Commission, which circulated thousands among the colored soldiers. The paper was generally quoted as the soldiers' organ. At the same time, he edited through the mail a paper published by a company of colored men in Louisville, Kentucky. He studied theology at the Western Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, and was ordained elder over a prosperous congregation in Alleghany, Pennsylvania; was principal of the Phonetic Academy, at Bowling Green, Kentucky, assisted by Professor Murray and other able teachers. He accepted an engagement in the work of reconstruction; was commissioned by General Howard to look after schools in the Third District of North Carolina; elected treasurer and assessor of Wilmington; nominated for the Legislature, and soon became a prominent candidate for Congress; and might have succeeded, were it not for some perversion of his father's connection with the purchase of slaves before the war, in order to assist them in obtaining their freedom.
Becoming interested in the profession of the law, he gave up his prospects in the South, stood a clerical examination at Washington, was appointed to a clerkship in the Treasury, read law at the National Law University, graduated, and was admitted to practice in the District Supreme Court. He soon became prominent in district politics, published a spirited campaign paper, was engaged by the general committee to speak in the Republican canvass of 1872, and has since been commissioned by Governor Cook as one of the justices for the district, in connection with his present position at the Treasury.
Mr. Sampson is an able writer, an eloquent and in-
