came into force again.

* A lot of 8 or 10 acres is large enough for a family, The disappointment and confusion caused by this series oftransactions can easily be imagined. The instructions of December 31, whether fraudulently obtained or not, were genuine orders of the government, and had been acted upon by the negroes. Many of them, in anticipation of the official assignment of the lands which they had put in claims for, had staked out their lots, had begun the cultivation of corn, and had become accustomed to the idea that they were landed proprietors. The legal points could not be made intelligible to the people whose high-raised hopes were thus suddenly dashed. The confidence of the blacks in the good intentions of the government, — sohard to gain — had once before, to use a mild phrase, been severely shaken by General Hunter's unsparing conscription, following straight upon General Saxton's assurance that noforce should be used in recruiting the black regiments, and this second instance of seeming bad-faith was enough to destroy it altogether. On the other hand, many plantations had been purchased by white persons, for large prices, at sales conducted by officers of the government, and the money paid in. Under these circumstances it was plainly impossible to do justice to all parties. Nevertheless, when the rights of the original inhabitants of the soil and those of adventurers from the North come into collision, the weak and the poor should be protected. Acting upon this principle, General Birney, while in command