher pitch than ever.* 
 
 News now reached General Taylor that negotiations for peace had been opened at the 
 Mexican capital. Deceived by this intelligence, he agreed to an armistice of eight weeks, 
 during which hostilities should cease, but the matter was a 
 mere ruse on the part of the enemy for gaining time. It was 
 at this juncture that the celebrated General Antonio Lopez de 
 Santa Anna was called home from Havana, where he was 
 living in exile. He was at once made President of tlie 
 republic and commander-in-chief of the Mexican 
 armies. Though the enemy still boasted, it was 
 clear that alann had taken the place of confidence. 
 During the autumn of 
 1 846 an army of twent>' ■•J^^'f "^y^-- 
 thousand Mexicans was 
 raised and sent into 
 the field. As soon as 
 the armistice in the 
 north expired Taylor 
 assumed the ofiensive. 
 General Worth moved 
 southwest from Mon- 
 terey a distance of 
 seventy miles, and cap- 
 tured the town of 
 Saltillo. Victoria, a 
 city of Tamaulipas, 
 
 was taken by the division of General Robert Patterson. To that place General Butler 
 advanced from Monterey on a march against Tampico. That position, however, had 
 in the meantime been taken by Captain Conner of the American navy. General Wool 
 
 • A correspondent of the Louisville Courier wrote a touching incident of this battle. He savs : "In the 
 midst of the conflict a Mexican woman was busily cnijaRed in carrying breacl ami water to the wounded men of 
 both armies. I saw the ministering angel raise the head of a woumleil man. give him water and food, and then 
 bind up the ghastly wound with a handkerchief she took from her own head, .\fler having exhausted her 
 supplies, she went back to her house to gel more bread and water for others. .\s she was returning on her 
 mission of mercy, to comfort other wounded persons, I heard the report of a gui). and the poor innocent creature 
 fell dead. I think it was an accidental shot that struck her. I would not be willing to believe otherwise. It 
 made me sick at heart ; and. turning from the scene, I involuntarily raiscil my eyes toward heaven, and thought. 
 Great God ! is this war ? Passing the spot the next day I saw her body still lying there, with the bread bv her 
 side, and the broken gourd, with a few drops of water in it — emblems of her errand We burieil her ; and while 
 we were digging her grave, cannon-balls flew around us like hail." 
 
 PATHETIC INCnJENT OF THE BATTLE OK MONTEREY.
 
 608 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 set forward in person from San Antonio, Texas, and came within supporting distance of 
 Monterey. General Scott arrived at this juncture and assumed command-in-chief of the 
 American army. 
 
 Meanwhile General Kearne}' at the head of the army of the West had set out for the 
 conquest of New Mexico and California. His march to Santa Fe was wearisome in the last 
 degree, but by the 1 8th of August he reached and captu'red that city. New Mexico was 
 taken b}- a cotip de main. Having garrisoned Santa Fe, Kearney at the head of four hundred 
 dragoons set out for California. After a progress of three hundred miles he was joined by 
 the famous Kit Carson, who brought him intelligence that California had already been 
 wrested from Mexican authority. Hereupon Kearney sent back the larger part of his 
 forces, and with only a hundred troopers made his way to the Pacific. 
 
 CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Stirring events had in the meantime happened on that far coast. For four years Colonel 
 John Charles Fremont had 'been engaged in explorations through and beyond the Rocky 
 Mountains. He had hoisted the American flag on the highest peak of that mighty range, 
 
 FREMONT HOISTING THE STARS AND STRIPES ON THE LOFTIEST PEAK OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 
 
 and then set out for the Great Salt Lake and afterwards for Oregon. From the latter 
 territon,- he turned southward into California, where on his arrival he learned of the 
 impending war with Mexico. Seizing the situation and assuming all responsibility he 
 incited the few American residents in California to revolt against Mexico. First of all the 
 frontiersmen of the Sacramento valley gathered around his standard, and the campaign was 
 organized for the subversion of Mexican authority. Several minor engagements were had
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLl'MBIA. f.OO 
 
 with the Spanish-Mexican posts, bnt the Americans were uniformly successful, and the 
 autliority of Freniont was rapidly extended over the fi^reater part of Upper and Central 
 California. 
 
 While these events were happening in the north Commodore Sloat of the American 
 navy was carr>ini^ forward a similar work in the south.. Arriving:; off the coast of Monterey, 
 about eighty miles south of San Francisco, he captured the place and raised the American 
 flag. At the extreme southern part of the State Commodore Stockton captured San Diego 
 and assumed command of the Pacific squadron. F'remont continued to press his campaign 
 iu the north and centre, and effecting a junction with Sloat and Stockton advanced upon 
 and took the city of Los Angeles. Thus before the close of summer, 1846, California had 
 been revolutionized and placed under the American flag. 
 
 General Kearney with his hundred dragoons reached the Pacific coast in November, and 
 joined his forces with those of Fremont and Stockton. About a month later the 
 Mexicans, having discovere>l the meagreness of the forces before whom they had fled and 
 yielded, returned to the fieid, and the .Xmericans were obliged to confront them in a deci- 
 sive conflict. On the 8th of January, 1847, the battle of San Gabriel was fought, in wliich 
 the Mexicans were completely defeated and the results of the American conquest of the 
 previous year confirmed. Thus by a mere handful of courageous adventurers marching 
 from place to place, with scarcely the form of authority and with their lives in their hands, 
 was the great empire of California wrested from the Mexican government. 
 
 General Kearney on setting out for the Pacific coast had left behind Colonel Doniphan 
 in command of the American forces at Santa Fe. That officer fretted for a season, and 
 then with a body of seven hundred men set out across the country from Santa Fe en route 
 to Saltillo, a distance of more than eight hundred miles. On arriving at the Rio Grande, 
 he encountered the enemy at Bracito on Christmas day, where he routed the Mexicans, and 
 then crossing the river captured El Paso del Norte. Proceeding on his march he found 
 himself after t\vo months within twenty miles of Chihuahua. Here, on the banks of 
 Sacramento creek, on the 28th of November, he met the Mexicans in great numbers, and 
 inflicted upon them another disastrous defeat. He then captured Chihuahua, a city of forty 
 thousand inhabitants! With but small losses Doniphan succeeded in reaching the division 
 of General Wool in safety. 
 
 BOMBARDMENT OF VERA CRUZ. 
 
 On his arrival in Mexico General Scott drew from the north down the Rio Grande a 
 large part of the Army of Occupation. His object was the concentration under himself of 
 a force suflficient for the conquest of the Mexican capital. By the.se movements General 
 Taylor was weakened and left in an exposed condition. The Mexicans learned of the 
 situation, and Santa Anna at the head of an army of twenty thousand men advanced on 
 Taylor, whose entire forces did not number six thousand. Indeed, after garrisoning Saltillo 
 and Monterey the general's effective force numbered only four thou.sand eight hundred 
 men. With this small and resolute army, however, he marched out boldly to meet the 
 ivenvhelming foe and chose his battle-ground at Bucna Vista, four miles south of Saltillo. 
 Here he planted himself and awaited the onset. 
 
 The Mexican advance was from the direction of San Luis Potosi. On the 22d of 
 Februar)' the enemy in great force came pouring through the gorges and over the hills. 
 Santa Anna at once demanded a surrender, but was met with defiance. A general battle 
 began on the morning of .the 23d. At first the enemy made an unsuccessful attempt to out- 
 flank the .\merican position. Taylor's centre was next attacked; but this movement was 
 
 39
 
 610 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 also repulsed. The Mexicans then threw their whole force on the American left, where the 
 Indianians, acting under a mistaken order, gave way, and the anny was for a while in 
 peril. But the troops of Kentucky and Mississippi rallied to the breach, and tlie onset of 
 the enemy was again repelled. The crisis of the battle was reached in the charge made by 
 the Mexicans upon the American artiller\' under command of Captain Bragg; but the 
 eunners stood at their batteries, and the Mexican lancers were scattered with volleys of 
 grape-shot. A successful counter-charge was made by the American cavalrj', in which the 
 losses were severe. Against the tremendous odds the battle was fairly won. On the 
 following night the ^Mexicans, having lost nearly two thousand men, made a precipitate 
 retreat. The Americans also lost heavily, their killed, wounded and missing numbering 
 seven hundred and forty-six. This was, however, the last of General Taylor's battles. He 
 soon after left the field, and returned to the United States, where he was received with 
 great enthusiasm. He was indeed, in the popular estimation, the hero of the war. 
 
 With the opening of spring, 1847, General Scott found himself at the head of an army 
 of twelve thousand men, ready for his campaign against the capital. On the gtli of ]\Iarch 
 he landed to the south of Vera Cruz and succeeded in investing that city. Batteries were 
 planted but eight hundred }-ards from the defences, while on the water side the American 
 fleet began a bombardment of the celebrated castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. This fortress had 
 been erected by Spain in the early part of the seventeenth centurs', at a cost of four million 
 dollars. For four days the place was beaten with shot and shell from the mortars of Com- 
 modore Connor's fleet and from the land-batteries which Scott had planted on the shore. 
 Life and property perished in the common ruin. The Americans were already preparing 
 to earn,' Vera Cruz b\- storm, when the humbled authorities came forth and surrendered. 
 Thus was opened a route for the American advance from the coast to the city of Mexico. 
 
 MARCH OF THE VICTORIOUS ARMV. 
 
 The advance began on the 8th of April, 1847. I'he first division under command of 
 General Twiggs set out on the road to Jalapa. General Scott followed with the main 
 
 arm}-. The advance was unopposed until 
 the 1 2th of the month when the Americans 
 came upon the enemy, fifteen thousand 
 strong, who under command of Santa 
 Anna had planted themselves in a strong 
 position on the heights and rock>- pass 
 of Cerro Gordo. At first view it appeared 
 that the IMexicans could not be driven 
 from their stronghold; but their expulsion 
 was a necessity to further progress. Scott 
 arranged his army in three columns for 
 an assault, which according to the rules 
 and history of war promised only disaster 
 and ruin; but the spirit of the army was 
 high and the General did not hesitate to 
 take the risk. 
 
 The attack was made on the morning of the 18th of April and before noonday ever} 
 position of the Mexicans was carried b}' storm. They were hurled from their fortifications 
 and driven off" in a general rout. Nearh- three thousand prisoners were captured, together 
 
 ESCAPE OF SANTA ANNA AT CERRO GORDO.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. r.li 
 
 with forty-three pieces of bronze artillen.-, five thousand muskets and accoutrements enough 
 to supply an anny. The American loss iu killed and wounded numbered four hundred 
 and thirty-one; that of the Mexicans fully a thousand. Santa Anna barely escaped with 
 his life by cutting loose one of the mules which drew his carriage and mounting its back, 
 but in his haste left behind his private papers, his money chest and his wooden leg! 
 
 The victorious Americans pressed onward tojalapa. On the 22d of April the strong 
 castle Perote, crowning the peak of the Cordilleras was taken without resistance. Here the 
 Americans obtained another park of artillery and a vast amount of ammunition and stores. 
 General Scott next turned to the south and captured the ancient and sacred city of Puebla, 
 a place of eighty thousand inhabitants. It was a striking scene to witness the entrance 
 throu?h the eates of a mere handful of invaders two thousand miles from their homes. 
 
 The 15th of May found the American army quartered in Puebla. Scott's forces 
 had now been reduced by battle and other exigencies of the campaign to about five thou- 
 sand men. He deemed it prudent, therefore, to pause until reinforcements could arrive 
 from \'era Cruz. In the lull of active operations an attempt was made to negotiate with 
 the enemy; but the foolish hardihood of the Mexicans prevented even the promise of suc- 
 cess. Scott's reinforcements arrived, and with his numbers increased to eleven thousand 
 men he set out on the 7th of August on his march to the cit>- of Mexico. 
 
 The route now led over the crest of the Cordilleras. The Americans had anticipated 
 strong resistance and hard fighting in the mountain passes, but the advance was unopposed 
 and the army sweeping over the heights looked down on the Valle}- of Mexico. Never 
 before had a soldier}' in a foreign land beheld a more striking landscape. Clear to the 
 horizon spread the green fields, villages and lakes — a picture too beautiful to be torn with 
 the enginer>- of war. 
 
 The march was now unopposed as far as the town of Ayotla, within fifteen miles of 
 the capital. The progress of the American army thus far had been along the great national 
 road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. The Mexicans after their defeat at Cerro Gordo had 
 gradually receded into the interior and established themselves about the capital. They had 
 fortified the various positions along the national roads for miles out from the city. Per- 
 ceiving the character of these defences, Scott wheeled to the .south around Lake Chalco, 
 and thence westward to San Augustine. By this detour the army was brought within ten 
 miles of the capital. 
 
 STORMING THE HEIGHTS OF CHURUBUSCO AND CHAPULTEPEC. 
 
 From San Augustine the approaches to the city were by long causeways across marshes 
 and the beds of bygone lakes. At the ends of these causeways were massive gates strongly 
 defended. To the left of the line of march lay the almost inaccessible positions of Con- 
 treras, San Antonio and Molino del Rey. To the front and beyond the marshes were the 
 powerful bulwarks of two fortresses called, Churubusco and Chapultepec. These various 
 outposts were occupied by Santa Anna with a force of fully thirty thousand Mexicans. The 
 anny of General Scott was not more than one-third as strong in numbers, but with this 
 small force he pressed on to the attack. 
 
 The first assaults on the Mexican positions were made on the 19th of .\ugust by the 
 divisions of Generals Pillow and Twiggs. The movement was against Coutreras. The 
 Americans pressing on in the darkness, cut the communications between the fortress and 
 Santa .Xnna's army. On the following night another column led by General Persifor P\ 
 Smith moved against Coutreras, and with the early morning carried the place by stonn. 
 Six thousand Mexicans were driven in rout and confusion from the fortifications. The
 
 612 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Americans numbered fewer than four thousand. This was the y^ri-;" victory of the memor- 
 able 2oth of August. 
 
 On the same morning General Worth advanced on San Antonio and compelled the 
 enemy to evacuate the place. This was the second victory. At the same hour General 
 Pillow moved against one of the heights of Churubusco. Here the Mexicans had concen- 
 trated in great force, and here they fought with considerable spirit; but the height was 
 carried by storm and the garrison scattered like chaff. This was the thir-d triumph of the 
 day. The division of General Twiggs stormed and held another height of Churubusco. 
 This was the fourth victory. The fifth and last was achieved by Generals Shields and 
 Pierce. The latter confronted Santa Anna, who was marching out of the city with rein- 
 forcements, attacked him and drove him back with large losses. The whole of the Mexican 
 army was now withdrawn or driven into the fortifications of Chapultepec. 
 
 On the morning of the 
 2ist of August, the Mexican 
 authorities being greatly 
 alarmed sent out a deputation 
 to negotiate with the victors; 
 but the tenns suggested by 
 the Mexicans were preposter- 
 ous, and General Scott, who 
 did not consider his army A-an- 
 quished — as the Mexicans 
 alleged — rejected the proposals 
 with contempt. The weather, 
 however, was exceedingly op- 
 pressive, and the general rested 
 his men until the 7th of 
 September. With the moni- 
 ing of the 8th the advance was 
 begun by General Worth, who 
 moved against Molino del Rey 
 and Casa de Mata, the western 
 „„„,,.,,,,;,.,:, .,/, v^ defences of Chapultepec. 
 
 ' ''''■ These places were deiended 
 
 STORMING OF CHAPULTEPEC. ^^. j^^^^^^^ fourtccu thousaud 
 
 Mexicans. The Americans made the assault with their usual desperation, lost a fourth of 
 their number, but carried both positions. The batteries were taken and turned on Chapul- 
 tepec itself Five days afterwards that frowning citadel was assaulted by the Americans in 
 force, and was carried by storm. By this victory an avenue was opened into the city. 
 Through the San Cosme and Belen gates the conquering army swept resistlessly, and at 
 nightfall the soldiers of the Union found themselves in the suburbs of Mexico. 
 
 A CAMPAIGN OF UNEXAMPLED BRILLIANCY. 
 Santa Anna and the government fled from the city. On their retreat they turned loose 
 from the prisons two thousand convicts, with license to fire upon the American anny. On 
 the following morning before dawn a deputation came forth from the city to beg for mercy. 
 Now were the messengers in earnest ; but General Scott, wearied with trifling, turned them 
 awav in disgust. ''Forward P' was the order. It rang along the American lines at sun-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 013 
 
 rise. Tiie war-worn regiments swept into tlie beanliful streets of the ancient city, and at 
 seven o'clock the flag of the United States was lioisted over the lialls of the Monteznnias. 
 It was the triumphant ending of one of tlie most brilliant and striking campaigns of 
 modem history. 
 
 The American anny as compared with the hosts of Mexico had been but a handful. 
 The small force which left Vera Cruz on the march to the capital lost much b}- battle and 
 disease. Many detachments had to be posted en route to hold the line of communications 
 and for garrison duty in sundry places. After the battles of Churubusco and Chapultepec 
 fewer than six thousand men were left to enter and hold the capital of Mexico. The cam- 
 paign had never been seriously impeded. No foot of ground once taken from the Mexicans 
 was yielded by fal.se tactics or lost b\- battle. The army which accomplished this marvel 
 of invasion through a densely peopled countr}-, held by a proud race claiming to be the 
 descendants of Cortez and the Spanish heroes of the sixteenth century — denounced at every 
 step as a horde of barbarians out of the North — was in large part, at least in the final 
 campaigns, an anny of volunteers which had risen from the States of the Union and 
 marched to Mexico under the Union flag. 
 
 Santa Anna, after leaving his capital, turned about and treacherously attacked the 
 American hospitals at Puebla. There about eighteen hundred American sick had been left 
 in charge of Colonel Childs. For several days a gallant resistance was made by the 
 enfeebled garrison, until General Joseph Lane, on his way to the capital, fell upon the 
 besiegers and drove them away. Such was the closing stroke of the war — a contest in 
 which the Americans had gained ever>- single victory from first to last. 
 
 The Mexican military power was left in a state of complete overthrow. Santa Anna, 
 the President and commander-in-chief, was a fugitive. It was clear that the war was over, 
 and that the American government might dictate its own terms of settlement. The 
 Mexican Republic was completely prostrated, and must needs sue for peace. 
 
 Negotiations were opened in the winter of 1847-48. American ambassadors met the 
 Mexican Congress in session at Guadalupe Hidalgo, and on the 2d of February a treaty was 
 concluded between the two nations. A prompt ratification followed on the part of the two 
 goveniments, and on the 4th of July, 1848, President Polk issued a proclamation of peace. 
 
 Great were the changes effected in the territorial boundaries of America and Me.xico by 
 the treaty of Guadalupe. Most important was the fixing of the dividing line between the 
 two countries, which was established as follows: — the Rio Grande from its mouth to the 
 southern limit of New Mexico ; thence westward along the southern and northward along 
 the western boundary of that territory to the River Gila; thence down that River to its con- 
 fluence with the Colorado; thence westward to the Pacific Ocean. Thus was the whole of 
 New Me.xico and upper California relinquished to the United States. Mexico guaranteed 
 the free navigation of the Gulf of California and of the rivers of the boundar>-. The 
 United States on their part agreed to surrender the places occupied by the American anny 
 in Mexico, to pay that country fifteen million dollars, and to assume all debts due from the 
 Mexican government to American citizens, said debts not to exceed three million five 
 hundred thousand dollars. It was thus, after the lapse of sixty-five years from the treaty 
 of 1783, that the territon,' of the United States was extended in an unbroken belt from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific. 
 
 BOUNOARV LINE BETWEEN BRITISH AMERICA AND THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 So ended the Mexican war, and such were its results. On the north, meanwhile, the 
 boundar\- line between the United States and the dominions of Great Britain had not been
 
 614 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 definitely determined. The sudden extension of our territories to the Pacific furnished a 
 powerful incentive to the settlement of our northern limits, as well as the boundan- on the 
 southwest. The adversary in this case, however, was a party ver}- different from Mexico. 
 The Oregon line had been in dispute since the earh- years of the century\ According to 
 the treaty of 1818 the international boundary between the United States and the British 
 dominions had been carried westward from the northwestern extremity of the Lake of the 
 Woods to the crest of the Rocky Mountains, but from that point to the Pacific the two 
 powers coiild not agree on a dividing line. 
 
 The United States, from 1807 downwards, had continued to claim the parallel of fifty- 
 four degrees and forty minutes, but this boundan,' Great Britain refused to accept. In 
 August of 1827 a conference was held by agents of the two governments, and it was agreed 
 that the vast region west of the Rocky Mountains lying between the forty-ninth parallel 
 and the line of fifty-four degrees forty minutes should remain open indefinitely and impar- 
 tially for the joint occupation of British and American citizens. Thus the difficultv was 
 postponed for sixteen years, but thoughtful statesmen, both British and American, looked 
 with alarm and anxiety to the existence of so serious a dispute. 
 
 In 1843 negotiations were formally reopened. The American Minister to England 
 
 proposed the parallel of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes, but this proposition was 
 
 rejected as before. In the following year the British ambassador at Washington again 
 
 claimed the forty-ninth parallel as the true boundary', but to this the American government 
 
 refused assent. The matter involved came to an issue on the 15th of June, 1846, when the 
 
 _^jftT'^''"— ^ afe m - --^— ^— ^. j ^gijp ^^ -_^ question was definitely settled 
 
 ^f by a treat}'. Every point in 
 
 ■f; ■ , _ ^ the long-standing controversy 
 
 i^ '"-'" ^ was decided in favor of 
 
 Great Britain. In the many 
 diplomatical contentions be- 
 tween that countr,' and our 
 own the United States has 
 always been able to main- 
 tain its position with this 
 single exception of the north- 
 western boundary-. The 
 complete surrender to the 
 British government in this 
 particular was little less than 
 i.-«.Q-^'i\:x ■" > -'^:'*-- ": -^ ' r ' :^— -sfs^^ > '.»B5rt3s^^^^ass^^«::=>- ignominious, and can be ac- 
 SAN FRANCISCO IN 1S49. couutcd for ouly on the 
 
 ground that the government of the United States, as it then was, v/as indifferent to the 
 extension of her domains by the addition of free territory. At any rate the settlement 
 was such as to deprive our country of a vast and valuable region inaccessible to slaver\' 
 and extensive enough for ten Free States as large as Indiana. * 
 
 DISCOVERVOF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. 
 Scarcely had the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo been signed when an event occurred 
 which produced a profound agitation throughout the civilized nations. A laborer employed 
 
 * Such was the indignation of the opponents of this treaty, especially the leaders of the Whig party, that 
 the political battle cry of " Fifty-four Forty, or Fight," became almost as popular a motto as " Free Trade and 
 Sailors' Rights" had been in the war of 1812.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 615 
 
 by Captain Sutter to cut a mill-race on the American Fork of Sacramento River discovered 
 some pieces of gold in the sand where he was digging. With further search other particles 
 were found. The metal was tested and found to be genuine. The news spread as if borne 
 on the wind. From all quarters adventurers came flocking. Explorers went out and 
 returned with information of new discoveries here and there. For a time it seemed that 
 there would be no end, no limit, to the quantity of gold which might be had for picking up. 
 Straggling gold-hmiters sometimes gathered in a few hours the value of five hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 The intelligence went flying through the States to the Atlantic Ocean, and then to the 
 ends of the world. Men thousands of miles away were crazed with excitement and cupidity. 
 Workshops were shut up, business _ — --^ = -^-^- 
 
 houses abandoned, fertile fanns 
 left tenantless, offices deserted. At 
 this time the overland routes to 
 California were scarcely known. 
 Nevertheless thousands of eager 
 adventurers started from the 
 Western States on the long journey 
 across the mountains and plains. 
 Immigrants and miners poured in 
 from all directions. Before the 
 end of 1850 San Francisco had 
 grown from a miserable Spanish 
 village of huts to a city of fifteen 
 thousand inhabitants. By the clo.se 
 of 1852 California had a population 
 of more than a quarter of a million. 
 The importance of the gold mines 
 of California to the industries of 
 the coimtr}' and of the world has 
 never been overestimated, nor is 
 their richness yet exhausted. 
 
 The year 1846 was marked by the passage of a Congressional act for the organization 
 of the Smithsonian Institution at Wa.shington. Twenty-two years previous James Smith- 
 son,* an eminent English chemist and philanthropist, had died at Genoa, bequeathing on 
 certain conditions a large sum of money to the United States. In the fall of 1838 Smith- 
 son's nephew and only heir died without issue, and the properties of his uncle, amounting 
 to five hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, were secured by an agent of the National 
 Government. The funds were at first deposited in the mint. Smithson's will provided 
 that his bequest .should be used for the establishment at Washington city of "an institution 
 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." In order to carry out tlie designs 
 of the testator, a plan of organization was prepared by John Quincy Adams and adopted 
 by Congress. The result has been the establishment in the United States of one of the 
 most beneficent institutions known in the history of mankind. The "Smithsonian Con- 
 
 * Until after his {graduation at Oxford, in 1786, this remarkable man w:is known by the name oi James Louis 
 Made. Afterward, of his own accord, he chose the name of his reputed father, Huj^h Smith, Duke of Northum- 
 berland, but added the syllabic son to indicate his descent. 
 
 :■ ;K^^v:^ <:l^ik^c^ ^-^^-■ 
 
 SUTTER S MILL, \Vm;RK MARSHALL DISCOVERED GOLD IN 
 CALIFORNI.\.
 
 616 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 tributions to Knowledge" already amount to more than thirty volumes quarto, and the 
 future is destined to yield still richer results in widening the boundaries of human thought 
 and increasing the happiness of men. 
 
 The mortuary- record of this epoch includes not a few illustrious names. First of these 
 may be mentioned ex-President Andrew Jackson, who died at his home called the Hermi- 
 tage, near Nashville, on the 8th of June, 1845. The veteran warrior and statesman had 
 reached the age of seventy-eight. On the 23d of February, 1848, ex- President John Quincy 
 Adams died at the city of Washington. After his retirement from the Presidency he had 
 been elected to represent his district in Congress. In that body he had displayed the most 
 remarkable abilities and patriotism. There he acquired the well earned sobriquet of the 
 "Old ]\Ian Eloquent." At the time of his decease he was a member of the House of Rep- 
 resentatives. He was struck with paralysis in the verj- seat from which he had so many 
 times electrified the nation with his fervent and cogent oratory. 
 
 In 1848 Wisconsin, last of the five great States formed from the territor}- northwest of 
 the river Ohio, was admitted into the Union. The new commonwealth came with a popu- 
 lation of two hundred and fifty thousand and an area of nearly fifty-four thousand square 
 miles. In establishing the western boundary- of the State, bj' an error of sur\^eying, the 
 St. Croix River instead of the Mississippi was fixed as the line b}- which Wisconsin lost to 
 Minnesota a considerable district belonging to her territory'. 
 
 It was at this time that the new cabinet office known as the Department of the Interior 
 was added to those already existing. At the foundation of the government three depart- 
 ments only had been organized. To these were added in course of time the offices of Post- 
 master-General and Secretarj- of the Na\'5'. The Attorney General of the United States 
 had meanwhile come to be recognized as a member of the cabinet. The duties of the 
 Department of the Interior were gathered by a division of labor from the Departments of 
 State and the Treasur}-. The new secretan,'ship was first filled by General Thomas Ewing, 
 
 of Ohio. 
 
 BIRTH OF THE FREE SOIL PARTY. 
 
 As Polk's administration drew to a close three parties and three candidates appeared in 
 the field of political conflict. General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was nominated by the 
 Democrats and General Zachar^- Taylor by the Whigs. The accession of vast and unoc- 
 cupied territories by the successful war with Mexico had now developed in considerable 
 vigor the anti-slavery sentiment among the American people. At first this sentiment was 
 expressed in simple opposition to the extension of slaver}' into the hitherto unoccupied 
 national domains. As the representative of this sentiment, ex-President Martin Van Buren 
 was brought forward as the candidate of the new Free Soil party. The circumstances which 
 gave rise to this party, destined to play so important a part in the future history- of the 
 countr}-, may well be recounted. 
 
 The principles upon which the Free Soil party was based were aroused into activity by 
 the treaty of the United States with Mexico and by the general results of the war. It was 
 in 1846 that David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, introduced into Congress a bill to prohibit 
 slavery in all the territories which might be secured by the treaty with Mexico. The author 
 of the measure and many other statesmen and philanthropists had divined the bottom motive 
 which was impelling the American conquest of Mexican territor)-. That motive was the 
 desire for the acquisition of vast regions on the southwest for the spread and development 
 of human slaver}'. By this means — b)' the creation of new States in that quarter of the 
 horizon — the equipoise between slave-holding and anti-slave-holding principles and powers 
 might be maintained in the Senate of the United States.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 017 
 
 Tiie proposition of Wilmot was the key to all that ensued in opposition to the extension 
 of slaven'. The bill was defeated, but the advocates of the measure called the " Wilmot 
 Proviso," fonned themselves into a party, and in June of 1848 nominated Van Buren for 
 the Presidency. The real contest, however, lay between the Whi^ and Democratic candi- 
 dates. The position of the two old parties on the question of slavery had not as yet been, 
 nor indeed could ever be, clearly defined. As a consequence the election was left to turn on 
 the personal popularity of the two candidates and such minor factitious questions as the 
 politicians were able to devise. The memory of General Taylor's recent victories in Mexico 
 and the democratic features of his character prevailed, and he was elected by a large majority. 
 As \'ice- President, Millard Fillmore, of New York, was chosen. 
 
 Zacliar\- Taylor was by birth a Virginian; by breeding a Kentuckian; by profession a 
 soldier; in politics a Whig. He was born on the 24th of September, 1784. His father 
 was Colonel Richard Taylor, an officer of the Revolution. In 1785 the family removed to 
 Kentucky which was at that time the western extension of the Old Dominion. Young Taylor 
 distinguished himself in the war of 181 2. He won honors in the northwest, particularl}- in 
 the defence of Fort Harrison against the Indians. His services were conspicuous in the war 
 with the Seminoles. His renown became great in our conflict with Mexico. In that 
 struggle he outshined General Scott, and his popularity made easy his way to the Presidency. 
 His reputation was military, his fame enviable, his character above reproach. His adminis- 
 tration began with a renewal of the question about .slaven,- in the Territories. California, 
 the Eldorado of the West, was the origin of the dispute wliicli now broke out with increased 
 and increasing violence. 
 
 SLAVERY QUESTION AGAIN AGITATED. 
 
 President Taylor in his first message to Congress expressed his sympathy with the Cali- 
 fomians and advised them to frame a constitution preparatory to admission into the Union. 
 The people of California caught eagerly at the suggestion and a convention of delegates 
 was held at Slonterey in September of 1849, only eighteen months after the treaty of Guada- 
 lupe. A constitution was formed />roA id///;/ ir slavery and was adopted with little opposition 
 by the people. Peter H. Burnett was elected governor. Members of a General Assembly 
 were chosen and on the 20th of December, 1S49, the new government was organized at San 
 Jose. A petition in the usual form was forwarded to Congress asking for the admission ©f 
 California as a State. 
 
 Now were the scenes attendant upon the admission of Missouri reenacted in the Con- 
 gressional halls; but the parts were reversed. As in that great debate, the Representatives 
 and Senators were sectionally divided. The proposition to admit California was supported 
 by Northern Congressmen and opposed by those of the Soutli. Tiie ground of such oppo- 
 sition was that the Missouri Compromise line in its extension to the Pacific crossed Cali- 
 fornia, whereby a part of the proposed State was opened to the institution of slavery — this 
 by an act of Congress which no Territorial Legislature could abrogate. The Southern Rep- 
 resentatives for the most part claimed that California ought to be rejected until the restric- 
 tion on slavery- should be removed. The reply of the Northern Representatives was more 
 moral, but less logical. They said that the arguments of the opponents of the bill for 
 admission could apply to only a />^;V of California; that the Missouri Compromise had respect 
 only to the I^ouisiana purchase and that California could not properly be regarded as a part 
 of that purchase; that the people of the proposed State had in any event framed their con- 
 stitution to suit themselves. Such was the issue. The debates became violent, even to 
 the extent of endangering the stability of the Union.
 
 618 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the iUustrious Henry Clay appeared for the last time as a 
 conspicuous figure in the councils of his countr>-. He came, as he had come before, in the 
 character of a peacemaker. His known predilection for compromise was once more mani- 
 fested in full force. In the spring of 1850, while the questions referred to were under hot 
 discussion in Congress, Clay was appointed chairman of a committee of thirteen to whom 
 all matters under discussion were referred. On the 9th of May, in that year, he reported 
 to Congress the celebrated Omnibus Bill, covering most of the points in dispute. The pro- 
 visions of this celebrated measure were as follows : First^ the admission of California as a 
 free State under the constitution already adopted ; second^ the formation of new States not 
 
 
 exceeding four in number out of the territory of Texas, said States to permit or exclude 
 slavery as the people thereof should determine ; third, the organization of territorial go\-em- 
 ments for New Mexico and Utah without conditions on the question of slaver}- ; fourth, the 
 establishment of the present boundary line between Texas and New Mexico and the pay- 
 ment to Texas for surrendering New Mexico the sum of ten millions of dollars from the 
 national treasury' ; Jifth, the enactment of a more vigorous law for the recover}' of fugitive 
 slaves ; sixth, the abolition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia. 
 
 The report of the Omnibus Bill precipitated a new debate in Congress which seemed 
 likely to be interminable. In the midst of the discussion President Taylor fell sick and 
 died on the 9th day of July, 1850. Vice-President Fillmore at once took the oath of office 
 and formed a new cabinet, with Daniel Webster as Secretary of State.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 THE SIXTH DECADE. 
 
 'ITH the beginninjj of Fillmore's administration we 
 enter upon a peculiar period in American histor}-. 
 It was the epoch during which public opinion was 
 gradually transformed from the support of the insti- 
 tution of slavery and the condition of society in 
 which slavery' had its ground and root to another 
 and more progressive and enlightened phase of pro- 
 gress and national moralitj-. The period in question 
 corresponded in time with the sixth decade of our 
 centur}-. It covered the administrations of Fillmore, 
 Pierce and Buchanan. Its opening was marked by 
 the passage of the Omnibus Bill. The discussion of 
 this great and complex measure continued to the 
 ., - ^. ' 1 8th of September, when the last clause was 
 
 adopted and the whole received the sanction of the President. 
 
 This bill was sustained and carried through Congress by the eloquence and persistency 
 of Henr}- Clay. After the adoption of the bill the excitement of the countr>- rapidly 
 abated and it seemed for the day that the distracting controversy was at an end. The 
 peaceful condition, however, was only superficial. The deep-seated cause of the evil 
 remained as before. The institution of slavery still existed and was destined in spite of 
 all compromise still to disturb the hannony of American society until it should be cut from 
 the body of our national life with the keen edge of the sword. For the present, however, 
 there was quiet. The compromise acts of 1 850 were in the nature of an anodyne. They 
 were administered with good intent and were the last, perhaps the greatest of those tempo- 
 rar)-, pacific measures which originated in the patriotism and hopeful spirit of Henr>- Clay. 
 Shortly afterwards he bade adieu to the Senate and sought at his beloved Ashland a brief 
 rest from the arduous cares of public life. 
 
 The Omnibus Bill proved to be a strictly political settlement. By it the moral convic- 
 tions of few men were altered or amended. Public opinion took its own course as it 
 always does despite the pimy efforts of the men who sometimes vainly imagine that they 
 make human liiston.-. In the North there appeared a general indefinite and growing hos- 
 tility to slavery-; in the south, a fixed and resolute ptirpose to defend and extend that 
 institution. > 
 
 To the -Whig President whose party was in the ascendant in most of the Free States, 
 the measure was fatal. Although the members of his cabinet advised him to sign the 
 bill, the Whigs were at heart strongly opposed to more than one of its provisions. The 
 Fugitive Slave Law grated harshly on the awakening conscience of many of the best men 
 of the epoch. When the President signed the bill they turned coldly from him. Tliough 
 his administration in other respects was one of the ablest, most enlightened and progressive 
 
 (619)
 
 620 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 known in our historj-, his dalliance with the institution of slavery, however necessan,- such 
 a course might have appeared to be, was not forgiven. Two years afterwards in the Whig 
 national convention of 1852, although the policy of the President, with the usual political 
 hypocrisy was indorsed and approved by a vote of two hundred and twenty-seven against 
 sixty, not twentv votes could be obtained in all the Northern States for the renomination 
 of Fillmore! Thus do political parties punish their leaders for hesitating to espouse a 
 principle which the parties themselves are afraid to avow! 
 
 FILIBUSTERS IN CUBA. 
 
 To this period belongs the story of the attempt made by a few lawless American 
 adventurers to gain possession of the island of Cuba. Rumors of Cuban discontent had 
 reached the United States, and it was believed by the insiirrectionists that the Cubans were 
 readv to throw oiT the Spanish yoke and to appeal to the United States for annexation. In 
 order to further a rebellion against Spain, General Narciso Lopez, a Spanish- American 
 soldier, fitted out an expedition in the Southern States and on the 19th of May, 1850, 
 landed with a considerable body of followers at Cardenas, a port in Cuba. 
 
 No uprising followed the adventure. Neither the Cubans nor the Spanish soldiers in 
 the island joined Lopez's standard and he was obliged to return to Florida. Not satisfied 
 with this experience, he renewed the attempt in the following year and invaded Cuba with 
 four hundred and eighty men. The force, however, was attacked, defeated, captured and 
 the ringleaders were taken to Havana, tried, condemned and executed. 
 
 President Fillmore in his first annual message recommended to the consideration of 
 Congress many important measures. Among these were the following: A cheap and 
 uniform postage; the establishment, in connection with the Department of the Interior, of 
 a Bureau of Agriculture; liberal appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors; 
 the building of a national asylum for disabled and destitute seamen; a permanent tarifi", 
 with specific duties on imports, and discrimination in favor of American manufactures ; the 
 opening of communication between the Mississippi and the Pacific coast; a settlement of 
 the land-difficulties in California; an act for the retirement of supernumerar}- officers of the 
 army and navv; and a board of commissioners to adjust the claims of private citizens 
 against the government of the United States. Perhaps no other series of recommendations 
 so statesmanlike and unpartisan has ever been made to the Congress of the United States. 
 Onlv (zc'o of the recommendations, however — the asylum for sailors and the settlement of 
 the land-claims in California — were carried into effect. The Whigs of the President's party 
 were in a minority in Congress, and the majority refused or neglected to approve these 
 measures. 
 
 A difficult}' now arose with Great Britain relative to the coast-fisheries of Newfoundland. 
 These belonged exclusively to England; but outside of a line drawn at the distance of a 
 marine league from the shore American fishermen had certain rights and privileges. In 
 course of time a contention sprang up between the fishermen of the two nationalities about 
 the location of the line. Should the same be drawn from headland to headland, thus 
 including bays and inlets ? Or should the line be made to conform to the irregularities of 
 the coast? The latter construction was favorable to American interests; the fonner, to 
 those of Great Britain. The quarrel grew so hot that both nations sent men-of-war into the 
 disputed waters. The difficulty extended from 1852 to 1854, and it frequently seemed that 
 hostilities were imminent. Reason, however, triumphed over passion, and the difficulty 
 was settled by negotiation in a manner favorable to the interests of the United States.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. tiiil 
 
 THE HUNGARIAN PATRIOT, AND NORTH PCtt EXPEDITIONS. 
 
 In the summer of i^>52, L<->ui.s Ko.ssulli, tlie celebrated Huiij^ariaii patriot, made a tour 
 of the United States, and was received with eutliusiastic admiration. He came as the 
 representative of the lost cause of Hungary in her stniggle against Austria and Russia. He 
 sought such aid as might be privately given to him by those favorable to Hungarian liberty. 
 His mission in this respect was highly successful; the long-established policy of the United 
 States forbade the government to interfere in behalf of Hungary, but the people in their 
 private capacity gave to the cause of freedom in that land abundant contributions. 
 
 To the same period in our history belong the first efforts of explorers to penetrate the 
 regions about the North Pole. Systematic efforts were now made to enter and explore the 
 Arctic ocean. As early as 1845 Sir John Franklin, one of the bravest of English seamen, 
 sailed on a voyage of discovery to the extreme north. He believed in the possibility of an 
 open polar sea and of a passage through the same into the Pacific. Franklin made his way 
 to a great distance in the direction of his delusive hopes, but the extent of his success was 
 never ascertained. Years passed, and no tidings came from the daring sailor. It was only 
 known that he had passed the country- of the Esquimau.x. 
 
 Following in the wake of the Franklin expedition, others went, first of all in search of 
 Franklin himself, and after that to explore the Arctic regions. Hent}- Grinnell, a wealthy 
 merchant of New York, fitted out several vessels at his own expense, put them under com- 
 mand of Lieutenant De Haven, and sent them to the north; but in vain. The govern- 
 ment came to the rescue. In 1853 an Arctic squadron was equipped, and the command 
 given to Dr. Elisha Kent Kane; but this expedition also, though fruitful in scientific 
 results, returned without discovering Franklin. 
 
 The necrology of this epoch included, first of all, the great name of John C. Calhoun, 
 of South Carolina. The distinguished Senator passed away on the 31st of March, 1850. 
 His death was much lamented, especially in his own State, to whose interests and rights, as 
 he understood them, he had devoted the energies of his life. His earnestness and zeal and 
 powers of debate placed him in the front rank of American orators. As a statesman, how- 
 ever, he was wedded to the destnictive theory of State rights. The advocacy of this 
 doctrine against the supremacy of Congress and the nation has placed him on a lower level 
 than that of his great contemporaries Webster and Clay. At the age of sixty-eight he fell 
 from his place like a scarred oak of the forest, never to rise again. Then followed the 
 death of President Taylor, already mentioned. On the 28tli of June, 1852, Henrj- Clay, 
 having fought his last battle, sank to rest. On the 24th of the following October the illus- 
 trious Daniel Webster died at his home at Marshfield, Massachusetts. The place of Secre- 
 tar\" of State made vacant by his death was conferred on the scholarly Edward Everett. 
 
 The ridiculous attempt of Ivopez to start a revolution in Cuba, though the movement 
 was totally disavowed by the United States and the officer at New Orleans dismissed who 
 had pennitted the expedition to escape from that port, created much excitement in Europe. 
 The governments of Great Britain and France blustered, affecting to believe that the covert 
 aim and purpose of the United States was to acquire Cuba by conquest — that our govern- 
 ment was really behind the absurd fiasco of Lopez. .Acting upon this theory the British 
 and French Ministers at Washington proposed to the government to enter into a Tripartite 
 Treaty^ so-called, in which each of the contracting nations was to disclaim forever all inten- 
 tion of gaining possession of Cuba. 
 
 EVERETT'S REPLY TO ENGLAND. 
 
 To this proposal Mr. Everett replied in one of the ablest papers ever issued from the 
 American Department of State.- He informed Great Britain and France that the annexation
 
 622 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 of Cuba was foreign to the policy of his government; that the project was regarded by the 
 United States as a measure both hazardous and impolitic; that entire good faith would be 
 kept with Spain and with all nations; but that the Federal government did not recognize in 
 any European power the right to interfere in affairs purely American, and that any such 
 interference with the principle and doctrine set forth by President Monroe would be 
 reo-arded as an affront to the sovereignty of the United States. Such were the last matters 
 of importance connected with the administration of President Fillmore. It is proper to say 
 that had his policies and measures been cordially approved and seconded by the political 
 leaders who controlled Congress the administration would have passed into historj' as the 
 most salutary since the beginning of the century. 
 
 It had now come to pass, however, that political parties existed for themselves, for 
 their own perpetuation in power and for the purpose of using the government of the United 
 States for the ulterior purposes of partisan advantage. The time arrived for another presi- 
 dential election, and Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, was put forward as the candidate 
 of the Democratic party. General Winfield Scott was selected as the standard-bearer of the 
 Whio-s. The political aspect was wholly ridiculous. The only issue which could be found 
 or invented seemed to be that involved in upholding the Compromise Acts of 1850. . Both 
 parties, strangely enough, instead of dividing on that issue, were for once agreed as to the 
 wisdom and justice of the measure. Both the Whig and Democratic platforms stoutly 
 reaffirmed the principles of the Omnibus Bill, by which the dissensions of the country had 
 for the time been quieted. 
 
 The philosophic eye may discover in this political unanimity of 1852 the exact con- 
 ditions of a universal revolt against the principles so stoutly affirmed. Certain it is that 
 when the two political parties in any modern nation agree to maintain a given theory and 
 fact that theory and fact are destined to speedy overthrow. The greater the unanimity 
 the more certain the revolution. It was so in the present instance. Although the Whigs 
 and Democrats agreed as to the righteousness of the Omnibus Bill, a third party arose, 
 whose members, whether Whigs or Democrats, doubted and denied the wisdom of the com- 
 promise of 1850, and declared that all the Territories of the United States ought to be free. 
 John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, was put forward as the candidate of this Free Soil party, 
 and the largeness of his vote showed unmistakably the approach of the coming storm. 
 Pierce, however, was elected by a handsome majority, with William R. King, of Alabama, 
 for Vice-President. 
 
 The new chief executive was a native of New Hampshire, a graduate of Bowdoin Col- 
 lege, a lawyer by profession, a politician, a general of the Mexican war, a statesman of 
 considerable ability. Mr. King, the Vice-President, had for a long time represented 
 Alabama in the Senate of the United States, but his health was broken and he was sojourn- 
 ing in Cuba at the time of the inai:guration. There he received the oath of office and 
 hopes were entertained of his recovery^; but he grew more feeble and presently returned to 
 his own State where he expired on the i8th of April, 1853. At the head of the new cabi- 
 net was placed William L. Marcy, of New York, as Secretars- of State. 
 
 PACIFIC RAILWAY PROJECT, AND OPENING THE PORTS OF JAPAN. 
 
 Now it was that the question of the Pacific Railway was first agitated. As early as thfc 
 summer of 1853 a corps of engineers was sent out by the government to explore a suitable 
 route. At first the enterprise was regarded as visionarj', but the intelligent minority clearly 
 discerned the feasibility and future success of the enterprise. It was at this time that the
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. (523 
 
 disputed boundary between New Mexico and the Mexican province of Chihuahua was satis- 
 factorily settled. The maps on which tlie former treaties with Mexico had been based were 
 found to be erroneous. Santa Anna, wlio had again become President of the Mexican Repub- 
 lic, attempted to take advantage of the error and sent an anny to occupy the territory between 
 the true and the false boundary. This action was resisted by New Mexico and the national 
 authorities and for a time a second war with the Mexican Republic seemed imminent The 
 difficulty, however, was adjusted by the purchase of the doubtful claim of New Mexico. 
 This transaction, known as the Gadsden Purchase, led to the organization of the new Terri- 
 tory- of Arizona. 
 
 The year 1853 was memorable for the opening of intercourse between the United States 
 and the Empire of Japan. Hitherto the Oriental policy had prevailed with the Japanese 
 government and the ports of the countr}- had been closed against the vessels of Christian 
 nations. In order to remove this foolish and injurious restriction Commodore Perr\-, the 
 son of Oliver H. Perr)-, of the war of 181 2, sailed with his squadron into the Bay of Yeddo. 
 Being warned to depart he explained to the Japanese officers the desire of the United States 
 to enter into a commercial treaty with the Emperor. There was much delay and hesitancy 
 on the part of the Japanese government, but consent was at length obtained and Commodore 
 Perry- was admitted to an inter\-iew with the Emperor. On the 14th of July, 1S53, the 
 American officer presented to the monarch a letter from the President of the United States. 
 For a while the old distrust prevailed; btit in the spring of 1854 a treat)' was effected bv the 
 terms of which the privileges of commerce were conceded to American vessels and two ports 
 of entr\- were designated for their use. 
 
 While these events were happening in the Orient the second World's Fair was opened 
 in the Crystal Palace at New York City. The sixth decade marked the beginning of the 
 era of international expositions. The American Crystal Palace was a mar\'el in architec- 
 ture, being built- exclusively of iron and glass. Thousands of specimens of the arts and 
 manufactures of all civilized nations were put on exhibition within the spacious building. 
 The enterprise and inventive genius of the American people were quickened into new life 
 by the display, and an impetus was given to artistic and manufacturing industries. It 
 cannot be doubted that international expositions are among the happiest fruits of an enlight- 
 ened age. 
 
 WALKER'S EXPEDITION TO NICARAGUA. 
 
 The spirit of filibu-stering now reappeared in General William Walker and his invasion 
 of Central America. This audacious adventurer undertook his enterprise in 1853. 
 He made California his base of operations, and first conducted a band of lawless men 
 against La Paz, in old California. In the following year he led an expedition into the 
 State of Sonora, where he was defeated and taken prisoner. He was subjected to a 
 trial at San Francisco, but was acquitted. Soon afterwards he raised another company 
 and proceeded to Central America. There he was joined by a regiment of insurgents, with 
 whose aid he fought and gained a battle at Rivas, on the 29th of June, 1S55. In another 
 conflict at \'irgin Bay he was again victorious. He rose to influence, gained the upper 
 hand and was presently elected President of Nicaragua. 
 
 Then came a change in his fortunes. A coiniter rebellion broke out, and the enemies 
 of Walker were encouraged and a.'^sisted by the Vanderbilt Steamship Company of the 
 United States. He was soon overthrown, and on May ist, 1857, was again made prisoner. 
 Securing his release he returned to New Orleans and organized a third force, made up of 
 men who had ever>thing to gain and nothing to lose. Returning to Nicaragua, fortune
 
 624 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 went against him, and he was obliged to surrender to Commodore Paulding of the United 
 States navy. Taken to New York, he managed to regain his liberty, gathered another 
 company about him, and in June of i860 reached Central America for the third time. 
 With his army he made a descent on Truxilo, Honduras ; but the President of the State, 
 assisted by a British man-of-war, overi^owered and captured nearly the whole band. On 
 the 3d of September Walker was brought to trial and condemned to be shot. The courage 
 'with which he met his fate has half redeemed his forfeited fame, and left aftertimes in 
 doubt whether he shall be called fanatic or hero. * 
 
 At this period occurred the celebrated international episode known as the Martin Koszta 
 affair. Martin Koszta had been a leader in the Hungarian rebellion of 1849. When that 
 insurrection was suppressed he fled to Turkey, whence he was demanded as a traitor by the 
 Austrian government. Turkey refused to render up the fugitive, but agreed that he might 
 go for refuge to some foreign land never to return. Koszta chose the United States, came 
 hither and took out his papers of intention, but not papers of completed naturalization. In 
 1 854, contrary to his former promise, he returned to Smyrna, where he received a passport 
 from the American consul and went ashore. 
 
 The Austrian consul at Smyrna, having no power to arrest Koszta on shore, instigated 
 
 some bandits to seize him and throw him into the waters of the bay ; there a boat which 
 
 lay in wait picked him up and put him on board an Austrian frigate. The American 
 
 officials immediately demanded the release of Koszta, and the captain of the sloop St. Loins 
 
 loaded his guns, pointed them at the Austrian vessel, and was about to make qviick work, 
 
 when it was agreed by all parties that the prisoner should be put in charge of the French 
 
 government until his nationality should be authoritatively decided . Then began a long and 
 
 complicated international correspondence, in which the American Secretary' of State, 
 
 William L. Marcy, prevailed in argument, and Koszta was remanded to the United States. 
 
 Of so much importance is the life of one man when it involves the great question of human 
 
 rights. 
 
 QUESTION OF ANNEXING CUBA. 
 
 After the descent of Lopez upon Cuba the relations of the United States and Spain 
 were strained for a season. President Pierce entertained the belief that on account of the 
 financial embarrassments of the Spanish government Cuba might now be peaceably pur- 
 chased and annexed to the United States. The purpose of gaining Cuba had been covertly 
 entertained by several Democratic Presidents — this, with the ulterior design of extending 
 the slave territory of the United States. The desire to purchase Cuba was one of those 
 devices by which it was hoped to keep up the equipoise of the South and of the system of 
 slave labor on the one side, as against the growing North and the system of free labor on 
 the other. 
 
 The pending question was submitted to a commission having for its chairman James 
 Buchanan, of Pennsylvania. A convention of ambassadors from the various governments 
 interested was held at Ostend and an important instrument was there drawn up, chiefl)' by 
 Mr. Buchanan, known as the Ostend manifesto. The document was devoted for the most 
 part to a statement of the arguments in favor of the annexation of Cuba to the United 
 States by purchase. Nothing, however, of practical importance resulted from the confer- 
 ence or the manifesto. The logic of events was against the purchase and the question was 
 allowed to lapse. 
 
 * The poet Joaquin Miller, claiming to have been a member of Walker's band in the first invasion of Central 
 America, has affectionately embalmed the memory of his brave leader in a poem, " With Walker in Nicaragua," 
 which might well conciliate the good opinion of posterity.
 
 COLUMIU'S AND COLI'MBIA. 025 
 
 iNow had come, under the forward movement of civilization, the time and necessity for 
 the territorial organization of the great domains lying west of Minnesota, Iowa and Mis- 
 souri. Already into those vast regions the tides of emigration were pouring and a govern- 
 ment of some kind was necessary for the protection of the ever-increasing frontier com- 
 munities. One must needs see in the retrospect the inevitable renewal under these condi- 
 tions of the slavery question as the most important issue which was likely to affect the crea- 
 tion of new Territories and new States. 
 
 It was in January of 1854 that the real agitation began. In that year Senator Stephen 
 A. Douglas, of Illinois, introduced into the Senate of the United States a proposition to 
 organize the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. In the bill reported for this purpose the 
 author inserted a clause providing that the people of the two Territories in forming their 
 constitutions should decide for themselves whether the new States should be free or slave- 
 holding. Should this clause obtain, it would constitute a virtual repeal of the ^Missouri 
 Compromise, for both of the new Territories lay north of the parallel of thirty-si.\ degrees 
 and thirty minutes, above which line it had been provided in the Missouri compact that 
 slavery or invohnitan.- ser\itude should not exist. 
 
 The ulterior motive of Senator Douglas in thus opening anew a question which had 
 been settled with so great difficulty thirty-three years before cannot well be ascertained. 
 The friends of that statesman have claimed that his action was based on the theory that all 
 the Territories of the Union should, as an abstract and general proposition, be left entirely 
 free to decide their domestic institutions for themselves. The opponents of Douglas held 
 that his object was covertly to open in this manner the vast domain of Kansas and 
 Nebraska to the institution of slavery, and by this policy he hoped to .secure the everlast- 
 ing gratitude of the South. To that section it was alleged that he looked in his aspirations 
 for the Presidency. However this may be, the result of his measure in the Senate was inevi- 
 table. The old settlement of the slaver\- question was suddenly undone. 
 
 EFFORTS TO EXTEND SLAVERY LEAD TO BORDER WARFARE. 
 
 With the introduction of the so-called Kansas-Nebraska Bill violent debates began in 
 Congress and continued from January to May of 1854. All the bitter sectional antagonisms 
 of the past were aroused in full force. It was as though a literal Pandora's Box had been 
 opened in the halls of government. The bill was violenth' opposed by a majority of the 
 Northern and Eastern representatives; but the minority from the North and East, combin- 
 ing with the Congressmen of the South, enabled Douglas to carry his measure through 
 Congress, and in May the bill was pa.ssed and received the sanction of the President. 
 
 With this act the struggle which had been waged in Congress had been transferred to 
 Kansas. Should the new State admit slavery or exclude it? The decision of the question 
 now lay with the people or so-called squatters of the Territory. Douglas's theor\- was 
 named Squatter Sovereignty, and the opposite view National Sovereignty. Free-State 
 men and Slave-State men both made a rush for the Territor>-. Both parties were backed 
 by strong factions throughout the Union. Kansas was soon filled with an agitated mass 
 of people thousands of whom had been sent thither to vote. The Free-State parti.sans 
 gained the advantage in immigration; but this was counterbalanced by the proximit>- of 
 the great slave State of Mis.souri. With only a modest river between her western borders 
 and the plains of Kansas she might easily discharge into the Territory a large part of 
 her floating population, to be remanded whenever the purpose for which it was sent across 
 the boundary had been subser\"ed. 
 40
 
 626 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Territorial election of November, 1854, resulted in the choice of a pro-slavery 
 delegate to Congress. In the general election of the following year, the same party was 
 triumphant. A pro-slavery State legislature chosen at this time assembled at the town of 
 L,ecompton, organized a government and framed a constitution permitting slavery. The 
 Free-Soil party, however, declared the general election invalid on account of the large 
 imported vote from Missouri and other frauds. A Free-State convention was held at Topeka, 
 and a constitution adopted excluding slavery. The rival governments were organized, and 
 civil war broke out between the two factions. 
 
 For about a year (1855-56) the Territory was the scene of turmoil and violence. In 
 September, 1855, the President appointed John W. Geary, of Pennsylvania, military gov- 
 ernor of Kansas, with full powers to restore order and punish lawlessness. On his arrival, 
 warlike demonstrations ceased, and the hostile parties were dispersed. By this time, how- 
 ever, the agitation having its centre in the afflicted Territory spread to all parts of the 
 Union. Out of this complex and stonny condition of affairs the political issues were 
 evolved for the presidential election of 1856. 
 
 BITTER CAMPAIGN OF 1856. 
 
 James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, appeared as the candidate of the Democratic party. 
 As for the Whig party, that was in a state of dissolution. The greater part had espoused 
 the cause of Free Kansas. Clearly and distinctly these partisans put forward their doctrine 
 of unequivocal opposition to slaver)' in the Territories of the United States. They nomi- 
 nated as the candidate of the new People's, or Republican party, John Charles Fremont, of 
 California, known popularly as the " Pathfinder of the Rockies." Meanwhile a considerable 
 part of the Whigs and many Democrats, anxious to avoid or ignore the question of slavery 
 fonned themselves into a secret organization which became a political party under the name 
 of the Know-Nothings. * The Democratic doctrine was the support of the principles of the 
 Kansas-Nebraska Bill, or what was known as Squatter or Popular Sovereignty. The 
 Republicans boldly announced opposition to slavery in the Territories as their fundamental 
 doctrine. The Know-Nothing party set up its banner inscribed with opposition to foreign 
 influence in the United States. The latter movement at one time became formidable, and 
 several of the Northern States were cleaily carried by the Know-Nothings in the elections of 
 1854-55. As the candidate of this party, Millard Fillmore, of New York,- was nominated 
 for the Presidency. The election followed, and a large majority decided in favor of 
 Buchanan and the Democratic party. The choice for Vice- Presidency fell on John C. 
 Breckinridge, of Kentucky. Fremont, however, obtained a surprisingly large vote in the 
 Northern States, and but for the strong diversion made by the Know-Nothings his election 
 had been probable. 
 
 James Buchanan was a native of Pennsylvania, born on the 13th of April, 1791. He 
 was the last of American Presidents whose birth dated back to the eighteenth century. He 
 was educated for the law. In his fortieth year he had risen to sucli reputation as to be 
 appointed by President Jackson minister to St. Petersburg. Afterwards he was a Senator 
 of the United States, and from that position was made Secretary of State iinder Polk. In 
 1853 he was appointed minister to Great Britain, and held that position at the time of his 
 nomination to the Presidency. On his accession to office he gave the position of Secretary 
 of State to General Lewis Cass, of Michigan. 
 
 * Tbe origin of this apparently absurd name is found in a part of the pledge which the members took on 
 initiation. The}- promised to knozv nothing but the Union, and to knozv noikiiig but " .\merica for Americans."
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 627 
 
 THE DRED SCOTT DECISION. 
 
 Jt was in March of 1S57, iiuniediately after the begiimiug of the new administration, 
 that the celebrated Dred Scott Decision was rendered by the Snprenie Court of the United 
 States. Dred Scott was a negro who had been held as a slave by a certain Dr. Emerson, 
 of Missouri. "In course of time Emersou removed first to Rock Island, Illinois, and after- 
 wards to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, taking Scott with him as a slave. At the latter place 
 Scott and a negro woman who had been bought by Emerson were married. Two children 
 were born of the marriage and tlieu the whole family were taken back to St. Louis and sold 
 as slaves. Dred Scott hereupon brought suit for his freedom. 
 
 The cause was tried successively in the Circuit and Supreme Courts of ]\Iissouri, and 
 in May of 1854 was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. There the matter 
 lay for about three years. After the Democratic triumph of 1856, however, and the acces- 
 sion of Buchanan a decision was at once rendered. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, speak- 
 ing for the court, decided that negroes, whether free or slave, were nol citizens of the United 
 States and that they could not become such by any process known to the Constitution; that 
 under the laws of the United States a negro could neither sue nor be sued and that therefore 
 the court had no jurisdiction of Dred Scott's cause; that the slave was to be regarded simply 
 as a personal chattel ; that the Constitution gave to the slave-holders the rights of removing 
 to or through any State or Territory with his slaves and of returning at his will with them 
 to a State where slavery was recognized by law; and that tlierefore the Missouri Compro- 
 mise of 1820, as well as the compromise measures of 1850, was unconstitutional and void. 
 
 In these extraordinary.- opinions — as sound legally as they were profoundlv immoral — 
 six associate justices of the Supreme Bench — Wayne, Nelson, Grier, Daniel, Campbell and 
 Catron — concurred, while two associates — ^IcLean and Curtis — dissented. The decision 
 gave great satisfaction to the nltra-slave-holding sentiments of the South and chimed in 
 agreeably with the doctrine of squatter sovereignty. In the North, however, great excite- 
 ment was produced and thousands of indignant comments and much bitter opposition were 
 provoked by the dictum of the court 
 
 One of the provisions of the Omnibus Bill of 1850 related to the organization of Utah 
 Territory. That remote, transmontane region was occupied almost exclusively by the ^lor- 
 mons or Latter-Day Saints. By their exile from Illinois and ^Missouri they had virtually 
 escaped from the jurisdiction of the United States and had planted themselves in what thev 
 supposed to be an inaccessible countn.-. At length an attempt was made to extend the 
 American judicial system over the Territory. Thus far Brigham Young, the Mormon 
 Prophet, had as the head of the theocracy governed as he would. The communitv of 
 Mormons was organized on a plan very different from that existing in other Territories and 
 many u.sages, especially polygamy, had grown up in Utah which were deemed repugnant to 
 the laws of the United States. 
 
 In 1857 a Federal judge was .sent to preside in the Territory. He was resisted, insulted 
 and driven violently from the seat of justice. His associate officials were in like manner 
 expelled from the Territory-. Utah became a scene of terror for all officers of the United 
 States and so-called "Gentiles." The Monnoivs, however, claimed in justification of their 
 course that the officers who had been sent out to govern them were of so low a character 
 as to command no respect. 
 
 The government deemed this excuse insufficient. Alfred Cmnming, Superintendent 
 of Indian Affiiirs on the upper Missouri, was sent to Utah to supersede Brigham Voting in 
 authority. Delana R. Eckels, of Indiana, was appointed Chief Justice of the Territory, and
 
 628 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 an army of twenty-five hundred men was sent to Utah to put down lawlessness by force. 
 The Mormons were charged with the perpetration of many crimes, committed generally 
 by an organized band called Danites who were known as the Avenging Angels of the 
 Church. These were accused of murdering a large band of emigrants at a place in southern 
 Utah called Mountain Meadows. The massacre was perpetrated under the 'leadership of 
 John D. Lee, who suffered the supreme penalty of the law for his crime. 
 
 JOHNSTON'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE MORMONS. 
 
 Notwithstanding the show of force that was made by the military-, Young and the 
 Monnon elders were little disposed to yield. The antagonism of the people of the Ter- 
 ritory was aroused to the last pitch. They remembered what their fathers had suffered by 
 banishment and persecution, and could but regard this extension of government authority 
 over them as a renewal and aggravation of the former injustice and cruelties to which 
 they had been subjected. The American army was denounced as a horde of barbarians. 
 In September of 1867 the national forces reached the Territory, and on the 6th of October 
 a band of Mormon rangers attacked and destroyed most of the supply trains of the army. 
 Winter came on, and the Federal forces, under command of Albert Sidney Johnston, were 
 obliged to find quarters on Black's Fork, near Fort Bridges. 
 
 Meanwhile Thomas L. Kane, of Pennsylvania, was sent out by the President with 
 conciliatory letters to the Mormon authorities. Kane went around by way of California, 
 reached Utah in the spring of 1858, and soon succeeded in bringing about an understand- 
 ing between Governor Cumming and the IMormons. Next came Governor Powell, of Ken- 
 tucky, and Major McCulloch, of Texas, bringing from the President a proclamation of 
 pardon to all who would siibmit to the national authority. The Mormons generally 
 accepted the overtures. The army of the United States marched to Salt Lake City, but 
 was quartered at Camp Floyd, forty miles distant. Here the Federal forces remained 
 until order was restored, and in May of i860, were withdrawn from the Territory. 
 
 The year 1858 became memorable in the history of our country, and indeed of all 
 nations, for the laying of the first telegraphic cable across the Atlantic Ocean. On the 
 5th of August in this year the great enterprise was .successfully completed. The work was 
 projected and brought to an auspicious end most largely by the energy and genius of 
 Cyrus W. Field, a wealthy merchant of New York City. 
 
 In this year the Territory of Minnesota was organized and admitted into the Union. 
 The area of the new State was a little more than eighty-one thousand square miles, and its 
 population about a hundred and fifty thousand. In 1S59 Oregon, the thirty-third member 
 of the Union and second of the Pacific States, was admitted. The new commonwealth 
 brought a population of forty-eight thousand and an area of eighty thousand square miles. 
 It was on the 4th of March, in this year, that General Sam Houston, of Texas, bade adieu 
 to the Senate of the United States and retired to private life. His career had been one of 
 the most remarkable in American histor.'. His genius was undoubted and his character of 
 so resolute a frame that in the last years of his life the secession storm that prevailed in 
 Texas could not sweep him from his feet or bear him away from his devotion to the Union. 
 
 The year 1859 felt a shadow from the death of the illustrious Washington Irving He 
 had gained a proud rank in American letters. The powers of his genius had been devoted 
 to the creation for his native land of a literary' rank among the nations. His name had 
 become a household word in Europe. He it was, first of all, who succeeded in wringing 
 from the proscriptive reviews of England and Scotland an acknowledgment of the power 
 and originality of American genius.
 
 BOOK FOURTH 
 
 Epoch of War and Greatness, 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 ANTECEDENTS OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 HERE approach the great tragedy of American historj'. 
 We find onrselves in the dawn of that epoch which 
 was destined to bring insurrection, blood and devas- 
 tation in its train. Let us, in the first place, note 
 with clearness some of the antecedents and causes 
 which led to the tremendous conflict now impending 
 over the American Republic. 
 
 It was believed by the pro-slaver>- party and the 
 Democratic administration, extending from 1856 to 
 i860, that the Dred Scott decision — puny, paper 
 manifesto as it was — would allay the troubled waters 
 and produce a perpetual calm. On the contran,- that 
 ,, _ judicial edict came as a torch among combustibles. 
 
 <"■'"" Some of the Free States proceeded to pass what were 
 
 called Personal Liberty Bills, the object of which was to thwart the operation of the Fugitive 
 Slave Law. A deep .seated and unquenchable animosity towards the slavery propagandists 
 was kindled throughout the North and many of the greatest and most enlightened Ameri- 
 cans set themselves in relentless hostility, not only to the extension of slaven-, but to the 
 institution itself. 
 
 Next came the John Brown insurrection of 1859. Old John Brown, of Osavvatomie, 
 deliberately devised a scheme for a servile war and revolution throughout the South. He 
 had been one of the leaders of the Free-State militia in the border war in Kansa.s. He was 
 an enthusiast, fearless, persi.stent, determined to do or to die, a religious fanatic who took 
 no coun.sel of danger or defeat. With a party of twent>'-one men like himself, but not his 
 equals, he made a sudden descent out of Penns>]vania on the United States arsenal at Har- 
 per's Ferry, captured the place and held his ground for nearly two days. The militia of 
 Virginia and then the national troops were called out to suppress tlio revolt. Thirteen of 
 Brown's men were killed. Two made their escape and the rest were captured. The leader 
 and his six companions were given over to the authorities of Virginia, tried, condcnmed 
 and hanged. The event was one which to the present day excites tlie keenest interest and 
 
 1629)
 
 630 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 liveliest controversy. Nor may it be easily decided whether an adventurer — supposing him- 
 self under the direction of tlie Higher Law — may in such a manner attack the abuses of a 
 State and whether, if he do, he strikes the blow in the character of a fool and madman or as 
 the hero and protagonist of a new era. 
 
 Ever and anon the controversy in Kansas broke out with added heat. There the Free- 
 Soil party gradually gained the upper hand. It became evident that slavery would be 
 
 finally interdicted in the 
 new State. But a que;tion. 
 had now been opened 
 between the North and 
 the South which was not 
 to close except by the 
 \\orkings of the greatest 
 tragedy of modern times. 
 Vmong the Northern 
 leople anti-slaver}' senti- 
 ments spread and became 
 intense. It became a coii- 
 iction that the institution 
 of slavery must now be 
 curbed with a strong hand. 
 In the minds of the 
 younger people that in- 
 stitution began to have 
 the feature of a demon. 
 In the South, on the other hand, the opposing coiivicfioii 
 grew that it was the purpose and scheme of the Northern 
 people, first to gain control of the national government 
 and then to attack them and their peculiar domestic 
 institutions. 
 THE NOMINATING CONVENTIONS OF i860. 
 
 and alarming condition of affairs when the administration of 
 The nineteenth Presidential election was at hand. The Free- 
 
 WARFARE ON THE KANSAS BORDER. 
 
 A great con- 
 
 Such was the fretful 
 Buchanan drew to a close. 
 
 Soil party had now become powerfully organic under the name Republican. 
 vention of the delegates of that party was held in Chicago and Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, 
 was nominated for the Presidency. The platfonn of principles declared opposition to the 
 extension, of slaverv as the one vital issue. In April of i860 the Democratic convention 
 assembled at Charleston, South Carolina, but no sooner had the body convened than its 
 utter distraction of counsels was apparent. The delegates were divided on the slavery ques- 
 tion, and after much debating and wrangling the party was disrupted. The delegates from 
 the South, unable to obtain a distinct endorsement of their views in the platfonn of the 
 party, and seeing that the Northern wing was determined to non:inate Senator Douglas, 
 withdrew from the convention. The remainder, incliiding most of the delegates from the 
 North, continued in session, balloted for awhile for a candidate, and on the 3d of May 
 adjourned to meet at a later date in Baltimore. 
 
 The second convention was held on the i8th of June, according to appointment. The 
 Northern delegates reassembled and chose Stephen A. Douglas as their standard-bearer.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 631 
 
 The secediiifj Southern delej^ates adjourned first to Richmond, and afterwards to Baltimore, 
 where thev met on the 28th of June and nominated John C. Brcckinridjje of Kentucky. 
 The American, or Know-Nothing party, which had now lost much of its distinctive char- 
 acter, took the name of Constitutional Unionists, met in convention, and chose John Bell, 
 of Tennessee, as its candidate for the Presidenc>-. Thus were four political standards raised 
 in the field, and the excitement went through the country like a storm. 
 
 In the political conflict that ensued the Republicans gained much by their compact- 
 ness and the distinctness of their utterances on the question of slaven,-. Most of the old 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S FORT AND HARPER'S FERRY. 
 
 Abolitionists ca.st in their fortunes with the Republican party and the support of Lincoln. 
 The result was the triumphant election of that remarkable man by the votes of nearly all 
 the Northern States. The votes of the Southern States were for the most part given to 
 Breckinridge. The States of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee cast their thirty-nine 
 ballots for Bell. Douglas received a large popular but small electoral support. His 
 adherents were scattered through all the States, without concentration in any. Thus after 
 controlling the destinies of the republic for sixty years, witli only temporary breaks in 1S40 
 and 1848, the Democratic party was overthrown and driven from the field. 
 
 But what was the result? The Southern leaders had declared already that the election 
 of Lincoln by the votes of the Northern States would be just cause for a dissolution of the 
 Union. Threats to .secede had been freely indulged in the Southern States, but in the
 
 1332 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 North such expressions were regarded as mere political bravado, made up of sound and 
 fury, signifying nothing. It was believed that no actual purpose of rebellion existed among 
 the people of the South. The threats that were indulged in rather instigated than deterred 
 
 the Republicans of the populous North 
 from voting according to their political 
 convictions. They crowded to the polls 
 aird their favorite was elected by a plurality 
 of the electoral votes. 
 
 For the time, however, the govern- 
 ment remained under control of the Douglas 
 Democracy. A majority of the members 
 of the cabinet and a large number of Senators 
 and Representatives belonged to the Breck- 
 inridge party. These had imbibed from 
 their proslavery education and local attach- 
 ments all the fire-eating proclivities of the 
 extreme South. Such members of Congress 
 began openly to advocate in the Senate and 
 House of Representatives the doctrine of 
 secession as a legitimate remed}' for the 
 JOHN BROWN BESIEGED AT HARPER'S FERRY. elcctiou of Liucolu. With the close of the 
 
 current administration a climax was reached. With the ensuing spring all the depart- 
 ments of the government were to pass into the hands of the Republican party. The times 
 were full of passion, animosity and rashness. 
 
 SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 At this juncture the Southern leaders perceived that as aifairs then stood the dis- 
 membennent of the Union was possible, but that with the inauguration of Lincoln and the 
 establishment of Republican rule such a movement would probably be thwarted and become 
 an impossibilitv". Great was the embarrassment of the President. He was not himself a 
 disunionist. In argument he denied the right of a State to secede; but at the same time 
 he declared himself not armed with Constitutional power to prevent b)- force the secession 
 of a sovereign State. His attitude thus favored the plans of the secession party. 
 Buchanan's theory of government was sufficient of itself to paralyze the remaining energies 
 of the executive and to make him helpless in the presence of the great emergency. It was 
 with wisdom and craft, therefore, on the part of the Southern leaders that the inter\'al 
 between the November election of i860 and the inauguration of Lincoln was seized as the 
 opportune moment for the dissolution of the Union. 
 
 The event showed that the train had already been laid for the impending catastrophe. 
 The actual work of secession broke out in South Carolina. The disunion proclivities of 
 that State, after a slumber of thirty years, burst suddenly forth in flame and fire. On the 
 ijth of December, i860, a convention of delegates chosen by the people of South Carolina 
 met at Charleston, and after three days of fiery discussion passed a resolution that the union 
 hitherto existing between South Carolina and the other States under the name of the United 
 States of America was dissolved. It was a step of fearful importance, portending war and 
 universal discord. 
 
 The action of South Carolina was contagious. Disunion spread like an insanity among
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 633 
 
 the Southern people. Within a short time the cotton-growing States had given themselves 
 wlioll>- to the cause of dissohition. By the ist of Febnian-, 1861, six other States — 
 Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, 
 Louisiana and Texas — had passed ordi- 
 nances of secession. Nearly all the 
 Senators and Representatives of those 
 States resigned their seats in Congress, 
 returned to the South, and threw their 
 influence with the disunion cause. 
 
 Little opposition was manifested to 
 the movement. Those who opposed dis- 
 union did not attend the State conventions, 
 and the voice of opposition was drowned 
 in the universal clamor. The secession 
 leaders rushed together, carrying with them 
 the enthusiastic support of the planters and 
 the young politicians of the South. In 
 some instances a considerable minority vote 
 was cast against disunion. A few speakers 
 attempted, but without success, to stem 
 the secession tide. The course of Alexander 
 H. Stephens, afterwards Vice-President of 
 the Confederate States, was peculiar. In 
 the Georgia convention he openly and 
 powerfully opposed the secession of his State. 
 
 ALEXAXDKR H. STIil'HE.VS. 
 
 At the same time he defended the theor\' 
 
 cf secession, advocated State sovereignty, declared his purpose to abide b\- the decision of 
 
 Georgia, but at the same time spoke against 
 the secession ordinance on the ground that 
 the measure was impolitic, unwise and likely 
 to be disastrous in its results. Other promi- 
 nent men in different parts of the South held 
 the same view, but the majority prevailed 
 and secession was readily and enthusiastically 
 accomplished. 
 
 FORMATION OF THE NEW CONFEDERACY 
 W'itli disuuiun came ihc formation of 
 a new government. On the 4th of Februar},-, 
 1 86 1, delegates from si.x of the seceded States 
 a.ssembled at Montgomery, Alabama, and 
 proceeded to the establishment of a govern- 
 ment under the name of the Confederate 
 States of America. On the 8th of the 
 month the organization was completed by 
 the election of Jcfierson Davis, of Missis- 
 v/r. J y'" -^ %'f I sippi, as provisional President, and Alexander 
 
 J8FFERS0N DAVIS. H. Stephens as Vice-President. TIius in the
 
 634 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 heart of the South a rival government to that of the United States was speedily and 
 effectively organized. 
 
 On the same day of the meeting of the Confederate Congress at JMontgomery a Peace 
 Conference, so-called, assembled at Washington City. It was a fruitless and bootless attempt 
 to stay the hurricane. Delegates from twenty-one States were present and the optimists 
 who composed the body still dreamed of peace. They busied themselves with preparing 
 certain pacific and compromising amendments to the Constitution of the United States. 
 These were promptly laid before Congress; but that bod\', freshly gathered from the people 
 and inspired with the rising antagonism to the course of the Southern leaders, gave little 
 heed to the recommendations. The Peace Conference was permitted to disperse without 
 practical results. 
 
