Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1896 — LI HUNG CHANG HERE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LI HUNG CHANG HERE

AGED CHINESE STATESMAN GIVEN ROYAL WELCOME. The Earl's Reception an Enthusiastic Affair —Met by General Huger, the Official Representative of President Cleveland. Warships Fire Noisy Falutes. Li Hung Chang, China’s Bismarek and greatest diplomat, arrived in New York City on the American Line steamship

St. Louis Friday afternoon. He was accompanies! by his son. adopted son and a suite of about forty persons, and landed at the American Line wharf, at the .foot of Fulton street. North River. From the time the St. Louis' was sighted off Fire Island at 9 o’clock until she arrived at her dock the A m b a s s ador was made aware that he is a welcome guest in the United States. The residents of Fire Island saluted him with nineteen guns and pying.flags. His nrrivalrah the upper njlywas followed by the' booming of cannon on the "White Fleet. On the way into port the dispatch boat Dolphin, having on boa r d Gen. linger, Chinese Minister Yang and representatives o f the State Department. ran alongside of the St. Louis. They were the first.

to formally welcome the Ambassador to the United States. Gen. Huger, tiu behalf of the President, gave him the freedom of the country. On arriving at the dock the Ambassador was welcomed by eighty of his fellow-countrymen. They stood in a line three deep, surrounded by palms and facing a strip Of red felt. placed for Li Hung Chang to walk upon. The Chinamen were,in holiday attire and headed by Consuls General Sze, of Jsew York City, and AVy Yu, of Cuba, k L Pleased with His Reception. Earl Li, accustomed as he is to pomp and ostentatious ceremony, was (evidently pleaded with his reception,. 1,1 is mobile face assumed a placid, smiling expression ami his manner, while dignified. was easy and unconventional. He looked well, too. "While he is an aged man, time has not cut many marks on his strong face. He stood the voyage well and was not troubled with illness of any kind. Drawn up to receive the Emperor of China’s representative were eighty blue jackets of the First Battalion, New York State Naval Reserve, under the command of Lieutenant Commander George E. Kent, Lieut. IV. 11. Staylor and Ensigns Macfarlane and Mouton. They formed a guard of

honor from the steamship to the space on the wharf set apart and decorated for his reception. The amateur tars, the palms, tiie red decorations and bowing and bending mandarins in their gaudy silks of many colors made indeed an utiaunl and picturesque scene. The Ambassador passed the ordeal of the reception and, taking tiie elevator, ordinarily a baggage one, but decorated and carpeted for the occasion, was ewered to the dock lielow. Saturday President Cleveland received the nation's visitor at the residence of William C. Whitney, after which Li re-

turned to the Waldorf, where iu the even-, ling ex-,Ministers to China gave a dinner in his honor. For Stmday.wa.s sip Jed only one thing, that which Li asked for himself, a visit to the tomb of Gen. Grant. at Riverside. The Earl's oflfannfc lit the tomb was a wreath ot white, purple and yellow. It signified death and fame and the sunlight of imperial favor, and was the tribute of a great statesman to a great commander. Carrying the wreath in his hand, Li entered the tomb and for twenty minutes stood reverentially by the sarcophagus. He was. indeed. a sorrowing friend. It was a profound obeisance in which his forehead nearly touched the stone coflin in whieh Gen. Grant’s remains rest. Then he placed the wreath upon it. and for ten minutes stood with his head bowed so low that his face was half obscured. Before leaving the temporary tomb he again bowed low toward the last home of the great, and as he turned to leave lie said, through his* interpreter: “I hare looked forward to this as one of the most sacred of my obligations, ami the most religious of my duties to vour country.” ___ J. F. H. auditor of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company. who was injured. by the falling.of • horse, died at Newcastle, Col.

IT'S CARD.

LI HUNG CHANG.

THE NEW UNITED STATES CRUISER BROOKLYN.