There is nothing vital in these two letters of Mr. Philbrick's which is new to the reader of these pages. They are based on his firm belief that it was no kindness to the negro to make discriminations in his favor. Mr. Philbrick's message to his superintendents about the increased pay demanded by 'Siah and Pompey, and his advice to W. C. G. in the matter of corn planted between the rows of cotton were as follows: E. S. P. TO W. C. G. _Boston, May 18._ I have already written expressing my assent to the rise of wages at any time when you shall all agree, and also write C. P. W. to-day that I should at any time assent to any change in the management, sustained by the unanimous approval of the corps upon the spot, without waiting to hear from me. You can avail yourself of the change to get rid of the corn in cotton-fields. I hope you will not pull it up yourself. I think such a step would lose more in dignity than you would gain in consistency of purpose. We must expect these people will take any undue advantage of us they think they can do with impunity, but I think such cases can be more readily reached through their pocket nerves than their moral sensibilities. Moreover, it is always better to do nothing in which we should not be sustained by the authorities, whose tender sympathies are not always judicious, as you know. I would not allow a hill of corn in the cotton-field, _i. e._, I would not pay the extra price till it is pulled up. The next letter shows that the freedmen were waking up to their rights in more ways than one. FROM W. C. G. _May 19._ We had a queer scene here on Tuesday. It is probably the first time that the slaves--contrabands--freedmen--have asserted themselves our fellow-countrymen by claiming the right of voting. A meeting was called in Beaufort to elect delegates to the Baltimore convention.[163] It was assumed that we could stand for the sovereign state of South Carolina, and so we sent her full complement of sixteen representatives, and furnished each with an alternate. There are hardly thirty-two decent men in the Department, it is commonly believed. A large half of the meeting consisted of blacks, and _four black delegates were chosen_, Robert Small[164] among them; the others I believe were sergeants in the South Carolina regiment. At one time there was considerable excitement, and white paired off against black,--but on the whole both colors behaved very well. The whole affair will be laughed at by the North, and it is hardly probable that the delegates will be received. I hope they will. In this hope W. C. G. was to be disappointed. Not one of the delegates was received. With a group of H. W.'s letters the story goes back to home life. FROM H. W.