ing everywhere their despair, and counselling embassies of submission.* Briefly, if the fatal facts in the condition of the Confede * In March, 1865, the author printed an address in the Richmond newspapers, of which the following was the concluding portion. The occasion and spirit of this address are significant enough of what was taking place in Richmond at that time: "I am determined to express the truth, no matter how painful to myself or unwelcome to others. In the first period of this war who was not proud of the Confederacy and its heroic figure in history! Yet now it is to be confessed that a large portion of our people have fallen below the standards of history, and hold no honorable comparison with other nations that have fought and struggled for independence. It is easy for the tongue of the demagogue to trip with flattery on the theme of the war; but when we come to the counsels of the intelligent the truth must be told. We are no longer responding to the lessons and aspirations of history. You speak of the scarcity of subsistence./ But Prussia, in her wars, drained her supplies until black bread was the only thing eat in the king's palace; and yet, under Frederick, she won not only her independence, but a position among the five great powers of Europe. You speak of the scarcity of men. Yet with a force not greater than that with which we have only to hold an invaded country and maintain the defensive, Napoleon fought his splendid career, and completed a circle of victories that touched the boundaries of Europe. "It is enough to sicken the heart with shame and vexation that now, when, of all times, it is most important to convince the enemy of our resolution—now, when such a course, for peculiar reasons, will insure our success-there are men who not only whine on the streets about making terms with the enemy, but intrude their cowardice into the official places of the Government, and, sheltered by secret sessions and confidential conversations, roll the word reconstruction' under the tongue. Shame upon the Congress that closed its doors that it might better consult of dishonorable things! Shame upon those leaders who should encourage the people, and yet have broken down their confidence by private conversations; and who, while putting in newspapers some cheap words of patriotism, yet in the same breath express their despair by a suspicious cant about trusting in Providence, and go off to talk submission with their intimates in a corner! Shame upon those of the people who have now no other feeling in the war than an exasperated selfishness ! who are ready to sink, if they can carry down in their hands some little trash of property! who will give their sons to the army, but not their precious negro slaves! who are for hurrying off embassies to the enemy to know at what price of dishonor they may purchase some paltry remnants of their posses sions! Do these men ever think of the retributions of history? "When Cato the Younger was pursued to Utica by the victorious arms of Cæsar, Plutarch relates of him on this occasion certain conversations and senti. ments which singularly apply to our own condition in a besieged city, and may almost be taken as repeated in the streets of Richmond : "One of the Council,' writes Plutarch, observed the expediency of a decree for enfranchising the slaves, and many commended the motion. Cato, racy at the time of which we write, are to be summed up, they are simply these: 1. A want of confidence in the administration of Mr. Davis however, said: 'He would not do that, because it was neither just nor lawful; but such as their masters would voluntarily discharge, he would receive, provided they were of proper age to bear arms.' This many promised to do; and Cato withdrew, after having ordered lists to be made out of all that should offer. All of the patrician order with great readiness enfranchised and armed their slaves; but as for the three hundred, who dealt in traffic and loans of money at high interest, and whose slaves were a considerable part of their fortune, the impression which Cato's speech had made upon them did not last long. As some bodies readily receive heat, and as easily grow cold again when the fire is removed, so the sight of Cato warmed and liberalized these traders; but when they came to consider the matter among themselves, the dread of Cæsar soon put to flight their reverence for Cato and for virtue. For thus they talked What are we, and what is the man whose orders we refuse to receive? Is it not Cæsar, into whose hands the whole power of the Roman empire is fallen? And surely none of us is a Scipio, a Pompey, or a Cato. Shall we, at a time when their fears make all men entertain sentiments beneath their dignity-shall we, in Utica, fight for the liberty of Rome with a man against whom Cato and Pompey the Great durst not make a stand in Italy? Shall we enfranchise our slaves to oppose Cæsar, who have no more liberty ourselves than that conqueror is pleased to leave us? Ah! wretches that we are! Let us at last know ourselves, and send deputies to intercede with him for mercy.' They told Cato that they had resolved to send deputies to Cæsar to intercede first and principally for him. If that request should not be granted, they would have no obligation to him for any favor to themselves, but as long as they had breath would fight for Cato. Cato made his acknowledgments for their regard, and advised them to send immediately to intercede for themselves. For me,' said he, 'intercede not. It is for the conquered to turn suppliants, and for those who have done an injury to beg pardon. For my part, I have been unconquered through life, and superior in the things I wished to be; for in justice and honor I am Cæsar's superior.'' . The arguments of the traders and time servers in Utica are not unknown in Richmond. But shall we not also find in this city something of the aspirations of Cato-a determination, even if we are overcome by force, to be unconquered in spirit, and, in any and all events, to remain superior to the enemyin honor. "I do not speak to you, my countrymen, idle sentimentalism. I firmly be lieve that the great commonwealth of Virginia, and this city, which has a peculiar title to whatever there is of good and illustrious report in this war, have been recently, and are yet in some measure on the verge of questions which involve an interest immeasurably greater than has yet been disclosed in this contest-that of their historical and immortal honor. "I know I have had opportunities of informing myself-that there are influences at work to place the State of Virginia, in certain contingencies, in -such as was never before exhibited between a people and its rulers in a time of revolution. communication with the public enemy, for terms of peace, which cannot be otherwise than coupled with the condition of her submission to the Federal authority. The extent of this conspiracy against the honor of Virginia has been screened by secret sessions, and been covered up by half-mouthed sugges tions, and the ifs and ands of men who are not yet ready to disclose their corruption, and to spit from their lips the rottenness in their hearts. I know the fashionable arguments of these men. 'If there is to be a wreck,' say they, why not save what we can from it?' 