freely, in private, that negroes who were within our lines, and had been employed by the Government, should be protected in their freedom.  No official assurance of this had, however, been given; and its absence disturbed the societies in their formation.  At one meeting of the Boston society action was temporarily arrested by the expression of an opinion by a gentleman present, that there was no evidence showing that these people, when educated, would not be the victims of some unhappy compromise.  A public meeting in Providence, for their relief, is said to have broken up without action, because of a speech from a furloughed officer of a regiment stationed at Port Royal, who considered such a result the probable one.  But the societies, on reflection, wisely determined to do what they could to prepare them to become self-supporting citizens, in the belief, that, when they had become such, no Government could ever be found base enough to turn its back upon them.  These associations, it should be stated, have been managed by persons of much consideration in their respective communities, of unostentatious philanthropy, but of energetic and practical benevolence, hardly one of whom has ever filled or been a candidate for a political office.

There was a pleasant interview at this time which may fitly be mentioned.  The venerable Josiah Quincy, just entered on his ninety-first year, hearing of the enterprise, desired to see one who had charge of it.  I went to his chamber, where he had been confined to his bed for many weeks with a fractured limb.  He talked like a patriot who read the hour and its duty.  He felt troubled lest adequate power had not been given to protect the enterprise,—­said that but for his disability he should be glad to write something about it, but that he was living “the postscript of his life”; and as we parted, he gave his hearty benediction to the work and to myself.  Restored in a measure to activity, he is still spared to the generation which fondly cherishes his old age; and recently, at the organization of the Union Club, he read to his fellow-citizens, gathering close about him and hanging on his speech, words of counsel and encouragement.

On the morning of the 3d of March, 1862, the first delegation of superintendents and teachers, fifty-three in all, of whom twelve were women, left the harbor of New York, on board the United States steam-transport Atlantic, arriving at Beaufort on the 9th.  It was a voyage never to be forgotten.  The enterprise was new and strange, and it was not easy to predict its future.  Success or defeat might be in store for us; and we could only trust in God that our strength would be equal to our responsibilities.  As the colonists approached the shores of South Carolina, they were addressed by the agent in charge, who told them the little he had learned of their duties, enjoined patience and humanity, impressed on them the greatness of their work, the results of which were to cheer