“I wished to know whether by remaining I would be required to abandon the express and its obligations. It was a great satisfaction to me to learn from my counsel that the Cabinet were unanimous in this decision expressed by the President, that I should remain and continue to conduct the business of my company, he having full confidence in whatever I might do.” The substance of this interesting episode has been published before with some slight variations, but the above is from the most authoritative source, and may therefore be received as correct. While living at Augusta, Georgia, a curious incident occurred which resulted in the purchase of a slave by Mr. Plant. When the express office was opened at this place, help was needed, a sort of man-of-all-work for the many requirements of the office. Dennis Dorsey, a colored man, was hired from his owner to act as porter, and in whatever capacity he might be required. One summer when Mr. Plant was about to go north, Dennis came to him and said that his master was going to sell him, and that he wanted Mr. Plant to buy him. “What does your master want for you?” asked Mr. Plant. “Fifteen hundred dollars,” Dennis replied, “but it is too much, I am not worth so much. You can buy me when you come back, as there is little danger of my being sold at that price.” But Dennis was sold in Mr. Plant’s absence. When Mr. Plant returned, Dennis besought him to buy him from the trader at Mobile who then owned him. Mr. Plant bought him for eighteen hundred dollars, and brought him back to Augusta. In a short time after this Mr. Plant was stricken down with gastric fever, and Dennis proved a good and faithful nurse to him. Mrs. Plant was in her grave, and Mr. Plant lived alone at the hotel, so Dennis was gratified by the opportunity to return the kindness rendered to him by his generous purchaser. Early in August, 1863, Mr. Plant returned from the mountains, whither he had gone during his convalescence. His health had been improved by the change, but he was still far from strong. Mr. Thomas H. Watts, attorney-general for the Southern Confederacy, had seen Mr. Plant’s physician, who had advised a change of climate. Mr. Watts sent Mr. Plant a passport, with an order from President Davis authorizing him to pass through the Confederate lines at any point. In about a month after this he went to Wilmington, North Carolina, and embarked on the steamer _Hansa_, for the Bermudas. He remained there about a month, when he went by the steamer _Alpha_ to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and thence to Montreal. There some friends from New York came to see him, and brought his son Morton from school to him. Mr. Plant then went to New Haven, Connecticut, to visit his mother, and in the fall took passage on the steamship _City of Edinburgh_ for Liverpool. He was now a stranger in a strange land; the weather was cold, and with impaired health his experience was rather depressing.