A  person  present,  with  some  slavery  sympathy,  remarked^
"Poor  wretches  1  how  much  worse  off  free  than  slaves."
"  Not  so,"  was  answered.  "  Now  they  are  clad  in  the  gar-
ments of  slavery,  and  have  the  stamp  of  its  degradation  upon
them.  Decent  free  clothing,  and  a  generation  of  requited  toil
and  free-school  advantages,  will  so  wipe  out  the  eflfects  of  the
barbarism  of  slavery,  that  we  may  look  upon  God's  image
even  in  such  as  these."

As  we  moved  slowly  from  the  landing,  a  huzza  arose
from  other  steamers  filled  with  troops,  our  1,600  blue-boys
answering  back.  Drums  rolled,  handkerchiefe  waved,  last
words  were  shouted,  and  we  were  off  for  Memphis.  As  we
passed  Island  No.  10,  the  sun  was  flooding  its  massive  bat-
tlements with  the  full  morning  light,  and  they  looked  as
though  they  might  have  defied  a  rebel  host,  and  made  the
memory  of  seventy  spiked  cannon,  and  hundreds  of  thou-
sands of  dollars'  worth  of  government  stores  needlessly  de-
stroyed, a  bitter  memory.  The  guns  were  lying  on  the  sides
of  the  bluff,  useless  and  deserted.
As  we  swept  proudly  down  the  rapid  current  and  rounded
at  the  landing,  the  city  of  Memphis  rose  upon  our  view,  on  its
commanding  site — a  magnificent  stretch  of  table-land  on  the
summit  of  an  irregular  bluff.  The  military  accompaniments
of  the  fort,  and  the  white  tents  of  several  regiments  on  a  level
with  the  city,  added  greatly  to  the  beauty  of  the  panorama.
