Columbus Statue for San The world outside of America is exhibiting the keenest interest in the approaching Columbus celeDomingo. bration and the wish to honor the memory of the Great Discoverer is expressed in many notable ways. It is reported that a well known American manufacturing company has received the contract to cast a large bronze statue of Columbus. It is to be erected on the island of Hayti, in that portion of it occupied by the San Domingo republic. The spot selected is at ancient Isabella which was the site of the first permanent colony in the New World, projected and founded by the discoverer. An interesting feature of this project is that it was conceived by a gentleman residing at Boston, and has been carried to a successful issue by the vigorous support of a Catholic Review published in that city. R. Andrew, of the Massachusetts State Normal Art School, furnished the designs, and the model is from the hands of the Belgian sculptor, Alois Buyens, of Ghent. The statue will present Columbus in an erect posture, his left hand extending toward heaven in token of thanksgiving, while upon a sphere at his feet is indicated the settlement at Isabella in San Domingo, then called Hispaniola, towards which is pointed the figure's right. hand. The land necessary to erect it has been given, and the statue will be admitted duty-free, American Authors. seem that it should be none the less so to all those who are interested in literature, and its struggles for proper recognition and protection in the world's market, to learn that an Association of American Authors has been recently formed. This was done at the invitation of Gen. Wilson, President of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Col. Thos. W. Higginson presided and a constitution was 'adopted, of which the objects are: "To promote a professional spirit among authors; to establish better business methods between authors and publishers; to endeavor to settle disputes between authors and publishers by arbitration or by an appeal to the courts; to maintain, define and defend literary property; and in general, to advance the interests of American authors and literature." The officers elected at the meeting were:-President, Colonel Thomas W. Higginson; vice-presidents, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Moncure D. Conway and Maurice Thompson; treasurer, General James Grant Wilson; secretary, Charles Burr Todd. All persons engaged in recognized literary pursuits may become members. The initiation fee and first STANFORD IRRADICS year's dues are five dollars; yearly dues, three dollars. Persons may become life members on payment of fifty dollars, and any individual giving five dollars or over is to be enrolled as a patron of the Society. Persons not authors who have performed some signal service to literature may be elected honorary members. All surplus money in the treasury, whether accruing from bequests, gifts, initiation fees or dues, is to be invested and held as a fund, the interest of which is to be expended in aiding sick, aged or infirm members when necessary, and in paying funeral expenses of deceased indigent members. The leaders in the movement consider the establishment of the pension fund, and the plan to secure just returns of sales from publishers, as the most important objects of the new association. The association numbers some eighty members as incorporators, among them many of the best and strongest men and women in contemporary American letters. Among the incorporators and those recently elected are the following well known names. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, George W. Cable, Julian Hawthorne, Hon. John Bigelow, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Edward Bellamy, Berthold Fernow, James Lane Allen, Chandos Fulton, Robert Grant, Mrs. Celia Thaxter, Edward F. De Lancy, Benjamin Hathaway, George Parsons Lathrop, Eugene Lawrence, Mary C. Lockwood, Nora Perry, Hezekiah Butterworth, General T. F. Rodenbaugh, Rev. M. J. Savage, Professor N. S. Shaler, Dr. Henry R. Stiles, Mary E. Wilkins, Rev. Joseph Cook, Edward W. Bok, Charles Wingate, Edward Everett Hale, William J. Rolfe, Colonel A. K. McClure, Dr. N. P. Gilman, Coyne Fletcher, General H. V. Boynton, Emily L. Sherwood, Professor Henry Coppee, Henry G. Scudder, Gen. O. O. Howard, Pres. D. C. Gilman, Brooks Adams, Joel Chandler Harris, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, Prof. E. K. Horsford. MILITARY OPERATIONS AT CAIRO IN 1861. GENERAL JOSEPH D. WEBSTER. On the 19th of April 1861, Governor Richard Yates of Illinois, received from Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, at Washington, the following dispatch: WASHINGTON, April 19th, "GOVERNOR YATES, are As soon as enough of your troops mustered into service send a Brigadier General with four regiments to or near Grand Cairo." SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War." The same day Governor Yates sent to General R. K. Swift, then in Chicago, the following dispatch: "GENERAL SWIFT, As quick as possible have as strong a force as you can raise, armed and equipped with ammunition and accoutrements, and a company of artillery, ready to march at a moment's warning. A messenger will start to Chicago to-night. RICHARD YATES, Commander in Chief." The day following the special mes senger mentioned in Governor Yates' dispatch arrived in Chicago and placed in the hands of General Swift the following order; "GENERAL R. K. SWIFT, I am instructed by Governor Yates to inform you to raise the largest force possible including artillery, and take possession of Cairo at the earliest possible moment. The utmost secrecy is required. Have your expedition start as if going to Springfield via Illinois Central Railroad. JOHN W. BUNN, Special messenger from Commander in Chief, Governor Yates." A supplemental message delivered to General Swift the same day read as follows: "GENERAL R. K. SWIFT, I am directed by the Commander in Chief to say that it