omises to lay the matter before the Congress,
who, he doubts not, will approve of it.'

Washington communicated his action to Congress, adding: 'If this is
disapproved of by Congress, I will put a stop to it.'

His letter was referred to a committee of three, (Mr. Wythe, Mr. Adams,
and Mr. Wilson,) on the fifteenth of January, 1776, and upon their
report on the following day the Congress determined:

'That the free negroes who have served faithfully in the army at
Cambridge may be reenlisted therein, but no others.'

That Washington, at a later period at least, warmly approved of the
employment of blacks as soldiers, appears from his remarks to Colonel
Laurens, subsequent to his failure to carry out what even as an effort
forms one of the most remarkable episodes of the Revolution, full
details of which are given in Mr. Moore's pamphlet.

On March 14th, 1779, Alexander Hamilton wrote to John Jay, then
President of Congress, warmly commending a plan of Colonel Laurens, the
object of which was to raise three or four battalions of negroes in
South-Carolina. We regret that our limits render it impossible to give
the whole of this remarkable document, which is as applicable to the
present day as it was to its own.

'I foresee that this project will have to combat much opposition
from prejudice and self-interest. The contempt we have been taught
to entertain for the blacks makes us fancy many things that are
founded neither in reason nor experience; and an unwillingness to
part with property of so valuable a kind will furnish a thousand
arguments to show the impracticability, or pernicious tendency, of
a scheme which requires such sacrifices. But it should be
considered that if we do not make use of them in this way, the
enemy probably will; and that the best way to counteract the
temptations they will hold out, will be to offer them ourselves. An
essential part of the plan is to give them their freedom with their
swords. This will secure their fidelity, animate their courage,
and, I believe, will have a good influence upon those who remain,
by opening a door to their emancipation.

'This circumstance, I confess, has no small weight in inducing me
to wish the success of the project; for the dictates of humanity
and true policy equally interest me in favor of this unfortunate
class of men.

'While I am on the