how hard it is
and how _rare_ for men in office to follow such a course, unswerved by
either flattery or ambition.

_Jan. 22._ General Saxton came over to the St. Helena church last
Sunday, and set all the Edisto people into a stew by telling how he
was going to send the black troops there to defend the islands, and
how they might all go back to their "old homes," etc., forgetting that
they were not natives of Edisto, but only refugees when there, and
that they were now more comfortably settled here than they were there
in 1862. The Georgia refugees are coming along by hundreds and
thousands, and he "wanted to make room for them," etc. Of course the
Edisto people all say the General has ordered them to pack up and he
will carry them back, etc. So, many refuse to work, but pack up and
sit still, waiting for the General to come along and tote them across
the sound! The Georgia negroes are a superior-looking set to those of
these islands. Many are taken in outbuildings, etc., and have given a
good start to labor by giving the impression that if the old residents
don't work, _somebody else will_. They have gone to work for Mr. York
at Fripp Point, and here for Mr. H., and all along the road generally.
George Wells has got over a hundred Georgians on Morgan Island doing
well, and I guess the rebs won't trouble him, they are too busy.

Mr. Tomlinson is to take the place on General Saxton's staff formerly
held by Captain Hooper, but without military rank. C. F. Williams is
to take Mr. Tomlinson's place here.

We hear by your letter the list of the passengers lost on the
_Melville_. All our worst fears are confirmed, and you were right in
supposing that it was our acquaintances who were lost. This miserable
steamer I once talked of coming on, by her previous trip, but gave it
up when I found her character.

FROM W. C. G.

_Jan. 23._ I think I suggested in a previous letter the possibility of
my staying here. Sherman's operations have opened a wider sphere for
negro work and thrown a great number of refugees into our hands. And
his approaching campaign will have a similar effect. General Saxton
has been appointed "Inspector General," with control of all negro
affairs from Key West to Charleston and thirty miles inland. The first
thing proposed is to recolonize Edisto and the other deserted Sea
Islands with the refugees, and men are wanted to assist in their
settlement. I have been offered a situation of this kind, or ra