Fig. 58.—HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
From a Photograph by Messrs. W. & D. Downey.
HE first general mourning ever proclaimed in America was on the occasion of the death of Benjamin Franklin, in 1791, and the next on that of Washington, in 1799. The deep and wide-spread grief occasioned by the melancholy death of the first President, assembled a great concourse of people for the purpose of paying him the last tribute of respect, and on Wednesday, December 18, 1799, attended by military honours and the simplest but grandest ceremonies of religion, his body was deposited in the family vault at Mount Vernon. Never in the history of America did a blow fall with more terrible earnestness than the news of the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14, 1865. All party feeling was forgotten, and sorrow was universal. The obsequies were on an exceedingly elaborate scale, and a generous people paid a grateful and sincere tribute to a humane and patriotic chieftain. After an impressive service, the embalmed body was laid in state in the Capitol at Washington, guarded by officers with drawn swords, and afterwards the coffin was closed for removal to Springfield, the home of the late President, a distance of about 1,700 miles. It took twelve days to accomplish the journey. The car which conveyed the remains was completely draped in black, the mourning outside being festooned in two rows above and below the windows, while each window had a strip of mourning connecting the upper with the lower row. Six other cars, all draped in black, were attached to the train, and contained the escort, whilst the engine was covered with crape and its flags draped. At several cities en route a halt was made, in order to permit people to pay tributes of respect to the deceased, and several times the body was removed from the train, so that funeral services might be held. At last, on the 3rd of May, the train reached Springfield, and after a brief delay the procession moved with befitting ceremony to Oak Ridge Cemetery, President Lincoln's final resting-place. During the period intervening between President Lincoln's death and his interment, every city and town in the United States testified the greatest grief, and public expressions of mourning were universal. To take New York, as an instance, that city presented a singularly striking appearance. Scarce a house in it but was not draped in the deepest mourning, long festoons of black and white muslin drooped sadly everywhere, and even the gay show-cases outside the shop doors were dressed with funereal rosettes. The gloom which prevailed was intense. In many places, however, the decorations, though sombre, were exceedingly picturesque, the dark tones being relieved by the bright red and blue of the national colours, entwined with crape.
Scarcely less magnificent were the obsequies accorded by the people of America to General Grant. Funeral services were observed in towns and cities of every state and territory of the Union, amidst a display of mourning emblems unparallelled. In New York, for two weeks previous to the funeral ceremony, preparations of the most elaborate description were going on, and the best part of the city was densely draped. The route of the procession to the tomb was 9 miles long, and it is estimated that three million persons saw the cortege, in which over 50,000 people joined, including 30,000 soldiers. Some further idea of the magnitude of this solemn procession can be formed when it is stated that its head reached the grave three hours and a half before the funeral car arrived. This car was exceptionally imposing, inasmuch as it was drawn by 24 black horses, each one led by a coloured servant, and each covered with sable trappings which swept the street.