to bring you protection, not only to yourselves, but to your property; to promote your prosperity, and bestow upon you the immunities and blessings of the liberal institutions of our government.  It is not our purpose to interfere with any existing laws and customs that are wholesome and beneficial to your people so long as they conform to the rules of military administration of order and justice.  This is not a war of devastation, but one to give all within the control of its military and naval forces the advantages and blessings of enlightened civilization.

NELSON A. MILES,

Major-General, Commanding United States Army.

[Illustration:  Lower Quarter of Mayaguez.]

The promises set forth in this document were kept to the letter.  Indeed, Justice sat up so straight for the people of Puerto Rico that she often toppled over backward and crushed the American soldier.  To steal anything, from a kiss to a cow, was almost a capital offence; while houses and churches might have been lined with gold and jasper, or infected with the small-pox, so stringently were we kept out of them—­at least during the hostile period.

This was all a mighty good thing for somebody, no doubt, but it detracted in large chunks from the glamour of war for the soldier-boy; and I fear that the majority of us felt hurt, if not sorely cheated.  Nor is it at all certain that the average inhabitant of Puerto Rico is worth coddling, protection, prosperity, “and the immunities and blessings” accorded him by his new rulers.  A thick, stout cudgel or a bright, sharp axe will be more effective than honeyed words in helping him cheerfully to assimilate new ideas; though no one will believe it here at home until the hurrah is all over and some of the truth gets into general circulation.

[Illustration:  A Mid-section of the Calle Mendez-Vigo, Mayaguez.]

About one-sixth of the population in this island—­the educated class, and chiefly of pure Spanish blood—­can be set down as valuable acquisitions to our citizenship and the peer, if not the superior, of most Americans in chivalry, domesticity, fidelity, and culture.  Of the rest, perhaps one-half can be moulded by a firm hand into something approaching decency; but the remainder are going to give us a great deal of trouble.  They are ignorant, filthy, untruthful, lazy, treacherous, murderous, brutal, and black Spain has kept her hand at their throats for many weary years, and the only thing that has saved them from being throttled is the powerful influence in their discipline effected by the Roman Catholic Church.  When our zealous missionaries have succeeded in leading them into the confines of other creeds, we shall have all the excitement we want in Puerto Rico, and the part of our army stationed there will have no lack of exercise.

Despite a common belief to the contrary, the color-line is drawn as rigidly in Puerto Rico as it is in Kentucky.  The people having nothing but Castilian blood in their veins are as proud as Virtue; and, while politics and business see a certain mingling of skin-colors, the mixture ceases to exist across the threshold of home.  No true Spaniard would permit himself to sing of his “coal-black lady” or his “cute little yallar gal”; and, if he did, he would be ostracized.