e
and suggestions, expressed simply and with a good deal of feeling. Mr.
French[9] followed in his vein of honest, earnest Methodism. He is the
head of the New York delegation, and a worthy man, though not so
practical as Mr. Pierce.

Our Boston party improves upon acquaintance, and the longer I think of
the matter the more wonderful does it seem that such a number of
disinterested, earnest men should be got together at so short a notice
to exile themselves from all social ties and devote themselves, as
they certainly do, with a will, to this holy work. It must and with
God's help it _shall_ succeed! The more I see of our fellow-passengers
and co-workers, the more do the party from Boston stand eminent in
talent and earnestness, as compared with those from New York, and I
can't help thinking that the former were more carefully selected. The
Boston Commission acted with more deliberation than that of New York,
and I think the result will be shown in the end. But it's early to
form any such opinions, and out of place to draw any comparisons in
disparagement of any of our colleagues. We are all yoked together and
must pull together. The work is no trifle. It is Herculean in all its
aspects--in its reactive effects upon our country and its future
destiny, as well as in its difficulties. Yet never did men stand in a
position to do more lasting good than we, if we act with a single eye
to the object in view and pray God to guide us aright.

_Friday, March 7._ We waked this morning still adrift off Port Royal
Bar, where we had been tossing all night, near the lightship. The wind
was blowing cold and clear from the northwest just as it does at home
in March, almost cold enough for a frost. We continued to drift till
the tide was near the flood, about noon, when a pilot came out and
took us in to Hilton Head. Here in this magnificent harbour, larger
than any other on our coast, lay some fifty transports and steamers at
anchor, and here we dropped our anchor, almost directly between the
two forts[10] taken by Dupont last November. These forts, by the way,
are so inconspicuous as to be hardly perceptible to a passer-by, and
would certainly fail to attract the attention of a person not on the
lookout for them. The shore is as flat as flat can be, sand-banks and
beaches being the only variety, backed by long dark green masses of
foliage of the pitch-pine, reminding me forcibly of the coast of
Egypt, with its sand and palm forests.