 Through all this excitement and upheaval Buchanan remained in the Presidency. The 
 Democratic party still held control of the government. The country- seemed on the verge 
 of ruin. It appeared that the Ship of State was steered directly for the rocks. The 
 Executive department was paralyzed. The President in the midst of his dismay and despair 
 went about the halls of the White House wringing his hands. The army of the United 
 States had been intentionally sent in detachments to remote frontiers. The fleet was 
 scattered in distant seas. The credit of the nation had sunk so low that the government 
 was unable to borrow funds for current emergencies at twelve per cent. 
 
 ^leanwhile the Southern leaders were having everything according to their counsel. 
 All things seemed for the time to favor them in the work of disruption. They proceeded 
 to seize public properties, arsenals, and as many as possible of the government posts. Along 
 the Atlantic coast onlv four of the national ports were for the present sa\'ed from capture. 
 
 These were Forts Sumter and Moultrie, in 
 Charleston harbor. Fort Pickens, near Pensa- 
 cola, and Fortress Monroe, in the Chesapeake. 
 All the other naval ports and posts in the 
 seceded States were seized by the Confederate 
 authorities, even before the organization of 
 their government. Meanwhile the local war- 
 fare in far-off Kansas continued to break 
 out at fitful inter^-als, but the Free-State party 
 gained at length a complete ascendancy and 
 the early admission of Kansas into the Union 
 with two additional Republican Senators was 
 a foregone conclusion. 
 
 At the beginning of 1861 the President, 
 rousing himself for a moment made a feeble 
 attempt to reinforce and provision the garrison 
 of Fort Sumter. The steamer Star 0/ the 
 J I est was sent thither with supplies and men; 
 but the Confederates were informed before- 
 hand of all that was done and they found no 
 trouble in defeating the enterprise. As the 
 steamer approached the harbor of Charieston, she was fired on by a Confederate battery and 
 compelled to stand off. Thus in gloom and grief and the upheavals of revolution did the 
 administration of James Buchanan draw to a close. Such was the dreadful condition of 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. G35 
 
 affairs that it was deemed prudent for the new PresideiU to reach the capital in the night 
 and without recoi^nition. For the first time in the history of the nation the chief magis- 
 trate of the republic slipped into Washington City in the darkness as a means of personal 
 safety ! 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 Abraham Lincoln was, however, the man lor llie hour and the epoch. He had been 
 thrown to the front by those processes which in the aggregate look so much like Providence. 
 The new executive, sixteenth President of the United States, was a Kentuckian by birfh, 
 bom in the county Larue, on the 12th of Februar\-, 
 1809. His ancestors were from Rockingham county, 
 Virginia. The childhood of Lincoln was passed in 
 utter obscurity. The family were backwoods people 
 of the lowest order. In i8i6 Thomas Lincoln, the 
 father of Abraham, removed to Spencer count}-, 
 Indiana, and built a cabin in the woods, near the 
 present village of Gentryville. .Vt sixteen we find 
 the future President managing a ferr>' across the Ohio 
 — a service for which he received six dollars a month. 
 He managed to obtain in all about one year's schooling. 
 In the year of his majority, his father's family removed 
 to the north fork of the Sangamon, ten miles west Lincoln s early home in ii.li.vois. 
 of Decatur, Illinois. Here another log-hou.se was built, and here Abraham Lincoln began 
 for himself the hard battle of life. 
 
 "The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil, 
 
 The iron bark that turns the lumberer's axe ; 
 The rapid that o'crbears the boatman's toil. 
 
 The prairie, hiding the mazed wanderer's tracks ; 
 The ambushed Indian, and the prowling bear, — 
 
 Such were the needs that helped his youth to train. 
 Rough culture ; but such trees large fruit may bear, 
 
 If but their stocks be of right girth and grain." 
 
 It were long to tell the story of the hardships and struggles through which voung 
 Lincoln passed before he gained the attention of his fellowmen and rose to distinction. He 
 ser\'ed as a captain in the Black Hawk War, and afterwards became a lawyer, in which 
 profession his amazing common sense rather than erudition brought him success. In 1849 
 he was elected to Congress, where he distinguished himself as a humorous speaker. It was 
 in 1858 when a candidate for the office of United States Senator from Illinois, that he first 
 revealed, in his great debates with Senator Douglas, the full scope of his originality and 
 genius. Two years after this combat of giants he was nominated and elected to the Presi- 
 dency. .\t the time of his inauguration he had entered his fift\-third year. He delivered 
 on that occasion a carefully prepared address declaring his fixed purpose to uphold the Con- 
 stitution and preserve the integrity of the Union. At the first, it was his policy to ignore 
 the action of the seceded States as a thing in itself null, void and of no effect. 
 
 At the head of the new cabinet was placed William H. Seward, of New York, as 
 Secretar)- of State. Salmon P. Cha.se, of Ohio, was appointed Secretary of the Treasurv, 
 and Simon Cameron, Secretary of War; but the latter was soon .succeeded bv Edwin M. 
 Stanton. The department of the navy was intru.stcd to Gideon Wells. In his inaugural 
 address and first official papers the President distinctly outlined his policy, which was in
 
 636 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 brief to repossess the forts, arsenals and public property which had been seized by the Con- 
 federates, and to reestablish the authority of the government in all parts of the Union. 
 
 Now it was that military preparations and movements were visible at the national 
 capital. There was the portent of war. On the 12th of March, 1861, certain commis- 
 sioners from the seceded States sought to obtain from the Government a recognition of their 
 independence; but the negotiations were, of course, unsuccessful. Then came the second 
 attempt to reinforce the garrison of Fort Sumter, and hard upon that act followed the 
 beginning of hostilities. 
 
 BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER. 
 
 The defenses in Charleston harbor were held at this time by a Federal garri.son of 
 seventy-nine men, under command of ^Major Robert Anderson. Owing to the feebleness of 
 
 his force, he aban- 
 doned Fort Moul- 
 trie, and took up 
 his position in 
 Fort Sumter. By 
 this time Charles- 
 ton was swanning 
 with Confederate 
 vohniteers, and 
 powerful batteries 
 were built around 
 the harbor bearing 
 on Fort Sumter. 
 When it was as- 
 certained that the 
 Federal Govern- 
 ment was about 
 to reinforce the 
 forts, the authori- 
 ties of the Con- 
 federate States 
 detennined to an- 
 ticipate the move- 
 ment by compel- 
 ling Anderson to 
 surrender. 
 
 To this end 
 General G. T. 
 Beauregard, com- 
 mandant of Charleston, sent a fiag to Major Anderson, demanding the evacuation of the 
 fort. The Major replied that he should hold the fort and defend his flag. On the follow- 
 ing morning, April 12th, 1861, at half-past four o'clock the first gun of the great war was 
 discharged from a Confederate battery. A terrific bombardment of thirty-four hours 
 duration followed. Fort Sumter was beaten into ruins and obliged to capitulate. The 
 honors of war were granted to Anderson and his men, who had made a brave and obstinate 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S EIRST CABINET.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 637 
 
 resistance. The sequel showed that no lives were lost either in the fort or on the shore. 
 
 The Confederates, by the complete snccess of tlieir initial onset, obtained control of 
 
 Charleston harbor. 
 
 The effect, however, bore hard on the aggressors. Tlic news of the captnre of Sumter 
 
 spread through the country- like a flame of fire. 
 
 ThrouKli tlie crooked lane. 
 Through dashes and flashes of rain, 
 
 The news flew out to the country wide • 
 
 Of the cannon-shot in Sumter's side, 
 And the crowds at tlie meeting-place 
 Had the fire of anger in every face ! 
 
 There had been on the part of the people a vague expectation of violence, but the 
 actual shock came like a thunder peal. The towns became gorged with excited crowds 
 eager to gather tidings 
 and comment on the out- 
 break of war. Gray- 
 haired men talked 
 gravely of the deed that 
 was done, and prophesied 
 its consequences. The 
 general effect of the 
 assault on Sumter was 
 to consolidate opinion in 
 both the North and the 
 South. On either side 
 the sentiments of the 
 people were crj'stallized 
 into a finnly set antag- 
 onism, which was only 
 to be broken by the 
 shock of battle. 
 
 With the fall of 
 
 .Sumter, President Lincoln immediately issued a call for seventy-fi\'e thousand volun- 
 teers, to ser\-e three months in the overthrow of the secession movement. Two days 
 later Virginia seceded from the Union. On the 6th of ]May, Arkansas followed, and 
 then North Carolina, on the 20th of the same month. In Tennessee, particularly in 
 East Tennessee, there was a powerful opposition to disunion, and the secession ordinance 
 was with great difficulty forced upon the people, June 8th, 1861. In Missouri the effort of 
 the secessionists to withdraw from the Union precipitated civil war, and in Kentucky the 
 authorities issued a proclamation of neutrality. In Maryland the people divided into 
 hostile parties, the disunion sentiment being preponderant. 
 
 FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 
 The North responded promptly to the call of the President. Volunteers at once began 
 to march for Washington. On the 19th of April, when the first regiments of Massachusetts 
 men were passing through Paltiinore they were fired upon by the citizens and three men 
 were killed. This was the first bloodslicd of the war. On the day before this event a body 
 of Confederates advanced ou Harper's Ferry, to capture the armory at that place. The 
 
 ATT.^CK ON FORT SUMTER FROM MORRIS ISLAND.
 
 638 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 officer ill command hastily destroyed a portion of the vast magazines and then escaped into 
 Pennsylvania. On the 20th of April a company of Virginians attacked the great navy 
 yard at Norfolk. The officers fired the buildings and ships, spiked the guns and withdrew. 
 The Confederates took possession and recovered many of the guns and vessels, turning them 
 in after time against the Government. 
 
 Virginia soon swarmed with volunteers from the South and it was not long until Wash- 
 ington Citv was in imminent danger of capture. The National Government and the great 
 communities of the Northern States were astounded at the vehement energy displayed by the 
 Confederates. The first duty of the administration was to secure the Capital. On the 3d 
 of May the President issued a new call for men, setting the number at eight^'-three thousand 
 
 and the term of ser- 
 vice at three years or 
 during the war. A 
 fleet was equipped and 
 sent forth to blockade 
 the Southern ports. 
 On every side was 
 heard the note of pre- 
 paration. The spirit 
 of the i^eople both 
 North and South was 
 thoroughly aroused 
 and a great war 
 thundered in the 
 horizon. 
 
 Meanwhile the 
 Confederate Congress 
 adjourned from Mont- 
 gomery to meet on 
 the 20th of July, at 
 Richmond, which was 
 chosen as the capital 
 of the Confederacy. 
 To that place had 
 already come Jefferson 
 
 Davis and the officers of his Cabinet. There the seceded government took fonn and sub- 
 stance. The men who had its destinies in charge were capable and experienced statesmen, 
 full of animosity and determined to win independence or perish in the conflict. So stood 
 the antagonistic powers at the beginning of summer, 1861. It was now evident to all men 
 — slow indeed had they been to believe it — that one of the greatest conflicts of modern 
 times was impending over the United States. What, then, were the causes which produced 
 the Great Rebellion of 1861 and plunged the country into a ruinous and bloody civil war? 
 
 The first and most general of these causes was the dijfcrcnt construction put upon the 
 national Constitutio)i by the people of the North and the South. A difference had alwaj-s 
 existed as to how that instrument should be understood and interpreted. The question had 
 respect to the relation between the States and the general Government. One party held 
 that under the Constitution the Union of the States is indissoluble ; that the sovereignty of 
 
 SoViiRKIGMV 1 LAG Ol- SOUTH CAROLINA — UNION COCKADES ; AND COCKADES 
 OF SOUTH CAROLIN.A., VIRGINI.\ AND M.\RVLAND.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 039 
 
 the nation is lodj>cd in the central (.Government ; that tlie States are subordinate thereto ; 
 that the constitutional acts of Congress are binding on the States ; that the highest 
 allegiance of the citizen is due to the general Government, not to his State ; and tliat all 
 attempts at nullification and disunion are in their nature disloyal and treasonable. 
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF THE CONSTITUTION BV DISUNIONISTS. 
 
 The disunioni.sts, on tlic other hand, held that the national Constitution is a compact 
 among sovereign States ; that these States constitute a Confederacy, or what the Germans 
 call Stan/inbiiiid ; that for certain reasons 
 the Union may be dissolved by the States ; .'"'■', 
 
 that the sovereignty of the nation is lodged 
 in the individual States and not in a central X[^ - 
 
 government ; that Congress can exercise no 
 other than delegated powers ; that a State 
 feeling aggrieved may annul an act of Con- 
 gress so far as itself is concerned ; that the 
 highest allegiance of the citizen is due to 
 his o\\Ti State and afterwards in a secondar>' 
 sense to the general Govenimeut ; and that 
 acts of nullification and disunion are justifi- 
 able, revolutionary and honorable. The 
 theor)' was, in brief, that the Constitution 
 itself provided that the States under the 
 Constitution might abrogate the Constitution 
 as it related to themselves and thereby dis- 
 solve the Union. 
 
 The issue thus stated and existent in 
 the United States was as serious and portentous as any that ever threatened the peace 
 of a nation. It struck into the ven,' vitals of the Government. It threatened to undo 
 the whole civil structure of the United States. The question had existed from the founda- 
 tion of the Government. For a long time the parties who disputed aljout the meaning 
 of the Constitution were scattered in various sections. In our earlier history the 
 doctrine of State sovereignty had been most advocated in New England. It was there 
 that the greatest suspicion of the Union existed. With the rise of the tariff question 
 the local position of the parties was shifted and reversed. The tariff — a Congres- 
 sional measure — favored the Eastern States at the expense of the South. Therefore 
 the people of New England, and ultimately of the greater part of the North, passed over 
 to the advocacy of national sovereignty, while the people of the South espoused the doctrine 
 of State Rights. As early as 1831 the right of a State to nullify an act of Congress was 
 openly advocated in South Carolina and by her greatest statesman in the Senate of the 
 United States. The belief in State sovereignty became more and more prevalent in the 
 South, less and less prevalent in the North. Such was the origin of sectional parties in the 
 country. 
 
 VITAL ISSUES IN CONTENTION. 
 
 The second general cau.se of tlie ci\il war was ///<• dilftrcul systems of labor in the Xorth 
 and the South. It was in a word the question of slavery. Possibly, indeed, this cause 
 ought to be stated first, as it underlay ultimately even the dispute about the Constitution 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS TROOPS ATTACKED IN THE .STREETS 
 OF BALTIMORE.
 
 640 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 and the meaning of that instrument. In the South labor had tended naturally to agricul- 
 tural production ; iu the East and North, to manufactures and commerce. In the South 
 slaver}' existed. In the East and North slavery had existed, but had passed away. In the 
 former section the laborers were bondmen, property, slaves ; in the latter, free men, citizens, 
 voters. In the South the theory was that capital is the owner of labor ; in the North, that 
 both labor and capital are free. The abolition of slavery in the Eastern and Middle States 
 had been easily effected because of the luiprofitableness of that fonn of labor. In the five 
 great States formed out of the territorv northwest of the River Ohio slaverv had been 
 excluded by the Jeffersonian ordinance of 1787. There was thus a dividing line through 
 the Union. On the one side there was slavery ; on the other, free labor. A powerful 
 antagonism existed on this account between the two sections, and the discord was aggravated 
 by several subordinate causes. 
 
 Among these maybe mentioned, first of all, the invention of the cotton-gin. In 1793 
 Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, fresh from college, went to Georgia as a school teacher, and 
 
 resided with the family of Mrs. Greene, 
 widow of General Nathaniel Greene of the 
 Revolution. While there he became much 
 interested in the difficult process of picking 
 cotton by hand, that is, separating the seed 
 from' the fibre. So tedious was the process 
 that the production of upland cotton was 
 nearly profitless. The cotton plant grew 
 well in many of the Southern States, but 
 the production was rendered of no effect 
 by the amount of labor required to prepare 
 the product for the market. Whitney, with 
 the inventive curiosit}- of his race, succeeded 
 in constructing a gin which astonished the 
 beholder by the rapidity and excellence of 
 its work. Cotton in the seed was separated 
 to perfection and with great facility by the machine. Cotton suddenly became the most 
 profitable of all the staples of the South. The industr>' of the cotton-producing States 
 was revolutionized. Whitney obtained patents on his invention, but the greed for obtain- 
 ing and using his machine was so great that no court could or would protect him in his 
 rielits. Before the Rebellion of 1861 it was estimated that the cotton-gin had added an 
 aggregate of a billion dollars to the revenues of the Southern .States. Just in proportion 
 to the increased profitableness of cotton slave labor became important, slaves valuable, 
 and the system of slavery a fixed and deep-rooted institution. 
 
 Slave-ownership was thus imbedded in Southern society. The separation between the 
 laboring and the non-laboring class was not only a separation of race, but it was a separation 
 of condition. The condition had become hereditary. Slaven.' came to be regarded as a 
 natural, rightful and necessar\' part of the best social organization in the world. Seeing 
 themselves lifted above the servile class, the slaveholders came to look upon the system of 
 free labor and the free laborers of the North with contempt. 
 
 The reader will be able in these antecedents to discover the bottom reasons of the 
 several crises through which the nation had already passed. The slavery question became 
 a menace to all politics and statesmanship. The danger of disunion springing from this 
 
 HORRORS OF THE FUGITFVE SLA-VE LAW.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 641 
 
 cause was already fully manifested in the Missouri as;it(ilio>i of 1820-21. Threats of dis- 
 soh-ins: the Union were freely and recklessly made both in the South and the North ; in the 
 South, because of the proposed rejection of Missouri as a slave-holding vStatc ; in the North, 
 because of the proposed enlargement of the dominion of slavery-. Henr>' Clay and his 
 fellow-statesmen sought bv the Missouri Compromise to remove forever the slaver>- issue 
 from the politics of the countr}.-, but their success was temporary, evanescent. Lincoln 
 himself, in the opening of his great debates with Senator Douglas, announced first of all to 
 the nation the ultimate irreconcilability of the opposing elements in the .\merican system. 
 He declared that a house divided against itself cannot stand ; that the institution of slavery-, 
 to carr>- out the analog^-, must either become universal in the United States or else by limi- 
 tation be put in such a condition as to lead to its ultimate extinction. 
 
 THE TARIFF CHASM BETWEEN AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 Returning to the historical causes of the civil war we find the next in order of time to 
 be the nullificatioji acts of South Carolina. These, like the rest, turned upon the institution 
 of slaven.- and the 
 profitableness o f 
 cotton. The 
 Southern States 
 had become cotton- 
 producing; the 
 Eastern States had 
 devoted their ener- 
 gies to manufac- 
 tures. The tariff 
 seemed to favor 
 manufactures a t 
 the expense of the 
 producers of raw 
 material. Mr. 
 Calhoun and his 
 friends proposed to 
 remedy the evil 
 complained of by 
 annulling the laws 
 of Congress and 
 thus forcing an 
 abolition of the 
 tariff. His measures 
 failed, but another 
 com prom ise was 
 found necessary in 
 order to allay the 
 animosities which 
 had been awakened. 
 
 The annexation of Texas was the next step in the great evolution leading to disunion 
 and war. With that event came a tremendous enlargement of the domain of slaver\' and 
 the reawakening of the agitation. Those who opposed the Mexican War did so not so much 
 
 41 
 
 FRIGATE ST. LAWRH.N'CF, SINKING THK CONFKIJERATK I'RIVATEKR PETREL, 
 IN CHAKLKSTON IIAKIIOR, AfC.UST 4, I.S61.
 
 642 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 because of the injustice of the conflict as because of the fact that thereby the area of slave 
 territory would be vastly extended. Next, in 1854, came the passage of the Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill. The Missouri Compromise was repealed, and the whole question opened 
 anew. By this time the character and civilization of the Northern and Southern people 
 had become widely different. A much more general cause of the Civil War was the want 
 of intercourse between the people of the North and the South. Obeying those cosmic laws by 
 which the population of the earth has always been distributed, the people west of the AUe- 
 ghanies had been carried to their destinations in channels flowing from the east to the west 
 — never from the north to the south. The artificial contrivances of civilization had been 
 arranged along the same lines. The great railroads and thoroughfares ran east and west. 
 All migrations had been back and forth in the same course. Between the North and the 
 South there had been only a modicum of travel and interchange of opinion. The people 
 of the two sections had become more unacquainted than they were even at the time of 
 the Revolution. The inhabitants of the North and the South, without intending it, had 
 become estranged, jealous, suspicious. They misrepresented each other's beliefs and pur- 
 poses. They suspected each other of dishonesty and ill-will. Before the outbreak of the 
 war, the people of the two sections had come to look upon each other almost in the light 
 of difierent nationalities. 
 
 EFFECTS OF SECTIONAL LITERATURE AND DEMAGOGUES. 
 
 Still a fourth cause ma}- be found in the publication and influence of sectional books and 
 writings. During the twenty years preceding the war many works were published both in 
 the North and the South whose popularib.- depended wholly or in part on the animosity 
 and distrust existing between the two sections. Such books were frequently filled with 
 ridicule and falsehood. The manners and customs, the language and beliefs of one section 
 were held up to the contempt and scorn of the people of the other section. The minds of 
 all classes, especially of the young, were thus prejudiced and poisoned. In the North the 
 belief was fostered that the South was given up to inhumanity, ignorance and barbarism, 
 while in the South the opinion prevailed that the Northern people were a selfish race of 
 mean, mercenary', cold-blooded Yankees. 
 
 To these antecedents must be added, in the next place, the evil influence of demagogues. 
 It is the misfortune of republican governments that they many times fall under the domi- 
 nation of bad men. In the United States the demagogue has enjoyed special opportunities 
 for mischief In the sixth decade of the century- American statesmanship and patriotism 
 were at a low ebb. Ambitious and scheming men had obtained control of the political 
 parties and made themselves leaders of public opinion. The purposes of such were selfish 
 in the last degree. The welfare and peace of the country were put aside as of little value. 
 In order to gain power and keep it, many unprincipled men in the South were anxious to 
 destroy the Union, while the demagogues of the North were willing to abuse the Union in 
 order to accomplish their purposes. 
 
 To all these causes must finally be added a growing public opinion in the North against 
 the institution of slavery itself— ?l hostility inborn and inbred against human chattelhood as 
 a fact. The conscience of the nation began to struggle, and the belief was more and more 
 entertained th. t slavery was a civil and social crime per se, and ought to be destro>-ed. 
 This opinion, this conviction, comparatively feeble at the beginning of the war, was 
 rapidly developed, and had much to do in determining the direction and final issue of the 
 conflict. Such in brief were the principal causes which led to the Civil War in the United 
 States, one of the most terrible and bloody strifes of modern times.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT. 
 
 STRUGGLE now impending was between the Union 
 under the Constitution, upheld by the Government at 
 Washington and supported by the populous Northern 
 States, on the one side, and the new Confederate 
 government established at Richmond, backed bv the 
 forces of the South and the whole power of the ancient 
 slave-holding system, on the other. The war proper 
 may be said to have begun on the 24th of May, 1861. 
 On that day the Union anny crossed the Potomac from 
 Washington City to Alexandria. At this time Fortress 
 Monroe, at the mouth of the James, was held by General 
 B. F. Butler, with twelve thousand men. In the 
 immediate vicinity, at a place called Bethel Church, 
 was a detachment of Confederates under command of General Magruder. On the loth of 
 June a body of Union troops was sent to dislodge them, and was repulsed with considerable 
 losses. Such was the opening scene in Old Virginia. 
 
 West of the mountains the conquest of the State had been undertaken by a Union 
 anny under General George B. McClellan. In the latter part of May General Thomas A. 
 Morris, commanding a force of Ohio and Indiana troops, advanced from Parkersburg to 
 Grafton, and on the 3d of June attacked the Confederates at Philippa. In this fight the 
 Federals were successful, and the Confederates retreated towards the mountains. At this 
 juncture General McClellan arrived, assumed command, and on the nth of July gained a 
 victor>- of some importance at Rich Mountain. General Garnet, the Confederate com- 
 mander, fell back to Cheat River, where he was a second time defeated and himself killed 
 in battle. 
 
 The next combat was on the loth of .\ugust, between General Floyd, commanding 
 the Confederates at Camifex Ferry, on Gauley River, and the Union forces under General 
 Rosectans. The latter were victorious and the Confederates retreated. On the 14th of 
 September a division of Confederates under General Robert E. Lee was defeated at Cheat 
 .Mountain, by which success the Federal authority was restored throughout West Virginia. 
 In the meantime General Robert Patterson marched with a Federal force from Cham- 
 bersburg to retake Harper's Ferry. On the nth of the month the division of Colonel 
 Lewis Wallace made a sudden and successful onset upon a ' detachment of Confederates at 
 Roniney. Patterson crossed the Potomac with the main bod>', entered the Shenandoah 
 \'alley and pressed back the Confederates to Winchester. Thus far there had been only 
 petty conflicts — the premonitor>- onsets and skirmishes of the great struggle. But the time 
 bad now arrived for the first real battle of the war. 
 
 (643)
 
 644 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 After the retirement of the Confederates from West Virginia the Confederate forces of 
 the State, commanded by General Beauregard, were concentrated at Manassas Junction, on 
 the Orange Railroad, twenty-seven miles west of Alexandria. Another large Confederate 
 force under General Joseph E. Johnston, lay in the Shenandoah Valley, within supporting 
 distance of Beauregard. The Union army at Alexandria was commanded by General Irwin 
 McDowell, and General Patterson was stationed in front of Washington to watch Johnston's 
 movements and prevent the latter from joining Beauregard. 
 
 FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN. 
 
 The advance of the Union army was begun on the i6th of July. Two days afterwards 
 an unimportant engagement took place between Centreville and Bull Run. The Federals 
 
 then pressed on, and on the 
 morning of the 21st of July 
 came upon the Confederate 
 army strongly posted between 
 Bull Run and Manassas Junc- 
 tion. Here a general battle 
 ensued, continuing with great 
 severity iintil noonday. The 
 advantage was with the Union 
 anny, and it seemed probable 
 that the Confederates would 
 suffer a complete defeat ; but 
 in the crisis of the battle 
 General Johnston arrived A^ath 
 nearly six thousand fresh 
 troops from the Shenandoah 
 Valley. The tide of victory 
 turned immediately, and 
 McDowell's whole ann\- was 
 thrown back in rout and con- 
 fusion. A panic spread through 
 the Union forces. The army 
 had been followed out from 
 Washington b\- a throng of 
 non-combatants. Soldiers and 
 citizens became mixed together 
 in the retreat, and the whole 
 mass rolled back in disorgani- 
 zation into the defences of 
 Washington. The losses on 
 both sides were great, being 
 on the Union side 2951 and 
 on the Confederate side 2050. 
 Never before in America had such numbers fallen in battle ; and yet this was but the 
 feeble introduction to the bloody, desperate and long-continued struggle which was about 
 to ensue. 
 
 GENERAI, G. T. BEAUREGARD.
 
 c 
 
 c 
 
 2 
 
 (645)
 
 646 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Great were the chagrin and humiliation of the North and great was the exultation of 
 the Confederates. The Federal government was with good reason alarmed for the safety of 
 Washington City. In Richmond there were jubilation and confidence. There on the day 
 before the battle the new Confederate government was organized. The Southern Congress 
 assembled and into it were gathered the pride, the talent and the experience of the South. 
 Many men of distinguished abilities were there. Jefferson Davis, the President, was a far- 
 sighted and talented man. His experience was wide and thorough as a civilian and his 
 reputation as a soldier, earned in the Mexican War, was enviable. He had served in both 
 Houses of Congress and as a member of Pierce's Cabinet. His talents, character and ardent 
 advocacy of State Rights made him the natural, if not the inevitable, leader of the Con- 
 federacy in the impending conflict with the Union. 
 
 For a brief season the disaster at Bull Run seemed to paralyze the Union cause. Mili- 
 tary operations in the East ceased. In Missouri, however, hostilities broke out and were 
 attended with important consequences. Missouri, though a slave-holding State, had not 
 seceded from the Union. The convention which was called by Governor Jackson in accord- 
 ance with an act of the legislature refused to pass an ordinance of secession. The Disunion 
 party, however, was strong and aggressive. The governor was himself the leader of this 
 party and the Disunionists were loath to give up the State. 
 
 Civil war supervened. Federal and Confederate camps were organized in many parts 
 of the State. The Confederates captured the United States arsenal at Liberty, in Clay 
 county, and obtained thereby supplies, arms and munitions. They then formed Camp 
 Jackson, in the western suburbs of St. Louis, and the arsenal of that cit}' was endangered. 
 
 At this juncture, however, Captain Lyon 
 appeared on the scene and removed the 
 arms and stores of St. Louis first to Alton 
 and then to Springfield, Illinois. He then 
 attacked Camp Jackson and broke up that 
 rendezvous of the Confederate party. 
 
 The Confederates from Arkansas and 
 Texas now made a rush to secure the lead 
 mines in the southwest part of Missouri. 
 On the 17th of June General Nathaniel 
 Lyon encountered a Confederate force 
 under Governor Jackson, at Booneville, 
 and gained a decided advantage. On the 
 5th of July the Federals luider Colonel 
 Franz Sigel were successful in a severe 
 engagement with Jackson's forces at Car- 
 thage. Then came the battle of Bull 
 Run in the East. On the loth of August 
 the severest encounter thus far in the West occvirred at Wilson's Creek, a short distance 
 south of Springfield, Missouri. General Lyon made a daring attack on the Confederate 
 forces of Generals McCullough and Price. The Federals at first gained the field, but 
 General Lyon was killed and his men retreated, the command falling to Sigel. 
 
 General Price at the head of the Confederate army pressed northward across the State 
 to Lexington, on the Missouri River. Here was stationed a division of twenty-six hundred 
 Federals under command of Colonel Mulligan. The fort was stubbornly defended, but 
 
 ^^' 
 
 l.'^^^^ 
 
 DEATH OF GENERAL LYON AT WILSON'S CREEK.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 647 
 
 Mulligan was obliged to capitulate. Price turned to the soutli ; the Federals rallied, and 
 on the i6th of October Lexington was retaken. General John C. Fremont, who had been 
 appointed to the command of all the Union forces in Missouri, followed the Confederates as 
 far as Springfield, and was on the eve of making an attack when he was superseded by 
 General Hunter. The latter drew back to St. Louis, where he was in turn superseded by 
 General Henry W. Halleck. Late in the >ear Price fell back towards Arkansas. 
 
 BATTLE OF BELMONT. 
 The only remaining movement of importance was at Belmont, on the Mississippi. It 
 will be remembered that Kentucky had declared neutrality as her policy in the war. The 
 Confederate govenunent, however, sent General Leonidas Pope with an army into the State, 
 to enable the Disunion party to overbear the Unionists. Pope captured the town of Colum- 
 bus and planted batteries at that place commanding the Mississippi. The Confederates 
 
 A MONTI- 
 
 A BLOCKADE-RUNNER 
 
 gathered in force on the opposite bank of the river. With a view to dislodging this body, 
 Colonel Ulysses S. Grant, with three thousand Illinois troops, was sent by way of Cairo 
 into Missouri. On November 7th he attacked the Confederate camp at Belmont and was 
 successful in the onset. General Pope threw reinforcements across the river and the Ken- 
 tucky batteries were brought to bear on the Federal position. Grant was obliged to fall 
 back without much advantage from his initial success. 
 
 After Bull Run the government concerned itself first of all with the defences of Wash- 
 ington. The autumn of 1861 was a season of depression to the Union cause. A reaction 
 came, however, for with the subsidence of the panic the administration redoubled its 
 energies. Volunteers came in great numbers from the Northern States, and the first two 
 calls were quickly filled. The aged General Scott, commander-in-chief of the armies, found 
 himself unable longer to bear the 'burden resting ujxin him and retired from active duty. 
 General George B. McClellan was called over from West Virginia and put in command of 
 the Armv of the Potomac.
 
 648 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA 
 
 The event showed that the young general as an organizer and disciplinarian had no 
 superior. The forces under his command were by the middle of October increased to a 
 hundred and fifty thousand men. The army was no longer a mere rout of volunteers, but 
 a compact, well disciplined and powerful engine of war. On the 2ist of October a force of 
 two thousand Federals under Colonel Baker crossed the Potomac at Ball's BluflF, where they 
 were attacked by the Confederates under General ' Evans and driven back to the river. 
 Colonel Baker was killed and his force routed with a loss of fully eight hundred men. 
 
 One of the first tasks imposed on the Federal Government was to gain full command 
 of the seacoast. In the summer of 1861 several naval expeditions were sent out to maintain 
 the authority of the United States along the Confederate sea-border. Commodore String- 
 ham and General Butler sailed to the coast of North Carolina, and the 29th of August 
 captured the forts at Hatteras Inlet. On the 7th of November an armament under Com- 
 modore Dupont and General Thomas W. Sherman took Forts Walker and Beauregard at 
 the entrance of Port Royal. Hilton Head, a point most advantageous for operations against 
 Charleston and Savannah, thus fell into the power of the goveninient. A blockade was 
 successfully established around the whole Confederate coast, and soon became so rigorous as 
 to cut off all communication between the Confederate States and foreign nations. A serious 
 difficulty arose at this juncture on accoiint of the blockade between the Federal government 
 and Great Britain. 
 
 DANGER FOLLOWING THE SEIZURE OF MASON AND SLIDELL. 
 
 One of the chief reliances of the Confederacy was the cotton crop of the Southern 
 States. American cotton had become a virtual necessity to the factories of England. To 
 have the cotton supply cut off suddenly was in the nature of a calamity to the industrial 
 interests of Great Britain. A state of feeling supervened in that countr}' unfavorable to the 
 United States and sympathetic with the Confederacy. The British government desired the 
 success of the rebellion. The Confederate administration played well to this sentiment. 
 James M. Mason and John Slidell, formerly Senators of the United States, were appointed 
 ambassadors of the Confederate States to France and England. Before they left America, 
 however, the Union squadron had closed around the Southern ports, and the ambassadors 
 were obliged to make their escape from Charleston harbor in a blockade runner. TMaking 
 their wa}^ from that port, they reached Havana in safet}' and were taken on board of the 
 British mail-steamer Tient for Europe. 
 
 The Trent sailed, but on the 8th of November was overtaken by the United States 
 frigate Sati Jacinto^ under Captain Wilkes. The Trent was unceremoniously hailed and 
 boarded. The two ambassadors and their secretaries were seized, transferred to the Sail 
 Jacinto, carried to Boston and imprisoned. The Trent was allowed to proceed on her way 
 to England. The story of the insult to the British flag was told, and the whole kingdom 
 burst out in a blaze of wrath. 
 
 The sequel showed how little disposed nations are to regard consistency and right when 
 their prejudices are involved. For nearly a half century' the United States had stoutly con- 
 tended for the exemption of neutral flags on the high sea. The American theor>' had 
 always been that the free flag makes free goods, contraband of war only excepted. Great 
 Britain, on the other hand, had been immemorially the most arrogant of all civilized nations 
 in the matter of search and seizure. She had in the course of her history insulted almost 
 every flag seen on the ocean. But in this particular instance the position of the parties was 
 suddenly reversed. The people of the United States loudly applauded Captain Wilkes ; the 
 House of Representatives passed a vote of thanks to him, with the presentation of a sword.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 049 
 
 ,i' 
 
 Even the administration was disposed to defend liis action. Great Britain, with equal 
 inconsistency, thing herself into a furious passion for the alleged insult to her flag and 
 sovereignty. For a short time it appeared that war between the two nations was inevitable. 
 This peril, however, was avoided by the adroit and far-reaching diplomacy of William 
 H. Seward, Secretar>- of State. When Great Britain demanded reparation for the insult 
 and immediate liberation of the prisoners, he replied in a mild, cautious and ver)- able 
 paper. It was conceded that the seizure of Mason and Slidell was not in accordance with 
 
 the law of nations. A suitable apology- was ac- 
 cordingly made, and the Confederate ambassadors 
 were sent to their destination abroad. The peril 
 of war was averted, and Ckeat Britain was un- 
 wittingly committed to a policy respecting the 
 rights of neutrals which she had hitherto denied, 
 and which the United States had always con- 
 tended for. 
 
 The beginning of 1862 found the government 
 
 with an anny of about 
 four h ti n d r e d and 
 fifty thousand men. 
 Nearly two hundred 
 thousand of these 
 composed the Army 
 of the Potomac undei 
 General McClellan. 
 -A. n t h e r division, 
 under General Don 
 Carlos Buell, was 
 stationed at Louis- 
 ville, Kentucky ; and 
 it was in this depart- 
 ment that the cam- 
 paigns of the year 
 were begun. Early 
 in Januarj- the Con- 
 federate Colonel 
 
 Humphrey Marshall, commanding a force on Big Sandy River, in Eastern Kentucky, was 
 attacked and defeated by a detachment of Unionists under Colonel James A. Garfield. 
 Ten days later an important battle was fought at Mill Spring, Kentucky. The Con- 
 federates were led by Generals Crittenden and Zollicoffer and the Federals by General 
 George H. Thomas. Both sides lost heavily, and the Confederates were defeated; General 
 Zollicofifer was among the slain. 
 
 CAPTURE OF FORTS HENRV AND DONELSON. 
 
 Operations much more important soon followed on the Tennessee and Cumberland 
 Rivers. The Tennes.see, at the southern border of Kentucky, was commanded by Fort 
 Henrv, and the Cumberland by Fort Donelson, ten miles south of the Tennessee line. At 
 the beginning of the year the F'ederal officers planned the capture of both these places. 
 
 surrendi:k
 
 650 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Commodore Foote was seat up the Tennessee with a flotilla of gxmboats and at the same 
 time General Grant moved against Fort Henr\-. Before he reached his destination, how- 
 ever, the gunboats compelled the evacuation of the fort, the Confederates escaping to Fort 
 Donelson. 
 
 The flotilla now dropped down the Tennessee, took on supplies at Cairo, and then 
 ascended the Cumberland. Grant crossed the country from Fort Henn,- to Donelson, and 
 found the place well defended by ten thousand Confederates, under General Simon B. 
 Buckner. Grant's forces were fully twenty-five thousand strong; but the weather was 
 extremely bad, and the assaults on the fortifications must be made at great peril and disad- 
 vantage. On the 14th of February, 1862, the gunboats in the Cumberland were repulsed 
 with considerable losses. On the next day the garrison of Fort Donelson attempted to 
 break through Grant's lines but were driven back with much slaughter. On the 16th, 
 Buckner was obliged to capitulate. His army, numbering fully ten thousand men, became 
 
 BATTLE OF SHTLOH. 
 
 prisoners of war, and all the magazines, stores and guns of the fort fell into the hands of the 
 Federals. It was the first decided Union victor}- of the war. The immediate result of the 
 capture was the evacuation of Kentucky and the capital of Tennessee b\' the Confederates. 
 Nor did they ever afterwards recover the ground thus lost. 
 
 THE BATTLE SHOCK AT SHILOH. 
 
 Such was the real beginnino^ of the militar}^ career of General Ulysses S. Grant. That 
 officer at once followed up his success by ascending the Tennessee river as far as Pittsburg 
 landing. In the first days of April he fonned a camp on the left bank of that stream at a 
 place called Shiloh Church. Here on the morning of the 6th of the month the Union army 
 was suddenly and audaciously attacked by the Confederates under Generals Albert S. 
 Johnston and Beauregard. The shock of the onset was at first irresistible. All day long 
 the battle raged with unprecedented slaughter on both sides. The Federals were gradually 
 forced back -nearer and nearer to the Tennessee, until at nightfall they came under the pro- 
 tection of the gunboats in the river. Darkness closed on the scene with the conflict unde- 
 cided; but in the desperate crisis General Buell arrived from Nashville with strong rein- 
 forcements.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. Ool 
 
 General Grant, however, by no means despaired of jjaining the victory. Dnring the 
 night lie, with General William T. Shennan, made arrangements to assnme the offensive on 
 the morrow. General Johnston had been killed in the first day's battle. Beauregard, on 
 whom the command was devolved, was unable to gain any further successes. On the con- 
 trar>\ when the battle was renewed on the morning of the jth, everjthing went against the 
 Confederates, and they were obliged to fall back in full retreat to Corinth. The losses in 
 killed, wounded and missing in this dreadful conflict were more than ten thousand on each 
 side. Never before had there been such a harvest of death in the countries on this side of 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 Meanwhile the Federals had been steadily successful in a series of actions on the 
 Mississippi. The Confederates after the evacuation of Columbus, Kentucky, had proceeded 
 to Island Number Ten, a few miles below, and built thereon strong fortifications command- 
 ing the two channels of the river. On the western shore the town of New Madrid was held 
 by the Confederates. Against this place General John Pope advanced with a body of 
 Western troops, and was successful in capturing the tovvm. Commodore Foote's flotilla 
 attacked the fortifications on the island, and Pope's forces cooperated with the giinboats in 
 a siege of twenty-three days' duration. On the yth of April, while the Union anny at 
 Shiloh, rallying from apparent defeat, was pressing the Confederates in the direction of 
 Corinth, the garrison of Island Number Ten, numbering five thousand, were made prisoners 
 of war. Thus was the Mississippi, as far down as Memphis, opened to navigation and 
 secured to the control of the Federal fleets. 
 
 In the meantime a severe battle had been fought at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, between the 
 Union anny under General Curtis and the Confederates and Indians, twenty thousand 
 strong, commanded by McCulloTigh, Mcintosh and Pike. The battle was fought on the 
 6th and 7th of March and resulted in a Federal victor)-. McCollough and Mcintosh were 
 both killed and their shattered forces fell back towards Texas. The Union losses likewise 
 were very severe and the battle had little consequence in the general issues of the war. 
 
 DUEL BETWEEN THE MERRIMAC AND MONITOR. 
 
 Now it was that the altenliuu t)f the American people was called to one of the most 
 striking incidents of naval warfare. After the destruction of the Federal navy-yard at 
 Norfolk the Confederates had raised the United States frigate Merrimac, one of the sunken 
 ships, and plated her sides with an impenetrable armor of iron. .\t this time the Union 
 fleet was lying at Fortress Monroe. When the equipment of the Mcrrimac was completed, 
 she was sent down to attack and destro\- the squadron. Reaching that place on the 8th of 
 March, the Mcrrimac, called by the Confederates the Virginia, began the work of destruc- 
 tion, and two powerful ships, the Cumberland and the Congress were sent to the bottom. 
 It appeared certain that the work would go on until the Union fleet should be utterly 
 destroyed. 
 
 Sometime before this, however. Captain John Ericsson, of New York, had invented 
 and built a peculiar war-vessel which he named the Monitor, with a single round tower of 
 iron exposed above the water-line. The tower was made to revolve so as to bring its two 
 great guns to bear alternately on any object of attack. The port-holes were thus only 
 momentarily exposed to an enemy's shot. This strange craft steamed out from New York 
 and came around to Fortress Monroe at the ver\- time when the huge ironclad Virginia was 
 making havoc with the I'^nion fleet. On the morning of the 9th of March the two floating 
 mniistcrs came face to face and turned tlicir terrible enginery upon eacli other. For five
 
 (652)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 653 
 
 hours the contest contimied, and at the end of that time the I 'irginia was so much worsted 
 that slie gave up the contest and returned in a damaged condition to Norfolk. The event 
 produced the greatest excitement and the navy department of the United States turned its 
 whole energies for the time to the construction of the new war vessels which took the name 
 of Monitors. 
 
 In Februar>- of this \ear a strong force under General Ambrose E. Burnside and Com- 
 modore Goldsborough was sent against the Confederate garrison at Roanoke Island. On 
 the 8tli of the month the Federal squadron attacked and captured the place, making pris- 
 oners of nearly three thousand Confederates. Burnside next proceeded against New Berne, 
 North Carolina, and on the 14th of March captured that place after a severe engagement. 
 He next took Fort Macon at the entrance to the harbor of Beaufort. On the 25th of April 
 he gained possession of the town itself. 
 
 CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 Meanwhile on the nth of the same month Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savan- 
 nah river, had surrendered to General O. A. Gilmore. A still greater reverse awaited the 
 Confederates at New Orleans. In the beginning of April a powerful squadron under Gen- 
 eral Butler and Admiral Farragut sailed iip the Mississippi as far as Forts Jackson and 
 St. Philip, thirty miles from the gulf. These forts were built on opposite shores of the 
 Mississippi, commanding the river, and the channel between was obstructed and sown with 
 torpedoes. 
 
 On the iSth of April the Federal fleet of forty-five vessels began the bombardment of 
 the forts. For si.x days there was an incessant stonn of shot and shell on the fortification. 
 Farragut now undertook to run past the batteries; and notwithstanding the hazard, he suc- 
 ceeded in breaking the chain which the Confederates had stretched across the river and in 
 overpowering their fleet The Federal squadron now came unopposed to New Orleans, 
 and the city yielded. A garrison of fifteen thousand Federal soldiers under General Butler 
 was established in the metropolis of the South. Forts Jackson and St. Philip surrendered 
 two days afterwards, and the control of the lower Mississippi was obtained by the Federal 
 Government. 
 
 After Donelson and Shiloh the Confederates, though disheartened for a season, rallied 
 at length and returned to the conflict. Kentucky was invaded by two Confederate armies, 
 one under General Kirby Smith and the other under General Bra.xton Bragg. The first 
 pressed on to Richmond, where on the 30th of August a battle was fought in which the 
 Federals were routed with heavy losses. Lexington and Frankfort were taken and Cincin- 
 nati was seriously threatened. Bragg's army advanced on Munfordville and there on the 
 17th of September captured a Federal force of fully four thousand men. The Confederate 
 General pressed on towards Louisville, but General Buell made a forced march from Ten- 
 nessee and arrived in that city only one day ahead of Bragg. That day, however, turned 
 the scale. The Confederates were turned back, and Buell's army was rapidly augmented 
 to a hundred thousand men. That ofl^cer took the field, and on the 8th of October fought 
 with Bragg at Perr>-ville a severe but indecisive battle. The Confederates then fell back 
 towards East Tennessee, sweeping with them out of Kentucky a train of four thousand 
 wagons laden with the spoils of the campaign. 
 
 BATTLES OF lUKA AND CORINTH. 
 
 The next change of .scene was to the banks of the Mississippi. On the 19th of Sep- 
 tember a hard battle was fought at luka between the Federal army under Grant and Rose-
 
 654 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 crans and the Confederates under Price. The latter suffered a defeat, losing in addition to 
 his killed and wounded nearly a thousand prisoners. Rosecrans afterwards took post at 
 Corinth with twenty thousand men, while General Grant with the remainder of the Federal 
 anny marched to Jackson, Tennessee. The Confederate commanders Van Dorn and Price, 
 perceiving the division of the Federal forces, turned about with the intention of recaptur- 
 ing Corinth, and accordingly attacked the Federal lines at that place on the 23d of October, 
 and a se\ere engagement ensued with heavy losses to both parties, but the Confederates 
 were repulsed. 
 
 The close of 1862 found the Mississippi River open to the Federals above and below 
 Vicksburg, but in the latitude of that city it was held with a firm grip by the Confederacy. 
 
 To relieve this stric- 
 ture was the object of 
 the movements which 
 were now begun by 
 General Grant. That 
 officer first proceeded 
 from Jackson to La 
 Grange. He and 
 General Sherman now 
 entered into coopera- 
 tion in an effort against 
 Vicksburg. An attempt 
 was made to capture 
 this place in December, 
 but on the 20th of that 
 month General Van 
 Dorn succeeded in cut- 
 ting Grant's line of 
 supplies at Holly 
 Springs, obliging the 
 Union commander to 
 fall-back. General 
 Sherman dropped down 
 the river from Memphis 
 as far as Yazoo, where 
 he landed and attacked 
 the Confederate forts 
 at Chickasaw Ba}Ou. 
 killed, wounded and 
 fleet and drew 
 
 HEROISM OF COLONEI, ROGERS. 
 
 The result was exceedingly disastrous to the Federals, who lost in 
 prisoners more than three thousand men. The defeated army took to the 
 back up the Mississippi. 
 
 The year was destined to close with a great battle, 
 ferred to the command of the Army of the Cumberland, 
 powerful anny at Nashville. General Bragg, on retiring 
 
 into Murfreesborough, only thirty miles distant from Nashville. Rosecrans moved 
 his antagonist, and on the evening of the 30th of December came upon his lines at Stone 
 River, a short distance northwest from ^Murfreesborough. 
 
 Rosecrans had now been trans- 
 
 During the fall he collected a 
 
 from Kentucky, threw his force 
 
 agamst
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 655 
 
 BATTLE OF MURFREESBOROUGH. 
 
 Preparations were at once made on bolli .sides for a yeucral attack. Rosecrans planned 
 to mass his force on the Confederate right, while Bragg's plan was the exact counterpart of 
 that of the Federal General. Both massed to the left, so that when the battle began on 
 the morning of the 31st the two armies were in a manner thrust by each other. The battle 
 began with great fury and lasted until noonday. The Union right was shattered and driven 
 from the field. The brunt of the struggle fell on General Thomas, and he, too, was forced 
 back to another position ; but he held his place until Rosecrans was able to readjust his 
 line of battle. It was only by the utmost exertions and heroism of the division of General 
 William B. Hazen that the Federal anny was saved from a general rout. At nightfall more 
 than seven thousand Union soldiers were missing from the ranks. 
 
 During the night, however, Rosecrans prepared to renew the fight. On New Year's 
 morning Bragg foimd his antagonist firmly posted with shortened lines and defiant. Tliat 
 
 V' 
 
 ■'■^r-v* . 
 
 vT- 
 
 GENERAL AUGUR'S BRIGADE I'ASSING THROUGH MANASSAS GAP TO REINFORCE GENERAL BANKS. 
 
 day was spent in indecisive actions. On the morning of the 2d of January, 1863, the 
 battle broke out anew. There was a terrific cannonade, and at three o'clock- in the after- 
 noon the Confederates drove the Union left across tlie river. This brought the assailants, 
 however, within range of the Federal artiller\'. Rosecrans rallied, and with a general 
 advance along the whole line drove Bragg's forces from the field with a loss of several thou- 
 sand men. During the night the Confederate commander drew off in the direction of 
 Tullahoma. The losses on each side were about eleven thousand men. 
 
 With the coming of spring, 1863, active campaigns were undertaken in the East. 
 Virginia was converted into a battle-field. The ball was opened in the valley of the Shenan- 
 doah. General X. P. Banks, with a strong division, pressed his way forward, in Marcli, as 
 far as the town of Harrisonburg. On the other side General Thomas J. Jackson, known 
 to historv' as Stonewall Jackson, was sent with a force of twenty thousand men to cro.ss the
 
 656 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Blue Ridge and cut off Banks' retreat. At Front Royal the Confederates came upon a body 
 of the Federals and routed them, capturing their guns and military stores. Banks, learning 
 of the disaster, retreated down the valley, hotly pursued by Jackson, until the Federals 
 put the Potomac between them and the enemy. 
 
 This excursion to the North had put Jackson in peril. General Fremont at the head 
 of a strong force of fresh troops was sent into the valley to intercept the Confederate retreat. 
 Jackson fell back with the greatest celerity and reached Cross Keys before Fremont could 
 attack him. Even then the engagement was indecisive and the Confederate general was 
 able to fall upon the division of General Shields at Port Republic and defeat it before leaving 
 
 the valley and rejoining the 
 main anny for the defence 
 of Richmond. It was the 
 first of those remarkable 
 campaigns which demons- 
 trated the military genius of 
 Stonewall Jackson. 
 
 ON TO RICHMOND. 
 On the loth of March, 
 1862, the great Anny of the 
 Potomac, numbering nearly 
 two hundred thousand men, 
 throughly disciplined and 
 equipped, set out under 
 General McClellan from the 
 camps about Washington on 
 a campaign against the Con- 
 federate capital. It was the 
 theory- of the national govern- 
 ment that the capture of 
 i^ichmond was the principal 
 object to be attained in the 
 war. It was only after the 
 severest reverses and the rise 
 of a new group of com- 
 manders that the more sen- 
 sible plan of striking the 
 rather than their seat of government, was adopted instead. 
 McClellan pressed forward to Manassas Junction, the Confederates falling back and 
 fonning new lines as he advanced. The Rappahannock was placed between the two great 
 armies. At this stage of the campaign, however, McClellan changed his plan and embarked 
 a hundred and twenty thousand of his men for Fortress Monroe with a view to proceeding 
 from that point up the peninsula between the James and York Rivers. This change of 
 base occupied the time to the 4th of April, when the Union anny left Fortress Monroe for 
 Yorktown. The latter place was held by ten thousand men under General Magnider and 
 yet with this small force McClellan's advance was stayed for a whole month. It was one 
 of the military peculiarities of the Union General to overestimate the forces of his enemy 
 and to display undue caution in his presence. 
 
 Confederate armies.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 G57 
 
 On the 4th of May, liowever, Yorktown Avas taken and the Federals pressed on to 
 Williamsburg. There the Confederates made a second stand, but were defeated with con- 
 siderable losses. Four days after\vards a third engagement occurred at a place called West 
 Point, on the Mattapony, where the Confederates were again driven back. The way now 
 lay open as far as the Chickahominy, within ten miles of Richmond. The Union anny 
 reached that stream without further resistance and crossed at a place called Bottom's Bridge. 
 
 Meanwhile General Wool had, on the loth of May, led an expedition from Fortress 
 Monroe and recaptured Norfolk from the Confederates. It was at this time that the great 
 ironclad I irginia was blown 
 up to prevent her from fall- 
 ing into the hands of the 
 Federals. The James River 
 was thus opened for the 
 ingress of transports laden 
 with supplies for the Army 
 of the Potomac. 
 
 After crossing the 
 Chickahominy, McClellan 
 advanced three miles in the 
 direction of the Confederate 
 capital. At that point on 
 the 31st of May he was con- 
 fronted by the Confederates 
 in full force at a place called 
 Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines. 
 Here for two days the battle 
 raged till at last the Con- 
 federates were forced from 
 the field. The Union vic- 
 tor)-, however, was by no 
 means decisive. The Con- 
 federates lost nearly eight 
 thousand in killed and 
 wounded, while the P^ederal 
 losses were in excess of five thousand. General Joseph E. Johnston, commander-in-chief 
 of the Confederate armies, was severely wounded and his place was filled by the appoint- 
 ment of General Robert E. Lee, a man whose militar>- genius from that time to the close 
 of the war was ever conspicuous. He became indeed the chief stay of the Confederate 
 cause until the day of its final collapse at Appomattox. 
 
 DESPERATE FIGHTING BEFORE RICHMOND. 
 
 The battle of Fair Oaks was so little decisive that McClellan detennined to change his 
 ba.se of supplies from the White House, so-called, on the Pamunkey, to some suitable point 
 on the James. The movement was one of great hazard. General Lee, discovering the 
 operation of his antagonist, swooped down on the right wing of the Union armv at Oak 
 Grove, where another hard battle was fought witliout decisive results. This was followed 
 on the next day with a third dreadful engagement at Mechanicsville. In this conflict the 
 
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 MAP OF M'CLHtLAN'S DEFENSIVE LINES AND OPERATIONS OF THE ARMY 
 OF THE POTOMAC. 
 
 42
 
 658 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 jMAiWSOKVILll 
 
 Federals gained the field, but on the following morning L,ee renewed the struggle at Gaines's 
 Mill and came out victorious. On the 28th there was but little fighting. On the 29th 
 McClellan was twice attacked, first at Savage's Station and later in the day in White Oak 
 Swamp, but nothing decisive was achieved on either side. On the 30th was fought the 
 desperate battle of Glendale, or Frazier's Farm. On that night the Federal army reached 
 Malvern Hill, on the north bank of the James, twelve miles below Richmond. 
 
 McClellan had thus receded about five miles in a circuitous direction from the Confed- 
 erate capital. His position at Malvern Hill was strong, besides the Federal gunboats in the 
 
 James now furnished pro- 
 tection. General Lee, how- 
 ever, determined to assault 
 the Union position, and on 
 the morning of the ist of 
 July the whole Confederate 
 anny was pushed forward 
 for the attack. Throughout 
 the day the struggle for the 
 possession of the high 
 grounds was furious in the 
 last degree. The battle 
 lasted until nine o'clock at 
 night, when Lee's shattered 
 columns fell back exhausted. 
 For seven days the roar of 
 battle had continued almost 
 witliout cessation. No such 
 dreadful scenes had hitherto 
 been witnessed on the 
 American continent, and 
 but rarely in the Old World. 
 McClellan was very 
 clearl)- victorious at IMalvern Hill, and in the judgment of after times might have at 
 once made a successful advance on Richmond. Lee's army was broken to fragments, 
 and McClellan was greath' superior in numbers. That commander, however, chose as 
 usual the less hazardous course. On the 2d of July he retired to Harrison's landing, 
 a few miles down the river. The great campaign was really at an end. The Federal 
 anny had lost on the advance from Yorktown to ]\Ialvern Hill inclusive, fully fifteen 
 thousand men and the capaire of Richmond seemed further off than ever. The losses of 
 the Confederates had been heavier than those of the Union anny, but the moral effect of 
 victory remained with the South. 
 
 General Lee, availing himself of his advantage and quickly recuperating from his 
 losses, immediately planned an invasion of Maryland and the capture of Washington city. 
 The Union troops between Richmond and Washington numbered about fift\- thousand and 
 were under command of General Jolin Pope. They were scattered at several points from 
 Fredericksburg to Winchester and Harper's Ferr}'. Lee's advance was made at the middle 
 of August and Pope began at once to concentrate his forces. On the 20th of the month he 
 got his anny to the north bank of the Rappahannock. While these movements were taking 
 
 PART OF MARYLAND RAIDED BY THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.
 
 ^059 1
 
 660 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 place General Banks, attempting to form a junction with Pope, was attacked by Stonewall 
 Jackson at Cedar Mountain, where only desperate fighting saved the Federals from rout. 
 
 Jackson now passed with his division on a flank movement, reached Manassas Junction 
 and captured that place with its garrison and stores. Pope with great audacity threw his 
 army between the two divisions of Confederates, hoping to crush Jackson before Lee could 
 come to the rescue. On the 28tli and 29th of August there was terrible fighting on the old 
 Bull Run battle-ground and at Centerville. At one time it appeared that Lee's army would 
 be completelv defeated; but Pope's reinforcements, a strong division under Fitz John Porter,, 
 did not reach the field in time and Pope was defeated. On the 31st a dreadful battle was. 
 fought at Chantilly, lasting all day. The Confederates were victorious, and Generals 
 Stephens and Kearney were among the thousands who fell from the Union ranks in this 
 struo-o-le. Pope by night withdrew his shattered columns and took refuge in the defences at 
 Washington. He immediately resigned his command, and his Anny of Virginia was con- 
 solidated with the Army of the Potomac. The latter had now been recalled from the 
 peninsula below Richmond, and General McClellan was placed in supreme command of all 
 the divisions about Washington. Thus in dire disaster ended what is known as the Penin- 
 sular Campaign. 
 
 BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 
 
 General Lee, victorious over Pope, pressed on to the Potomac, crossed at the Point of 
 Rocks and on the 6th of September captured Frederick. On the loth Hagerstown was taken, 
 
 and on the 15th Stonewall Jackson, falling upon 
 Harper's Ferry, frightened the commandant. Colonel 
 Miles, into a surrender, b}' which the garrison, number- 
 ing nearly twelve thousand became prisoners of war. 
 On the previous day a hard battle had been fought at 
 South Mountain in which the Federals were victorious. 
 By these movements McClellan' s army was brought 
 into the immediate rear of Lee, who on the night of 
 the 14th fell back to Antietam Creek and took a strong 
 position in the vicinit>' of Sliarpsburg. 
 
 Another great battle was now at hand. During 
 the 15th of September there was much skirmishing ; 
 but night came without decisive results. These move- 
 ments continued during the i6th. General Hooker, 
 commanding the Federal right, was thrown across the 
 Antietam, obtaining thereby a favorable position. 
 The Confederate left, under Hood, was assailed and 
 forced back in the direction of Sharpsburg. Then followed a cannonade until nightfall. 
 On the morning of the 17th both armies were well posted. The Federals were 
 strono-est in numbers, but the Confederates had the advantage of an unfordable stream 
 in their front It was of great importance to McClellan that he should gain and hold 
 the four stone bridges by which passage could be had to the other side. General Burn- 
 side, who was ordered to capture the lower bridge and attack the division of A. P. Hill, 
 was retarded in his movements; and it was only by terrible fighting that he succeeded 
 in holding his position on the west bank of the Antietam. On the Union right Hooker 
 fought a successful battle; but the success was gained by great losses, including that of 
 General Mansfield. At the close of day the Union army had gained the west bank of the 
 
 (,h,;NhKAi, JUbbPH HOOKER.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBL\. 
 
 (it; I 
 
 river, and the Confederates were worsted all along the line; Inil llioy still held nearly the 
 same ground as in the morning, and the final struggle was reserved for the morrow. 
 
 With the morrow, however, McClellan began to act on the defensive. It was another 
 of those fatal delays for which the military career of that General was unfortunately noted. 
 During the i8th two strong divisions of Federals, under Generals Humplire)' and Couch, 
 arrived, and it was the intention of the Union commanders to renew the battle on the 19th ; 
 but General Lee, wiser than his antagonist, availed himself of the delay, withdrew from his 
 critical position and recrossed the Potomac into Virginia. The great conflict which had cost 
 the Union anny an aggregate of ten thousand men ended in a drawn battle, in which there 
 was little to be praised except the heroism of the soldiery. To the Confederates, how- 
 ever, the campaign had ended in defeat. The people of Maryland did not rise in behalf of 
 the Confederate cause and General Lee was obliged to relinquish the invasion which had 
 cost him in the short space of a month about twenty-five thousand men. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER ADVANCE ON RICHMOND. 
 
 After Antietam there was another lull and it was late in October before McClellan, fol- 
 lowing the retreating Confederates, again entered Virginia. The detennination of the 
 
 national Goveniment, 
 however, was not 
 abated. The adminis- 
 tration was pledged to 
 the suppression of the 
 Rebellion. That Re- 
 bellion had now become 
 a mighty war, strongly 
 tending to revolution 
 and a general change of 
 American history. It 
 was the intention of the 
 authorities to make 
 another advance on 
 Richmond before the 
 coming of winter and 
 the Union commander 
 was ordered to prepare- 
 There was, however, a 
 that General and the 
 administration. The latter objected to McClellan's 
 plan of campaign by which Washington city would 
 be again imcovered to a counter invasion of the 
 Confederates. It was the desire of the Union 
 General to establish his base of supplies at West 
 Point, on the Pamunkey river ; but the President and Secretan,- of War insisted that 
 he should choose -Mexandria as his base of operations. From this point it was proposed to 
 go forward by way of the Orange railroad, through Culpcper to Gordonsville and thence by 
 the Virginia Central to its junction with the line reaching from Fredericksburg to 
 Richmond. 
 
 for such a movement 
 discord of views between 
 
 STORMING THK BRIDGE AT ANTIETAM
 
 662 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The sequel showed that the break between General McClellan and the authorities at 
 Washington was fatal. The whole of October was wasted with delays and November was 
 begun before that commander with an army of a hundred and twent}- thousand men 
 announced himself ready for the advance. On the jtliof the month, when the movement 
 was about to begin, he was superseded and his command transferred to General Burnside. 
 Rieht or wrone, the President at last reached the decision that General McClellan was a 
 man over-cautious and slow, too prudent and too much absorbed with preliminaries to lead 
 great armies to victor}-. 
 
 With the accession of Burnside the plan of the campaign was at once changed. The 
 new commander would establish his base of supplies at the mouth of Aquia creek, fifty-five 
 miles below Washington, and from that point move southward through Fredericksburg on 
 his wav to Richmond. But there was another great delay in preparation and General Lee 
 had ample time to discover the purpose of his antagonist and to gather his army on tlie 
 heights about Fredericksburg. The passage of the Union arm\- across the Rappahannock 
 was not seriouslv resisted. The movement was effected with little loss or opposition and 
 on the 1 2th of December Burnside established his lines on the right bank of the river, from 
 Falmouth to a point opposite the mouth of the Massaponax, three miles below. 
 
 BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. 
 
 Early on the 13th of December a general battle began on the Union left, where 
 Franklin's division was met by that of Stonewall Jackson. At the beginning of the engage- 
 men General Meade succeeded in breaking the Confederate line ; but the movement was not 
 sustained ; the Confederates rallied and drove back the Federals with a loss of about three 
 thousand men. Jackson's loss was almost as great and the result was indecisive. On the 
 centre and right, however, the battle went wholly against Burnside. General Sumner's 
 division was ordered against the Confederates on Marye's Hill and the charge was gallantly 
 made ; but the attacking columns were mowed down by the thousand and hurled back 
 while the defenders of the heights hardly lost a man. Time and again the assault was 
 renewed, but always with the same disastrous result. The carnage did not end until dark- 
 ness fell over the scene of conflict. 
 
 General Burnside, rashly patriotic and almost out of his wits, would have renewed the 
 battle, but the subordinate officers dissuaded him, and on the night of the 15th the whole 
 armv was quietly withdrawn to the left bank of the Rappahannock. The Union losses in 
 the battle of Fredericksburg amounted in killed, wounded and prisoners to more than twelve 
 thousand men. The Confederates lost something over five thousand. Of all the important 
 movements of the war only that of Fredericksburg was tmdertaken with no probability of 
 success. Under the plan of battle nothing could be reasonably expected but repulse, rout 
 and ruin. Thus in gloom, disaster and humiliation ended the Virginia campaign of 1862.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 DECLINE AND OVERTHROW OF THE CONFEDERACY. 
 
 THE Ci\il War had continued with the same results 
 through the j'ear 1863, the revolution attempted by the 
 Confederate leaders must have succeeded. Thus far the 
 battle had, on the whole, gone in favor of the South. 
 It appeared not improbable that the di.ssolntion of the 
 Union would be effected. It became the aim and deter- 
 mination of the Confederate government to hold out 
 against the superior resources of the North until they 
 should compel the national authorities to yield the contest. 
 The war had now grown to unheard-of proportions. 
 The Southern States cast all on the die, and drained every 
 source of men and means for the support of their armies. 
 The National Government also was greatly ta.xed, but the 
 resource.^ m1 the North were by no means exhausted. On the 2d of July, 1S62, President 
 Lincoln issued a call for three hundred thousand men. In the exciting times of Pope's 
 retreat, he sent forth another call for three hundred thousand, and to this was soon added a 
 requisition by draft for three hundred thousand more. Most of these demands were 
 promptly met, and th-^ discerning eye might already discover, at the beginning of 1863, 
 that the national authority was destined to be reestablished by force of arms. 
 
 On the first day of the new year President Lincoln issued the celebrated Emancipation 
 Proclamation. The President had hitherto declared that he would save the Union u-ith 
 slavery if he could, but xvithout it if he must. Meanwhile a growing animosity against the 
 system of human bondage had spread among the people. The sentiment of abolition began 
 to prevail among both the people and the soldier}-. It came to be regarded by the Govern- 
 ment as a military necessity to strike a blow at the labor system of the South, and the step 
 was finally taken with little hesitancy or opposition. The President had issued a prelimi- 
 nar\- proclamation in September of 1862, in which he warned the people of the Southern 
 States to lay down their arms and return to their allegiance, under the menace of the 
 destruction of their peculiar institution. The warning was met with disdain, and the 
 Emancipation Proclamation was accordingly issued. Thus after an existence of two 
 hundred and forty-four )ears, African slavery in the United .States wa.-; swept away. 
 
 The beginning of the new year found General William T. Shennan in active move- 
 ment on the Mississippi. That commander sent out an cxjiedition earl\' in Jauuar> for the 
 capture of Arkansas Post, on the Arkansas river. The Union forces reached their destina- 
 tion on the loth of the month, and after a hard-fought battle gained a decisive victory. 
 Arkansas Post was taken, with nearly five thousand prisoners. The expedition was then 
 turned about for \'icksburg, in order to cooperate with Cicneral Ciraut in a second effort to 
 capture that stronghold and free the Mi.ssissippi river.
 
 664 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 THE REDUCTION OF VICKSBURG. 
 
 With this end in view the Union anny was collected at ^Memphis, and embarked on the 
 Mississippi. A landing was first made at Yazoo, bat the capture of Vicksburg from that 
 direction was now regarded as impracticable. For three months General Grant beat about 
 the half-frozen bayous, swamps and hills around Vicksburg, in the hope of gaining a posi- 
 tion in the rear of the town. An attempt was made to cut a canal across the bend in the 
 river, with a view to turning the channel, thus opening a passage for the Union gunboats; 
 but a flood in the Mississippi washed away the works, and the enterprise ended in failure. 
 Another canal was begim, but presently abandoned. Finally, in the beginning of April, it 
 was determined at all hazards to run the fleet past the Vicksburg batteries. On the night 
 
 of the 1 6th, the boats were made ready and 
 silently dropped down the stream. It had 
 been hoped that in the darkness they might 
 pass unobserved ; but all of a sudden the 
 guns burst forth from the Mississippi shore 
 with terrible discharges of shot and shell, 
 which exploded among the passing steamers ; 
 but they went by with comparatively little 
 damage, and gained a safe position below 
 the city. 
 
 By this extraordinary manoeuvre Grant 
 was now able to transfer his land forces 
 down the right bank of the Mississippi and 
 to form a junction with the fleet below 
 Vicksburg. This done, he crossed the river 
 at Bruinsburg on the 30th of April, and on 
 the following day fought with the Con- 
 federates a victorious battle at Port Gibson. 
 This success obliged the Confederates to 
 evacuate Grand Gulf, and the Union army 
 was thus free to move at will in the rear 
 of Vicksburg. 
 
 But there was much hazard in the 
 situation. On the 12th of May another battle was fought at Raymond and the Con- 
 federates were defeated. At this juncture General Joseph E. Johnston was on the 
 march from Jackson to reinforce the forces at Vicksburg, which were commanded by 
 General J. C. Pemberton. The right wing of the Union army, under Sherman and 
 McPherson, fell in with Johnston on the 14th of the month, and a severe battle was 
 fought, in which the Confederates were defeated. Grant was able to follow up his 
 success with the capture of Jackson. The possession of the lines of communication 
 between Vicksburg and the interior was secured by the Union General, and his antagonist 
 was forced back towards Vicksburg. Pemberton, however, was not willing to be shut up 
 without a struggle for freedom. He accordingly moved out with the greater part of his 
 forces, and on the i6th of the month fought with the Federal army the decisive battle of 
 Champion Hill. This was followed by a second conflict at Black River. In both engage- 
 ments the Federals were victorious, and the Confederate army was effectually cooped up 
 within the fortifications of Vicksburg. 
 
 GENERAL WM. T. SHERMAN.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. (JGo 
 
 That city was invested and besieged by the Union army. On the 19th of May General 
 Grant attempted to carry the Confederate works by assanlt, but the attack was repulsed 
 with severe losses. Three da\-s afterwards another assault was made, but the P'ederal 
 columns, though they gained some ground in different parts of the field, were hurled back 
 with great destruction of life. The aggregate losses in the two attacks amounted to nearly 
 three thousand men. 
 
 The siege was now pressed with ever-increasing vigor. The Confederate garrison was 
 presently placed on short rations. A condition of starvation ensued, but Pemberton held 
 out for more than a month. It was not until the Fourth of July that he was obliged to 
 surrender. By the act of capitulation the Confederate army, thirty thousand strong, became 
 prisoners of war. Thousands of small arms, hundreds of cannon and vast quantities of 
 ammunition and military stores were the additional fruits of this great Union victory, by 
 which the national cause gained more and the Confederacy lost more than in any previous 
 struggle of the war. It was a blow from which the South was never able to recover. 
 
 General X. P. Banks had now superseded General Butler in the command of the 
 department of the Gulf. That officer set out early in January from Baton Rouge, and 
 advanced with a strong force into Louisiana. He encountered the Confederates at a place 
 called Bayou Teche and gained there a decisive victory. He then moved northward and 
 began a siege of Fort Hudson, Mississippi. The beleaguered garrison, under General 
 Gardner, made a brave defence, holding out until the 8th of July. When the news of the 
 fall of Vicksburg reached Gardner, however, he capitulated, by which six thousand addi- 
 tional Confederate soldiers became prisoners of war. It was the last stroke by which the 
 Mississippi was freed from Confederate control and opened through its whole length to the 
 operations of the Federal anny. The series of movements by which this work was accom- 
 plished reflected the highest honor upon the military' genius of General Grant. After 
 Vicksburg the attention and confidence of the North were turned to him as the leader who 
 was destined to conduct the national annies to final triumph. 
 
 DESTRUCTION WROUGHT BY CAVALRY RAIDS. 
 
 .\t this period of the war cavalr\ raids became tlie order of the day. These move- 
 ments were an important element of larger military operations. The possibility of them 
 was first noted and their value demonstrated by Stonewall Jackson in his Shenandoah 
 campaigns of 1862. Later in that >ear, after the battle of Ai:tietam, General J. E. B. 
 Stuart, commanding the cavaln,- of the anny of Northern Virginia, made an excursion with 
 eighteen hundred troopers into Pennsylvania. He captured Chambersburg, made a com- 
 plete circuit of the Union army and returned in safety into Virginia. 
 
 In the spring of 1863 Colonel Benjamin Grierson of the Sixth Illinois cavalry struck 
 out with his command from La Grange, Tennessee, entered Mississippi, traversed the State 
 to the east of Jackson, cut the railroads, destroyed great amounts of property, and after a 
 rapid course of more than eight hundred miles through the enemy's country, gained the 
 Mi.ssissippi at Baton Rouge. Both .sections of the countr>- along the border lines of the war 
 were kept in the utmost agitation and alarm by these recurring raids. With the progress 
 of the conflict such movements became more and more injurious. The commanders of 
 them and the men whom they led learned to perfection the arts of destruction. The skill 
 of the raiders was directed chiefly to the annihilation of railroads and telegraphs. This 
 work became a new military art, and the destructive abilities of the raiders were such that 
 miles of track and road-bed were destroyed in a single day. 
 
 After Murfreesborough. General Rosecrans remained inactive for a season. Late in
 
 666 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the spring the command of Colonel A. B. Streight made a raid into Georgia, met the 
 division of the Confederate General Forrest, was captured and sent to Libb)- prison. While 
 the siege of Vicksburg was in progress Rosecrans resumed activities, and by a series of flank 
 movements obliged General Bragg to retire from Tennessee into Georgia. The Union 
 General followed, and planted himself at Chattanooga, on the left bank of the Tennessee. 
 
 BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA. 
 The Confederate authorities now sent forward large reinforcements to Bragg, including 
 the divisions of Johnston from Mississippi and Longstreet from Virginia. On the 19th 
 of September the Confederate commander turned upon the Federal anny at Chickamauga 
 Creek, in the northwest angle of Georgia, where was fought one of the great battles of the 
 war. Night fell on the scene with the victory undecided. Under cover of the dark- 
 
 '.'■t»^-./., 
 
 A RAII.ROAD BATTERY OF THE RAIDERS. 
 
 ness the Confederates, strongly reinforced by Longstreet, prepared for the renewal of the 
 conflict. Longstreet took the Confederate left, opposite the Union right, held by General 
 Cook. The battle was renewed on the morning of the 20th, and for a while the Federals 
 held their ground with unflinching courage. After some hours of indecisive fighting, the 
 national battle line was opened by General Wood, acting under mistaken orders. Long- 
 street, seeing the mistake, thrust forward a heavy column into the gap, cut the Union army 
 in two, and dro\'e the shattered right wing in utter rout from the field. The brunt of the 
 battle now fell on General Thomas, who held the Union left. That officer, with a desperate 
 valor hardly surpassed in the annals of war, clung to his position until nightfall, and then 
 under cover of darkness withdrew into Chattanooga, where the defeated army of Rosecrans 
 found a precarious shelter. The Union losses in this dreadful battle amounted in killed, 
 wounded and missing to nearly nineteen thousand and the Confederate loss was equally 
 appalling.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 067 
 
 Bragg pressed forward at once to the siege of Chattanooga. He succeeded in cutting 
 fhe Federal lines of communication and for awhile the anny of Rosecrans was threatened 
 with total destruction. General Hooker came to the rescue with two army corps from the 
 Anny of the Potomac, opened the Tennessee River and brought a measure of relief to the 
 besieged. But the great step towards recovery was the promotion of General Ulysses S. 
 Grant to the chief command of all the Western armies. That commander, whose star now 
 struggled out of the clouds of doubt and disparagement to shine with ever increasing 
 brightness, at once assumed direction of affairs at Chattanooga. Nor was there ever a time 
 in the course of the war when a change of commanders was immediately felt in so salutary 
 a measure. Shennan also arrived at Chattanooga with his division and the Army of the 
 Cumberland was able to assume the offensive against the Confederates. 
 
 BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. 
 
 The left wing of Bragg's anny rested at this time on Lookout Mountain and the right 
 on Missionary Ridge. The Confederate position was seemingh- impregnable, but the Union 
 commander did not hesitate to attack his antagonist. At this very time Bragg was maturing 
 his plans for an assault 
 on Chattanooga. On the 
 20th of November he 
 went so far as to notify 
 General Grant to remove 
 all non-combatants from 
 the city as he was about 
 to begin a bombardment. 
 To this menace the Union 
 General paid no attention. 
 On the 23d of the month 
 Hooker was sent with hi- 
 corps across the ri\Lr 
 below Chattanooga to gain 
 a footing at the bottom 
 of Lookout Mountain. 
 He was ordered to hold 
 himself in readiness to make an assault with the support of Generals Gerry, Gear\- and 
 Osterhaus. The Union line in front of Chattanooga was kept in a state of activity to 
 distract the attention oif the Confederates from the real point of attack. 
 
