n found impossible to trust
newly-enlisted troops with the countersign--they invariably
betray it to their comrades. There has been but one such instance
in this black regiment, and that was in the case of a mere boy,
whose want of fidelity excited the greatest indignation among his
comrades.

"'Drunkenness, the bane of our army, does not _exist_ among the
black troops. There has not been _one_ instance in the regiment.
Enough. The only difficulty which threatened to become at all
serious was that of absence without leave and overstaying passes,
but this was checked by a few decided measures and has ceased
entirely.

"'When this regiment was first organized, some months ago, it had
to encounter bitter hostility from the white troops at Port
Royal, and there was great exultation when General Hunter found
himself obliged to disband it. Since its reorganization this
feeling seems to have almost disappeared. There is no complaint
by the privates of insult or ill-treatment, formerly
disgracefully common from their white comrades.

"'It has been supposed that these black troops would prove fitter
for garrison duty than active service in the field. No impression
could be more mistaken. Their fidelity as sentinels adapts them
especially, no doubt, to garrison duty; but their natural place
is in the advance. There is an inherent dash and fire about them
which white troops of more sluggish Northern blood do not
emulate, and their hearty enthusiasm shows itself in all ways.
Such qualities are betrayed even in drill, as anybody may know
who has witnessed the dull, mechanical way in which ordinary
troops make a bayonet charge on the parade ground, and contrasts
it with the spirit of those negro troops in the same movement.
They are to be used, moreover, in a country which they know
perfectly. Merely from their knowledge of wood-craft and
water-craft, it would be a sheer waste of material to keep them
in garrison. It is scarcely the knowledge which is at once
indispensable and impossible to be acquired by our troops. See
these men and it is easier to understand the material of which
the famous Chasseurs d'Afrique are composed.'

"General Saxton, in a letter published yesterday, said: 'In no
regiment have I ever seen duty performed with so muc