is hoped that the utmost expedition will be made, as well as secrecy observed in the destination of troops. It is intended that your paymaster and quartermaster shall report to the proper officers at Springfield. We want to concentrate all information at this point, as to the condition and position of our forces, and you will please see that proper communication, and as frequently as possible, is made to Springfield. Perhaps the state of feeling in Southern Illinois may require the 1 STANFORD LIRRADIES utmost dispatch and secrecy, without regard to other considerations, but there are others of great importance. By order of the Commander in Chief. JOHN W. BUNN, Special Messenger." It was within a week after the fall of Fort Sumter that the first of these warlike messages was received at, and those following it sent out from the Capital of Illinois. Read to-day they display agitation on the part of the senders, such as men suddenly called upon to face the exigencies of war might be expected to manifest in the presence of a great impending danger. Ten days earlier Illinois had taken the first step towards placing herself upon a war footing, and within that brief period companies of soldiers had been recruited in all parts of the State for service in the suppression of the rebellion. It was to the officer commanding one of these hurriedly formed brigades that Governor Yates addressed his messages calling the volunteers into action. That he deemed the contemplated movement one of great importance is evident from the tone of his messages, and it very soon developed that the object of the movement was the occupation of Cairo, or as it became officially known "The Cairo Expedition." To the writer it has always seemed that this expedition has hardly been given the prominence to which it was entitled, in our histories of the war. All who have given the matter any attention know that Cairo is situated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and is, as one writer has observed "key to the navigation of both." It was also the Southern terminus of the Illinois Central railway with branches running-in 1861 -to Chicago on the Lake, and to Dunleith opposite Dubuque, Iowa on the Mississippi River. It was a point of great strategic importance, as between the contending forces, and it was this fact, to which the attention of Secretary Cameron had been called by Senator Trumbull, which caused him to set on foot measures to secure its occupation and fortification. Had the Confederates seized Cairo, they would have obtained control of the railway systems of the West, and it would have enabled them to close the navigation of two great water ways. This was one of the dangers impending at the time Gov. Yates issued his urgent order to Gen. Swift to hurry forward to that point as many troops as possible. Another impending peril was the probable effect of the occupancy of Cairo by the Confederates, upon the people and public sentiment of Southern Illinois. The great majority of the inhabitants of this section of the State had emigrated from the Southern States, and their sympathy was, as a natural consequence, largely with those engaged in the rebellious uprising. Had the Confederates obtained control of Cairo, this sentiment would have been strengthened, As was accompanied by a letter from his friend, the Hon. Lyman Trumbull of the U. S. Senate entreating him to accept the appointment. and Southern Illinois might have the control of the finances-and this furnished material aid and encouragement to the insurrectionists. it was the Union forces became the "moulders of public opinion," and as a Southern Illinois farmer expressed it, "Them brass missionaries (cannon) has converted a heap of folks that was on the anxious seat." Once occupied by the Government forces, Cairo became an important depot for supplies, and one of the earliest acts of the military force stationed there, was the stoppage of the "Southern Trade," which meant neither more nor less than supplying the Rebels with munitions of war. To take possession of this important point was the work assigned the troops which were being mustered in haste in Chicago. But both officers and men were inexperienced, and it was felt that the expedition sent to save Cairo and all Southern Illinois, should have the assistance and guidance of some one who had had military experience. Also as a large sum of money had been raised by private effort a man of undoubted integrity was anxiously looked for, to take charge of this money. For both of these considerations Captain Webster was chosen. He had been an officer of Topographical Engineers of the old army, but had resigned a few years after the Mexican War. A commission as Paymaster with the rank of Major was sent to Captain Webster-which would give him It was characteristic of the man. that, although circumstances almost immediately forced upon him the virtual command of the expedition, with its attendant responsibilities, he was willing to accompany it nominally under a subordinate staff appointment, and by so doing avoid, though at sacrifice to himself, any unpleasant or embarrasing complications that might otherwise have grown out of orders already issued. At the same time he on the one hand, satisfied the scruples and anxieties of those who had privately advanced funds for the expedition-because his Paymaster's commission gave him charge of the disbursements-and on the other gave to the expedition and the men composing it, the benefit and the prestige of his military experience. This genuine patriotism and single hearted desire to do his duty and serve his country as best he' might. without thought of reputation or reward, were traits that those who knew him best, invariably recognized. Captain Webster accepted the trust. To Mr. John Bunn, the special messenger from Gov. Yates, mentioned above, he gave his best assistance. A serious misunderstanding and almost quarrel had arisen with the officers of the Illinois Central Rail |