 The movements of Hooker on the Union right were concealed by a fog that hung like 
 a hood over the mountain. The assault began early in the morning and the Confederate 
 rifle-pits along the foothills were successfully carried. The Union charge gathered enthusi- 
 asm and momentum in its course. The assault was made up the steep sides of Lookout, 
 but the Union troops went forward with irresistible energy. The mountain was not strongly 
 defended by the Confederates, for the reason of its apparent inaccessibility. The Federal 
 charge went to the summit and by two o'clock in the afternoon the national flag was waving 
 above the clouds on the top of Lookout. The Confederates retreated down the eastern slope 
 and across the inter\'ening valleys towards Missionary Ridge. 
 
 Bragg now perceived that he was to be the attacked instead of the attacking part}-. 
 During the night of the 24th he concentrated his forces for the defence of his position. On 
 the morning of the 25th Grant ordered Hooker to bear down the slopes of Lookout, cross 
 
 A CHARGK AT MISSIONARY RIDGE.
 
 668 
 
 COLU^IBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the Chattanooga and renew the battle on the Confederate left. General Sherman meanwhile 
 had thrown a pontoon bridge across the Tennesseee and gained a lodgment for his di^•ision 
 
 on the northeastern declivit}- of 
 Missionar,- Ridge. General 
 Thomas, commanding the 
 Union centre, lay on the southern 
 and eastern slopes of Orchard 
 Knob impatiently awaiting the 
 result of Shennan's and Hooker's 
 onsets. 
 
 Hooker was delayed in his 
 movements, but at two o'clock 
 in the afternoon the signal of 
 an a r t i 1 1 e r }• discharge from 
 Orchard Knob announced the 
 beginning of the assault along 
 the whole line.* Instantly the 
 Union column moved forward. 
 The thrilling scenes of Lookout 
 INIountain were reenacted on a 
 more magnificent scale. General 
 Grant had ordered the assaulting 
 columns to take the lifle-pits at 
 the foot of Missionars' Rid^e 
 and then to pause and re-form 
 for the principal charge ; but 
 such was the elan of the army, 
 such the impetuosity of its im- 
 pact, that after carn-ing the rifle- 
 pits the column of its own 
 motion pressed forward at full 
 speed, clambered up the slopes 
 and drove the Confederates in a 
 disastrous rout from the summit 
 of the Ridge. Xo more brilliant 
 ojDeration was witnessed during 
 the war. 
 
 In the following night General 
 Bragg withdrew in the direction 
 of Ringgold, Georgia. His anny 
 was greatly shattered by defeat. 
 The Confederate losses had 
 reached in killed, wounded and 
 prisoners fully ten thousand men. 
 The Federals lost in the two 
 
 * The reverberations of Grant'b .mx aK.iu,! 
 the end of the Confederacy. 
 
 from Orchard Knob were the signal of the beginning of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 66i> 
 
 battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionar\- Riilj^c more than fi\e thousand, of whom 
 seven hundred and fifty-seven were killed. The result was so decisive as to end the 
 war in Tennessee until it was recklessly renewed by General Hood at Franklin and 
 Nashville in the winter of 1864. 
 
 Meanwhile General Buniside was making a strenuous effort to hold East Tennessee 
 against the attempts of the Confederacy. On the ist of September he arrived at Knoxville 
 and was cordially received by the people, most of whom in this section of the State had 
 remained finn in their allegiance to the Union. After Chickamauga General Longstreet 
 was sent into East Tennessee to suppress the Union party and prevent the restoration of the 
 national authority'. On his march towards Knoxville he captured .several detachments of 
 Federal troops and then began a siege of the town. On the 29th of November he made an 
 attempt to carr>- Knoxville by assault, but was repulsed with heavy losses. General Grant 
 looked with the greatest solicitude to the situation of affairs in East Tennessee, and as soon 
 as Bragg retreated from Chattanooga sent General Sherman to the relief of Knoxville. As 
 the latter drew near Longstreet prudently drew off into \'irginia. 
 
 INVASION OF MISSOURI. 
 
 The Confederates had in the meantime resumed activities in Arkansas and southern 
 Missouri. Early in 1863 strong forces under Generals Marmaduke and Price entered this 
 region of countn,-, 
 and on the 8th of 
 January- attacked the 
 city of Springfield. 
 Their assault, how- 
 ever, was repulsed 
 with considerable 
 losses to the assailants. 
 Three days afterwards 
 another battle w a s 
 fought at the town of 
 Hartsville, with like 
 results. On the 26th 
 of April ^][,annaduke 
 made an attack on 
 Cape Girardeau, on 
 the Mississippi, but 
 was for the third time 
 repelled. On the 4tli 
 of July General Holmes, 
 
 TTLK OK CH.\XCELLOKS\ II.I.K. 
 
 I.EE AND J.\CK- ; 
 
 with an anny of about eight thousand men, made an attack on 
 Helena, Arkansas, but was defeated with a loss of one-fifth of his forces. It was on the 
 13th of August in this year tliat the town of Lawrence, Kansas, was sacked and burned 
 and a hundred and forty persons killed by a band of guerillas led by a chieftain called 
 Quantrell. On the loth of September General Steele reached Little Rock, Arkansas, 
 captured the city, and restored the national authority in the State. 
 
 The greatest raid of the year, and perhaps of the war, was that of the Confederate 
 General John Morgan. That officer, at the head of a cavalry force three thon.sand strong, 
 started northward from the town of Sparta, Tennes.see, for an invasion of Kentucky, 
 Indiana and Ohio. While passing through the first-named State he gathered strength, so
 
 670 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 that his force on reaching the Ohio River was formidable. He crossed at a place called 
 Brandenbvirg and began his march through Indiana to the north and east. The home- 
 gnards of that State turned out ; but the movements of Morgan were so rapid that it was 
 difficult to check his progress. He was resisted seriously at Corydon, and a large force 
 of Federals under General Hobson pressed hard after him as he made his way in a circuit 
 through the southeastern part of the State. He crossed the Ohio line at the town of Harri- 
 son and passed to the north of Cincinnati. B)- this time, however, State troops began to 
 swarm around the raiders, and the latter attempted to regain the Ohio River. There they 
 were confronted by gunboats and turned back. The forces of Morgan melted awa}' under 
 pressure and constant fighting, until he came to the town of New Lisbon, Ohio, where he 
 was surrounded and captured by the brigade of General Shackelford. The Confederate 
 leader was imprisoned in the Ohio penitentiary; but he succeeded in making his escape 
 from that place, fled to Kentucky, and finally reached Richmond. 
 
 ATTACK ON CHARLESTON AND DEATH OF JACKSON. 
 In the meantime minor but important operations had been carried forward along the 
 sea-coast. On the first day of 1863 General IMarmaduke captured Galveston, Texas, thus 
 
 for the Confederate States a much- 
 
 needed port of entry. On the 7th of April 
 Admiral Dupont, with a fleet of ironclads and 
 rftonitors, made a descent on Charleston, but 
 was driven back from the city. In the latter 
 part of June the eflfort was renewed in con- 
 junction with a land force under command of 
 ( General O. A. Gilmore. The Federal army 
 gained a lodgment on Folly and Morris 
 islands, where batteries were planted bearing 
 on Forts Sumter and Wagner. On the i8th 
 of July an assault was made on Fort Wagner, 
 but the Federals were repulsed with a loss 
 of more than fifteen hundred men. Early in 
 September the Confederates evacuated Wagner 
 and Batten- Gregg, whence they retired into 
 Charleston. Gilmore, acting in conjunction 
 with Admiral Dahlgren, was able to plant 
 batteries within four miles of the city. The 
 lower part of Charleston was bombarded and 
 one side of Fort Sumter pounded into powder. 
 The fort, however, could not be taken, 
 and the only present gain to the Federals 
 the establishment of a blockade so 
 
 STONE\V.\LL JACKSON BEFORE THE B.-VTTLH. 
 
 was 
 
 complete as to seal up the port of Charleston. 
 
 In the meantime the Army of the Potomac had had its share of A-icissitude and battle. 
 After the repulse at Fredericksburg, General Burnside resigned the command, and was 
 superseded by General Joseph Hooker. The latter advanced in the after part of April, 
 crossed the Rappahannock and the Rapidan and reached Chancellorsville. Here, on the 
 evening of the 2d of May, he was attacked by the Array of Northern Virginia, under com- 
 mand of Lee and Jackson. The latter general, at the head of twenty-five thousand men,
 
 COLUMBUS A\I) COLUMBIA. 
 
 <;71 
 
 succceiled b\' extraordinary tlaring in ontflanking the I'nion army, and swept down like a 
 thunder-blast upon the right wing, dashing everything to destruction as he came. But it 
 was the last of Stonewall's battles. As night came on and ruin seemed to impend over the 
 Federal army, the Confederate leader, in the confusion of the scene, received a volley from 
 
 BATTI.1-; OF CHAN*CKt.I.ORSVIl.I.K. 
 
 his own lines, and fell mortally wounded. He lingered a week, and died at (luinca Station, 
 leaving a gap in tlie Confederate ranks never to be filled. 
 
 The Union right wing was rallied and restored. On the morning of the 3d tiie Con- 
 federates were checked in their career of victory. General Sedgwick, who had attempted 
 to reinforce Hooker at Fredericksburg, was attacked and driven across the Rappahannock.
 
 672 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Union annv was forced into a comparatively small space between Chancellorsville and 
 the river, where it remained in the utmost peril until the evening of the 5th, when Hooker 
 succeeded in withdrawing his forces to the northern bank. The Union losses amounted to 
 about seventeen thousand, while those of the Confederates were hardly five thousand in 
 number. At no time during the war did the Union cause appear to a greater disadvantage 
 in the East than after the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville. 
 
 It was at this period that General Stoneman conducted his successful cavalry- raid into 
 Virginia. His movement was coincident with that of Hooker to Chancellorsville. On the 
 29th of April, Stoneman, crossing the Rappahannock, tore up the Virginia Central railway 
 and pushed ahead to the Chickahomin}^ He succeeded in cutting Lee's communications, 
 
 swept around within a few 
 
 miles of Richmond, and on 
 the 8th of May recrossed 
 the Rappahannock in safety. 
 Another event serving to 
 mitigate the Union disasters 
 at Chancellorsville was the 
 successful defence of Suffolk, 
 on the Nansemond river, 
 by General Peck against 
 the siege conducted by 
 General Longstreet. 
 INVASION OF PENNSVLVANIA. 
 The Confederates were 
 greatly elated with their 
 successes on the Rappahan- 
 nock, and General Lee de- 
 termined upon a counter- 
 invasion of jMarj-land and 
 Pennsylvania. In the first 
 week of June he crossed the 
 Potomac with his whole 
 army and captured Hagers- 
 town. On the 2 2d of the 
 month he reached Chambers- 
 burg, and then pressed on through Carlisle, in the direction of Harrisburg. The in- 
 vasion produced the greatest excitement. The militia of Pennsylvania was hurriedly 
 called out, and volunteers by the thousand poured in from other States. General Hooker 
 threw forward the Army of the Potomac to confront his antagonist. It became evident that 
 a great and decisive battle was at hand. 
 
 General Lee concentrated his forces near the village of Gettysburg, capital of Adams 
 county, Pennsylvania, and the Union array was likewise gathered on the highlands be>ond 
 the town. On the ver>- eve of battle the command of the Federal forces was transferred 
 from General Hooker to General George G. IMeade— a dangerous experiment in the face of 
 so overwhelming a contingency. IMeade drew up his army through the hill-country in the 
 direction of Gettysburg. After two years of indecisive though bloody warfare, it now 
 
 SEAT OF WAR FROM HARPER'S FERRY TO SUFFOLK, VA.
 
 COLUxMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 673 
 
 seemed that the fate of the war, and possibly of the American republic, was to be staked 
 on the issue of a single battle. 
 
 On the morning of the ist of July the Union advance under Generals Reynolds and 
 Beauford, moving out westward from Gettvsburg, encountered the Confederate division of 
 General A. P. Hill coming upon the road from Hagerstown, and the struggle began. In 
 the afternoon both divisions were strongly reinforced, and a severe battle was fought for the 
 possession of Seminar>- ridge. The Confederates were victorious, and the Union advance 
 line was forced back from its position through the village to the high grounds on the south. 
 
 Such was the initial passage of the battle. The Federal lines were now drawn up in a 
 convex position reaching from the eminence called Round Top, where the left wing rested, 
 armind the crest of the ridges to Cemetery Hill, where the centre was posted. From this 
 position the lines extended to Wolf Hill, 
 on Rock creek. The position was well 
 chosen and strong, and the whole Union 
 army, with the exception of Sedgwick's 
 corps, was brought forward into position 
 during the night of the ist. The Con- 
 federate forces were likewise thrown into 
 advantageous lines on Seminar)- ridge, and 
 on the high grounds to the left of Rock 
 creek. The semi-circle was about five 
 miles in extent. The cavalr,- divisions, 
 both Federal and Confederate, hung upon 
 the flanks of the respective armies, doing 
 effective ser\'ice, but hardly participating 
 in the main conflicts of the centre. 
 
 BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 
 With the morning of July 2d the 
 battle was begun by General Longstreet, 
 who commanded the Confederate right. 
 That officer moved forward with impetu- 
 osity and fell upon the Union left under 
 General Sickles. The stniggle for the 
 possession of Great and Little Round 
 Tops was terrific and lasted until six 
 o'clock in the evening. The close of the 
 
 J r J it 4. •,.• 4.MI • BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, IlLV 1, 2, ■>,, iSSx. 
 
 day found those strong positions still in . j . o. j 
 
 the hands of the Federals ; but the fighting on the whole had been favorable to the 
 Confederates. In the centre, meanwh-.le, a battle had been fought for the greater 
 part of the day, the contention being for the mastery of Cemeten,- Hill which was 
 the key to the Federal position. In this part of the field the national line, though 
 hard pressed by the Confederates, preserved its integrity until nightfall. On the Union 
 right the Confederate onset was more successful, and that wing of the aniiy commanded 
 by General Slocum was to a considerable extent broken by the assaults of .\. P. 
 Hill. At ten o'clock at night, however, when the fighting ceased, it was found that the 
 two annies held virtually the same position as at the beginning of the battle — this, not- 
 
 43
 
 674 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ?^^ 
 
 ft'i 
 
 r 
 
 A 
 
 
 ^. :i 
 
 
 
 
 
 withstanding the fact that nearly forty thousand Union and Confederate dead and wounded 
 already bore evidence of the portentous character of the conflict. 
 
 The national forces were now on the defensive. The Confederates in order to succeed 
 must advance. Otherwise the invasion would end in defeat and disaster. The Confeder- 
 ate anny must break through the opposing wall or be hurled back from the assault. Lee 
 did not flinch from the great exigency before him. During the night both generals pre- 
 pared for a renewal of the battle on the morrow. With the coming of morning, however, 
 both seemed loath to begin. Doubtless both were well aware of the critical nature of the 
 conflict. The whole nation, indeed, realized on the morning of the 3d of July that the 
 crisis of the Civil War had been reached, and that perhaps before sunset the issue would be 
 decided for or against the American Union. 
 
 The forenoon of that tremendous day was spent in preparations. There was small and 
 desultory fighting here and there but nothing decisive. At midday there was a lull along 
 
 the whole line. Then 
 burst forth the fiercest 
 cannonade ever known on 
 the American continent 
 For about two hours the 
 hills and surrounding 
 country were shaken with 
 the thunders of more than 
 two hundred heavy guns. 
 The Confederate artillery 
 was concentrated against 
 the Union centre at 
 Cemeter}' Hill, and this 
 place became a scene of 
 indescribable uproar and 
 death. About two o'clock 
 the Union batteries, under 
 the direction of General 
 Hunt, drew back beyond 
 the crest in order to cool 
 the guns and also for 
 economy of ammunition. 
 The slacking of the fire was construed by the Confederates as signifying that their 
 cannonade had been successful. Then came the crisis. The roar of the great guns 
 in a measure ceased. A Confederate column numbering eighteen thousand men and 
 about three-fourths of a mile in length, headed by the Virginians under Pickett, moved 
 forward in a desperate charge against the Union centre. 
 
 The scene that ensued was doubtless the finest military' spectacle ever witnessed west 
 of the Atlantic; but the onset was in vain. The brave men who made it were mowed down 
 with terrible slaughter. The head of the Confederate column succeeded in striking the 
 Union line; but there it sank to the earth. Then the whole division was hurled back in 
 ruin and rout. Victory hovered over the national army and it only remained for Lee with 
 his broken legions to turn back towards the Potomac. 
 
 The losses on both sides were prodigious. That of the Confederates — though never 
 
 REPULSING 
 
 CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG.
 
 
 ►J 
 
 a 
 
 c 
 
 X
 
 676 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 formally reported — was nearh- thirty thousand. The Federals lost in killed, wounded and miss- 
 ing twenty-three thousand and one hundred and eighty-six, making a total of more than fifty 
 thousand men! It was strongly hoped by the Government that when the Confederates were 
 driven back in retreat General Meade would be able by a counter attack to spring upon and 
 destroy the forces of his antagonist before they could recross the river; but the condition of 
 the Union anny was so dreadful that the desired movement could not be undertaken. Gen- 
 eral Lee withdrew his forces into Virginia and the Federals soon took up their old positions 
 on the Potomac and the Rappahannock. 
 
 RIOTS FOLLOWING THE CONSCRIPTION ACT. 
 
 Notwithstanding the overwhelming success of the Union cause at Vicksburg and 
 Gettysburg, the national administration was pressed with mountains of difficulty. The war 
 debt was piling up to infinity. As a matter of fact, the war mi:st soon end or national 
 bankruptcy ensue. The last call for volunteers had not been fully met and there were those 
 in the North who, on account of political animosity rejoiced in the embarrassments of the 
 Government and threw obstacles in the way of its success. The anti-war party becoming 
 bold and open, denounced the measures of Congress and the military conduct of the war. 
 On the 3d of March, 1863, the Conscription Act was passed by Congress and two months 
 afterwards the President ordered a general draft of three hundred thousand men. All able- 
 bodied citizens between the ages of twenty and forty-five were subjected to the requisition. 
 
 This Conscription Act added fuel to the fires of opposition. The Government was 
 bitterly denounced. In many parts of the Border States the draft-officers were resisted. 
 On the 13th of July, notwithstanding the recent successes of the Union armies and the pro- 
 spective end of the war, a serious riot occurred in New York city. A vast mob rose in arms, 
 attacked the offices of the provost-marshals, burned the Colored Orphan Asylum, drove back 
 the police and killed about a hundred people, most of whom were negroes. For three days 
 the mob had virtual possession of the city. Governor Seymour came down from Albany and 
 made to the rioters a mild-mannered speech, promising that the draft should be suspended 
 and advising the crowds to disperse. Little heed was given to this soft-toned admonition, 
 and General Wool, commander of the military district of New York, was obliged to take 
 the matter in hand. Even he, with the forces at his disposal, was not able at first to put 
 down the insurrection. At this juncture, however, some volunteer regiments came trooping 
 home from Gettysburg. The Metropolitan police was organized for the assault and the 
 insurgents were scattered with a strong hand. The stor>' of Vicksburg and Gett)'sburg 
 threw a damper over these treasonable proceedings and acts of domestic violence ceased. 
 Opposition to the war, however, was still rampant in many parts of the North and on the 
 igtli of August, 1863, President Lincoln was constrained to issue a proclamation suspending 
 the writ of habeas corpus throughout the Union. 
 
 The sequel showed the ineffectiveness of the conscription as a method of filling the 
 Union armies. Only about fifty thousand men were added to the national forces by the 
 draft. In other respects, however, the measure was salutary. It was seen that the Govern- 
 ment would not hesitate, in the last resort, to draw upon the human resources of the coun- 
 try by force. Volunteering and the employment of substitutes became the order of 
 the day, and the ranks of the Union army were constantly strengthened by new 
 recruits. Such, however, were the terrible losses in camp and field that in October of 1863 
 the President found it necessary to issue another call for three hundred thousand men. By 
 these active measures the Federal anny was not only maintained in its integrity, but con- 
 stantly increased in volume and effectiveness.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 077 
 
 It now became apparent that the Confederacy was weakening. With the approach of 
 winter the disparity between the Federal and the Confederate forces began to be apparent to 
 the whole world. The armies of the South already showed symptoms of exhaustion ; and 
 the most rigorous conscription was necessary to fill the thinning and breaking ranks. It was 
 on the 20th of June of this year that West Virginia, separated from the Old Dominion, was 
 organized and admitted as the thirty-fifth State in the Union. 
 
 RAIDS OF GENERAL FORREST. 
 
 The Union Generals waited anxiously for the spring of 1864. Military operations with 
 the opening of the season were first begun in the West. Early in February' General 
 Shennan left Vicksburg with the purpose of destroying the railways of Eastern Mississippi. 
 He advanced to Meridian, where on the 15th of the month he began the destruction of the 
 tracks from Mobile to Corinth and from 
 Vicksburg to Montgomery. This work was 
 carried on with fearful rapidity for a distance 
 of a hundred and fifty miles. Bridges were 
 bunied, locomotives and cars destroyed and 
 vast quantities of cotton and com given to 
 the flames. Shennan had expected to be 
 joined at Meridian by a Federal cavalry 
 force under General Smith, but the latter 
 oflScer was met on the advance by the 
 Confederate cavalPv- under Forrest and was 
 driven back to Memphis. Sherman, dis- 
 appointed by this failure, returned to Vicks- 
 burg; while Forrest continued his raid north- 
 ward into Tennessee. On the 24th of 
 March he captured Union city and then 
 pressed on to Paducah, Kentucky, where he 
 attacked Fort Anderson, but was repulsed. 
 Turning back into Tennessee he assaulted Fort Pillow, seventy miles north of Memphis. 
 The place was defended by five hundred and sixty soldiers, about half of whom were 
 negroes. Forrest demanding a surrender and being refused, carried the fort by storm and 
 nearly all the negro soldiers were slain. 
 
 DISASTROUS RESULTS OF THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION. 
 
 To the spring of 1864 belongs the story of the Red River Expedition of General Banks. 
 The plan of this campaign embraced the movement of a strong land-force up Red River, 
 supported by a fleet under Admiral Porter. The object was the capture of Shreveport, 
 Louisiana. The Federal anny advanced in three divisions, under Generals Smith, Banks 
 and Steele. On the 14th of March .Smith's division reached Fort de Russy, which was 
 taken by assault On the i6th Alexandria was occupied by the Federals and on the 19th 
 Natchitoches was captured. At this point the road departed from the river and the anny 
 and the gunboats were separated. The fleet proceeded up the stream towards Shreveport and 
 the land-forces whirled off in a circuit to the left 
 
 On the 8th of .\pril the Union advance approaching the town of Mansfield was suddenly 
 attacked by the Confederates in full force. The Federals were completely routed and were 
 pursued as far as Pleasant Hill. Mere a .second battle was fought in which the hard fighting 
 
 FORREST LEADING HIS ROUGH RIDERS.
 
 678 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 TuL4 
 
 M \P OF 
 
 DALTON' 
 
 of the division of General Smith saved the army from complete rout. Nearh- three thou- 
 sand men, twenty pieces of artiller\- and the supply train of the Federals were lost in these 
 disastrous battles. 
 
 Meanwhile the Confederates planted batteries on the banks of Red River to pre\ent 
 the return of the fleet. When the flotilla dropped down as far as Alexandria no further 
 progress could be made on account of the low stage of the river. The gunboats could not 
 
 pass the rapids. In this emergency 
 Colonel Bailey, of Wisconsin, con- 
 structed a dam across the river, rais- 
 ing the water so that the vessels 
 could be floated over. The whole 
 expedition broke to pieces and the 
 fragments rolled back into the 
 Mississippi. General Steele hearing 
 the news on his advance from Little 
 Rock, withdrew^ in safety to his 
 station. The whole campaign appears 
 to have been marked with misfor- 
 tune, folly and incompetency of 
 management. General Banks was 
 relieved of his command and super- 
 seded b}- General Canb}-. 
 
 The Civil War had now de- 
 veloped its own leaders. First and 
 greatest of these was General Ulysses 
 S. Grant. By degrees and through 
 ever}- kind of hardship and con- 
 tumely that silent and self-possessed 
 commander had emerged from the 
 obscurity which surrounded him at 
 the beginning of the conflict and 
 now stood forth in unequalled 
 modesty as the leading figure of the 
 time. After Vicksburg and Chatta- 
 nooga nothing could stay his progress to the command-in-chief Congress responded to 
 the spirit of the country b)- reviving the high grade of /iciitcnant-general and conferring 
 it on Grant. This brought with it the appointment by the President on the ad of 
 March, 1864, to the command-in-chief of the land and naval forces of the United States. 
 No fewer than seven hundred thousand Union soldiers were now to move at Grant's com- 
 mand. He took leave of his Western armies and repaired to Washington City, where he 
 received his commission at the hands of the President. 
 
 SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA. 
 
 Now it was that the grand strateg\- of the war began to appear. Two great campaigns 
 were planned for the year. The Army of the Potomac, under immediate command of 
 Meade and the General-in-chief, was to advance on Richmond, still defended by the army 
 of Northern Virginia, under Lee. General Slierman commanding theanny at Chattanooga,
 
 COLUMHl'S AND COIAMBIA. 
 
 679 
 
 numbering a hundred thousand men, was to march against Atlanta, which was defended by 
 
 the Confederates under General Johnston. To these two great movements all other military 
 
 operations were subordinated. Grant sent his orders to Sherman for the grand beginning 
 
 which was destined to end the 
 
 war and the ist of May, 1864, 
 
 was fixed as the date of tlie 
 
 advance. 
 
 I^Ala^H? /.^^^H£\ WfF^"^ ' ^*Xi ~ Promptly on the 7th of that 
 
 Ma^K^Btf 4iw2^^^^uiV wSH^ ^^^^ month General Sherman moved out 
 
 of Chattanooga. At Dalton he was 
 met by Johnston with a Confederate 
 anny sixty thousand strong. Sherman 
 by manoeuvring and fighting suc- 
 ceeded in turning the Confederate 
 flank and obliged his antagonist to 
 fall back to Resaca. At this place 
 on the 14th and 15th of May two hard 
 battles were fought in which the Union anny was victorious. The Confederates retreated 
 by way of Calhoun and Kingston to Dallas. .\t the latter place Johnston made a second 
 stand. On the aSth of May he was attacked, outnumbered, outflanked and compelled to 
 fall back to Lost Mountain. From this position he was forced in like manner, on the 17th 
 of June, after three days of desultory fighting. 
 
 DEATH OF GENERAL POLK.
 
 680 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Johnston made his next stand at Great and Little Kenesaw Mountains. Here a line 
 was formed and on the 22d of June General Hood fiercely assaulted the Union centre, but 
 was repulsed with heavy losses. Five days afterwards Sherman made an assault with great 
 audacity and attempted to carry Kenesaw by storm, but he was hurled back with a loss of 
 nearly three thousand men. The Union commander, however, at once resumed his former 
 tactics, outflanked his antagonist and on the 3d of July drove him across the Chattahoo- 
 chee. A week later the whole Confederate array was crowded back within the defences of 
 Atlanta. 
 
 Then followed the siege of that city. Atlanta was, after Richmond, the most impor- 
 tant seat of power within the limits of the Confederacy. Here were located the machine 
 shops, foundries, car works and depots of supplies upon the possession of which the Con- 
 federate cause so much depended. The government at Richmond now became deeply dis- 
 satisfied with the militar}' policy of 
 
 JtAPOF 
 
 ATLANTA- 
 
 AND VICINITY. 
 
 1 »^ K. 14 I 
 
 General Joseph E. Johnston. That 
 cautious and skilful commander had 
 adopted the Fabian policy of falling 
 back before the superior forces of 
 Sherman and of conserving as much 
 as possible the energies of his army. 
 This method, however, displeased 
 President Davis and when the siege 
 of Atlanta was begun Johnston was 
 deposed from command and was suc- 
 ceeded by the rash but daring General 
 J. B. Hood. The opinion prevailed 
 that the latter would fight at what- 
 ever hazard and this view of his 
 military character was borne out by 
 the facts. On the 20th, 22dand 28th 
 of July he made three successive 
 and desperate assaults on the Union 
 lines around Atlanta ; but in each 
 engagement the Confederates were 
 It was in the beginning of the second of these battles 
 the bosom friend of Generals Grant and 
 
 repulsed with dreadful losses. 
 
 that the brave General James B. McPherson 
 
 Sherman and the pride of the Union army, was killed while reconnoitering the Confederate 
 
 lines. In the three battles just referred to Hood lost more men than Johnston had lost in 
 
 all his masterly retreating and fighting between Chattanooga and Atlanta. 
 
 Around the latter city Sherman daily tightened his grip. At last by an incautious 
 movement Hood opened his line ; the Union commander thrust a column into the gap, and 
 the immediate evacuation of Atlanta followed. On the 2d of September the city was 
 occupied by Sherman's army. The campaign from Chattanooga up to this point of pro- 
 gress had cost the Federals in killed, wounded and missing, fully thirty thousand men, and 
 the Confederate losses were even greater. 
 
 DEFEAT OF HOOD AND CAPTURE OF ATLANTA. 
 
 By abandoning Atlanta Hood saved his army. He formed the plan of striking boldly 
 northward into Tennessee, with the hope of compelling Sherman to evacuate Georgia ; but
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 681 
 
 the latter had no thought of relinquishing his ground ; he followed Hood north of the 
 Chattahoochee, and then turned back to Atlanta. The Confederate connnander continued 
 his march through Northern Alabama, reached Florence, on the Tennessee, and pressed on 
 towards Nashville. General Thomas, with the Army of the Cumberland, had in the mean- 
 time been detached from Sherman's army and sent northward to confront Hood. General 
 Schofield with the Federal forces in Tennessee fell back before the Confederates and took 
 post at Franklin, eighteen miles distant from Nashville. Hood pressed on, and on the 30th 
 of November attacked the Federal position. A hard battle was fought, and the Con- 
 federates were held in check until Schofield succeeded during the night in crossing the 
 river and making himself secure within the defences of Nashville. At that place General 
 Thomas also concentrated his forces and a line of intrenchments was drawn around the city 
 on the south. 
 
 Hood came on confident of victory-. He began a siege by blockading tlie Cumberland, 
 and there was general alarm through the North lest Thomas might be pressed to the wall. 
 That commander, however, on the 15th of December, moved out from his works, attacked 
 the Confederate army and routed it with a loss in killed, wounded and prisoners, of fully 
 twenty-five thousand men! For many days of freezing weather he pursued the disorganized 
 Confederate forces, until the remnants found 
 refuge in Alabama. Hood's division of the 
 Confederate forces was ruined, and he him- 
 self, with the misfortune of unsuccess, was 
 relieved of his command. 
 
 Meanwhile, on the 14th of November, 
 General Sherman burned Atlanta and set out 
 on his famous march to the sea. His army 
 of veterans numbered sixty thou.sand men. 
 The advance was begun with confidence, for 
 Shennan expected the destruction of Hood's 
 anny in Tennessee. It was clear that the Con- 
 federates had no adequate force with which 
 to oppose him in front. He accordingly cut 
 his communications with the North, abandoned his base of supplies, and struck out for 
 the sea-coast, more than two hundred and fifty miles away. On leaving Atlanta, he was 
 lost to sight in the forests of Georgia, but was followed by the unwavering faith of 
 General Grant and of the people of the North. 
 
 The Confederates were able to offer no further successful resistance. The Union army 
 swept on through Macon and Milledgeville, crossed the Ogeechee, captured Gibson and 
 Waynesborough, and on the loth of December arrived in the vicinity of Savannah. Three 
 days afterwards Fort Mc.Alister, below that city, was carried b\- the division of General 
 Hazen. On the night of the 20th, General Hardee, the Confederate commandant, escaped 
 from Savannah, and with fifteen thousand men made liis way to Charleston. On the next 
 morning Sherman entered the city, and on the 22d established there his headquarters. His 
 total losses from Atlanta to the coast had been but five hundred and sixty-seven men. 
 THE TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION AND SURRENDER OF CHARLESTON. 
 
 The Union army remained in Savannaii during llie monlli ol January, 1S65. On the 
 1st of Febniary, General Slierman began his campaign against Columbia, the capital of 
 South Carolina. To the Confederates the further progress of the Union army through the 
 
 SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA,
 
 682 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 swamps and morasses of the State had seemed an impossibility; bnt the veteran legions 
 were now thoroughly hardened to all forms of exposure and trial, and their progress was 
 little impeded. Alarm and terror pervaded the country. Governor Magrath summoned 
 into the field every white man in the State between the ages of sixteen and sixty ; but the 
 requisition was comparatively ineffectual. The Confederates formed a line of defence on 
 the Salkehatchie, but were unable to prevent Sherman's progress. The river was crossed 
 by the Federals on the nth of February, and Charleston and Augusta were cut off from 
 Confederate support. On the i2th, the city of Orangeburg was taken by the seventeenth 
 corps. Two days afterwards the Federal army crossed the Congaree, on the high road to 
 
 Columbia. Then followed the 
 
 passage of the Broad and Saluda 
 Rivers. On the 1 7th ]\Iayor Good- 
 win and a committee of the Com- 
 mon Council of Columbia came 
 out and surrendered the city. 
 
 Hereupon General Hardee 
 determined to abandon Charleston 
 and to join Beauregard and John- 
 ston in North Carolina. On the 
 day of the capture of Columbia he 
 detailed guards to destroy the ware- 
 houses, stores of cotton and depots 
 of the city. The station of the 
 Northwestern Railroad, where 
 magazines were stored, blew up 
 with terrific violence, and two hun- 
 dred people were buried in the 
 ruins. Four squares in the best 
 part of the city were laid in ashes. 
 Hardee, with fourteen thousand 
 men, escaped and made his way 
 northward. On the next morning 
 the national forces on James and 
 Morris Islands learned of the evacua- 
 tion, and before noon the stars and 
 Ripley and Pinckney. Mayor Macbeth 
 sent over from Morris Island. As much 
 
 GENKRAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON. 
 
 raised over Forts Sumter, 
 
 stripes were again 
 
 surrendered Charleston to a force which was 
 as might be saved from the conflagration was rescued by citizens and Federal soldiers work- 
 ing together. The principal arsenal and a storehouse of rice were presei-\'ed and the 
 contents of the latter distributed to the poor. Colonel Stewart h. Woodford, of New 
 York, was appointed military governor of the city. 
 
 At Columbia Sherman gave orders for the destruction of all public property and then 
 immediately renewed his march northward. His course was now in the direction of Char- 
 lotte, North Carolina. The Federals swept on unopposed to Winnsborough, where a junc- 
 tion was effected with the twentieth corps under Slocum. The march was continued to 
 Fayetteville, where Sherman arrived and took possession on the nth of March. 
 
 In the meantime a dashing cavalry battle had occurred between the forces of Generals
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 683 
 
 Hampton and Kilpatrick. The former officer had been directed to defend tlie rear of 
 Hardee's cohnnn on its retreat from Charleston. In the first enjja<rcment Kilpatrick suc- 
 ceeded in cutting through the Confederate lines, but on the next morning he was in turn 
 attacked in his quarters, routed and reduced to the straits of making his escape on foot into 
 a swamp. He succeeded at length, however, in rallying his forces, returning to the conflict 
 and scattering the Confederates in a brilliant charge. Hampton then rallied, but Kil- 
 patrick was able to hold his ground until reinforced by a part of the twentieth corps when 
 the Confederates were finally repulsed. Kilpatrick reached Fayetteville without further 
 attack and joined the other divisions of the army. 
 
 CLOSING BATTLES OF THE WAR. 
 
 The destruction of Hood in Tennessee was the signal for a reaction in favor of General 
 Joseph E. Johnston. That officer was recalled to the command. His influence now began 
 to be felt in front of Sherman. The Union advance was rendered more difficult by the 
 vigilance of the Confederate General. At 
 Averasborough, a sJiort distance north of 
 Fayetteville, Hardee made a stand, but was 
 repulsed with considerable loss. On the 
 19th of March Shennan's advance was 
 furiously assailed by the Confederates at 
 Bentonville. For the hour it seemed that 
 the Union army, after all its battles and 
 victories, was in danger of defeat, but the 
 brilliant fighting of the division of General 
 Jefferson C. Davis saved the day, and on the 
 twenty-first of the month Shennan entered 
 Goldsborough unopposed. Here he was re- 
 inforced by the division of Schofield, from 
 New Berne, and that of Terrj-, from Wil- 
 mington. 
 
 The Federal army now set out for Raleigh, 
 and reached that city on the 13th of April. 
 This was the end of the great march, and 
 here General Sherman met his antagonist, 
 and entered into negotiations for the surrender 
 of the Confederate anny. Lee had already 
 surrendered to Grant at Appomatto.x. Sherman agreed with Johnston, most unfortunately, 
 to discuss the terms of a general settlement of civil affairs in the South, but these negotiations 
 were suddenly cut off by dispatches from the Government at Washington and by the arrival 
 of General Grant, who was directed to grant to Johnston the same terms already conceded 
 to Lee. This was accordingly done, and the Confederate army was surrendered on the 26th 
 of April. 
 
 While the.se decisive events were taking place in Carolina the great cavalr>' raid of 
 General Stoneman was in progress. About the middle of March that officer left Knoxville 
 with six thousand men, crossed the mountains, and captured Wilke.sborough. He then 
 crossed the Yadkin, and turning to the north traversed the western end of North Carolina. 
 He entered Virginia, destroyed the railway at Wytheville, and as far as within four miles 
 
 ADMIRAL DAVID G. FARRAGUT.
 
 684 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 of Lynchburg. Christiansburg was captured, and other railway tracks destroyed for a 
 distance of ninety miles. The expedition turned thence to Jacksonville ; thence south- 
 ward to the North Carolina Railwa}- between Danville and Greensborough. This track 
 also was destroyed and the factories at Salem burned. Stoneman then captured Salisbury 
 and the great Confederate prison for Federal soldiers, but the prisoners were removed before 
 fhe arrival of the Union cavalr\-. On the 19th of April the great bridge of the South 
 Carolina Railway, spanning the Catawba river, was set on fire and destroyed. The Federals 
 then concentrated at Dallas and the raid was at an end. Stoneman had taken during the 
 campaign six thousand prisoners, forty-six pieces of artillery and immense quantities of 
 
 small arms and munitions. 
 
 FARRAGUT BEFORE MOBILE. 
 
 Meanwhile, on the sea-coast events of great importance had occurred. Early in 
 August, 1864, Admiral David G. Farragut made a descent with a powerful squadron upon 
 Mobile. The harbor of that city was strongly defended by a Confederate fleet, by bat- 
 teries on the shore and by the monster ironclad ram Tennessee. On the 5th of August, 
 
 Farraeut succeeded in 
 
 running past Forts 
 Gaines and Morgan. 
 Once in the harbor with 
 his fleet, he mounted to 
 the maintop of his flag- 
 ship, the Hartford., 
 where he was lashed to 
 the rigging. From this 
 high perch he gave his 
 commands during the 
 battle. One Union ship 
 struck a torpedo and 
 went to the bottom. 
 The rest attacked and 
 dispersed the Con- 
 federate squadron, but 
 in the midst of success 
 the ram Tennessee came 
 down at full speed to strike and sink the Hartford. 
 Then followed one of the fiercest conflicts ever known 
 at sea. The Union ironclads closed around their black 
 antagonist and battered her with their beaks and fifteen- 
 inch bolts of iron until she surrendered. The harbor 
 On the 7th of August Fort Gaines was taken and on the 23d Fort Morgan 
 capitulated. Mobile was thus effectually sealed up to the Confederates. 
 
 Of like importance was the capture of Fort Fisher. This powerful fortress standing 
 at the mouth of Cape Fear River commanded the entrance to Wilmington — the last seaport 
 held by the Confederacy. In December, 1864, Admiral Porter was sent with the greatest 
 American armament ever afloat to besiege and capture the fort. General Butler accom- 
 panied the expedition with a division of six thousand five hundred men. On the day 
 before Christmas the bombardment of Fort Fisher was begun. General Weitzel was sent 
 
 NAVAI, BATTLE IN TMOBII.E BAY 
 
 was cleared.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 085 
 
 ashore to earn* the place by storm, but coining near to tlie fort he decided that an assdnlt 
 conld only end in the destruction of his army. This belief was shared by General Butler 
 and the enterprise was abandoned. Admiral I'orter, however, remained before the fort with 
 his fleet, while the land forces under Butler returned to Fortress Monroe. 
 
 The result of the expedition was considered humiliating by the national authority. 
 Early in Januar\- of 1865 the same troops were sent back to Wilmington under General 
 Terr\-. The siege was renewed by the combined army and fleet, and on the 15th of the 
 month Fort Fisher was taken by assault. It was the last seaport of the Confederates, and 
 their outlet to the ocean and foreign nations was thus forever closed. 
 
 In the meantime the control of Albemarle Sound had been recovered by a daring 
 exploit of Lieutenant Gushing of the Federal navy. The sound was held by a tremendous 
 Confederate iron ram called the Albemarle. Cushing gathered a band of volunteers and 
 on the night of the 27th of October entered the Roanoke and approached the ram lying at 
 anchor at Plymouth. He managed to draw alongside and with his own hands sank a ter- 
 rible torpedo under the Confederate ship, exploded it and left the ram a ruin. All of the 
 attacking party except Cushing and one other were either killed or taken in the adventure. 
 
 At the outbreak of the war the Confederate Congress authorized the fitting out of 
 privateers to prey npon the commerce of the United States. True, the independence of the 
 Confederacy was not acknowledged by foreign nations and the Confederate cruisers were 
 therefore not allowed to earn,- their prizes into neutral ports. The work of capture was 
 thus of little direct benefit to the Confederacy, but of prodigious injur\- to the United States. 
 
 DAMAGE INFLICTED BY THE PRIVATEERS. 
 
 The first Confederate pri\ateer was tlie Saiaiinah ; but this ship was captured on the 
 ver>- day of her escape from Charleston. In June of 1861 the Sumter, under command of 
 Captain Raphael Semmes, ran the blockade of New Orleans, and for seven months wrought 
 havoc with the merchant ships of the United States. In February of 1862 Semmes was 
 chased into the harbor of Gibraltar and was obliged to .save himself by selling his vessel 
 and discharging his crew. Meanwhile in October, 1S61, the Nashville escaped from 
 Charleston, went on a cruise to England, and returned with a cargo worth $3, 000,000. In 
 March of 1863, this vessel was sunk by a Union ironclad in the mouth of the Savannah. 
 
 The Federal blockade soon closed around the Confederate ports. It became more and 
 more difficult for privateers to break through and gain the freedom of the seas. The Con- 
 federates now sought the shipyards of Great Britain, and in spite of all remonstrances were 
 pennitted to use that vantage ground for the building, the purchase and equipment of 
 privateers. In the harbor of Liverpool the Florida was fitted out. In the summer of 
 1862, this ship ran into Molbile Bay and in the following January- escaped therefrom to 
 destroy fifteen Union merchantmen. She was finally captured in the harbor of Bahia, 
 Brazil, brought into Hampton Roads, and there by an accidental collision was sent to the 
 bottom. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the shipyards of Glasgow were built tlie Georgia, the Olustee, the 
 Shenandoah and the Chickamauga. .Ml these went to sea and made havoc with the com- 
 merce of the United States. When Fort Fisher was taken the Chickamauga and another 
 privateer called the Tallahassee were blown up by the Confederates. The Georgia had 
 already been captured and the Shenandoah continued afloat until the end of the war. 
 
 The most famous and destructive of all Confederate cruisers was the Alabama. Her 
 commander was Raphael Semmes, who had lost the .Sumler at Gibraltar. A majoritv of 
 the crew of the Alabama were British subjects. Her armament was wholly British, and
 
 686 
 
 COLUiMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 whenever the occasion required the British flag was carried ! During her career she destroyed 
 sixty-six vessels, entailing a loss of ten millions of dollars to the merchant ser^'ice of the 
 United States ; but she never once entered a Confederate port. The difference between such 
 work and piracy would be far to seek. 
 
 In the summer of 1864 Semmes was followed to the harbor of Cherbourg, France, by 
 Captain John A. Winslow, of the steamer Kearsarge. Semmes was soon ordered by the 
 French government to leave the port. On the 19th of June he sailed out and gave battle. 
 Seven miles from shore tlie two ships closed, and after a desperate battle of an hour's dura- 
 
 SINKING OF THE ALABAMA BY THE KEARSARGE. 
 
 tion the Alabama was shattered and sunk. Semmes and a part of his officers and crew were 
 picked up by the English yacht Greyhound^ which had come out to witness the fight, 
 and carried to Southampton where they were set at liberty ! 
 
 CLOSING BATTLES OF THE WAR. 
 We now turn to the critical and final campaigns of the Army of the Potomac and of 
 those divisions of the Union forces which were associated with it. After Gett}-sburg, Lee 
 withdrew into the Shenandoah valley, whither he was followed by the Union cavalr>' under 
 General Gregg as far as Shepherdstown, where an advantage was gained over General 
 Fitzhugh Lee with the cavalry of the Confederates. General Meade with the army of the 
 Potomac entered Virginia and moved forward to Warrenton. The Blue Ridge was thus
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 687 
 
 inteq)osed between the two armies, and it was the hope of Meade to prevent the return of 
 his antagonist to Riclunond ; but Lee with his usual sagacity made a feint towards Manassas 
 Gap and then by a rapid march gained Front Royal and Chester Gap, passed through 
 and reached Culpeper. Meade took up his old position on the Rappahannock. 
 
 A lull now followed during the summer of 1863. Both armies were greatly weakened 
 by battle and the withdrawal of troops for campaigns in distant parts. Longstreet was 
 detached from Lee to assist Bragg and Howard and Slocuni were detached from the Army 
 of the Potomac. Active operations were not resumed until October, when both Generals 
 assumed the offensive ; but Meade was after much manoeuvring obliged to post himself on 
 the heights of Centreville. Lee rested on the Upper Rappahannock. And so came the 
 winter of 1864. 
 
 BATTLES OF THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 With the following spring General Grant became commander-in-chief of the Union 
 armies. He retained Meade in the immediate command of the Anny of the Potomac, but 
 made his own headquarters with that army during the remainder of the war. The campaign 
 which was now to ensue was destined to be one of the most memorable of modem warfare. 
 The forward movement of the Ann\- of the Potomac was undertaken with the beginning of 
 May. On the 3d of that month the national camp at Culpeper was broken up and the 
 march on Richmond begfun. On the first day Grant crossed the Rapidan and entered that 
 countn- of oak woods and thickets called the Wilderness, lying west of Chancellorsville. 
 Here the Union anny was confronted and attacked. Through the 5th, 6th and 7th of May 
 the fighting continued incessantly with terrible losses on both sides, but with indecisive 
 results. Lee retired within his intrenchments and Grant made a flank movement in the 
 direction of Spottsylvania Courthouse. On the 8th there was a lull, but from the morning 
 of the 9th to the night of the 12th ensued one of the bloodiest struggles of the war. The 
 Federals gained some ground and the division of General Ewell was captured. But the 
 losses of Lee who fought on the defensive were less dreadful than those of his antagonist 
 
 While this stmggle of the Wilderness was going on. General Sheridan with the cavalry 
 of the Army of Potomac had conducted a raid around Lee's army against Richmond. The 
 movement was executed with all the audacity for which Sheridan had become famous. He 
 crossed the North Anna, retook a large detachment of Union prisoners and on the lotli of 
 May, at Yellow Tavern, fought a victorious battle with the Confederate cavalry under 
 General J. E. B. Stuart, who was mortally wounded on the field. 
 
 Grant now continued to move slowly by the left flank. He crossed the Pamunkev to 
 Hanovertown and reached Cold Harbor, twelve miles northeast of Richmond. Here on the 
 1st of June he attacked the Confederates and was repulsed with heaN'j' loss. On the morn- 
 ing of the 3d the assault was renewed and in the brief space of half an hour nearlv ten 
 thousand Union soldiers were killed or wounded before the Confederate intrenchments. The 
 Federal repulse was complete, but the grim commander held his lines as firmly as ever and 
 continued the campaign. 
 
 Since the crossing of the Rapidan the Arm\- of the Potomac, including the corps of 
 Bumside, had now lost the enonnous aggregate of sixty thousand men. During the same 
 period the Confederates had lost in killed, wounded and prisoners, about thirt\-five thousand. 
 Nevertheless, the fight was going against the Confederacy. The weight of the Union pres- 
 sure was ever increased and the power of resistance was ever weakened. Grant was imper- 
 turbable. After his nnsuccess at Cold Harbor he determined to change his base to James River, 
 with a view to the capture of Petersburg and the subsequent conquest of Richmond from this 
 direction.
 
 688 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 BEFORE THE OUTPOSTS OF RICHMOND. 
 
 In that part of the field General Butler had moved up with a strong division from 
 Fortress Monroe. On the 5th of May that officer captured Bermuda Hundred and City 
 Point at the mouth of the Appomattox. He then advanced in the direction of Petersburg, 
 but was met on the i6th by the corps of General Beauregard and was driven back to Ber- 
 muda Hundred. There he entrenched himself and stood on the defensive. On the 15th 
 of June General Grant efiected a junction with Butler and again advanced against Peters- 
 burg. On the 17th and i8th the Confederate entrenchments about that city were several 
 times assaulted, but could not be taken. Lee's army was hurried into the defences and by 
 the end of June Petersburg was invested. 
 
 Meanwhile, before moving from the Rapidan, General Grant had despatched Sigel into 
 the Shenandoah Valley with a division of eight thousand men. On the 15th of May that 
 officer was met at New Market, fifty miles above Winchester, by the Confederate cavalrj- divi- 
 sion of General Breckinridge. The Federals were routed and the command of the flying divi- 
 sions was transferred to General Hunter. Breckinridge returned to Richmond, whereupon 
 Hunter again advancing up the valley struck the Confederates at Piedmont and gained a signal 
 
 victor}'. From this 
 point he advanced with 
 the cavalry- of General 
 Averill against Lynch- 
 burgh, but in this 
 adventure he got into 
 such peril that he was 
 obliged to retreat across 
 the mountains into 
 West Virginia. 
 
 jiiLKs" 10 -^ILIZ^ "^'L *'} ^!2^__ *''} "'^ w so General Lee was 
 
 FROM RICHMOND TO APPOMATTOX, 1865. uow able to scud Earl v's 
 
 command into the Shenandoah Valley with orders to press down to the Potomac, invade 
 Mar>dand and threaten Washington City. The object of the campaign was to oblige 
 Grant to loose his hold on Petersburg for the defence of the National capital. The 
 situation indeed was sufficiently alanning. Early, with twents' thousand men, gained 
 the Potomac and on the 5th of July crossed into Mar-dand. On the 9th he was confronted 
 by the division of General Lew Wallace, on the Monocacy ; biit the latter was able with 
 the force at his command to do no more than hold the Confederates in check until Wash- 
 ington and Baltimore could be put into a more defensible condition. Earh- came 
 ivithin gunshot of both of these cities; but on the 12th of the month fell back and recrossed 
 the Potomac. 
 
 The Union command on the Shenandoah was now transferred from Hunter to Wright. 
 The latter pursued Early as far as Winchester, where on the 24th of Jul}- he fought with 
 him a successful engagement. But Early turned upon his antagonist and the Union troops 
 were driven back across the Potomac. Following up his advantage, the Confederate leader 
 pressed on into Pennsylvania, burned Chambersburg and returned into Virginia with vast 
 quantities of phinder. 
 
 General Grant was greatly vexed with these successful raids of the Confederates. In 
 the beginning of August he consolidated the Union divisions in the Shenandoah Valley and 
 on the upper Potomac into a single army, and gave the command to General Philip H.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 689 
 
 Sheridan. It was the destiny of this yonng and brilliant officer to rise above the chaos in 
 the conclnding scenes of the war and to contribnte much by his daring and genius to the 
 final success of tlie Union cause. 
 
 BATTLE OF WINCHESTER. 
 
 On the 19th of September Sheridan witii an arni>- of about forty thousand men came 
 upon Early at Winchester. A hard battle ensued in which the Confederates were decisively 
 defeated. The Union General followed his anta<j;onist, and on the 2 2d of the month again 
 routed him at Fisher's Hill. Then came one of the saddest episodes of the war in which 
 the fruitful Shenandoah \'alley was, as a military measure, laid waste and ravaged. Grant 
 ordered Sheridan to spare nothing 
 from destruction that might any 
 longer furnish the means of sub- 
 sistence to the enemy. The 
 ruinous work was fearfully well 
 done and little was left worth 
 fighting for between the Blue 
 Ridge and the Alleghanies. 
 
 Earl\-, maddened by this 
 destruction and stung by his 
 defeats, rallied his forces, 
 gathered reinforcements and re- 
 turned into the desolated valley. 
 Sheridan at this juncture, hav- 
 ing posted his army on Cedar 
 Creek and feeling secure in the 
 situation, went to Washington. 
 Early seized the opportunity and 
 on the 19th of October surprised 
 the Union camp, captured most 
 of the artillery- and sent the 
 anny in rout and confusion 
 toward Winchester. The pursuit 
 was continued as far as Middle- 
 town. The Confederates believ- 
 ing themselves completely 
 triumphant paused to eat and 
 rest. On the previous night, 
 however, Sheridan returning from Washington reached Winchester, and at the time of the 
 rout of his army was on his way to the front. While riding for\vard he heard the sound of 
 battle, spurred on for twelve miles at full speed, met the panic-stnick fugitives, rallied 
 them at his call, turned upon the Confederates and gained one of the most signal victories 
 of the war. Early's anny was disorganized and mined. It was the end of strife in the 
 valley of the Shenandoah. 
 
 Grant having thus cleared the horizon of Virginia and confident of the success of 
 
 Sherman's expedition to the sea, now sat grimly down to the investment of Petersburg. 
 
 All fall and winter long he jjressed the siege with var\iug succe.ss. .-\s early as the v'th 
 
 of July, 1864, an attempt was made to carr\' the Confederate defences by assault. .V mine 
 
 44 
 
 GENKKM, I'llir.ll' II. SIIHKin.'VN.
 
 690 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 was exploded under one of the forts, and a column sprang forward at full charge to gain the 
 lines of Petersburg; but the attack failed, and that with serious losses. On the i8th of 
 August a division of the Union army succeeded in seizing the Weldon Railroad. The Con- 
 federates made several courageous assaults to regain their lost ground, but were beaten back 
 with losses of thousands on both sides. On the 26th of September, the Federals carried 
 Battery Harrison, on the right bank of the James, and on the next day Paine' s brigade of 
 
 colored soldiers carried 
 a strong Confederate 
 position on Spring 
 Hill. On the 27th of 
 October a bloody battle 
 was fought on the 
 Boydton road, south of 
 Petersburg. 
 
 CAPTURE OF PETERS- 
 BURG. 
 
 Both armies now 
 rested for the winter. 
 Not until the 27th of 
 February-, 1S65, was 
 the struggle renewed. 
 On that day General 
 Sheridan attacked the 
 forces of Early at 
 AVa}-nesborough, d e - 
 feated them, and then 
 joined the commander- 
 in-chief at Petersburg. 
 During March, General 
 Grant pressed the siege 
 of that important posi- 
 tion, gathered strong 
 reinforcements, and 
 waited impatiently for 
 the opening of spring. 
 On the ist of April 
 the campaign began 
 with a severe battle at 
 Five Forks, on the 
 Southside Railroad — 
 
 an engagement in which the Confederates were defeated with a loss of six thousand 
 prisoners. On the next day Grant ordered an assault along the whole line in front of 
 Petersburg, and the Confederate works were carried. The rim of iron and valor whicli 
 Lee had so long maintained around the Confederate capital was shattered by the 
 tremendous blow. On that night he with his army and the members of the Con- 
 federate government fled from Richmond, and on the next morning that city, together 
 with Petersburg, was entered by the Federal army. The warehouses of the ill-fated 
 
 SHERIDAN'S RIDE.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 691 
 
 capital were fired by the retreating Confederates, and the better parts of the Sontliern 
 metropolis was reduced to ruins. 
 
 The final catastrophe of the Confederate cause was now not far away. All men per- 
 ceived that the struggle could last but a few days longer. General Lee retreated as rapidly 
 as possible to the .southwest, in the 
 hope of effecting a junction with 
 the army of General Johnston, on 
 its emergence from Carolina ; but 
 that army was destined never to 
 emerge. The 
 Confederates 
 from Peters- 
 burg and Rich- 
 mond joined 
 
 to be stationed, 
 ing this duty in 
 foolishly mistook 
 dro\e the train in 
 
 each other at 
 
 Amelia Court 
 
 House, whitlier 
 
 Lee had ordered 
 
 his supply trains 
 
 The officer hav- 
 
 charge, howe\er, 
 
 his orders and 
 
 the direction 
 
 of Danville. Nearly one-half of 
 tlie Confederate anny had to be 
 dispersed tlirough the country to 
 gather supplies by foraging. Tlie 
 4th and 5th of April, days most 
 precious to the sinking heart of 
 Lee, were consumed with this 
 delay. The heavy Federal columns 
 pressed on in full and close 
 pursuit. On the morning of 
 tlie 6th of April the greater 
 jiart of the Union ainn- was 
 at Jettersville, on the Danville 
 railroad, ready to strike the 
 Confederates at Amelia. 
 Sheridan was on the extreme left flank, and pressing forward in the direction of 
 Deatonsville. Ord came up with his division by way of the Southside railroad to 
 Burke's Station. IvCe fell back to the west from Amelia Court House, and reached 
 
 AK.MV ON TliH RI.TKl.r
 
 692 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Deatonsville. Here, however, he found the vigilant Sheridan planted squarely in his 
 course. The division of Ewell, six thousand strong, was flung against the Federal 
 position, but was broken to pieces and captured in the charge. 
 
 General Lee still hoped to make a detour to the west and south around the Federal 
 left. By strenuous exertions he succeeded in gaining the Appomattox, at Fannville, 
 crossed to the other side, and burned the bridges. He thus sought to interpose a con- 
 siderable stream between himself and his pursuers; but the effort was in vain. Lee next 
 made a desperate effort to hold the Lynchburgh railroad; bwt Sheridan was there before 
 him. On the 7th of April the Confederates had their last slight success. But all hope of 
 ^•ictor}-, or even escape, was soon blown out in despair. On that day Grant, from Farm- 
 ville, addressed a note to the Confederate commander, expressing a desire that further 
 sacrifice of life and waste of war might be avoided by a surrender. To this Lee replied 
 declaring his desire for peace, but adding that the occasion for the surrender of the Army 
 of Northern Virginia had not arrived. 
 
 THE SURRENDER OF LEE. 
 
 On the 8th of April the process of surrounding the Confederate ann}- went vigorously 
 forward. On the morning of the 9th, when it became known that the left wing of the 
 Union army had secured the line of the Lynchburg railroad — when the wrecks of Long- 
 street's veterans covering the retreat were confro.ited and driven back by Sheridan, the soul 
 of the Confederate leader failed him. Seeing the utter uselessness of a further struggle, he 
 sent to General Grant a note asking for a meeting preliminary to a surrender. 
 
 The Union commander immediately complied with the request. At two o'clock on the 
 afternoon of that day, Palm Sunday, April 9th, 1865, the two generals — two of the greatest 
 of modern times — met each other in the parlor of William McLean, at Appomattox Court 
 House. There the tenns of surrender were agreed upon. General Grant put his propo- 
 sition in the form of a military- note, to which General Lee returned a formal answer. The 
 note of the Union commander was as follows: 
 
 Appomattox Codrt House, Va., .A.pril 9, 1865. 
 Generai,, — In accordance witb the substance of my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to receive the 
 surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit : Rolls of all the officers and men to 
 be made in duplicate ; one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such 
 other officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms 
 against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental com- 
 mander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be 
 parked and stacked, turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side- 
 arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return 
 to his home, not to be disturbed "by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in 
 force where they reside. 
 
 U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 
 
 To this memorandum General Lee responded as follows : 
 
 HE.4.DOUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, .-^pril 9, 1S65. 
 
 Generai, — I received your letter of this date, containing the terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern 
 Virginia, as proposed by you. .\s they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the Sth 
 instant, they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. 
 
 R. E. Lee, General. 
 
 After the capitulation of Lee's army a general collapse rapidly followed throughout the 
 States in rebellion. The destruction of the militar.- power signified the overthrow of the 
 government and the ultimate obliteration of all that had been done against the national
 
 o 
 n 
 
 3 
 
 SO 
 
 > 
 
 o 
 
 (693)
 
 694 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 authority. The surrender of Johnston to Sherman followed on the 26th of April, 
 overthrow of their two great armies all reasonable Confederates foresaw the end. 
 four dreadful years of bloodshed, deva- ,,, 
 
 station and sorrow, the civil war had 
 ended with the complete triumph of 
 the Union cause. 
 CAPTURE OF DAVIS. 
 It now remained 
 to reestablish the ■r-'i-'ta^^- 
 
 Federal authority 
 
 In the 
 After 
 
 over the Southern 
 States. On the 
 part of the Con- 
 federates there was no serious 
 effort to prolong resistance. Lee 
 bade adieu to his army and retired 
 with shattered fortunes to private 
 life. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet 
 made their escape from Richmond 
 THE LAST MEETING OF THE CONFEDERATE CABINET. (-q Dauvillc and there for a few 
 
 days kept up a form of government. They then fled into North Carolina and were 
 scattered. The ex-President, with a few friends, made his way into Georgia, where he
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 6Uo 
 
 was captured near the villajre of Irwinville, on the loth of May, b\' a part of the command 
 of General Wilson. Davis was at once taken as a captive to Fortress Monnje, and was kept 
 in confinement for two years. He was then removed to Richmond, to be tried on a charge 
 of treason, but the cause remained untried for about a year and a half, and was then dis- 
 missed from court. It thus happened that the legal status of that error, fault or crime 
 which the Confederate leaders had committed was never established in American juris- 
 prudence, but left rather to dangle contentiously in the political sky of after times. 
 
 In the autumn preceding the downfall of the Confederacy Lincoln had been rechosen 
 President for a second tenu. As Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, was 
 elected in place of Hannibal Hamlin. The opposing Democratic candidates were General 
 George B. McClellan and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio. The partisan fires were rekindled 
 on ever\' hilltop, and the North became a scene of turmoil. The Democratic leaders were 
 rampant in their denunciation of the methods upon which the war was conducted and the 
 war itself In the National comention of that party at Chicago a resolution was adopted 
 declaring the war a failure and demanding a cessation of hostilities until a peaceable solution 
 of the trouble might be reached. 
 
 The effort to defeat Lincoln, however, could end only in confusion and failure. His 
 majority was ver>- heavy. Only the States of Kentucky, Delaware and New Jersey gave 
 their electoral votes to McClellan. Meanwhile the people of Nevada had in accordance 
 with an act of Congress prepared a State constitution, and on the 31st of October, 1864, 
 that territor>- was admitted as the thirty-sixth member of the Union. 
 
 Great were the financial embarrassments of the government during the progress of the 
 Civil War. The organization of the army and navy entailed enormous expenses which had 
 to be met at a time when the credit of the United States had sunk to the lowest ebb. The 
 price of silver and gold rose so rapidly that the redemption of bank-notes in coin soon 
 became impossible. On the 30th of December, 1861, the banks of New York suspended 
 specie payment, and this action was soon followed by all the banks of the countr\-. The 
 premium on gold and silver rose to such a figure that the transaction of public and private 
 business on a basis of coin was no longer possible. 
 
 FINANCIAL MEASURES TO MEET THE EXPENSES OF THE WAR. ' 
 
 At this time Salmon P. Chase was Secretar},- of the Treasury. To his genius in large 
 measure were due the various expedients which were adopted to uphold the National credit, 
 and which were destined in the future to enter into not only the industrial conditions, but 
 also the political issues of the United States. Old things passed rapidly away. As a tem- 
 poran.' expedient the Secretan,- of the Treasury first sought relief by issuing Tre.^sI'RY 
 Notes receivable as money and bearing interest at the rate of seven and three-tenths per 
 cent The expedient was successful, but the expenses of the government rose higher and 
 higher, until by the beginning of 1862 more than a million of dollars dail\- was required to 
 meet the outlay. 
 
 Congress, on the recommendation of Secretar\' Chase, now made haste to provide an 
 I.NTKR.NAi, Rkvkntk. This was made up from two general sources: first, a tnx on manu- 
 factures, incomes and salaries; and second, a s/t7»//>-i////yon all legal documents. The next 
 step in the financial evolution was the issuing by the Treasur\' of a hundred and fifty 
 millions of dollars in non-interest-bcaring Lkcai. Tkndkk Notk.s of the United States to 
 be used as money. Such was the beginning of that famous currency which under the name 
 of Greenbacks sustained the nation during the war, survived the shocks of the epoch and
 
 69(3 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 continued for a long time after the subsidence of the conflict to constitute one-half of the 
 paper money used by the people of the United States. 
 
 But the greenback currency, issued again and again as the emergencies multiplied, was 
 not of itself suflicient. A third great measure recommended by the Secretary provided for 
 the issuance and sale of United States Bonds. The first series of these, redeemable at 
 an}' time after fi\'e }ears and under twenty years from date, was called the Fi\'E-twenty 
 Bonds. The interest upon them was fixed at six per cent. , payable semi-annually in gold. 
 The event showed that the clause making the interest payable in gold rather than in the 
 greenback currenc}' tended to aggravate the disparit\- in the value of coin and paper money. 
 The second series, called the Ten-forties, was next issued, being redeemable at any time 
 after ten and under fort)' years from date. The interest on this series was fixed at five per 
 cent, and both principal and interest were made payable in coin. Then came at a later 
 period the issue of the Four Percents, and finally of the Three and .a Half Percents 
 and Three Percents, into which the higher priced bonds were for the most part converted. 
 
 THE NATIONAL BANK ACT. 
 
 The old banks of the United States soon disappeared. It seemed necessary that the 
 place of local banking institutions should be taken by something else of like character. An 
 act was accordingly passed for the establishment of N.\tion.\l Banks. The constitution 
 of these was peculiar in the last degree. The new banks were born out of the exigency of 
 the times and their anomalous character must be explained from the existing conditions. 
 The National Bank Act of May, 1862, provided that the new banks might use National 
 bonds as the basis of their currency instead of gold and silver. Each bank must purchase 
 and deposit with the Treasurer of the United States the requisite amount of bonds and 
 receive thereon ninety per cent, of the valuation of the bonds deposited in a National 
 Currency, such currency to bear the name of the particular bank from which issued, but 
 otherwise to be of a common type for the whole countr}-. 
 
 Tlie new banks were rapidly organized in all the States under National authority. In 
 a short time a mixed currency, composed about half and half of Greenbacks and National 
 Bank bills, took the place of the old local paper money which had formerly constituted the 
 bulk of the currency. Gold and silver soon disappeared from sight. All financial trans- 
 actions swam henceforth for about seventeen years in an ocean of self-sustaining paper 
 money. The precious metals became mere merchandise; but their fictitious connection 
 with the National currency constituted a dangerous element of monetary speculation which 
 the financial jobbers of the countr}- were not slow to discover and use with fatal effect. 
 The currency of the National banks was furnished and the redemption of the same guaran- 
 teed by the Treasur}' of the United States. By the various measures above described the 
 means for prosecuting the Civil War were provided. At the end of the conflict the National 
 debt proper had reached the astounding sum of nearly three thousand millions of dollars, 
 and to this prodigious — almost incalculable — aggregate the exigencies of the war were add- 
 ing more than two millions daily ! Had the war continued another year National bank- 
 ruptcy must have ensued. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1865, Lincoln was inaugurated for his second term. The 
 brief address which he delivered on the occasion was one of the most remarkable ever pro- 
 duced by a great man in a trying ordeal. He sought by sympathetic utterances to call 
 back to royalty the infatuated people of the Southern States, exhorting his countr}-men, 
 "with malice towards none, with charity for all," to go about the work of healing the 
 Nation's wounds and restoring political and social fellowship throughout the Union.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 697 
 
 jii foot to destro\' the 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 
 
 At the time of his second inaugiinilioii the <;rcal Rcl)elliini was in the throes of disso- 
 lution. Within a month the militan- power of the Confederacy was broken. Three days 
 after the evacuation of Richmond by Lee's arm\- the President visited that city, conferred 
 with the authorities and then returned to Washington; but in the strange vicissitude of 
 things the tragedy of his own sad life had already entered its last act. On the evening of 
 the 14th of April he attended Ford's Theatre with Mrs. Lincohi and a party of friends. 
 As the play drew near its close a disreputable actor, named John Wilkes Booth, stole 
 unnoticed into the President's box, levelled a pistol at his head from behind and shot him 
 through the brain. Lincoln fell forward in liis seat, was borne unconscious from the build- 
 ing, lingered until the following morning and died. It was the greatest personal tragedy 
 of modern times — the most atrocious and diabolical murder of histor)-. The assassin 
 leaped out of the bo.v upon the stage, escaped into the darkness, mounted a waiting horse 
 and fled across the Long Bridge of tlie Potomac into \'irgiina. 
 
 It was immediately perceived that a murderous conspiracy was 
 Government bv assassina- 
 
 tion. In the same hour 
 of the shooting of Lincoln 
 another murderer named 
 Louis Payne Powell burst 
 into the bed-chamber of 
 Secretary- Seward, who 
 had recently been disabled 
 by an accident, sprang 
 upon the couch of the 
 sick man, stabbed him 
 nigh unto death and made 
 his escape into the night. 
 The cit>' was thrown into 
 the wildest alann and ex- 
 citement. The telegraph 
 flashed the news through- 
 out the land and a tremor 
 of rage ran through all hearts. Troops of cavalry- and the police of Washington departed 
 in all directions to hunt down the conspirators. On the 26th of April, Booth was found 
 concealed in a barn south of Fredericksburg. He refused to surrender even when the bam 
 was set on fire. The object was to drive him forth alive; but Sergeant Boston Corbett, 
 gaining sight of the assa.ssin through the wall of the building, shot him down and he was 
 dragged forth to die. Powell was caught, convicted and hanged. The other conspirators 
 — David E. Herrold and George A. Atzerott, together with Mrs. Mary E. vSurratt, at whose 
 house the plot was formed — were also condemned and executed. Michael O'Laughlin, Dr. 
 Samuel A. Mudd and Samuel .\rnold were condemned to imprisonment for life in the Dr>- 
 Tortugas, and Edward Spangkr for a term of six years. 
 
 UNIVERSAL GRIEF OVER THE DEATH OF LINCOLN. 
 Thus in darkness, but not in sliame, ended tlie strange career of Abraham Lincoln. He 
 was one of the most remarkable men of any age or countr\- — a man in whom the qualities 
 of genius and common sen.se were strangely mingled. He was prudent, far-sighted and 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF PRl>i:
 
 698 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 resolute; thoughtful, calm aud just; patient, tender-hearted and great. The manner of 
 his death consecrated his memory. Thrown by murder from the high seat of power, he 
 fell into the arms of the American people, who laid him down as tenderly as children lay 
 their father on the couch of death. The funeral pageant was prepared on a scale never 
 before equalled in the New World. From city to city in one vast procession the people fol- 
 lowed his remains to their last resting place in Springfield. From all nations went up 
 the cry of sympathy and shame — sympathy for his death, and shame for the dark crime that 
 caused it. 
 
 It would appear that Lincoln fell in an inauspicious hour. The great Rebellion of the 
 Southern States was tottering into oblivion; but the restoration of the Union remained to 
 be effected. Who but Lincoln in such a crisis was fitted for such work? His temper, 
 after the surrender of Lee, showed clearly the trend of his thoughts and sympathies — his 
 sincere desire for peace, ^is love for his countr>-men of all sections. 
 
 The words of mercy were upon his lips, 
 
 Forgiveness in his heart aud on his pen, 
 When the vile murderer brought swift eclipse 
 
 To thoughts of peace on earth, good-will towards men. 
 
 The Old World and the New, from sea to sea, 
 
 Uttered one voice of sympathy and shame ! 
 Sore heart, so stopped when it at last beat free ; 
 
 Sad life, cut short just as its triumph came ! 
 
 A deed accursed ! Strokes have been struck before 
 
 By the assassin's hand, whereof men doubt 
 If more of horror or disgrace they bore ; 
 
 But thj' foul crime, like Cain's, stands darkly out. 
 
 Vile hand ! that branded murder on a strife, 
 
 Whate'er its grounds, stoutly and nobly striven, 
 Aud with the martyr's crown crownest a life 
 
 With nmch to praise, little to be forgiven ! * 
 
 The man of Europe might well be surprised at the slight disturbance in governmental 
 affairs produced by the assassination of Lincoln. The public credit was undisturbed. It 
 was demonstrated that in one country of the earth the Nation is the Government. 
 
 ACCESSION OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 
 
 The death of the President called Andrew Johnson to the chief magistracy. The 
 latter on the day after the assassination took the oath, and at once assumed the duties of 
 office. He was a native of North Carolina, born in Raleigh, on the 29th of December, 
 1808. His boyhood was passed in obscurity, poverty and neglect. He had no advantages 
 of education, and at the age of ten was apprenticed to a tailor. At eighteen he removed 
 with his mother to Tennessee, and made his home at Greenville, in that State. Here he 
 took in marriage an intelligent lady, who taught him to write and cipher. Here by native 
 talent, will and strength he first earned the applause of his fellow-men. Here through toils 
 and hardships he rose to distinction, and was elected to Congress. As Senator of the 
 United States, in 1860-61, he opposed secession with all his vehemence, even after the 
 legislature of Tennessee had declared that State out of the Union. Then on the 4th of 
 March, 1862, he was appointed military governor of Tennessee, and established himself at 
 Nashville. He administered affairs from that place with all the vigor and passion of his 
 
 * From the London Punch, of May 6th, 1S65.
 
 
 
 THE CLOSING SCRNK OF THK WAR— GRAM) MILITARY PAKADK IN WASHINGTON. 
 
 (699)
 
 700 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 nature. There was neither quailing nor the spirit of compromise. His life was imperilled, 
 but he fed on danger and grew strong. In 1864 he was elected to the Vice-Presidency in 
 place of Hannibal Hamlin. Now, by the tragic death of the President, he was called 
 suddenly to the assumption of responsibilities almost as great as those which Lincoln had 
 borne during the war. 
 
 In his first message to Congress, Johnson recommended a policy of extreme severity 
 toward the civil and military leaders of the Confederacy. The merciful tones of Lincoln 
 were no longer heard from the White House, and there were dread and quaking throughout 
 the seceded States. The great questions entailed by the war were at once taken up. On 
 the ist of Februar}', 1865, a Constitutional Amendment was adopted by Congress, formally 
 abolishing and forbidding human slavery in all the States and Territories of the Union. 
 By the i8th of the following December the amendment had been ratified by the legislatures 
 of twenty-seven States, and became a part of the Constitution. Thus was the Emancipa- 
 tion Proclamation of Lincoln made legal by the representatives of the people and the people 
 themselves, and thus were the logical results of the war incorporated forever in the funda- 
 mental law of the land. 
 
 THE AMNESTV PROCLAMATION. 
 
 What should the Government do with the leaders of the late Rebellion? On this 
 question the voice of Lincoln was heard out of the grave. Following the polic}' of that 
 martyr. President Johnson, on the 29th of May, 1865, issued the Amnesty Proclamation, 
 providing a general pardon for all persons — except those specified in certain classes — who 
 had participated in the organization and defense of the Confederacy. The condition of 
 pardon was simply an oath of allegiance to the United States. The excepted persons might 
 be pardoned on special application to the President. 
 
 As soon as practicable the great armies were disbanded. General Grant hurried from 
 the field and lent his aid and influence to the work. One of the most striking scenes ever 
 witnessed was the great military parade and review at Washington City. It was the closing 
 pageant of the war. Seventy-five thousand Union soldiers, including Sherman's veterans 
 from Carolina, paraded the streets and passed the reviewing stand, where the President and 
 the principal civil and militar\- officers of the United States occupied the platfonn. After 
 this the soldiers as an organized force melted rapidly away, and were resolved into the 
 citizenship out of which they sprang. 
 
 By the end of the war the National debt had piled up mountains high. It went on 
 increasing in proportions until the beginning of 1866. The yearly interest rose to the 
 enormous sum of 1133,000,000 in gold. The expenses of the Government had reached an 
 aggregate of two hundred millions annually. The augmented revenues of the Nation, how- 
 ever, and the energy of the financial management, proved sufficient to meet the enonnous 
 outlay, and at last the debt began to be slowly diminished. On the 5th of December, 
 1865, a resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives pledging the faith of the 
 United States to the full payment of the National debt, both principal and interest. 
 
 EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN. 
 
 During the progress of the M^ar the Government had been constantly menaced by the 
 hostility of foreign Powers. Onh' Russia, of all the great governments of Europe, had 
 been at heart favorable to the Union cause. Great Britain from first to last sympathized 
 with the Confederacy and hoped for the dismemberment of the American Republic. 
 Napoleon III., Emperor of the French, sought to aid the Confederate States and to precipitate 
 the downfall of the Union. In pursuance of this plan, he set up a French empire in
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 JO] 
 
 Mexico. The condition of affairs in that countn- favored his schemes. There was a 
 Mexican revohition and civil war. .-V French army was sent to Mexico. An Imperial 
 government was organized, and early in 1864 the Crown was offered to Maximilian, .\rch- 
 dnke of Austria. The latter accepted, and repairing to Mexico set up his government with 
 the aid of French and Austrian soldiers. 
 
