Lord Cornwallis issues a proclamation, encouraging slaves to join. the British army, 137.—Mr. Jefferson's account of Cornwallis's cruelty to those who joined his army, 137, 138. (1780.) General Lincoln seconds Colonel Laurens in urging the government of South Carolina to raise black troops, 138.—Mr. Madi- son advocates the policy of “liberating and making soldiers at once of the blacks themselves," instead of "making them instruments for enlisting white soldiers," 138, 139. (1781.) General Greene writes to Washington, that in South Caro- lina "the enemy have ordered two regiments of negroes to be imme- (1782.) Colonel Laurens, on his return from France, renews his efforts to induce South Carolina and Georgia to raise black troops, 139, 140.- His letters to Washington on the subject, and Washing- (1782.) Colonel Humphreys continued to the end of the war to be the nominal captain of a company of colored infantry, raised in Con- necticut by his influence before he became aid-de-camp to Washington, (1782.) Letter to Lord Dunmore from Mr. Cruden, proposing a plan for raising ten thousand black troops, 142–145. - Letter of Lord Dunmore to Sir Henry Clinton, approving the scheme, vouching for the excellence of such troops, and declaring his perfect willingness “to hazard his reputation and person in the execution of the measure," 145– (1782.) Lord Dunmore writes to England, that the raising of a brigade of negroes was negatived by a few voices in the Assembly of South Carolina, and would probably be carried at a future day, 147, (1782.) General Greene proposes to the Governor of South Caro- lina a plan for raising black regiments, 148, 149.- Judge Johnson's remarks on this plan, and on nègroes as soldiers, 149, 150. — Impor- tance of the mature opinions of the preceding British and American military authorities, 150, 151. (1783.) Washington's scrupulous regard for the rights of his negro soldiers on their leaving the service, 151. (1783.) The State of Virginia passes an act securing the freedom of all slaves who had served in the army, 152, 153. (1786.) Virginia passes a special act to pay for and emancipate a slave who had "faithfully executed important commissions intrusted с Later testimonies to the competency of negroes to become good soldiers, 154, 155.- Dr. Eustis, a surgeon throughout the war of the "We cannot put the negro out. This remark serves as a complete stopper to all the crimination and recrimination so freely indulged in between parties on the solemn point, -which of the two first brought the negro in. Let them rest quiet hereafter on this topic. The negro was in before they began to talk about him at all. He will stay in, whether they choose to talk about him or not. He will grow in more and more, even while they are sleeping. To deprecate the misfortune is as idle as to complain of the force of the waters of Niagara. The subject is before us; and it is our duty to face the consideration of its proportions like statesmen, and not to imagine, that, if we will only shut our eyes to it, it is not there; still less to suppose that either lamentation or anger, agitation or silence, will in any respect materially change the nature of the great problem which North America is inevitably doomed to solve. From the decree of Divine Providence there is no appeal.” — Speech of the Hon. Charles Francis Adams, May 31, 1860, in the U. S. House of Representatives. AN HISTORICAL RESEARCH. I. NEGROES AS SLAVES AND AS CITIZENS. In this time of our country's trial, when its Constitution, and even its continued national existence, is in peril, and the people are beginning to be aroused to the magnitude of the work to be done, all other subjects dwindle into comparative insignificance. Loyal men, of every calling in life, are laying aside their chosen and accustomed private pursuits, and devoting themselves, heart and hand, to the common cause. As true patriots, then, we, members of the MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, should do something more than comply, as good citizens, with all the requirements of the Constitution and the laws: we must study, in the light of history, and by the traditions of those who originally founded and at first administered the Government, the fundamental principles on which it was based, and the paramount objects for which it was established. Having done this, it may not be amiss for us to offer the results of our historical researches to others not having the leisure or the opportunity to investigate for themselves. All partisan and personal prejudice should now be abjured, and all sectional sentiments and views should yield to the broad and patriotic purpose of ascertaining, as |