New-York tribune., 1877-09-29
THE REMAINS OF COLUMBUS.

have passed away since his nrst Durlll, Duu III
does not rest in peace. To-day two riva
capitals are quarrelling as to the possession o
his remains-tw0 capitals Of countries sep
arated by strip of sea, by political affinlties
by the fact that one of them has attained
freedom, while the other, though struggling
for independence, is yet held as colony
Both claim now to be the keepers of hi
ashes Since the angels disputed over the
body of Moses, there has been no such pro
longed difference over q corpse. WITHIN
few days the dispute has broken out afresh-
SantO Domingo insisting that the bones taker
from that city to Havana were not those ol
Christopher Columbus, but of his son Diego
while Havana claims that it duly received the
paternal and more illustrious remains. 1t is q
quarrel for antiquaries to decide, If, as is
stated, recent evidence has been found that
fortifes the assertion of the DOminicans; the
Havanese will doubtless continue to point to
the monumental slab with its tedious Latin
inscription, at the entrance to the choir of their
cathedral, and say, "Hic jacet."
Ii weary life could entitle any mortal to
rest in his grave, that repose should not have
been denied ~ Christopher Columbus. Anx-
ieties ever crowded upon him. On sea or land, IN
the New World or the Old, he was fighting con-
tinually against intrigue, cabal, mutiny, con-
spiracy. A hundred times victorious over his
enemies, his good fortune was never assured !;
he was always in danger as to his fame, bis
possessions, or his life his rights were at no
time secure, and he died in despair of attain
ing them. The promises of the Queen
LII fah l,In Ua
forgotten or ignored by the cold-hearted
sovereign who survived her. Columbus died
sick at heart and world-weary because those
promises were unfulfilled. He left to his son
Diego the grefs and the struggle that had
made his own life a burden, and Diego man.
fully accepted the load. He, too, cOntended
through long years with the same bitter and
unscIupulous enemies. He cleared his fathers
memory from vile aspersions, and justified bis
claims to priority of discovery. The paternal
titles and rights were also IN great part secured.
and Don Diego was treated as the VicerOy of
the Indies, and ultimately obtained the title,
although the full measure of the sub-sOver-
eighty which this gave was not conceded by the
crown. But the son had fallen heir to the
anxieties as well as to the rights of his
father, and from time to time was obliged
to exert his utmost ability to break
through the plots and cabals which threatened
him with the loss of royal favor. His death,
too, was undoubtedly fastened by these anx-
ieties and troubles. His son, Don Luis, gave
up the pretensions to vice-royalty, on receiv-
ing other titles, aud cOmmuted for pension
his claims to a tenth of the revenue of the
Indies; very shortly afterward he died, and
one of the most important law suits on record
took place. 1t was contest for the estates
and dignities of Columbus; they passed, after
long litigation, into a branch of the Portuguese
house of Braganza the court deciding that
the male line of descent from the great dis
cOverer was extinct
But not alone over titles, rank, fame and pos
sessions did the Genius of Unrest preside the
ashes of the navigator, as if they still retained
spark of his vitality, made journeys by land
and voyages by sea. The first burial was in
the convent of San Francisco, at NalladOlid,
Spain, where Columbus died on Ascension
Day. May 20, 1906. In 1913 the body was
Transported to the Cartbusian Monastery of
Las Cuevas, at Seville. A son of Columbus
fernando is buried in that city, and it is on
his tomb-not on that Of his father-tbat the
famous rhyming motto in Spanish is incribed
''To Castillo and Leon, Colon gave a new
world.n In 1886 the remains of Columbus,
with those of his son Diego, were transported
across the ocean to the city of SantO Domingo, in
the island of that name, and there inferred Diego
had died in Spain ten years before, when fol-
lowing the Court of the Emperor Charles w.,
\ q 10 ,oet;tu+,n, of
and property he had already proved his inno-
cence of alleged crimes against the Crown, and
held the title of VicerOy. The remains of the
illustrious father and son rested in the
cathedral at Santo Domingo fOr more
than two centuries and half, when the
treaty of 1895, between France and Spain,
made the latter power desirOus to have the
dust of the discoverer removed to the "eyer
faithful isle" of Cuba. The exhumation and
conveyance of the venerated relies were
performed with great and solemn ceremony.
Eminent dignitaries of Church and State as
sisted. Solemn mass was celebrated, and an
archbishop pronounced the funeral Grafton. At
the appropriate moment all the guns of the
shipping in port and forts in the harbor gave
salutes, appropriate to the rank of the Vice
roy. A large procession attended the removal
to the sea-shOre. Similar and equally impress
sive solemnities were observed on the arrival
of the remains at Havana. January 10, 1896.
If 1t shall appear that these rites Were per-
formed by mistake over the remains of the son,
instead of the father, it will afford another
instance of the better though always made
equate fortune that attended Diego. He re-
ceived the title and most of the possessions
for which his father vainly strove; it would be
but continuance of destiny if his remains
obtained the hOnors that were due to his sire.
This Doth of Sentemher WIS set anart for centu-