 The Mexican President Juarez, however, headed a counter-revolution against the foreign 
 usurpation, and the Government of the United States sent a rebuke to France for her 
 
 EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN. 
 
 violation of the Monroe Doctrine. 
 Napoleon, becoming alarmed, 
 withdrew his army. Maximilian 
 was overthrown and driven from 
 the capital. He fled to Queretaro, where he was besieged and taken prisoner. On the 
 13th of June, 1867, he was tried by court-martial and condemned to be shot. On the 19th 
 he was led to execution. He met his fate like a hero. His death and the insanity of the 
 Empress Carlotta awakened the commiseration of mankind. The scheme of Napoleon 
 collapsed and his hope of gaining a footliold in the New World and of "restoring the 
 ascendancy of the Latin race" was brought to .shame and contempt. 
 
 The summer of 1865 was noted for the laying of the second .\tlantic cable. The first 
 line, laid in 1858, had failed after a few weeks of operation. Cynis W. Field never aban- 
 doned the enterprise, but held on persistently till fame and success came together, .\fter
 
 702 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the steamer Great Eastern had proceeded twelve hundred miles on her way to America the 
 second cable parted and was lost. The enterprise was renewed for the third time in July 
 of 1 865 and the work was successfully done. The lost cable was also recovered and that 
 line completed. After twelve years of unremitting efforts Mr. Field received a gold medal 
 
 from Congress and the 
 plaudits of all civilized 
 nations. 
 
 It was during the ad- 
 ministration of J o h n s o n 
 that the Territories of the 
 United States were given 
 approximately their final 
 forms. The vast domains 
 west of the IMississippi 
 were reduced to proper 
 limits and organized for 
 early admission into the 
 Union. In ]\Iarch of 1861 
 Dakota, destined after 
 twenty-seven }ears to be- 
 come two great States, 
 was detached from Ne- 
 braska on the north and 
 gi\"en a political organi- 
 zation. The Territory 
 embraoed an area of a 
 hundred and fifty thousand 
 square miles. Kansas 
 had at last, on the 29th 
 of Januar}-, 1861, been ad- 
 mitted into the Union 
 under a constitution framed 
 at Wyandotte. In Feb- 
 ruary of 1863 Arizona, 
 with an area of a hundred 
 and thirteen thousand 
 square miles, was separated 
 from New ^Mexico on the 
 west, and organized as an 
 independent Territon,-. On 
 the 3d of INIarch in the 
 same year Idaho was 
 constructed out of por- 
 tions of Dakota, Nebraska and Washington Territory. On the 26th of May, 1864, 
 Montana, with an area of a hundred and thirty-six thousand square miles, was cut off 
 from the eastern part of Idaho. On the ist of March, 1867, the Territor>- of Nebraska, 
 reduced to an area of seventy-six thousand square miles, was admitted into the Union as 
 
 TRIUJIPH OF FAITH -AND GENIUS.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 F()3 
 
 the thirty-seventh State. Ou the 26th of July, 1868, Wyoniing, with an area of ninety- 
 eight thousand square miles, was orc;anizeri out of portions of Dakota, Idaho and Utah. 
 
 PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 
 
 Meanwhile, in 1867, the far-off region of the northwestern extremity of our continent, 
 known as Alaska, was purchased b>- the United States. Two years previousl)- this conntrj- 
 had been explored by 
 
 a corps of scientific men, -- «-^ ""-ii . .^^> 
 
 A\-ith a view of estab- 
 lishing telegraphic com- 
 nuinication between the 
 United States and Asia. 
 Alaska was found to be 
 by no means the wortli- 
 less countr}- of popul 
 belief. The coast fisher- 
 ies, including the pro- 
 duct of the seal islands, 
 were found to be of ver\- 
 great %-alue and the pine 
 and cedar forests were 
 among the finest in the 
 world. Negotiations for 
 the purchase of the coun- 
 tr>- were opened with Russia by William H. Seward, Secretary- of State, and on the 30th 
 of March, 1867, the treaty was concluded by which for seven million two hundred 
 thousand dollars Alaska was purchased by the United States, thus adding to our territories 
 an area of five hundred and eighty thousand square miles and a population of twenty-nine 
 thousand, souls. 
 
 THE GREAT EASTERN LAVING THE .ATLANTIC CABLE. 
 
 j>=-
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 EPOCH OF RECONSTRUCTION. 
 
 DUTY now devolved upon the Government to recon- 
 struct the American Union. How to do it was the 
 issue of the day. On that question a break soon 
 appeared between the President and Congress. The 
 former held that the ordinances of secession had 
 been invalid and of no effect, and that the restoration 
 of the Southern States to their place in the Union was 
 a matter of executive authority and management. 
 The President accordingly proceeded on the 9th of 
 May, 1865, to issue a proclamation for the restora- 
 tion of \^irginia to her place in the Union. Twenty 
 daj'S afterwards he issued a second proclamation for 
 the setting up of a provisional government in South Carolina, and at brief inter\'als for all 
 the other States of the Confederacy. On the 24th of June he proclaimed the removal of 
 all restrictions from commerce with the Southern States. On the 7th of September he 
 completed the cycle of manifestoes by issuing a second Amnesty Proclamation, whereby all 
 persons who had upheld the Confederate cause, except a few leaders, were unconditionally 
 pardoned. 
 
 Meanwhile Tennessee was reorganized, and in 1866 restored to her place in the Union. 
 All the while, how-ever. Congress, falling more and more into hostility with the President, 
 pursued its own line of policy with regard to reconstniction. During the session of 1865-66 
 a Committee of Fifteen was appointed to consider nil questions relating to the reorganization 
 of the Southern States. Soon afterwards the Civil Rights Bill w-as passed with a view to 
 securing to the freedmenof the South full exercise of citizenship. This measure was vetoed 
 by the President, but was immediately repassed by a two-thirds' Congressional majoritj'. 
 This was the beginning of the open break between the two departments of the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The summer of 1866 witnessed a call for a National Peace Convention to be held in 
 Philadelphia on the 14th of August. The project appears to have originated in a sentiment 
 of the President. The objects of the meeting were not clearly defined, but the immediate 
 purpose was to get together the representatives from all parts of the country- for a fraternal 
 political meeting. To this extent the scheme was siiccessful. At the appointed time dele- 
 gates from all the States and Territories came together. President Johnson attended the 
 Convention, and the meeting was tiot wanting in spirit; but it proved to be a factitious 
 enthusiasm, springing from the effort of those who clung to the administration. 
 
 Johnson in the next place sought to rally public opinion by a journey through the 
 States. In the after part of summer he set out from Washington, taking with him General 
 Grant, Admiral Farragut, the leading members of the Cabinet and a retinue of other celebri- 
 ties. With these he departed for Chicago to be present at the laying of the conier-stone of 
 
 (704)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 705 
 
 a momunent to Senator Stephen A. Uouj^las. Tlie jiartx ])as.se(l tlirough Pliiladelphia, 
 New York and Alban\- and after participating^ in the ceremonies atCliicago retnrned b>- way 
 of St. Louis, Indianapolis, Louisville, Cincinnati and Pittsburg. At all the principal 
 towns and cities througli which he pa.s.sed the President delivered addresses, which in some 
 instances took the character of harangues in which he defended his own policy and 
 denounced that of Congress. The result, however, was unfavorable to the chief actor, and 
 in the following elections Congress was sustained by increased popular majorities. The 
 stubborn nature of the President would not yield and the affairs of the administration 
 came to a crisis. It began to appear that Johnson had gone over to the Confederate 
 party. Congress abandoned him and with him the milder principles of reconciliation 
 which Lincoln had profes.sed, and became relentlessly hostile towards the lately rebellious 
 party of the South. 
 
 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 The Committee of Fifteen nicanwhilf brought forward their report and that report 
 became the basis of the reconstruction of the Union. The terms were, first of all, that the 
 people of any rebellious State should ratify by the legislature thereof the Fourteenth 
 Amendment to the Constitution, which declared the citizenship of all persons born or 
 naturalized in the United States. After tital elections might be held and representatives to 
 Congress chosen, with the full restoration of State autonomy. Meanwhile an act was passed 
 forbidding the restriction of suffrage on the score of race or color in all the Territories of the 
 United States. To all the.se measures the President opposed his veto ; but in everv case 
 his objection was overcome b>- the two-thirds' majority in Congress. 
 
 The question at issue now began to clear. It was simply this, whether a ch'il or a 
 iiiilitary plan of reconstruction should be adopted for the lateh- rebellious States. The 
 latter view gained the day, and it was detennined in Congress that the military- and suppres- 
 sive method should be employed in the South, securing a prospective alliance politically 
 between the Black Republicans of the old slave States and the White Republicans of the 
 North. The Presidential policy favored the resurrection of the old white leadership of the 
 South — a measure which would probably have been fatal to the ascendancy of th.e Repub- 
 lican party in the government. 
 
 On the 2d of March, 1867, an act was passed by Congress for the organization of the 
 ten seceded States into five militan,- districts, each district to be under control of a governor 
 appointed by the President. The latter appointed the governors, but appealed to his 
 Attorney-General and secured from that official an answer that most of the reconstruction 
 acts of Congress were mill and void. The President hereupon is.sued such ordere to tht- 
 military governors as \irtually made their offices of no effect. The counsels in the govern- 
 ment became more and more distracted ; but in course of time the States of .\rkansas, 
 .\labama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina were reconstructed 
 and in June and July of 1868 were readmitted into the Union. In each case, however, 
 the readmission was effected o\cr the \Tto of the President. 
 
 IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF JOHNSON. 
 
 Matters in the administration now became critical. .\ difficulty arose in the Cabinet, 
 which led to the impeachment of the Pre.sident. On the 21st of p-ehruary, 1S68, he notified 
 Pvdwin M. Stanton, Secrctar\ of War, of his dismis.sal from office. The act was regardt-d 
 by Congress as not only unprecedented, but in violation of law, and was made the basis of 
 the measures that were adopted against the K.xecutive. On the 3d of March articles of 
 impeachment were agreed to by the Mousi- of Re|)resfntatives, and the cause .igainst the 
 
 45
 
 706 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 President was remanded to the Se.iate for trial. The proceedings began on the 23d of 
 March and extended to the 26th of May, when the question was submitted to a vote of the 
 Senators acting as judges, and Johnson was acquitted. His escape fro'.n an adverse verdict, 
 however, was perilously narrow. A two-thirds' majority was required to convict, and but 
 
 ci single vote was 
 Avanting to that re- 
 sult. The trial war 
 the most remarkable, 
 and perhaps the 
 most dangerous, 
 which had ever dis- 
 tracted, not to say 
 disgraced, the his- 
 ton,' of the country. 
 
 ELECTION OF GENERAL 
 GRANT. 
 
 After this event 
 Johnson went on 
 sullenly to the close 
 of his administra- 
 tion, but the time of 
 another Presidential 
 election was at hand, 
 and General Ulysses 
 S. Grant was named 
 by the Republicans 
 .IS their standard- 
 hearer. On the 
 Democratic side 
 Horatio Seymour of 
 New York was nomi- 
 nated. The ques- 
 tions dividing the 
 people arose out of 
 the issues of the 
 Civil War. Should 
 the measures of the 
 recent Congress be 
 upheld and carried 
 into eflFect ? On that 
 question General 
 Grant was elected 
 by a large majority. 
 
 The electoral '■. otes of twenty-six States, amounting to two hundred and fourteen ballots. 
 
 were cast in his favor, while his competitor received only the eighty votes of eleven States. 
 
 Of the popular vote Grant received 3,013,188, against 2,703,600 f)r Seymour. Th". choice 
 
 for the Vice- Presidency fell on Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana. 
 
 -^^^^.^--^
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 707 
 
 The new President was a native of Point Pleasant, Ohio, where he was born on the 
 27th of April, 1822. His boyhood was uneventful, but nut without promise. At seventeen 
 he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, and was graduated in 1843. 
 He served with distinction in the Mexican War, in which he was promoted to a captaincy 
 for gallantr\' in the field. After that conflict he became a merchant in St. Louis, but 
 afterwards resided at Galena, Illinois. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was living in 
 obscnrit}', following the vocation of tanner and leather-merchant. Nor could any have 
 foreseen the probabilitj- of his emergence to fame. His militar)' career has been recited in 
 the preceding pages. At the close of the war his reputation was ver\' great, and during 
 the difficulties between President Johnson and Congress the fame of Grant rose still higher 
 in the estimation of his countr)-men. At the Republican Convention in Chicago, on the 
 2 1st of May, 1868, he had no competitor ; he was unanimously nominated on the first ballot. 
 
 Entering on his duties as President, the new E.xecutive sent to the Senate the follow- 
 ing nominations : For Secretary of State, Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois ; for Secretary 
 of the Treasury-, Alexander T. Stewart, of New 
 York ; for Secretary of the Interior, Jacob 
 D. Cox, of Ohio ; for Secretary- of the Navy, 
 Adolph E. Borie, of Pennsylvania ; for Secre- 
 tar>' of War, John M. Schofield, of Illinois ; 
 for Postmaster-General, John A. J. Cresswell, 
 of Maryland ; for Attorney-General, E. R. 
 Hoar, of Massachusetts. The nominations 
 were at once confirmed, but it was soon dis- 
 covered that Mr. Stewart, being an importer of 
 foreign goods, was ineligible to a position in 
 the Cabinet. George S. Boutwell, of Massa- 
 chusetts, was accordingly appointed to the 
 vacant position. ^Ir. Washburne also gave up 
 his place to become ]\Iinister of the United 
 States to France; the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Hamilton Fish, of New York. 
 
 Now came the completion of the Pacific railway. The first division of that great trans- 
 continental line extended from Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, a distance of a thousand 
 and thirty-two miles. This span was known as the Union Pacific Railway. The western 
 division, called the Central Pacific, stretched from Ogdeir to San Francisco, a distance of 
 eight hundred and eighty-two miles. On the loth of May, 1869, the great work was com- 
 pleted with appropriate ceremonies. 
 
 The Civil War entailed the necessity for certain amendments to the Constitution of the 
 United States. The first of these, known as the Fourteenth Amendment, extended the 
 rights of citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and declared 
 the validity of the public debt. Just before the expiration of Johnson's tenn in the Presi- 
 dency, the Fifteenth Amendment was adopted, providing that the right of citizens of the 
 United States /o vole should not be denied or abridged on account of race, color or previous 
 condition of servitude. This article received the sanction of three-fourths of the legisla- 
 tures, and on the 30th of March, 1870, was proclaimed by the President as a part of the 
 Constitution. 
 
 BLACK FRIDAY. 
 
 Great opportunities for frauds and speculations were furnished b\- the financial con- 
 ditions now present in the country. The buying and selling of gold became a business. 
 
 GENERAL GRANT'S HOME IN GALENA, lS6o.
 
 708 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The art of manipulating the gold market was acquired to perfection, and the Gold Room in 
 New York City became the scene of such audacious transactions as had never been known 
 before. In the fall of 1869 occurred the most extraordinary event of all. No other scheme 
 of equal extent and audacity was ever concocted in the financial marts of the world. A 
 conspiracy was laid under the leadership of Jay Gould and James Fisk, Jr., to produce what 
 is known as a corner in the gold market, and the success of the scheme was so considerable 
 as to bring the business interests of the metropolis to the verge of ruin. The conspirators 
 managed to advance the price of gold from about one hundred and thirty to one hundred 
 and sixtj'-five, at which time the managers of the corner had virtiial control of the market, 
 and openly boasted that they would put up the price of gold to two hundred ! On the 24th 
 of September, known as Black Friday, the crisis was broken by the action of the govern- 
 ment. Mr. Boutwell unsealed the Treasury of the United States, poured the gold reser\-e 
 on the heads of the gamblers, and forced down the price of their phantom gold twentv per 
 cent, in less than as many minutes ! The speculators were blown away in an uproar, but 
 managed by fraud and corruption to carrj- off with them more than eleven million dollars 
 as the profits of their game ! 
 
 At this time was completed the reconstruction of the Southern States. On the 24th 
 of January, 1870, the Senators and Representatives of Virginia were readmitted to Con- 
 gress. On the 23d of February, like action was taken in the case of Mississippi; and on 
 the 30th of March the work was completed by the read mission of Texas, last of the seceded 
 States. After a period of nearly ten years, the people of all the States were again repre- 
 sented in the councils of the nation. 
 
 The vast work of taking and publishing the ninth census of the United States was 
 completed in the }ears 1870-71. The results were of the most encouraging character. 
 Notwithstanding the ravages of war, the last decade had been one of wonderful growth and 
 progress. The population had increased from 31,433,000 to 38,587,000. The centre of 
 population had moved westward to a point fifty miles east of Cincinnati. The National 
 debt had been somewhat reduced as to the figures in which it was expressed, but perhaps 
 not at all in its value; for the currency had raised in value more rapidly than the debt had 
 fallen off. The products of the United States had reached an enormous aggregate; even 
 the cotton crop of the Southern States had regained much of its importance in the markets 
 of the world. The Union now embraced thirt>' -seven States and eleven Territories, and 
 the latter were, as we have seen, rapidly approaching Statehood. 
 
 President Grant was perhaps the least visionar}- of all the great Americans who have 
 risen to distinction in our political history. In one particular he had a favorite project, and 
 that was the annexation of Santo Domingo to the United States. He also sought to extend 
 and amplify the relations, civil, social and commercial, between the American Republic 
 and Mexico. His project for annexing Santo Domingo resulted in the appointment of a 
 Board of Commissioners, composed of Senator Ben Wade, of Ohio, President Andrew D. 
 White, of Cornell University, and Dr. Samuel Howe, of Massachusetts, — to visit Santo 
 Domingo and report upon the desirability of annexation. The commissioners spent three 
 months abroad, and reported in favor of the President's scheme. The matter was laid 
 before Congress, but the opposition excited in that body was so great that the measure was 
 defeated. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE AUBAMA CLAIMS. 
 
 The time had now arrived when Great Britain was to be brought to the bar of justice 
 for the wrongs which she had committed against the United States during the Civil War.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 709 
 
 The account held against that country by our Government was sufficiently serious. The 
 gravamen of the charges was the connivance of England in fitting out, equipping and 
 encouraging the Confederate cniisers which preyed upon our connnerce during the greater 
 part of the war. The conduct of Great Britain was in plain violation of the law of nations. 
 Time and again Mr. Seward remonstrated with the British authorities on account of their 
 conduct. Great Britain, however, in common with all the monarchies of Western Europe, 
 sympathized with the Confederacy, and desired the destruction of the American Republic — 
 a type of government most dangerous to themselves. 
 
 After the war Great Britain became alarmed at her own conduct, and sought a settle- 
 ment. In Februar\- of 1871 a Joint High Commission, composed of five British and five 
 American statesmen, assembled at Washington Cit\'. The particular thing complained of 
 by the United States was the so-called Alabama Claims, that is, claims arising from the 
 ravages committed by the Confederate privateer, the Alabama. The commissioners suc- 
 ceeded in framing a treaty- known as the Treaty of Washington, wherein it was agreed that 
 all claims of either nation should be submitted to a Board of Arbitration, to be appointed 
 by friendly nations. The high court thus provided for met in Geneva, Switzerland, in the 
 summer of 1872. The cause of the two nations was impartially heard, and on the 14th of 
 December was decided in favor of the United States. The verdict was that Great Britain 
 for the wrong she had done should pay to the treasury of the American Government 
 15,500,000 dollars. 
 
 It was at this epoch that the railroad enterprises of the United States were carried to 
 the high-water mark of activity and success. In 1871 no less than seven thousand six hun- 
 dred and seventy' miles of railroad were constnicted. There is perhaps no other single fact 
 in the history- of the world which exhibits so mar\-ellous a development of the physical 
 resources of a nation. In 1830 there were but twenty-three miles of railway track in the 
 New World; in 1840, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen miles; in 1850, nine thou- 
 sand and twenty -one miles; in i860, thirty thousand six hundred and thirty-five miles; in 
 1870, more than sixty thousand miles. In the single year of 1871 more miles of railway 
 were built in the United States than Spain, whose navigators had discovered the New World, 
 has built in her whole career! 
 
 THE BURNING OF CHICAGO. 
 
 The same year witnessed a calamity almost as vast as the enterprise just referred to was 
 astonishing. The event in question was the burning of Chicago. On the evening of the 
 8th of October a fire broke out in De Koven Street and was driven by a high wind into the 
 lumber yards and wooden houses of the neighborhood. The conflagration spread with 
 great rapidity across the south , branch of the Chicago river and thence into the business 
 parts of the city. .\11 that night and the ne.xt day the deluge of fire rolled on, sprang 
 across the main channel of the river into North Chicago and swept ever>thing away as far 
 as Lincoln Park. The area burned over was two thousand one hundred acres, or three and 
 a third square-miles I .\bout two hundred lives were lost and propertv dcstroved to the value 
 of two hundred millions of dollars. No such devastation by fire had been witnessed since the 
 burning of Moscow. The ravaged di.strict was the greatest ever swept over by fire in a city; 
 the amount of property was .second in value, and the suffering occasioned tliird among the 
 great conflagrations of the world. 
 
 In the fall of 1822 the dispute between the United States and Great Britain relative to 
 our northwestern boundar>- was settled by arbitration. The treaty of 1846 had defined 
 that line as extending to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from
 
 710 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Vancouver's Island and tlience southerly through the middle of said channel and of Fuca's 
 Straits to the Pacific. But what was "the middle of said channel" ? There were several 
 channels, and the British Government claimed the Straits of Rosario as the true line. The 
 contention of the United States was for the channel called the Canal de Haro. After a 
 quarter of a centur}- the question was finally referred for arbitration to William I. , Emperor 
 of Germany. That monarch heard the cause and on the 2ist of October, 1S72, decided in 
 favor of the United States, thus denoting the Canal de Haro as the international boundar\-. 
 
 President Grant was by education and habit a military man, a general of armies rather 
 than a statesman. It was natural, from the conditions present at the epoch, that the military 
 spirit should strongly express itself in the administration. Major-generals and brigadiers- 
 swarmed in the halls of Congress and thronged the White House. The President was not 
 at all desirous of introducing militar\- methods into the government; but on the other hand 
 he had no sympathy with political methods and knew nothing of the arts of the demagogue. 
 As a natural result he fell back upon the manners and usages with which he was acquainted. 
 This, however, did not injure his popularity. He retained his hold upon the people, and 
 with the approach of the presidential election it was evident that he would be renominated 
 by his party. 
 
 TROUBLES ARISING FROM CARPET-BAG RULE. 
 
 The political questions of the day were still those which had issued from the Civil War. 
 The Congressional plan of reconstruction had been unfavorably received in the South and 
 was attacked by the Democratic party. Tlie raising of the Negro race to the full rank of 
 citizenship with the right or suffrage had created bitter opposition. In the South the civil 
 government had been disorganized, and the attempt to establish military government in its 
 stead virtually failed. The enmity of the Southern leaders and the greater part of the 
 whites who had participated in the Rebellion was fanned to a flame by the presence of a 
 governmental organization in which they did not, and would not, participate. A lawless 
 secret society, called the Ku-Klux Klan spread through a greater part of the Southern 
 States, its object being to harass and extinguish what were called the carpet-bag govern- 
 ments. These had been in large part instituted by political adventurers from the North who 
 had gone South at the close of the war with their politics and other fortunes in their 
 carpct-hags ! It was now discovered what the Northern statesmen had failed to apprehend, 
 namely, that the freedmen of the South had, for the time, little or no capacit}- for self- 
 government. 
 
 Such were the questions which divided the people in the quadrennial election of 1872. 
 General Grant was renominated by the Republicans. Henn.- Wilson, of ^Massachusetts, 
 was chosen as the Vice-Presidential candidate in place of ]\Ir. Colfax. On the Democratic 
 side there was much confusion of counsels. It was foreseen that a leader of that party on 
 the issue presented to the American people would have small show of success against the 
 great Union captains of the Civil War. ^Meanwhile a large number of prominent Repub- 
 licans, dissatisfied with the administration, formed a Liberal Republican party, and 
 nominated for the presidency Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune. Alter 
 some beating about, this nomination was accepted and ratified by the Democratic party, 
 together with the platform of the Liberal Republicans, which was anything else than 
 Democratic in its character. Greeley had for more than thirty years been an acknowledged 
 leader of public opinion in Aiperica. He had been the champion of human rights, 
 advocate of progress, idealist, philanthropist, a second Franklin born oi:t of due season. 
 He had discussed with vehement energ}- and enthusiasm almost ever}- question in whick
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 '11 
 
 the people of the United States had any interest. \o\v at tlie age of si.\ty-one he was 
 made the standard-bearer of a party of political extremes marvellously mixed. 
 
 This strange candidate of a strange party went before the people and spoke on the 
 questions involved in the contest; but everything was adverse to his prospects. His own 
 utterances, his strange personality, his former bitter contentions with the Democratic j^arty, 
 and many other things were paraded against 
 him. He was overwhelmingly defeated. 
 Grant's majority was almost unprecedented 
 in the political history of the country-. Mr. 
 Greeley, who had for the time relinquished 
 the editorial management of the Tribune^ 
 veturned to his duties; but he went back a 
 broken man, and died in less than a month 
 after the election. With hira ended the 
 career of the greatest journalist which 
 America had ever produced. 
 
 Just after the presidential election, the 
 cit>- of Boston was visited with a conflagra- 
 tion which but for the recent burning of 
 Chicago would have been legarded as the 
 greatest disaster of its kind ever known in 
 the United States. On the evening of the 
 9th of Xovember a fire broke out on the 
 corner of Kingston and Summer streets, 
 from which nucleus it spread in a north- 
 easterly direction, and continued to rage 
 with unabated fur>- until the morning of the i itli. The best portion of the city, embrac- 
 ing some of the most valuable blocks of buildings, was laid in ashes. The burnt district 
 covered an area of sixty-five acres. Fifteen lives were lost, and property to the value 
 of eighty millions of dollars. 
 
 THE MODOC INDIAN WAR. 
 
 In the meantime a dreadful incident had occurred on the Pacific slope. In the spring 
 of 1872, Superintendent Odneal undertook to remove the Modoc Indians from their lands 
 on Lake Klamath, Oregon, to a new reser\-ation. The Indians were alread\ embittered 
 against the Goveniment on account of the mistreatment and robberies to which they had 
 been subjected by the National officers. .Vt length in November of 1872 a body of troops 
 was sent to force the Modocs into compliance with the official order. They resisted, went 
 on the warpath, and during the winter fixed themselves in an almost inaccessible region 
 known as the Lava Beds. Here in the following spring they were surrounded. On the 
 nth of April, 1873, six members of the Peace Commission went to a conference with the 
 Modocs, hoping to prevail upon them to yield to the demands of the Ciovcrnment, and to 
 cease from hostilities. The Modocs dissembled, and in the midst of the conference sprang 
 up and fired on the Commissioners. General Canby and Dr. Thomas fell dead on the spot. 
 Mr. Meacham was shot and stabbed, but escaped with his life. The Modoc stronghold was 
 then besieged and bombarded; but it was not until the ist of June tliat General Davis, 
 with a force of regidars, was able to compel the Indians to surrender. Jack liimsclf and 
 several of his chiefs were tried by court-martial, and executed in the following October. 
 
 HORACE r.RKELEV.
 
 712 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The system of goveriiineiit instituted in the Southern States became more and more 
 unsatisfactor\-. The best elements of Southern society were against it. The white Repub- 
 licans, who for the most part had gone into the South after the war, were affiliated 
 politicalh- with the negroes. Against such a party the old Confederates had nothing but 
 enmity and hatred.. In 1873 a difficulty arose in Louisiana by which the State was thrown 
 into turmoil. At the election of 1872, two sets of presidential electors had been chosen. 
 There were two election boards. Two governors — William P. Kellogg and John McEnery 
 — were elected and rival legislatures were set xip. Two State governments were constituted 
 and everything was dual. 
 
 The dispute was carried to the Federal government and the President decided in favor 
 of Kellogg and his part}-. The rival government was dispatched, but in December of 1874 
 the ]\IcEnerv party revived, and Lieutenant-Governor Penn, who had been with McEnery, 
 gained possession of the State capitol. Kellogg fled to the custom-house and appealed to 
 the President for aid. The latter ordered a body of troops to be sent to Ne\v Orleans and 
 issued a proclamation against the adherents of Penn. With the assembling of the legisla- 
 ture, in December following, the difficulty broke out more violently than ever, and the 
 insurgent party had to be put down by the military. 
 
 THE CREDIT MOBILIER SCANDAL. 
 
 Early in President Grant's second term occurred the Credit Mobilier investigation in 
 Congress — a thing scandalous to national honor. The Credit Mobilier of America was a 
 joint-stock company organized for the purpose of facilitating the construction of public 
 works. Four years afterwards, namely, in 1867, a company which had been organized to 
 build the Pacific Railroad purchased the charter of the Credit Mobilier and increased the 
 capital to $3,750,000. The Railway Company sublet the work of building the Pacific 
 railway under contract for the government to the Credit IMobilier organization, and that 
 body ci,'as composed Jiiosily of themselves ! The railwa>- depended largely upon subsidies to 
 be granted by the government. It became, therefore, of the vastest importance to the 
 managers that favorable legislation should continue until they had gathered the proceeds. 
 
 It was necessary that the door which was thus opened into the treasury should not be 
 closed. To prevent such possible obstruction the management resorted to wholesale cor- 
 ruption. In 1872 a law-suit in Pennsylvania developed the startling fact that much of the 
 stock of the Credit Mobilier ivas oiancd by members of Congress ! The managers, under the 
 leadership of Oakes Ames, of Massachusetts, had placed the stock-certificates of the Credit 
 Mobilier in wholesale quantities to the credit of Representatives, Senators and other high 
 officers of the government. The certificates cost the holders not a cent. In some instances 
 the holders were not aware that the}- were the owners of any such stock until large dividends 
 were declared and tendered to them as profits ! Not a few persons were thus enriched with- 
 out the expenditure of a dollar. The suspicion flashed through the public mind that the 
 holders of such stock had been corrupted, and that legislature favorable to the Pacific rail- 
 way had been secured thereby. Many political fortunes were suddenly wrecked in the 
 scandal, and public faith was greatly shaken in the representatives of the people. 
 
 In the fall of 1873 a disastrous financial panic overtook the country. The alarm was 
 given by the unexpected failure of the great Banking House of Jay Cooke and Company, 
 of Philadelphia. Other failures followed in rapid succession. Depositors hurried to the 
 banks and withdrew their funds. A sudden paralysis fell on ever}- department of business 
 and many months elapsed before confidence was sufficiently restored to bring about the 
 usual transactions of trade.
 
 COLr.MHrS AND COLl'MHIA. 
 
 •i:i 
 
 TRANS-CONTINENTAL RAILWAY LINES. 
 
 One of the results of this liuaucial crisis was the siuldcn clieck given to tlie construc- 
 tion of the Northern Pacific Railway. This great work had been undertaken by sub- 
 sidies from Congres-s. Jay Cooke's Banking House made heavy loans to the Company and 
 accepted the bonds of the Company as security. When the Credit Mobilier scandal was 
 blown abroad, Congress suddenl\' shrank back, even from such encouragement as it might 
 have properly given to the Northern Pacific enterprise. 
 
 Work of construction on that line was suddenly arrested, not to be revived until after 
 years of tedious delay. In 1875 *^'^^ section of four hundred and fifty miles from Duluth to 
 Bismarck, Dakota, was put into operation. The second span, one hundred and five miles 
 in length, between Kalama and Tacoma, in Washington, was completed next, and finally 
 the whole line. Meanwhile railway capitalists had turned to the south, and the Te.xas and 
 Pacific Railway was projected, from Shreve- 
 port, Louisiana, and Texarkana, .-Vrkansas, 
 by way of El Paso, to San Diego, California, 
 a distance from Shreveport of fifteen hun- 
 dred and fourteen miles. This trans-con- 
 tinental line was completed before the 
 close of the eighth decade, and furnished 
 the second through line of travel and com- 
 merce between the old United States and 
 the Pacific coast. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1875, an Enabling 
 Act was passed by Congress authorizing the 
 people of Colorado to prepare a State con- 
 stitution. On the 1st of July, 1876, the 
 instrument thus provided for was ratified by 
 the people. .\ month later the President 
 issued his proclamation, and Colorado took 
 her place as the Centennial State in the 
 Union. The new commonwealth came with 
 an area of a hundred and four thousand five 
 hundred square miles, and a population of 
 forty-two thousand. Public attention had 
 first been drawn to Colorado by the discovery of gold in 1852. Sihcr mines were found 
 soon afterwards, and in 1858-59 the first colony of miners was established on Clear Creek 
 and in Gilpin County, .\lready before her admission as a State, Colorado had yielded from 
 her treasures more than seventy millions of dollars in gold. Immigration became rapid ; 
 Denver grew into an important city ; and the new State entered the Union under the 
 most favorable auspices. 
 
 DEATH'S HARVEST AMONG THE GREAT. 
 By this epoch the great men whose character and genius had been developed in the 
 times of the Civil War, began to drop rapidly from the ranks of the living. One of the 
 most conspicuous of these personages was Kdwin M. Stanton, Socrctar\ of War under 
 Lincoln, and more recenth' appointed Justice of tiie Supreme Court. He died on the 24th 
 of December, 1869, only four days after his appointment to the Supreme Bench, nor has 
 the manner or immediate occasion of his death ever been ascertained. On the 12th of 
 
 CH.\RI.ES SVMNER.
 
 714 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 October, 1870, General Robert E. Lee, President of Washington and Lee University, passed 
 away. In the same year General George H. Thomas and Admiral Farragiit died. In 1872 
 William H. Seward, Professor Morse, Horace Greeley and General Meade were called from 
 the scenes of their earthly labors. On the 7th of May, 1873, Chief Justice Chase fell under 
 a stroke of paralysis, at the home of his daughter in New York city, and on the nth of 
 March, 1874, Senator Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, died at Washington. He was a 
 native of Boston ; born in 181 1 ; liberally educated at Harvard College. He entered public 
 life at the age .of thirty-five and at thirty-nine succeeded Daniel Webster in the Senate of 
 the United vStates — a position which he retained until the time of his death. On the 2 2d 
 of November, 1875, Vice-president Henr)- Wilson died in Washington city. He, like 
 Roger Sherman, had risen from the shoemaker's bench to the highest honors of his country. 
 He possessed great abilities, true patriotism and man}- public and personal merits which will 
 transmit his name to posterit}-. 
 
 The Centennial of American Independence was now at hand. As the event drew near 
 the people made ready to celebrate it with appropriate ceremonies. It was determined to 
 
 hold in Philadelphia a great International Exposition 
 of Arts and Industries, the exhibition to continue 
 from the loth of May to the loth of November, 1876. 
 An appropriation of a million five hundred thou- 
 sand dollars was voted by Congress to promote 
 the enterprise, and the sum was increased b}- contribu- 
 tions from ever\- State and Territor}- of the Union. 
 The city of Philadelphia opened for the Exposition 
 Fairmount Park, one of the largest and most 
 beautiful in the world. A commission was con- 
 stituted with General Joseph R. Hawley, of Con- 
 necticut, as President ; Alfred T. Goshom, of Ohio, 
 as Director-general, and John L. Campbell, of 
 Indiana, as Secretar\-. 
 
 THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION. 
 Under direction of this commission five princi- 
 pal buildings were projected and brought to com- 
 pletion by the spring of 1876. The largest struc- 
 ture, called the Main Building, was eighteen hundred 
 and seventy-six feet in length within the walls 
 and four hundred and sixty-four feet wide, covering an area of more than twenty acres. 
 The cost of the structure was $1,580,000 Second in importance was the Memorial Hall, 
 or art gallerj', built of granite, iron and glass, and covering an area of seventeen 
 thoiisand six hundred and fifty square feet. This was by far the most elegant and pennanent 
 of all the Centennial buildings. Machinery' Hall, third of the great edifices, had the same 
 form and appearance of the Main Building, but was less grand and beaiitiful. The 
 ground floor covered an area of nearly thirteen acres. The cost of the stnicture was 
 $542,000. Agricultural Hall occupied a space of a little more than ten acres, and was 
 built at a cost of $260,000. Horticultural Hall was an edifice of the Moorish pattern, 
 covering a space of one and three-fifths acres, costing about $300,000. To these five 
 principal structures others of interest were added : the United States Government Build- 
 ing; the Woman's Pavilion ; the Department of Public Comfort ; the Government 
 
 JOSEPH R. HAWLEY.
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 15 
 
 Buildings of Foreign Nations; Modern Dwellings and Bazaars; School Houses, Restaurants 
 and Model Factories. 
 
 The reception of articles for the Exposition was begun as earh as Januar}', 1876. A 
 system of awards was adopted, and on the loth of May the inaugural ceremonies were held 
 under direction of the Centennial Commission, President Grant making the opening address. 
 The attention of the people was fully aroused to the importance of the event and the grounds 
 were crowded from the first day with thousands and hundreds of thousands of visitors. The 
 Exposition was perhaps the grandest and most interesting of its kind ever witnessed up to 
 that vear of history. All summer long citizens and strangers from every clime poured into 
 the spacious and beautiful park. Distinguished personages, among them Dom Pedro II., 
 Emperor of Brazil, came from abroad to gather instruction from the arts and industries of 
 mankind. 
 
 The Fourth of Juh", centennial anniversar>- of the great Declaration, was celebrated 
 throughout the countr\-. In Philadelphia on that day about two hundred and fifty thousand 
 strangers were present. The Declaration was read 
 in Independence Square by Richard Henry Lee, 
 grandson of him by whom the resolution to be free 
 was first offered in Congress — read from the original 
 manuscript. A Xational Ode was recited b\ the poet 
 Ba\ard Taylor, and a Centennial Oration delivered 
 bv William M. Evarts. At night the city was 
 illuminated and the ceremonies were concluded with 
 fireworks and jubilee. 
 
 The Centennial grounds were opened for one 
 hundred and fifty-eight days. The dail\- attendance 
 varied from five thousand to two hundred and 
 seventy-five thousand persons. The total receipts 
 for admission were $3,761,000. The total number 
 of visitors was nine million seven hundred and 
 eighty-six thousand. On the loth of November 
 the Exposition was formally closed by President 
 Grant, attended by General Hawley and Director 
 Goshorn, of Cincinnati. The Memorial building 
 was preser\'ed intact as a permanent ornament of Fainnount Park. The Main Building 
 was sold bv auction and the materials removed. Machinery Hall was purchased by 
 Philadelphia and afterwards removed from the grounds. The Wonjan's Pa\ilion was 
 presented to Philadelphia, together with most of the government buildings of foreign 
 nations. It can not be doubted that the Centennial Exposicion left a permanent impres.sion 
 for good and contributed to the harmonv of the civilized States of the world. 
 
 THE SIOUX WAR OF 1876. 
 In the last year of Grant's administration a war broke out with the Sioux Indians. 
 This fierce nation had in 1S67 agreed with the Government to relinquish all of the lcrritor>- 
 -outh of the Niobrara, west of the one hundred and fourth uKridiaii and north of the torty- 
 -ixth parallel of latitude. The terms were such as to confine the Sioux to a large reser\a- 
 tion in Southwestern Dakota. To this reservation they agreed to retire b\ the ist of 
 January, 1S76. Meanwhile gold was disc .'t,-.! among th-- Pin I Hill-., ]\ing within the 
 
 ALFRED T. GOSHORX.
 
 Ui6) 
 
 PRESIDENT GRANT FORMALLY OPENING THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. . 717 
 
 limits of the- Sioux reservation. Xo treat\ could keep the huufj^y horde of white gold- 
 diggers and adventurers from overrunning the interdicted region. This gave the Siou.x 
 good cause for breaking over the limits of their reservation and roaming at large, and also 
 a certain excuse for the ravages which they committed in Wyoming and Montana. 
 
 The Government, however, must needs drive the Sioux back upon their reservation. .\ 
 force of regulars under Generals Terry and Crook was sent into the mountainous countr\' 
 of the Upper Yellowstone and the Indians, numbering several thousand, led by their chief- 
 tain. Sitting Bull, were crowded back against the Big Horn mountains and river. Generals 
 Custer and Reno were sent forward with the Seventh Cavalry to discover the whereabouts 
 of the Indians. They came upon the Siou.x in a large valley extending along the left 
 bank of the Little Big Horn. Custer led the advance. It was the 25th of June, 1876. 
 
 W'ith Custer, to see the enemy was to fight. What ensued has never been adequately 
 determined. It appears that the General, iniderestimating the number of the Indians with 
 whom he had to contend, charged headlong with his division of the cavalry into the upper 
 end of the town. He was at once assailed by thousands of yelling warriors. Custer and 
 every man in his command fell in the fight. The conflict surpassed in desperation and 
 disaster any other battle ever fought between the whites and Indians. The whole loss of 
 the Seventh Cavalry was two hundred and si.xty-one killed and fifty-two wounded. Reno, 
 who engaged the savages at the lower end of their town, held his position on the bluffs of 
 the Little Big Horn until General Gibbon arrived with reinforcements and saved the rest 
 from destruction. 
 
 Other detachments of the army were hurried to the scene of war. During the summer 
 and autumn the Indians were routed in several engagements. Negotiations were opened 
 with the chiefs for the removal of the Sioux nation to the Indian Territory; but desperate 
 bands of the Red men still remained on the warpath. The civilized Indians of the Terri- 
 tor\' objected to having the fierce savages out of the North sent into their country. The 
 war went on till the 24tli of November, when the Sioux were decisively defeated by the 
 Fourth Cavalry in a pass of the Big Horn Mountains. The Indians suffered heav\- losses 
 and their town of a hundred and seventy-three huts was totally destroyed. Active opera- 
 tions continued until the 6th of January, iJSjj, when the remnant of the Sioux was com- 
 pletely routed by the division of General Miles. 
 
 The remaining bands of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse now made their escape into 
 Canada. There they remained until the following fall when a commission, headed by 
 General Terr\% met Sitting Bull and his principal warriors at Fort Walsh, on the Canadian 
 frontier. A conference was held on the 8th of October and pardon was offered the Indians 
 for all past offences, on condition of future good behavior. But Sitting Bull and his chiefs 
 rejected the proposals. The conference was broken off and the Sioux remained in the 
 British Dominions, north of Milk River. Not until 1880 — and then through the inter- 
 vention of the Canadian government — were Sitting Bull and his band induced to return to 
 the reservation of the Yankton Sioux, on the west bank of the Missouri River, Dakota. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876. 
 
 Before the end of the war tiie tweuty-lhird Presideiilial election liad been held. Ai the 
 Republican National Convention of 1876 General Rutherford B. Hayes, of ( )hio, and William 
 A. Wheeler, of New York, were chosen as the standard-bearers of their party. Sanniel J. 
 Tilden, of New York, and Thomas .\. Hendricks, of Indiana, were nominated by the Demo- 
 crats. The Independent Greenback party appeared in the field and presented as candidates 
 Peter Cooper, of New York, and Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio.
 
 (7i«) 
 
 HEROIC DEATH OF CUSTER.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 ■19 
 
 The canvass began early and was conducted with much asperity. The Democratic 
 battle-cp.- was Reform — reform in the public service and in all the methods of administra- 
 tion. The Republicans answered back with the cry of Reform — averring their anxiety to 
 correct public abuses of whatever sort, and to bring to punishment all who had been corrupt 
 in the offices of tlie government. To this was added a declaration in favor of National 
 sovereignty against the old doctrine of State sovereignty which was still vital in the South. 
 The Greenback party also cried Reform — monetar\' reform first and all other refonns after- 
 wards. It was alleged by the leaders of this party t!iat the redemption of the National 
 legal-tenders and other obligations of the United States in gold was a project unjust to the 
 debtor class and iniquitous from ever}' point of view. The advocates of this theory, how- 
 ever, had but a slight political organization and did not succeed in securing a single 
 electoral vote. 
 
 The canvass drew to a close; the election was held; the general result was ascertained, 
 and both the Republican and Democratic parties claimed the victor}-. The electoral votes 
 of Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon were claimed by both. In all those 
 States there had been great irregularity and fraud at the election. The powers of Congress 
 in such cases were so vaguelv defined that no declaration of the result could be made. 
 There was great confusion in the countr\- and the premonition of civil war. 
 
 THE JOINT HIGH ELECTORAL COMMISSION. 
 
 With the meeting of Congress in December, 1876, the question of the disputed Presi- 
 dency came at once before that body for settlement. The situation was complicated by the 
 political complexion of the two Houses. In 
 the Senate the Republicans had a majority, 
 and in the House the Democrats. Acrimonious 
 debates began and seemed likely to be inter- 
 minable. Should the electoral votes of the 
 several States be opened and counted by the 
 presiding officer of the Senate in accordance 
 with Constitutional usage in such cases? Or 
 should some additional court be constituted 
 to consider and pass upon the spurious re- 
 turns from the States where frauds and irregu- 
 larities had occurred ? 
 
 The necessity of doing something became 
 imperative. The business interests of the 
 countn,' grew clamorous for a speedy adjust- 
 ment of the difficulty. The spirit of compro- 
 mise gained ground in Congress and it vv-as 
 agreed that a Joint High Commission should 
 be constituted to which all the disputed election 
 returns should be referred for decision. The 
 body was to consist of five members chosen from 
 the Senate of the United States, five from the 
 House of Representatives and five from the 
 Supreme Court. The judgment of the tribunal was to be final in all matters referred 
 thereto for decision. 
 
 The commission was accordingly constituted. The counting of the electoral votes was 
 
 HH.MiRlCKS.
 
 720 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 begun as usual in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives. When any 
 disputed or duplicate returns were reached they were referred State by State to the Joint 
 High Commission, by which body the decision was made. On the 2d of March, 1877, only 
 two days before the time for the inauguration, the final judgment of the court was rendered. 
 The Republican candidates were declared elected. One hundred and eighty-five electoral 
 votes were counted for Hayes and Wheeler and one hundred and eighty-four for Tilden and 
 Hendricks. The most dangerous political crisis in the history of the countrj' thus passed 
 harmlessly by without violence or bloodshed.* 
 
 * The complete dominatiou of party politics in the United States was never more unhappily illustrated than 
 in the work of tlie Joint High Commission. This is not said in judgment of the result which was reached, but 
 of the features and methods and principles revealed in the work of the Commission. The five members of the 
 court from the House of Representatives — that body being Democratic — were of course three Democrats and two 
 Republicans ; the five from the Senate — that body being Republican— were three Republicans and two Demo- 
 crats ; the five from the Supreme Court were two Republicans, two Democrats and Judge David Davis, an Inde- 
 pendent. It was clear from the first that the decision was likely to rest with the probity, conscience and fearless- 
 ness of Judge Davis. But before the issue came to trial, by a sudden whirl in the politics of lUinois, the legislature 
 of that State elected Judge Davis to the Senate of the United States, thus relie\-ing him of the fearful responsibility 
 under which he was about to be placed. Judge Joseph P. Bradley, who was called an Independent, but whose 
 political antecedents and proclivities were Republican, was accordingly appointed by the Supreme Court as the 
 fifth member from that body. 
 
 When the proceedings began it was at once manifest that every Democratic member would vote for his can- 
 didates whatever might be the proofs ; that every Republican would support Hayes and Wheeler whatever might 
 be the facts, and that Judge Bradley, who constituted the real court, would decide according to his antecedents 
 and proclivities. In no single instance during the proceedings did any member of the court rise above his political 
 bias. The decision, therefore, happy enough in the sequel, was simply a gigantic political intrigue — a work in 
 which on the whole the Republican leaders were more sagacious and skilftil than their antagonists.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 PERIOD OF RECOVERY. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 T-THKRFURD BURCHARD HAVES, ninoteenth Presi- 
 dent of the United States, was born in Delaware, 
 Ohio, on the 4th of October, 1822. His primary' 
 education was received in the public schools, .\fter 
 j^reparatory study at Norwalk .\cadeiny and Webb's 
 Preparator>- School, in Connecticut, he entered the 
 Freshman class at Kenyon College, Ohio, and was gradu- 
 ated with high honors in 1842. In 1S45 he completed 
 his legal studies at Harvard College. He then began 
 the practice of law, first at Marietta, then at Fremont, 
 and finally in Cincinnati. Here he won a distin- 
 guished reputation. In the Civil War he rose to the 
 rank of Major- General, and in 1864, being still in 
 the field, was elected to Congress. In 1867 he was chosen governor of Ohio, and was 
 twice reelected. At the Republican convention of 1876 he had the good fortune to be 
 nominated for the Presidency over several c" the most eminent men of the nation. 
 
 President Hayes was inaugurated on th 5th of March, 1877.* He delivered for his 
 inaugural a conciliatory and patriotic address. On the 8th of the month he sent to the 
 Senate the names of his cabinet officers, as follows : Secretar%- of State, William M. Evarts, 
 of Xew York ; Secretan- of the Treasim-, John Sherman, of Ohio ; Secretary- of War, 
 George W. McCrar\\ of Iowa ; Secretan.- of the Xavy, Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana ; 
 Secretarx of the Interior, Carl Schurz, of Missouri ; Attorney-General, Charles E. Devens, 
 of Massachusetts ; Postmaster-General, David M. Kee, of Tennessee. These nominations 
 were duly ratified by the Senate, and the new administration was ushered in under not 
 unfavorable auspices. 
 
 The first notable event under the new administration was the great Railroad Strike of 
 1877. Hitherto that action of workingmen which has now pa.ssed into the phraseology 
 of the times as striking had been little known, and that only in Eastern manufactories and 
 in the mining districts of the countrv-. At length, however, more complex conditions of 
 industr>' had supervened in the United States, and capitalists and employes had come to 
 entertain towards each other a sentiment and attitude of armed neutralit>'. 
 
 Early in 1877 the managers of the great railways leading from the seaboard to the 
 West declared a reduction of ten per cent, in the wages of their workmen. The measure 
 was to take effect on the first of July, at the precise time when the removal of the enonnous 
 ^rain products of the West would put upon the operatives of the railways the most excessive 
 labors. It was the season of the year when receipts from railway freights were largest, and 
 
 * The fourth of March fell on Suiulay. The same IhiiiK has happened in the following years ; 175.^, 17S1, 
 iHzr iMonrf>e's inauguration, second tcrmi, 1S49 iTaylors inaujiniri^tion). 1877 (Hayes's inau^ration) ; and the 
 same will occur hereafter as follows : 1917, 1945, 1973, 2oor, 2029, 2057, 2085, 2125, 2153. 
 46 (721)
 
 722 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 when, therefore, there was least rational' ground for a reduction of wages. The re.siytance 
 of the workingmen to the action of the managers was as natural as it was just. 
 
 THE GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE. 
 
 The strike began on the line of the Baltimore and Uhio Railroad on the i6th of July. 
 The workmen did not content themselves with ceasing to work, but gathered with such 
 strength and spirit in Baltimore and Martinsburg, West Virginia, as to prevent the running 
 of trains. The militia was called out by Governor Matthews, only to be dispersed by the 
 strikers. The President ordered General French, with a bod}- of regulars, to raise the 
 blockade of the road, and that officer succeeded at length in performing his duty. On the 
 20th of the month a strikers' riot occurred in Baltimore, and nine of the rioters were killed 
 and many others wounded by the troops before order could be restored. 
 
 Meanwhile the strike spread rapidly to other and distant localities. In less than a 
 week trains on all the important railways between the Hudson and the Mississippi were 
 stopped. Except in the cotton-growing States, the labor-insurrection was universal. In 
 Pittsburg the strikers gathered to the number of twenty thousand, obtained control of the 
 city, and for two days held a reign of terror. The Union depot, machine-shops and all the 
 railway buildings of the city were burned. One hundred and twenty-five locomotives and 
 two thousand five hundred cars laden with valuable merchandise were destroyed with wild 
 havoc and uproar. The insurrection was at last suppressed by the soldiers, but not until 
 nearly a hundred lives had been lost and property destroyed to the value of more than three 
 million dollars. 
 
 By this time travel had ceased. The mails were stopped. Freights perished en route. 
 Business was paralyzed throughout the country. On the 25th of July a terrible riot 
 occurred in Chicago. Fifteen of the insurgents were killed by the police. On the next 
 day St. Louis was imperilled b\- a mob. San Francisco was the scene of a dangerous out- 
 break, which was here directed against the Chinese immigrants and the managers of the 
 lumber-yards. Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville and Fort Wayne were 
 seriously endangered, but escaped without loss of life or property. By the end of July the 
 insurrection had run its course. Business and travel revived, but the outbreak had shocked 
 the public mind into a sense of hidden peril to Amencan institutions. 
 
 WAR WITH THE NEZ PERCES INDIANS. 
 
 The war with the Sioux was soon followed by that with the Nez Perces. These 
 Indians had their haunts in Idaho. Since 1806 they had been known to the government. 
 Lewis and Clarke had made a treaty with them and missionaries had been sent among them. 
 In 1854 a part of the Nez Perce territory was purchased by the United States, but large 
 reservations were made in Northwestern Idaho and Northeastern Oregon. Some of the 
 chiefs refused to ratify the purchase, and came at length into conflict with white settlers 
 who had entered the disputed regions. 
 
 War ensued. ' General Howard, with a small force of regulars, was sent against the 
 hostile tribes, but the latter, under their noted chief, Joseph, fled in this direction and that, 
 avoiaing battle. The pursuit was kept up until fall, when the Nez Perces were hemmed in 
 in Northern Montana by the command of Colonel Miles. Driven across the Missouri River, 
 the Indians were surrounded in their camp north of the Bear Paw Mountains. A hard 
 battle was fought, and only a few braves, led by the chief. White Bird, succeeded in 
 escaping. All the rest were either killed or taken. Three hundred and seventy-five of the 
 captive Nez Perces were brought back to the military posts on the Missouri. The troops
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 723 
 
 of General Howard had made forced marches tlirough a mountainous countrj- for a distance 
 of six/cen hundred miles. 
 
 The year 1878 was noted in our financial history for the passage of the Congressional 
 measure known as the Remonetization of Silver. When the American Republic was foundeil 
 in 1789, one of the most important matters imposed on the treasury was the establishment 
 of a system of coinage. At that time there might be said to be no unit of value in the Old 
 Thirteen States. For the most part the British Pound Sterling, with its subdivisions of 
 shillings and pence, was recognized as the money of account. The Revolution had driven 
 coin from the country', and the devices of paper money, used in the epoch of Independence, 
 were \arious and uncertain. 
 
 B\- the first coinage regulations of the United States the standard unit of value was 
 the American Silver Dollar, containing three hundred and seventy-one and a fourth grains of 
 pure silver. The Spanish-American dollar had this value, and Hamilton, Secretary of the 
 Treasury, adapted the new standard to the existing dollar. Hy this measure it was practic- 
 able to recoin Spanish dollars into the American denomination without loss or inconvenience. 
 
 From the adoption of this standard in 1792 until 1S73 the quantity of pure metal in 
 the standard unit had never been changed, though the amount of alloy was several times 
 altered. From 1792 until 1834 the American silver dollar was virtually the only standard 
 unit. In the year just named the coinage scheme was enlarged and adjusted on a basis of 
 sixteen to one of gold and silver. In 1849 ^'^^ coinage of a gold dollar was provided for; 
 and from that time forth the standard miit existed in both metals. Nor might it be deter- 
 mined whether in accounting in the United States gold was measured by the silver standard 
 or silver by the standard of gold. 
 
 DEMONETIZATION AND REMONETIZATION OF SILVER. 
 
 With the coming of the Civil War both metals disappeared from circulation and became 
 a commodity of commerce. In the years 1873-74 at a time when owing to the premium 
 on gold and silver both metals were out of circulation, a series of acts was passed b>- Con- 
 gress bearing upon the standard of value whereby the legal-tender quality of silver — ver\- 
 adroitly — was first abridged and then abolished. These enactments were completed by the 
 report of the coinage committee in 1874, by which it was provided that the silver dollar 
 should henceforth be omitted from the list of coins to be struck at the national mints. The 
 effect of these acts was to leave the gold dollar of twenty-three and twenty-two-hundredths 
 grains the single standard unit of value in the United States. In other words, the effect — 
 coincident with the intent — was to destroy the bi-metallic and to introduce the mono- 
 metallic system of money into our country. 
 
 The ulterior object was not far to seek. The time was near at hand when specie pay- 
 ments must be resumed by the government. The debts of the nation were payable in coin; 
 that is, in both gold and silver coin, at the option of the pa>er. Meanwhile the great 
 silver mines of the Western Mountains were discovered. It was foreseen by the debt- 
 holding classes that silver was likely to become abinulant and cheap. If that metal should 
 be retained in the coinage, therefore, the payment of the national debt would be propor- 
 tionallv easy. It was deemed expedient to strike down /// time tiie legal-tender quality of 
 silver in order that the whole payment of the bonded intlebtedncss of the I'nited States 
 nuist be made by the standard of a dollar worth more than the dollar of the law and the 
 contract; namely, by the single standard of gold. 
 
 The next step in this prodigious scheme was the passage of the Resumption .\ct. This 
 measure was adopted in 1875. By it provision was made that on the ist of Januar>-, 1879,
 
 724 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the government of the United States should begin to redeem its outstanding obligations in 
 coin. As the time for resumption drew near the premium on gold fell off, and at length 
 the question was raised as to the meaning of the word " coin '" in the act of resuming specie 
 payment Now for the first time the attention of the people at large was aroused to the 
 fact that by the acts of 1873—74 the privilege and right of paying debts in silver had been 
 taken away! It was perceived that after the beginning of 1879 all obligations, both public 
 and pri\-ate, must be discharged according to the measure of the gold dollar only. 
 
 The situation justified the tumult that followed. A cr}- for the remonetization of 
 siher was heard even-where. Vainly did the bond-holding interest of the countr}- exert 
 itself to stay the tide. The question reached the government, and early in 1878 a measure 
 was passed by Congress for the restoration of the legal-tender quality of the old silver dollar 
 and providing for the compulsory coinage of that unit at the mints, at the rate of not less 
 than two millions of dollars a month. Notwithstanding the unanimit}' of the country- in 
 favor of the measure, the President vetoed it; but the veto was crushed under a tremendous 
 majority, for nearly three-fourths of the members of Congress, wathout respect to party 
 affiliations, gave their support to the bill. The old double standard of values was thus 
 measurably restored, but the fight for the preservation of silver as a monetar}- unit was only 
 begun. 
 
 THE YELLOW FEVER PLAGUE. 
 
 The year 1878 was noted for the prevalence of yellow fever in the Gulf States of the 
 
 Union. The disease appeared first at New Orleans, but was quickly scattered among the 
 
 other towns of the Lower Mississippi. The terror spread from place to place, and people 
 
 began to fly from the pestilence. The cities of Memphis and Grenada became scenes of 
 
 desolation. At Vicksburg the plague was almost equally terrible. The malady extended 
 
 into the parish towns, and as far north as Nashville and Louisville. Throughout the 
 
 summer months the helpless population of the infested districts languished and died by 
 
 thousands. In the North a system of contributions was established, and men and treasure 
 
 were poured out without stint. The efforts of the Howard Association at New Orleans, 
 
 Memphis and other cities were almost unequalled in heroism and sacrifice. More than 
 
 twenty thousand people fell victims to the plague, and its ravages were not staid until the 
 
 coming of frost. 
 
 HALIFAX FISHERY AWARD. 
 
 The eighteenth article of the Treaty of Washington conceded an enlargement of rights 
 to the fishermen of the United States in certain waters hitherto controlled exclusively by 
 Great Britain. The privilege of taking fish of ever\- kind — excepting shellfish — along 
 certain shores and in the bays and harbors of Nova Scotia, New Bnmswick, Prince Edward's 
 Islands and Quebec was guaranteed to American fishermen. Our government, on the 
 other hand, agreed to relinquish the duties hitherto charged on certain kinds of fish imported 
 into American markets. In order to balance any difference which might appear in the 
 aggregate of such mutual concessions, it was further agreed that any total advantage to the 
 United States arising from the treaty might be balanced by the payment of a sum in gross 
 to Great Britain. To determine what such siim might be a commission was provided for. 
 One member of the body should be appointed by the Queen, one by the President of the 
 United States, and in case the Queen and the President should not agree on the third, he 
 was to be selected by the Austrian ambassador at the court of St. James. The provision for 
 the third commissioner was one of the strangest incidents of diplomatical histor>-. It 
 chanced that the appointment of umpire was given to Count Von Buest, a Saxon renegade 
 and hater of republican institutions, temporarily resident as Austrian ambassador /;/ London.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 72.3 
 
 The commission was constituted in the summer of 1877, at Halifax. Little attention 
 was given to the proceedings until November, when it was announced tliat h\- the casting 
 vote of Herr Delfosse, Belgian Minister to the United States, who had been named as umpire 
 by the Austrian ambassador, the sum of five million dollars had been awarded against 
 the American government. Tlie decision was received with the utmost surprise, both in 
 the United States and Europe. The National government, however, decided to stand by 
 the award rather than renounce tlie principle of arbitration. The result was such as to 
 warrant the sarcasm of the times that Great Britain had got even with the United States on 
 the score of the Alabama award. 
 
 It was in this year that a Resident Chinese Embassy was established at Washington 
 City. For twenty years the Burlingame treaty between the United States and China had 
 been in force. Commercial intercourse had been enlarged between the two countries, and 
 race prejudice was to a certain extent broken down. At length the Chinese Emperor was 
 assured that his minister would be received at Washington with all the courtesv shown to 
 the representative of the most favored nation. Official representatives were accordingly 
 sent from the Imperial government to the United States. These were Chen Lan Pin, 
 Minister Plenipotentiary; Yun Wing, Assistant Envoy, and Yun Tsang Sing, Secretan.- of 
 Legation. On the 28th of September the embassy was received by the President; the cere- 
 monies of the occasion being the most novel ever witnessed in Washington City. 
 
 LIFE-SAVING SERVICE AND SPECIE RESUMPTION. 
 
 It was at this time that a bill, introduced by Honorable Samuel S. Cox, of New York, 
 for the organization of the Life-saving Ser\-ice of the United States, was brought before 
 Congress, and on the 1 8th of June, 
 1878, was adopted by that body. The 
 act provided for the establishment of 
 stations and light-houses on all the 
 exposed parts of the Atlantic coast 
 and along the great lakes. Each 
 station was to be manned by a com- 
 pany of experienced surfmen, drilled 
 in the best methods of rescue and 
 resuscitation. All manner of appli- 
 ances known to the science of the age 
 was added to the equipment of the 
 stations, and the success of the work 
 was such as to reflect the highest 
 credit upon its promoters. For the ' 
 day the question of giving succor to 
 shipwrecked sailors engros.sed the 
 attention of the (Tovernnient, and 
 tiie people grew anxious to provide 
 against the perils of "them that go 
 down to the sea in ships." 
 
 In accordance with the legisla- 
 tion of 1875 the Resumption of Specie 
 Payments was effected on the ist of January, 1879. During the four years of interim 
 the premium on gold had gradually declined. In the last month of 187S the difference 
 
 JAMKS
 
 726 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 between the value of gold and paper dollars was so slight as to be scarcely perceptible in 
 business. For a few days the premium hovered about one per cent., then sank to the level 
 and disappeared. The Gold Room of New York City was closed and metallic money reap- 
 peared on the counters of banks and in the safes of merchants. For seventeen years gold 
 and silver had been used in merchandise, the legal-tender dollar of the Government con- 
 stituting the standard of value. The fact of resumption was hailed by many as the end of 
 the epoch of speculation and the beginning of a better financial era. 
 
 Thus passed away the administration of Hayes. It was a peculiar quadrennium in 
 American history. The methods of the President lacked emphasis, and there was nothing 
 spectacular in the Government during his occupancy of the presidential chair. ^lany doubts 
 entered into the public mind concerning the legality of his election. It should be said, 
 however, that his administration had in it more of the genuine elements of refonn than had 
 existed in any other since the days of Fillmore. His Cabinet was the ablest of its kind 
 since the ascendancy of Webster as Secretary of State. Nevertheless, both the President 
 and his work were unpopular. The Congressional elections of 1878 went strongly against 
 the Republicans. Ever}thing seemed to foretoken the restoration of the Democratic party 
 
 to power. The Republican National Con- 
 vention of 1880 was held in Chicago, on the 
 2d and 3d of June. The platform adopted 
 was retrospective. The party in power 
 looked to the past for its renown and honor. 
 After two days of balloting. General James A. 
 Garfield, of Ohio, was nominated for Presi- 
 dent, and Chester A. Arthur, of New York, 
 for Vice-President. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1880. 
 On the 22d of June the Democratic 
 National Convention assembled in Cincinnati. 
 The platform adopted declared adherence to 
 the doctrines and traditions of the party ; 
 opposed centralization ; adhered to gold and 
 silver money and paper convertible into coin ; 
 advocated' a tariff for revenue only and de- 
 nounced the part}' in power. On this plat- 
 form the convention nominated for the presi- 
 dency General Winfield S. Hancock, of New 
 Yoik. and for the vice-presidency William H. 
 English, of Indiana. 
 
 The convention of the National' Greenback party was held in Chicago on the 9th of 
 June. General James B. Weaver, of Iowa, and Benjamin J. Chambers, of Texas, were 
 named as the standard-bearers. The platform declared for the rights of labor as against 
 the exactions of capital ; denounced monopolies ; proclaimed the sovereign power of the 
 Government over the coinage of metallic and the issuance of paper money ; advocated the 
 abolition of national banks ; declared for the payment of the bonded debt of the United 
 States ; denounced land-grants ; opposed Chinese immigration, and favored the equal 
 taxation of all property-. 
 
 It was at this time, namely, in the canvass of 1880, that the Third-party movement 
 
 I 
 
 GENERAL WINFIELD HANCOCK.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 727 
 
 reached its climax for the decade. The more rational part of the principles of the Green- 
 back partv had in them a qnality which demanded the assent of a respectable minority of 
 the American people. The correctness of these principles was afterwards carried for judg- 
 ment to the Supreme Court of the United States, was there argued by the ablest Constitu- 
 tional lawvers before a full Bench, and was decided with only a single dissenting opinion in 
 favor of the Greenback theor\- of legal-tender paper money, and its validity ^s money, inde- 
 pendent of coin redemption. But politically tlie part\- representing these ideas was doomed 
 to failure. The contest of 1880 lay as usual between the Republican and Democratic parties. 
 The long-standing sectional division into North and South once more decided the contest in 
 favor of the former. That clause of the Democratic platform which declared for a tariff for 
 revenue onlv alarmed the manufacturing interests and consolidated them in favor of the 
 Republican candidates. The banking and bond-holding classes rallied to the same .standard, 
 and the old war spirit against the "Solid South" did the rest. Garfield and Arthur were 
 elected bv an electoral vote of two hundred and fourteen against one Inindred and fifty-five 
 votes for Hancock and English. General Weaver received no electoral votes, though the 
 popular vote given to him reached an aggregate of three hundred and seven thousand. 
 
 The closing session of the forty-si.xth Congress was mostly occupied with the work of 
 refunding the national debt. About $750,000,000 of the five and six per cent, bonds now 
 reached maturity, and it became necessary- for the government to take them up either by 
 payment or refunding. As for payment, that was in part impracticable. As matter of 
 fact, payment was not desired by the bond-holders, and was not contemplated by the gov- 
 ernment. A bill was passed for the issuance of new bonds of two classes, both bearing three 
 per cent, interest ; the first class payable in from five to twenty years, and the second class 
 in from one to ten years. The latter bonds were to be issued in small denominations, to 
 give the measure the appearance of a popular loan. One provision of the bill required the 
 national banks to surrender their high-rate bonds and accept the new three per cents, 
 instead. This clause aroused the antagonism of the banks, and they sought in ever\- pos- 
 sible way to prevent the passage of the bill. The measure as proposed was repugnant to 
 capitalists and bond-holders as a class. These forces at length prevailed, and though the 
 bill was passed by Congress, the President returned it with his objections, and the measure 
 failed. The question of refunding was thus carried over to the next administration. 
 
 GRANT'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 At the end of his Presidential term General Grant with his family and a company of 
 personal friends set out to visit the countries of Europe and Asia. The party left Phila- 
 delphia in May of 1877. The event immediately demonstrated the fact that General Grant 
 was regarded by the world as one of the most important personages of modern times. His 
 procession from place to place became a constant pageant, such as was never before accorded 
 to a private citizen of any nation of the earth. The journey of the ex-President was first 
 through the principal cities of England, and afterwards to Belgium, Switzerland, Prussia 
 and France. The company then made a brief stay in Italy, and from thence went by 
 voyage to Alexandria ; thence to Palestine ; and afterwards to Greece. In the following 
 year the General returned to Italy, and passed the summer in Denmark, Sweden and 
 Norway. He then visited Austria and Russia, but returned for the winter to the south of 
 France and Spain. In January of 1879 the party embarked for the East. The following 
 year was spent in India, Burniah, Siam, China and Japan. In the fall of that year the 
 company reached San Francisco, bearing the highest tokens of esteem which the nations 
 of the Old World could bestow on the honored representative of the Xew.
 
 728 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The census of 1880 was conducted under the skilful superintendency of Professor 
 Francis A. Walker, who had already directed the census of the previous decennium. More 
 than ever before was the astonishing progress of the United States now revealed and illus- 
 trated. The population had increased to 50,152,866, showing an increase for the decade 
 of a million inhabitants 
 a )ear. The population 
 of the State of New 
 York had risen to more 
 than five millions. Ne- 
 vada, least populous of 
 the States, showed an 
 enumeration of 62,265. 
 Of the increment of popu- 
 lation 2,246,551 had been 
 contributed b>- immigra- 
 tion, of whom about 
 eight\--five thousand an- 
 nually came from Ger- 
 many. The number of 
 cities having a population 
 of over a hundred thou- 
 sand had increased in ten 
 years from fourteen to 
 twenty-five. The centre 
 of population had moved 
 westward to a point near 
 the city of Cincinnati. 
 
 It was at this time, 
 namely, in 1880, that the 
 current of the precious 
 metals turned once more 
 towards America. In that 
 year the imports of specie 
 exceeded the exports b>- 
 more than seventy-five 
 million dollars. Mean- 
 while abundant crops 
 had followed in almost 
 unbroken succession, and 
 the overplus of American 
 products had gone to 
 enrich the country and to stimulate those 
 dustries upon which the nation rests. 
 
 The necrolog}' of this epoch shows man)- distinguished 
 names. Among these maybe mentioned Senator Oliver P. I\Iorton, of Indiana, who after 
 battling for years against the encroachments of paralysis, died at his home in Indianapolis, 
 November ist, 1877. 1"^^ great poet William Cullen Br}-ant, now at the advanced age of 
 
 1 ROM I. \N KI
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 729 
 
 eighty-four, passed away on tlie i2th of June, 1878. On the igtli of December, in the 
 same year, the illustrious Bayard Ta\lor, recently appointed American Minister to the 
 Crennan empire, died suddenly at Berlin. On the ist of November, 1879, Senator Zachariah 
 Chandler, of Michigan, one of the founders of the Republican party, died, after a brief 
 illness in Chicago. On the 24th of February, 1881, another vSenator, Matthew H. 
 Carpenter, of Wisconsin, after a long sickness at Washington City, passed away. 
 
 LIFE OF GARFIELD. 
 
 Garfield was the twentieth President of the United States. He was born at Orange, 
 Cuyahoga countv, Ohio, November 19th, 1831. He was left in infancy to the care of his 
 mother and the rude surroundings of a backwoods home. There he found the rudiments 
 of an education. Further on in \outh he ser\-ed as a pilot on a canal boat phing the Ohio 
 and Pennsvlvania canal. At se\cnteen he entered the high school in Chester, and in his 
 twentieth vear became a student at Hiram College. In that institution he was chosen as 
 an instructor until 1854. He then went to Williams College, and from that institu- 
 tion was graduated with honor. Returning to Ohio, he was first a professor and afterwards 
 president of Hiram College. This position he gave up to become a soldier at the outbreak 
 of the Civil War. In the meantime he had studied law, imbibed a love for politics, and 
 been elected to the Senate of Ohio. 
 
 As a soldier Garfield rose through the grades of Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel, and 
 Brio-adier-General, to become Chief of Staff to General Rosecrans. In that relation he 
 bore a distinguished part in the battle of Chickamauga. 
 While still in the field he was elected by the people of 
 his home district to the House of Representatives, in 
 which body he served continuously for seventeen years. 
 In 1879 he was elected to the Senate of the United States; 
 but before entering upon his duties was nominated and 
 elected to the presidency. 
 
 The inaugural address of March 4th, 1881, was a 
 paper of high grade. A retrospect of American progress 
 was given. The countr\' was congratulated on its rank 
 among the nations. The topics of politics were reviewed, 
 and the policy of the incoming executive defined with 
 clearness and precision. The public-school system of the 
 United States was defended. Some kind words were J"^*'^ «^- blaine. 
 
 spoken for the South, as if to assuage the heartburnings of the Cix'il War. The main- 
 tenance of the National Bank system was recommended, and the equal political rights of 
 the Black Men of the South advocated. 
 
 The new cabinet was constituted as follows : Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, of 
 Maine ; Secretary of the Treasur>-, William Windom, of Minnesota ; Secretary- of War, 
 Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois ; Secretor>- of the Navy, William H. Hunt, of Louisiana ; 
 Secretan,- of the Interior, Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa ; .Attorney-General, Wayne 
 Mac\'eagh, of Pennsylvania ; Postmaster-General, Thomas L. James, of New York. The 
 nominations were at once confirmed, and the new administration was establi.shed in office. 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 
 Now arose the great question of a Reform of the Civil Service. This matter had 
 been handed down from the administration of Haves, under whom efforts hail l>cen made to
 
 730 
 
 COLUAIBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 'rs^ 
 
 introduce better methods of selecting persons for the appointive offices of the government. 
 Tlie real issue was — and has always been — whether the choice of the officials of the govern- 
 ment should be made on the ground of the character and fitness of the candidates, or on 
 the principle of distributing political patronage to those who had best ser\'ed the party ; 
 whether men should be promoted from the lower to the higher grades of official life and 
 retained according to the value and proficiency of their ser\'ices, or whether the}', should be 
 elevated to positions in proportion to their success in carrying elections and maintaining the 
 part}" in power. 
 
 The members of Congress held strongly to the old order of things, being unwilling to 
 give up their influence over the appointive power. To them it seemed essential that the 
 spoils should belong to the victors. President Hayes had attempted to establish the oppo- 
 site policv, but near the close of his term had been driven from the field. The Republican 
 platform of 1880 vaguely indorsed civil service reform, and some expectation existed that 
 
 Garfield would attempt to promote that policy ; but the 
 rush of office-seekers at the beginning of his term was over- 
 whelming. Washington Cit\- was thronged by the hungry 
 horde who had "carried the election;" and all plans and 
 purposes of reform in tjie civil ser\-ice were crushed out of 
 sight and trampled under feet of men. 
 
 This break from the declared principles of the party 
 was soon followed by a serious political disaster. A division 
 arose in the Republican ranks threatening disruption to the 
 organization. Two wings of the party appeared, nicknamed 
 respectively the "Half-breeds" and the "Stalwarts." The 
 latter faction, headed by Senator Roscoe Conkling, of New 
 York, had recently distinguished itself by supporting General 
 Grant for a third tenn in the presidenc}-. The Half-breeds 
 regarded James G. Blaine, now Secretary of State, as their 
 leader, supported and endorsed as he was by the President. 
 The Stalwarts claimed their part of the spoils, that is, of 
 the appointive offices of the Government. The President, 
 however, leading the professed reform element in politics, 
 insisted on naming the officers in the various States independently of the wishes of the 
 Congressmen therefrom. 
 
 This policy brought on a crisis. The collectorship of customs for the port of New 
 York, being the best appointive office in the gift of the government, was contended for by 
 both factions. The President appointed to this position Judge William Robertson, and the 
 appointment was antagonized by the New York Senators, Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. 
 Piatt; but Robertson's appointment was nevertheless confirmed by the Senate, whereupon 
 Conkling and Piatt resigned their seats, returned to their State, and failed of reelection. 
 The breach became so wide as to threaten the dismemberment of the Republican party. 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF GARFIELD. 
 
 Just after the adjournment of the Senate, in June, President Garfield made arrangements 
 to visit Williams College, where his two sons were to be placed as students. The President 
 also contemplated a short vacation with his wife, who was sick at the seaside. On the morn- 
 ing of July 2d, accompanied by Secretary Blaine and a few friends, the President entered 
 
 ROSCOK CONKLING.
 
 COLUMBUS AXD COLUMHIA. 
 
