the whites gave him a
greater popularity than any other colored man had ever before enjoyed in
that place. His influence increased, until General Grant, then
President, appointed him Register of the United States Land Office at
Little Rock.

GIBBS' SPEECH THE BEST.

"When General Grant visited our city a banquet was prepared, and it was
finally decided that for the first time in the history of the 'Bear
State' a Negro would be welcomed at a social function on terms of
absolute equality. I was then editor of the Gazette, and my seat was
next to that of Gibbs. The speaker who had been selected to respond to
the toast, 'The Possibilities of American Citizenship' was absent. I
asked Gibbs if he would not talk on that subject. He consented, and I
arranged the matter with the toastmaster. The novelty and the
picturesqueness of the thing appealed to me. Every guest was
spellbound, and General Grant was astonished. Not only was the speech
of the Negro the best one delivered on that occasion, but it was one of
the most remarkable to which I have ever listened.

"The owner of the Gazette was a Democrat of the Democrats, and a strict
keeper of the traditions of the South. Moreover, his paper was the
official organ of the Democratic party, and we were in the heat of a
bitter campaign. In spite of all this, however, I came out with the
editorial statement that Gibbs had scored the greatest oratorical
triumph of the affair. Perhaps this didn't stir things up a little. But
the gratitude of Gibbs was touching. He is now United States Consul at
Tamatave, Madagascar. In my opinion he is the greatest living
representative of the colored race. We have been close friends ever
since that banquet."

BOOKER WASHINGTON THE VICTIM.

(From the Washington (D. C.) Post, October 23, 1901.)

Quite the most deplorable feature of the Booker Washington incident is,
in our opinion, the effect it is likely to have on Washington himself;
yet this is an aspect of the case which does not seem to have occurred
thus far to any of the multitudinous and more or less enlightened
commentators who have bestowed their views upon the country. Criticisms
of the President are matters of taste. For our part, we hold, and have
always held, that a President's private and domestic affairs are not
proper subjects of public discussion. A man does not surrender all of
his personal liberties in becoming the Chief Executive of the Nation. At
least, his purely famil