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CHAPTER L.

PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON ROADS.

Military events now rapidly transpiring indicated the early suppression of the rebellion. The leaders of the Confederacy were despondent and without hope, and there was discord and a want of harmony in their counsels and opinions. A number of the rebel leaders, among whom was A. H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, were sincerely desirous for peace, and would have been willing to have returned to the Union under conditions which they would have accepted. President Davis and other leaders were still opposed to any negotiations for peace or treaty, only on the basis of the recognition of the Southern Confederacy. President Lincoln was well aware and well acquainted with the resolves and views of the rebel leaders, and had no confidence or belief that any peace conference that might be held would produce the desired results. No man in the Union was more desirous of peace than the President, but with peace must come full recognition of the National authority over the rebel Confederacy. On the 3d day of February, 1865, through the voluntary agency of Francis P. Blair, a conference, having for its object the preliminaries of peace, was held on the steamer River Queen, in Hampton Roads, between President Lincoln and Secretary Seward, representing the National authority, and Messrs. A. H. Stephens, J. A. Campbell and R. M. Hunter, representing the rebel Confederacy. The interview was informal in its character, verbal in its transactions and barren in its results. The President, desirous for peace on conditions that would satisfy the loyal people of the country, consented to become a party to the interview, as two of the commissioners were known to be sincere in their desires for peace. In the verbal conference that followed, the rebel commissioners suggested and favored a postponement of the question of separation, and such mutual efforts of the two Governments so as to give opportunity for the passions of the people to cool. The armies were to be reduced, and the intercourse between the people of the two sections was to be renewed. To this the President replied that he considered these suggestions as equivalent to an armistice, and that he could

not agree to a suspension of military movements except on the basis of a disbandment of the rebel army, and the recognition of the National supremacy through all the States of the Union. He further stated that the Emancipation Proclamation was irrevocable, and that Congress had passed the constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery. That there was an earnest desire for peace on the part of all, does not admit of any doubt, but the President was committed, with truth to himself and honor to the people, to make peace only on the basis of National unity and the abolishment of slavery. The following communication of President Lincoln to the House of Representatives, and the official report of the rebel commissioners to President Davis elucidates the principal questions verbally treated in the peace commission:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 10, 1865.

"On the morning of the 3d, the gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter and Campbell, came aboard our steamer and had an interview of several hours' duration with the Secretary of State and myself. No question of preliminaries to the meeting was then or there mentioned. No other persons were present. No papers were exchanged or produced, and it was agreed in advance that the conversation was to be informal and verbal, merely. On my part the whole substance of the instructions to the Secretary of State herein before recited-first, the restoration of the National authority throughout all the States; second, no receding by the Executive of the United States on the slavery question from the position assumed thereon in the late annual message to Congress, and in the preceding documents; third, no cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war, and the disbandment of all the forces hostile to the Government-was stated and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith. While by the other party it was not said that in any event or any condition they ever would consent to reunion, and yet they equally omitted to declare that they would never so consent. They seemed to desire a postponement of that question and the adoption of some other course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not lead to reunion, but which course we thought would amount to an indefinite postponement. The conference ended without result.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

The following is the report of the rebel commissioners:

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RICHMOND, Va., February 5, 1865. "TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES.-SIR: Under your letter of appointment of the 28th ult. we proceeded to seek an 'informal conference' with Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, upon the subject mentioned in the letter. The conference was granted, and took place on the 3d inst. on board of a steamer in Hampton Roads, where we met President Lincoln and the Honorable 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 and distinctly his sentiments as to the terms, conditions and methods 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 agreement looking to an ultimate settlement would be entertained or made by him with the Confederate States because that would be a recognition of their existence as a separate power, which, under no circumstances would be done, and for like reasons 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, without a satisfactory assurance in advance of a complete restoration of the authority of the United States over all places within the States of the Confederacy. That whatever consequences may follow from the re-establishment of that authority, they must be accepted, but that individuals, subject to 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 amendment to the Constitution of the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st ult., was brought to our notice. This amendment declares that neither slavery or involuntary servitude, except for crimes, should exist within their jurisdiction, and that Congress should have power to enforce this amendment by appropriate legislation. Of all the correspondence that preceded the conference herein mentioned, and leading to the same, you have heretofore been informed. Very respectfully, your obedient servants, ALEX. H. STEPHENS,