 ^31 
 
 tlie Baltimore railway station at \Vashiii<;tt)n, preparatory to taking the train for Lono- 
 Hranch, New Jerse\-. A moment afterwartls he was approaclied bv a miserable political 
 miscreant named Charles Jnles Cinitean, who came unseen behind the President, drew a 
 pistol, and tired upon him. The aim of the assassin was too well taken, and the second 
 shot struck the President centrally in the right side of the back. The bleeding man was 
 quickly borne away to the Executive Mansion and the vile criminal was hurried to prison. 
 The be.st surgical aid was at once summoned and bulletins were issued daily containing 
 a brief account of the President's condition. After three days the conviction gained ground 
 that he would ultimately recover. Two surgical operations were performed in the hope of 
 saving his life ; but a series of relapses occurred, and blood-poisoning .set in. The Presi- 
 dent weakened luider his suffering. As a last hope, he was on the 6tli of September care- 
 fully conveved from Washington City to Elberou, where he was placed in a cottage near the 
 surf. For a few days hope revived ; 
 but the patient sank away. On tla 
 eightieth day after the shot was fired, 
 namely, on the evening of September 
 19th, the anniversary of the battle of 
 Chickamauga, in which Garfield had 
 gained his principal military reputa 
 tion, his vital powers suddenly ga\i 
 way, and death closed the seem. 
 Through the whole period of his 
 suffering he had borne the pain and 
 anguish of his situation with tin 
 greatest fortitude and heroism. Tlu 
 great crime which now laid him low 
 heightened rather than eclipsed tlu 
 lustre of his life. 
 
 Chester A. Arthur, Vice-president, 
 at once took the oath of oflJice and 
 became President of the United 
 States. For the fourth time in the 
 
 i- . „r ii,„ D l,i;„ »1,„ A. »■ r ASSASSINATION OF I'RKSinKNT CAKIIl I.I' 
 
 history 01 tlie Kepubhc tlie duties of 
 
 the chief magistracy were devolved on the second oflScer. As for the dead Garfield his 
 funeral was ob.served first at Washington, whither his body was taken and placed in state 
 in the rotunda of the Capitol. Here it was viewed by tens of thousands of people on the 
 2 2d and 23d of September. The dead President had chosen Lake View cemetery at 
 Cleveland as the place of his burial. The remains were conveyed thither by way of 
 Philadelphia and Pittsburg. As in the case of Lincoln's death there was a continuous 
 pageant on the way. The body was laid to rest on the 26th of September, the day 
 being obser\'ed as one of mourning throughout the country. 
 
 GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN, AND HIS MISERABLE END. 
 
 The assas.sin Gnitcau proved to Ik a iiaif-crazy advciUurcr — a fool. He loudly pro- 
 claimed his deed, saying that he had shot the President in order to "remove him," and save 
 the country ! Here began the extreme unwisdom of the authorities in regard to what should 
 bt done with this crazed moral idiot. Two constructions of the case were possible : P'itlier
 
 732 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA 
 
 Guiteau was a sane inau and had committed the greatest and ^vilest of political assassina- 
 tions, or else he was a lunatic, who under the influence of an insane hallucination had shot 
 and killed the President. Common sense, prudence, patriotism, political sagacity and the 
 whole array of facts regarding the prisoner's character and conduct pointed unmistakably 
 to his lunacy and to the second construction given above. But prejudice, anger, folly, 
 shortsightedness, newspaper sensationalism and the vengeful passions which flamed up in the 
 excitement of the hour, conspired to establish the theory of Guiteau' s sanity, with the 
 appallino- conclusion that the President of tlie United States had been politically assassinated. 
 This theor^• was taken up and preached with insane ferocity until it prevailed. The voice 
 of reason was drowned and the opportunity to save the American people from the stain of 
 
 political assassination was put aside in 
 sheer passion. Guiteau was indicted 
 and tried for murder. During the 
 trial the crowds around the courthouse 
 at Washington were little less than a 
 mob. The proceedings must perforce 
 end with a conviction and condemna- 
 tion to death. Then followed a second 
 sensational imprisonment, and on the 
 30th of June, 1882, Guiteau was taken 
 from the jail and hanged. 
 
 Chester A. Arthur was a native 
 of Franklin county, Vermont, where 
 he was bom October 5th, 1830. He 
 was of Irish parentage, was educated 
 at Union College, from which he was 
 graduated in 1849. For a while he 
 taught school in Vermont and then 
 went to New York City to study law. 
 He soon rose to distinction. During 
 the Civil War he was quartermaster- 
 eeneral of the State of New York. 
 In 1 87 1 he was appointed collector of 
 CHESTER A. ARTHUR. customs for the port of New York, a 
 
 position which he held until 1878, when he was removed from office by President Hayes. 
 Two years afterwards he was nominated and elected Vice-president. Then followed the 
 killing of Garfield and the accession of Arthur to the chief magistracy. 
 
 On the 22d of September the oath of oflice was a second time administered to the new 
 President at the Capitol bv Chief Justice Waite. Arthur delivered a brief address; but the 
 ceremonies were few and' simple. General Grant, ex-President Hayes, Senator Shennan 
 and his brother, the General of the Army, were present and paid their respects to the Presi- 
 dent; but the circumstances forbade any elaborate or joylul display. 
 
 The members of the cabinet, in accordance with custom, at once resigned their oflSces. 
 The resignations, however, were not accepted, the President inviting all the members to 
 retain their places. For the present all the members remained except Windoni, Secretary 
 of tlie Treasury, who retired, and was succeeded by Judge Charies J. Folger, of New York. 
 Mr. MacVeagli also resigned in a short time, and was succeeded by Benjamin H. Brewster,
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. T.i'.i 
 
 of Philadelphia. Tliese changes were soon followed b\- the resignations of Mr. Blaine, 
 Secretary of State, and Mr. James, Postmaster-General, who gave place to Frederick T. 
 Frelinghuysen, of Xew Jersey, and Timothy O. Howe, of Wisconsin. Robert T. Lincoln 
 remained, as by connnon consent, at the head of the Department of War. Though Gar- 
 field and Arthur had come from opposite wings of the Republican party, there was littlo 
 tendency shown by the latter to revolutionize the policy of his predecessor. 
 
 THE STAR ROUTE SCANDAL. 
 
 Arthur's administration, however, inlierited llic Iruubles and complications ot the pre- 
 ceding. One of the first of these was the important State trial relating to the alleged Star 
 Route Conspiracy. There had been organized in the post-office department a class of fast 
 mail routes known as the Star Routes, the object being to earn.- the mails with rapidity and 
 certainty into distant and almost inaccessible portions of the Western States and Territories. 
 There was a restriction as to expenditure, but the law gave the Postmaster-General a certain 
 discretion in the matter of expediting such mail routes as seemed to be less efficient than 
 the service required. This gave to certain officers of the go\ernment the opportunity to let 
 the contracts for many mail lines at a minimum, and then — under their discretionary' power 
 — to "expedite" the same lines into efficiency at exorbitant rates, the end and aim being 
 to divide the spoils among the parties to the contract. 
 
 This conspiracy was unearthed before the death of Garfield, and Attorney-General 
 Mac\'eagh was directed to prosecute the reputed conspirators. Indictments were found by 
 the Grand Jury against ex-United States Senator Stephen W. Dorsey, of Arkansas; Second 
 Assistant Postmaster-General Thomas J. Brady, of Indiana, and several others of less 
 note. Mr. MacVeagh, however, seemed to act with little spirit and no success in the prose- 
 cution. Attorney-General Brewster then took the question up, and those indicted for con- 
 spiracy were brought to trial. After several weeks the cause went to the jury, who absurdh' 
 brought in a verdict convicting certain subordinates of participating in a conspiracy wliich 
 could not have existed without the guilt of their superiors! The people, however, were 
 angered at the scandal, and the Republican defeat in the State elections of 1882 was attri- 
 buted in part to popular disgust over the Star Route Conspiracy. 
 
 GREAT INVENTIONS OF THE EPOCH. 
 
 We may avail ourselves of the space here affijrded to note briefly a few of the features 
 of the progress of physical science in recent times. It has now been perceived that the 
 sources of human happiness lie far removed from the fictitious splendors of public life. 
 History is departing more and more from the methods of the old annalists to depict the 
 movements of human thought and the adaptation of the physical means of amelioration and 
 progress. It is safe to aver that the recent additions by inveutixe processes to the resources 
 of physical happiness are the most striking and valuable feature of the civilization of our 
 times. .\t no other age in the history of the world has a practical knowledge of the laws 
 of nature been so widely and so rapidly diffused. .\t no other epoch has the subjection of 
 natural agents to the will of man been so wonderfully displayed. The old life of the human 
 race is giving place to a new life based on scientific research and energized by the knowledge 
 that the conditions of our environment are as benevolent as they are unchangeable. 
 
 It has remained for American genius to .solve the problem of oral communication 
 between persons at a distance from each other. The scientistsof our day, kmnving the laws 
 of sound and electricity, have devised an apparatus for transmitting the human voice to a 
 distance of hundreds, or even thou.sands. of miles. The Tki.KI'IIo.nk must stand as a
 
 734 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 reminder to after ages of the genius and skill and progress ot our countr>' in the last quarter 
 of tlie nineteenth century. This instrument seems to have been the work of several ingenious 
 minds directed to the same problem at the same time. The solution of the problem, how- 
 ever, should be accredited to Elisha P. Gray, of Chicago, and Alexander Graham Bell, of 
 the Massachusetts Institute of Technolog)'. It should be mentioned also that Amos E. 
 Dolbear, of Tufft's College, Massachusetts, and Thomas A. Edison, of New Jersey, like- 
 wise succeeded in solving the difficulties in the way of telephonic communication, or at 
 least in answering practically some of the minor questions in the way of success. 
 
 The telephone is an instrument for the reproduction of sound, particularly of the 
 human voice, by the agency of electricity, at long distances from the origin of vocal pro- 
 duction. The phenomenon called sound consists of a wave agitation communicated through 
 the particles of some medium to the organ of hearing. Every particular sound has its own 
 physical equivalent in a system of waves in which it is written. The only thing, therefore, 
 that is necessary in order to carr}^ a sound in its integrity to any distance, is to transmit its 
 physical equivalent and to redeliver that equivalent to some organ of hearing capable of 
 receiving it. 
 
 Upon these scientific principles the telephone has been produced. Even,- sound which 
 falls upon the sheet-iron disc of the instrument communicates thereto a sort of tremor. 
 This tremor causes the disc to approach and recede from the magnetic pole placed just 
 behind the diaphragm. A current of electricity is thus induced, pulsates along the wire to 
 the other end, and is delivered to the metallic disc of the second instrument many miles 
 away just as it was produced in the first. The ear of the hearer receives from the second 
 instrument the exact physical equivalent of the sound or sounds which were delivered 
 against the disc of the first instrument, and thus the utterance is received at a distance just 
 as it was given forth. 
 
 The telephone stands to the credit of Professors Gray and Bell. Long before their 
 
 day, however, some of the principles on which the instrument has been created were 
 
 known. As early as 1837 the philosopher Page succeeded in transmitting musical tones to 
 
 a distance. Fortv vears afterwards, namely, in 1877, Professor Bell, in a public lecture at 
 
 Salem, Massachusetts, astonished his audience and the whole country by receiving and 
 
 transmitting vocal messages from Boston, twenty miles away. Incredulity was dispelled in 
 
 the face of the fact that persons far away were actually conversing with each other b)- means 
 
 of the telephone. The experiments of Gray at Chicago, only a few days later, were equally 
 
 successful. Messages between that city and Milwaukee, a distance of eighty-five miles, 
 
 were plainly delivered. Nor could it be longer doubted that a new era in the means of 
 
 communication had come. 
 
 THE PHONOGRAPH. 
 
 The telephone was soon followed by the Phonograph. Both inventions are based on 
 the same principle of science. The discover}- that ever>' sound has its physical equivalent 
 in a wave or agitation led almost inevitably to the other discovery of catching, or retaining, 
 that equivalent, or wave, in the surface of some body, and to the reproduction of tlie 
 original sound therefrom. 
 
 The phonograph consists of three principal parts ; the sender, or funnel-shaped tube, 
 with its open mouthpiece, standing toward the operator ; the diaphragm and stylus con- 
 nected therewith, which receive the sound spoken into the tube ; and the revolving c>lin- 
 der, with its sheet coating of tinfoil laid over the surface of a spiral groove, to receiye the 
 indentations of the point of the stylus. The mode'of operation is simple : The cylinder is
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 735 
 
 revolved and a sound thrown into the mouthpiece causes the iron disc, or diaphrajjni, to 
 vibrate, or tremble. This agitation is carried through the stylus to the tinfoil, and written 
 upon it in irregular marks, dots and figures. When the utterance is to be reproduced the 
 instrument is stopped, the stylus lifted from the groove, and the cylinder revolved back- 
 wards to the place of starting. The stylus is returned to its place and the cylinder set to 
 revolving forward. As the stylus plays up and down in the identations, lines and figures 
 in the tinfoil, a quiver exactly equivalent to that produced by the utterance in the moutli- 
 piece is communicated back-wards to the diaphragm and thrown into the air. This agita- 
 tion being the equivalent of tne original sound, reproduces that sound as perfectly as the 
 machinery- of the instrument will permit. Thus the phonograph is made to talk, to .sing, 
 to cry, to utter any sound sufficiently powerful to produce a perceptible tremor in the 
 mouthpiece and diaphragm of the instrument. Tlie phonograph makes it po.ssible to read 
 by the ear instead of by the eye, and it is not beyond the range of probability that tlie book 
 of the future will be written in ]ili<>n<)L^raphic plates. 
 
 EVOLUTION OF THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 
 
 Probably the most marked and valuable invention of the age is the Electric Light. 
 The introduction of this system of illumination marks an important epoch in the histor)' of 
 our country. The project of introducing the electric light was agitated for the first time 
 about the beginning of the eighth decade of the centur}'. The advantages of such lighting, 
 could the same be attained, were as many as they were obvious. The light is so powerful 
 as t(i render practicable many operations as easily by night as by da\-. The danger bv fire 
 Irom illuminating sources is almost wholly obviated by the new system. A given amount 
 of illumination can be produced much more cheaply by electricity than by any means of 
 gas-lighting or ordinary,- combustion. 
 
 Early in 1875 the philosopher Gramme, of Paris, succeeded in lighting his laboratorv 
 by means of electricity. Soon afterwards the foundry- of Dncommun and Company, of 
 Mulhouse, was similarly lighted. In the following year the apparatus for lighting by 
 means of carbon candles was introduced in many of the factories of France and other coun- 
 tries of Europe. 
 
 Lighting by electricity is accomplished in several ways. In general, however, the 
 principle by which the result is effected is one, and depends upon the resistance which the 
 electrical current meets in its transmission through various substances. There are no per- 
 fect conductors of electricity. In proportion as the non-conducti\e qualit\- is prevalent in 
 a substance, especially in a metal, the resistance to the passage of electricity is pronounced, 
 and the consequent disturbance among the molecular particles of the substance is great. 
 Whenever such resistance is encountered in a circuit, the electricity is converted into heat, 
 and when the resistance is great, the heat is, in turn, converted into light, or rather the 
 heat becomes phenomenal in light; that is, the substance which offers the resistance glows 
 with the transformed energ)' of the impeded current. Upon this simple principle all the 
 apparatus for the production of the electric light is produced. 
 
 .Vmong the metallic substances, the one best adapted b>- its low condnctivitv to such 
 resistance and transformation of force, is platinum. The high degree of lieat nece.ssarv to 
 fuse this metal adds to its usefulness and availability for the purpo.se indicated. When an 
 electrical current is forced along a platinum wire too small to transmit the entire \oluinc, 
 it becomes at once heated — first to a red, and then to a white glow — and is thus made to 
 send forth a radiance like that of tiiu sun. Of the non-metallic elements which offer sinii-
 
 736 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 lar resistance, the best is carbon. The infusibility of this substance renders it greatly 
 superior to platinum for purposes of the electric light. 
 
 Near the beginning of the present century it was discovered by Sir Humphrey Da\v 
 that carbon points mav be rendered incandescent by means of a powerful electric current. 
 The discover}- was fully developed in 1869, while the philosopher just referred to was 
 experimenting with the great batter}- of the Royal Institution of London. He obser\-ed — 
 rather by accident than by design, or previous anticipation — that a strong volume of elec- 
 tricity passing between two bits of wood charcoal produces tremendous heat, and a light 
 like that of the sun. It appears, however, that Davy at first regarded the phenomenon 
 rather in the nature of an interesting display of force than as a suggestion of the possibility 
 of turning night into day. 
 
 For nearly three-quarters of a centur\- the discover}- made by Sir Humphre}- Davy la}- 
 donnant among the great mass of scientific facts revealed in the laboratory. In course of 
 time, however, the nature of the new fact began to be apprehended. The electric lamp in 
 many fonns was proposed and tried. The scientists, Niardet, Wilde, Bnish, Fuller, and 
 many others of less note, busied themselves with the work of invention. Especially did 
 Gramme and Siemens devote their scientific genius to the work of turning to good account 
 the knowledge now fully possessed of the transformabilit}- of the electric current into 
 light. 
 
 The experiments of the last named two disciuguished inventors brought us to the 
 dawn of the new era in artificial lighting. The Russian philosopher, JablochkofiF, carried 
 the work still further by the practical introduction of the carbon candle. Other scientists- 
 Carre, Foucault, Serrin, RapiefF, and Werdennann — had, at an earlier or later day, throw 
 much additional information into the common stock of knowledge relative to the illumi 
 nating possibilities of electricity. Finally, the accumulated materials of science fell into 
 the hands of that untutored but remarkably radical inventor, Thomas A. Edison, who gave 
 himself with the utmost zeal to the work of removing the remaining difficulties in the 
 
 problem. 
 
 EDISON, THE WIZARD OF THE AGE. 
 
 Edison began his investigations in this line of invention in September of 1878, and in 
 December of the following year gave to the public his first fonnal statement of the results. 
 After many experiments with platinum, he abandoned that material in favor of the carbon- 
 arc in vacuo. The latter is, indeed, the essential feature of the Edison light. A small 
 semi-circle, or horseshoe, of some substance, such as a filament of bamboo reduced to the 
 form of pure carbon, the two ends being attached to the poles of the generating-machine, 
 or dynamo, as the engine is popularly called, is enclosed in a glass bulb from which the 
 air has been carefully withdrawn, and is rendered incandescent b}- the passage of an elec- 
 tric current. The other important features of Edison's discover}- relate to the divisibility 
 of the current, and its control and regulation in volume by the operator. These matters 
 were fully mastered in the Edison invention, and the apparatus rendered as completeh- 
 -subject to management as are other varieties of illuminating agencies. 
 
 The question of artificial light has much to do with the progress of mankind, and par- 
 ticularly with the government and welfare of cities. The old systems of illumination must 
 soon give place to the splendors of the electric glow. This change in the physical condi- 
 tions of society must be as marked as it is salutar}'. Darkness has always been the enemy 
 of good government. The ease, happiness and comfort of the human race must be vastly 
 multiplied by the dispelling of darkness and the distribution of light by night. The progress
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 737 
 
 of civilization depends in a large measure upon a knowledge of nature's laws and a diffusion 
 
 of that knowledge among the people. One of the best examples ever furnished in the 
 
 whole history of human progress of the results of such knowledge has been the invention 
 
 of the electric light. 
 
 GREAT FEATS OF ENGINEERING. 
 
 The bridge-building of our age furnishes another example of physical progress and 
 amelioration. At no other time in modern histor\' has civil eii>rineering been turned to so 
 good an account. The principal place among the recent public works in the United States 
 may well be given to the great Suspension Bridge over the strait known as Kast River, 
 between New York and Brooklyn. The completion and fonnal opening of this work 
 occurred on the 24tli of May, 1883, exciting universal attention and eliciting many 
 descriptions. 
 
 The Brooklyn bridge is the longest and largest structure of the kind in the world. It was 
 designed by John A. Roebling, originator of wire suspension bridges. Under his super- 
 vision and that of his son, Washington A. Roebling, the bridge was completed.* The 
 elder of these two eminent engineers was 
 already known to fame as the builder of 
 the first suspension bridge across the chasm 
 of Niagara, and of- the still greater struc- 
 ture of the .same character across the Ohio 
 River, between Cincinnati and Covington. 
 The Cincinnati bridge was at the time of 
 its erection the longest by a thousand 
 feet of any of its kind. The younger 
 Roebling inherited his father's genius, and 
 after the death of the latter showed hini- 
 .self equal to the great task imposed upon 
 him in preparing the plans and superintending the constniction of the East River bridge. 
 
 This bridge is a structure supported by four enormous wires, or cables, stretching in a 
 single span from pier to pier a distance of 1,595 ^^^^- From the main towers to the anchor- 
 ages on either side is 930 feet; from the anchorages outward to the termini of the approaches 
 is, on the New York side, a distance of 1,562 feet, and on the Brooklyn side 972 feet, making 
 the total length of the bridge and approaches 5,989 feet. The total weight of the structure 
 is 64,700 tons; the estimated capacity of support is 1,740 tons, and the ultimate resistance 
 is calculated at 49,200 tons. The Brooklyn bridge was formally opened in May of 1883. 
 The event drew to the metropolis the attention of the .\merican people, and excited some- 
 what the admiration of foreign nations. 
 
 Perhaps the finest example of cantilever bridge in America is the great structure of that 
 order over the Niagara River ju.st above the village of Suspension Bridge, New York. The 
 
 * The personal historj- of the Roeblings. father and son, in connection with their j;reat work, is as pathetic as 
 it is interesting. The elder engineer was injured while laying the foundation of one of the shore-piers on the 22d 
 of July. 1869, and died of lockjaw. W. A. Roebling then look up his father's unfinished task. He continued 
 the work of super\'ision for about two years, when he was prostrated with a peculiar fonn of paralysis known as 
 the "Caisson disease," from which he never fully recovered. His mental faculties, however, remained unimpaired, 
 and he was able to direct with his eye what his hands could no longer execute. While thus prostrate<i, his wife 
 developed a genius almost equal to that of her husband and her father in-law. The pal.sied engineer, thus rein- 
 forced, continued for five years to furnish the plans for the work. These plans were almost all drawn bv his wife, 
 who never flagge<l uniler the t.isks imposed ujxjn her. In 1S76 Roebling was partly restore<l to health, and lived 
 to hear the applause which his genius and enterprise had won. 
 
 47 
 
 THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE.
 
 738 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 architect was the distinguished civil engineer C. E. Schneider. The bridge has a total 
 length of 910 feet, and crosses the river with a single span of 470 feet. The roadway is 
 239 feet above the water level in the chasm below. The materials are steel and iron. The 
 bridge as a work of architecture is one of the most beautiful of its kind in the world. 
 
 Another notable example of recent bridge building is the new Washington bridge 
 extending from the upper extremity of Manhattan Island across the gorge of the Harlem 
 River to Westchester county, on the other side. The work is regarded as the finest and 
 grandest of its kind ever erected in America. The structure is of steel and granite and 
 bronze. The chasm is spanned by two magnificent arches having plate girders of steel, 
 each arch being from foot to foot a distance of 510 feet. The piers are of solid masonry-, 
 rising to the level of the roadway. The viaduct is supported on vertical posts which rise 
 from the arches. The height of the roadway above the level of tide- water in the Harlem is 
 152 feet, being 40 feet in excess of the corresponding measurement under the East River 
 suspension bridge. All of the ornamentation of the Washington bridge is of bronze. The 
 work was constructed in 1888-89, under the direction of the eminent civil engineer William 
 R. Hutton. 
 
 In civil affairs the administration of Arthur proved to be uneventful. In the domain 
 of politics might be noted the gradual obliteration of those sharply defined issues which for 
 the last quarter of a centiiry had divided the two great parties. There was a healthful 
 abatement of partisan rancor. It became each year more apparent that the questions at 
 issue in the political arena were merely factitious — devised by those interested for the hour 
 and the occasion. Nor might any discern in this decade how much longer this ill-founded 
 method of political division might be maintained among the American people. 
 
 TARIFF QUESTION— THE ARGUMENT FOR FREE TRADE. 
 
 To the general fact that party questions were no longer vital and distinct there was one 
 notable exception. The American people were from 1880 to 1892 really and sincerely 
 divided on the question of the TariflF. Whether the true policy of the United States is that 
 of free trade or a protective system was a fundamental issue, and the decision was long 
 postponed. The policy of gathering immense revenues, from customs-duties during the 
 Civil War, and in the decade thereafter, had become firmly imbedded as a factor in the indus- 
 trial and commercial systems of the countn'. A great manufacturing interest had been 
 stimulated into unusual, not to say inordinate, activity. Practically the political parties 
 had become so much entangled with the finances and the industries of the countr>' that no 
 party discipline could withdraw and align the political forces in columns and battalions as 
 of old. The question was fundamentally as ancient as the republic. Ever and anon, from 
 the foundation of the government, the tariff issue liad obtruded itself upon the attention of 
 the people. It may not be deemed inappropriate in this connection to state and briefly 
 elucidate the various views which have been entertained on the subject. 
 
 First, we have what is called the doctrine of Free Trade, pure and simple. The 
 theor\' is, in a word, as follows : The indications of profitable industry' are found in nature. 
 The hints and suofo-estions of the natural world are the tnie indications to mankind as to 
 how the various industries which human genius has devised are to be most profitably 
 directed. Thus, a rich soil means agriculture. A barren soil is the indication of nature 
 against agricultural pursuits. Beds of ore signify mining ; veins of petroleum, oil-wells ; 
 a headlong river, water-power ; hills of silica, glass-works ; forests of pine, ship-masts and 
 coal-tar ; bays and ha\'ens and ri\'ers, commerce. Free trade saj's that these things are the
 
 COT.UMBUS AND COLUMBIA^ 739 
 
 voice and edict of the natural world as to how human industn- shall be exerted. The way 
 to wealth, prosperity, happiness, is to follow the edict of nature whithersoever it calls. To 
 go against nature is to go against common sense. Laissc:: /airi\ that is, " Let alone," is 
 the fundamental motto of the system — hands off, and no meddling with plain conditions 
 which are imposed on man by his environments. Let him who lives in the fecund valley 
 till the soil and gather a hundred fold. Let him who inhabits the rocky upland, bv river- 
 side or bed of pent-up coal, devote his energies to manufacture. Let each procure from the 
 other by exchange the necessaries and conveniences of life which he could not himself pro- 
 duce but at great disadvantage, and an irrational and needless expenditure of toil. The theory 
 continues thus : Let the producer of raw material send it near or far to the manufacturer, and 
 receive in turn the fabric which he must wear, even the food wherewith he must sustain 
 his life. Why should he do otherwise ? Why should either the man or the community 
 struggle against the conditions of nature, and the immutable laws of industr>-, to produce 
 the entire supph- of things necessarj- for human comfort, convenience and welfare ? It is 
 intended that men should live together in amity ; that they should mutually depend one 
 upon the other ; that each should gain from the other's genius and e.xertion what he is 
 unable to procure by his own endeavor and skill. Neighbors should be at peace. Different 
 communities should not quarrel ; should not put interdicts and checks upon the natural 
 laws of intercourse and mutual dependency. Nations should not fight The hannonious 
 order of civilization requires a world-wide exchange of products. Men are happier and 
 richer, and nations are more powerful, when they give themselves freely to the laws of their 
 environments, and toil in those fields of industn,- to which both their own dispositions and 
 the benevolent finger of nature point the way. 
 
 The theor}' continues : All contrivances of human law which controvert or oppose 
 these fundamental conditions of legitimate industry are false in principle and pernicious in 
 application. If civil society assumes to direct the industries of her people against the plain 
 indications of nature, then society becomes a tyrant. The rule of action in such case is no 
 longer free but despotic. All laws which tend to divert the industries of a nation from 
 those pursuits which are indicated by the natural surroundings are hurtful, selfish, self- 
 destructive, and, in the long nni, weakening and degrading to the people. A tariff duty 
 so laid as to build up one industry at the expense of another is a piece of barbarous inter- 
 meddling with both the principles of common sense and the inherent rights of man. If 
 free trade makes one nation dependent on another, then it also makes that other nation 
 deixmdent on the first. The one can no more afford to fight the other than the other can 
 afford to fight it Hence, free trade is the great economic law among the nations. It is 
 "both sound in tlieory and beneficial in application. Hence, a tariff for revenue only is the tnie 
 principle of national action. It is the bottom economic policy of government relative to the 
 interests of the people. Such is the general theory to which has been given the name of 
 Laissez fairt\ but which is known among the English-speaking peoples bv the more limited 
 term Free Trade. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT FOR PROTECTION. 
 
 The first remove from the doctrim-s aljove set forlli is tliat of Incidental Protection. The 
 primar>- assumptions of this theor>- are more nearly identical with those of free trade 
 than is commonly supposed. Nearly all of the propositions advanced by the free-trader are 
 accepted a.s correct by the incidental protectionist. The latter, however, holds some pecu- 
 liar doctrines of his own. He claims that men, as the doctrine of futissiz /aire teaches, 
 should labor according to the indications of nature, and that every attempt on the part of
 
 740 .COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 government to divert the industries of the people from one channel to another is contrary 
 to right, reason and sound policy. But he also holds that since a tariff is the common 
 means adopted by most of the civilized States of the world to produce the revenue whereby 
 the expenses of government are met and sustained, the same should be so levied as to be 
 incidentally favorable to those industries of the people which are placed at a natural disad- 
 vantage. He does not hold that any tariff should be levied with the intention of protecting 
 and fostering a given industry, but that in every case the tax should be laid for public pur- 
 poses only ; that is, with the intention of sustaining the State, and be only incidentally 
 directed to the protection of the weaker industry. 
 
 These last assumptions furnish the ground of political divergence between free-traders 
 proper and incidental protectionists. The latter take into consideration both the fundamental 
 conditions of the argument and the peculiar character of the industries of the people. They 
 claim that given pursuits may thus be strengthened and encouraged by legislative provisions, 
 and that natural and political laws may be made to co-operate in varying and increasing the 
 productive resources of the State. 
 
 The third general view relative to this question is known as the doctrine of Limited 
 Protection. The word " limited," in the definition, has respect to a time relation. The 
 fundamental difference between this theory and the preceding is this : The incidental pro- 
 tectionist denies, and the limited protectionist affinns, the wisdom of levying tariff duties 
 with the intention and piifpose of protecting home industries. The limited protectionist 
 would have the legislation of the State take particular cognizance of the character and 
 varietv of the industries of the people, and would have the laws enacted with constant 
 reference to the encouragement of the weaker — generally the manufacturing — pursuits. 
 The doctrine of incidental protection would stop short of this ; would adopt the theory of 
 "let alone," so far as the original purpose of legislation is concerned ; but would, at the 
 same time, so shape the tariff that a needed stimulus would be given to certain industries. 
 The limited protectionist agrees with the free-trader in certain assumptions. The former, 
 as well as the latter, assents to the proposition that the original condition of industry' is 
 found in nature — in the environment of the laborer. But he also urges that the necessity for 
 a varied industry is so great, so important, to the welfare and independence of a people, as 
 to justify the deflection of human energy by law to certain pursuits, which could not be 
 profitabh- followed but for the fact of protection. 
 
 This principle the limited protectionist gives as a reason for the tariff legislation, which 
 he advocates. He would make the weaker industry live and thrive by the side of the stronger. 
 He would modify the crude rules of nature by the higher rules of human reason. He 
 wotild not only adapt man to his environment, but would adapt the environment to him. 
 He would keep in view the strength, the dignit}', the independence, of the State, and would 
 be willing to incur temporary disadvantages for the sake of permanent good. In the course 
 of time, when, under the stimulus of a protective system, the industries of the State have 
 become sufficiently varied and sufficiently harmonized with original conditions, he would 
 allow the system of protective duties to expire, and freedom of trade to supervene. But 
 until that time he would insist that the weaker, but not less essential, industries of a people 
 should be encouraged and fostered by law. He would deny the justice or economy of that 
 system which, in a new countr>-, boundless in natural resources, but poor in capital, would 
 constrain the people to bend themselves to the production of a few great staples, the manu- 
 facture of which, b\- foreign nations, would make them rich and leave the original producers 
 in perpetual vassalage and poverty.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 741 
 
 The fourth general view is embodied in tlie theory of High Protection. In this the 
 doctrine is boldly advanced that the bottom assumptions of free trade are specious and false. 
 The iufluence of man upon his environment is so great as to make it virtually whatever the 
 law of right reason would suggest. The suggestion of right reason is this : Every 
 nation should be independent. Its complete sovereignty and equality should be secured by 
 every means short of injustice. In order that a State may be independent and be able to 
 mark out for itself a g^eat destiny, its industries must afford employment for all the talents 
 and faculties of man and yield products adapted to all his wants. To devote the energies 
 of a people to those industries only which are suggested by the situation and environment 
 is to make man a slave to nature instead of nature's master. It may be sound reasoning 
 for the people inhabiting a fertile valley to devote themselves principally to agricultural 
 pursuits; but to do this to the exclusion of other industries is merely to narrow the energies 
 of the race, make dependent the laborer and finally exhaust those ver}- powers of nature 
 which for the present seem to suggest one pursuit and forbid all others. 
 
 The theory- of high protection continues thus : It is the duty of societ>- to build up 
 many industries in ever}- locality, whatever may be the environment. If nature furnishes 
 no suggestion of blast-furnaces and iron-works, then nature must be constrained by means 
 of human law. The production of manufactured values should be so encouraged by tariff 
 duties as to become profitable in all situations. Not only should ever)- State, but every 
 comraunit}- and ever>' man be made comparatively independent Ever>' community should 
 be able by its own industry- to supply at least the larger part of its own wants. The spindle 
 should be made to turn; the forge made to glow; the mill-wheel 7)iade to turn; the engine 
 made to pant; the towering funiace viade to fling up into the darkness of midnight its 
 volcanic glare — all this whether nature has or has not prepared the antecedents of such 
 activity. And this cannot be accomplished, or at least not well accomplished, in any other 
 way than by legal protection of those industries which do not flourish under the action of 
 merely natural law. It is, in brief, the theory of the high protectionist that everv comiini- 
 nity of men, by means of its own varied and independent activities, fostered and encouraged 
 by the protective system of industries, should become in the body politic what the ganglion 
 is in the nerve system of man — an independent, local power, capable of originating its own 
 action and directing its own energies. 
 
 THE PROHIBITORV TARIFF. 
 
 There is still a fifth position sometimes assumed by publicists and acted on by nations. 
 This is the doctrine and practice of Prohibitor\' Tariffs. The idea here is that the mutual 
 interdependence of nations is on the whole mutually disadvantageous, and that each should 
 be rendered wholly independent of the other. Some of the oldest peoples of the world have 
 adopted this doctrine and policy. The Oriental nations as a rule have until recent times 
 followed persistently the exclusive theor\- in their national affairs. The principle is that if 
 in any State or nation certain industrial conditions and powers are wanting, then those 
 powers and conditions should be produced by means of law. Internal trade is, according 
 to this doctrine, the principal thing and commercial intercourse with foreign States a matter 
 of secondary' or even dubious advantage. If the price of the given liomc product be not 
 sufficient to stimulate its production in such quantities as to meet all the rociuirements of 
 the market, then that price should be raised by means of legislation and raised again and 
 again, until the foreign trade shall cease and home manufacture be supplied in its place. 
 
 True, there are not many of tht modern peoples who now earn' the doctrine of protec- 
 tion to this extreme. But it is also true that in the attempt to prepare protective schedules
 
 742 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 under the system of limited or high protection, it has not infrequently happened that the 
 tariff has been fixed at such a scale as to act as a prohibitory duty and turn aside entirely 
 foreign commerce in the article on which the tariff is laid. 
 
 Such, then, are the fundamental principles which underlie the great controversy and 
 furnish the issues of political divergence in the United States. The question is as old as 
 the beginnings of civil progress in the New World. No sooner was the present govern- 
 mental system in our country- instituted than the controversy broke out in the halls of 
 legislation. Hamilton as first Secretary of the Treasury took the question up and adopted 
 the policy of limited protection as that of the Federal party. He advocated this policy 
 most ably in the papers which he sent at inter\'als from the Department of the Treasury-. 
 On his recommendation the second statute ever enacted by Congress under the Constitution 
 was prepared and passed for the purpose of ' ' providing a revenue and affording protection 
 to American industry.''' The ver^' necessities which gave rise to the Constitution were those 
 relating to commerce and interwoven with the tariff. From the beginning the question 
 would not down. During the fourth and fifth decades of the centur}- the leading political 
 agitations, that is, those that were real, were produced by the revival of the tariff issue in 
 our system. During the ascendancy of Henry Clay his ' ' American s3-stem ' ' became for a 
 season the bottom principle of Whig politics. 
 
 In the ante-bellum epoch the Whig party continued to favor the protective svstem, 
 while the Democratic party espoused free trade. After the Civil War the question slumbered 
 for a season. Men forgot its import, and reckoned not that it would ever arise again to 
 trouble party discipline. In 1880 a paragraph in the national Democratic platfonn was- 
 inserted — not indeed with the intention of evoking an old controversy from oblivion — 
 which, by declaring in favor of a tariff for revenue only, unexpectedly precipitated the 
 whole issue anew, and contributed to, perhaps determined, the defeat of the Democratic 
 ticket. Even in those States where Democracy was in the ascendant the growth of great 
 manufacturing establishments had brought in a vast army of artisans, who in spite of all 
 party affiliation refused to support a platform which, according to their belief, was calculated 
 to impair, if not destroy, the ver\' business in which they were engaged. 
 
 PARTIES DIVIDED AMONG THEMSELVES ON THE QUESTION. 
 
 In the ensuing quadrennium both Democrats and Republicans made strenuous efforts 
 to align their party followers on this question, but neither was successful. The event 
 showed that the Democrats were by no means unanimous for free trade, and that the 
 Republicans were far from unanimity in their support of protection. Large numbers of 
 Republican leaders whose financial interests la\- in the direction of agricultural production 
 or of commerce rather than in the line of manufactures espoused the doctrine of free trade. 
 Never was party discipline more strained on any subject than in the presidential campaigns 
 from 1876 to 1888. Especially during the administration of Arthur and his successor did 
 the tariff question gather head, and the white crests of conflicting tides were seen along the 
 whole surface of political controversy. Nor may the publicist and historian of the passing 
 age clearly foresee the solution of the problem. One thing may be safely predicted, that 
 the question in America will be decided, as it has already been decided in Great Britain, 
 according to self-interest. No people will, in the long run, act against what it conceives to 
 be its interest for the sake of supporting a given theon,'. When some party in power, 
 whatever that party may be, shall become convinced Lliat the interest of the United States 
 requires the abolition of all protective diities and the substitution therefor of a system of
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 r43 
 
 tariff for revenue only, tlien, and not till then, will the /ui/ssc-yhtn- theor\- of political 
 econonu- take the place of that which has thus far prevailed as the policy of our countrj-. 
 
 Hardly, b\- the crime of Garfield's murder, had the presidency been transferred to 
 Arthur before the issue of naniinj:^ his successor was raised bs' the ever-busy swarm of 
 politicians. To the calm-minded observer it appears a thinjj of wonder that the people of 
 the United States have so far pennitted themselves to be cajoled, hoodwinked, brow-beaten, 
 converted into camp-followers and slaves, by the ignorant horde of interested ad\enturers 
 who have arrogated to themselves the right of civil and political control over the destiny 
 of the American Republic. It can hardly be wondered that under the continuance of such 
 a system a spirit of political pessimism has gained ground to the ver\- verge of preval- 
 ence in the United States. Of a certainty the party newspaper has been and continues to 
 be the abettor and agent of Kakistocracy in America. And until the reign of that exangel 
 of evil is ended the people of the United States must continue to beat about blindh-, moping 
 and groaning under the despotism of the bad. 
 
 The year 1882 hardly furnished breathing time for the subsidence of political passion. 
 The great army of the interested went forth to arouse the country for another contest. In 
 this haste might be seen the symptoms of fear ; for it could not be doubted that both politi- 
 cal organizations had become alarmed lest through the failure of living issues the old com- 
 binations which had divided the country for a quarter of a century should go to pieces and 
 leave the field to the people. But the time had not yet come for the breaking up of the 
 political deeps, and the masses were still inade to believe that the old questions were vital 
 to the welfare of the country. 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1884. 
 
 The political parties made ready for the work before them. Early in 1884 Chicago 
 was selected as the place of both the national conventions. The Greenback-Labor party 
 held its convention at Indianapolis in the month of April, 
 and nominated General Butler for the Presidency, with A. 
 M. West, of Mississippi, for the Vice- Presidency'. The 
 Republican convention met on the 3d of May, and after a 
 spirited session of three days' duration, nominated James 
 G. Blaine, of Maine, and General John A. Logan, of 
 Illinois. The Democratic delegates assembled on the 9th 
 of July and on the nth completed their work by nominat- 
 ing Grover Cleveland, of New York, and Thomas A. 
 Hendricks, of Indiana. The nominations were received 
 with considerable enthusiasm by the respective party follow- 
 ings, but large factions in each party refused to support 
 the national tickets. 
 
 With the progress of the campaign it became evident 
 that the result must depend on the electoral votes of New 
 York and Indiana. The preliminary counting showed the 
 latter State for the Democrats. New York thus became 
 the single battle-field, and there the respective parties 
 concentrated their forces. The event proved favorable to 
 the Democrats, though their majority in the popular vote of New York was onl\' 1142. 
 This small prejxtnderancc determined the result. The vote of the Empire State went to 
 
 JiiHN A. I.dC.AN.
 
 744 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Cleveland and Hendricks, assnring to them 219 ballots in the electoral college against 182 
 votes for Blailie and Logan. 
 
 The seqnel of the presidential election of this j'ear was less happy than generally 
 happens under like circumstances. The Republican party had been in power continuously 
 for twentv-four vears. During that time great and salutary changes had taken place in the 
 <^ocial condition and ci\il polity of the American people. It was natural that the Repub- 
 lican leaders should claim the result as their work, when as a matter of fact it was simply 
 the evolution of the age. The great men of that party were honest in claiming that the 
 tremendous and beneficial changes which had passed like the shadows of great clouds over 
 the American landscape were attributable to the long period of Republican ascendancy. 
 To lose power, therefore, was political bitterness itself. It was only b}' degrees that this 
 feeling subsided, and that the office-holders near the close of Arthur's administration began 
 to trim their sails with the evident hope that the breezes of civil service refonn, to which 
 the President-elect was pledged, might waft them somewhat further on the high seas of 
 
 emolument. 
 
 DEDICATION OF THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT. 
 
 The recurrence of the birthday of Washington, 1SS5, was noted for the dedication of 
 the great monument which had been building for so many years at the Capital. The erec- 
 tion of such a structure had been suggested as early as 1799. Nor could it well be doubted 
 that the American people would, in due time, rear some appropriate memorial to the Father 
 of his Country-. The work was not undertaken, however, until 1835. In that year an 
 organization was effected to promote the enterprise. But for a long time after the begin- 
 nino^, the work of buildins: lag-ged, and it was not until Congress, taunted at last into action " 
 by the animadversions of the press and people, undertook the prosecution of the enterprise 
 that it was brought to completion. 
 
 The cost of the Washington Monument was about $1,500,000. It stands on the left 
 bank of the Potomac, in the southern outskirts of Washington Cit\-. The structure was, 
 at the time of its erection, the highest in the world. The shaft proper, without reckoning 
 the foundation, is 555 feet in height, being thirty feet higher than the Cathedral at 
 Cologne, and seventy-five feet higher than the pyramid of Cheops in its present condition. 
 The great obelisk is composed of more than eighteen thousand blocks of stone. They are 
 mostl)^ of white marble, and weigh several tons each. One hundred and eighty-one memo- 
 rial stones, contributed by the different States of the Union and by friendly foreign nations, 
 are set at various places in the structure. 
 
 The dedication of the monument occurred on Saturday, the 21st of Febniar\'. The 
 ceremonies were of the most imposing character. A procession of more than six thousand 
 persons marched from the base of the monument, along Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capi- 
 tol, while salutes were fired from the batteries of the navy j^ard. At the Capitol the pro- 
 cession was reviewed by the President of the United States. The concluding ceremonies 
 were held in the House of Representatives, where a great throng of distinguished people 
 had assembled — not so much to do honor to the occasion as to be honored by it. The 
 principal oration, written by Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, as well as the less formal addresses 
 of the day, was well worthy of the event, and calculated to add — if aught could add — to 
 the fame of him who was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of -his fellows 
 citizens."
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC RESTORATION. 
 
 ROVER CLEVELAND, twenty-second President of the 
 riiited States, was born at Caldwell, New Jersey, 
 March iS, 1S37. Three years afterwards he was taken 
 by his father and mother to Fayetteville, near Syracuse, 
 New York. Here, in his boyhood, he received such 
 limited education as the .schools of the place afforded. 
 For a while in his youth he was clerk in a village store. 
 Afterwards the family removed first to Clinton and then 
 to Holland Patent. At the latter place his father died, 
 and young Cleveland, left to his own resources, went to 
 New York and became a teacher in an asylum for the 
 blind. After a short time, however, the young man, 
 finding such pursuits uncongenial to his tastes, went to 
 ""^' " Buffalo and engaged in the study of law. He was 
 
 admitted to the bar in 1859, and, four years afterwards, 
 began his public career as Assistant District Attorney. In 1869 he was elected Sheriff of 
 Erie county, and in iSSr was chosen Mayor of Buffalo. His next promotion bv his fellow- 
 citizens was to the governorship of New York, to which position he was elected in 1882, 
 by the astonishing majority of 192,854 — the majority being perhaps unparalleled in the 
 histon*- of American elections. It was w-hile he still held this oflfice that, in July of 1884, 
 he was nominated by the Democratic part\' for the presidency of the United States. 
 
 Much interest was manifested by the public in the constitution of the new Cabinet. 
 On the day following the inauguration the nominations were seut to the Senate, and were 
 as follows : For Secreta.r\- of State, Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware ; for Secretarj- of the 
 Treasun.-, Daniel Manning, of New York ; for Secretar\- of the Interior, Lucius Q. C. 
 Lamar, of Mississippi ; for Secretar}- of War, William C. Endicott, of Ma.>;.sachusetts ; for 
 Secretan,- of the Navy, William C. Whitney, of New York ; for Postmaster-General, William 
 F. Vilas, of Wisconsin ; for .\ttorney-General, Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas. The 
 peculiarity of the appointments was that two of them were from New York. But the preju- 
 dice which might arise on this account was fully counterbalanced by the high character and 
 undoubted abilities of the men whom the President had chosen as the responsible advisers 
 of his administration. 
 
 At the beginning of his administration the President was confronted with the irrepres- 
 sible question of the di.stribution of patronage. His party had come into power on a plat- 
 fonn declaring for civil-.ser\Mce reform. Of late years the political opinion of the countrv 
 had begun to turn with disgust from the gross practice of rewarding men for mere jxirty 
 ser\ices. In the evenly balanced presidential contests of 1880 and 1884 it became all-im- 
 portant to conciliate, at least by profession, the growing phalanx of civil-service reformers. 
 
 (745)
 
 746 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 They it was to whom Cleveland owed his election; for they accepted his pledges and 
 principles. Their views and the President's were in accord, and the new administration was 
 launched with civil-service reform inscribed on its pennon. 
 
 The event showed, however, that the Democratic party was not equal to its pledges 
 and not up to the President's level of principle. It was clear that the Democratic leaders 
 had in large part upheld the banner of civil service merely as an expedient. The Presi- 
 dent's sincere attempt to enforce the principles of the party platform by an actual refonn 
 
 became appalling to the captain-generals of his party.- To 
 them the declaration in favor of a new and better system 
 was purely nominal. They made a rush to gather the 
 spoils of victor}', and were astounded that the Chief 
 Magistrate should presume to refuse them. From the outset 
 it was a grave question whether the President would be 
 able to stand by the flag of reform or rather be driven to 
 readopt the cast-off system of spoils. 
 
 MEMORIAL LITERATURE OF THE WAR. 
 It was a peculiarity of this epoch that the deeds and 
 memories of the Civil War revived in public interest. The 
 circumstance was attributable perhaps to the fact that the 
 ereat men of that conflict now entered the shadows of old 
 age and became talkative about the stirring e^-ploits of 
 their youth and manhood. Now it was that the series of 
 authoritative publications concerning the war for the 
 Union, written by the leading participants, began to 
 appear. This work, so important to a true knowledge 
 of the great struggle for and against the Union, was 
 Sherman, who in 1875 published his Memoirs narrating 
 the story of that part of the war in which he had been a leader. This publication had 
 indeed been preceded by some years by that of Alexander H. Stephens, late Vice-president 
 of the Confederacy, who in 1870 completed his two vohmies entitled The War 
 between the States. In 1884 General Grant began the publication, in the Century 
 Magazine, of a series of war articles which attracted universal attention, and which led to 
 the preparation and issuance of his Memoirs in 1885-6. Similar contributions by man>- 
 other eminent commanders of the Union and Confederate armies followed in succession, 
 until a large literature of the Civil War was left on record for the instruction of after times. 
 
 DEATH OF GENERAL GRANT. 
 The interest in these publications was heightened by the death within a limited period 
 ot a large number of the great generals who had led armies in the war for the Union. It 
 was earlv in the summer of 1885 that the attention of the people was called away from 
 public affairs by the announcement that the veteran General Ulysses S. Grant had been 
 stricken with a fatal malady ; that his days would be few among the living. ^ The hero of 
 Vicksburg and Appomattox sank under the ravages of a malignant cancer which had fixed 
 itself in his throat, and on the 23d of July he died quietly at a summer cottage on Mount 
 McGregor, New York. For some months the silent hero, who had commanded the com- 
 bined Armies of the United States had been engaged in the pathetic work of bringing to 
 completion his two volumes of Memairs, from the sale of which— such is the gratitude of 
 
 begun 
 
 GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 by General William T.
 
 
 B 
 Z 
 
 (747)
 
 748 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 republics — the resources of his family must be chiefly drawn. It was a race, with death 
 for the goal. Scarcely had the enfeebled general laid down his pencil until the enemy 
 knocked at the door. 
 
 The last da\s of Grant were hallowed by the s>'mpathies of the nation which he had 
 so o-loriously defended. The news of his death passed over the land like the shadow of a 
 "•reat cloud. Almost ever}- city and hamlet showed in some appropriate wa\- its emblems of 
 grief. The funeral ceremonies equalled, if they did not surpass, any which have ever been 
 
 witnessed. The procession 
 in New York City was per- 
 haps the most solemn, elab- 
 orate, and imposing pageant 
 ever exhibited in honor of 
 the dead, at least since the 
 funeral of the Duke of Wel- 
 lington. On August 8th, 
 1885, the body of General 
 Grant was laid to rest in 
 Riverside Park, overlooking 
 the Hudson. There, on a 
 summit from which may be 
 seen the great river and the 
 metropolis of the nation, is 
 the tomb of him whose 
 courage and magnanimity 
 in war will forever give him 
 rank with the few master 
 spirits who, by their heroic 
 deeds, have honored the hu- 
 man race, and by their ge- 
 nius have changed some- 
 what the course of histor}'. 
 
 The enterprise of rear- 
 ing a suitable monument to 
 General Grant was delayed 
 by untoward circumstances. 
 The General had himself 
 designated Riverside Park 
 as his last resting-place. Soon after his death a Monument Commission was organized in 
 New York City, and subscriptions taken, but the work lagged. The question of removing 
 his remains to Washington City was once and again agitated. At length, however, the 
 Commission was reorganized, with General Horace Porter as chairman. From that time 
 the enterprise was pressed, and on the 27th day of April, 1892, the corner-stone of what 
 is destined to be the most elaborate and artistic mausoleum in the New World was laid. 
 The oration of the occasion was delivered by Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, of New York. 
 
 OTHER DISTINGUISHED DEAD. 
 The death of General Grant was quickly followed by that of another distinguished 
 Union commander. On the 29th of October, 1885, General George B. IMcClellan, 
 
 I. BIRTHPLACE OK CliXI.RAl. ^.RANT. 2. HIS lARK, 
 
 NEW YORK CITY. 3. VIEW FROM RIVERSIDE P.AKK, LOOKING XORTH. 
 
 4. FLEET FIRING SALUTE IN THE HUDSON RIVER ON THE DAY OF 
 HIS FUNERAL.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Ji9 
 
 organizer of tlie Aniiy of the Potomac, at one time general-in-chief, subsequently 
 Democratic candidate for the presidency, and at a later period go\ernor of New Jersey, 
 died at his home in St. Cloud, in that State. The conspicuous part borne by him during 
 the first two years of the war, his eminent abilities as a soldier and civilian, his unblemished 
 character as a citizen, heightened the popular estimate of his life, and evoked the sincerest 
 expressions of national sorrow for his death.* 
 
 The next great Union commander to pass away was General Winfield S. Hancock. 
 This brave and generous officer was at the time of his death senior major-general of the 
 American anny. Always a favorite with the people and the soldiers, he had, since the 
 close of the war, occupied a conspicuous place before the public. In 1880 he was the 
 Democratic candidate for the presidency, and, though defeated by General Garfield, the 
 defeat was without dishonor. His death, which occurred at his home on Governor's Island 
 on the 9th of February, 1886, was universally deplored, and the people omitted no mark 
 of respect for the memory of him who, in the great struggle for the preservation of the 
 Union, had won the title of "Hero of Gettysburg." Thus have passed away the gallant 
 generals of the Anny of the Potomac. George B. McClellan, Ambrose E. Burnside, 
 Joseph Hooker, George G. Meade, and Winfield S. Hancock have, one by one, joined 
 
 "The innumerable caravan that moves 
 
 To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 
 
 His chamber in the silent halls of Death." 
 
 In 1886 General John A. Logan, Senator of the United States from Illinois, sickened 
 and died at his home called Calumet Place, in Washington City. His career had been 
 di.stinguished in the highest degree. At the 
 outbreak of the civil war few men did more 
 than Logan to strengthen the Union sentiment 
 in the wavering Border States. Resigning his 
 seat in Congress, he joined the first advance, and 
 fought as a private at Bull Run. Without pre- 
 vious militar>' training, he rose rapidly to dis- 
 tinction, and became par excellence the volun- 
 teer general in the war for the Union. He re- 
 turned to political life, and was chosen to the 
 United States Senate. He remained at his post 
 until his death, passing away with unmistak- 
 able evidences of the enduring place which he 
 had won in the affections of the American 
 people. 
 
 Meanwhile a distinguished civilian had fal- 
 len from high office. On November 25th, 1885, 
 Vice-president Thomas A. Hendricks, after an 
 illness of but a single day, died suddenly at 
 his home in Indianapolis. Not a moment's 
 warning was given of the approach of the fatal 
 paralysis. The life of Hendricks liad been one of singular purity, and tlie amenities of his 
 character had been conspicuous in the stormy arena of American politics. The body of 
 
 * The posthumous publication of McClellan's Own Story, under the auspices of his l)ereavc<l wife, is on the 
 whole to be renrettcil. .As a contribution to the military and civil histc)r>- of the lime, th^- work is valuable ; but 
 to McClellan's memory the l»ook is ilamapiuK- '" •' few matters the civilians in au'lmrity over .McClcllan (but 
 not I.,incoln) are put on the defensive ; but. taken altoKetlier. tliv apology mars the General's fame. 
 
 GRANT'S TOMn IN RIVERSIDE PARK.
 
 750 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 the dead statesman was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, near Indianapolis, the funeral 
 pageant surpassing in grandeur and solemnity any other display of the kind ever witnessed 
 in the Western States, except the funeral of Lincoln. 
 
 The next distinguished citizen to pass away was Horatio Seymour, of New York. 
 On the 1 2th of February, i8S6, this noted leader and politician, who had been governor 
 of the Empire State, and Democratic candidate for the presidency against General Grant, 
 died at his home in Utica. He had reached the age of seventy-six, and though living in 
 retirement, never ceased to hold a large share of the attention of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 Much more eminent than he, however, was Samuel J. Tilden, who died at his home 
 called Greystone, at Yonkers, near New York City, on the 4th of August, 1 886. Tilden 
 had lived to make a marked impression on the political thought of the epoch. His 
 intellect was of the highest order, and his attainments unquestionable. At the time of 
 his death he was in the seventy-third year of his age. For forty years he had been a 
 prominent figure in his own State and before the nation. In 1870-71 he was among 
 the foremost in unearthing the astounding frauds and robberies which had been perpe- 
 trated on the city treasury of New York. In the following year he was sent to the 
 General Assembly, where his services were invaluable. In 1874 he was elected governor 
 of New York by a majority of more than fifty thousand votes. 
 
 In the executive office Tilden was one of the ablest men who ever occupied the guber- 
 natorial chair of the State. In 1876 he came marvellously near reaching the presidency. 
 The popular vote was largely in his favor, and the majority in the electoral college was 
 lost through the superior tactics of the leaders of the party in power. Neither Tilden nor 
 Hayes was clearly elected, the Democrats having carried two or three States with the 
 shot-gun, and the Republicans, by the aid of the Electoral Commission, having "counted 
 in" one or two States which they did not carry at all. Tilden in private life continued to 
 guide the counsels of his party. In 1880 he would have been re-nominated but for the 
 enfeebled condition of his health. One of his ablest — as it was his last — public paper, 
 was a general letter on "The Coast and Harbor Defences of the United States," a publi- 
 cation which led to the legislation of the Forty-ninth Congress on that important subject. 
 
 DEATH OF BEECHER AND CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE. 
 
 To this mortuary list of military heroes and great civilians must be added the illus- 
 trious name of Henry Ward Beecher. To him, with little reservation, we may assign the 
 first place among our orators and philanthropists. Nor is it likely that his equal in most 
 of the sublime qualities of energy and manhood will soon be seen again on the stage of 
 life. His personality was so large, so unique and striking, as to constitute the man in 
 some sense sui generis. His kind is rare in the world, and the circumstances which aided 
 in his development have passed away. That fact in American history — the institution of 
 slavery — which brought out and displayed the higher moods of his anger and stonny 
 eloquence, cannot again arouse the indignation of genius. The knight and his dangerous 
 foil .sleep together in the dust. 
 
 Mr. Beecher had the happy fortune to retain his faculties unimpaired to the very close 
 of his career. On the evening of the 5th of March, 1887, at his home in Brooklyn, sur- 
 rounded by his family, without premonition or portent, the message came by apoplexy. 
 An artery broke in that magnificent heavy brain that had been for more than forty years 
 one of the greatest batteries of thought and action in the world ; and the aged orator, 
 nearing the close of his seventy-fourth year, sank into that deep .sleep from which no
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 751 
 
 power on earth could wake him. He lived until the morning of the 8th, and quietly 
 entered the shadows. The .sentiments awakened by his death, the circumstances of his 
 sepulture, and the common eulogium of mankind, proved beyond doubt the supreme place 
 which he had occupied in the admiring esteem, not only of his countrymen, but of all the 
 great peoples of the world. 
 
 In order of occurrence the next two deaths of men of national reputation were those 
 of Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite, of the Supreme Court of the United States, and 
 ex-Senator Roscoe Conkliug, of New York. The fonner died at his home in Washington 
 Citv on the 23d of March, 1888. The Chief Justice was a native of Lyme, Connecticut; 
 bom on the 29th of November, 1816. His education was first of the public school and 
 afterwards of Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1837. He became a 
 student of law, removed to Ohio, and practiced his profession at Maumee City. In 1S49 
 he entered public life, serving in the legislature of the State. He then made his home at 
 Toledo, where he remained in the practice of his profession until he was called bv General 
 Grant to sit at the head of the Supreme Bench of the United States. Meanwhile he had 
 ser\-ed as a member of the Board of Arbitration sitting at 
 Geneva for the adjudication of the Alabama claims. He 
 brought to the office of Chief Justice a character, talents 
 and attainment equal to the responsibilities of the position. 
 The death of Waite may well suggest a brief notice of that 
 Great Court over which he presided during the last fourteen 
 years of his life. 
 
 SKETCH OF THE SUPREME COURT. 
 
 In the fonnation of the Constitution of the United 
 States, it was intended that the three General Departments 
 of the government should be of correlative rank and 
 influence. The sequel, however, as developed in the actual 
 working of our National system, has shown that the 
 Executive and Legislative departments predominate, natur- 
 all\- — perhaps inevitably — over the judicial branch, and 
 that, in the popular estimate at least, the Supreme Court is 
 of small importance as compared with the presidency and 
 the two Houses of Congress. 
 
 This disesteem of the judiciary is not verified by a 
 broader and more philosophical view on the subject. The importance, especially, of the 
 conser\-ative opinion of our great National Court in determining, at least negatively, the 
 final validity of all legislation and all subordinate judicial decisions, can hardly be over- 
 estimated. The same may be said of the Supreme Bench considered as the only immovable 
 breakwater against the unscnipulous and rampant spirit of party. It is fortunate that the 
 offices of our Chief Justice and of the Associate Justices are appoiiitiz'c, and are thus 
 removed, in great measure, from the perfidy of the convention and the passion of a 
 partisan election. 
 
 It n:ay be of interest to glance for a moment at some of tlie vici.ssitudes through which 
 the Supreme Court has pa.ssed since its organization in 1789. The Court was then 
 in.stituted by the appointment of John Jay as Chief Justice, who held the office until 1796, 
 when he gave place to Oliver Ell.sworth. The latter remained in office until, in 1800, the 
 infinnities of age compelled his resignation. Then came the long and honorable a.scendancy 
 
 HENRV WAKIJ BEKCHER.,
 
 752 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 of Chief Justice John Marshall, who presided over the Court from his appointment in i8oi 
 to his death in 1835. This was the Golden Age of the American Supreme Court. From 
 1835 to 1837 there was an interregnum in the Chief Justiceship, occasioned by the disagree- 
 ment of President Jackson and the Senate of the United States. But in the latter year the 
 President secured the confirmation of Judge Roger B. Taney as Chief Justice, who entered 
 upon his long tenn of twenty- seven years. It was his celebrated decision in case of the 
 negro Dred Scott, relative to the status of the slave-race in America, that applied the torch 
 to that immense heap of combustibles whose explosion was the Civil War. 
 
 After the death of Chief Justice Taney, in 1864, President Lincoln appointed, as his 
 successor, Salmon P. Chase, recently Secretary' of the Treasury, and author of most of the 
 financial measures and expedients by which the National credit had been buoyed up and 
 preserved during the Rebellion. His official term extended to his death, in 1873, and 
 covered the period when the important issues arising from the Civil War were under 
 adjudication. To Chief Justice Chase fell also, by virtue of his office, the duty of presiding 
 at the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In 1874 the appointment of Morrison 
 R. Waite as Chief Justice was made by President Grant. 
 
 The death of Chief Justice Waite made way for the return to the supreme judicial 
 office in the United States of some member of the political party which had long been out 
 of power. Since the epoch of the Civil War the court had been filled almost exclusively 
 with judges who, by political affiliation, belonged to the Republican party. The first 
 distinctly Democratic appointment which was made in the last quarter of a century was the 
 recent one of Judge Lucius O. C. Lamar, who, by the nomination of President Cleveland, 
 was transferred from the Secretaryship of the Interior to the Supreme Bench. It thus 
 happened, in the vicissitude of things, that the two political theories which were opposed 
 to each other in the War for the Union, and are still opposed by party name, became 
 confluent in the High Court of the Nation. This circumstance was to some a source of 
 alarm and prejudice ; but the fear was not well founded. Partisan dispositions are less 
 potent and dangerous — if, indeed, they assert themselves at all — on the Supreme Bench of 
 the United States. Thus far in its history- the Court has, as a rule, been as pure in its 
 administration and methods as it has been great in reputation. The muddy waters of party 
 conflict have only occasionally reached as high as the chambers of our honored tribunal ; 
 and the fear that it may be otherwise hereafter may hopefully be put aside as a groundless 
 and spectral chimera of the hour. On May ist, 1888, the President appointed Judge 
 Melville W. Fuller, of Chicago, to the vacant Chief Justiceship. 
 
 ROSCOE CONKLING, THE GREAT LEADER. 
 
 The impression produced by the death of Chief Justice Waite had scarcely passed when 
 the decease of another citizen, most noted for high character and great talents, called the 
 public attention to the rapid disappearance of the Nation's most distinguished represent- 
 atives. On the 1 8th of April, at the Hoffinan House, New York City, Honorable Roscoe 
 Conkling, ex-Senator of the United States, died after a brief and painful illness. A local 
 inflammation, resulting in the formation of a pus-sack under the mastoid bone of the skull, 
 led to the cutting of the skull in hope of saving Mr. Conkling's life ; but he succumbed to 
 the fatal malady and the shock of the operation. 
 
 Roscoe Conkling was born in Albany, New York, on the 30th of October, 1829. After 
 the completion of an academic course of study, he went as a student of law to Utica, in 
 1846. On reaching his majority he was admitted to the bar, and was soon afterward
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 753 
 
 appointed to the office of County Attorney. From the beginninjj of his career his great 
 talents and remarkable force of character were manifest. He made a profound impression, 
 first upon the local, and then upon the general society of New York. In 1858 he was 
 mayor of Utica, and in the same year was sent to the National House of Representatives. 
 He had already become an able politician, and was soon recognized as the leader of the 
 Republican party in his native State. His rise was rapid, and his influence became marked 
 in the affairs of the government. He served for six years in the Lower House, and in 1866 
 was elected to the Senate. In that body he aspired to leadership, and gradually attained 
 it, though not without man\- struggles and contests with the great men of the epoch. He 
 was twice reelected Senator — in 1872 and 1878; but in the third tenn, namely, in 1881, 
 he found himself in such relations with the Garfield Administration as induced him to 
 resign his seat. This step was regarded by many as the mistake of his political life. At 
 any rate he failed of a reelection, the Administration party getting control of the Legisla- 
 ture of New York, and sending another in his place. After this, Mr. Conkling retired to 
 private life, and took up with great success the practice of his profession in New York City. 
 
 Roscoe Conkling was a man of the highest courage and stanchest convictions. He 
 never shone to greater advantage than when leading the forces of General Grant in the 
 Chicago Convention of 1880. He was a born political general. His will and persistency 
 and pride gave him a power which, if it had been tempered with greater urbanity, could 
 hardly have failed to crown his life with the highest honors of the Nation. His talents 
 rose to the region of genius, and his presence was magnificent — an inspiration to his friends, 
 a terror to his enemies. .\s a summary of the results of his career, it may be said that, 
 at the time of his death, none except his eminent rival, Mr. Blaine, might successfully con- 
 test with him the proud rank of the most distinguished private citizen of the United States. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the spring of 1886 had occurred one of the most serious labor agita- 
 tions which had ever been witnessed in the United States. It were difficult to present an 
 adequate statement of the causes, general and special, which produced these alarming- 
 troubles. Not until after the close of the Civil War did there appear the first s>inptoms 
 of a renewal, in the New World, of the struggle which has been going on for so long a 
 time in Europe between the laboring classes and the capitalists. It had been hoped that 
 such a conflict would never be renewed in the countries west of the .\tlantic. Such a 
 hope, however, was doomed to disappointment. The first well-marked symptoms of the 
 appearance of serious labor strikes and insurrections occurred as early as 1867. The origin 
 of these difficulties was in the coal and iron prodticing regions of Pennsylvania and in 
 some of the great manufactories of New England. For a while the disturbances produced 
 but little alann. It was not until the great railroad strike of 1877 that a general appre- 
 hension was excited with respect to the unfriendh- relations of labor and capital. In the 
 following year much uneasiness exi.sted; but the better times, extending from 1879 to 
 1882, with the consequent favorable rate of wages, tended to remove, or at least to post- 
 pone, the renewal of trouble. 
 
 THE ORGANIZATION OF LABOR. 
 A .series of bad crops ensued, and tlic axerage ability of the people to purchase was 
 correspondingly dimini.shed. The speculative mania, however, did not cease, and the large 
 amounts of capital withdrawn from legitimate production and lost in \isionar\- enterprises, 
 still further reduced the means o{ employing labor. Stagnation ensued in business; stocks 
 declined in value, manufactories were closed, aufl the difficulty of obtaining employment 
 was greatlv incrca.sed. 
 48 '
 
 754 COLUMBUvS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 While these -causes — half-natural, half-artificial — were at work, others, wholly ficti- 
 tious, but powerful in their evil results, began to operate in the creation of strife and ani- 
 mosity. Monopolies grew and flourished to an extent hitherto unknown in the United 
 States. On the other hand, labor discovered the salutary but dangerous power of combi- 
 nation. A rage for organizing took possession of the minds of the laboring men of the 
 country, and to the arrogant face of nionopoh- was opposed the insurrectionar)- front of 
 the working classes. 
 
 More serioTis still than the causes here referred to was the introduction into the United 
 States of a large mass of ignorant foreign labor. The worst elements of several European 
 States contributed freely to the manufactories and workshops of America, and a class of 
 ideas utterly un-American became dominant in many of the leading establishments of the 
 •country. Communistic theories of society and Anarchistic views of government began to 
 -clash with the more sober republican opinions and practices of the people. To all this 
 must be added the evils and abuses which seem to be incident to the wage-system of labor, 
 and are, perhaps, inseparable therefrom. The result has been a growing jealous)- of the 
 .two great parties to production, the laborer and the capitalist. 
 
 The opening of trade for the season of 1886 witnessed a series of strikes and labor 
 imbroglios in all parts of the country. Stich troubles were, however, confined for the most 
 part to the cities and towns where labor was aggregated. The first serious trouble occurred 
 on what is known as the Gould System of railways, reaching from the Mississippi to the 
 Southwest. A single workman, belonging to the Knights of Labor, and emploved on a 
 branch of the Texas and Pacific Railway, at that time under a receivership, and therefore 
 beyond the control of Jay Gould and his subordinates, was discharged from his place. This 
 action was resented b\' the Knights, and the laborers on a great part of the Gould System 
 were ordered to strike. The movement was, for a season, successful, and the transportation 
 of freights from St. Louis to the Southwest ceased. Gradually, however, other workmen 
 -were substituted for the striking Knights ; the movement of freights was resumed, and the 
 strike ended in a comparative failure; but this end was not reached until a severe riot in 
 East St. Louis had occasioned the sacrifice of several innocent lives. 
 
 ANARCHY IN CHICAGO. 
 
 Par more alarming was the outbreak in Chicago. In that city the Socialistic and 
 Anarchistic elements were sufficiently powerful to present .a bold front to the authorities. 
 Processions bearing red flags and banners with Communistic devices and mottoes, frequently 
 paraded the streets, and were addressed by demagogues who avowed themselves the open 
 enemies of society and the existing order. On the 4th of May, 1886, avast crowd of this 
 reckless material collected in a place called the Haymarket, and were about to begin the 
 usual inflammatory proceedings, when a band of policemen, mostly officers, drew near, with 
 the evident purpose of controlling or dispersing the meeting. 
 
 A terrible scene ensued. Dynamite bombs were thrown from the crowd and exploded 
 among the officers, several of whom were blown to pieces and others shockingly mangled. 
 The mob was, in turn, attacked by the police, and many of the insurgents were shot down. 
 Order was presently restored in the city; several of the leading Anarchists were arrested, 
 brought to trial, condemned, and executed on the charge of inciting to murder. Many pre- 
 cautionary measures were also taken to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies as had been 
 witnessed in the Haymarket Square. On the following day a similar, though less danger- 
 ous outbreak occurred in Milwaukee; but in this city the insurrectionary movement was 
 suppressed without serious loss of life. The attention of the American people — let us hope
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 755 
 
 to some good end — was recalled, as never before, to the dangerous relations existing between 
 the upper and nether sides of our numicipal populations. 
 
 THE CHARLESTON EARTHQUAKE. 
 
 The summer of i886 was iiRuu)ral)k- in American annals, on account of that great 
 natural phenomenon known as the Charleston Earthquake. On the night of the 31st of 
 August, at ten minutes before ten o'clock, it was discovered .->t Washington Cit\-, and at 
 several other points where weather and signal stations were established, that communica- 
 tion with Charleston, South Carolina, was suddenl\- cut off. The discover\' was made by 
 inquiries relative to the origin of a shock which had that moment been felt, with varying 
 degrees of violence, throughout nearly the whole country east of the Mi.ssissippi and south 
 of the Great Lakes. In a few minutes it was found that no telegraphic communication 
 from any side could be had with Charleston, and it was at once perceived that that city had 
 suffered from the convulsion. Measures were hastily devised for further investigation, and 
 the result showed that the worst apprehensions were verified. Without a moment's warn- 
 ing the city had been rocked and rent to its very foundations. Hardly a building in the 
 limits of Charleston, or in the country surrounding, had escaped serious injury, and perhaps 
 one-half of all were in a state of semi-wreck or total niin. With the exception of the great 
 earthquake of New Madrid, in 181 1, no other such scene of devastation and terror had ever 
 been witnessed within the limits of the United States. 
 
 Many scientists of national reputation hurried to the scene, and made a careful scrutiny 
 of the phenomena, with a view of contributing something to the exact knowledge of man- 
 kind respecting the causes and character of earthquakes. A few facts and principles were 
 determined with tolerable accuracy. One was, that the point of origin, called the epicentre^ 
 of the great convulsion had been at a place about twenty miles from Charleston, and that 
 the motion of the earth immediately over this centre had been nearly up and down — that is, 
 vertical. A second point, tolerably well established, was that the isoseismic lines, or lines 
 of equal disturbance, might be drawn around the epicentre in circles very nearly concentric, 
 and that the circle of greatest disturbance was at some distance from the centre. Still a 
 third item of knowledge tolerably well established was that away from the epicentre — as 
 illustrated in the ruins of Charleston — the agitation of the earth was not in the nature of a 
 single shock or convulsion, as a dropping or sliding of the region to one .side, but rather a 
 series of ven- quick and violent oscillations, by which the central conntr\' of the disturb- 
 ance was, in the course of some five minutes, settled somewhat to seaward. 
 
 The whole coast in the central region of the shock was modified with respect to the 
 sea, and the ocean itself was thrown into turmoil for leagues from the shore. The people 
 of the city were in a state of the utmost consternation. They fled from their falling houses 
 to the public squares and parks and far into the country. Afraid to return into the ruins 
 they threw up tents and light booths for protection, and abode for weeks away from their 
 homes. 
 
 The disaster to Charleston served to bring out some of the better qualities of our civiliza- 
 tion. Assistance came from all (piarters, and contributions poured in for the support and 
 encouragement of the afflicted people. For several weeks a .series of diminishing shocks con- 
 tinued to terrify the citizens and paralyze the efforts at restoration. Hut it was discovered 
 in the course of time that these shocks were only the dying away of the great convulsion, 
 and that they gave cause for hope of entire ces.sation rather than continued alarm. In the 
 lapse of a few months the debris was cleared away, business was resumed, and the people 
 were again safe in their homes.
 
 756 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1887, the second session of the Forty-ninth Congress expired by 
 statuton.' limitation. The work of the body had not been so fruitful of results as had been 
 desired and anticipated by the friends of the government; but some important legislation 
 had been eflFected. On the question of the tariff nothing of value was accomplished. True, 
 a serious measure of revenue reform had been brought forward at an early date in the 
 session, but owing to the opposition of that wing of the Democratic party headed by 
 Samuel J. Randall, and committed to the doctrine of protection, as well as to the antago- 
 nism of the Republican majority in the Senate, the act failed of adoption. In fact, by the 
 beginning of 1887, it had become apparent that the existing political parties cotild not be 
 forced to align on the issue of free trade and tariff, and as a result no legislation looking to 
 any actual refonn in the current revenue system of the United States could be carried 
 through Congress. 
 
 THE PENSION LIST. 
 
 On the question of extending the Pension List, however, the case was different. A 
 great majority of both parties could always be counted on to favor such measures as looked 
 to the increase of benefits to the soldiers. At the first only a limited number of pensions 
 had been granted, and these only to actually disabled and injured veterans of the war for 
 the Union. With the lapse of time, however, and the relaxation of party allegiance, it 
 became more and more important to each of the parties to secure and hold the soldier vote, 
 without which it was felt that neither could maintain ascendancy in the government. Nor 
 can it be denied that genuine patriotic sentiment and gratitude of the Nation to its defenders 
 coincided in this respect with political ambition and selfishness. The Arrears of Pensions 
 Act, making up to those who were already recipients of pensions such amounts as would 
 have accrued if the benefit had dated from the time of disability, instead of from the time 
 of granting the pension, was passed in 1879, and, at the same time, the list of beneficiaries 
 was greatly enlarged. 
 
 The measure presented in the Forty-ninth Congress was designed to extend the Pension 
 List so as to include all regularly enlisted and honorably discharged soldiers of the Civil War, 
 who had become, in whole or in part, dependent upon the aid of others for their maintenance 
 and welfare. The measure was known as the Dependent Pensions Bill, and though many 
 opposed the enactment of a law which appeared to fling away the bounty of the government 
 to the deserving and undeserving, the evil and the just alike, yet- a majority was easily 
 obtained for the measure in both Houses, and the act was passed. President Cleveland, 
 however, interposed his veto, and the proposed law fell to the ground. An effort was made 
 in the House of Representatives to pass the bill over the veto, but the movement failed. 
 
 THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE BILL. 
 
 By far the most important and noted piece of legislation of the session was embodied 
 in the act known as the Interstate Commerce Bill. For some fifteen years complaints 
 against the methods and management of the railways of the United States had been heard 
 on many sides, and in cases not a few the complaints had originated in actual abuses, some 
 of which were wilful, but most were merely incidental to the development of a system .so 
 vast and, on the whole, so beneficial to the public. In such a state of affairs the lasting 
 benefit is always forgotten in the accidental hurt. That large class of people who, in despite 
 of the teachings of history-, still believe in the cure of all things by law, and that mankind 
 are always about to perish for want of more legislation, becan:e clamorous in their demand 
 that Congress should take the railways by the throat and compel them to accept what may 
 be called the system of uniformity as it respects all charges for service rendered.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 7o7 
 
 It must be borne in mind that in the very natnre of things railways are unable to carry- 
 freight at as small a rate per hnndred, or passengers at as small a charge per mile, between 
 places approximate as between places at great distances. It must be remembered, also, 
 that in some regions it is many times more expensive to build and operate a road than ic 
 others. To carry- one of these great thoroughfares over the Rocky Mountains is a very 
 different thing from stretching a similar track across the level prairies of Illinois. It nuisl 
 still further be considered that, in the nature of the case, competition will do its legitimate 
 and inevitable work at an earlier date and more thoroughly between great cities, even when 
 remotelv situated, than between unimportant points, however near together. The traffic 
 and travel between two villages is not sufficient to create competition among carriers. It is 
 as absurd to suppose that railway tariffs can be the same between New York and Chicago 
 as thev are between two Missouri towns as it is to suppose that butter can command the 
 same price in an Iowa village that it does in the Quincy Market of Boston. What should 
 be said of an attempt in Congress to make the price of wheat and pork uniform throughout 
 the United States ? 
 
