In the elevated chair of the President, faced by the array of chairs of the Spanish councilmen, or aldermen, sits the provost-marshal judge, and before him come the soldiers who have forgotten themselves and the culprits arrested by the patrol.  On the wall above him is a full-length likeness of the Queen Regent—­a beautiful, womanly figure, with a tender and anxious mother’s solicitous face.  She looks down with sad benignity upon the American military government.  There is also a portrait of the boy king, who becomes slender as he gains height, and rather sickly than strong.  It may be that too much care is taken of him.

In the corner room at the end of the corridor Major-General Otis received at his desk the news that Generals Merritt and Greene were ordered home, and that he was the major-general commanding and the chief of the civil, as well as the military department of the government.  He had already found much to do and tackled the greater task with imperturbable spirit and a habit of hard work with, his friends say, no fault but a habit that is almost impracticable of seeing for himself almost everything he is himself held responsible for.  If he has a weakness of that sort he has a rare opportunity to indulge it to the full extent of his personal resources.  He certainly dispatches business rapidly, decides the controverted points quickly and has a clear eye for the field before him.  His record is a good one.  When the war of the States came on he was a New York lawyer—­his home is at Rochester.  Near the close of the war he was wounded on the Weldon road, along which Grant was extending his left wing to envelop Petersburg.  He was struck by a musket ball almost an inch from the end of the nose, and the course of it was through the bones of the face under the right eye, passing out under the right ear.  He was “shot through the head,” and suffered intensely for a long time, but maintained his physical vitality and mental energy.  His face is but slightly marked by this dreadful wound.  He has been a hard student all his life, and is an accomplished soldier, as well as an experienced lawyer.  His judicial services in court-martials have been highly estimated.  Altogether he is well equipped for executing the various duties of his position.  He will “hold the fort in good shape.”  In an adjacent room, Assistant Adjutant-General Strong, son of the ex-mayor of New York, a young man of much experience in the national guard and a sharp shooter, sticks to business with zeal and knowledge, and in a very few days established a reputation as a helper.

So much has been said in disparagement of the “sons of somebodies” that it is a pleasure to put in evidence the cleverness and intelligent industry of Captain Strong, late of the 69th New York, and of Captain Coudert, of New York.