The following is an extract from a private letter, dated
Philadel- phia, Sept. 29, 1863 :--" As to the blacks :—Of late the condition of the freedmen is much improved. Labour is now so well remu- nerated that these people come in for a share of the gains. Then the enlistment of black troops is a great success. In Maryland it is going on wonderfully, and the slaves themselves are coming in in troops. A friend of mine told me yesterday he saw with his own eyes 250 strong black men who had just left their masters and been enrolled. The sight of the trooping in of these negroes, at the first signal of the recruiting officer, singing their songs of deliverance, moved my friend greatly. He had been only the day before with Stanton, the Secretary of War, but be went back to him to tell him of the wonderful movement. ' I told him,' he said, ' that the bottom was out of the institution.' Mr. Stanton was much struck by his narrative, and told him he meant before long to establish a camp for the enlistment of blacks at Harper's Ferry, to be called ' Camp John Brown.' In Baltimore black soldiers go about in their uniforms, and public feeling really is in their favour. It is wonderful how the whole question of the condition of the freed- men and their relation to the whites is settling itself We are fighting a great battle in Pennsylvania. The issue is dis- tinctly slavery or freedom. The election takes place a fortnight hence." Since this was written, we fear that the President's order revoking all military edicts in any way directing the enlistment of slaves in Maryland, on the ground that this was alienating loyal alaveholders from the Government, has checked the progress here described. Mr. Lincoln is an honest and temperate ruler, but he will remain the lawyer to the last.
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