 The Interstate Commerce Bill w'as conceived against all the natural, manifest and 
 iindeniable principles of the commercial world. It was passed with the belief that all dis- 
 criminations in the charges made by railways doing business in more than one State could 
 be prevented by law. It was passed as if to amend or abrogate those natural laws of trade 
 and traffic which, in their kind, are as absolute and beneficial as the law of gravitation. 
 It was passed with the ulterior design of securing to its promoters the support of that ignor- 
 ant and embittered race of men whose prejudices are out of all proportion to their know- 
 ledge of human rights, or their recognition of the paramount interests of the whole people. 
 It was pa.ssed under the pernicious anti-democratic theory of governmental paternalism, 
 which says that men are infants or imbeciles, unable to care for themselves unless they are 
 fed and led and coddled by some motherly government, of which they are the irresponsible 
 offspring. It is safe to say that no other measure ever adopted by the American Congress 
 was so difficult of application, or was so barren of results with respect to the interests 
 which it was intended to promote. Disorder was the first-born of the Interstate Commerce 
 Bill, and its last offspring wa.s — Apathy. 
 
 ISSUES OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1888. 
 
 During the whole of Cleveland's .Administration the public mind was .swayed and 
 excited by the movements of politics. The universality of partisan newspajjcrs, the com- 
 bination in their columns of all the news of the world with the invectives, misrepresenta- 
 tions, and coimter-charges of party leaders, kept political questions constanth' uppermost, 
 to the detriment of social progress and industrial interests. Scarcely had President Cleve- 
 land entered upon his office as Chief Magistrate when the question of succession to the 
 presidency was agitated. The echoes of the election of 1884 had not died away before the 
 rising murmur of 1888 was heard. 
 
 By the last year of the current .\dministration it was seen that there would be no general 
 break-up of the existing parties. It was also perceived that the issues between them must 
 be made, rather than found in the existing .state of affairs. The sentiment in the United 
 States in favor of the Constitutional prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating 
 liquors had become somewhat extended and intensified since the last quadrennial election. 
 But the discerning eye might perceive that the real issue w.is between the Republican and 
 Democratic parties, and that the questions iiuolved were to be rather tliose of the ])ast than 
 of the future.
 
 758 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 One issue, however, presented itself which had a living and practical relation to 
 affairs, and that was the question of Protection to American Industp*'. Since the campaign 
 of 1884, the agitation had been gradually extended. At the opening of the session in 1887, 
 the President, in his annual message to Congress, departed from all precedent, and devoted 
 tlie whole document to the discussion of the single question of a Refo7-m of the Reveuiie 
 System of the United States. The existing rates of duty on imported articles of commerce 
 had so greatly augmented the income of the Government that a large surplus had accumu- 
 lated, and was still accumulating, in the National Treasur}-. This fact was made the basis 
 of the President's argument in fa\'or of a new s\stem of revenue, or, at least, an ample 
 reduction in the tariff rates under the old. It was immediately charged by the Republicans 
 that the project in question meant the substitution of the system of free trade in the United 
 States, as against the system of protective duties. The question thus involved was made 
 the bottom issue in the presidential campaign of 1888. 
 
 As to the nominees of the various parties, it was from the first a foregone conclusion 
 that Mr. Cleveland would be nominated for re-election by the Democrats. The resiilt justi- 
 fied the expectation. The Democratic National Convention was held in St. Louis, on the 5th 
 day of June, 1888, and Mr. Cleveland was renominated by acclamation. For the \'ice- 
 presidential nomination there was a considerable contest ; but after some balloting the choice 
 fell on ex-Senator Allan G. Thuniian, of Ohio. The Republican National Convention was 
 held in Chicago, on the 19th day of June. Many candidates were ardently pressed upon the 
 body, and the contest was long and spirited. It was believed . up to the time of the Con- 
 vention that James G. Blaine, who was evidently the favorite of the great majority, would be 
 again nominated for the presidency. But the antagonisms against that statesman in his own 
 party were thought to make it inexpedient to bring him forward again as the nominee. His 
 name was, accordingh- — at his own request — not presented to the convention. The most 
 prominent candidates were Senator John Sherman, of Ohio; Judge Walter Q. Gresham, of 
 Chicago; Chauncey M. Depew, of New York; ex-Governor Russell A. Alger, of Michigan; 
 ex-Senator Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, and Senator William B. Allison, of Iowa. The 
 voting was continued to the eighth ballot, when the choice fell upon Benjamin Harrison, of 
 Indiana. In the evening, Levi P. Morton, of New York, was nominated for the vice- 
 presidency on the first ballot. 
 
 In the meantime, the Prohibition party had held its National Convention at Indian- 
 apolis, and on the 30th of May had nominated for the presidency General Clinton B. Fisk, 
 of New Jersey, and for the vice-presidency John A. Brooks, of INIissouri. The Democratic 
 platfonn declared for a reform of the revenue system of the United States, and reaffirmed 
 the principle of adjusting the tariff on imports, with strict regard to the actual needs of 
 governmental expenditure. The Republican platfonn declared also for a refonn of the 
 tariff schedule, but at the same time stoutly affinned the maintenance of the protective 
 system, as such, as a part of the permanent policy of the United States. Both parties 
 deferred to the patriotic sentiment of the countr>- in favor of the soldiers, their rights and 
 interests, and both endeavored, by the usual incidental circumstances of the hour, to gain 
 the advantage of the other before the American people. The Prohibitionists entered the 
 campaign on the distinct proposition that the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors 
 should be prohibited throughout the United States by constitutional amendment. To this 
 was added a clause in favor of extendinsf the right of suffrage to women.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 759 
 
 ELECTION OF HARRISON. 
 
 As the canvass progressed during the sunnner and autumn of 1888, it hecame evident 
 that the result was in doubt. The contest was exceedingly close. As in 1880 and 1884, 
 the critical States were New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Indiana. In all of the other 
 Northern States the Republicans were almost certain to win, while the Democrats were 
 equally certain of success in all the South. In the last weeks of the campaign, General 
 Harrison grew in favor, and his party gained perceptibly to the close. The result showed 
 success for the Republican candidate. He received two hundred and thirty-three electoral 
 votes, against one hundred and sixty-eight votes for Cleveland. The latter, however, 
 appeared to a better advantage on the popular count, having a considerable majority over 
 General Harrison. General Fisk, the Prohibition candidate, received nearly three hundred 
 thousand votes, but under the system of voting no electoral vote of any State was obtained 
 for him in the so-called "College" by which the actual choice is made. As soon as the 
 result was known the excitement attendant upon the campaign subsided and political ques- 
 tions gave place to other interests. 
 
 The last days of Cleveland's administration and of the Fiftieth Congress were signalized 
 by the admission into the Union of four new States, making the number forty-two. Since 
 the incoming of Colorado, in 1876, no State had been added to the Republic. Meanwhile 
 the tremendous tides of population had continued to flow to the West and Northwest, rapidly 
 filling up the great territories. Of these the greatest was Dakota, with its area of one 
 hundred and fifty thousand nine hundred and thirty-two square miles. In 1887 the ques- 
 tion of dividing the territory by a line running east and west was agitated, and the measure 
 finally prevailed. Steps were taken by the people of both sections for admission into the 
 Union. Montana, with her one hundred and forty-five thousand seven hundred and seventy- 
 si.x square miles of territory, had meanwhile acquired a sufficient population; and Wash- 
 ington Territon,-, with its area of si.xty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-four square 
 miles, also knocked for admission. In the closing days of the Fiftieth Congress a bill was 
 passed raising all these four territories — South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wash- 
 ington — to the plane of Statehood. The Act contemplated the adoption of State Constitu- 
 tions and a proclamation of admission by the next President. It thus happened that the 
 honor of bringing in this great addition to the States of the Union was divided between the 
 outgoing and incoming administrations. 
 
 Another .\ct of Congress was also of National importance. Hitherto the government 
 had been administered through seven departments, at the head of each of which was placed 
 a Cabinet officer, the seven together constituting the advisers of the President. No pro- 
 vision for such an arrangement exists in the Constitution of the United States, but the 
 statutes of the Nation provide for such a sj'stem as most in accordance with the Republican 
 fonn of government. Early in 1889 a measure was brought forward in Congress, and 
 adopted, for the institution of a new department, to be called the Department of .\gricul- 
 ture. Practically the mea.sure involved the elevation of what had previously been an 
 agricultural bureau in the Department of the Interior to the rank of a Cabinet office. 
 Among foreign nations, France has been conspicuous for the patronage which the govern- 
 ment has given to the agricultural pursuits of that countr>'. Hitherto in the Ignited States, 
 though agriculture had been the greatest of all the producing interests of the people, it had 
 been neglected for more political and less useful dcpartmeuLs of .\merican life and enter- 
 prise. By this act of Congress the Cabinet offices were increased in number to eight instead 
 of seven.
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE PRESENT, 
 
 ^ENJAMIN HARRISON, twenty-third President of the 
 » United States, was born at North Bend, Ohio, on the 
 
 20th of August, 1833. He is the son of John Scott 
 Harrison, a prominent citizen of his native State ; grand- 
 son of President William Henr>' Harrison ; great-grand- 
 son of Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of 
 Independence. In countries where attention is paid to 
 honorable lineage, the circumstances of General Harri- 
 son's descent would be considered of much importance, 
 but in America little attention is paid to one's ancestry 
 and more to himself 
 
 Harrison's early life was passed as that of other 
 American boys, in attendance at school and at home 
 duties on the farm. He was a student at the institution called Fanners' College for two 
 years. Afterwards he attended Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, and was graduated 
 therefrom in June, 1852. He took in marriage the daughter of Dr. John W. Scott, Presi- 
 dent of the Oxford Female College. After a course of study he entered the profession of 
 law, removing to Indianapolis and establishing himself in that city. With the outbreak 
 of the war he became a soldier of the Union, and rose to the rank of Brevet Brigadier- 
 General of Volunteers. Before the close of the war he was elected Reporter of Decisions 
 of the Supreme Court of Indiana. 
 
 In the period following the Civil War, General Harrison rose to distinction as a civilian. 
 In 1876 he was the unsuccessful candidate of the Republican party for governor of Indiana. 
 In 1 88 1 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he won the reputation of a leader 
 and statesman. In 1884 his name was prominently mentioned in connection with the 
 presidential nomination of his party, but Mr. Blaine was successful. After the lapse of four 
 years, however, it was found at Chicago that General Harrison more than any other combined 
 in himself all the elements of a successful candidate; and the event justified the choice of 
 the party in making him the standard-bearer in the ensuing campaign. 
 
 General Harrison was, in accordance with the usages of the government, inaugurated 
 President on the 4th of March, 1889. He had succeeded better than any of his predecessors 
 in keeping his own counsels during the interim between his election and the inauguration. 
 No one had discerned his purposes, and all waited with interest the expressions of his 
 Inaugural Address. In that document he set forth the policy which he would favor as the 
 Chief Executive, recommending the same general measures which the Republican party 
 had advocated during the campaign. 
 
 On the day following the inaugural ceremonies. President Harrison sent in the nomi- 
 nations for his Cabinet officers, as follows : For Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, of 
 Maine; for Secretary^ of the Treasury-, William Wiudom, of Minnesota; for Secretan,- of 
 
 (760)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 701 
 
 War, Redfield Proctor, of \*ennoiit; for Secretarv of the Xa.v\ , Benjamin F. Tracy, of 
 New York; for Postmaster-General, John Wanamaker, of Pennsylvania; for Secretarjof the 
 Interior, John W. Xoble, of Missonri; for Attorney-General, William H. H. Miller, of 
 Indiana, and for Secretary of Agricultnre, — the new department — Jeremiah Rnsk, of Wis- 
 consin. These appointments >vere immediately confirmed by the Senate, and the members 
 of the new administration assumed their respective official duties. 
 
 Within two months after Harrison's inauguration, an event occurred which recalled 
 the mind of the American people to the striking incidents of the Revolutionar\- epoch. 
 The event in question was the great Centennial Celebration of the Institution of the 
 American Republic. The particular date selected was the 30th of April, 1889, being the 
 centennial anniversary of the inauguration of Washington, at New York City. All of the 
 ceremonies connected with the commemoration in 1889 were associated, as far as practicable, 
 with the scenes of the first inauguration. The event was so interesting and so distinct!)- 
 National as to warrant a few paragraphs descriptive of the incidents of the celebration. 
 
 EPOCHS IN OUR NATIONAL LIFE. 
 
 The Revolutionary- epoch in the history of the United States was marked by several 
 crises worthy of commemoration by people of another age. These periods were : 
 
 1. The Declaration of Independence. 
 
 2. The fonnation of the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 3. The adoption of the Constitution by the States. 
 
 4. The Institution of the American Republic. 
 
 Of the first of these crises we should note the fact that the Declaration of Independence 
 was a democratic and popular revolution. It was essentially destructive in character. It 
 was designed to break the union with the ]\Iotlier Country-, to throw off the fetters — real or 
 imaginar>- — which bound us to the Old- World order. 
 
 The second, or Constitutional crisis, was reactionar>- and constructive. It was the 
 epoch of formation. The Fathers, acting from sentiments of common motive and common 
 hope, began to consult about rebuilding, or building anew, a structure in which civil liberty 
 in America might abide. Washington and his friends earnestly debated the feasibility of 
 a system of government better than tlie old Confederation. The first conferences looking 
 to this end were held at Mount Vernon, and then at Annapolis. Finally, a great conven- 
 tion of delegates was assembled at Philadelphia. The sittings were held in the summer 
 of 1787. That strange compromise called the Constitution of the United States was pro- 
 duced and signed b\- the delegates, with Washington as their President. 
 
 This work was followed by a great political agitation. Should the new Constitution 
 be adopted; or, should it be rejected and the old Confederative system be continued ? On 
 these questions there was a division of parties, the lines of which have not been wholly 
 obliterated to the present day. 
 
 The story of the adoption of the Constitution has already been given in its own place 
 in the preceding narrative, .\fter the adoption by nine or ten States, came the striking 
 event of the institution of the new government. Washington was made President. \ 
 Congress was constituted by an election of a House of Representatives and a Senate, accord- 
 ing to the provisions of the new instrument. The actual setting-up of the goveniment 
 occurred on the 30th of .\pril, 1789. Tliis was the particular event which, after a lapse 
 of a hundred vears, the people and government of the United States determined to celebrate 
 with suitable centennial and commemorative exercises.
 
 762 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 It was decided that the intended celebration should conform as nearly as possible to the 
 ceremonies attending the actual inauguration of Washington. There was a departure from 
 the tvpe of World's Fairs which had already been celebrated several times in Europe and 
 America. In the commemoration of the institution of the government the feature of expo- 
 sition was wholly omitted. Even,'thing was designed to point backwards to the events of 
 a century ago, and to bring to vivid recollection the manners and condition of the American 
 people when the republic of 1789 was instituted. 
 
 CELEBRATION OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 The movement for the celebration began in New York City. A committee was raised 
 and a plan outlined for the coming event. It was decided to devote two days, namely the 
 30th of April and the ist of May, 1889, to the celebration. Everything was accordingly 
 arranged for a great military and civic parade in New York on the days indicated. For a 
 fortnight before the event the great trains on the railwaj-s centring in the metropolis began 
 to pour out an unusual cargo of human life. The throngs were gathered from all parts of 
 the republic, but principally from the old Thirteen States. 
 
 The rise of the Centennial morning was auspicious, and the general appearance of New 
 Y'ork City was such as to excite the liveliest admiration. Never was a great citj' more 
 completely clad in gay apparel. Ever%- street on both sides as far as the eye could reach 
 was ornamented with flags and streamers, mottoes and emblems of jubilee. Broadway and 
 Fifth Avenue were the most elaborately adorned. It is doubtful whether a finer display has 
 ever been made in the streets of any city. The decorations covered all public and private 
 edifices. Scarcely a house on Manhattan Island but had its share in the display. Could 
 one have been lifted in a balloon above Castle Garden, sweeping northward with his glass, 
 he would have seen flags on flags from the Battery to Spuyten Duyvil. Along both sides 
 of the North and East Rivers, and in the islands of the bay, the universal emblems were 
 flung to the breeze, and the purest of sunshine glorified the scene with a blaze of morning 
 light. 
 
 Arrangements had been made for the President, Vice-President and members of the 
 Cabinet, with other prominent officers of the government, to participate in the exercises. 
 The part assigned President Harrison was the part of Washington in the first inauguration. 
 On the arrival of the Chief ^Magistrate, he was tendered a public reception at several places 
 in the cit)-. In the evening he attended a great ball in the Metropolitan Opera House, 
 prepared in imitation of the Washingtonian ball of 1789. 
 
 On the morning of the 30th of April, the streets of New York quickly filled with 
 people. The exercises in commemoration of the institution of the government were held 
 in Wall Street, where a platform had been erected in front of the Treasury- building, 
 occupying the site of the Old Federal Hall, and marked by the presence of Ward's colossal 
 statue of Washington, on the spot where the Father of his Countn,' had been inaugurated. 
 Here was delivered the Centennial Oration, by Chauncey M. Depew, an address by Presi- 
 dent Harrison, and a poem written for the occasion b\- John Greenleaf Whittier. ]\Iean- 
 while, the military- parade, greatest of all such displays in the United States with the single 
 exception of the review of the soldiers at Washington at the close of the Civil War, had 
 been prepared for the march. The procession was under the command of Major-General 
 John M. Schofield. The line of march was from Wall Street into Broadway, up Broadway 
 to Wa^•erly Place, through Waverh' Place into Fifth Avenue, along that thoroughfare to 
 Fourteenth Street, thence around Union Square to Fifth Avenue, and thence northward to 
 Central Park.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA 763 
 
 Through all this distance and on both sides of the procession the streets were a solid 
 wall of human beings, rising to the rear by ever)- kind of contrivance which ingenuity- 
 could invent. The mass on the sidewalks was from twenty to fifty persons deep. In all 
 advantageous positions scaffolding with ascending seats had been erected for the acconnno- 
 dation of the multitudes. At ever)- street crossing vehicles were drawn up in a solid mass, 
 and the privilege of standing in these or on bo.xes or carts was sold at high figures to eager 
 people not better pro\ided with a point of view. Housetops, balconies, stoops, and 
 verandas were crowded to their utmost capacity. On came the procession, headed by the 
 President and the commanding general. At the head of the column were two thotisand 
 regulars from the anny. Then came the cadets from West Point, with their splendid 
 marching ; then the artiller)- of the regular anny- ; then the marines and naval cadets, whose 
 peculiar rolling movement showed that they had been recently gathered from the decks of 
 ships. 
 
 After this division came the militiamen and volunteers of the National Guards from 
 the different States of the Union. Behind this magnificent display followed the veterans 
 of the Civil War — the men of the Grand Anny of the Republic, headed by their comman- 
 der-in-chief. General William Warner. The old soldiers were in column to the number of 
 twelve thousand, arranged according to the locality from which they came, the rear being 
 closed with a magnificent body numbering nearly four thousand from Brooklyn and 
 Kings County, Xew York. It was already nightfall when this extreme left of the column 
 passed the reviewing stand on Fifth Avenue, where the President and the chief men of the 
 Nation were gathered. 
 
 The programme prepared by the Citizens' Committee embraced a general holida)- of 
 three days' duration, during which business was suspended throughout the city. On the 
 29th and 30th of April and on the ist day of May the restriction was faithfully regarded. 
 One might traverse Broadway and find but few business establishments open to the public. 
 This was true particularly of the two principal days of the festival. 
 
 THE GREAT CIVIC DISPLAY. 
 
 It now remains to notice the great ci\ic parade on the ist of May, with which the 
 commemorative exercises were concluded. The design was that this should represent the 
 industries, the progress, and in general the civic life of the Metropolis of the Nation and 
 of the countr)- at large, as distingiiished from the militarj- display of the preceding day. 
 It was found from the experience of the 30th that the line of march was too long, and the 
 second day's course was somewhat shorter. It is not intended in this connection to enter 
 into any elaborate account of the civic procession of the third day. It was second only in 
 importance to the great militar\- parade which had preceded it. The procession was 
 composed, in large part, of those various civic orders and brotherhoods with which modem 
 societ>- so much abounds. In these the foreign nationalities which ha\e obtained so strong 
 a footing in New York City were largely prevalent. The German societies were out in full 
 force. Companies representing almost ever)- nation of the Old World were in the line, 
 carrying gay banners, keeping step to the nnisic of the magnificent bands, and proudly 
 lifting their mottoes and emblems in the May-day moniing. 
 
 The second general feature of this procession was the historical part. The primitive 
 life of Manhattan Island, the adventures of the early explorers and discoverers along the 
 American coast, the striking incidents in the early annals of the Old Thirteen States, were 
 allegorized and mounted in visible fonn on chariots and drawn through the streets. All 
 the old heroes of American history from Cohunbus to Peter Stuyvesant were seen again in
 
 764 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 mortal fonn, received obeisance, and heard the shouts of the multitudes. From ten o'clock in 
 the forenoon till half-past three in the afternoon the procession was under way, the principal 
 line of march being down Fifth Avenue and throiigh the noted squares of the city. 
 With the coming of evening the pyrotechnic display of the preceding night was renewed in 
 many parts of the metropolis, though it could hardly be said that the fire-works were equal 
 in brilliancy, beauty and impressiveness to the magnificent daj-pageants of the streets. 
 
 One of the striking features of the celebration was the ease and rapidity with which the 
 vast multitudes were breathed into and breathed out of the city. In the principal hotels 
 fully one hundred and fifty thousand strangers were registered as guests. More than twice 
 this nmnber was distributed in the smaller lodging houses and private dwellings of New 
 York and Brooklyn. Yet the careful observer abroad in the streets saw neither the coming 
 nor the going. With the appearance of the days of the celebration the throngs were 
 present ; on the following days they were gone. The great railways centring in the 
 metropolis had done their work noiselessly, speedily, eflFectively. It may well be recorded 
 as one of the marvels of modem times that only two persons are said to have lost their lives 
 in this tremendous assemblage, extending through several days, and that at least one of 
 these died suddenh' from heart disease, while the mamjer of the death of the other was 
 unknown. Such is the triumph which the master}- of the 4iuinan mind over the forces of 
 the material world has easily achieved in our age, under the guidance of that beneficent 
 science by which the world is at once enlightened and protected from danger. 
 
 THREATENINGS OF WAR BETWEEN GERMANY AND AMERICA. 
 
 The close of the year 1888 and the beginning of 1889 were marked by a peculiar epi- 
 sode in the history of the country. An unexpected and even dangerous complication arose 
 between the United States and Germany relative to the Samoan Islands. This compara- 
 tively unimportant group of the South Pacific lies in a southwe^t^y direction, at a dis- 
 tance of about five tiiousand miles from San Francisco, and- nearli- two thousand miles 
 eastward from Australia. The long-standing policy of the government established under 
 the administration of Washington and ever since maintained, to have no entanglements 
 with foreign nations, seemed in this instance to be strangely at variance with the facts. 
 
 During 1888 the civil affairs of the Samoan Islands were thrown into extreme confu- 
 sion b}- what was really the progressive disposition of the people, but what appeared in the 
 garb of an insurrection against the established authorities. The government of the islands 
 is a monarchy. The country is ruled by native princes, and is independent of foreign 
 powers. The capital, Apia, lies on a bay of the same name on the northern coast of the 
 principal island. It was here that the insurrection gained greatest headway. 
 
 The revolutionary movement was headed by an audacious chieftain called Tamasese. 
 The king of the island was Malietoa, and his chief supporter, Mataafa. At this time, the 
 German Empire was represented in Samoa by its Consul-General, Herr Weber, and the 
 United States was represented by Hon. Harold M. Sewall. A German armed force virtu- 
 ally deposed Malietoa and set up Tamasese on the throne. On the other hand, the repre- 
 sentative of the United States, following the policy of his government, stood by the estab- 
 lished authority, supporting the native sovereign and Mataafa. The American and German 
 authorities in the island were thus brought into conflict, and serious difficulties occurred 
 between the ships of the two nations in the harbor. 
 
 When the news of this state of affairs reached Germany, in April, 1889, several addi- 
 tional men-of-war were sent out to the island to uphold the German cause. Mataafa and
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 765 
 
 the Germans were thus brought to war. Meanwhile the American government took up 
 the cause of its Consul and of King Malictoa, as against the insurrection. A section of 
 the American navy was despatched to the distant island, and the ships of war of two of the 
 greatest nations of Christendom w-ere thus set face to face in a harbor of the South Pacific 
 Ocean. 
 
 In this condition of affairs, on the 22d of March, 1889, one of the most violent hurri- 
 canes ever known in the islands blew up from the north, and the American and German 
 war vessels were driven upon the great reef which constitutes the only breakwater outside 
 of the harbor of Apia. Here the\- were wrecked. The American war-ships A'ipsic, Trenton 
 and / 'niiiin/ia were dashed into ruins. The German vessels, Ad/cr, Olga and Eber, were 
 also lost. The English vessel Calliope^ which was caught in the stonn, was the only war 
 ship which escaped. b>- steaming out to sea. Serious loss of life accompanied the disaster: 
 four American officers and forty-six men, nine Gennan officers and eightj-seven men, sank 
 to rise no more. 
 
 Meanwhile England had become interested in the dispute and had taken a stand with 
 the United States as against the decision of Gennany. The matter became of so great 
 importance that President Harrison, who had in the meantime acceded to office as Chief 
 Magistrate, appointed, with the advice of the Senate, an Embassy E.xtraordinar>- to go to 
 Berlin and meet Prince Bismarck in a conference, with a view to a peaceful solution of the 
 difficulty. The Ambassadors appointed for this purpose were J. A. Kas.son, of Iowa; 
 William \V. Phelps, of New Jersey; and G. H. Bates, of Delaware. The Commissioners 
 set out on the 13th of April, and on their arrival at the capital of the German Empire 
 opened negotiations with Chancellor Bismarck and his son. The attitude and demand 
 of the American government was that the independence of Samoa under its native sover- 
 eign should be acknowledged and guaranteed \>\ the great nations concerned in the contro- 
 versy. The conference closed in May, 1889, with the restoration of King Malietoa and 
 the recognition of his sovereignty' over the island. 
 
 THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. 
 
 The closing week of May, 1889, was made forever memorable in the histon^ of the 
 United States by the destruction of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The calamity was caused 
 by the bursting of a reservoir and the pouring out of a deluge in the valley below. A large 
 artificial lake had been constructed in the ravine of the South Fork River, a tributar>' of 
 the Conemaugh. It was a fishing lake, the property of a company of wealthy sportsmen, 
 and was about five miles in length, var^-ing in depth from fifty to one hundred feet. The 
 countn,- below the lake was thickly peopled. The city of Johnstown lay at the junction 
 of the South P'ork with the Conemaugh. In the last days of May unusually heavy rains fell 
 in all that region, swelling every stream to a torrent. The South Fork Lake became full 
 to overflowing. The dam had been imperfectly constructed. On the afternoon of May 
 31st the dam of the reser\-oir burst wide open in the centre, and a solid wall of water //(^w 
 tiL'iniy to fifty feel in height rushed down the valle\ with terrific violence. 
 
 The destruction which ensued was as great as the modern world has witnessed. In the 
 path of the deluge ever\thing was swept away. Johnstown was totalK' wrecked and was 
 thrown ir an indescribable heap of horror against the aqueduct of the Pennsylvania railway 
 below the towTi. Here the niins caught fire, and the shrieks of hundreds of victims were 
 drowned in the holocaust. About three thousand people perished in the flood or were bunied 
 to death in the niins. The heart of the Nation responded ciuickly to the suflerings of the sur- 
 vivors, and millions of dollars in money and supplies were poured out to relieve the despair 
 of those who survived the calamitv.
 
 766 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The year 1889 witnessed the assembling at Washington City of an International Con- 
 gress. The bodv was composed of delegates from the Central and South American States, 
 from Mexico, and the United States of America. Popularly the assembly was known as 
 the " Pan-American Congress." The event was the culmination of a policy adopted by the 
 United States some 3 ears previously. General Grant, during his presidency,- and in the 
 subsequent period of his life, had endeavored to promote more intimate relations with the 
 Spanish-American peoples. James G. Blaine, Secretary of State under Garfield, entertained 
 a similar ambition and was the principal promoter of the enterprise. The opposition to the 
 movement was based on prejudice — mostly political. Mr. Blaine was accused unjustly of a 
 purpose to create in the United States a policy similar to Disraeli's "high-jingoism " in 
 Great Britain. The United States was to become the arbiter of the Western nations. To 
 this end the Central American and South American States must be brought, first into inti- 
 macy with our Republic, and afterwards be made to follow her lead in warding off" all 
 Europeanism. 
 
 The death of Garfield prevented the institution of some such policy as that here vaguely 
 defined. Nevertheless, in 1884, an Act was passed by Congress authorizing the President 
 to appoint a commission "to ascertain and report upon the best modes of securing more 
 intimate international commercial relations between the United States and the several coun- 
 tries of Central and South America." Commissioners were sent out to the countries referred 
 to, and the movement for the Congress was started. Not until May of 1 888, however, was 
 the Act passed providing for the Congress. The Spanish- American nations responded to the 
 overtures and took the necessary steps to meet the United States in the conference. The 
 objects contemplated were, first, to promote measures pertaining to the peace and prosperity 
 of the peoples concerned ; to establish customs-unions among them ; to improve the means 
 of coaimunication between the ports of the States represented, and to advance the commer- 
 cial interests and political harmony of the nations of the New World. 
 
 ASSEMBLING OF THE PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS. 
 
 The Spanish-American and Portuguese-American States, to the number of nine, 
 appointed their delegates, and the latter arrived in the United States in theautunm of 1889. 
 President Harrison on his part named ten members of the Congress as follows : John F. 
 Hanson, of Georgia ; Morris M. Estee, of California ; Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia ; 
 Andrew Carnegie, of Pennsylvania ; T. Jefferson Coolidge, of Massachusetts ; Clement 
 Studebaker, of Indiana ; Charles R. Flint, of New York ; William H. Trescot, of South 
 Carolina ; Cornelius N. Bliss, of New York, and John B. Henderson, of Missouri. Mexico 
 sent two representatives, namely : Matias Romero and Enrique A. Maxia. Brazil, still an 
 Empire, also sent two delegates : J. G. de Amaral Valente, and Salvador de Mendonca. 
 The representative of Honduras was Jeronimo Zelaya ; Fernando Cruz, was delegate of 
 Guatemala, and Jacinto Castellanos, of San Salvador. Costa Rica sent as her representative 
 Manuel Aragon. Horatio Guzman, Minister of Nicaragua, represented his government in 
 the Congress. The Argentine Republic had two delegates ; Roque Saenz Pena, and Manuel 
 Quintana. Chili sent two delegates, Emilio C. Varas, and Jose Alfonso. The representa- 
 tives of the United States of Colombia were Jose M. Hurtado, Carlos Martinez Silva, and 
 Climaco Calderon. The delegates of Venezuela were Nicanor Bolet Peraza, Jose Andrade, 
 and Francisco Antonio Silva ; that of Pern was F. C. C. Zegarra ; that of Ecuador, Jose 
 Maria Placido Caamano ; that of Uruguay, Alberto Nin ; that of Bolivia, Juan F. Velarde ; 
 that of Hayti, Arthur Laforestrie, and that of Paraguay, Jose S. Decoud.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 767 
 
 The representatives met in Washington City in October. Committees were formed to 
 report to the bodv suitable action on the subjects whicli might properly come before it for 
 discussion. From the first the proceedings took a peculiarh- practical direction. The great 
 questions of commerce were at the bottom of the reports, the debates and the actions which 
 followed. Nor can it be doubted that the movement as a whole conduced in the highest 
 degree to the friendship, prosperity and mutual interests of the nations concerned. 
 
 At the same time an International Maritime Conference, for which provisions had been 
 made in the legislation of several nations, convened at Washington. In this case the States 
 of Europe were concerned in common with those of the New World. All the maritime 
 nations were invited by the act of Congress to send representatives to the National Capital 
 in the following year, to consider the possibilitN- of establishing unifonn rules and regula- 
 tions for the government of vessels at sea, and for the adoption of a common svstem of 
 marine signals. Twent\-si.x nations accepted the call of the American government, and 
 appointed delegates to the Congress. They, too, as well as the representatives of the Pan- 
 American Congress, held their sittings in November and December of 1889. The same 
 practical ability and good sense as related to the subjects under consideration were shown by 
 the members of the Maritime Conference as by those of the sister body, and the results 
 reached were equally encouraging and equally gratifying, not only to the government of 
 the United States, but to all the countries wliose interests were in\-ohcd in the discussions. 
 THE TARIFF DISPUTE RENEWED— THE McKINLEY BILL. 
 
 We may here revert briefl\- to the work of the Fifty -first Congress. The proceedings 
 of that branch of the government were markedwith much partisan bitterness and excite- 
 ment. The first question which occupied the attention of the body was the revision of the 
 tariff. In the preceding pages we have developed, with sufficient amplitude, the historv 
 and various phases of this question. The Civil War brought in a condition of affairs which 
 must, in the nature of the case, entail the tariff issue on the rest of the centurv. More 
 than two decades elapsed after the close of the conflict before the attention of the American 
 people was sufficiently aroused to the nature of the laws bearing on their industrial con- 
 dition. Then it was that they first became aware of the fact that a schedule of customs 
 duties, which had been brought forth under the exigency of war, still existed, and that 
 under the operation of this schedule a vast array of protected industries had come into 
 existence. vSuch industries had grown great and strong. Around them consolidated 
 corporations had been formed, having millions of money at their command and vast rami- 
 fications into political society. As a consequence, the revenues of the United States were 
 swollen to mountainous proportions. The treasury- at Washington became engorged, and 
 at length the necessity was developed of doing something in the nature of refonn. 
 
 The condition of affairs in the treasury — depending as it did upon the tariff system — 
 entailed two prodigious evils : The surplus ser\ed as a motive in Congress for all manner 
 of jobber)- and extravagant expenditure. In the second place, it enabled the combined 
 monopolies of the country- to uphold themselves by affecting National legislation in fiivor of 
 the protected industries and against the common interest of the people as a whole. The 
 situation was really a danger and constant menace. It was for this reason that President 
 Cleveland, as already noted, sent his celebrated annual message to Congress touching upon 
 the single question of the evils of the existing system, and asking that body to take such 
 steps as .should lead to a general refonn. 
 
 We have already seen how this question was uppermost in the Presidential contest of 
 1888. The Democratic platfonn boldly espoused the doctrine of tariff reform, but stopped
 
 768 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 short — out of an expedient deference to the manufacturing interests — of absolute free trade. 
 The Republican platform declared for a revision of the tarifiF system — such a revision as 
 might preserve the manufacturing interests, but favor those industries which seemed to be 
 disparaged. This clause of the platform proved to be wonderfully effective in the political 
 campaign. The event showed, however, that it was a shuffle. A very large part of the 
 Republicans understood by "revision of the tariff' such legislation as should reduce and 
 reform the existing system, not merely change it and adapt it to the interests of the pro- 
 tected classes. 
 
 With the opening of the Fifty-first Congress, it soon became apparent that "revision 
 of the tariff' ' was not to mean a reform by reduction and curtailments of the schedule, but 
 that the actual movement was in the other direction. Representative William McKinley, 
 of Ohio, chairman of the Committee on Wa>s and ]\Ieans, brought in a measure which 
 passed into history under the name of the McKinley Bill, and which, finally adopted by 
 the Republican majority, was incorporated as a part of the governmental system. The 
 policv of the bill was to abolish the existing duties on a few great articles of production, 
 particularh- raw sugar and the lower grades of refined sugar. By this means a vast reduc- 
 tion was secured in the aggregate revenues, notwithstanding the fact that the average rates 
 of import duties on manufactured articles in general was raised from about forty-seven per 
 cent, to more than fifty-three per cent. The McKinley Bill became, therefore, efficient by 
 adroitly drawing to its principles the sympathies of the protected classes, and at the same 
 time bv throwing free — and therefore cheap — sugar to the people, attracted not a little 
 popular sympathy. The contest over the measure was extreme in animosity, and the bill 
 was adopted only after great delay. 
 
 The sequel showed unusual results. The tariff legislation of the Fift>- -first Congress 
 was innnediately attacked by the Democratic and Independent press of the country-. 
 Opinion was oven,vlielmingly against it. The general elections of 1890 brought an 
 astonishing verdict of the people against the late enactments. There was a complete 
 political revulsion by which the Republican majority in the House of Representatives was 
 replaced bv a Democratic majority of nearly three to one. At a later period a second 
 reaction ensued som-^what favorable to the McKinley legislation, and the author of the 
 measures referred to .ucceeded in being chosen, in 1891, governor of Ohio, attaining his 
 position by a popular majorit)- of o^■e^ twenty thousand. 
 
 EXCITEMENT OVER THE RULINGS OF SPEAKER REED. 
 
 Another incident in the histor)' of the same Congress relates to the serious difficulty 
 which arose in the House of Representatives between the Democratic minority and the 
 speaker, Thomas B. Reed, of Maine. The Republican majority in the Fifty-first House 
 was not large, and the minority were easily able, in matters of party legislation, to break 
 the quorum by refusing to vote. In order to counteract this policy, a new system of rules 
 was reported, empowering the speaker to count the minority as present, whether voting or 
 not voting, and thus to compel a quorum. These rules were violently resisted b>- the 
 Democrats, and Speaker Reed was denounced by his opponents as an unjust and arbitrar>- 
 officer. He was nick-named in the jargon of the times "The Czar," because of his 
 rulings and strong-handed method of making the records of the House show a majorit\- 
 when no majority had actually voted on the pending questions. It was under the provision 
 of the new rule that nearly all of the party measures of the Fifty-first Congress were 
 adopted. 
 
 One of the most important of these acts was the attempt to pass through Congress a
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 769 
 
 measure bearing radicallv upon the election-system of the United States. A bill was 
 
 reported by which it was proposed virtually to transfer the control of the Congressional 
 
 elections in the States of the Union from State to National authority. It cannot be doubted 
 
 that the measure reached down to the fundamental principles of American political society. 
 
 The "Force Bill," as it was called, brought out the strongest passions of the da>. The 
 
 opposition was intense. The Republican party was by no means unanimous in support of 
 
 the measure. A large part of the thinking people of the United States, without respect to 
 
 political affiliation, doubted the expediency of this additional measure of centralization. 
 
 Certain it was that serious and great abuses e.xisted in the election systems of the 
 
 States. In many parts of the United States elections were not free. In parts of the 
 
 South the old animosities against the political equality of the black man were still 
 
 sufficiently vital to prevent the freedom of the ballot. Congressmen were many times 
 
 chosen by a small minority who, from their social and political superiority, were able to 
 
 baffle or intimidate the ignorant many at the polls. Such an abuse called loudly for a 
 
 reform, but the measure proposed doubtless contained within itself the potent genns of 
 
 abuses greater than those which it was sought to remove. The Elections Bill was for a 
 
 long time debated in Congress, and was then laid over indefinitely in such manner as to 
 
 prevent final action upon it. Certain Republican Senators who were opposed to the 
 
 measure and at the same time strongly wedded to the cause of the free-coinage of silver 
 
 money, joined their votes with the Democrats and the so-called "Force Bill" failed of 
 
 adoption. 
 
 THE SILVER QUESTION. 
 
 The third great measure of the Fifty-first Congress was the attempt to restore silver to 
 a perfect equality with gold in the coinage system of the United States. Since 1874 there 
 had been an increasing departure in the market values of gold and silver bullion, though 
 the purchasing power of the two money metals had been kept equal when the same were 
 coined under the provisions of legal tender. The purchasing power of gold bullion had 
 iti the last fifteen years risen about sixteen per cent., while the purchasing power of silver 
 bullion had fallen about four per cent, in the markets of the world, thus producing a differ- 
 ence of twenty per cent, or more in the purchasing power of the two metals in bullion. 
 One class of theorists, assuming that gold is the only standard of values, insisted that this 
 diflFerence in the purchasing power of the two raw metals had arisen wholly from a deprecia- 
 tion in the price of silver. This class included the monometalists — those who desire that 
 the monetary system of the United States shall be brought to the single standard of gold, 
 and that silver shall be made wholly subsidiary to the richer metal. To this class belonged 
 the fund-holding syndicates, and indeed all great creditors whose interest it is to have 
 the debts due them discharged in as costly a dollar as possible. As a matter of course, if a 
 debt be contracted on a basis of two metals, that fact gives to the debtor the valuable option 
 of paying in the cheaper of two coins. This valuable option the people of the United 
 States have enjoyed, greatly to their advantage and prosperity. The silver dollar has been 
 for precisely a hundred years (with tlie exception of the quadrennium extending from 1S74. 
 to 1878) the dollar of the law and the contract. It has never been altered or abridged to the 
 extent of a fraction of a grain from the establishment of our system of money in 1792. It 
 has, therefore, been, and continues to be, the lawfid and undoubted unit of all money and 
 account in the United States, ju.st as much, and even more, than the gold dollar with which 
 it is a.ssociated. If it be true, therefore, that there is a radical and irremediable departure 
 in the value of these two metals — if it be true that we have, as monometalists assert, an 
 49
 
 770 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 8o-cent dollar — it is clearly and demonstrably true that we also have a " long dollar," a 
 dollar worth more than par ^ a 120-cent dollar, which the creditor classes desire to have sub- 
 stituted for the dollar of the law and the contract. 
 
 The advocates of the free coinage of silver ha\e argued that the difference in the 
 iDullion values of the two money metals has arisen most largely from an increase in the pur- 
 chasing power of gold, and that equal legislation and equal favor shown to the two nionev 
 metals would bring them to par the one with the other, and keep them in that relation in 
 the markets of the world. It is claimed, with good reason, that the laws hitherto enacted 
 by Congress discriminating against silver and in favor of gold, were impolitic, unjust and 
 un-American. It was urged in the debates of 1889-90 that the free coinage of silver would 
 be of \-ast advantage to the financial interests of the countrj-. This view and argiiment, 
 however, w-ere strenuously opposed by the money centres and the credit-holding classes of 
 the United States, to whom the payment of all debts according to the highest standard of 
 value, that is in gold only, was a fundamental principle. 
 
 The debates for a while seemed likely to disrupt the existing political order. Suddenly 
 the United States Senate, by a combination of a large number of free-silver Republicans 
 with the great majority of Democrats, passed a bill for the absolute free coinage of silver, 
 and for the day it seemed that the measure had succeeded. The administration, however, 
 was strongly opposed to free coinage. The Senate bill was, therefore, adroitly arrested by 
 the management of Speaker Reed and the Wa)-s and Means Committee of the House. 
 Another bill, in the form of an amendment providing for the purchase (but not for the 
 coinage) of four million ounces of silver monthly by the treasury,- of the United States and 
 the payment therefor in silver certificates having the form and functions of money, was 
 passed by the House and finally accepted by the Senate. An expansion of the paper money 
 of the country was thus effected, while at the same tin:e the control of the silver bullion was 
 retained in the treasury under the management of those who were opposed to free coinage 
 and hopeful ultimately of at least effecting a compromise by which a more valuable silver 
 dollar may be substituted in the interest of the creditor classes in place of the standard 
 silver dollar which has borne the full legal tender quality since the foundation of the gov- 
 ernment. By tiie legislation just referred to, the ultimate decision of the silver question was 
 thrown over to another Congress, to constitxite a menace and terror to party discipline for 
 both the Democratic and Republican parties. 
 
 In addition to the admission of four new States, the Fifty-first Congress passed the 
 necessar\' acts for the organization of Idaho and Wyoming. These were destined to make 
 the forty-third and forty-fourth members of the Union. Idaho at the time of organization 
 contained a population of 84,385. W>"oming had a population of 60,705. The acts for 
 Statehood were passed for the two new commonwealths on the 3d and 10th of July, respec- 
 tively, in the year 1890. 
 
 THE ELEVENTH CENSUS, AND DEATH OF SHERIDAN. 
 
 In June of the same year was taken the eleventh decennial census of the United States. 
 Its results, so far as the same have been compiled, indicate that the aggregate population 
 of the countr^' has increased to 62,622,250, exclusive of Indians not taxed and whites in 
 Alaska and Indian Territor\-. These additions will doubtless increase the grand total to 
 about sixty-three million souls. The centre of population had continued its progress west- 
 ward, having removed dxiring the ninth decade from the vicinity of Cincinnati to a point 
 near the hamlet of Westport, in Decatur county, Indiana. 
 
 The period which is here before us was marked by the death of three other great leaders
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 771 
 
 of the Civil War. On the 5th of August, 1888, Lieuteiiant-General Sheridan, at that time 
 comniander-iu-chief of the American army, died at his home in Xonquitt, Massachusetts. 
 Few other generals of the Union anny had won greater admiration and higher honors. He 
 was in many senses a model soldier, and his death at the coniparati\ely early age of fifty- 
 seven was the occasion of great grief throughout the country. Still more conspicuous was 
 the fall of General William T. Sherman. Among the Union commanders in the great Civil 
 War he stood easily next to Grant in greatness and reputation. In vast and varied abilities, 
 particularly in military accomplishments, he was perhaps superior to all. It may well be 
 thought that he was more fortunate than any other — and wiser. After the war he steadily 
 refused to be other than a great soldier. No enticement, no blandishment, no fonn of 
 applause or persuasion, could induce him to exchange the laurels which he had won in the 
 immortal contest for the Union for any other fonn of chaplet or perishable wreath. Shennan 
 might have been President of the United States. It were not far from the truth to believe 
 that he was the only man in America who ever willingly put aside that glittering prize. 
 To have fallen into the hands of politicians, place-hunters, jobbers and connorants would 
 have been intolerable to that brusque, sturdy and truthful nature. With a clearer vision 
 even than the vision of Grant, he perceived that to be the unsullied great soldier of the 
 Union was to be better than an\- tiling made b>' men in caucus and convention. Bom 
 in 1820, he reached the mature age of seventy-one, and died at his home in New York 
 City on the 14th day of February-, 1891. The event produced a profound impression. The 
 General of the Union anny who had fought so many great battles and said so man\- great 
 things was at last silent in death. Of his sterling patriotism there had never been a doubt. 
 Of his prescience in war, of his learning, of his abilities as an author, there could be as little 
 skepticism. As to his wonderful faculties and achievements, all men were agreed. His 
 funeral became the man. He had provided for that also in advance. He had directed that 
 nothing other than a .soldier's burial should be reserved for him. His remains were taken 
 under escort from New York to St. Louis, where they were deposited in the family burn- 
 ing grounds, in Mount Calvar\- Cemeter}-. 
 
 After the death of General Sherman, only two commanders of the first class remained 
 on the stage of action from the great Civil War — both Confederates. These were General 
 Joseph E. Johnston and James Longstreet. The former of these two was destitied to follow 
 his rival and conqueror at an early day to the land of rest. General Johnston had been 
 an honoran.' pall-bearer at the funeral of Shennan, and contracted a heavy cold on that 
 occasion which resulted in his death on the 20th of February, 1891, at his home in Wash- 
 ington City. Strange fatality of human affairs that after twenty-five years he w^ho surren- 
 dered his sword to Sherman at Raleigh should have come home from the funeral of the 
 victor to die! General Johnston was in his eighty-third year at the time of his decease. 
 .\mong the Confederate commanders none were his superiors, with the single exception of 
 Lee. After the close of the war his conduct had been of a kind to win the confidence of 
 Union men, and at the time of his death he was licld in almost universal honor. 
 
 THE NEW ORLEANS RIOT. 
 
 It was at this time, namely, in February of 1.S91, that a serious event reaching upward 
 and outward, first into national and then into international proportions, occurred in the city 
 ■of New Orleans. There existed in that metropolis a branch of the secret social organization 
 among the Italians known by the European name of the Mafia Society. The principles of 
 the brotherhood involved mutual protection, and even the law of revenge against enemies. 
 Doubtless much of the spirit which had belonged to the Italian order of the Mafia had been
 
 772 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 transferred to America. At any rate, some of the features of the order were tm-American 
 in character, and some of the methods dangerous to the public and private peace. Several 
 breaks occurred between members of the society (not the society itself) and the police 
 authorities of the city; and the latter, by arrest and prosecution, incurred the dislike and 
 hatred of the former. The difficulty grew in animosity until at length Captain David C. 
 Hennessev, chief of the police of New Orleans, was assassinated by some secret murderer, 
 or murderers, who for the time escaped detection. It was believed, however, that the Mafia 
 Society was at the bottom of the assassination, and several of the members of the brother- 
 hood were arrested under the charge of murder. 
 
 A trial followed, and the circumstances tended to establish — but did Jiot establish — the 
 guilt of the prisoners. The proof was not positive — did not preclude a reasonable doubt 
 of the guilt of those on trial, and the first three of the Italian prisoners were acquitted. 
 The sequel was unfortunate in the last degree. A great excitement followed the decision 
 of the Court and jury, and charges were made and published that the jury had been bribed 
 or terrorized with threats into making a false verdict. These charges were never substan- 
 tiated, and were doubtless without authenticity. But on the day following the acquittal 
 of the Italians a public meeting, having its origin in mobocracy, was called, and a great 
 crowd, irresponsible and angr}', gathered around the statue of Henry Clay, in one of the 
 public squares of New Orleans. 
 
 Speeches were made. The authorities of the city, instead of attempting to check the 
 movement, stood off" and let it take its own course. A mob was at once organized and 
 directed against the jail, where the Italian prisoners were confined. The jail was entered 
 by force. The prisoners were driven from their cells, and nine of them were shot to death 
 in the jail vard. Two others were dragged forth and hanged. Nor can it be doubted that 
 the innocent as well as the guilty (if indeed any were guilty — as certainly none were guilty 
 according to law) suffered in the slaughter. 
 
 The event was followed by the greatest public excitement. Clearly murder and out- 
 rage had been done by the mob. It was soon proved that at least two of the murdered 
 Italians had been subjects of the Italian Kingdom; the rest were either naturalized Ameri- 
 cans or foreigners bearing papers of intention. The affair at once became of national, and 
 then of international, importance. The President of the United States called upon Gover- 
 nor Nicolls, of Louisiana, to give an account of the thing done in New Orleans, and its 
 justification. The governor replied with a connnunication in which it were hard to say 
 whether insolence or inconsequential apology for the actions of the mob was iippermost. 
 With this the excitement increased. The Italian Minister, Baron Fava, at Washington, 
 entered his solemn protest against the killing of his countrymen, and the American Secre- 
 tary of State entered into communication with King Humbert on the subject. 
 
 Italy was thoroughlv aroused. The Italian societies in various American cities passed 
 angrv resolutions against the destruction of their fellow-countrymen by the mob, and the 
 newspapers of the country teemed with discussions of the subject. There was unfortunately 
 a disposition on the part of America to play the bully. At times, threats of war were 
 freely made, and it appeared not impossible that the two countries would become unhappily 
 involved in a conflict. The more thoughtful, however, looked with confidence to the 
 settlement of the question by peaceable means. The Italian government presently recalled 
 Baron Fava from Washington, and during the remainder of the year, comnmnications 
 between the two governments were made only through the Italian Charge d' Affaires at 
 Washington. Gradually, however, the excitement subsided. Tlie American government
 
 COLl'MBUS AND COLUMBIA. 773 
 
 was fortunate in having as its representative at the Court of Ital\ the Honorable Albert G. 
 Porter, a man of calm temperament and deeply imbued with the sense of justice and right. 
 Bv the beginning of 1892 it had become certain tliat the unpleasant episode would pass 
 without further menace of war, and that the question involved in the difficult}- would be 
 justlv settled in course of lime b\- the equitable rules of diplomacy. 
 
 THE CHILIAN COMPLICATION. 
 
 The year 1891 was noted for a serious diOicully between the United States and the 
 Republic of Chili. The complication had its origin in the domestic affairs of that 
 republic, particularly in a revolution which, in the spring of the year named, began to 
 make headway against the existing government. At the head of that goveniment was 
 President Balmaceda, against whom the popular party in the Chilian Congress was 
 violenth- arrayed. The President was accused of seeking to influence the choice of his 
 own successor in the approaching election, but more especiall\- of retaining in office a 
 mini.strv out of harmony with the Congressional majorit}-. The latter point was the more 
 serious, and led at length to the assumption of dictatorial powers b>- the President. This 
 course seemed necessary in order to maintain himself in power and to uphold the existing 
 ministry. The popular party receded from Congress only to take up arms. This party 
 was known in the civil conflict that ensued as the Congressionalists, while the upholders of 
 the existing order were called Balmacedists. The latter had possession of the government; 
 but the fonner, outside of the great cities of Valparaiso and Santiago, were the most 
 powerful. 
 
 The insurrection against Balmaceda gathered head. A Congressional Junta was 
 formed, and a provisional government set up at the town of Iquiquc. Thus far the move- 
 ment had in no wise disturbed the relations of Chili with the United States. It is in the 
 nature of such revolutions that the insurgent party must acquire resources, gather arms, 
 and create all the other means of its existence, progress and success. The Chilians of the 
 Congressional faction found themselves in great need of arms, and would fain look to 
 some foreign nation for a supph'. In the emergencN' they managed to get possession of a 
 steamship called the Itata, belonging to the South American Steamship Company, and 
 sent her to the western coast of the United States to purchase arms. The steamer came 
 to the harbor of San Diego, California, and by the agenc)' of an intermediate vessel 
 managed to secure a large purchase of arms, and to get the same transferred to her own 
 deck. At this juncture, however, the government, gaining infonnation of the thing done, 
 ordered the detention of the Itata until her business and destination could be known. A 
 district attorney of the United States was sent on board the ship, which was ordered not 
 to leave the bay. In defiance of this order, however, the officers of the Ilata steamed out 
 by night and got to .sea. They put the officer of tlie United States in a boat, sent him 
 ashore, and disappeared over the Pacific horizon. 
 
 The announcement of the escape of the Itata led to vigorous action on the part of 
 the government. The United States war-ship Charleston was ordered out in pursuit from 
 the bay of San Francisco. The Itata, however, had three days the start, and it could 
 hardly be e.xpected that the Charleston would be able to overhaul the fugitive. The latter 
 made her way to one of the harbors of Chili, whither she was pursued by the Charleston. 
 But the matter had now come to protest made by the United States to the provisional 
 government of the Revolutionists, and the latter consented to the surrender of the Itata to 
 the authorities of our country. This was done, and the incident .seemed for the time to 
 have ended without serious con.sequences.
 
 774 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 After the affair of the //r?/« public opinion in Chili, particularly in the cities of Santiago 
 and Valparaiso, turned strongly against the United States. This is said of tlie sentiments 
 of the Congressional party. That party saw itself thwarted in its design and put at fault 
 by its failure to secure the wished-for supph- of arms, that failure having arisen through 
 the agency of our government. However correct the course of the United States may have 
 been, the Revolutionists must needs be angered at their disappointment, and it was natural 
 for them to look henceforth with distrust and dislike on the authorities of our countn'. 
 This dislike centred about the legation of the United States in Santiago. Hon. Patrick 
 Egan, the American Minister, became unpopular with the Congressionalists because of his 
 supposed favor to the Balmacedan government. That government still stood. It was 
 recognized b)- the President of the United States as the government both dejw-e and de facto 
 of Chili. Egan must therefore hold relations with Balmaceda and his Minister of Foreign 
 
 Affairs. He must con- 
 tinue to stand in with 
 the existing order until 
 some other order should 
 be established in its 
 stead. 
 A SERIOUS SITUATION. 
 It appears that our 
 Minister and our 
 government misappre- 
 hended the importance 
 and strength of the 
 Revel utionan- move- 
 ment. The Congi'es- 
 s i o n a 1 i s t s steadih' 
 gained ground. Per- 
 haps the revolution 
 which was progressing 
 could not be seen in 
 full magnitude from 
 
 the position occupied by our Minister at the Chilian capital. At all events, the Congressional 
 anny came on in full force, and soon pressed the government back to the limits of the capital 
 and the immediate vicinity of that city. Affairs drew to a crisis. A bloody battle was 
 fought at a place called Placilla, near Santiago. The Balmacedists gave way before the 
 storm. The battle of Placilla and a subsequent engagement still nearer to the capital went 
 against them. The insurgents burst victoriously into Santiago, and the revolution accom- 
 plished itself by the overthrow of the existing government. Everything went to wreck. 
 Both Santiago and Valparaiso were taken by the Revolutionan- party. The Balmacedists 
 were fugitives in all directions. The Dictator himself fled into hiding, and presently made 
 an end by committing suicide. 
 
 In such condition of affairs it was natural that the defeated partisans of the late gov- 
 ernment should take refuge in the legations of foreign nations at the capital. A Ministerial 
 legation is, under international law, an asylum for refugees. At this time the official resi- 
 dences of the foreign nations at Santiago, with the exception of that of Great Britain, were 
 all crowded more or less with fugitives flying thither for safety from the wrath of the suc- 
 
 CITV AND HARBOR OF VALPARAISO.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 775 
 
 ctssful Revolutionists. The attitude of Great Britain from the first had been favorable to 
 the Congressional part\-, and it was evident that that power would now stand in high favor 
 with the victors. 
 
 It chanced that the Minister of the United States was by birth an Irishman. He was 
 an Irish ag^itator and British refugee lately naturalized in America. Probably the antago- 
 nistic attitude of Great Britain and the United States at the Chilian capital was attributable 
 in Dart to the nativity and political principles of Egan. At all events the American Minis- 
 terial residence gave asylum to numbers of the defeated Balmacedists, and the triumphant 
 Revolutionists grew more and more hostile to our government and Minister because thev 
 could not get at those who were under his protection. This hostility led to the establish- 
 ment of a police guard and a force of detectives around tlie American legation. It seemed 
 at times that the place might be actually attacked and taken by the angr\' victors in the 
 recent revolution, .-^t length, however, under the protests of our government, the guards 
 were withdrawn and the legation was freed from surveillance. Relations began to grow 
 amicable once more, when the difficulties suddenly took another and more serious form. 
 MURDEROUS ASSAULT ON THE CREW OF THE BALTIMORE. 
 
 It happened at this tinit; that tlie war vessels of se\era] ualions visited the harbor of 
 Valparai.so, drawn thither by interest and for the sake of information or the business of the 
 respective nav-ies. Among the ships that came was the United States war-steamer Balti- 
 more. On the i6th of October, 1891, a hundred and .se^-enteen petty officers and men, 
 headed by Captain Schley, went on shore by permission, and in the usual ■^•ay went into 
 the city of \'alparaiso. Mo.st of them visited a quarter of the city not reputable in character. 
 It soon became apparent that the ill-informed enmity and malice of the lower classes were 
 strongly e.xcited at the appearance of the men and uniform of the United States on the 
 streets. With the approach of night, and with apparent pre-arrangement, a Chilian mob 
 rose upon the sailors and began an attack. The sailors retreated and attempted to regain 
 their ship; but the mob closed around them, throwing stones, and presently at closer quar- 
 ters using knives and clubs. Eighteen of the sailors were brutally stabbed and beaten, and 
 some died from their injuries. The remainder leaving the wounded behind them escaped 
 to the ship. 
 
 Intelligence of this event was at once communicated to the government of the United 
 States. The country was greatly e.xcited over the outrage, and preparations were begtni 
 for war. The navy department was ordered to prepare several vessels for the Chilian coast. 
 The great war-ship Oregon and two others were equipped, manned and directed to the 
 Pacific shores of South America. The President immediately directed the American 
 Minister at Santiago to demand explanation, apolog\', and reparation for the insult and 
 crime committed against tlie government of the United States. The Chilian authorities 
 began to temporize with the situation. A tedious investigation of the riot was undertaken 
 in the courts of Santiago, resulting in an inconsequential verdict. 
 
 Meanwhile, Senor M. ,\. Malta, Chilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, added fuel to the 
 flame by transmitting an offensive comnninication to Senor Pedro Montt, representative of 
 the Chilian government at Washington, in which he reflected on the President of the 
 United States, accused our government of falsehood, attacked Egan, and ended by instruct- 
 ing Montt AW/V t/ir coiilcuts o/' llic note he knmcn ! This was .soon followed l>\' another 
 communication from Senor Matta, demanding the recall i)f Patrick Egan from the Chilian 
 capital,' as persona non grata to the govermnent. Hut he failed to s]K"cif\' the particulai 
 qualities or acts in the .-Xnurican Minister which made him unaccei^table.
 
 DECORATION DAY — THE TRIBUTE THAT PEACE PAYS TO THE MEMORY OF THE BLUE AND THE GRAY. 
 (776)
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 777 
 
 The publication of these two notes brou<jht matters to a crisis. The President, through 
 the proper authorities, demanded that the offensive note of Malta be withdrawn ; that the 
 demand for the recall of Egan be reconsidered, and that reparation for the insults and 
 wrongs done to the crew of the Baltii)unr be repaired with ample apolog)' and .salute to the 
 American flag by the Chilian government. Answers to these demands were again delayed, 
 and on the 25th of January, 1892, the President sent an elaborate message to Congress, 
 laving before that body an account of the difficulties, and reconnnending such action as 
 might be deemed necessary to uphold the honor of the United States. For a single day it 
 looked like war. 
 
 Scarcelv, however, iiad the President's message been delivered to Congress when the 
 Chilian government, receding from its high-toned manner of offense and arrogance, sent, 
 through its Minister of Foreign Affairs, a paper of full apolog>' for the wrongs done, and 
 offering to submit the affair of the Balliniorc to arbitration of some friendly power. The 
 offensive note of Senor Matta was uncoudilionally withdrawn. The demand for the removal 
 of Egan was recalled, and indeed all reasonable points in the contention of the President 
 freely and fully conceded. The crisis broke with the knowledge that the apolog}- of Chili 
 had been received, and like the recent difficulty with Italy over the New Orleans massacre, 
 the imbroglio passed without further alann or portent of war. 
 
 The Histor>- of Our Conntr\- has tlius been recited from its discovery- by the adventurers 
 at the close of the fifteenth centurv- down to the beginning of the Columbian Year 1892. 
 The Quadri-centenni.'VL Story is complete ! The four centuries of time through which 
 we have passed since the unveiling of the continent have brought us the experience of the 
 ages, and let us hope the wisdom and virtues of the greatest nations of the earth. Our 
 republic has passed through stormy times, but has come at last, in full splendor and with 
 uplifted banners to the dawn of the great anniversar>- which is to connnemorate the discovery 
 of the New World. As a united Nation, we are already well advanced into the second 
 centurv of our existence. Peace and tranquillity are abroad. Clouds of distru.st and war 
 have sunk behind the horizon. Here at least the equality of all men in rights and privi- 
 leges before the law has been written with an iron pen in the Constitution of our country. 
 The Union of the States has been con.secrated anew within our memories by the blood of 
 patriots and the tears of the lowly. Best of all, the temple of Freedom reared by our 
 patriot Fathers still stands in undiminished glor>-. The P.ast \i.\s taught its Lesson, 
 THE Present h.\s its Duty, and the Future its Hope.
 
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 PART IV. 
 
 BY Hon. Benj. Bcjttekworth.
 
 3 
 
 c
 
 Scope and Purpose of the W^i'ld's ^a'w. 
 
 By Hon. Benjamin Butterworth. 
 
 WORLD'S COLUMBIAN 
 EXPOSITION was author-- 
 ized by Act of Congress, 
 
 approved April 25, 1890, to celebrate the four hundredth anniversar>' 
 of the discover)- of America by Christopher Columbus. 
 
 The grounds and buildings will be dedicated on the i 2th day of 
 October, 1892, the anniversary of the discover)-. 
 
 The gates will be opened to visitors on the ist of May, 1893, and the Exhibition will 
 close on the 30th day of October following. 
 
 In scope and plan it will be more elaborate, and in architectural design and bcaut\- or 
 ornamentation it will far surpa.ss any previous exhibition. 
 
 The cost of preparation will exceed $25,000,000. Everything from the inception to 
 the close of the international enterprise will be on a scale commensurate with the resources 
 and greatness of the Nation, and characteristic of the intelligence and aggressive energy of 
 its people. 
 
 Every nation and all peoples have been invited by the < ".oviriuiieiil of the United States 
 to participate. Fifty-nine nations have accepted the invitiition, and each will be represented 
 in a manner suitably illustrating the resources, indn.stries and customs of its people, and indi- 
 cating the progress made by them in civilization.
 
 782 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 Fifty States and Territories of the National Union will also take part. 
 
 The several Executive Departments — State, War, Nav}-, Treasur}-, Justice, Interior, 
 Post Ofi&ce, Agriculture, and the Smithsonian Institute, National Museum and Bureau of 
 Fish and Fisheries will make exhibits showing the functions of the National Government 
 and illustrating scientifically its resources. 
 
 Conservative estimates place the number of admissions to the grounds at thirty-five 
 millions. 
 
 The foregoing infonnation has been published in every civilized tongue and read in 
 every corner of the world. 
 
 Great industrial expositions are a development of the present centur}-, indeed of the last 
 half century. They were possible onlj- after peace had become the prevailing condition 
 among nations. They are another evidence that all nations are made of one blood, that the 
 same laws are made for all, that each has an important influence upon others ; that those 
 who dwell upon all the face of the earth have vast interests in common, and that this com- 
 
 munit}' of interests becomes 
 
 ■*^^^ most obvious in those things 
 
 ^\ that are visible and tangible. 
 
 mm ^ 
 
 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. 
 
 The Columbian Exposi- 
 J tion will siirpass all others in 
 £ its extent and completeness. 
 i The array of buildings will 
 \ not be more remarkable for 
 ,; number and size than for the 
 variety of architectural de- 
 signs, illustrating every phase 
 i of that art which, first of all 
 arts, was devised to minister 
 to the comfort and protection 
 of man. 
 
 The exhibition of 
 machiner}- will include ever>' 
 invention for increasing the efficiency of human labor, from the crude beginning to the 
 finely wrought and perfectly adjusted structures which perform their complicated task with 
 an accuracy and perfection that suggests, almost irresistibly, an intelligent and sleepless will. 
 Works of art, from all countries, the product of the masters of painting and sculpture, 
 will be exhibited, that visitors may have whatever advantage there may be in studying 
 beautv' of fonn and coloring. 
 
 The productions of all countries, whether grown from the earth, or produced by hand- 
 craft, or by machinery, will be displayed to give an intelligent apprehension of the condi- 
 tion of every people, as shown by the kind and degree of skill and invention. 
 
 The Exposition will be a little world, comprising within the area of a few hundred 
 acres along the front of the great lake all that can be collected of the results of skill and 
 science and industry- which the world has to show in the closing decade of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 Every reader will naturally ask — What is the mission of the World's Columbian Expo- 
 sition ? What advantage to the nations participating? Is there anything beyond a vast 
 display of the work of men's hands? Anything higher than to excite wonder and gratify
 
 COLUMBUS AND CULl'.MBIA. 
 
 783 
 
 curiosity, by an unparalleled exhibition of the material resnlts of skill and industry? 
 It is the purpose of this volume to answer these inquiries, to point out without wearisome 
 elaboration, the grandeur of the opportunity presented by the World's Columbian Exposition, 
 to make clear its relation to the progress of civilization and the elevation of man. It is 
 hoped that the reader may be satisfied, that if rightl\- improved, in far reaching influence 
 for good, it will be one of the glories of the nineteenth centur\ . 
 
 The exhibit made by our own government will be an education to millions of spectators. 
 Our National Government is so much removed from the daily life and the homes of the 
 people that they are in danger of underrating the vast interests committed to its keeping. 
 It scarcely reminds the citizens of its existence, except by an occasional tax-gatherer and 
 the universal ministry of the mail ser\-ice. 
 
 In the Columbian Exposition the people will have a.i opportunity, never before equalled, 
 to examine the proofs, not only of the power of their government, but of the range and 
 variety of works which it performs, for the benefit of the people. 
 
 Such an object lesson cannot fail to increase the feeling of respect and satisfaction 
 with which our citizens re- 
 gard their government, 
 which they uphold and 
 which in turn benefits and 
 protects them. 
 
 It must not be supposed 
 that the enterprise is re- 
 stricted to the realm of 
 material things — to 
 machines and devices, which 
 are the conceptions of 
 genius, fashioned by artisans 
 and workmen. There is 
 another side to this great 
 exhibition. The curtain 
 will rise upon another 
 scene, if not as imposing to 
 
 the senses, yet not less interesting and instnictive. This feature relates to the domain 
 of the mind, the province of the intellect. It will deal with moral, social and religious 
 themes, consider the helps and hindrances to progress. It will attempt to sur\-ey every 
 region of intellectual and moral activity. This department, for want of a better 
 name, is called '* The World's Congresses," which will hold their sessions from the 
 opening to the close of the Exposition. They will consider and deal with " not things, 
 but men,"" "mind not matter." The ablest thinkers, the best writers, the most in- 
 telligent obserx'ers and workers of the age will meet to discnss those intricate and per- 
 plexing social, moral, political and economic questions, upon a right .■solution of which 
 alone nations must depend to secure real prosperity — that degree of comfort and content- 
 ment, which is indispensable to peace and advancement. The achievements of civilization, 
 its treasures and wealth, are not for the advantage of a few. Hut how the many shall share 
 its benefits and enjoy its advantages is one of the problems of our time. How other and 
 additional means may be discovered and applied so a.s to multiply the facilities for securing 
 in a satisfactorv degree the comforts to which all deem themselves entitled, is another of the 
 
 i;(j\i;rn.mknt uni.niNC.
 
 784 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 vexed problems. How the burdens of life shall be equitably distributed among the burden- 
 bearers, and how the reward justh" due to those who worthily endure shall be secured to 
 them, is still another. How justice shall come without violence, and peace remain, though 
 equity may not be fully secured, is yet to be learned. 
 
 The author, apprehending the importance of an early and wise solution of the social 
 and economic problems that confront us, will endeavor to point out how this International 
 Exposition may be utilized to change fruitless discontent into prosperous effort, and show 
 that intelligent energy may overcome even unfriendly conditions. 
 
 It has become an axiom that an intelligent study of the past is the best light for future 
 guidance, but a comprehensive knowledge of the present is not less essential. 
 
 To-dav should inspire the hope of to-morrow, but to-da}- must be understood. Never- 
 theless, knowledge of itself is of little value. Alone it rather tends to self-conceit and 
 complacent indolence. Knowledge and wisdom are too often separated. We acquire 
 knowledge by seeing and hearing; we become wise, if at all, by investigation, by patient 
 study and serious meditation. 
 
 Knowledge is from without, and requires only industry and a retentive memory. 
 
 \\^isdom is from within, and 
 manifests itself in the just 
 and effective application of 
 knowledge to beneficent 
 uses. 
 
 The functions of a 
 material civilization are to 
 provide for existing wants ; 
 to create new wants and 
 supph' them. To do this 
 involves the invention and 
 discover)' of means to make 
 labor more efficient, to get 
 the best results from every 
 effort, to learn the best and 
 all the uses of w'hicli the 
 materials at hand are capable 
 to bring to light the hidden forces of nature, and make them ser\'ants, obedient to our will. 
 Among its higher aims are the means to disseminate knowledge, to secure to every 
 man under government the enjoyment of the right to eat the bread his own hands have 
 earned, and to compel him, if need be, to obser\'e his obligations toothers; to throw open 
 wide the door of opportunitj', and yet draw the line between liberb,', which is govern- 
 ment of just laws equally administered, and license, which overthrows laws and makes liberty 
 impossible. 
 
 It aims to demonstrate that anarchy is not an aid to equality, that there is no deserved 
 success without labor, nor pennanent prosperity without economy, and that all effects are 
 the result of definite causes whether known or unknown. 
 
 These high themes will be patiently discussed by men who bring long study and 
 obser\'ation, and ripe experience, to guide their daily conclusions. No more fitting place 
 or time could be chosen for these daily discussions, than the one selected, when hundreds of 
 thousands of people from every part of the country, are witnessing the vast material 
 
 FISH .\.MJ 1 L->iIl.KIl.b BLILDINl,.
 
 COLUMRrS AXI) COLl'MBIA. 
 
 785 
 
 triumphs of the present centur)-, and where the world of modern enterprise, and skill and 
 crushin.ij energ;>% is condensed around them. 
 
 Nothing is more diiRcult tlian to predict, with an\- approach to accuracy, the influence 
 of an\- event. Historj- is strewn with illustrations of endless and limitless consequences 
 from causes trivial in themselves, almost unnoticed, not even considered. 
 
 The entreaties of his hungr\- and weary child turned Columbus, discouraged and 
 dispirited, with his face set toward other lands, to the hospitable door of a monaster)', where 
 the good Friar, who had been the Oueen's Confessor, became his champion and obtained 
 for him audience and favor with Isabella. 
 
 A flight of birds turned the great navigator from his due west course, to discover land 
 among the West India Islands, instead of landing on our Carolina shores. This trivial 
 accident decided that Spanish civilization should work its destiny in Central and South 
 America, and that the Saxon should possess the great northern continent. 
 
 A plodding, prosaic Gennan mechanic cuts letters in wood and slowly transfers them to 
 paper. But from this arose 
 the invention of printing, 
 and the achievement of the 
 greatest revolution of the 
 world. 
 
 The studies and speech 
 of an obscure monk call in 
 question the wisdom of exist- 
 ing institutions and teach- 
 ings, and for more than a 
 centur\', politics, diplomacy, 
 statecraft and war are con- 
 trolled and directed by the 
 sentiments and influences 
 wliich he has evoked. 
 
 \ bark laden with a building ok manufactures and liberal arts. 
 
 handful of exiles lands upon a desolate shore in mid-winter, but the\- bring with them Law 
 and reverence for law, a church and a state of perfect equality, where all are both teachers 
 and taught, rulers and governed, and a vast empire of freedom and law rises up and calls 
 their memor\- blessed. 
 
 The writer, in a recent visit to all the capitals of Europe, was required to confer 
 with those who control nations. Ever^-where he found a lively interest in the great Exposi- 
 tion. This interest was not confined to its material aspects, to inventions and machiner\-, 
 and their products. It looked farther to the great meeting of nations where the experience 
 of one may become the instruction and help of all, where observation and discussion may 
 become influential in solving the intricate social and economic problems which confront 
 every nation. 
 
 It is not expected that a day or a month or a year will witness radical changes. These 
 can only be made suddenly through war and revolution, the earthquake and tornado of the 
 social and political world, working their startling changes through .suflering and death, 
 through waste and desolation. But it is not an unreasonable expectation that, as ever\' 
 exposition has left enduring results for good, so this one, commemorating the most note- 
 worthy enterprise of all the ages, endowed and patronized by the Great Republic and everv- 
 50
 
 786 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 
 
 one of its States, and by all nations, will leave a wider and deeper inflnence than all its 
 predecessors. 
 
 No better evidence can be aflForded that this expectation is general and well settled, 
 than the appearance of this volnme. It is not a cheap and transient publication. It carries 
 full proof of the confidence and liberalit>- of the publishers, and the industry and learning 
 of its authors. 
 
 That men of life-long study and established fame as writers of history should turn aside 
 from the adventures of heroes, from the tumult of nations, to the quiet stor}- of a triumph 
 of peace, is significant that men take increasing interest in the ways and methods which 
 lead to improvement without violence. 
 
 It is a work of permanent value. It is at once a biography of one of most famous 
 men, a history of the United States, a history of those great peaceful meetings of nations 
 which have crowned the centur}- of peace, ending with the account of the last and greatest 
 of them all. It possesses all the requisites of valuable and instructive history- — themes of 
 perennial interest, and experience, study and consummate literar,' skill in their treatment. 
 
 A great writer long since said, " Happy is that nation whose annals are tiresome." 
 In all the past, men have turned awa>- from the stor>- of peace, to the stirring record of 
 bloodshed and revolution and all the blazonry of war. This volume is a happy evidence of 
 the near approach of the better time, when the annals of peace will be no longer tiresome.
 
 The World's F^^ir ^t Chicago. 
 
 By J. W. Butrl. 
 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A HISTORY OF ANCIENT FESTIVALS. 
 
 CULMINATION of American history, the at- 
 tainment of that lofty goal of pure democratic 
 government which has been gained by per- 
 sistent climbing up the long winding way of 
 progress; the ascent to the elevated plateau 
 of human freedom from which the metes and 
 bounds of the world's civilizations may be 
 sur\'eyed and contrasted, stand as the resplen- 
 dent results achieved in the New World four 
 lumdred years after its discover^-. 
 
 Self-gratulation is not only pardonable 
 but patriotic when our jubilation partakes of 
 national pride, and we accordingly celebrate our accomplisliments 
 not only with hosannas of exultation, and pay ourselves the tribute of 
 a triumphant applause, but invite all nations to bring examples of the 
 fruits of their success and display tliem in a peaceful rivalr\- with our own. 
 
