the short time required to
settle the point. When we hear more definitely from Gov.
Sprague's black battalions and Gov. Andrew's negro brigades, we
shall know more accurately what to think of the measure as one
for the Free States; and when we hear further of the success of
Gen. Banks and Gen. Saxton in enlisting them at the South, we can
form a better judgment of the movement there. If we get very few
or even none, the worst that can be said will be that the project
is a failure; and the demonstration that it is so will have
dissipated another of the many delusions which dreamy people have
cherished about this war.

"4th. The use of negroes will exasperate the South; and some of
our Peace Democrats make that an objection to the measure. We
presume it will; but so will any other scheme we may adopt which
is warlike and effective in its character and results. If that
consideration is to govern us, we must follow Mr. Vallandingham's
advice and stop the war entirely, or as Mr. McMasters puts it in
his Newark speech, go 'for an immediate and _unconditional_
peace.' We are not quite ready for _that_ yet.

"The very best thing that can be done under existing
circumstances, in our judgment, is to possess our Souls in
patience while _the experiment_ is being tried. The problem will
probably speedily solve itself--much more speedily than heated
discussion or harsh criminations can solve it."

It didn't require a great deal of time for the Black troops to make a
good impression; and while the Congress, the press, and the people
were being exercised over the probable out-come, the first regiment of
ex-slaves ever equipped for the service was working a revolution in
public sentiment. On the last day of January, 1863, the "New York
Tribune" printed the following editorial on the subject:

"A disloyal minority in the House is factiously resisting the
passage of the Steven's bill, authorizing the President to raise
and equip 150,000 soldiers of African descent. Meanwhile, in the
Department of the South a full regiment of blacks has been
enlisted under Gen. Saxton; is already uniformed and armed, and
has been actively drilling for the last seven weeks. A letter
which we printed on Wednesday from our Special Correspondent, who
is usually well qualified to judge of its military pr