over the woods of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. Whole villages were destroyed by the flames, which travelled with such speed that it was often impossible for the fleetest horse to escape from them. Over fifteen hundred people perished in Wisconsin alone.

These terrible calamities aroused the generous sympathy of the rest of the country, and aid in money, clothing, and the necessities of life was liberally extended to the sufferers in Chicago and the other afflicted communities. The telegraph flashed the news across the Atlantic, and in an

HORACE GREELEY.

almost incredibly

short time liberal contributions in

money came pouring in from England and continental Europe, and even from the far-off cities of India.

On the 29th of May, 1872, Congress passed an act removing the disabilities imposed upon the southern people by the third section of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution. From this general exemption were excepted all

persons who had been members of Congress, officers of the army or navy, heads of departments under the general government, or ministers to foreign countries, who had resigned their positions and joined the secession movement. By this act at least one hundred and fifty thousand men of capacity and experience, whose services were greatly needed by the south, were restored to political life.

In the fall of 1872 the presidential election occurred. The canvass was marked by the most intense partisan bitterness. The Republican party renominated General Grant for the presidency, and supported

Henry Wilson for the vice-presidency. The measures of the administration had arrayed a large number of Republicans against it. These now organized themselves as the Liberal Republican party, and nominated Horace Greeley of New York for the presidency, and B. Gratz Brown of Missouri for the vice-presidency. The Democratic party made no nominations, and its convention indorsed the candidates of the Liberal Republican party. The election resulted in the triumph of the Republican candidates by overwhelming majorities.

The elections were scarcely over when the country was saddened by the death of Horace Greeley. He had been one of the founders of the Republican party, and had been closely identified with the political history of the country for over thirty years. He was the "Founder of the New York Tribune," and had done good service with his journal in behalf of the cause he believed to be founded in right. He was a man of simple and childlike character, utterly unaffected, and generous to a fault. In his manner and dress he was eccentric, but nature had made him a true gentleman at heart. His intellectual ability was conceded by all. His experience in public life and his natural disposition induced him to favor a policy of conciliation in the settlement of the reconstruction question, and, influenced by these convictions, he signed the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis and secured the release of the fallen leader of the south from his imprisonment. This act cost him a large part of his popularity in the north. He accepted the presidential nomination of the Liberal party in the belief that his election would aid in bringing about a better state of feeling between the north and the south. He was attacked by his political opponents with a bitterness which caused him much suffering, and many of his old friends deserted him and joined in the warfare upon him. Just before the close of the canvass, his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, died, and his grief for her and the excitement and sorrow caused him by the political contest broke down his firmness and unsettled his mind. He was conveyed by his friends to a private asylum, where he died on the 29th of November, 1872, in the sixty-second year of his age. The country could ill afford to spare him.

On the 9th of November, 1872, a fire occurred in Boston, and burned until late on the 10th, sweeping over an area of sixty-five acres in the centre of the wholesale trade of the city, and destroying property to the amount of seventy-eight million dollars. As this fire was confined to the business quarter of the city, comparatively few persons were deprived of their homes.

On the 4th of March, 1873, President Grant was inaugurated a second

time at Washington with great pomp. Twelve thousand troops took part in the procession which escorted him to the capitol.

Early in 1873 a troublesome war began with the Modoc Indian tribe on the Pacific coast. These Indians had been removed by the government from their old homes in California to reservations in the northern part of Oregon. They at length became dissatisfied with their new location, which they declared was unable to afford them a support, and began a series of depredations upon the settlements of the whites, which soon drew upon them the vengeance of the Federal government. Troops were sent against them, but they retreated to their fastnesses in the lava beds, where they maintained a successful resistance for several months. The government at length reinforced the troops operating against them, and General Canby, commanding the department of the Pacific, assumed the immediate command of the troops in the field. At the same time a commission was appointed by the government to endeavor to settle the quarrel with the Indians peaceably. This commission held several conferences with Captain Jack, the head chief of the Modocs, and the other Indian leaders, but accomplished nothing. At length the commissioners and General Canby agreed to meet the Indians in the lava beds a short distance in advance of the lines of the troops. They went unarmed and without an escort. While the conference was in progress the Indians suddenly rose upon the commissioners, and killed all but one, who managed to escape with severe wounds. General Canby was shot down at the same time, and died instantly.

The Indians at once fled to their strongholds amid the rocks. The troops, infuriated by the murder of their commander, closed in upon them from all sides, and shut them in the lava beds. Their position was one which a handful of men might defend against an army, and they held it with a desperate determination. They were dislodged finally by the shells of the American guns, and such as were not killed were captured. Captain Jack and his associates in the murder of General Canby and the commissioners were tried by a court-martial and sentenced to death. They were hanged in the presence of their countrymen and of the troops on the 3d of October, 1873.

For many years Cuba had been growing dissatisfied with the rule of Spain. In 1868 a revolution broke out in that island, having for its object the expulsion of the Spaniards and the establishment of the independence of Cuba. The patriot army was able to win numerous successes over the Spanish troops, and for several years maintained its position against every effort to dislodge it. Very great sympathy was manifested for the Cuban patriots by the people of the United States, and repeated

efforts were made to induce the government of this country to recognize the independence of Cuba and assist the patriots, or at least to acknowledge their rights as belligerents. The government, however, faithfully observed its obligations as a neutral power, and forbade the organization or departure of all expeditions from this country for the assistance of the Cubans. The Cuban agents were prevented from shipping arms or military supplies to their forces, and several vessels intended to serve as cruisers against the Spanish commerce were seized and detained by the Federal authorities. In spite of the precautions of the government, however, several expeditions did succeed in getting to sea and reaching Cuba. One of these embarked on the steamer "Virginius," in the fall of 1873. When off the coast of Jamaica, the Spanish war-steamer "Tornado" was sighted. She at once gave chase, and though the "Virginius" was on the high seas and was flying the American flag, overhauled her and took possession of her on the 31st of October. The "Tornado" then carried her prize into the port of Santiago de Cuba, which was reached the next day. Captain Fry, the commander of the "Virginius," and the crew and passengers of the vessel, were thrown into prison. After a mock trial, in which the simplest forms of decency were disregarded, Captain Fry and a number of the crew and passengers of the "Virginius," about thirty-five or forty in all, were shot by order of the military authorities. The other prisoners were held in a most cruel captivity to await the pleasure of the Spanish officials at Havana. The consul of the United States at Santiago de Cuba made great exertions to save Fry and those condemned to die with him. He was treated with great indignity by the Spanish officials, and was not. allowed to communicate with Havana, from which point he could consult his government by telegraph.

When the news of the seizure of the "Virginius" at sea under the American flag reached the United States, it aroused a storm of indignation. Meetings were held in all the principal cities, and the press unanimously sustained the popular demand that the government should require satisfaction for the outrage upon its flag. The general sentiment of the people was in favor of instant war, and it was openly declared that a better opportunity would never arise to drive the Spaniards out of Cuba and obtain possession of the island. /

The government acted with firmness and prudence. Several vessels of war were sent to Santiago de Cuba to prevent the execution of the surviving prisoners taken with the "Virginius;" the fleet in the West Indies was reinforced as rapidly as possible; and the navy was at once put on a war-footing in order to be ready for any emergency. The president was urged to convene Congress in extra session, but he declined to do so,