 Like our republican institutions, which have flourished and flowered here into unex- 
 ampled perfection, so our Columbian Exposition must endure as a monument no less charac- 
 teristic of the sovereignty of American manhood in the glorj- of its proudest achievement. 
 Like the gradual fulfilment of our destiny — the full perfonnance of which lies hidden in 
 the dim perspective of the future — the idea of a national celebration, conceived at a time as 
 ancient as civilization itself, has grown by the accretion of experience and the cultivation 
 of that ambition which seeks the highest happiness in the peaceful prosperity of our nation, 
 and the endurance of a government built upon the finnest foundation of individual rights 
 and universal freedom. 
 
 It is not more interesting to note the development of democracy from its crude 
 incipiency, when Clisthenes, at Athens, 500 B. C, began tlie experiment, than it is to follow 
 the slow evolution of commercial growth, observing as we must that political and civil 
 progress keeps pace with the mifolding of enlightenment, as well as with the exigencies of 
 condition and environment. Originally man was at peace, because ambition was not a 
 coincident of his birth; but the increase of families created the necessity for some form of 
 
 (787)
 
 788 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 government, and as this called for the establishnient of a central authority, elevation to 
 supremacv begat ambition, which in turn became father to the attendant evils of greed, 
 avarice and injustice. Out of these strife arose as a natural consequence, and war was the 
 result. But in turn the evil thus accentuated in human nature became father to religious 
 instinct, for evil must have its opposing counterpart ; thus, in the absence of human power 
 to punish wrong, appeal was most naturally made to an omnipotence from whom all 
 power is received; while reverence and propitiation to this unseen but mighty protector 
 became the reliance that developed into religion. 
 
 Religion therefore reinstituted the rule of peace, which though failing to turn the 
 mind of man wholly from the pursuits of war and mad ambition, yet measurably abated 
 his savagery and, by gradually refining, finally directed him in the use of the higher gifts 
 which God has bestowed. Thus the warrior became the artisan and the agriculturist, who 
 found prosperity and peace in cultivating the soil, which quickened his conscience to an 
 appreciation of the manifold blessings that descend in the rain, are poured out by the sun, 
 and spring up in golden fruitage from the earth to reward his toil. 
 
 EARLIEST FORMS OF FESTIVAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 The three phases through which the earlier civilizations passed were each in turn cele- 
 brated by some form of tribal or national thanksgiving, and this manifestation of gratitude, 
 as well as expression of self-felicitation, was encouraged by the institution of particular 
 forms of celebration, and the designation of certain days, or seasons, for their observance. 
 
 The first exhibition of man's acknowledgment to the spiritual influence that con- 
 trolls his destiny was in the nature of propitiatory feasts, developing into festivals as his 
 reverent attachments and religious propensities advanced towards orderly, or prescribed 
 ceremonials. Thus the primary form was reverence for the dead, or a mixture of ghost 
 worship and sacrifice, which being often repeated became constantly elaborated at intervals 
 until it grew into public observance. Having thus become a recognized fonn in the social 
 government, a calendar regulating the times of such ceremonies was a necessity, and a 
 computation was naturally suggested by the moon's phases. But as the mind of man is 
 ever expanding and leading him to higher conceptions, the lunar reckoning was directly 
 combined with the solar, so that to the lunar feasts there were added seasonal festivals, cor- 
 responding to the four periods which distinctively mark the year. Among the most barbaric 
 tribes there is seen the practice of friends and relatives laying offerings of food and drink 
 upon the graves of their dead at the opening of each month; again, among the semi- 
 civilized we observe the custom of strewing graves of relatives with fruits and flowers in 
 their season, obser\'ances which have existed longer than the records of history- describe. 
 Among the ancient Peruvians, Prescott tells us, it was a custom to earn,- the embalmed 
 bodies of their Incas to a public square of their capital, and at the autumnal festival offer 
 to them a part of the fruits of the har\'est. In this celebration we have a mixing of the 
 religious with the commercial, or a propitiation of the spirit, combined with a worship of 
 the powers of nature. 
 
 The ancient Eg>'ptians carried their celebrations, and oblations to the dead, to an 
 extraordinary extreme, for they appointed twelve festivals for each month, and three princi- 
 pal festivals for the year. Besides these days of offerings, there was a great feast day 
 observed as a special honor to the god of the Nile, at which a maiden was sacrificed as a 
 propitiation, as well as a thank offering, for the benefactions the god conferred b>- raising 
 the waters and fructifving the vallev. The victim thus consecrated to the Nilotic divinity
 
 bACKII'ICU OK A VIRGIN lO THE GOD XJV THK NILK. 
 
 (789)
 
 790 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 was chosen from among the fairest and purest of Eg\"ptian \irgins, and on the day of sacri- 
 fice was garlanded with flowers and adorned with rich raiment and jewels. Thus prepared, 
 amid songs of praise she was committed to the rising water, bound to a raft which could 
 not support her weight, or being stationary, as the river rose she was gradually overwhelmed. 
 
 FAIRS OF FARTHER INDIA, MEXICO AND PERU. 
 
 The most ancient literatures of the world, such as the Rig-\'eda, record recurrent or 
 seasonal festivals, in which sacrifices were offered; and similar obser\-ances were common 
 among the Phoenicians, who added to the practice of offering some simple sacrifice, which 
 obtained in ancient India, the immolation of human victims. Customs that were almost 
 identical with these were prevalent in China and Japan, differing only in respect to their 
 commercial import, for among these latter people superstition was made largely subordinate 
 to their material interests, so that their national festivals had somewhat the character of 
 a fair. 
 
 It is interesting, because very- curious, to know that the ancient Mexicans, or rather 
 the Aztecs, held calendar festivals which were almost a counterpart of those which the 
 oldest Chinese records describe; so nearh- identical, indeed, as to give rise to the belief, 
 expressed by many investigators, that the idea of holding such celebrations originated with 
 one people and was by them communicated to other nations. This theory,- pre-supposes 
 inter-continental intercourse and navigation of the high seas at a period of remote anti- 
 quity, yet even before this question not a few theorists continue to urge the belief. When 
 Cortez invaded Mexico, among mam' other surprising things which he witnessed, attesting 
 a high degree of civilization among the Mexicans, were such fairs as might well compare 
 with those that had been held at Salamanca and Granada. ■ 
 
 But centuries before the Spanish invasion the Aztecs held at inter\-als, sometimes 
 measured b\- the seasons, and at others b>' years, fairs of more or less importance. The 
 attendance was usually from 40,000 to 50,000 persons, but on special occasions, correspond- 
 ing somewhat to our National expositions, the number of visitors exceeded 100,000. These 
 annual fairs, too, were institutions well supported, particularly by the agricultural popu- 
 lation, for tilling the soil was the chief occupation. Prescottthus describes the management: 
 
 '• Officers patrolled the square, whose business it was to keep the peace, to collect the 
 dues imposed on the various kinds of merchandise, to see that no false measures or fraiid 
 of any kind were used, and to bring offenders at once to justice. A court of twelve judges 
 sat at one part of the tiangiiez (a building at the end of the court) clothed with those ample 
 and summarv powers which, in despotic countries, are often delegated even to petty 
 tribunals. The extreme severity' with which they exercised those powers proves that they 
 were not a dead letter." 
 
 EXHIBITIONS AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 When we come to consider the evolution of the Fair among the nations that exhibited 
 the highest civilization in the early periods of history, we find that from the religious 
 festival, associated with ancestor worship as it originally was, there developed what were 
 called games, or athletic contests, which brought together, on well advertised occasions, 
 contestants from widely separated districts, and their rivalries were exhibited before e.xcited 
 multitudes, among whom royalty was not ashamed to be seen. 
 
 We have from Homer allusions, amounting at times to descriptions, of the x&ry ancient 
 and cnide Greek festivals, which had grown so great in public estimation in the time of 
 Hesiod, some 900 years B. C, that they were fully developed into national celebrations,
 
 (791)
 
 792 COLU.MBUS AND COLU:\IBIA. 
 
 though held at infreqiieut intervals. But this forui of observance increased in favor until 
 the time of Strabo, about 60 years B. C, when the Greek holidays exceeded in number the 
 working days. Many of these, indeed a considerable majority, were what may be called 
 nature-festivals, associated as they were with the seasonal phenomena, but not a few were 
 commemorative of historical events, and these developed into the Olympian, Pvthian, 
 Xemean and Isthmian games. 
 
 Among the Romans the e^'olution of public festivities was equally marked as among 
 the Greeks. From simple observ-ances, confined to families on occasions of mourning, 
 which strange enough took the form of festival, the custom grew until national celebrations, 
 religious -and secular, were the result. They at length became fixed by imperial proclama- 
 tion, and were finallj' become so numerous that Marcus Antonius found it necessary-, for the 
 public benefit, to reduce the number of holidays, even at the risk of ofiending some in 
 whose honors the festivals thus interdicted had been instituted. 
 
 The Jewish Feasts, many of which still sur\-ive, were nearly all borrowed from the 
 Egyptians and applied to the commemoration of events which had a doubtful existence. 
 The Sabbath probably took its observance from the lunar periods, while the Feast of the 
 Passover and of Tabernacles are a continuation of the ver^- ancient Egj'ptian celebrations 
 of the vernal and autmnnal equinoxes. 
 
 THE OLYMPIAN GAMES. 
 
 But the most pronounced advance, a distinct epoch in the process of festival evolution, 
 is found in the inauguration of the Olympian games, as successor to the more quiet observ- 
 ances that distinguished the earlier periods of Greek national life. The first mention of 
 games as a form of Hellenic festivity is found in the Iliad, describing the funereal cere- 
 monies that followed the death of Patroclus. The exhibitions therein given are a testimony 
 to the belief entertained, by Greek and Roman alike, that the dead are gratified by such 
 displavs as afford pleasure in life. It was this belief that gave creation to the chariot race 
 and athletic competitions in archery, boxing, wrestling, running, jumping, fencing, etc. 
 For in the earl 3^ ages men's chief aspirations centred about feats of arms ; nations like 
 Rome and Greece literally lived by the sword, and to be a mighty warrior was, therefore, 
 the loftiest ambition that a man could entertain. The games were celebrated near some 
 consecrated place, and were invariably connected bj- some mythical storj- with a heroized 
 warrior or a local deity. 
 
 The Olympian games were probably instituted by the Eleians and Pisans about 800 
 years B. C, and their celebration continued uninterruptedly until a decree of Theodosius 
 abolished them about 380 B. C. 
 
 A more exciting spectacle was never witnessed than these national celebrations offered. 
 They were in their general aspects a national exposition of human skill and endurance, 
 since the lists were opened to all blameless Greeks who chose to compete for honors. Every 
 four years the exhibition took place and lasted at first throtigh one da}-, but were afterwards 
 extended to five days. Preparatoiy to the opening of the festival, heralds were despatched 
 throughout Greece and her dependencies proclaiming a tnice. Instantly war's harsh clamor 
 was hushed ; tents were folded and all field operations became suspended even in the face of 
 an enemy, and everv step of the Greek patriot was bent towards Olympia, the cit>' sacred 
 to his gods, where the rich plain of Elis spread out like a banquet table laden with the 
 fruits of exuberant nature. So strong was the Greek's attachment, nay reverence, for the 
 institution, and so religiously did he observe the mouth as sacred to peace, that even the
 
 BCOKXlUiU^'" 
 
 (7qO
 
 794 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 nation's peril was insufficient to induce him to violate the sanctity of the holy davs bv going 
 out to meet an enemy. 
 
 EXCITING AND DANGEROUS SPORTS OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 The games were contested upon a plain in which an amphitheatre was constructed 
 capable of accommodating 100,000 people. At one end, next to an olive grove, were ten 
 tents, the quarters of as many judges, representatives of the ten Eleian tribes. Near these 
 tents was the Altis gymnasium, in which contestants trained for ten months preceding the 
 opening of the games. On the morning of the day on which the exhibition began a train 
 of sacred deputies, clad in their robes of office, arrived at the enti^ance in rich carriages of 
 state, bearing their offerings to the god Zeus, in whose honor the games were instituted. 
 The contestants followed and presented themselves before the judges, to whom they proffered 
 the proofs of their pure Hellenic descent and spotless character, and qualified themselves 
 further by swearing they would honorably engage their adversaries, without emploj'ing any 
 unjust advantage. Having thus fulfilled the conditions of entrance, the athletes repaired to 
 the opposite end of the stadium, where they stripped to the skin and anointed their bodies 
 with oil. 
 
 The games were not always the same, for originally, and until the 77th Olympiad, 
 foot-racing was the only contest, but subsequently the list was increased imtil, as Pausanius 
 relates, there were twenty-four, and in the 23d Olympiad chariot racing was introduced. 
 For this purpose a hippodrome was established covering a distance of 1200 feet in length 
 by 400 feet in breadth, the circuit of which had to be traversed twelve times. At one end 
 of the course was a stone pillar called the goal, the turning of which was attended with 
 such extreme peril that even the horses, as they swept around it in maddened pace shrank 
 with terror, and thus increased the danger of upsetting the chariot. 
 
 But notwithstanding the hazard, so great were the honors conferred upon the victor, 
 that even kings entered the arena and strove ^•aliantly to win the glor>' from the plebeian 
 contestants. In the time of Homer prizes of intrinsic value were given, but after the 6th 
 Olympiad the rewards consisted of nothing more than a garland of wild olive. But there 
 was said to be magic properties in such a crown, prepared as it was from branches cut with 
 a golden sickle from a tree held sacred to Hercules. The wild olive was believed to have 
 been brought to Greece, as Pindar relates, "from the dark fountains of Ister in the land of 
 the Hyperboreans, to be a shelter common to all men, and a crown for noble deeds." To 
 this belief concerning its introduction was naturally added faith in its potent virtues to 
 render the wearer valorous, skilful and graceful, three attributes that were esteemed above 
 all the other accomplishments that man could possess. 
 
 WOMEN AT THE GAMES.— REWARDS TO THE VICTOR. 
 
 Another feature prominent in these exhibitions of athletic skill, strength and master}-, 
 is observed in the conditions which regulated the attendance. No matron, whether married 
 or widowed, was permitted to witness the games, and violation of the prohibition was pi;n- 
 ishable under the law by death. But while matrons were rigorously excluded, marriageable 
 girls, between the ages of fifteen and twenty, were specially encouraged to witness the games, 
 though it is hardly probable that anything more than permission was necessary- to secure 
 their attendance. The object of thus inviting young ladies to the contests is not difficult 
 to surmise, since their presence has never failed, in any age of the world, to stimulate to 
 their utmost exertion men who engage in a public exhibition of their strength, skill and 
 courag-e.
 
 COLUMHUS AND COLUMHIA. 795 
 
 The victor of these contests, while receivinjij no intrinsic rewards from llie state, was 
 nevertheless remembered with costly srjfts fn)ni friends, in addition to the unexampled 
 honors which the government conferred upon him. When .the victory was gained a trumpet 
 blast was the signal, after which a herald announced the successful contestant's name, 
 parentage and place of nativity. The president of the council of judges then crowned him 
 and placed a palm branch in his hand. The victor, amid a deafening applause of the nml- 
 titude, next proceeded to the temple of Zeus, walking upon banks of flowers strewn in his 
 way, and picking up costly gifts that were thrown before him by his admirers. Gaining 
 the temple, songs in which his name was often repeated were sung, and having entered his 
 name in the record kept for the purpose, he became canonized in the Greek Calendar. 
 
 But the honors accorded the victor at Olyrapia were only a precursor of others more 
 ■substantial to be bestowed upon him after his return home. In many cases princely 
 pensions were granted by the town which had the glory of being his birthplace. Poets 
 sang his praise, sculptors embalmed him in marble, altars were built, and sacrifices offered 
 to him thereon as a god. 
 
 Xo emperor, in all the magnificence of his royal estates, and the unlimited extent of 
 his power among' men, any more than the triumphant general retuniing with his captives 
 and trains, laden with richest spoils, could command such honors as were bestowed by the 
 populace upon the victorious athlete. 
 
 The Pythian games, founded about six hundred years before Christ, were originally 
 musical festivals celebrated in honor of the Delphic God; but latterly they partook of the 
 character which distinguished the Olympian exhibitions, differing from them onlv bv 
 adding to the athletic contests poetical and musical competitions. 
 
 The Nemean games, so called from the groves in which they took place, were little 
 more than military- reviews at first, instituted in commemoration of the destruction of the 
 Nemean lion by Hercules. They were afterwards changed to a celebration in honor of 
 Zeus, and opened to all Greek contestants in horse-racing, throwing, boxing, archery and 
 music. So highly were they esteemed by the populace that Philip of Macedon gratefully 
 accepted the honorable presidency of the games, at which he regularly presided, clothed in 
 all the magnificence of his royal estate. 
 
 The Isthmian Gaines took their name from the Isthmus of Corinth, where thev were 
 celebrated in the spring of every alternate year. Their origin, like the others, was in a 
 pleasing fable, to this effect: A certain king known as Athamas married a second wife 
 named Ino, by whom he had a son called Melicertes. The king conceived siich a jealousy 
 for his wife that he pursued her with murderous intent, which she only escaped bv leaping 
 into the sea with h^r child. Xeptune at an auspicious moment came to their rescue, and 
 to preserve their lives from drowning he changed them into sea-deities. In connnemoration 
 of this good deed the Isthmian games were founded in honor of Xeptune. In nearlv all 
 respects they were identical with those of the Olympic and Xenieaii, but were afterwards 
 participated in by the Romans, who added fights with wild beasts, and gladiatorial combats. 
 
 ROMAN FESTIVALS AND BLOODV SHOWS. 
 
 The difference between the civilization of the Greeks and the Romans is nowhere 
 more strongly contrasted, to the advantage of the former, than in their puljlic exhibitions. 
 .\mong the Greeks there was much refinement, and their shows were made to appeal to the 
 best instincts of the people, with the design to elevate and ennoble the as])irations of those 
 who became spectators. On the other hand, with the Romans the intent was always to 
 pander to the gro-sser passions, with the view of rendering the people more disposed towards
 
 
 as 
 P 
 o 
 
 (796)
 
 COLUMHl'S AND COLI'MHIA. 
 
 7U7 
 
 war, and to blunt the natural sense of mercy. Among both nations their games were 
 intimately connected with religion, but tlieir conceptions of the spiritual were ver>- dis- 
 similar, though both were mythological. With the tireeks athletic contests were a stimu- 
 lant to physical skill directed by wise purpose; while with the Romans they became wild, 
 reckless, unbridled scenes of brute courage, in which none but the ignoble particii)ated to 
 amuse the patrician cla.ss. While one celebrated the noble act of .some deity, the other 
 was made to commemorate the bloody deeds of some tyrant and despoiler. The expense 
 of one was borne bv the rich; of the other the cost was too great for individuals to bear, 
 and thus we learn that the Ccesars squandered the revenues of whole provinces to provide 
 amusement for the barbarous mob. 
 
 The principal exhibitions were held each year in the Circus Maximus, where, we are 
 told, seats were provided for 
 350,000 spectators ; while Juvenal 
 assures us that it was sufficiently 
 large to hold the entire popula- 
 tion of Rome. The two chief 
 festivals, or fairs, were the Ludi 
 Maxivii and the I'enatio. The 
 first w'as instituted as a votive 
 feast to the Capitoline Jupiter, and 
 was begun by a niilitan,' spectacK 
 of great magnificence, which con- 
 sisted of a grand procession headed 
 by patricians on horseback, fol- 
 lowed by a vast army in glittering 
 corselets, bearing 
 their spears, short 
 swords, and brightly- 
 burnished bucklers. 
 Behind the soldiers 
 marched a great 
 number of burghers, 
 from the various 
 Roman provinces, 
 and these in turn 
 were followed by the 
 athletes, who were 
 naked, except for a 
 
 narrow girdle that encircled the loins. Next came the dancers, harpers and flute-players, 
 and, lastly, the solemn priests who carried censers and images of the gods. The procession 
 moved through the streets to the circus where the games were jx-rfornied, consisting of 
 chariot-racing, military manoeuvres, and gymnastic contests. Hut the chief interest 
 centred in the chariot race, which was run fourteen times around the course, making 
 a distance of five miles. The drivers were professionals, and were distinguishable, one 
 from the other, by the different colors of their tunics, whence is derived the custom of 
 dressing jockeys in modern horse-races. While the spectacle of a furious drive round 
 the hippodrome was intensely exciting, the interest was heightened by the wagers which 
 
 CRIMINAL FIGHTING WITH A HUNGRY LION.
 
 798 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 were laid, and the factions into which the betters were divided. The races were, there- 
 fore, little more than gambling exhibitions, which sometimes terminated in dreadful fights, 
 in which the loss of life was very great. In one of these battles between rival factions, 
 30,000 people lost their lives. 
 
 SLAUGHTER OF WILD ANIMALS. 
 
 The Venatio^ or hunting-show, was a more shameful spectacle, which generally took 
 place in the amphitheatre, and at first was a rather tame though brutalizing exhibition, in 
 which hunters, called bestarii^ dispatched such wild animals as deer, bears, wolves, and 
 occasionally lions, without incurring any great risk themselves. But the thirst for bloody 
 sports was not long satisfied with such shows, and the craving for more desperate, daring 
 and murderous spectacles grew apace until gladiatorial combats became at length a rage. 
 From hunting scenes there next succeeded animal-baiting, in which lions, tigers, elephants, 
 and even crocodiles, were made to fight for the amusement of the spectators, and soon after 
 the introduction of this sport captives and criminals were forced into the amphitheatre, and 
 made to fight with ravening beasts. Those who were thus condemned to battle, to gratify 
 the perverted desires of the barbarous multitude, were allowed no other weapons than a 
 short sword and shield, with which they received the animals that had been starved into an 
 unnatural ferocity. The extent of these astounding exhibitions may be gained from state- 
 ments of reliable historians, who represent that on one occasion no less than 700 lions and 
 many elephants were matched with a company of Gaetulian hunters. The opening of the 
 Colosseum (A. D. 80) was celebrated by the slaughter of 9000 beasts, more than half of 
 which were of the most ferocious kind, while Trajan's victory over the Dacians, in the year 
 io5, was commemorated by four months of continuous battle in the arena, during which 
 11,000 animals were killed, and 9000 gladiators fought to the death. To avoid a very sea 
 of blood which such slaughter would turn loose, the arena was strewn with sand, but, to 
 exhibit ■ their amazing prodigality, some of the emperors are said to have substituted a 
 precious powder, mingled with gold-dust, for sand, believing it to be a better absorbent. 
 
 The Roman Colosseum, in which the greatest shows were given, was built in the shape 
 •of an ellipse, being 616 feet in its greatest diameter, and 510 in its lesser, while the arena 
 measured 280 by 175 feet. Prior to the erection of the Colosseum, which was chiefly of 
 stone, the games were celebrated in wooden structures, the dimensions of which, no doubt 
 considerably exceeded those of the more famous building, with whose ruins we are so 
 familiar. On a very great occasion, as we are told, a wooden edifice of this kind collapsed 
 from the weight of the thousands that occupied it, and in the catastrophe no less than 
 50,000 people were crushed to death. It was this accident that caused the Roman Emperor 
 Vespasian to construct the Colosseum of stone, which, however, he did not live to see 
 finished, but left its completion to his son Titus. In this gigantic structure, covering five 
 acres of ground, and seating 100,000 people, were enacted such scenes of carnage that 
 nowhere in the world's history is to be found anything to compare with them. 
 
 GLADIATORIAL FIGHTS AND MASSACRE OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Wild animals were frequently baited within the walls of the Colo.sseum, but combats 
 between gladiators directly superseded all other sports, and the amphitheatre was more than 
 a hundred times drenched with the blood of a thousand victims. Rome took captives from 
 among the peoples of every clime then known, and only removed their fetters to give them 
 introduction to the slaughter-pen, where others met them in the gage of butchery, to please
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 799 
 
 the appetite of Roman crowds. Witliin its arena, too, thousands of Christians were given 
 over as spoil to hunijry beasts, St. I_<j;natius bein<j first to suffer martyrdom within the jaws 
 of a star\-ing lion. And who were the spectators ? Why, the emperor, senators, magis- 
 trates, vestal z'irgiiis, members of the principal guilds, and in short both the great and the 
 ignoble watched with ravished eyes men pierced to the heart in the deadly combat; wi\-es, 
 children, and captives thrown into the eiiclosure to break the famine of wild animals; and 
 in the red glare of human torches, swathed in pitch and flax, the fiendish throng saw the 
 sardonic smile that played about the sensual lips of the persecuting emperor, and strained 
 their ears to catch the last cries of expiring victims. 
 
 So infatuated were the Romans with these murderous exhibitions that we have accounts 
 of no less than fifty-two colossal amphitheatres, scattered through the .several Roman 
 provinces, and devoted ex- 
 clusively to these bloody 
 shows. Julius Caesar has the 
 credit, along with his other 
 deeds that give him a sangiii- 
 nary renown, of introducing 
 bull-fighting, which strangely 
 enough is the only one of 
 the many cruel sports to 
 which the Romans were once 
 so fondly devoted, that sur- 
 vives in christianized lands. 
 
 MARTYRDOM OF A HUMANE MONK. 
 
 Succeeding the conquest 
 of Greece these brutalizing 
 spectacles were occasionally 
 seen in Athens, but the more 
 refined tastes of the Greeks 
 prevented them from ever 
 becoming popular. After the 
 Christian religion gained 
 such strength among the 
 Romans that Emperor Con- 
 stantine embraced the tenets 
 of the faith, the bloody 
 games became less frequent, 
 but even that zealous emperor 
 could not wholly abolish them, though many edicts with tliat intent were promulgated. 
 It was reserved for a pious monk to sacrifice his life in a supreme effort to secure 
 their abolition, the stor>- being told by Theodoret, to this effect : In the year 404 A. 
 D. , Telemachus, living somewhere in the far east, having heard of the degrading and 
 barbaric sports of the Romans, resolved upon an attempt to bring about their prohibi- 
 tion. To this end he made a journey to Rome, in the costume of his order and without 
 attendants, bent upon his .sacred mission. It chanced that he arrived at the imperial city on 
 a festival day, which was being commemorated by the usual gladiatorial combats in the 
 Colosseum. Repairing to the place where the cruel sports were in progress, he impetuously 
 
 DUEL OF GLADIATORS.
 
 800 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 rushed into the arena and endeavored to separate the combatants. But alas, for his pious 
 zeal and sympathy, he had no other reward than the gratitude of after times, for the Prcetor, 
 offended at the interference with his own delights, ordered the guards to instantly despatch 
 the humane monk, whose blood was made to mingle with others that had on that memorable 
 day been slain in the arena. 
 
 But Telemachus had not died in vain, for besotted as the Romans were with their 
 pleasure in bloody amusements, yet there was some humanity in their hearts though it was 
 stagnant. The execution of the monk, however, stirred it into an active fountain of tem- 
 pered mercy, and an edict of Honorius abolishing the games was immediately promul- 
 gated and, strangely enough, was respected, so that the death of Telemachus was the 
 occasion of their last celebration. 
 
 But by this time both Greek and Rome had grown out of the conditions that made 
 such savage exhibitions a part of the age. Under the old mythology of Rome, and the 
 position she had gained, and was able to hold only by force of arms and a cultivation of the 
 military spirit, the bloodiest exhibitions were approved as lending patriotic incitement to 
 the manhood upon which the nation depended. But Christianity had by this time spread 
 its influence like a gentle and refreshing dew over the countries of the Levant and the savage 
 disposition of man was dissolving under the rays of this sun of peace and love. Preparation 
 for the inevitable change had thus been made, though it was not recognized until the tragic 
 episode of Telemachus' martyrdom gave emphasis to the insinuating, but all prevading fact. 
 
 From the time of the abolition of the Colosseum exhibitions Rome dates her new life; 
 the military spirit slowly gave place to the arts of peace. Her life was henceforth to find 
 sustenance in commerce instead of in blood. The great building which was the scene of so 
 many bloody triumphs fell into disuse, and now its crumbling walls, a skeleton of what 
 was once the glory of Rome, remain like a spectre pointing backward to an age that was 
 red with savagery, to the Rome of the Caesars, the Neros and the Vespasians.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 GREAT FAIRS OF MODERN TIMES. 
 
 THE earliest ages of the world, religion engaged a 
 larger part of man's attentions and ambitions. So 
 great was this attachment, so zealous and all-per- 
 vading this superstition, that in the belief of early 
 man the world, as well as heaven, was peopled by 
 innumerable gods to whom reverence was exhibited 
 chiefly by a desire to propitiate, and propitiation was 
 best accomplished by honoring the deities. Thus, 
 as already explained, came the observance of certain 
 days set apart as sacred to their respective gods, and out of 
 this custom of honoring the gods grew tlie national religious 
 festivals, some of which survive even to this day. 
 But ambition being as boundless as space itself, men were not content to be bound en- 
 tirely unto subserviency to the spiritual, for their gods were the personification of power, 
 and this power over their fellows, ambitious men themselves sought to acquire. Thence 
 proceeded wars, until nation was against nation with no higher motive than acquisition of 
 territor^•, and extension of authority. Living therefore by war, the entire training of peoples 
 so engaged was in that line which promised early graduation in accomplishments of the 
 warrior. The county fair, the province festival, the National Exposition, were all alike, 
 save in magnitude, a display of prowess, courage, skill in fight, and athletic sports. The 
 poetry of such peoples was always of an epic style, their songs weK' praises of heroic deeds, 
 and even their domestic life was suggestive of the inborn ambition to engage in conflict. 
 
 As it is the fortune of mankind to be ever restless and aspiring, these characteristics 
 have prevented stagnation, or the continuance of a peaceful and uneventful existence for 
 any length of time. And as the movement is ever forward in pursuit of nobler ideals, we 
 note a constant improvement and substantial progress towards beneficent ends. Invention 
 has marvellously stimulated nations, no less than individuals, and to this good genius the 
 world is indebted for dispelling the stygian darkness in which groped the twin brothers, 
 ignorance and superstition, and by the lamp of investigation and discover)' is being revealed 
 the glorious transfonnations which are constantly occurring throughout civilization. In these 
 benignant changes the warrior has been metamorphosed into mechanic, agriculturist, mer- 
 chant ; and the engines of war have been converted into implements of commerce ; and 
 the march is unimpeded by mountain or sea ; forward, fonvard, without bugle blast or tap 
 of drum, but keeping time to the throbs of hearts filled with the ambition of a higher des- 
 tiny, the human race sets its face hopefully towards the future, in anticipation of vet more 
 glorious realization. 
 
 HISTORV OF THE EARLIEST FAIRS. 
 
 The word Fair is derived from the hatin /erur, signifying a holiday, though its meaning 
 when first used was the .same as it is to-day. That the custom and term are ancient tlu-n- is 
 51 (Son
 
 802 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUAIBIA. 
 
 further proof than the mere fact of its being so indicated b\- a Latin derivative. The 
 Greeks were first to hold fairs shortly after the beginning of the Christian era, which was 
 directly borrowed by the Romans and became a term that applied to the union of festival 
 and fair, because the celebration occurred during the period of some Saint's feast, and was 
 commonly held either in a church or church )-ard. This connection is another evidence 
 supporting the assertion that the fair is the modern development of the festival. 
 
 Considering the fair as a market where goods are put on display for sale or in competi- 
 tion, the first was held in Britain as early as 207 A. D. In France, the first fair was held in 
 
 A TFLTING TOURNAMENT IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 the vear 427, its purpose, however, being more to bring the people together, for political 
 reasons, than with the intent of inaugurating an exchange or sale of fabrics. Two ^ hun- 
 dred vears later Dagobert, King of the Franks, gave the monks of St. Dennis permission to 
 hold a church fair "for the glor>- of God, and the honor of St. Deny's at his festival, ^ 
 wherein we perceive the origin of those church festivals which continue so popular to this 
 day, for raising funds with which to push the scheme of salvation. 
 
 Not onlv did the fair become a prominent institution in France directly after its inau- 
 guration, but other countries were not slow to realize the advantage of such shows, and ac- 
 cordinglv Italy, Gennany, Flanders and England quickly followed the example. Alfred 
 the Great introduced annual fairs in England in 886, but it was not tmtil 11 33, under Wil-
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 803 
 
 Ham the Conqueror, that they became popular. At nearly all the early fairs slaves were 
 publicly sold, and constituted the prime article of exchange, until an abolition of the in- 
 human practice was secured in France through the long and unremitting efforts of a 
 wealthy woman named Bathilda, who had once been a slave, but who escaped bond- 
 age through her beauty and marriage to her master. 
 
 GREAT FAIRS IN THE FAR EAST. 
 
 Bv fairs the international spirit was fostered and commerce immensely stimulated. 
 Governments gave theift charters, and regulated them by such laws as in time eliminated 
 the coarse features which for the first several centuries distinguished them. The jester, 
 gambler, buffoon, dancers and ribald singers were removed by acts of inhibition, and in 
 their stead flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and droves of horses were placed on e.Khibition 
 to encourage agriculture, which all countries presently came to regard as the basis of their 
 wealth. 
 
 Though France and England were first to introduce the fair as a civilizing institution 
 amone modern nations, their e.xhibitions reallv rank verv much below the fairs of Russia, 
 India, and even Arabia. 
 An annual fair is held at 
 Nijni Novgorod, on the 
 Volga, which has an average 
 attendance of three hundred 
 thousand, while the aggre- 
 gate sale of articles is esti- 
 mated atone hundred million 
 dollars. In India the largest 
 fair is held at Hurdwar, on 
 the Upper Ganges, which 
 is attended ever\- year by 
 three hundred thousand to 
 four hundred thousand per- 
 sons, while every twelfth 
 year, during the special 
 pilgrimage to the sacred river, the number ol visitors is more than two millions. 
 
 A great fair is held at Mecca during the time of the annual pilgrimage, which in 
 former times drew a half million people, but .\rabians are hardly so devoted to their reli- 
 gion as formerly, and the number of pilgrims and visitors is less ever>' year, until the 
 attendance now is hardly more than two hundred thousand ; but a vast amount of trading 
 is still done in the purchase of spices, coffee, and fabrics of .\rabiau workmanship. 
 
 GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITIONS. 
 
 In America the first distinctively competitive fair, held for the encouragement oi the 
 agricultural and mechanical arts, was opened in 1829 by the .\inerican Institute in New 
 York. Fairs of a similar character were likewise instituted in Cinciiniati, Baltimore 
 Boston, Buffalo and San Franci.sco, but they failed to arouse the interest that was expected, 
 and after a few fitful efforts the fairs were discontinued in all the cities except New York, 
 where the American Institute continued the undertaking, and the success of these efforts 
 gave creation to an idea which was elaborated into a great national exhibition in 1.S53, as 
 will be presently described. A very dim and uncertain remembrance is preserved in very 
 
 HORTICULTURAL bUILDING.
 
 804 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 brief historical references, verj' seldom seeu, of a colonial fair being held in New York in 
 1790; but it was more a celebration of the adoption of the constitution, and the laying of a 
 foundation-stone for the national temple of liberty, than an exposition, and may not there- 
 fore be justly entitled to rank among the earliest fairs. 
 
 The inauguration of what may be called a National Exposition must be credited to 
 France, and the idea to Napoleon, who in 1798 directed a series of National Exhibitions, 
 and offered gold medals for inventions and productions that promised the strongest rivalry- 
 to the English trade. The plan of the exposition, however, was somewhat crude and on a 
 comparatively small scale, and the benefits were correspondingly inconsiderable. A second 
 and larger French exhibition took place in 1801, the benefits of which were so satisfactory 
 that a third was projected in the following year, and thereafter they continued regularly 
 through the years 1806, 1819, 1823, 1827, 183O1 i839) i844) and 1849, the last being the 
 most successful of the series, at which there were four thousand four hundred and ninety- 
 four exhibitors, and an attendance estimated at something more than one million. 
 
 The first National Exposition held in Austria opened at Vienna in 1820, followed by 
 
 others in 1835-39 and 1845, 
 and all with pronounced 
 success. In Germany there 
 were similar expositions in 
 1822 and '27 and '44, and a 
 steady increase of exhibitors 
 was observed at each exhibi- 
 tion. In Saxony the first 
 National Fair was held in 
 1824 and continued at in- 
 tervals of about two }-ears 
 until 1845, when there were 
 six thousand exhibitors and 
 nearly two million visitors. 
 The success which had 
 attended these several ex- 
 positions in three nations stimulated other countries, and fairs national in their 
 character were held in great number throughout Europe in 1827 to 1855. Notwith- 
 standing the great interest manifested by the continental countries, Great Britain con- 
 tinued to exhibit not only apparent apathy, but showed a decided prejudice against 
 exhibitions, believing that they were of no value commensurate with the cost to the 
 country- and the exhibitors. This idea, however, was gained from an unsuccessful fair 
 which was held under the patronage of King George the First in 1828, and which was 
 prolonged until 1833 through persistent but unavailing effort to make it a success. In 
 Ireland such expositions met with considerable favor, being inaugurated by the Royal 
 Society of Dublin, which held them triennially from 1829 until 1845, with decided advan- 
 tage both to the public and exhibitors. In 1849 a National Exposition was held in Covent 
 Garden, London, which achieved a measurable success, though the exhibits were confined 
 exclusively to articles of British manufacture. The prejudice which England for a 
 considerable while manifested towards National Expositions finally gave way before the 
 manifest results achieved in other countries, and in 1849 a royal commission was issued to 
 take steps for the organization of an International Exposition. At this time Prince Albert 
 
 WOMAN S BUILDING.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 805 
 
 occupied the most prominent place of any individual in the English nation, for which 
 reason he was put at the head of the commission, and so industriously did he labor to bring 
 about the best results that to his individual efforts may be credited the first World's P^air 
 held in London in 1851. This pioneer of International Industrial Expositions was started 
 upon its career at a cost of $1,500,000, and the space occupied was about 21 acres in Hyde 
 Park, where a magnificent crystal palace was built fur the exhibitors. The exhibition was 
 a pronounced success, and at its close the palace was transferred to Sydenham, where it still 
 stands as a most magnificent example of English architecture in glass. The receipts at this 
 first International Exposition amounted to more than $2,500,000. The building popularly 
 known as the Crystal Palace was built after the designs of Sir Joseph Paxton, and was com- 
 posed entirely, except the flooring and joists, of glass and iron. It was 1851 feet long and 
 408 feet wide, with an extension on the north side of 936 feet by 48 feet. The height of 
 the central portion was 64 feet, and the transept from the centre 108 feet; the entire area 
 covered was 19 acres. The building was begun in September of 1850, and was completed 
 the following February-, at a cost of a little less than $1,000,000. The Queen opened the 
 
 exhibition in person with ^^- . 
 
 impressive ceremonials, and 
 the exposition continued un- 
 til October i ith, during 
 which time there were more 
 than 6,000,000 visitors, or 
 an average daily attendance 
 of about 43,500. The 
 number of e.xhibitors has 
 been placed at 17,000. 
 
 The success of the 
 Cr\stal Palace Exposition 
 stimulated Ireland to a dis- 
 play on even a grander 
 scale. In pursuance of this 
 ambition an International 
 Exposition was held in Dublin in 1853. 
 
 Mfe^' 
 
 MACHINERY HALL. 
 
 The building in which this fair was held can 
 in no sense be compared with that of the Crystal Palace ; but in other respects, save 
 alone its financial success, it proved to be a gratifying rival. The value of the contents 
 of the Exposition was placed at about $2,500,000, of which the fine arts exhibited repre- 
 sented more than one million, being the finest collection of pic'.nres that had e\ vr been 
 gathered together in the world. 
 
 .\bout the time of the London Exposition (1851 ) the idea was conceived by many Xew 
 York capitalists of opening an international exposition in that city, their ambitions puqwse 
 being to produce a fair on a scale considerably greater than any that had been attempted by 
 the nations of the Old World. In pursuance of this pretentious purpose, a comi)any was 
 incorporated in 1851. A lease was obtained of Reservoir Square for five years, rent free, 
 the condition being imposed that the buildings erected thereon should be of glass and iron, 
 and that the admission fee should not exceed fifty cents. As a further assistance to the fair 
 managers, Congress pa.ssed an act constituting it a bonded warehouse into which foreign 
 goods might be brought free (jf duty, thus relieving articles for exhibition from abroad from 
 the pavment of any tax. Having completed their organization, tlu company i.ssued shares
 
 806 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 to the amount of $300,000, which amount was present!)- increased to $500,000, all of which 
 was quickl)^ subscribed. The building was a crj'stal palace in the fonn of a Greek cross, 
 365 feet long each way and 150 feet wide, with a central dome 123 feet high and 100 feet 
 in diameter. But this fii'st building being inadequate to the needs of the great number 
 of exhibitors who applied for space, another building was erected for machinery, which 
 was 450 feet long and 75 feet wade. On the 14th of July, 1853, the E-xposition was opened 
 by President Pierce, amid great demonstrations of pride and approval, and continued for a 
 period of 119 days. The number of exhibitors was 4800, more than one-half of whom, 
 singular to relate, were foreigners. It unfortunately happened that great delay had attended 
 the erection of the buildings, so that the opening was deferred more than a year beyond the 
 date originally set, so that it was in continuance during the Dublin Exhibition just described, 
 which divided public interest with it. The location ^vas also unfortunately chosen, being 
 remote from the centre of the city, with no adequate means of access. The results were, 
 therefore, what might reasonably have been anticipated, considering the disadvantages. 
 The cost of the building was $540,000, to which must be added an expense of $100,000 
 
 more for fitting and furnish- 
 ing. The receipts for admis- 
 sion and all privileges did not 
 exceed $340,000. In an 
 effort to retrieve the loss 
 thus sustained, the Exhibi- 
 tion was reopened in 1854 
 and the year following, dur- 
 ing' which time an expendi- 
 ture of $200,000 additional 
 was made which exhausted 
 the capital, receipts and 
 loans. But notwithstanding 
 the efforts of the managers, 
 the Exhibition, from a 
 financial ^'iew, proved a 
 great disappointment. A decided benefit was derived, however, from the stimulus which it 
 gave to American manufacturers in rivalling those of foreign countries whose products had 
 thus been brought into competition. The building was leased to the American Institute 
 and iised for annual fairs until October, 1858, w-heu it w^as burned with all its contents. 
 
 Another crystal palace was erected at Munich in 1854, which was almost twice as large 
 as that in New York, but its cost was only $450,000. Here a great International Exposition 
 was held, which promised to achieve an unparalleled success, as there were sixty-eight hun- 
 dred exhibitors, and the goods on display were valued at $7,500,000. But at a time when 
 the attendance was largest, cholera appeared, and caused such a general fright that the build- 
 ing was practically abandoned, and the Bavarian government was obliged to make up a 
 deficiency of a million dollars. 
 
 The pronounced success of England's effort stimulated Paris to open an International 
 Exposition upon her own grounds, that would surpass that of her great commercial rival. 
 Accordingly, in 1855 there was opened in Paris an exposition, whose numerous buildings 
 covered twenty-four and a half acres, the distinguishing feature of which was the Palais 
 d' Industrie, in which were included works of every living artist. The management of the 
 
 ELECTRICAL BtrrLDING.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 807 
 
 Paris exhibition adopted the policy that had been pursued b>- the company that incorporated 
 the New York World's Fair : Orj^anizinj^ a joint-stock company, shares were issued, and 
 from the proceeds of the sale of these there was erected, in the Champs Elysees, a main 
 building of glass, stone and brick, which was eight hundred feet long and three hundred 
 and fifty feet wide. On adjacent ground were erected several smaller buildings for machinen 
 and other heavy exhibits, such as carriages, agricultural implements, etc. The fair wa^ 
 opened by the Emperor Napoleon III in person on May 15th, and closed the November fol- 
 lowing, during which time there were four and a half million visitors, or a little more than 
 two-thirds as many as had attended the London Exposition in 1851. The fair was a failure 
 financially, but Paris derived a benefit from the money spent by foreign visitors, which more 
 than compensated for the failure of the exposition itself. 
 
 The second London International Exposition was started in 1862 with a guarantee 
 fund of two and a half millions, to which Prince Albert himself was a subscriber to the 
 amount of $50,000. The building erected for the purpose was of brick, glass and iron, 
 covering 1,400,000 square feet, and was located at South Kensington. The exhibition con- 
 tinued 1 77 d a y s, during 
 w h i c h period there were 
 6,211,103 visitors, with a 
 daily average of 36,329. The 
 total expenditures were 
 $2,300,000, w li i 1 e the 
 receipts from all sources 
 were only $2,240,000, the 
 deficiency being due to the 
 great cost of the building. It 
 was afterwards torn down and 
 the materials used in the 
 construction of the Alex- 
 andrian palace, which was 
 destroyed by fire in June, 
 
 The ne.xt International Exposition was held in Paris, in 1867, in an immense building 
 erected for the purpose in the Champ de Mars. The arrangement of the building was in 
 twelve concentric aisles, radiating from a small, central, open garden. The buildings cov- 
 ered thirty-seven acres, and the total number of exhibitors was 42,000. A pleasant feat- 
 ure of the display was actual examples of the styles of domestic and palatial architecture 
 of most countries, including even the tents of such nomadic tribes as the Kirghis Tartars, 
 Samoyeds, Bedouin Arabs, etc. The total cost of the exposition was $8,000,000, and the 
 returns from admissions and privileges were just barely sufficient to cover the expenses. 
 
 The next World's Fair following the Exposition Universelle, was held in Vienna in 
 1873, occupying forty acres of the Imperial Park with its magnificent building. This ex- 
 position was planned upon a scale of expenditures never before attempted, and the ambi- 
 tions expectation was not only to surpass every previous national exposition, but to bring 
 substantial benefits to the Austrian Empire, which at that time had rea.son to suspect the 
 designs of Russia and Germany. Rut ambitious as was the purpose of the managers, the 
 failure was all the more pronounced and lamentable. 
 
 The Viennese, desiring to improve the occasion to its ntmo.st, rai.sed living expenses in 
 
 .\KT TALACl:..
 
 808 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 T1 lulls' 7" 
 
 ■ -ll in '■■ " 
 
 t 111 IT 
 
 the city to the most exorbitant rates and otherwise manifested such covetous dispositions 
 that many thousands of people contemplating a visit to the exposition restrained their 
 inclination after learning the situation. The result was that, while the exposition cost 
 twelve millions of dollars, the receipts from all sources were barely three millions, thus 
 leaving a deficit of nine millions, which precipitated a panic and caused severe monetary 
 trouble throughout the Austrian Empire for more than a year. 
 
 As early as 1871 several public-spirited gentlemen of America conceived the idea of 
 holding an exposition which should be commemorative of the achievement of American 
 Independence, and when the idea reached the public prints, the nation seemed with one 
 accord to offer the strongest commendation of the purpose, and the suggestion quickly- 
 crystallized into decisive action. It was directly detennined that Philadelphia was the 
 proper place at which the exposition should be held, and that the one hundredth anniversary 
 of the adoption by the Colonial Congress, of the Declaration of Independence should be 
 the date of the opening. But though there was universal accord in the patriotic, ambitious 
 purpose, it was not until after nearly five jears of active preparation that our Great Centen- 
 nial Exposition was opened 
 by President Grant, on the 
 loth of May, 1876. The 
 main building was in the 
 form of a parallelogram, 
 1880 feet in length and in 
 width 464 feet. Within the 
 central span was a grand 
 avenue 1832 feet long by 
 120 feet wide, a novelty 
 which was never before in- 
 troduced into any exhibition 
 building. 
 
 The greater part of the 
 building was a single story 
 in height, but it was made 
 very imposing in api^earance by being set within foursquare towers, each 120 feet high. 
 This single building occupied a space of a fraction more than 20 acres, while the total area 
 occupied by the 160 buildings in which the exposition was held was 60 acres. Among the 
 several subsidiary buildings were Machinery Hall, Horticultural Hall, the latter built in 
 the Moorish style. Agricultural Hall and the Art Galler)'. This latter was constructed of 
 stone, with the intention of making it a permanent memorial of the exposition. Besides 
 these, there was a government building, covering two acres, in which an interesting exhi- 
 bition was made of both the resources and war power of the nation. There was also a 
 Woman's Pavilion and a Judges' Hall, and several curious small structures illustrative of 
 the architecture of different nations in the Middle Centuries. 
 
 The buildings covered an area of sixty acres. The number of exhibitors was 30,864, 
 and the total number of visitors was 9,910,966. The total cost was $8,000,000, and the 
 receipts were $3,813,724. The opening continued for a period of 159 days. Among the 
 exhibitors thirty-seven nations were represented, with exhibits valued at nearly $50,000,000. 
 The exposition was too large for an individual company to undertake, so that the incorpo- 
 rators called upon the government for a loan of $1,500,000, and from the State of $500,000. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION BUILDING.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 809 
 
 The ambitious purpose of the promoters was reaHzed, but the Exposition was uot an 
 entire success financially. Several Philadelphia capitalists, composing the incorporation, 
 had pledged their credit to secure the govcnnnent loan, and the receipts being insufficient 
 to meet all expenses and the debt, the>- were forced to make good the mone\- thus borrowed 
 by paying it out of their private fortunes. 
 
 In 1878 another Exposition Universelle was opened in Paris by Marshal McMahon in 
 the Champ de Mars. Notwithstanding the great failure of the Austrian exposition, Paris 
 ■was resolved to outdo all previous attempts, with which intent enormous buildings were 
 erected on both sides of the Seine, occupying fulh- 150 acres. These being insufficient, a 
 second place was erected, called the Trocadero, which was built from the most elaborate 
 designs, with gardens and cascades, and of such pennanence and beauty that it remains to 
 this day one of the chief sights of Paris. The cost of this exposition was about $10,000,- 
 000, somewhat less than the Austrian exposition; but the money had been more wisely 
 expended, and with much more gratifying results. Notwithstanding the immense outlay, 
 the exposition was a pronounced financial success. It had an attendance of over 16,000,000. 
 
 In 1885 the French government began their preparations for a third Exposition Uni- 
 verselle. In August of that *"' ' ■ - -^—^ — - — _ 
 year, the Minister of Com- 
 merce was voted a credit of 
 $20,000, for the purpose of 
 taking the preparatory- steps, 
 and obtaining such designs 
 as would enable him to pre- 
 sent to the assembly the 
 project of carrying oufthe 
 government's intention with 
 regard to the proposed ex- 
 position. And in April fol- 
 lowing the Ministers, re- 
 spectively, of Commerce, 
 Industry-, and Finance, pre- 
 sented a system of organiza- '^"•''"^ ■^"" "''^'^■'^ building. 
 tion, with the concurrence and indorsement of the Society of Guaranty. Upon the 
 submission of these preliminaries, the Municipal Council of Paris gave permission to use 
 the Champ de Mars for the exposition, this being the same ground which had twice before 
 been devoted to the identical purpose. 
 
 It covered an extent of 75;/ acres. The amount estimated and provided for by the 
 government in the city of Paris for the cost of the exposition was $8,500,000, of which 
 amount the government furnished $3,500,000, the city of Paris $1,500,000 and the Society 
 of Guaranty $4,000,000. Notwithstanding the expedition with which the plans were 
 devised and adopted, and the necessary' money voted, the buildings were projected upon 
 such an elaborate scale that it required four years for their completion, at the end of which 
 time, namely on the 6th of May, 18S8, fulh- two months before the workmen were able to 
 leave the buildings, the exposition was opened. The number of exhibitors was 55,000, the 
 number of visitors 28, 149,353. The exposition continued open for a period of 185 days, 
 during which time the receipts from admission alone were something more than $8,300,000, 
 being nearly a million dollars in excess of the expenditures.
 
 810 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The next and latest World's Fair was held in Paris in 1SS9, as the centenary com- 
 memoration of the fall of the Bastile, and the Revolution; the largest preparations were made 
 to make it the grandest observance that was ever celebrated by any nation. The project 
 was born as early as June of 1883, and from the moment the proposal was first published 
 the nation exerted herself to make the projected International Exhibition of 1889 the greatest 
 success of modern times. To best carry into effect the ambitious purposes of the govern- 
 ment and those who were the original promoters of the enterprise, a Guarantee Society was 
 organized consisting of eighteen members, who acted in conjunction with a Board of Control 
 composed of eight municipal councillors and seventeen senators, who raised a fund of 
 $3,600,000 and began the active work of preparation. The Government gave to the Guaran- 
 tee Company the right to issue 30,000,000 tickets bearing the face value of one franc (20 
 cents) each, and besides this credit, authorized a lottery which issued 200,000 twenty-five 
 franc interest-bearing bonds, which were convertible, at the option of the holders, into 
 tickets, which were in return receivable as admissions to the Fair. 
 
 The site selected for the great exposition not only occupied the Champ de jMars, but 
 also annexed the Trocadero and included the Esplanade des Invalides and the Quai 
 d'Orsay, thus covering all the available space of the neighborhood, 173 acres in extent. 
 
 The original estimate for the buildings and grounds was $6,500,000, but that this was 
 a ver}- liberal approximation of the cost is proved by the fact that the total expense fell short 
 of that amount by nearly $650,000. 
 
 The exhibition was opened by the President, M. Jules Grevy, on May 5th, 1889, and 
 did not close until October 31st following. When the great fair was concluded, and an 
 estimate of receipts and disbursements made, the final accounting showed that the grand 
 total of expenses had been $8,300,000, and the total receipts $9,900,000, thus leaving the 
 handsome balance of $1,600,000 to represent the net profit that had been gained by the 
 managers, in addition to the millions that had been reaped by the shop-keepers, hotels and 
 many branches patronized by visitors. 
 
 The entrance fee was placed at the ver}- low sum of one franc (20 cents) and it is 
 probable that to this wise action on the part of the directors much of the phenomenal suc- 
 cess of the Exhibition is due. The total number of admissions by tickets from May 6th to 
 November I st, was 28,149,353, and the daily average 137,289, an increase of nearly 18,- 
 000,000 over the attendance at the Philadelphia Centennial, and the exhibitors numbered 
 55,000, while at Philadelphia there were only 30,864. 
 
 Of the many remarkable exhibits made at the' Paris Exposition, that of M. Garnier, 
 who showed forty-four models of Human Habitations representing all ages from the time of 
 primitive man, attracted greatest attention, but for wonder his exhibition was eclipsed by 
 the Eiffel Tower, an obelisk or pillar of steel mounting to the extraordinary height of 984 
 feet. The base of this remarkable structure is four gigantic feet stretching over and form- 
 ing an archway that rises to the first platform, a height of 185 feet, which is capable of 
 accommodating 3500 visitors. Above this is a second platfonn 377 feet from the earth, 
 where there is space for 1000 persons. Still above this is a third platfonn that provides 
 room for 400 persons. At the extreme summit there is a chamber in which the electrical 
 lighting and scientific instruments are kept, the top being reached by four elevators, each 
 capable of carrying sixteen persons. 
 
 The tower cost $1,000,000, one-fourth of which was voted as a subsidy by the govern- 
 ment, and the weight is 16,800,000 pounds, yet the structure is so finnly anchored that its 
 safety is absolutely secure.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ^-'^J 
 
 PURPOSES AND EFFECTS OF INTERNATIONAL FAIRS. 
 
 HAVE thus hastily noted tlie evolution of the Fair, 
 and its final flowering into international industrial 
 expositions, tlie eight principal ones being hastily 
 sketched and the results recorded. We cannot fail 
 to obser\-e, even in this short suniniarj- of World's 
 Fairs, that commercial rivalry is not less strong among 
 nations than it is among individuals, and that ambition 
 to excel, for honor as well as for substantial reward, pos- 
 sesses and animates the integer just as it does the frac- 
 tional part of the political unit. The utilitarian spirit of 
 the age is towards commercial gain, but while desire for 
 \ greater riches is a confessedly powerful motive, the under- 
 
 lying ambition of nations that most largely prompts these displays is a sincere hope, 
 crystallized in effort, to advance and improve the social condition, to educate, inspire, 
 encourage; for in these ambitions only can national glon.' be attained. 
 
 Therefore the gladiator in the arena, the charioteer on tlie course, the athlete that 
 measured paces with his adversary, was not more determined to win the victor^', when valor 
 was the test and war the occupation, than is the peace-loving artisan and the humble tiller 
 of the earth, to-day covetous of the honors bestowed for supremacy in the field of art, inven- 
 tion and production. With this ruling aspiration animating nations as it does individuals, the 
 obscr\-er pauses to reflect upon the possible results. These exhibitions of men's genius and 
 industry are proving such a stimulus to human ambition that wonders, each more amazing 
 than the one before, are being constantly revealed in an endless procession, drawing us 
 onward at a rapid pace towards an end which is glorious beyond our anticipations. 
 
 To foster and stimulate this aspiration, to bring nations into closer contact, to extend 
 commerce and promote industr)', as well as to celebrate our achievements as the model re- 
 public, is no less the purpose of the Columbian Exposition than to commemorate the greatest 
 event in histor)' — the discover}' of the New World, 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 
 The first public proposal to observe our qnadri-centennial by a World's Fair projected 
 upon a scale grander than had characterized any previous effort, was made by a St. Louis 
 paper as early as 1882, which by editorial urged immediate preparation for a national 
 observance of the great event. From this source the river of public opinion gathered its 
 flow and went on increasing until three years later there was a general detennination to 
 inaugurate a movement to carr)- into cfltct the very wise suggestion. Thus the mighty 
 
 (Sll)
 
 812 
 
 COLUMBUS AND "COLUMBIA. 
 
 is proclamation annoiincing 
 and not be closed until 
 
 stream of patriotic enthusiasm as we now view it, grew by a thousand affluents until public 
 desire became expressed in legislative action, and a great sea of national resolution was the 
 result. 
 
 Several cities, including Washington, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, 
 were contestants for the prize, each guaranteeing to raise $5,000,000 to secure the success of 
 the Exhibition, but Chicago was selected by joint resolution of Congress February- 25th, 
 1890. From this date the work of preparation was actually begun by the incorporation of 
 the World's Exposition of 1892. On April 25th the World's Columbian Commission was 
 created by act of Congress, and the Nation was thus conihdtted to its sponsorship. Sub- 
 scriptions were now opened and the sum of $5,467,350 was raised by the pledges of 29,374 
 persons who became subscribers to the stock; to which amoui^ $5,000,000 more was added 
 by an issue of city bonds. 
 
 On the 24th of December, 1890, President Harrison issued 1 
 that the Exposition would be opened on the ist day of May, iJ 
 
 le last Thursday in October 
 the same year, and ex- 
 tended an invitation to all 
 nations of the earth to par- 
 ticipate in the commemora- 
 tion by making exhibits of 
 their products in rivalry 
 with our own. 
 
 COST OF THE EXPOSITION. 
 The site selected as being 
 best adapted for the exposi- 
 tion buildings is Jackson 
 Park and Midway Plaisance, 
 which together embrace 664 
 acres, and have a lake 
 frontage of nearly a mile and 
 a half. A considerable part 
 of the park required a great amount of filling in, and the dredging of water-ways through 
 it, in which preparation a half million of dollars were spent, and nearly as much more 
 was expended in landscape gardening, fountains, observation towers, statuary, etc. 
 
 These large expenditures were but the beginning, a very small fraction of the cost of 
 the improvements that were necessary, as the following estimates show : 
 
 AGRICULTURAL BUILDING. 
 
 Seating, 
 
 Water supply, sewerage, etc 
 
 Improvement of lake front 
 
 World's Congress auxiliary, .... 
 Construction Department expenses, 
 Organization and administration, . . 
 
 $ 
 
 8,000 
 600,000 
 200,000 
 200,000 
 520,000 
 3.308,563 
 
 Grading, filling, etc $ 450,000 
 
 Landscape gardening, 323,490 
 
 Viaducts and bridges, 125,000 
 
 Piers, 70,000 
 
 Water-waj' improvements, 225,000 
 
 Railways 500,000 
 
 Steam plant, 800,000 
 
 Electricity, 1,500,000 
 
 Statuary on buildings 100,000 
 
 Vases, lamps and posts, 50,000 110,530,453 
 
 But to this estimate there remains to be added the cost of the several buildings, amount- 
 
 Operating expenses, 1,550,000
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 813 
 
 ing to $8,000,000, and tlie expenditures by tlic Governnitnt, the several States aud the 
 foreign nations, which will be iu the neighborhood of $15,000,000 more. 
 
 The sizes of the buildings devoted to Exposition purposes are as follows : 
 
 .\dministration 262x262 
 
 Manufactures and Liberal Arts, . . . 787x1687 
 
 Mines aud Mining, 350x700 
 
 Electricity 345x690 
 
 Transportation, 256x960 
 
 Transportation Annex, 425x900 
 
 Woman's 196x388 
 
 Art Galleries, 320x500 
 
 '* " Annexes (a) 120x200 
 
 Fisheries 165x365 
 
 " Annexes (2) 135 iu diameter 
 
 Horticulture 250x998 
 
 Horticulture Oreenhouses (8), .... 24x100 
 
 Machinery, ... 492x846 
 
 " Annex, 490x550 
 
 " Power House, 490x461 
 
 MacUiner>' I'umpiug Works, 77x84 
 
 " Machine Shop 106x250 
 
 Agriculture 500x800 
 
 " .^nnex 300x550 
 
 " Assembly Hall 125x450 
 
 Forestry 208x528 
 
 Saw Mill 125x300 
 
 Dairy 100x200 
 
 Live Stock (2) 65x200 
 
 " " Pavilion, 280x440 
 
 " " Sheds to cover 40 acres 
 
 . . . . 120x250 
 
 Casino, 
 
 Music Hall, 
 
 U. S. Government Building, 
 Imitation Battle Ships. . . . 
 Illinois State Building, 
 
 120x250 
 
 345x415 
 
 69x348 
 
 160x450 
 
 The total space occupied by these several buildings is a fraction more than 159 acres. 
 But in addition to the above every- State will have its own building, as will also the 
 foreign nations. The contributions made for this purpose are as follows : 
 
 The United States and Territories, { 1,500,000 
 
 Following are the appropriations made for exhibits by the several States and Territories 
 
 Arizona S 30,000 
 
 California 300,000 
 
 Colorado 100,000 
 
 Delaware 10,000 
 
 Idaho 20,000 
 
 Illinois 800,000 
 
 Indiana 75.ooo 
 
 Iowa 130,000 
 
 Kentucky, 100,000 
 
 Maine 40,000 
 
 Maryland, 60,000 
 
 Massachusetts 150,000 
 
 Michigan, 100,000 
 
 Minnesota 50,000 
 
 Mis-souri 150.000 
 
 Montana 50,000 
 
 Nebraska 50,000 
 
 New Hampshire, 
 New Jersey, . . 
 New Mexico, . . 
 New York, . . . 
 North Carolina, 
 North Dakota, . 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Pennsylvania, . 
 Rhode Island, . 
 Vennont, • ■ . 
 Virginia, . . . 
 Washington, . . 
 West Virginia, . 
 Wisconsin, . . . 
 Wyoming, . . . 
 
 25,000 
 70,000 
 25,000 
 300,000 
 25,000 
 25,000 
 
 I25,OOCK 
 
 300,000 
 50,000 
 15,000 
 25,000 
 
 100,000 
 40,000 
 
 65,000 
 
 30.000 
 
 Total of appropriations made, 
 
 f3, 135.000 
 
 Owing to constitutional restrictions nine States were unable to make appropriations, 
 but that they may be properly represented organizations were fonned and tlirough stock 
 subscriptions the following sums were raised : 
 
 Alabama, 
 Arkansas, 
 Floriila, . 
 Georgia, . 
 Kansa.s, . 
 Louisiana, 
 
 50,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 100.000 
 
 50.fK)0 
 
 Oregon, . . 
 .South Dakota, 
 
 Texa.s 
 
 Utah 
 
 Total by stock subscriptions. 
 
 5 50,000 
 
 80,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 50,000 
 
 $1,030,000
 
 814 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 The following nations have voted appropriations for their respective exhibits 
 
 Argentine Republic $ 100,000 
 
 Austria, 102,300 
 
 Barbadoes, 6,000 
 
 Belgium ' 57, 900 
 
 Bermuda 3,ooo 
 
 Bolivia, 30,700 
 
 Brazil 600,000 
 
 British Guiana, 25,000 
 
 British Honduras 7, 500 
 
 Canada 150,000 
 
 Cape Colony 50000 
 
 Ceylon, 65,600 
 
 U. S. of Colombia, 100,000 
 
 Costa Rica, 150,000 
 
 Cuba, 25,000 
 
 Denmark, ......' 67,000 
 
 Dutch Guiaua, 10,000 
 
 Dutch West Indies 5,000 
 
 Ecuador, 125,000 
 
 France, 627,250 
 
 Germany, 690,200 
 
 Great Britain 291,990 
 
 Greece 60,000 
 
 Guatemala, 
 
 Hayti 
 
 Honduras, .... 
 
 Jamaica, 
 
 Japan 
 
 Leeward Islands, . 
 
 Mexico, 
 
 New South Wales, 
 New Zealand, - . 
 Nicaragua, 
 
 Norway, 
 
 Orange Free State, 
 Paraguay, .... 
 
 Peru 
 
 Salvador, .... 
 
 Sweden, 
 
 Tasmania, .... 
 Trinidad, .... 
 
 Uruguay 
 
 Victoria, . . . 
 
 Total of appropriations of foreign 
 countries 
 
 |l 20,000 
 25,000 
 20,000 
 25,000 
 
 630,765 
 
 6,000 
 
 50,000 
 
 150,000 
 27,500 
 30,000 
 56,280 
 
 7.500 
 
 100,000 
 
 140,000 
 
 12,500 
 
 53.600 
 
 10,000 
 
 15,000 
 
 24,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 14,952,585 
 
 The following countries have signified their intentions to participate in the Exposition, 
 but no appropriation has been made for the purpose. Each, however, will have exhibits, 
 chiefly made by individual enterprise, and the amounts expended by each will be relatively 
 large : 
 
 Algeria, 
 
 India, 
 
 Netherlands, 
 
 Sers'ia, 
 
 British Columbia, 
 
 Italv, 
 
 Newfoundland 
 
 Siam, 
 
 Bulgaria, 
 
 Corea, 
 
 Persia, 
 
 South Australia, 
 
 Chili, 
 
 Liberia, 
 
 Porto Rico, 
 
 Spain, 
 
 Chiua. 
 
 Madagascar, 
 
 Province of Quebec, 
 
 Switzerland, 
 
 Danish West Indies, 
 
 Jladeira, 
 
 Queensland, 
 
 Transvaal, 
 
 Eg>-pt, 
 
 Malta, 
 
 Roumania, 
 
 Turkey, 
 
 Ervthria (of Asia Minor), 
 
 Mashonaland, 
 
 Russia, 
 
 Venezuela, 
 
 French Guinea, 
 
 Mauritius, 
 
 San Domingo, 
 
 West Australia. 
 
 Hawaii, 
 
 
 
 
 WONDERS OF THE EXPOSITION. 
 
 While the Paris Exposition of 1889 had for its principal curiosity and largest attrac- 
 tion the Eiffel Tower, the Columbian Fair will have a dozen or more mannnoth wonders to 
 excite the profound astonishment of visitors. Among these may be mentioned three towers 
 whose summits rise to a height of 300 feet, and will accommodate 100 people at one time. 
 The countr\' being level, a better view and wider range of vision can be had from the top 
 of these than could be obtained from the loftiest platform of Eiffel Tower. But besides 
 towering structures, other means are afforded of surveying an expanding stretch of land- 
 scape from high eminences, for several captive balloons will rise, with their loads of ven- 
 turous sightseers, to an altitude of more than 1,000 feet, while the roofs of twenty-storied 
 buildings, reached by swift elevators, are numerous in Chicago, and from these a nearer 
 view of the heavens, and the fading perspective of lake and prairie may be gained. 
 
 Wonder upon wonder, however, will appear to the admiring gaze of the visitor, who 
 will at last conclude that all the mar\-els of the world, and the products of all the master 
 geniuses in art and invention, are gathered there to delight and instruct — a very panorama 
 of the possibilities of Imman ingenuity and persistent effort. But not only is the visitor
 
 816 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 entertained by exhibitions which mark the attainments of tlie century, for on every side he 
 beholds things which connect the present with memorable events of the past. On a point 
 jutting into the lake he perceives a quaint old convent smiling at the waters under its feet. 
 It is a reproduction of the monaster}- of La Rabida, where good father Perez received 
 Columbus and little Diego, and, supplying them with food, also nourished the ambition 
 that found its fruition in the discovery of the new world. There it is, the ver\- realit}-, and 
 below are the estuary of Palos, the flowing Odiel, and the beating sea. Everything 
 seemingly save the great navigator, his pious counsellor, and the physician, Hernandez, 
 the trio to whose memor\' America owes more than the nation can ever pay. 
 
 But there are other reminders no less voiceful with the ston,- of Columbus, for there 
 we may see the counterpart presentment of the Santa Maria, the Nina, and the Pinta — the 
 three little vessels that bore the first navigators across the waters of a boundless sea. Ever}- 
 detail is tnie, every sail, mast, anchor, timber, and rigging, is identical with the original; 
 and thus 400 years after their momentous voyage, we are able to inspect fac-similes of the 
 caravels, and fonn a correct estimate of the courage which Columbus must have pos- 
 sessed, and the might}- strength of his concept andaspiration. 
 
 Some of the hundreds of other attractions, apart from the Exposition proper, may 
 be thus briefly described: 
 
 EXHIBITIONS THAT WILL ASTONISH VISITORS. 
 
 On the lakes will be gondolas, electric launches, and a great variety of novel crafts 
 propelled by various kinds of motors, which will embrace all the late inventions in pro- 
 pulsion of the age. C}-cloramas and panoramas afibrd striking views of historic incidents, 
 and from one diorama the whole moving mass of visitors, and ever}- building and lake 
 within the grounds, may be witnessed with wonderful realism on canvass. 
 
 One of the features of the Paris Intfernational Exposition was a reproduction of a street 
 in Cairo. This also constitutes an attraction at the Columbian Fair, but amplified to such 
 a degree that a section of the great Eg-}'ptian city will be shown, including its fantastic 
 bazaars, overhanging houses, quaint cafes, turbaned men, and veiled women, demure 
 donkeys, camel drivers, and, in short, all the characteristic features that combine to make 
 Cairo the most curious cit}- of the world. Besides this are related exhibits, such as Turkish 
 bazaars, in imitation of those so plentiful in Constantinople, with all their attendant curi- 
 osities. There is also a Moorish palace, exhibiting the rich coloring and beautiful archi- 
 tectural marvels which sur\-ive only in such buildings as the Alhambra of Grenada. 
 
 Even the South Sea Islands are made to contribute their curiosities to the great Fair, 
 and exhibits will be made of the Oceanic peoples and their habitations, as well as their war 
 and domestic utensils, so that the visitor may see life as it exists among our antipodeans. 
 
 The Swiss Government, in addition to its other exhibits of remarkable interest, has 
 provided a panorama of the Bernese Alps, which constitutes an attraction at once awesome 
 and picturesque. 
 
 To view the wonders that ha\-e been here gathered together from ever}- corner of the 
 earth, it will not be necessar}-, as it has been at all previous world's fairs, to walk, or be 
 tnmdled, at large expense, from place to place, imtil exhaustion compels the visitor to 
 retire, for invention has devised a means for viewing the Exposition from elevated railways. 
 An hydraulic sliding railway runs the entire length of Midway Plaisance, and a moving 
 sidewalk is operated around the grounds, by either of which visitors, while seated in 
 comfort, are carried around in a sinuous course at an elevation of twenty-five feet, with a
 
 COI.r.MBrS AND COLl'MRIA. 817 
 
 speed little faster than a walk, and afforded the opportunit>- of seeing all the open-air 
 exhibits in the most advantageous and satisfactory manner. Twenty thousand people an 
 hour can be thus conveyed around tiie Exposition grounds. 
 
 The United States Government Building, 350 x 420 feet, and costing $40o,o<X), 
 contains many wonderful things to excite the amazement and pride of all Americans. 
 The space of this gigantic structure has been allotted in this wise: Department of the 
 Treasury-, 10,500 square feet ; War, 23,000 square feet ; Post Office, 9,000 square feet ; 
 Fisher)-, 20,000 square feet; Agriculture, 23,250 square feet; Interior, 24,000 square feet, 
 and Smithsonian Institute, 37,250 square feet. 
 
 In the Treasury Department will be exhibits prepared b\- the Bureau of Printing and 
 Engraving, showing how our paper money is printed; the Bureau of Statistics; the Light- 
 house Board; the Life Saving and Signal Service Boards, and the Marine Hospital. But 
 besides these, there will be a remarkable exhibit by the Coast Survey, including a topo- 
 graphical map of the United States 400 feet square. This map is made of plaster-paris, 
 and built on a scale which shows the exact height of mountains, extent of plains, length 
 of rivers, size of lakes, and the curvature of the earth. Galleries and elevated pathwavs 
 give opportunity to visitors of walking over this miniature of the United States and 
 reviewing ever)' part of it critical!) . 
 
 MODEL OF A FULL-SIZED BATTLE SHIP. 
 
 The Xaval Department ccukl mA convciiiLiitly confine its exhibit indoors without 
 injustice to that important branch of the Government. Carr)ing out the ambition of the 
 head of that department, there is exhibited a full-sized model of the newest coast-line 
 battle ship, which is erected on piling, by the Lake front, surrounded by water, and 
 having every appearance of being moored to the dock. The sliip is complete in all its 
 details for perfectly imitating the most effective of our war vessels, being equipped with 
 guns, turrets, torpedo-tubes and nets, boats, anchors, cables, etc., and all the fittings for 
 actual ser\'ice. Not only is the ship and paraphernalia thus .shown, but there is a detail 
 of officers and men, composing a full complement, who are on duty, and give dail\- drills 
 in operating the gmis, torpedoes, and the manual of anus. The dimensions of the model 
 are the same as those of our largest battle ship, viz.: length, 34.S feet; brea.st width, 69 
 feet 3 inches; height of main deck above water-line, 12 feet; while above the main deck 
 are the bridges, chart house, and look-out. 
 
 Another grand feature of the Exposition is the World's Auxiliary Congress, organized 
 to take care of a series of conventions intended to bring together the great leaders of the 
 world, for the purpose of mutual council in matters calculated to advance the best interests 
 of mankind, such as science, philo.sophy, education, literature, music, art, government, 
 law reform, medicine, commerce, religion, temperance, labor, engineering, and agriculture. 
 In this commendable undertaking women have an equal part and repre.sentation with men, 
 and the distinguished leaders of l>oth .sexes will deliver addresses before the conventions, 
 and thus give the world the benefit of their knowledge. 
 
 What may be named as an adjunct to this effort to promote human progress is the 
 Permanent Memorial .^rt Palace, a building divided into two immense audience chambers, 
 each having a seating capacit)' of 3,500 persons, and with tweiit) smaller rooms t)n the side 
 designed for the u.se of committees. In these large auditoriums tlie great essavists, 
 statesmen, financiers, j)olitical econoun'sts, journalists, agriculturists, and, in short, leaders 
 in all the various departments of human affairs, will discourse on the subjects which thev 
 are respectively best qualified to discuss. The papers and sjxreches thus delivered will be 
 52
 
 818 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 preserved in a publication which promises to be of the greatest vahie to all mankind, and 
 will constitute the most useful memorial of all International Expositicms in the world's 
 history. 
 
 A MARVELLOUS PVROTECHNIC EXHIBITION. 
 
 The display of fireworks which will be made on the evenings of October nth, 12th 
 and 13th will exceed in grandeur anything ever before seen in the history of the world, and 
 will constitute a two hours' exhibition on the night of these dates that will well repay the 
 discomforts and expense of thousands of miles of travel. Words can give no adequate idea ' 
 of the inconceivable beauty and magnificence of these fierj- demonstrations which, will in 
 fact pale the starry splendors of the heavens. 
 
 The display on each evening will be begun by the discharge of 100 bombs, which 
 being sent to a great height explode in the sky with the deafening detonations of a battery 
 of heavy guns. Following this prelude will be a flash from 500 prismatic lights, so 
 stationed that a magical illumination of the waters and grounds is produced, almost blind- 
 ing by its exceeding brilliancy, but fairly transporting by its extraordinary' splendor. 
 Several such astonishing effects will be shown to claim the fascinated interest of visitors, 
 but besides these a large number of set pieces will be fired which deserve to be specially 
 mentioned. 
 
 The largest piece will be a gigantic represetitation of Niagara Falls, 1000 feet long and 
 100 feet high, extending over a space three squares in extent, and when fired will pour 
 forth such an avalanche of corruscating flames and a deluge of hissing meteors as will 
 furnish a spectacle sublimely awful and more terribly grand than the Chicago fire of 1871. 
 Another marvellous feature of the pyrotechnic exhibitions will be the ascension of ten large 
 balloons each carrying high up into the heaven a magazine of monster rockets. The 
 covirses of the balloons will be marked in their flight by powerful magnesium lights which 
 in burning will finally gain the baskets and explode the rockets at an immense height. 
 The effect will be terrific, for the thunderous detonations which follow, as if the very sky 
 were being bombarded, will be succeeded by a heavy rain-fall of stars so dazzling that for 
 the moment it will appear as if all the constellations of the heavens were falling to the earth. 
 
