Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-03
MACEo AS SEEN BY ENGLAND.
Greater Than TOussaint POuverture-
Proof of the Ability of Half
Cnste Understanding Career.

From the London Spectator.
The career of Maceo, the Cuban insur-
sent, the reports of whose death. whether
by an accidental bullet or by treacherous
assassination, seem at last to be estab-
lished, has an interest other than the po-
litical one. He was probably the greatest,
certainly the most successful, mulatto or
quadroon who ever lived. For eighteen
months. with a force which has never ex-
ceeded 20, 600 men all told, with inadequate
artillery, and supplies which were at best
intermittent he has held at bay an army
of 100000 Spanish soldiers, commanded by
specially picked general, and supported by
the resources in the way of supplies of a
great European state. He inspired his fol-
lowers, half-caste peasants most of them,
with zeal like that of Hofer's Bavarians,
a zeal which enabled him to fight perpet-
ually retreating battle without ever risk
ing the Generalization of his men, any
grand defeat such as might have fatally
impaired their numbers. He organized Il
system of espionage which the Spaniards
met in vain by executing every suspected
spy; he maneuvered haIf-drilled men with
a rapidity which bewildered his scientific
ally trained opponents. and at the moment
when he was shot. or stabbed, he had
drawn the great force opposed TO him over
a line of fortifcations constructed by them
with immense expense and labor. had got
behind General Weyler, and was in full
march upon the capital, where he is be-
Heved, on Spanish testimony, to have thou
sands of adherents. These are the feats
of a great guerrilla captain. and a great
guerrilla captain is at least an undeveloped
general; but there was in Maceo some
thing beyond military ability. He must
have had impressiveness of character OF
a very unusual kind. Nothing can exceed
the prejudice of the true Spaniard, the man
who was trained at home, against the half
caste. unless it be the prejudice of North
American an Englishman, yet there can
be no doubt that Maceo was followed and
revered by thousands of Spaniards and
hundreds of Americans, and that had he
lived to see the Independence of his coun-
try he would have been the first president
of the Cuban republic. OF the impression
which he made upon his enemies we need
no other proof than the exultant gratula-
tions of all Spain when the news Of his
death was officially confirmed. City after
city proclaimed festival. and from every
municipal and other corporate body in
Spain there went up kilograms of congrat-
ulation to the queen regent To overcome
the prejudice of color so completely that
white Americans are mourning almost with
shrieks over the fall of a quadroon, and
to make deep an impression upon a hos
tile European people, Maceo must have
probably greater than. Toussaint FOuver-
ture, the hero of San Domingo.
Such a career comDels one to pause and
inquire whether the prejudice against half
breeds, which it is only just to acknowI-
edge that the writer himself feels in all its
force has any foundation in reasoning
thought. 1t is quite clear, to begin with.
that the popular notion that men sprung
from a cross between white and dark races
lack manliness and are invariably deficient
in courage, rests upon no foundation. 1t
was always u prejudice born of mere con-
tempt The half-casts OF San Domingo
fought with the utmost daring. and re-
peatedly defeated French soldiers, though
they were hampered to the last degree by
the incurable distrust of the pure blacks.
Hundreds OF mulattoes who were enlisted
I'm the last throes of the civil war extorted.
not only by their courage, but by their
discipline in battle. the admiration of
American officers. General Diaz, the pres
ident of Mexico. most daring soldier. Is
half an Indian.