distinction as against Germans or Irishmen, and institute
no test of religion, politics or culture, we ought not to erect an
artificial barrier of color. If the Negroes are competent they should
be commissioned. If they are incompetent they should not be trusted
with the grave responsibilities attached to official position. I
believe they are competent."

[Illustration: GENERAL MAXIMO GOMEZ, OF THE CUBAN ARMY.]

CHAPTER V.

MANY TESTIMONIALS IN BEHALF OF THE NEGRO SOLDIERS.

A SOUTHERNER'S STATEMENT, THAT THE NEGRO CAVALRY SAVED THE "ROUGH
RIDERS."

Some of the officers who accompanied the wounded soldiers on the trip
north give interesting accounts of the fighting around Santiago. "I
was standing near Captain Capron and Hamilton Fish, Jr.," said a
corporal to the Associated Press correspondent to-night, "and saw them
shot down. They were with the Rough Riders and ran into an ambuscade,
though they had been warned of the danger. If it had not been for the
Negro Calvary the Rough Riders would have been exterminated. I am not
a Negro lover. My father fought with Mosby's Rangers, and I was born
in the South, but the Negroes saved that fight, and the day will come
when General Shafter will give them credit for their bravery."--_Asso.
Press_.

* * * * *

RECONCILIATION.

"Members of our regiment kicked somewhat when the colored troops were
sent forward with them, but when they saw how the Negroes fought
they became reconciled to the situation and some of them now say the
colored brother can have half of their blankets whenever they want
them."

The above is an extract from a communication to the Daily Afternoon
Journal, of Beaumont, Tex., written by a Southern white soldier:
"Straws tell the way the wind blows," is a hackneyed expression, but
an apt illustration of the subject in hand. It has been hinted by a
portion of the Negro press that when the war ended, that if there is
to be the millennium of North and South, the Negroes will suffer in the
contraction. There is no reason to encourage this pessimistic view,
since it is so disturbing in its nature, and since it is in the
province of the individuals composing the race to create a future to
more or less extent. The wedge has entered; it remains for the race to
live up to its opportunities. The South already is making concessions.
While concessions are apt to be looked upon as too patronizing, and
not included in the