 Besides these magical displays will be the flight and explosion of 5000 immense rockets 
 at one time, a larger number than was ever before sent up simultaneously. The effect may 
 be imagined. There will also be a marvellous representation of the Pleiades, produced by 
 the explosion of 50 four-pound rockets, these to be followed by three successive flights of 
 100 quadri-centennial shells, each two feet in diameter and capable of creating a detonation 
 equal to the discharge of the largest Columbiad. 
 
 PORTRAITS AND THE AMERICAN FLAG IN LIVID FLAMES. 
 
 A set piece which will perhaps have the largest number of admirers, will be a 
 wheel of fire, eighty-four feet in diameter, which when first set in motion will show great 
 streamers of stars, next a mammoth bouquet of roses will appear, to be succeeded by a 
 flaming portrait of Queen Isabella. 
 
 Many other surprising pieces and effects will be produced, among which may be men- 
 tioned a Temple of Fame, 300 feet in length and 75 in height, which will appear like a 
 Titanic wall of breaking flame pointing its fiery fingers towards the zenith. A larger piece, 
 400 feet long and 90 feet high, will be fired, and in the gigantic blaze of shooting meteors 
 will be seen a perfect representation of the Capitol building at Washington. Other set 
 scenes will present fiery portraits of Washington, Lincoln and Harrison. There will be 
 likewise a Chinese pagoda of fire, 200 feet long and 70 feet high, while behind it will be
 
 COLI'MIU'S AND COI.I'MHIA. 819 
 
 represented a prismatic fountain sliootin^ its hlazinj^ streams to a lit-ijjlit of 75 feet, dis- 
 tributing; its intense liyhts throu<j;h the water as well as in the air, so that the great variety 
 of fish that swam in the lagoons and canals may be plainly seen. 
 
 The most unique, original and astonishing piece in the wonderful display of fireworks 
 will be a fiery simulation of our country's flag floating in the heavens. How this astonish- 
 ing effect is to be produced is something of a secret which may not yet be disclosed. An 
 idea of how tlie representation is to be accomplished can be formed, however, from the ver}' 
 meagre description which has been given by the manager of the display. First, a vast 
 cloud of smoke is to be blown high in the air to form the blue field, into which forty-four 
 mortars will discharge as many bombs carefully timed to explode simultaneously, which 
 explosions will form the stars. Other mortars will fire at the same time shells loaded with 
 colored explosives, which in bursting throw out long streamers of red and white to form the 
 bars, the whole producing for an instant a gigantic American flag with all the colors 
 hannoniously blended. 
 
 PROGRAMME OF THE DEDICATION CEREMONIES. 
 
 When the Congress of tlie United Sta'.es aulliori/.ccl the commemoration of the Four 
 Hundredth Anniversar\- of the discover},- of America by an International Exposition to be 
 held in Chicago during the summer of 1893, it also provided that the Exposition buildings 
 should be dedicated on the twelfth day of October, 1892, with "appropriate ceremonies." 
 
 Aside from the international interest in this fitting prelude to the magnificent picture 
 of the world's progress that will be presented in 1893, this dedicator)- ser\'ice will furnish 
 an opportunity for the world to behold the extent of the preparations which are being made 
 for the Exposition. 
 
 The task of preparing a programme of ceremonies which will appropriately herald the 
 greater spectacle commemorating the discovery, development and progress of the New- 
 World, has been a work involving great care and the considertition of many difl^culties. 
 The following programme of the dedicatory exercises and incidents connected therewith is 
 submitted as the result of this thought and purpose : 
 
 TfESD.w, October Elk\-enth. 
 
 The first day will witness an imposing procession, indicative of peace, contentment, 
 and prosperity, participated in b\- industrial and civic organizations of the United 'States, 
 reviewed by the President of the United States, his Cabinet, the Congress and other honored 
 guests. 
 
 The remainder of the programme will be carried out at Jackson Park. In the evening, 
 amid myriads of electric lights and other electrical displays, a water pageant will move 
 through the beautiful waterways of the Exposition grounds, illustrating with l)eaut\- and 
 historic accuracy some of tlie great facts of histor\' connected with the discovery of .\nierica, 
 such as the condition of this country prior to the landing of Columbus ; striking events in 
 the life of the Great Discoverer ; imjKjrtant epochs in .Vmerican history, and the world's 
 progress in civilization. The vessels upon which the.se tableaux will be represented vary 
 from 40 to 53 feet in length, modelled after the naval architecture of the period represented ; 
 for example, "Columbus before the Court of Spain" will be represented upon a vessel 
 modelled after the exact lines of the Saiifa Maria. 
 
 The following subjects will be illustrated : — 
 
 1. .\bori>{iiial Age ; rcprfsciitiiig the .\iiiericaii Iiuliaiis. 
 
 2. The Stone Age ; representing the Cliff Dwellers anil the Toltecs. 
 
 3. The Bronze Age; representing the .\ztccs, their religious rites, manners anri customs.
 
 820 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 4. Columbus at the Court of Ferdinand and Isaljella. 
 
 5. Departure of Columbus from Palos. 
 
 6. Discovery of America. 
 
 7. Columbus before the Court of Ferdinand and Isabella, presenting natives and the strange products of 
 
 the new country 
 
 8. English Cavaliers and the settlement of Jamestown. 
 
 9. Hendrick Hudson ; discovery of the Hudson River ; Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. 
 
 10. Landing of the Pilgrims, and illustrations of early Puritan life. 
 
 11. Ferdinand de Soto. Discovery of the Mississippi 
 
 12. Pierre Marquette. Chevalier La Salle and the Northwest. 
 
 13. Washington and his contemporaries. 
 
 14. Signing of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 15. Union of the Colonies ; the thirteen original States ; the sisterhood of the Great Republic ; welcoming 
 
 the Territories to the constellation of States. 
 
 16. "Westward the course of empire takes its way. " 
 
 17. The Genius of Invention ; application of steam, etc. 
 
 18. Electricity and electrical appliances. 
 
 19. Wat ; representing valor, sacrifice, power, death, devastation. 
 
 20. Peace ; representing tranquillity, security, prosperity, happiness 
 
 21. Agriculture. 
 
 22. Mining. 
 
 23. Science, Art and Literature. 
 
 24. Universal brotherhood of men ; equal rights, law and justice ; Liberty enlightening the world. 
 
 Wednesday, October Twelfth. — Dedication Day. 
 
 The National Salute at sunrise will inaugurate the ceremonies of Dedication Day. 
 The President of the United States, his Cabinet, members of the Supreme Court, members 
 of the Senate and House of Representatives, distinguished foreign guests and governors of 
 the different States and Territories with their staff will be escorted by a Guard of Honor, 
 composed of troops of the United States, detachments of the United States naval forces and 
 regiments from the various State National Guards to the Manufactures and Liberal Arts 
 building, in which the ded'catory exercises will be held. 
 
 At one o'clock in the afternoon in this building the following dedicatory programme 
 will be carried out under the direction of the Director-General : — 
 
 1. March for Orchestra. Written for the occasion by John K. Payne. 
 
 2. Prayer by Bishop Charles H. Fowler, D.D., LL.D., of California. 
 
 3. Dedicatory Ode. Words by Miss Harriet Munroe, of Chicago ; music by Professor G. W. Chadwick, of 
 
 Boston. 
 
 4. Presentation of the Master Artists of the Exposition and their completed work by the Chief of Construction . 
 
 5. Report of the Director-General to the World's Columbian Commission. 
 
 6. Presentation of the buildings, for dedication, by the President of the World's Columbian Exposition to 
 
 the President of the World's National Commission. 
 
 7. Chorus, " The Heavens are Telling. " — Haydn. 
 
 8. Presentation of the buildings for dedication, by the President of the World's Columbian Commission to 
 
 the President of the United States. 
 
 9. March and Chorus from " The Ruins of .■\thens " — Beethoven. 
 
 10. Dedication of the buildings by the President of the Ignited States. 
 
 11. Hallelujah Chorus from "The Messiah." — Handel. 
 
 12. Dedicatory Oration, Hon Wm C. P. Breckinridge, Kentucky. 
 
 13. "The Star Spangled Banner," and "Hail Columbia Symphony," with full chorus and orchestral 
 
 accompaniment. 
 
 14. Columbian Oration, Chauncey M. Depew, New York. 
 
 15. National Salute. 
 
 At the close of this programme a special electric and pyrotechnic display will be given, 
 with a repetition of " The Water Pageant," or procession of the centuries.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 821 
 
 Thursday, Uctobkr Thirtkentii. 
 
 The third day's ceremonies include a special dedication of the Woman's Building b> the 
 officers and members of the National Board of Lady Managers and their invited guests from 
 this and foreign countries. 
 
 A series of manoeuvres ;uul parados will coustitulc llic rcuiaiiiiug portion of the day's 
 programme. In the evening attractive and appropriate features will be provided, followed 
 by a magnificent display of fireworks. 
 
 A number of brilliant social entertainments will be given by the citizens of Chicago 
 during the three evenings of the dedication celebration, concluding with a grand dedicatory 
 ball on the final night of the celebration, \Vednesda\-, October 13th, 1892.
 
 Guide to Chicago. 
 
 COMriLKl) HV 
 
 R. E. A. DORR. 
 
 ASSISTANT CHIEF DEPARTMKJ*T OF PLBLICITy AND PROMOTION, WORLDS .i.ll MBIAX EXPOSITION. 
 
 >1 V 
 
 \' 
 
 DIFFICULTY of compressfng a Guide to so va.st, crowded and 
 interesting a city as Chicago into Uie space-limit imposed 
 by the publishers of this volume, will be apparent to the most 
 casual reader of the following pages. All attempts at ambi- 
 tious writing or long descriptions of points of interest are neces- 
 sarily sacrificed to the most concise statement of facts, the most 
 direct information regarding the places worth seeing, and how 
 they may be most easily and quickly reached. 
 
 By reference to the map it will be readily understood that this 
 guide assumes that all those who consult it will start in their 
 inspection of Chicago from the central or hotel district, bounded 
 on the east by Lake Michigan ; on the north by Lake street ; 
 on the south by Congress street, antl on the west by La Salle 
 street These boundaries are indicated on the map by the red 
 lines. The great boulevard system, within which is the improved 
 portion of the city, is indicated by the green lines. Ivverv point 
 of interest within the central district and therefore within easy 
 walking dUtance of nearly all the hotels, is indicated by (t). It is confidently believed that strangers in the 
 city, who will, by consulting the map, first fix the points of the compass in their minds, and then the 
 central or (t) district, will have little difficulty in going to any desired place without asking questions or 
 becoming confused. 
 
 Chicago has been aptly called the marvel of city building of the world. It seems scarcely credible that 
 on March 4th, 1S92, it celebrated its Fifty-fifth anniversary as a corporation, and that in this half centurv it 
 has grown from a little village to the second city of the country, with a jwpulation acconling to the I'nitcd 
 States Census of 1S90, of 1.208,669, and according to estimates in May, 1.S92, of i,5<xS,669 people. 
 
 The sky-scraping business buildings, palatial residences, great manufactories magnificent streets and 
 avenues, anrl imposing public institutions will at once impress visitors with the true greatness of this metrop- 
 olis of the West. The following briefly told facts will aid in illustrating the real importance which Chicago 
 must be allotted among municipalities of the world. 
 
 The northern and southei 1 city limits are now twenty-four miles apart ; the eastern and western Injundaries 
 ten and one-half miles di.stant. There are 1974 acres of public parks and twenty out of thirty-eight miles of Ix)u- 
 levards projected, are completed. The 185 miles of street railways render every section of the great city easy 
 of access, and the twenty-six steam roads entering the city cause it to 1k> the undisputed railroad centre of the 
 countr)'. A police force of 1503 oflTicers ami men preserxes order among a population comixjseil of eightv-two 
 nationalities, and a fire department with 970 employees guanls against the repetition of the conflagration 
 of 1871, which has not been equalled in deslnictiveness in modern times. 
 
 To illustrate Chicago's commercial supremacy it need only l)e told that the arrivals and clearances of 
 vessels at the j)Ort are 50 per cent, greater than at New York, and nearly equal those of New York, Boston 
 and Baltimore combined. That it is the greatest market in the world for grain and provisions is getting to 
 be an old storv-, and that its bank clearances are now only third among American cities will not surprise 
 anyone who has at all studied its growth in trade and manufactures. 
 
 But while Chicago has been expanding in all lines of busines.s, its citizens have also liccn developing and 
 ennobling their loved city in other directions. This is particularly notable in education and art matters. 
 There are now located here four great universities, 350 academies ami seminaries, nnd .S(») private scIumiIs, 
 the average attendance in all l>cing 7().r,j<) students. I'ublic education is here brought up to llic highest level 
 
 (823)
 
 824 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBL\. 
 
 of American progress, the estimated expenditure for this purpose for the year 1S92 being 15,996,084. In 
 public charities it is estimated that 15,000,000 is expended annually, and the private donations for charitable 
 institutions are estimated at f3,ooo,ooo. There are fifty charity asylums and thirty- hospitals in Chicago. 
 
 In spite of the oft-repeated assertion that Chicago is the wickedest city of the country it supports 575 
 churches ; the largest Y. II. C. A. organization in the country, aud every known kind of organization for the 
 suppression of vice. 
 
 On the social side of life Chicago has made rapid strides the past twenty years. The general commer- 
 cial prosperity of the communit}- has made hundreds of families sufficiently wealthy to devote tiuie and 
 money to the cultivation of their sons and daughters, and the result is a rapid spreading of refining influ- 
 ences in almost all grades of society. The theatres, the clubs, art galleries, the lecture rooms aud the 
 musical organizations of the city now rank with any in the country. Among the thirty-two theatres in the 
 city are several of the most beautiful and costly in this country, if not in the world. 
 
 As a hotel town Chicago unquestionably leads. There are 1400 registered hotels with accommodations 
 for from fifty to 1000 guests each. The total capacity is estimated at 175,000 guests, the population of many 
 cities of world-wide fame. 
 
 Until very recentlv it has been customary to regard Chicago as of mushroom growth, and to think of 
 it as built by borrowed capital and imported brains. This line of thought, or sneer, must be abandoned. 
 Chicago has now accumulated so much wealth and so many of its families are in their second generation 
 as land-owners, that the city and its customs have the stability of municipalities far surpassing it in age. 
 Chicago cannot be denietl the proud position of a leading city of tlie world aud aspires to soon become the 
 leading city of the Western Hemisphere. 
 
 Chicago & North Western Railway. — Station cor- 
 ner Wells and Kinzie streets (north side). North 
 Clark street cable cars. Central ticket office, 206 
 and 208 Clark street (tl, opposite Postoffice. 
 
 Cleveland, Cincinrati, Chicago & St. Louis Ry. — 
 (Frequently called the "Big Four " on account of its 
 termini in' four great cities). Station east of Michi- 
 gan avenue, between Lake ard Eandolph streets (t). 
 Wabash avenue aud State street cable cars to comer 
 Lake street and Wabash avenue. One block east to 
 station. Central ticket office. Grand Pacific Hotel (t). 
 
 Erie Lines. This system embraces New York, 
 Lake Erie & Western R. R.; Kew York, Pennsylva- 
 nia & Ohio ; Chicago & Erie R. R., and several less 
 important roads. The entrance to Chicago is by 
 Chicago & Erie R. R. Dearborn Station, Dearborn 
 street, corner Polk street aud Third avenue. State 
 street cable cars. City ticket office, 242 South Clark 
 street (tK Grand Pacific Hotel building. 
 
 Grand Trunk Railway.— (See Chicago & Grand 
 Trunk Railwav.1 
 
 Illinois Central R. R.— Central Depot, east of 
 Michigan avenue, between Lake and Randolph 
 streets if. Wabash avenue and State street cable 
 cars to comer Lake street and Waliash avenue One 
 block east to station. Central ticket office, 194 Clark 
 street (fl, near Postoffice. 
 
 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Ry. — Station, 
 Van Buren street, between Sherman street and 
 Pacific avenue (t). ^'au Buren street horse cars east 
 and west Clark Street horse cars run north and 
 south, one block east. City ticket office, 66 Clark 
 street (tl. corner Randolph. 
 
 Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Ry.— (Popu- 
 larlv known as the "Jlonon" route.) Dearborn 
 Station, Dearborn street, comer Polk street and 
 Third avenue. State street cable car. City ticket 
 office, 2-,2 Clark street if, corner Ouincy. 
 
 Michigan Central R. R.— Central Depot, east of 
 Michigan avenue, between Lake and Randolph 
 streets (tV State street or Wabash avenue cars to 
 Lake .street and Wabash avenue. One block east to 
 station. City ticket office, 67 Clark street (t), corner 
 Randolph. 
 
 New York Central & Hudson River R. R.— Trains 
 enter and leave Chicago by Lake Shore & Michigan 
 Southern R. R.. andMichigan Central R. R. .See 
 paragraphs on these roads for location of stations and 
 ticket offices. 
 
 MAIN RAILWAY ST.ATIOXS. 
 
 Ashland Routes. — (See Milwaukee, Lake Shore & 
 
 Western. 1 
 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. — (Generally 
 called the Santa Fe|, Dearborn Station, Dearborn 
 and Polk streets and Third avenue. State street 
 cable cars. Central ticket office, 212 Clark street (t), 
 opposite Postoffice. 
 
 Baltimore & Ohio R. R. — Grand Central Station 
 Harrison street aud Fifth avenue. Adams street 
 horss car. (Take car that turns south at 5th ave- 
 nue to Harrison street.) Central ticket office, 193 
 Clark street(t), between .^dams aud Monroe streets. 
 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. — Union Station, 
 Canal and .Adams streets. Adams or JIadison street 
 horse car, or Carette (omnibus) line on .Adams street. 
 City ticket office, 211 Clark street (t), opposite Post- 
 office. 
 
 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. .Paul R. R.— Union 
 Station, Canal au<l .\dams streets. .Adams or Madi- 
 son street horse cars or Carette (omnibus) line on 
 Adams street. City ticket office, 207-209 Clark street 
 (t). near Postoffice. 
 
 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Ry.- Station, Van 
 Buren street, betweeu Sherman street and Pacific 
 avenue (t). Van Buren street horse cars, east and 
 west. Clark street horse cars run north and south, 
 one block east. Central ticket office, .S. W. Cor. 
 Clark and Washington Streets(t). 
 
 Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Ry.— Grand Cen- 
 tral Station, Harrison street and Fifth avenue. 
 Adams street horse car. (Take car that turns south 
 at Fifth avenue to Harrison street.) Central ticket 
 office. 18S Clark street (f), between Adams aud Mon- 
 roe streets. 
 
 Chicago & Alton R. R.— Union Station, Canal and 
 Adams street. .Adams or Madison street horse car 
 or Carette (omnibus) line on .-^dams street. City 
 ticket office, 195 Clark street (t), between Adams and 
 Monroe. 
 
 Chicago a Eastern Illinois R. R. — Dearborn Sta- 
 tion, cor. Dearborn and Polk streets and Third ave- 
 nue. State street caljle cars. 
 
 Chicago& Erie. — .See Erie Lines.) 
 
 Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway.— Dearborn Sta- 
 tion, cor. Dearborn and Polk streets and Third ave- 
 nue. State street cable cars. Central ticket office, 
 103 Clark street.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 825 
 
 New York, Lake Erie A Western R. R.— (See Erii 
 Lines. 1 
 
 Northern Pacific R. R. — Gratnl Central Depot, 
 corner il.irrixin ami I'iUh avenue. Adams street 
 hoise car. (Take car that turns south on Fifth ave- 
 nue I City ticket office, 210 Clark street it>, opposite 
 PostolTiii-, 
 
 Pennsylvania R.R. — Sec rcnnsylvania Unes.^ 
 
 Pittsburgh Fort Wayne R. R. — i,See Pennsylvania 
 Lines. 
 
 Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago A St. Louis. — 
 I I-auiiliarly known as the Panhandle Route) — (See 
 Pennsylvania Lines. 1 
 
 Pennsylvania Lines. — [Emliracinfj all trains of 
 Peniisylv.uiia R. R.. Pittsburg & Fort Wayne R. R., 
 and Panhandle Route.) I'nion Depot, corner Canal 
 and .\dams streets. Adams or >Liilison street horse 
 cars or Carette (omnibus) line on .\danis street. Cen- 
 tral ticket office, corner Jackson and Clark streets (t), 
 Cniml Pacific Hotel Buildinj;. 
 
 Union Pacific System. — (Trains enter ami leave 
 Chicago via Chicago ^: Northwestern R. R. ) Station 
 corner Wells and Kiuzie streets (north side). North 
 Clark street cable car. Central ticket office, 191 
 Clark street ( + ). near Postoffice. 
 
 Wabash R.R. — Dearborn Station, comer Dearborn 
 street and Third avenue. State street cable car. City 
 ticket office, 201 Clark street (ti. near Postoffice. 
 
 Wisconsin Central R. R. — C.ran<l Central Depot, 
 Harrison and Filth avenue. .Vdams street horse car. 
 (Take car that turns south on Fifth avenue. ) Central 
 ticket office 205 Clark street (t\ opposite Postoffice. 
 
 Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western.- Station, 
 Wells and Kinzie streets i north side). Nortli Clark 
 street cable car. City ticket olTice 197 Clark street (f), 
 ne.ar Postoffice. 
 
 New York, Chicago A St. Louis. — fPopularly 
 know as the "Nickel Plate.") Station, Van Buren 
 street. Ijctween Sherman street and Pacific avenue (t), 
 Van Buren street cars. Clark street cars run north 
 ard south one block east. 
 
 LAKE STEAMER PASSENGER LINES. 
 
 All passenger steamers leave Chicago from piers 
 along the Chicago river within a short cab ride, or 
 easy walking distance, of the hotels within the (t) 
 boundary. Wabash avenue cable cars running north 
 or North Clark street cable cars ruu within a block or 
 two of the piers. 
 
 Graham A Morton Transportation Co. — Dock foot 
 of Wabash avenue. Steamers for St. Joseph and Ben- 
 ton Ilarlxir, Mich., daily and Sunday. This is a de- 
 lightful excursion of about sixty miles almost due 
 east across Lake Michigan. Morning boat returns 
 same evening. 
 
 Goodrich Line. — Dock, foot Michigan avenue. .-Ul 
 ports on Lake Michigan and Green Bay. .\ favorite 
 excursion is to Racine and Milwaukee, Wis., going 
 one day and returning the next. Steamers leave 
 morning and evening. 
 
 Lake Michigan and Lake Superior Transporta- 
 tion Co. — Dock near Ru--h street bridge, foot r)f 
 Michigan avenue. Steamers s;iil Wednesday and 
 Saturrlay for Duluth at the heail of L.ike SujK-rior, 
 landing at the fashionable summer resort, Mackinac 
 Island. SauUSte. >L-irie, Marquette and all points in the 
 famous copper regions of Lake SuiK-rior. Tlie trip 
 from Chicago to Duluth consumes live and one-half 
 days. 
 
 Excursion steamers leave foot of Van Buren street 
 (tj for the World's Fair groumls at lre<iuent intervals. 
 
 C.VIU.I': CAR LINES. 
 
 North Clark Street Cable Line.— Take car to go 
 norlli .ct loriu r M.inr... .and Dearliorn streets (t). 
 
 Madison Street Cable Line. — Take car to go west 
 at corner La Salle and Madison streets (t) or comer 
 La Salle and Washington streets. 
 
 Wabash Avenue Cable Line.— To go south, take 
 car iin Sl.ile street, between Lake and Madison streets 
 (tl, or Wabash avenue at corner of Madison street (fi, 
 any point on Wab.-ish avenue further south. 
 
 State Street Cable Line. — To go south take car on 
 State street at corner of Lake street (t) or at any point 
 on State street further south. 
 
 THE WORLDS FAIR. 
 
 (The accompanying map is the official plan of the 
 groumls. I The World's Colmnbian I-lxposition will be 
 held in buildings now nearing completion at Jack- 
 son Park, a tract of 63^ acres on the lake front six and 
 a half miles south by ea.st of the City Hall. It may be 
 reached by Illinois Central Railroad. Waba.sli avenue 
 cable cars or by steamboats from the foot of \'aii 
 Buren street, .-iccording to present plans there will 
 be entrances at 57th, 59th, 60th, 62d, 63d, and 67th 
 streets, ami for pa.s.seiigers by boats at piers at the 
 north and south ends of the grounds. The main en- 
 trance will be at 62d or 63d streets. Railroad trains 
 will i)robably enter the grounds and land their pas- 
 sengers just west of the Administration Building. 
 
 The exhibits will be in thirteen great buildings, the 
 names of which generally indicate the character of 
 the exhibits, as follows : 
 
 .\dniinistration Building, 
 ■ Offices of the Officials, 
 
 National Bank, 
 
 Postoffice, 
 
 Telegraph , 
 
 Express Offices. 
 -Agriculture Building, 
 Dairy Building. 
 Electrical Building, 
 Governnient Building, 
 Fisheries Building, 
 
 Fine Ails Building, 
 Fore^stry Building, 
 Horticulture Building, 
 JIachinery Hall, 
 Manufactures and Lib- 
 Arts Building, 
 Mines and Mining Build- 
 ing, 
 Transportation Exhibits 
 
 Building, 
 Woman's Building. 
 To the norlli of the .\rt I'alace will be the group of 
 buildings erected by the States and Territories for col- 
 lective exhibits, illustrating their resources and natu- 
 ral history. Buildings for similar purposes will be 
 erected by the leading nations of the world, at points 
 indicated' on the map. On the Midway Plais.ance 
 will Ix; located the exhibits typical of nearly all forms 
 of life in all parts of the world. .\s the walks and 
 avenues within the groumls have not yet been named 
 by the exposition officials, it is only possible in this 
 giiide to indicate the nearest entrance to anv given 
 point and the general direction to follow after jxissing 
 through the gate. 
 
 Agriculture, Department of— 63d street gate. 
 Proceeil south around Transportation and Adminis- 
 tration buiblings ami east across lagoon. By Vioat to 
 South Pier. 
 
 Battle Ship. (Naval exhibit.)— sglh street gate. 
 Proceed due east to Lake front By l>oat to North 
 I'ier. 
 
 Casino. — Same route as to Agricultural Depart- 
 ment, r.v boat to South Pier. 
 
 Convent of La Rabida. — Follow route to .\gricul- 
 tural Dei)artineiit, turn south at east end of .\gricul- 
 lural building'and cross l.agoon to the Convent. By 
 boat to Soutli I'ier ... 
 
 Government Building. — Containing exhibits pre- 
 pared by the gre.il executive departments of the 
 National Govemmeiit 60th .street gate. Pri>ceed
 
 820 
 
 COLU^IBUS AXD COLUMBIA. 
 
 due east past tlie north end of the Horticulture 
 building, cross the lagoon to the Wooded Island and 
 the island. The bridge at the north end of the island 
 across the east branch of the lagoon leads to the 
 Fisheries building just noith of the Government build- 
 ing. By boat to North Pier. 
 
 Japanese Building and Exhibit. — 6oth street 
 gate. A tract at the north end of the Wooded Island 
 has been allotted to Japan for a building and exhibit 
 of landscape gardening. Proceed due east from en- 
 trance, pass north end of Horticulture building and 
 across bridge over the lagoon. By boat to North 
 Pier. 
 
 Midway Plaisance. — A strip of land between 59th 
 and 60th streets, "s of a mile long. Enter at 59th 
 street. Midway Plaisance will be devoted to typical 
 exhibits of the manners and customs of various coun- 
 tries. There will be theatres, dancing girls, restau- 
 rants and bazaars of many oriental nations. An extra 
 admission fee will be charged to most of these ex- 
 hibits. 
 
 Music Hail. — 63d street gate. Proceed through 
 the Transportation Exhibits building to east entrance ; 
 south to corner of Mines and Miuing building, east 
 past Mines and Mining building. Electrical building 
 and Manufactures building to the Lake front. By 
 boat to So'.ith Pier. 
 
 State Buildings. — On June I, 1S92. thirty-nine 
 States had declared the intention of erecting buildings 
 on the exposition grounds. The buildings will all be 
 in the immediate \-icinity of the Art building and 
 most of them just north of it. The map shows the 
 lots reserved for each State. The nearest entrance is 
 at the 57th street gate or by boat at North Pier. 
 
 Stocl( Exhibit. — 67th street gate. Proceed due 
 east to the 40 acres of cattle pens and sheds which ex- 
 tend from near the west fence of the grounds to the 
 Lake Michigan front. By boat to South Pier. 
 
 Statue of the Republic. — -A.t the lake end of the 
 main basin. 63d street gate. Pass through 
 Transportation Exhibits building, then south to Ad- 
 ministration building, east past Jlines building. 
 Electrical building and Manufactures building. By 
 boat to South Pier. The statue will be 60 feet high 
 and will stand on a pedestal 40 feet high. 
 
 Wooded Island.— -60th or 62d street gate. By boat 
 to North Pier. The island will be devoted to horti- 
 culture and floriculture exhibits, except the nortli end, 
 which is allotted to Japan. (See Japanese exhibit.) 
 
 HOTELS. 
 
 [The lowest regular rate per day named by proprie- 
 tors is given.] 
 
 Atlantic Hotel.— Corner Van Buren and Sherman 
 streets I tl. American plan. |;2.oo ; European plan, 
 f i.oo. Van Buren street cars pass the door. 
 
 Auditorium Hotel. — Michigan Boulevard and Con- 
 gress street (t). 425 rooms. American plan, S4.00 ; 
 European plan, J2.00. Wabash Avenue cable car. 
 
 Briggs House. — Randolph street and Fifth avenue. 
 200 rooms. .\merican plan, $2.00 ; European plan, 
 Ji.oo. Randolph .Street car. 
 
 Burke's European Hotel. — South side Madison 
 street, between La Salle and Clarkff). 75 rooms. 
 European plan, fi.oo Madison street horse car. 
 
 Clifton House. — Monroe street and Wabash ave- 
 nue(t). 200 rooms. .American plan, $3.00. Wabash 
 avenue cable car. 
 
 Commercial Hotel. — Lake and Dearborn streets 
 (t). 225 rooms. American plan. S2.00 : European 
 plan, J 1. 00. Lake Street horse car and North Clark 
 street cable car. 
 
 Gault House. — West Madison and Clinton streets. 
 200 rooms. American plan, f2.oo. Madison street 
 cable car. 
 
 Gore's Hotel. — Nos. 266 to 274 South Clark street 
 (f). 250 rooms. European plan, Ji. 00. Clark street 
 horse car. 
 
 Grand Pacific. — Corner Clark. Jackson and La 
 Salle streets (^t). 600 rooms. American plan, 1^3.00. 
 Clark street horse car. 
 
 Hotel Brevoort. —North side Madison between Clark 
 and La Salle streets (t). 250 rooms. European plan. 
 Jioo. Madison Street horse car. 
 
 Hotel Grace. — Comer Clark and Jackson streets 
 (t) 200 rooms. European plan, f i.oo. Clark street 
 car. 
 
 Hotel Wellington. — Corner Wabash avenue and 
 Jackson street (t). 220 rooms. European plan, 
 $2 00. Wabash avenue cable car. 
 
 Hotel Woodruff.— Corner Wabash avenue and 21st 
 street. American plan, J4.00. Wabash avenue 
 cable car. 
 
 Hyde Park Hotel. — Lake avenue and 52d street. 
 300 rooms. American plan, fo.oo. Illinois Central 
 R. R. to 50th street Station, east one block to Lake 
 avenue, south one block to hotel 
 
 Leiand Hotel. — Corner Michigan Boulevard and 
 Jackson street (t). 300 rooms. American plan, J3. 00 ; 
 European plan, $1.50. Wabash avenue cable cars 
 cross Jackson street one block west. 
 
 McCoy's Hotel. — Clark and Van Buren streets (f). 
 250 rooms. European plan, fi.oo. Clark street 
 horse cars north and south. Van Buren street cars 
 east and west. 
 
 Northern Hotel. — Comer Dearborn and Jackson 
 streets (t1. 500 rooms. State street cable car one 
 block east. 
 
 Palmer House. — Comer State and Monroe streets 
 (t), with frontage also on Wabash avenue. 750 rooms. 
 American plan, $3.50; European plan, Ji. 50. State 
 street cable cars pass main entrance ; Wabash avenue 
 cable cars cross Monroe street one-half block east of 
 ladies' entrance. 
 
 Richelieu Hotel. — Michigan Boulevard, between 
 Jackson and ^'an Buren streets (t). 150 rooms. 
 European plan, J2.00. Wabash avenue cable cars. 
 cross Jackson and Van Buren streets one block west. 
 
 Saratoga Hotel. — Nos. 155 to 161 Dearborn street 
 (t). 1S3 rooms. European plan, 75 cts. North Clark 
 street cable cars pass the hotel going north ; Madison 
 street horse cars cross Dearborn street one-half block 
 north. 
 
 Sherman House. - Corner Clark and Randolph 
 streets (t I. 300 rooms. American plan, 55-00. Clark 
 street cars north and south ; Randolph street cars 
 east and west. 
 
 Southern Hotel. — Comer Wabash avenue and 
 22d street. 150 rooms. American plan. «2.oo ; Eu- 
 ropean plan. Si. 00. Wabash avenue cable cai-s. 
 
 Tremont House. — Comer Dearborn and Lake 
 streets ((t), 300 rooms, .\nierican plan, 13.50. North 
 Clark street cable cars pass the door ; State street 
 and Wabash avenue cable cars one block east. 
 
 Victoria Hotel.— Michigan Boulevard, corner Van 
 Buren street (t). 250 rooms. American plan, 53.00. 
 Wabash avenue cable cars cross Van Buren street one 
 block west. 
 
 Hotel Metropole.— 5Iichigan Boulevard, near 22d 
 street. . .\merican plan, 54.00 ; European plan, |2.oo. 
 Wabash avenue cable car to 22d and Michigan 
 Boulevard. 
 
 German Hotel.— Randolph street, between Dear 
 born and Clark streets {f). 150 rooms. (Plan o
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMHIA. 
 
 «-J7 
 
 iuaiiai^crinetit. Icniis and date of opening not yet de- 
 termined. I Randolph street cars. 
 
 The hotels named above incluile not only the larj;- 
 est anil leading hostel ries of the city, but those that 
 have an established and general transient patronage. 
 There are in addition, however, at least 1200 hotels 
 that accommo<lat-.- from fifty to 103 guests ami rejoice 
 in more or les.s high s.iuiuliug names, but the space in 
 this guide is too limited for their enumeration. It is 
 probable that there will also be at least fifteen niani- 
 moth caravansaries buiit near the World's I'air grouiuls 
 and about one dozen within a mile of the heart of the 
 city. There is too much uncertainty, however, about 
 all of these projects at the time of compiling this 
 guide to include them in its hotel list. 
 
 TnK.\TRES .\ND PL.^CES OF AMUSEMENT. 
 
 Alhambra Theatre. — Corner State street ahd 
 .■\rclicr avenue. Scaling capacity, 2500. State street 
 cable oars. 
 
 Auditorium Theatre. — Corner Waliash avenue and 
 Congress street (T >. The largest and most costly 
 theatre in .\mcrica. Seating capacity, 4050. Wabash 
 avenue cable cars. 
 
 Batt'e of Gettysburg Cyclorama. — Corner Wabash 
 avenue .\iid raiioraina I'lacu. Wabash avenue cable 
 cars. 
 
 Central Music Hall. — Comer State and Randolph 
 streets 1 1 1. Scaling capacity, 2000. 
 
 Chicago Opera House. — Comer Clark and Wash- 
 ington streets (ti. Seating capacity, 2300. 
 
 Columbia Theatre. — Monroe street, between Dear- 
 born and Clark streets (t). Seating capacity 2400. 
 
 Casino. — Wabash avenue, near .\dains street (t)- 
 Wax works, museum and frequent stage performances. 
 
 Criterion Theatre. — Corner Sedgwick and Division 
 strccl.s. Seating capacity, iSoo. Sedgwick street car 
 or north Clark street cable line. 
 
 German Theatre. — North side Randolph street, be- 
 tween Dearborn and Clark (t). (To be completed by 
 fall •<( 1S92 ' Seating capacity, 1300. 
 
 Grand Opera House. — East side Clark street, be- 
 tween Randolph and Washington (t). Seating ca- 
 pacity, iSoo. 
 
 Havlin's Theatre. — Wabash avenue, between iSth 
 and 2:>lli streets. Seating capacity, 2000. Wabash 
 avenu- cable cars. 
 
 Haymarket Theatre. — West Madison street, be- 
 tween Ilalslea'l and Inion. Seating capacity 2,475. 
 Madison street cable cars. 
 
 Haverley's Theatre. — North side Randolph street, 
 l)etween La Salle and Clark (t). Sealing capacity, 
 1506. 
 
 H. R. Jacob's Academy. — West side. South Hal- 
 .stead. near West Mailison street Seating capacity, 
 iSoo. West Madison street cable cars. 
 
 H. R. Jacob's Clark Street Theatre. — I->.st side 
 North Clark street, near Kinzie street Seating ca- 
 pacitv. ISOO. Dearl>orn street car running north. 
 
 Standard Theatre. — Corner Malstead and Jackson 
 streets. Seating cajKicity, 2200. South Halstead 
 street car at Randolpli and State streets. 
 
 Libby Prison Museum. — Wabash avenue, between 
 14th and l6tli streets. (Irigiiial Libby I'rison briuiglit 
 from Richmond, Va , and rebuilt of the same in.ite- 
 rial and exactly as it was when I'nion sfddiers were 
 confined there during the RelKdlion. Many war relics 
 are shown, Wabash avenue cable cars. 
 
 Lyceum Theatre. — Desplaines street, between Mad- 
 ison and Washington. Seating capacity, 2000. Mad- 
 ison street cable cars. 
 
 Madison Street Theatre.— North side Madison 
 street near St.ili » Sciting capacity. 1400. 
 
 McVlcker's Theatre —Madison street, near State 
 
 street 1 + 1. Selling ca]i.icity, Igin. 
 
 New Windsor Theatre.— Comer North Clark and 
 Division .streets. Seating capacity 2,000. North 
 Clark street cable cars. 
 
 Park Theatre. - State street, lietwcen Congress and 
 Harrison streets. Scaling capacity 1,500. SUile street 
 cable car. 
 
 People's Theatre. — State street, between Congress 
 anil Harrison streets. Sealing capacity 2,000. Slate 
 street cable car. 
 
 Waverly Theatre. — West Madison street, between 
 Tliroop and I.oomis. Seating capacity, 1400. Madi- 
 son street cable cars. 
 
 Zimmerman Opera House. — Sixty-third street and 
 Sewart avenue. Xiiiglewood. Seating capacity, 1200. 
 Chicago and Rock Island Railroad to Englewood. 
 
 COMMERCLVL EXCn.\NGES. 
 
 There are comparatively few commercial exchanges 
 in Chicago, the tendency in speculative business run- 
 ning mostly to grain and provisions. 
 
 Board of Trade. — La Salle street. Jackson street. 
 Pacific avenue and Sherman street (t). The leading 
 grain and provision mart in the world. Memljership 
 2000. The building, 200x174 feet, cost f 1.800,000. It 
 is of grav granite, with a tower 322 feet high. The 
 great hall or exchange is 174x155 feet. .\t the Jack- 
 son Street end is a gallery open to the public, and at 
 the other a gallery for invited guests. The trans- 
 actions on the Chicago Board of Trade involve greater 
 money values than in the exchange of London, the 
 Paris ' Bourse or the New York Stock Exchange. 
 Thev are of vastlv greater consequence to humanity 
 in nearlv all parts of the world. 
 
 Builders and Traders Exchange.— 159 La Salle 
 street (tl. (Rooms 12. 14, 16.) Dealers in all kinds 
 of building material, contractors and investors meet 
 daily to buy and sell all articles used in the construc- 
 tion of buildings. New inventions are frequently dis- 
 plaveil. 
 
 Chicago Real Estate Board. — Randolph and Dear- 
 born It) I Real Estate Board Buildingt.— The member- 
 ship includes most ol the leading, responsible real estate 
 dealers of the city. .\ daily record of transfers is kepi, 
 and proposals for purchase or sale are posted. Im- 
 partial valuations of property arc made for intending 
 sellers or investors by a committee appointed for that 
 purpose, for a small fee. Close watch is maintained 
 on municipal legislation affecting real estate. Com- 
 plaints of dishonest or unscrupulous dealing by real 
 estate agents are investigated and assistance rendered 
 in punishing such fraud. 
 
 Chicago Stock Exchange.— Dearborn and Monroe 
 (t). I Slock p:xchaiige Building.) Interest in stock 
 speculation in Chicago has been rapidly increasing 
 since 1S.S9, when the sales aggregated only 145-725 
 shares of stock and #19,029,500 of bonds, against 
 750,000 shares of stock and #9,500.000 of bonds in 
 1891. While the scenes on the Chicago Exchange on 
 exciting davs will not compare in interest to the vis- 
 itor with tliose on the New York Exchange, a very 
 comprehensive idea may lie gained of the methrxls of 
 coiKliicting stock sjK'culatioiis. There are accoinmo- 
 d.ations for visitors ihiniig business hours from 10 30 
 A. M. to 2. IS I'. M evirv (l.iv. 
 
 Fruit Buyers Association. — 144 South Water 
 stn-et ( meets in Produce IvxchangeV To regulate 
 the sale of California fruit, of which lo to 20 car 
 loails arrive ill Chicigo d.iilv. 
 
 Fruit and Vegetable Dealers Exchange. — 144 
 South Water sln-el. .X general market lor commis- 
 sion merrhanls in fruits and vegolnblev
 
 828 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 PARKS AND BOULEVARDS. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting feature of Chicago to 
 %'isitors. except, of course, the Worhl's Fair, is the 
 public parks and Boulevard s\-stein by which they are 
 connected. Beginning at Humboldt Boulevard on the 
 north, the iuqui'rers of this GUIDE will readily trace 
 the magnificent pleasure drive west, south and east 
 again until at Washington Park it connects with 
 Drexel and Grand Boulevards running north to Oak- 
 land Boulevard, and via 35th street, joining Michigan 
 Boulevard which extends into (going north ) the very 
 heart of the city. There will be thirty-eight miles of 
 boulevards when the system is completed. Twenty 
 miles are now in use. ' These magnificent avenues, 
 none of them less than 200 feet wide, connect and are 
 a part of the public parks of the city. Like the parks 
 thev are beautiful in the highest art of the landscape 
 gardener, and are, for the most part, lined by the pa- 
 latial residences of Chicago's wealthiest citizens. 
 The park system embraces i. 974. 61 acres exclusive of 
 the boulevards. It is divided into North, South and 
 West svstenis, as the city is into similarly designated 
 " sides!" Commissioners for each section are elected 
 by the courts and have absolute control over the roads 
 and parks. A direct tax on the respective geographi- 
 cal divisions of the city provides means for improving, 
 keeping in repair and policing parks and boulevards. 
 The prohibition of traffic wagons on all these drives 
 devotes them solely to pleasure purposes, and enables 
 their guardians to keep them always in holiday attire. 
 The principal car lines by which to reach the parks 
 are as follows : 
 
 Jackson Park— South Side.— (Used for World's 
 Fair until summer of 1S94. ) 586 acres on the shore of 
 Lake Jlichigan. Illinois Central R. R. to 57th street 
 station, or Wabash avenue cable line, Hyde Park car. 
 
 Washington Park— South Side.— 371 acres. Wa- 
 bash avenue or State street cable lines. Park phaetons 
 convey visitors to all points of interest and through 
 Grand and Drexel boulevards for 25c. 
 
 Douglas Park— West Side.— 179 acres. West 12th 
 street, or Ogdeu avenue cars. 
 
 Garfield Park— West Side.— 1S5 acres. WestMad- 
 ison street cable cars. 
 
 Humboldt Park— West Side.— 200 acres. Milwau- 
 kee avenue cable cars or West North avenue cars. 
 
 Lincoln Park — North Side. — 250 acres. North 
 Clark street cable car. The Grant and Lincoln Monu- 
 ments, a well .stocked menagerie and an -electric 
 fountain are features of interest in Lincoln Park. 
 
 Lake Shore Drive. — Beginning on the north side of 
 Chicago avenue at Pme street and extending along 
 the Lake front to the northern extremity of Lincoln 
 Park, wbere it connects with Sheridan road which is 
 completed along the edge of the lake for twenty -five 
 miles. This is.'bevond question, the grandest boule- 
 vard and most ambitious improvement Chicago has 
 undertaken. For nearlv the entire distance along the 
 east edge of Lincoln Park the drive is from 150 to 200 
 feet from the shore. The granite blocks are laid 
 on a foundation of earth and "piles, and cemented to- 
 gether so as to compose a solid mass of masonry. Be- 
 tween the drive and the sloping banks of the park is a 
 canal, forming the finest three mile rowing regatta 
 course in the country. The east side of the drive, ex- 
 posed to the violence of the lake storms is a heavy sea 
 wall with a parapet. This improvement has been in pro- 
 gress since 18S8, and is expected to be completed by 
 the fall of '92. The drive will cross a steel swinging 
 bridge of beautiful design beneath which the canal 
 and lake waters join. The north and south ends of 
 the drive have land connections with Lincoln Park. 
 For some distance along the south end of the drive it 
 
 is lined bj- the most beautiful and costly mansions of 
 Chicago's oldest and wealthiest families. 
 
 MONUMENTS IN CHICAGO. 
 
 Douglas Monument. — Douglas Park. A granite 
 shaft 104 feet high, above a mausoleum containing the 
 remains of Stephen A. Douglas, one of Illinois' 
 greatest sons. A bronze statue surmounts the shaft. 
 Wabash avenue cable car to 35th street, or Illinois 
 Central R R. to Douglas Park. 
 
 Police Monument. - Haym a rket Square. A bronze 
 statue of a Chicago policeman, erected by the city in 
 memorv of the seven gallant officers who were killed 
 in the Anarchist riot, May 4, 18S6. Randolph street 
 cars. 
 
 Soldiers' Monument. — Rosehill Cemetery. (See 
 cemeteries.) 
 
 Lincoln Monument. — Lincoln Park. Considered 
 the most accurate likeness of Lincoln in bronze. Exe- 
 cuted by St. Gandens. Cost, with pedestal, |;5o,ooo. 
 Presented to the city by the late Eli Bates. 
 
 Grant Monument. — Lincoln Park. A colossal 
 equestrian bronze figure on a massive foundation of 
 masonry. Executed bj' Rebisso of Cincinnati and 
 erected with funds secured by private subscription. 
 
 Von Linne Monument. — Lincoln Park. Erected 
 in memory of the eminent naturalist, Carl Von Linnd 
 bv the Swedish societies of Chicago. The figure is of 
 bronze and is an exact reproduction of the Linn^ 
 monument at Stockholm. Executed by Dyreman, 
 the Swedish sculptor. 
 
 There are also fine statues of Shakespeare and 
 Schiller in Lincoln Park, and others of less im- 
 portance. 
 
 LIBRARIES. 
 
 Public Library of Chicago occupies ample accom- 
 modations in the City Hall (the blcck bounded by 
 Washington, Randolph, Clark and La Salle streets) 
 (t). It is one of the largest in the United States. The 
 last annual report states that the library contains 430,- 
 094 volumes, covering almost everj- branch of litera- 
 ture. During the year there were 492,837 visitors to 
 the reading rooms and 1,290,514 permits were granted 
 for the use of books. There is a separate reading 
 room for women, and every facility is offered for 
 studv and research. The library is maintained by the 
 citv,' the total cost for 1S91 being 5102,869.19. Five 
 branch reading rooms are maintained in outlying 
 sections of the city. The library is open to the public 
 from 9 .\. M. to 10 P.M. week days and 10 A. 11. to 10 
 p. XI. Sunda3'S. 
 
 Newberry Library. — N. W. corner State and Oak 
 streets. Now occupies temporary quarters pending" 
 the completion of its new building which will have 
 space for one million volumes. The founder, the 
 late Walter L. Newberrv, bequeathed real estate to 
 the library valued at from two and a half to three 
 million dollars. The trustees have postponed ener- 
 getic collection of books until the great building is 
 completed. The librarv now contains only So.oco 
 volumes, almost all of which are books of reference 
 such as cannot be consulted elsewhere except by own- 
 ership or in technical libraries. The department of 
 bibliography is verv complete, and the collection of 
 volum'es in the historv, science and theory of nmsic 
 has been pronounced by Theodore Thomas and Mr. 
 Walter Damrosch one of the finest in the country. 
 Open and free to visitors from 10 A. M. to 9 P.M. 
 North State street horse car or North Clark street 
 cable car to Oak street.
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 »29 
 
 CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 Bible Institute. 228-2:12 I^ Salk- avenue. Wo- 
 men's ikp.irtnn.iu 80 West Pearson street North 
 Clark street cabk- to Chicago avenue, west one Mock. 
 This institute was organized by Dwight L. Mcx>dy. its 
 object being to prepare men and women for evangeli- 
 cal work. There is an average of 100 men and 50 
 women students. 
 
 Central Women's Christian Temperance Union- 
 — Otfioc Ibi I.a Salle street ■ r . Conilucts several mis- 
 sions, dispensaries, nurseries. iiKhistrial schools, etc. 
 
 National Women's Christian Temperance Union. 
 — Main office, Temperance Temple, La Salle, corner 
 Monroe streets (f). 
 
 Voung Men's Christian Associations. — General 
 offices, Hoard of Managers and Control rooms, 148 
 Madison street iti. There are eight branches with 
 comnicKlious rooms in the city and suburbs. 
 
 Young Women's Christian Associations. — 243 
 Wabash avenue (t). Conducts also a boarding house 
 for young women. 
 
 ART GALLERIES AND PRIVATE 
 COLLECTIONS. 
 
 Interest in the fine arts has been rapidly increasing 
 in Chicago during the past decade, and finds a titling 
 climax for this generation, at least, in the magnificent 
 building for the .-Vrt Institute now being erected on 
 the lake front — between Jackson and Monroe streets, 
 with main entrance at the foot of .\dams street, (f) 
 The building will be a parallelogram, of Bedford lime- 
 stone, with granite base extending to the water table. 
 It will have a frontage of 320 feet on Michigan a'enue ; 
 main depth 175 feet with projections making an arc 
 208 feet in depth. The " Permanent Art Building," 
 as the new structure is called, will cost ;f6oo,ooo, of 
 which f275,rx)0 is contributed by The .-^rt Institute of 
 Chicago, which will occupy the new building ; •*2oo,- 
 000 by the World's Columbian Exposition, and tlie 
 remainder by private subscription and loan. The 
 building will be use.l during the Exposition for the 
 meetings of the World's Congress .\uxiliary of the 
 Exposition, and afterward turned over to the Art 
 Institute. Wabash avenue cable cars run one filock 
 west; Adams street cars pa-ss main entrance. Illinois 
 Central Railroad, Van Buren street station is a short 
 block east from main entrance. 
 
 Art Institute ot Chicago and Art Museum. — 
 Michigan avenue and Van Buren street. Considered 
 the finest example of modem architecture in Chicago, 
 and contains the finest collection of paintings and 
 casts west of the .AUeghenies. .'V<lmission free Satur- 
 days and from 1 to 5 o'clock Sundays. Admission 
 others days, 25 cents. Wabash avenue cable cars run 
 one block v.-est. (This building will be occupied by 
 the Chicago Club when the .\rt Institute moves to the 
 Permanent .\rt Buililing mentiened above ; probably 
 in the spring of 1894.) 
 
 Chicago Society of Artists. — .^theneuni Buililing, 
 16 to 2') V.in liuren street, 1 + 1 seventh floor. Wabash 
 avenue lable cars. 
 
 Union League Art Association. — I'nion League 
 Club-house Jackson street, opjxjsite Post-office (t). Ob- 
 ject, perfecting collection in the club-house, .admis- 
 sion liy invitation. 
 
 Vincennes Gallery of Fine Arts.— .v^ai Vincennes 
 avenue, p'ree ■idinission. Green car on Wabiish ave- 
 nue cable line to 38th street. East three blocks. Ele- 
 vate^l Railroad to 41st and Prairie avenue. 
 
 The finest private collections are those of Charles T. 
 Yerkes, 3201 Michigan avenue ; Potter Palmer. Luke 
 
 Shore Drive, North Side ; J. W. Ellsworth, Union 
 League Club, and Charles L. Hutchinson, 2709 Prairie 
 avenue. 
 
 CIURCHES. 
 
 There are so many churches in Chicago that it 
 would be impossible in a compact guide to give the 
 names and locations of more than a few, conspicuous 
 either by their architectural beauty, the fame of their 
 pastors, or choirs. 
 
 Central Church. (Independent.) — Pastor, Prof. 
 David Swing, Central Music Hall, State and Ran- 
 dolph streets, ft) 
 
 People's Church. — llndejjendent.) — Pastor, Dr. 
 II. W. Thomas, McVickers' Theatre, Madison near 
 Stale street (ti. 
 
 Second Presbyterian. — Pastor, Rev. SimonJ. Mac- 
 Pherson, Michigan Boulevanl and 20th street. Wa- 
 ba.sli avenue cable carlo loth street. Eastone block. 
 
 Westminster Presbyterian. — Pastor, F. J. BrolKt, 
 Peoria and Jackson streets, .\dams street car to 
 Peoria. South one block to Jackson. 
 
 Plymouth Congregational. — Piistor, F. W. Gun- 
 saulns, Michigan liuukvard. near 26tli street Green 
 cars on Wabash avenue cable line to 26th street. 
 West one block to Michigan Boulevard. 
 
 Sinai Congregation. — Rabbi. E. G. Hirsh, Indiana 
 avenue and 2ist street. Green cars on Wabash ave- 
 nue cabk- line 
 
 First Presbyterian. — Pastor, Dr. John H. Barrows, 
 Indiana and 3ISI street. Green car on Wabash ave- 
 nue cable line. 
 
 First Baptist.— Pastor, Dr. P. S. Henson. South 
 P.irk avenue and 31st street. Wabash avenue cable 
 car to 3 1 St street, west in block. 
 
 Union Park Congregational. — Pa.stor, Dr. F. A 
 Noble, Washington Boulevard, corner .Ashland Boule- 
 vard. Madison street cable carlo .Ashland Boulevard. 
 North one block. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal Cathedral. — Pastor, Rt. 
 Rev. William K. McLaren, Washington Boulevard 
 and Peoria street. Madison street cable cars to 
 Peoria street. North one block. 
 
 Grace Episcopal. — Pastor, Dr. Winlon Locke, 1445 
 Wabash avenue, Wabash avenue cable car. 
 
 Christ's Reformed Episcopal. — Pastor, Rt, Rev. 
 Charles IC. Cheney, MKliii;an Boulevanl and 24th 
 street. Wabash avenue cable car to Michigan and 
 221I street. South two blocks. 
 
 St. Paul's Episcopal. — Pastor, Rev. Samuel Fal- 
 lons. .\dains .street .md Winchester avenue. .Adams 
 street horse car. 
 
 First United Presbyterian.— Pastor, Dr. W. T. 
 Melov, Monroe an<l Paulina streets. Madison street 
 cable car to I'auliin South one block. 
 
 Fourth Presbyterian.— Pastor, Dr. M. W. Strvker. 
 Rush and Su]x:rior street. State street horse car on 
 Carette line. 
 
 All Souls. (Unitarian 1 — Pastor. Jenkin Lloyd 
 Jones. Oakwood Boulevard and I.angley avenue. Wa- 
 bash avenue car to Oakwood Boulevard. West one 
 block. 
 
 St. James. (Episcopal. — Pa.stor, (pulpit vacant.) 
 Cass and Huron streets. North State street cars t<> 
 Huron, I\asl one bl<x:k. 
 
 CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 
 It is estimated by those most actively engaged in 
 organized charily work in Chicago that voluntury 
 money gifts for public in.stitntions amount to fully 
 |3,(x»,ooo annually. This does not incluile hospitals 
 or reformatory institutions. The most important in- 
 stitutions—those that strangers to Chicago might Ijc 
 interesteil in visiting— are enuiner.iled on next page.
 
 800 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 American Educational Aid Society. — Secures 
 homes for cbilciren. Nurser\-, 23S 66th street. Illi- 
 nois Central R. R. to 6Sth Street Station. Dormitory 
 for older children, Aurora, Illinois. Chicago, Bur- 
 lington & Quincy R. R. City office, 232 La Salle 
 street(,t), Room 41. 
 
 Cook County Insane Asylum. — Dunning, Illinois. 
 Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. 
 
 Cook County Poor House. — Dunning, Illinois. 
 Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. 
 
 Foundling's Home. — 114 S. Wood street. 
 
 German Old People's Home. — Harlem, Illinois. 
 Wisconsin Central Railroad. 
 
 Holy Family Orphan Asylum. — Holt and Division 
 streets. Noble street car on Madison street cable line 
 to Noble and Division streets. West two blocks. 
 
 Home for Crippled Children. — 91 Heine street. 
 West North avenue car on North Clark street cable 
 line. 
 
 Homes for the Aged. — 29 and 31 East 25th street. 
 Wabash avenue cable cars to 25th and Cottage Grove 
 avenue, West Harrison street, corner Throop ; West 
 Harrison street car at Wa.shington street and Michi- 
 gan avenue. Sheffield avenue, corner Fullerton ave- 
 nue. Fullerton avenue car on North Clark street 
 cable line. 
 
 Illinois Industrial School for Girls. — (Reforma- 
 tory. ) South Evanstou Illinois. Chicago & North- 
 western R. R. or Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul R. R. 
 
 Illinois Industrial Training School for Boys. — 
 Glennwood Park, Illinois. Chicago & Eastern Illinois 
 Railroad. 
 
 Illinois Masonic Orphans' Home. — 447 Carroll 
 avenue. West Lake street car at State and Lake to 
 Sheldon street North two blocks. 
 
 Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home. — (Government 
 institution.) Normal, Illinois. Chicago, Rock Island 
 & Pacific R. R. 
 
 Illinois Women's Soldiers' Home. — 1408 Wabash 
 avenue. Wabash avenue cable car. 
 
 Old People's Home. — Indiana avenue, corner 
 39th street. Green car on Wabash avenue cable line. 
 
 St. Joseph's Home for the Friendless. — Indus- 
 trial school for boys and girls and for the deaf. ) 409 
 South May street. West 12th street car above Wash- 
 ington and State streets to May street. One block 
 north. 
 
 St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum. — 35th street, corner 
 Lake avenue. Illinois Central R. R. to 36th street. 
 East one block to Lake Avenue. 
 
 CEMETERIES. 
 
 Rosehill, Oakwoods and Graceland are the three 
 resting places of Chicago's Protestant dead which art 
 and nature have combined to make most worthy a 
 visit by strangers. In these cemeteries many of the 
 early settlers repose, and the monuments and tomb- 
 stones bear names most associated in the past with 
 Chicago's greatness. 
 
 Aushe Maariv.— North Clark and Belmont avenues. 
 Evanstou Division, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
 R. R., or North Clark street cable car. 
 
 Austro-Hungarian.— Waldheim, ten miles from 
 City Hall. Northern Pacific R. R. 
 
 Beth Hamedrash. — 67th street and Cottage Grove 
 avenue. Wabash avenue cable, or Illinois Central 
 R. R. to 67th street station. 
 
 B'nai Abraham.— Waldheim. (See Austro-Hun- 
 garian Cemetery.) 
 
 Calvary. — Near South Evanston, ten miles north of 
 Citv Hall. Chicago & Northwestern R. R., or Chicago, 
 Milwaukee & St. Paul R. R. 
 
 "I Adjoining cemeteries on the banks 
 
 Concordia. | of the Desplaines River, nine miles 
 
 Forest Home, west of City Hall. Northern Pacific 
 1 R. R. 
 
 German Lutheran. — North Clark street, corner 
 Graceland avenue. North Clark street cable car. 
 
 Graceland. — Beuna Park, five miles north of City 
 Hall. The largest and most beautiful cemetery in 
 Chicago. Evanston Division, Chicago, Milwaukee & 
 St. Paul R. R. 
 
 Mount Greenwood. — Morgan Park, fourteen miles 
 south of Citv Hall. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
 R. R. 
 
 Mount Olive. — (Scandinavian.) Dunning, nine 
 miles west of Citv Hall. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
 Paul R. R. 
 
 Oakwoods. — 67th street and Cottage Grove avenue. 
 Illinois Central R. R. to 67th street station, or 
 Wabash avenue cable car. 
 
 Rosehill. — Rosehill Station, seven miles northeast 
 of City Hall. Jlilwaukee Division, Chicago & North- 
 western Railroad. 
 
 St. Boniface. — North Clark street, corner Law- 
 rence avenue. (German Roman Catholic.) North 
 Clark street cable car. 
 
 Waldheim. — Waldheim, ten miles west of City 
 Hall. Northern Pacific Railroad. 
 
 GENTLEMEN'S CLUBS. 
 
 The numerous dining, musical and social clubs in 
 the World's Fair city are not enumerated, as the visi- 
 tor will be interested only in those having houses open 
 to visitors by agreement w ith their home clubs for an 
 exchange of courtesies or by special invitation. 
 
 Argo Club. — Lake Michigan end of Illinois Central 
 Pier. Difficult of access except by carriage. The 
 club house is built on the end of the pier so as to 
 secure for members the cool lake breezes of a summer 
 afternoon. The house is in the form of a boat. In 
 the hull are the kitchens, store-rooms and serv-ants' 
 quarters. The main saloon is on the first deck ; the 
 state-rooms for lodging members on the second deck, 
 and the promenade on the hurricane deck. Member- 
 ship is confined to about 100 wealthy and socially 
 prominent Chicagoans. 
 
 Ashland Club. — 575 Washington Boulevard. The 
 leading social organization on the west side. The 
 house contains besides the rooms usual to clubs, a 
 banquet hall large enough for 200 persons ; an assem- 
 bly hall 60 X So feet and bowling allej-s. The club 
 house cost 185.000. Madison street cable cars to Page 
 street north to Washington Boulevard. 
 
 Calumet Club. — Michigan Boulevard and 20th 
 street. In addition to the usual club features, the 
 Calumet aims to preserve the early history of the city 
 and State. Wabash avenue cable to 20th street, east 
 to Michigan Boulevard. 
 
 Chicago Club. — Monroe street, between State street 
 and Wabash avenue (f opposite ladies' entrance to 
 Palmer House. The membership includes most of 
 Chicago's millionaires and leading professional men. 
 
 Chicago Electric Club. — 103 Adams street (t;. 
 Membership confined almost exclusively to electri- 
 cians, engineers and scientific men. 
 
 Church Club. — 103 .\dams street (t). Membership 
 limited to clergy and laity of the Episcopal church. 
 
 Douglas Club. — 351S Ellis avenue. Wabash avenue 
 cable to 35th .street, east one block to Ellis avenue, or 
 Illinois Central R. R. to 36th street, west two blocks 
 to Ellis avenue. 
 
 Germania Mzennerchor. — North Clark, corner 
 Germania Place. Membership mostly Germans. Musi-
 
 COI.I'MIU'S AM) COLr.Ml'.IA. 
 
 8.n 
 
 cal entertainments are a conspictiuus feiiturc of this 
 club. Nortli Clark street cable car to Gernmnia 
 riacf. 
 
 Hyde Park Club. — Wiisliington avenue and sist 
 street. Illinois Central R. R. to 50th street station. 
 West one hl.ick to W.isliinijton avenue. 
 
 Iltinois Club. — 154 .\slilanil Koulevaril. Madison 
 street c.iblc i.ir to .\sliland Boulevanl. 
 
 Indiana Club. — '•,iA9 Indiana avenue. Green car 
 on \V,il).isli avenue cal>le line. 
 
 Irish-American Club. — .}o Dearborn street (f). 
 Irish birlli or ancestry is ncces.s;iry for membership. 
 
 Iroquois Club. — no Monroe street. Columbia 
 TlK-alre lUiildin^ (^t*. The leading Democratic club 
 of Chicago. 
 
 Kenwood Club. — Lake avenue and 47th street. 
 Illinois Central R. R. to 47tli street station, east one 
 block to I,ake avenue. 
 
 Lakeside Club. — Incliana avenue, between 31st and 
 32d slrcels. Green car* on Wabash avenue cable 
 line. 
 
 La Salle Club. — 542 west Monroe street. A leading 
 Republicui organization. Madison street cable car to 
 Lanin street, south one block. 
 
 Lincoln Club. — 551 West .Adams street .\ thriving 
 Republican organization, .\danis street horse car. 
 
 Marquette Club.-^Dearljoni avenue and Maple 
 street. .V Republican social organization. North 
 Clark street cable car to Maple street, east one block 
 to Dearborn avenue. 
 
 Oakland Club. -Ellis and Oakland avenue. Illi- 
 nois Central R. R. to Oakland station, west two blocks 
 t" i;ilis avenue. 
 
 Press Club of Chicago. — 131 Clark street (t)- 
 Membership lonruiid to men actively engaged in 
 jouriialisni. 
 
 Sheridan Club. — Michigan Boulevard ami 41st 
 street. Social, ilraniatic ;.nd musical. Elevated R. R. 
 10 Michigan Boulevard Station. 
 
 Standard Club. — Michigan Boulevard and 24th 
 .'-■rrrt. The leading Hebrew club of Chicago. 
 W.ibasli avenue cable car to 22d street and Michigan 
 Boulevard. South two blocks. 
 
 Umni Club. — Washington Place and De.irborn ave- 
 nue. North Clark street cable car to Washington 
 I'lace, east one block. 
 
 Union League Club. — Jackson .street and Fourth 
 avenue It] oppositi- Tost Office. The foremost com- 
 mercial anil ])rofessional club in Chicago. While not 
 ;m avowedly Republican organization as are clubs of 
 the same name in other cities the Union I.e.ague was 
 incorjjorated with the object of encouraging and pro- 
 moting unconditional loyalty to the Federal Govern- 
 ment. The club has in aiidition to the most elaborate 
 banquet hall, cafe ami usual club rooms, a valuable 
 art collection and splendid library. Us location in 
 the heart of the citv h.-is caiLsed it to become the favor- 
 ite lunching pl.ace for the leading business men. 
 
 University Club. — Dearborn street an<l Calhoun 
 I'lace 1 1 between Washington and Madison streets. 
 Membership limited to college grarluates. 
 
 Washington Park Club.— South Park avenue and 
 6inI street. The club owns and man.igcs the finest 
 race track in the West, its annual meetings, particu- 
 lar! v the " .American Derby " Iwing .'imoiig the most 
 important turf events of the country. The club house 
 liiis the cafO, banijuet-room and priv.ite ilining-riHiiiis 
 usual to the best organizations anri its inemliershij) 
 includes the le;idiiig business men of Chicago. Illi- 
 nois Central R. R. to South P.irk Station or Wabash 
 avenue cable cars to 6ist street. 
 
 NEWSP.VPER OFFICK.S. 
 
 There are 24 ilaily papers publisheil in Chicago. 
 Visitors will be impressid by their high character ami 
 great size ; particularly the Sunday issues. The Itx'a- 
 tion of publication ollices and their politics are given 
 below. .\s most of the more important oflTicesare in tile 
 Ixiundaries indicated by the (f) in this guide or within 
 a block thereof the ^tj is omitted on those within the 
 boundary. 
 
 Abend Post. — Daily morning. German. Iiide- 
 pendeiil in ])olitics. 203 Fifth avcuue, one block west 
 of ( t boundarv. 
 
 Arbeiter Zettung.— Daily, morning. German. So- 
 cialistic. 274 West Twelfth street. Cars at comer of 
 State and Washington streets. 
 
 Mail. — Daily, evening Independent in politics. 
 120 I'ifth avenue, one block west of ( f ) boundarj-. 
 
 Globe.— Daily md Sunday, morning. Democratic. 
 IlS I'ifth avenue, one block west of (tl boundary. 
 
 The Daily National Hotel Reporter. — Daily, morn- 
 ing. Prints complete list of arrivals at hotels. No. 7 
 Monroe street. 
 
 The Chicago News.— Daily, evening. Indepen- 
 dent. 123 Fifth avenue, one block ivest of (t) boun- 
 dar\-. 
 
 The Chicago News-Record.- Daily, morning. In- 
 depeii'knt. 123 Fifth avenue, one block west of (f) 
 boundary. 
 
 Evening Journal. — Daily, evening. Republican. 
 l6r Diarboni street- 
 
 Frcie Presse.— Daily, morning. German. Repub- 
 lican. 90, 94 F'ifth avenue, one block west of (f) 
 boundary. 
 
 Herald. — Daily and Sunday, morning. Democratic. 
 154. '56, 15S Washington street, near I,a Salle. The 
 Herald occupies its own building, which is considered 
 the model newspaper office of the Uniteil States. Visi- 
 tors are welcomeil. 
 
 Illinois Staats Zeitung. — Daily, morning. Repub- 
 lican. Corner W.isliiiigtoii street and Fifth avenue, 
 one block west of (tl i)oundary. 
 
 Inter-Ocean.— Daily and Sunday, nioruing. Re- 
 publican. N. E corner Madison and Dearborn sts. 
 
 Post. — Daily, evening. Democratic. 164, 166 Wash- 
 ington street. 
 
 The Skandinavian. — Daily and Sunday, morning. 
 Republican. 1S3, 1.S5, \%- N. Peoria street. Milw.au- 
 kee ave. cable cars at corner La Salle and Madison sts. 
 to Peoria street. 
 
 Times — Daily and Sunday, morning. Democratic. 
 Corner Washington street and F'iftli avenue. One 
 bliick west of (tl boundary. 
 
 Tribune. — Daily and Sunday, moniiug. — S. E. cor. 
 Madison and Dearborn streets. 
 
 FORT DE.VRBORN. 
 
 The site of Fort Dearborn, the pioneer settlement of 
 Chicago, was at the comer of Michigan Boulevard and 
 South Water street, extemling across what is now 
 Water street to the very bank of the Chicago river. 
 The land is now occupied by a large mercantile estab- 
 lishment, a marble slab in the wall of the north front 
 of the building telling of the historical importance of 
 the spot. In 1673 I,<niis Joliet, agent of the Governor 
 of New France Louisiana), accompanied by Father 
 Incques Manpiette. a Jesuit priest, and a small band 
 of explorers, encamped at Chic.igo I'ortage —near the 
 site of I'ort Dearliorn. La Salle followed in 167S. but 
 there is no record of a permanent sittler until \'~<i, 
 when a fugitive slave, named Point De Sible. from 
 Louisiana, liuilt a hut and engaged in the life of a trup- 
 j>er. Shortly after the piirchiLse of I.,ouiHiana by the
 
 832 
 
 COLUMBUS AND COLUMBIA. 
 
 United States, Congress decided to build a fort on Lake 
 Michigan, and six square miles of territory having been 
 ceded by the Indians at the mouth of the Chicago 
 river, that point was selected for the new outpost Fort 
 Dearborn was completed in 1804, and the small garri- 
 son undertook to maintain itself with several thousand 
 unfriendly Indians in the surrounding country. Dur- 
 ing the war of 1S12 British emissaries aroused the 
 Indians to open acts of hostility against the garrison of 
 the fort and the settlers who had built quite a 
 little village around it. On the morning of .\ugust 
 15, 1S12, it having been decided to evacuate the fort 
 and leave the village to the Indians, the little garrison 
 and settlers marched out, proceeding south along 
 what is now the Lake front of Chicago. _ At a point 
 that is now the foot of Eighteenth street it became ap- 
 parent that the Indians were determined to prevent 
 the escape of the soldiers and settlers. The running 
 fight that ensued continued until the remnant of the 
 Americans reached the place that is now the foot of 
 Forty-third street. By this time the Americans had 
 all been killed but twenty-eight, and a capitulation 
 was effected by which the lives of the prisoners were 
 to be spared. There is no exact data regarding how 
 many lives were sacrificed in this massacre, but the 
 most reliable historians place the number at between 
 sixty and seventy, including women and children. AH 
 but two of the women in the evacuating party were 
 slaughtered. The family of John Kinzie, one of the 
 first settlers remained in the village, and though Kinzie 
 joined the soldiers in fighting the Indians, the latter 
 held him in such high esteem that his wife and children 
 werei^fl^t molested. The prisoners were all finally re- 
 turned' to freedom by the Indians. .At the foot of 
 Eighteenth street stands an old tree surrounded bj' an 
 iron railing. It is here that most of the women and 
 children were killed and that the hardest fighting oc- 
 curred. 
 
 ARMORIES OF ILLINOIS N.\TIONAL GUARD. 
 
 First Regiment. — (Infantry.) Michigan Boulevard 
 and i6th street. Enrolment, 650 men. Wabash 
 avenue cable car to i6th street, one block east to 
 Michigan Boulevard. 
 
 Battery D, First Artillery. — Michigan Boulevard, 
 near Adams, (f). Equipment, four twelve-pound 
 Napoleons and four rapid-firing Gatlings. 
 
 Second Regiment. —(Infantry.) Washington 
 Boulevard and Curtis street. Enrolment, 950 men. 
 Madison street cable car to Curtis street, one block 
 north to Washington Boulevard. 
 
 Cavalry Troop, A. — 135 Michigan Boulevard (t). 
 Enrolment, 63 men. 
 
 Chicago Hussars. — .\rmory and club house in 
 process of construction, 35th street, near Cottage 
 Grove avenue. Enrolment, 104 men. The Hussars 
 have been appointed by the Director General of the 
 Exposition as the special guard of honor for himself 
 and the National Commission during the World's 
 Fair. Wabash avenue cable car to 35tli street. 
 
 UNION STOCK YARDS. 
 
 South Halstead street, five and one-half miles south- 
 west of City Hall. The stock yards and combined 
 slaughter and packing houses for the almost incom- 
 prehensibly large provision trade of Chicago were or- 
 ganized in '1865, and keeping pace in growth with the 
 trade, now embrace 400 acres of land. Within the 
 enclosure there are 150 miles of railroad tracks ; 20 
 miles of streets ; ditto of water troughs and 50 miles 
 of feeding troughs. The pens provide accommoda- 
 tions for 30,000 cattle, 200,000 hogs, 30,000 sheep and 
 4000 horses. The magnitude of the packing industry 
 
 and its importance to Chicago may best be understood 
 by .statistics for 1891. Capital invested (estimated), 
 ^37,000,000; value of live stock received, $39,434,777; 
 hands employed, 25,000; wages paid, $15,000,000; 
 value of product, $150,000,000. Every railroad run- 
 ning into Chicago is connected with the stock yards 
 by a belt line. Each morning the entire yard is de- 
 voted to the receipt and inspection oi' live stock 
 brought in during the night by the trains from the 
 South and West. In the afternoon the day's product 
 of the packing houses is loaded in trains for the East ; 
 the pens and houses are thoroughly and systemati- 
 calh- cleansed, and by a little after midnight all is 
 again ready for receiving more live stock. The busi- 
 ness of packing has now been so perfected that almost 
 every portion of an animal is applied to some com- 
 mercial use. A leading packer stated recently that he 
 had learned by chemical experiments to utilize so 
 umch material he had before counted as waste and 
 paid for hauling away that it made a difference in his 
 profits in one year of over $1,000,000, In 1S91, there 
 were slaughtered and packed 2,184.095 cattle, 157,052 
 calves 5,638,291 hogs and 1,465,332 sheep. There is 
 an average of nearly 2000 sight-seers a day at the 
 stock yards, besides many regular visitors who daily 
 drink blood, while warm from the animal, as a cure 
 for consumption. Admission is free and guides may 
 be engaged at the gates who, for twenty -five cents, will 
 conduct the visitor to and explain all points of inter- 
 est. There are many routes to the stock yards, but 
 the most convenient from the (f) district in this Guide 
 are the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. , or 
 State street cable car to 35th street, asking the conduc- 
 tor for a transfer to the yards. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
 
 Postoffice. — The U. S. Postoffice is in the block 
 bounded by Adams, Dearborn, Clark and Jackson 
 streets (f). Though the construction of this great 
 building was begun after the fire of 1871, and over 
 $5,000,000 was expended on it, there is immediate 
 need of a new building. The present postoffice was 
 poorly planned and badly constructed. The building 
 has settled and is deemed unsafe by many, though 
 en.gineers and architects declare it is not in danger of 
 collapse. The United States Custom House, Internal 
 Revenue office, Su'^-Treasury, Marshal's Office and 
 Pension Office are located in'the Postoffice building. 
 
 City Hall and County Court House.— (t). — These 
 two great structures occup}- the block bounded on 
 the North by Randolph street, East by Clark street. 
 West by La Salle street and South by Washington 
 street. " All the city and county offices are located 
 here, including the court rooms. The buildings ad- 
 join and communicate, and appear as one great edifice. 
 Together they have cost the citizens of Chicago and 
 Cook county $4,500,000. 
 
 Hack and Cab Rates.— (Two horse vehicles.) One 
 or two passengers from any railroad station to an- 
 pther, $1.00 ; ditto one mile' or less, $1.00 ; ditto over 
 one and less than two miles $1.50 ; ditto anv distance 
 exceeding two miles $2.00 ; for each additional pas- 
 senger of the same party, 50 cents. For any two 
 horse hack or cab hired by the hour : For the first 
 hour $2.00; each additional hour or part thereof, $1.00. 
 For trunk and ordinary hand baggage no charge is 
 allowed. Hansom and Cab Rates.— (One horse ve- 
 hicles.) For one or two passengers per mile or part 
 thereof, 25 cents. By the hour ; First hour, 75 cents ; 
 each quarter hour after first hour, 20 cents. While 
 the above rates are established by law it will be pru- 
 dent for visitors to make a bargain with the driver be- 
 fore enteritig the vehicle. 
 
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