'Honor,' they say, 'is a mere rhetorical laurel;' 'General Lee talks like a school-girl when he speaks of preferring to die on the battle-field to getting the best terms of submission he can ;' 'let us be done with this sentimental rubbish, and look to the care of our substantial interests.' "My friends, this is not rubbish. The glory of history is indifferent to events; it is simply honor. The name of Virginia in this war is historically and absolutely more important to us than any other element of the contest; and the coarse time-server who would sell an immortal title of honor as a trifling sentimentalism, and who has constantly in his mouth the phrase of 'substantial interests,' is the inglorious wretch who laughs at history and grovels in the calculations of the brute. "Those who have lived entirely in the South since the commencement of this war have little idea of the measure of honor which Virginia has obtained in it, and the consideration she has secured in the eyes of the world. One away from home, finds even in intercourse with our enemies, that the name of Virginian is an ornament to him, and that the story of this her heroic capital-the record of Richmond-is universally accepted in two hemispheres as the most illustrious episode of the war. Honor such as this is not a piece of rhetoric or a figure of speech; it is something to be cherished under all circumstances, and to be preserved in all events. "It is scarcely necessary to say that I regard subjugation but as the vapor of our fears. But if remote possibilities are to be regarded, I have simply to say, that in all events and extremities, all chances and catastrophes, I am for Virginia going down to history, proudly and starkly, with the title of a subjugated people-a title not inseparable from true glory, and which has often claimed the admiration of the world-rather than as a people who ever submitted, and bartered their honor for the mercy of an enemy-in our case a mercy whose pittance would be as a mess of pottage weighed against an immortal patrimony! "The issue I would put before you is: No submission; no State negotiations with the enemy; no conventions for such objects, however proper for others. Let Virginia stand or fall by the fortunes of the Confederate arms, with her spotless honor in her hands. “If Virginia accepts the virtuous and noble alternative, she saves, in all events, her honor, and by the resolution which it implies, may hope to secure a positive and glorious victory; and I, among the humblest of her citizens, will be proud to associate myself with a fate which, if not happy, at least can 2. And as main consequence of that want of confidence, when all measures to repair it had failed, a general breaking down of the public virtue, and the debasement of a people who, having lost hope in the existing order-rather the exist ing disorder and having no heart for a new experiment, or thinking it too late, descend to the condition of time-servers, and those who tamely and infamously submit to fortune. THE FORTRESS MONROE COMMISSION. But another and last appeal was to be made to the resolution of the South. In January, 1865, Mr. Francis P. Blair, of Maryland, made several visits to Richmond, which were the occasion of much speculation and curiosity in the public mind. He had gone to Richmond with Mr. Lincoln's pass; but the objects of his mission were not committed to paper. However, they were soon developed. On his return to Washington, Mr. Blair showed Mr. Lincoln a letter which President Davis had written, stating that Mr. Blair was at liberty to say to Mr. Lincoln that Mr. Davis was now, as he always had been, willing to send commissioners, if assured they would be received, or to receive any that should be sent; that he was not disposed to find obstacles in forms. He would send commissioners to confer with the Northern President with a view to the restoration of peace between the two countries, if he could be assured they would be received. Mr. Lincoln, therefore, on the 18th day of January, addressed a note to Mr. Blair, in which, after acknowledging that he had read the note of Mr. Davis, he said that he was, and always should be, willing to receive any agent that Mr. Davis, or any other influential person now actually resisting the authority of the Government, might send to confer in never be ignoble. But, if she chooses to submit, and make terms for Yankee clemency, the satisfaction will at least remain to me of not sharing in the dishonor of my native State, and of going to other parts of the world, where I may say: 'I, too, was a Virginian, but not of those who sold the jewels of her history for the baubles and cheats of her conquerors.'' formally with him, with a view to the restoration of peace to the people of "our common country." In consequence of this notification President Davis requested Vice-President Stephens, Senator Hunter, and Judge John A. Campbell, to proceed through the lines to hold a conference with Mr. Lincoln, or such persons as he might depute to represent him. The following report, made by the Confederate commissioners, gives the official narrative of the affair: RICHMOND, February 6th. To the President of the Confederate States: SIR-Under your letter of appointment of commissioners, of the 8th, we proceeded to seek an informal conference with Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, upon the subject mentioned in the letter. A conference was granted, and took place on the 30th, on board the steamer anchored in Hampton Roads, where we met President Lincoln and Hon. Mr. Seward, secretary of State of the United States. It continued for several hours, and was both full and explicit. We learned from them that the message of President Lincoln to the Congress of the United States, in December last, explains clearly his sentiments as to the terms, conditions, and mode of proceeding by which peace can be secured to the people; and we were not informed that they would be modified or altered to obtain that end. We understood from him that no terms or proposals of any treaty or agreements looking to an ultimate settlement would be entertained or made by him with the authorities of the Confederate States, because that would be recognition of their existence as a sepa rate power, which, under no circumstances, would be done'; and for like reasons, that no such terms would be entertained by him from the States separately; that no extended truce or armistice, as at present advised, would be granted or allowed, without the satisfaction or assurance in advance, of the complete restoration of the authority of the constitution and laws of the United States over all places within the States of the Confederacy; that whatever consequence may follow from the re-establishment of that authority, it must be accepted; but all individuals subject to the pains and penalties under the laws of the United States, might rely upon a very liberal use of the power confided to him to remit those pains and penalties if peace be restored. During the conference, the proposed amendments to the constitution of the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st, was brought to our notice. These amendments provide that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, should exist within the United States or any place within its jurisdiction, and Congress should have power to enforce the amendment by appropriate legislation. Of all the correspondence that preceded the confer ence herein mentioned, and leading to the same, you have heretofore been informed. Very respectfully, your obedient servants. A. H. STEPHENS, Of the conference Mr. Seward testified that "the Richmond |
