sh off the islands," sends them in panic
into the woods. Mr. Philbrick saw the General this morning, and was
told that if the regiment were not raised we should have to give up
the whole enterprise; that the President and the people of the North
were looking to the raising of this regiment as a test experiment.
That if it succeeded and it was found that the negroes could and would
aid the Government, then the Government would be encouraged to hold
the islands, trusting not only that the negroes could aid in defending
them, but that as fast as negroes were freed, they could be used
effectively against the rebels. Moreover, that the success of one
regiment here would make the President's proclamation a more terribly
effective weapon against the Southerners. (There is no doubt that in
many parts of the South, especially on the Mississippi, the negroes
are much more intelligent than here. Those from the main seem a
superior class to those who have always lived on the islands. The
success of armed negroes of this inferior class would indicate the
danger of the masters of other slaves of a higher class, when they
learn that "all slaves of rebel masters who enter into the service of
the United States are forever free," with their families.)

If, on the other hand, no black troops can be raised, the General says
that the Government will be discouraged from attempting any longer to
protect at such an expense a people who cannot or will not aid in
defending themselves. I hope that General Saxton has not held out too
grand hopes of the success of this undertaking to the President and to
others at the North, and I hope he is exaggerating the importance of
the movement. Perhaps the President wants to try his colonization
scheme on these people. He had better lose a campaign than evacuate
these islands and give up this experiment. This experiment and the war
must go on side by side. I hope that before the war is done we shall
have furnished the Government with sufficient facts to enable them to
form a policy for the treatment of the millions whom the conclusion of
the war, if not its continuance, must throw into our hands.

I am very much afraid that the Government will look too much to the
material results of the year's occupation for determining the success
of free labor among the slaves. They will neglect to take into account
the discouragements and drawbacks of the year. The sudden reaction
consequent upon the change from slaver