Volume V Part 18 (1/2)

The granite mausoleum in Riverside Park, New York City, designed to receive the remains of General Grant, was completed in 1897, and upon the 27th of April, that year, formally presented to the city. Ten days previously the body had been removed thither from the brick tomb where it had reposed since August 8, 1885. Four ma.s.sive granite piers, with rows of Doric columns between, supported the roof and the obtuse cone of the cupola, which rested upon a great circle of Ionic pillars. The interior was cruciform. In the centre was the crypt, where, upon a square platform, rested the red porphyry sarcophagus. From the mausoleum summit, 150 feet above, the eye swept the Hudson for miles up and down.

The presentation day procession was headed by the presidential party.

The Governor of New York State, the Mayor of the city, and the United States diplomatic corps were prominent. Other distinguished guests attended, including Union and Confederate Veterans. The entire procession reached six miles. There were 53,500 partic.i.p.ants, military and civil, and 160 bands of music. At the same time, in majestic column upon the Hudson, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain joined, with men-of-war, our North Atlantic squadron, saluting the President as he pa.s.sed.

The exercises at the tomb were simple. Bishop Newman offered prayer.

”America” was sung. President McKinley delivered an address of eulogy.

General Horace Porter gave the mausoleum into the city's keeping, a trust which Mayor Strong in a few words accepted.

CHAPTER XII.

THE WAR WITH SPAIN

[1895-1898]

How early Cuban discontent with Spain's rule became vocal is not known.

An incipient revolt in 1766 was ruthlessly put down. Though the ”Ever Faithful Isle” did not rebel with the South American colonies under Bolivar, it was never at rest, as attested by the servile revolts of 1794 and 1844, the ”Black Eagle” rebellion of 1829, and the ten-years'

insurrection beginning in 1868. In 1894-1895, just as ”Home Rule for Cuba” had become a burning issue in Spain, martial law was proclaimed in Havana, precipitating the last and successful revolution.

American interest in the island, material and otherwise, was great. The barbarity and devastation marking the wars made a strong appeal to our humane instincts; nor could Americans be indifferent to a neighboring people struggling to be free. The suppression of filibustering expeditions taxed our Treasury and our patience. Equally embarra.s.sing were the operations of Cuban juntas from our ports. To solve the complex difficulty Presidents Polk, Buchanan, and Grant had each in his time vainly sought to purchase the island. The Virginius outrage during Grant's inc.u.mbency brought us to the very verge of war, prevented only by the almost desperate resistance of Secretary Hamilton Fish.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait.]

Governor-General Weyler.

When the final rebellion was under way the humane Governor-General Martinez Campos was succeeded by General Weyler, ordered to down the rebellion at all costs. Numberless buildings were burnt and plantations destroyed, the insurgents retaliating in kind. Non-combatants were huddled in concentration camps, where half their number perished.

American citizens were imprisoned without trial. One, Dr. Ruiz, died under circ.u.mstances occasioning strong suspicions of foul play.

President Cleveland, while willing to mediate between Spain and the Cubans, preserved a neutral att.i.tude, refusing to recognize the insurgents even as belligerents, though they possessed all rural Cuba save one province. Only when about to quit office did Mr. Cleveland hint at intervention.

Soon after McKinley's accession an anarchist shot Premier Canovas, when Sagasta, his Liberal successor, promised Cuba reform and home rule.

Weyler was succeeded by Blanco, who revoked concentration, proclaimed amnesty, and set on foot an autonomist government. Americans were loosed from prison. Clara Barton, of the American Red Cross Society, hastened with supplies to the relief of the wretched reconcentrados, turned loose upon a waste. Spain, too, appropriated a large sum for reconcentrado relief, promising implements, seed, and other means for restoring ruined homes and plantations.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Copyright. 1898, by F. C. Hemment.

U. S. Battles.h.i.+p Maine Entering the Harbor of Havana, January, 1898.

But the iron had entered the Cuban's soul. The belligerents rejected absolutely the offers of autonomy, demanding independence. The ”pacificos” were no better off than before, and relations between the United States and Spain grew steadily more strained. Two incidents precipitated a crisis.

A letter by the Spanish Minister at Was.h.i.+ngton, Senor de Lome, was intercepted and published, holding President McKinley up as a time-serving politician. De Lome forestalled recall by resigning; yet his successor, Polo y Bernabe, could not fail to note on arriving in Was.h.i.+ngton a chill diplomatic atmosphere.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Wreck of U. S. Battles.h.i.+p Maine.

Photograph by F. C. Hemment.