Daily Kennebec journal., 1880-04-14
The 73emains Of Columbus.

In an article in the Historical and Geneal-
ogical Register for April. Mr. Charles W.
Tuttle says:
The removal, or even the attempt at remov-
Il, Of the venerable xemains Of the Great Ad-
uiral from San Domingo, where they had
been quietly inurned with those of his own
nearest kindred for nearly three centuries.
by the Spanish authorities, was a piece Of
national egotism and abuse, not justified by
any sufficient reason that has yet been given.
Who had better right to select the site Of his
sepulchre than he who had discovered half
the surface 6 the globe? Columbus had ex-
pressly desired that his remains might rest
forever in that beautiful tropical isle, one OF
the fruits of his earliest discoveries in the
New WerId-an island named by him His
PAMELA from its many real or fancied resem-
blances, in his eyes, to the SUMMER and fairer
parts Of Spain, although believing it to be
the ancient Ophir. Thither they were borne,
spared BY winds and waves, and inferred in
the metropolitan church There they were
as free from violence under one flag as an
other; for the name and memory Of the dis
coverer of the New World have always been
and always will be held in veneration and re-
membrance BY all people and all nations. If
the Spaniards have been defeated in their at
tempt to tear away the remains of Columbus
from his beloved Hispaniola, to violate the
sanctuary of the dead, there are but few who
will regret their failure.
A century later the greatest genius of Eng
land thought fit to prevent the removal and
confounding Of his ashes, by that fearful and
solemn menace:
''Cursed be he who moves my bones"
That Columbus should have survived so
many perils of the ocean during his long At
lantic voyages, to die on land among his own
kindred, and now the identity of his remains
be in dispute, is truly amazing. It is mani
fest that carelessness, negligence and nation
al ingratitude, have bequeathed to posterity a
new and endless controversy. The Span
ards and the Dominicans are each confident
that they possess the veritable remains OF
Columbus, the first Admirable of the Indies.
Spain has never been distinguished for
gratitude shown to men of genins. To
ried her banners into unknown seas, unlocked
the mysteries of the ocean, made peerless
discovery and conquest, and overspread the
Spanish monarchy and nation with imperish-
Il. Il.
sumptuous and more enduring than her
Escurial. Other nations would have record
ed his name and achievements in gold on
lasting pillars, and marked his grave with a
memorial beftting nations gratitude and
veneration. But her want of appreciation OF
exalted worth, and her neglect to commemor-
ate its achievements, sent the great Columbus
to grave so obscurely marked and identified
that none is now sure where his remains rest
What princely gift to nation and people,
and what a return
"a Castillo a Leon.
Neuvo Mundo dio Colon
This question fthe identity of the remains
of Columbus, now so warmly disputed, is faI
from being a local or even a national one
The civilized world desires to know where
lies the tomb of the greatest oceanic discoverel
of any age or of any nation. The Roman
Catholic Church. superior to human nation
ality, is interested in the preservation of the
relics of her illustrious son, who FIRST bore
the symbol of her faith over q vast and un.
known waste and nlanted il fnrexer in a