es a
century ago--a rising mob of rebel slaves, transformed into an
invincible army of tumultuous blacks, under the guidance of the
immortal Toussaint, overcoming the trained armies of three Continental
powers, Spain, England and France, and audaciously projecting a black
republic into the family of nations, a program at once a marvel and a
terror to the civilized world.

Not alone in Hayti, but throughout the States of Central and South
America have Negroes exercised military command, both in the struggles
of these states for independence, and in their national armies
established after independence. At least one soldier of Negro blood,
General Dumas, father of the great novelist, arose to the rank of
General of Division in the French Army and served under Napoleon. In
our day we have seen General Dodds, another soldier of Negro blood,
returning from a successful campaign in Africa, acclaimed throughout
France, his immense popularity threatening Paris with a renewal of the
hysterical days of Boulanger. Finally, we need not be told that at the
very head and front of the Cuban Rebellion were Negroes of every hue,
exercising every kind of command up to the very highest. We need but
recall the lamented Maceo, the Negro chieftain, whose tragic end
brought sorrow and dismay to all of Cuba. With an army thronging with
blacks and mulattoes, these Cuban chieftains, black, mulatto and
white, prolonged such an harassing warfare as to compel the
intervention of the United States. At the end of this recital, which
could well have been extended with greater particularity, if it were
thought needful, we are bound to conclude that the arbitrary formula
relied upon by the opponents of colored officers was never constructed
to fit such an obstinate set of facts.

The prolonged struggle which culminated in permitting the Negro's
general enlistment in our Civil War had only to be repeated to secure
for him the full pay of a soldier, the right to be treated as a
prisoner of war, and to relieve him of the monopoly of fatigue and
garrison duty. He was too overjoyed with the boon of fighting for the
liberation of his race to make much contention about who was to lead
him. With meagre exception, his exclusive business in that war was to
carry a gun. Yet repeatedly Negro soldiers evinced high capacity for
command. Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson draws a glowing portrait
of Sergeant Prince Rivers, Color-Sergeant of the First South Carolina