south by Jeff. Davis and his party is very large, including not only the plunder of the Richmond banks, but previous accumulations." They hope, it is said, to make terms with General Sherman or some other Southern commander, by which they will be permitted, with their effects, including their gold plunder, to go to Mexico or Europe. Johnston's negotiations look to this end. After the Cabinet meeting last night, General Grant started for North Carolina to direct operations against Johnston's army. EDWIN M. STANTON, Sec'y of War. THE CORRESPONDENCE AND THE MEMORANDUM"-REPORTED REASONS FOR THEIR DISMISSAL BY OUR GOVERNMENT. WASHINGTON, April 23. As reports have been in circulation, for some time, of a correspondence between Generals Johnston and Sherman, the following memorandum, or basis of what was agreed upon between the generals, and the result, is published: MEMORANDUM or basis of agreement, made this, the 18th day of April, a. D., 1865, near Durham's Station, in the State of North Carolina, by and between General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate army, and Major-General W. T. Sherman, commanding the army of the United States, both present. First. The contending armies now in the field to maintain the status quo until notice is given by the commanding general of any one to his opponent, and reasonable time, say forty-eight hours, allowed. Second. The Confederate armies now in existence to be disbanded and conducted to their several State capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State arsenal; and each officer and man to execute and file an agreement to cease from acts of war, and to abide the action of both State and Federal authorities. The number of arms and munitions of war to be reported to the chief of ordnance at Washington city, subject to the future action of the Congress of the United States, and in the mean time to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively. Third. The recognition, by the Executive of the United States, of the several State Governments, on their officers and Legislatures taking the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States; and when conflicting State Governments have resulted from the war, the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. Fourth. The re-establishment of all Federal courts in the several States, with powers as defined by the Constitution and the laws of Congress. Fifth. The people and inhabitants of all States to be guaranteed, so far as the Executive can, their political rights and franchise, as well as their rights of person and property, as defined by the Constitution of the United States and of the States respectively. Sixth. The executive authority or Government of the United States not to disturb any of the people, by reason of the late war, so long as they live in peace and quiet, and abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey the laws in existence at the place of their residence. Seventh. In general terms, it is announced that the war is to cease; a general amnesty, so far as the Executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the distribution of arms and the resumption of peaceful pursuits by officers and men hitherto composing said armies. Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfil these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain authorty, and will endeavor to carry out the above programme. W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General, Commanding the Army of the United States in North Carolina. J. E. JOHNSTON, General, Commanding Confederate States Army It is reported that this proceeding of General Sherman was disapproved for the following among other reasons: First. It was an exercise of authority not vested in Gen. Sherman, and, on its face, shows that both he and Johnston knew that General Sherman had no authority to enter into any such arrangements. Second. It was a practical acknowledgment of the rebel Government. Third. It undertook to re-establish rebel State governments that had been overthrown at the sacrifice of many thousand loyal lives and immense treasure, and placed arms and munitions of war in hands of rebels at their respective capitals, which might be used as soon as the armies of the United States were disbanded, and used to conquer and subdue loyal States. Fourth. By the restoration of rebel authority in their respective States, they would be enabled to re-establish slavery. Fifth. It might furnish a ground of responsibility on the part of the Federal Government to pay the rebel debt, and certainly subjects loyal citizens of rebel States to debts contracted by rebels in the name of the State. Sixth. It puts in dispute the existence of loyal State governments, and the new State of West Virginia, which had been recognized by every department of the United States Government. Seventh. It practically abolished confiscation laws, and relieved rebels of every degree, who had slaughtered our people, from all pains and penalties for their crimes. Eighth. It gave terms that had been deliberately, eatedly, and solemnly rejected by President Lincoln, and better terms than the rebels had ever asked in their most prosperous condition. Ninth. It formed no basis of true and lasting peace, but relieved rebels from the presence of our victories, and left them in a condition to renew their efforts to overthrow the United States Government and subdue the loyal States whenever their strength was recruited and any opportunity should offer. [Appended is the Editorial from the New York" Times,” April 24th, alluded to in General Sherman's letter to General Grant, April 28th-p. 181.] GENERAL SHERMAN'S EXTRAORDINARY NEGOTIATION FOR PEACE. THE loyal public will read with profound surprise the terms which General Sherman tendered to the rebel Government, as represented by its only uncaptured commander, General Johnston, as the basis of peace. In reading the provisions of this remarkable compact—which was signed on the 18th of April, four days after the assassination of President Lincoln-one is at a loss to know which side agreed to surrender. Johnston certainly could have intended nothing of the kind. He evidently believed himself to be negotiating with an equal-dictating terms, rather than receiving them-and laying the basis of a new Government, based on a theory of State rights as absolute and complete as Calhoun ever dreamed of. No plea need be sought to justify the rebellion and all the atrocious acts that have followed in its train, beyond that which is found in this scheme of pacification. The title of the "Confederates" to an equal status with the national authorities is conceded in the first article of the agreement; and that infamous concession is stanchly supported in the second article, which, instead of providing for the surrender of the rebel arms and munitions of war to the United States Government, expressly provides for their deposit in the State arsenals under the keeping, and subject to the orders, of any new league of conspirators that may arise hereafter. In his wildest flights of imagination, in his boldest schemes of burglary, Floyd himself never conceived a plan or basis for a new rebellion superior to this. A difficulty between the United States Government and some foreign power would be the signal to every unarmed rebel to hie to the State arsenal and equip himself for a new attempt to throw off the authority of the Government, and realize the dream of a slave Confederacy. The fifth article in the agreement is intended not only to secure full amnesty for every class of rebel offenders, but to open the way for the re-establishment of slavery in all the seceded States. It is a provision running in the face of the most important legislative enactments and executive decrees that have come into force since the rebellion commenced. It changes, at one stroke, the whole policy of the national Government. It substitutes for the formal resolutions of Congress, and the solemn decisions of the national Executive, the compromises of a military subordinate with a rebel leader. It carries the nation back to the very source and fountain of the calamities which were sprung upon it when the guage of battle was first thrown down by the conspirators. It undoes all that has been found politic in asserting the supreme authority of the government; all that has been esteemed righteous and humane in the discomfiture of slavery; all that has been considered essential to justify the honor and uphold the justice of the national cause before the world. And to each separate clause of this ignoble instrument, which, by |