R. M. T. HUNTER,
JOHN A. CAMPBELL."

The absence of reporters, and all persons except the members of the conference, has necessarily made the relation of the conversation on that occasion very meager. An account prepared by Mr. Stephens and published in the Augusta, Georgia, Chronicle gives some of the incidents which are very interesting and illustrative. It is here stated that President Lincoln declared that, in his negotiations for peace, he could not recognize another Government inside of the one of which he alone was President. "That," said he, "would be doing what you so long asked Europe to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing the Union armies are fighting for." To this Mr. Hunter replied that the recognition of Davis' power to make a treaty was the first and indispensable step to peace; and to illustrate his point, he referred to the correspondence between King Charles I and his Parliament, as a reliable precedent of a constitutional ruler treating with rebels. Mr. Stephens says:

"Here Mr. Lincoln's face assumed that indescribable expression which uniformly preceded his severest hits, and remarked: 'Upon questions of history, I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is posted in such things, and I don't profess to be; but my only distinct recollection of the matter is that Charles lost his head.'" Mr. Carpenter, in his reminiscences, gives a version of a characteristic story told by the President on this occasion. They were discussing the slavery question, when Mr. Hunter remarked that the slaves, always accustomed to work upon compulsion, under an overseer, would, if suddenly freed, precipitate not only themselves, but the entire society of the South in irremediable ruin. No work would be done, but the blacks and whites would starve together. The President waited for Mr. Seward to answer the argument; but as that gentleman hesitated, he said: "Mr. Hunter, you ought to know a great deal better about this matter than I, for you have always lived under the slave system. I can only say in reply to your statement of the case, that it reminds me of a man out in Illinois by the name of Case, who undertook, a few years ago, to raise a very large herd of hogs. It was a great trouble to feed them, and how to get around this was a puzzle to him. At length he hit upon the plan of planting an immense field of potatoes, and when they were sufficiently grown, he turned the whole herd into the field and let them have full swing, thus saving not only the labor of feeding the herd, but also of digging the potatoes. Charmed with his sagacity, he stood one day leaning against the fence, counting his hogs, when a neighbor came along. 'Well, well,' said he; 'Mr. Case, this is all very fine. Your hogs are doing very well just now, but you know out here in Illinois the frost comes early, and the ground freezes a foot deep, then what are they going to do?' This was a view of the matter which Mr. Case had not taken into account. Butchering time for hogs was away in December or January. He scratched his head and at length stammered, 'Well, it may come pretty hard on their snouts, but I don't see but it must be root hog, or die.'"

The terms on which peace could be obtained and assured were so clearly set forth by the President on this occasion, as well as at the attempt from the Niagara Falls negotiation, that it appeared evident that he was willing and anxious for peace on, and only on, the conditions that would restore the National authority in all the States, and satisfy the loyal Union people of the country.

We may not assume that the President expected any favorable results in the direction of peace from this conference. He was fully acquainted with the sentiments of the rebel leaders, that only on the recognition of their Government and separation, would they lay down their arms, and that only on this acquiescence by the National authority could peace be obtained. To the

people of the South, the question of peace was the controlling thought and feeling of every mind. But one view, however, was entertained by the Government, and a majority of the people, and that was when the National authority is prepared to acknowledge the independence of the Confederate States the war will close and peace be assured. That Mr. Davis should desire peace on those conditions is apparent to all. That he, knowing the sentiments of the loyal people, and the official declarations of the National administration, could expect peace only on the restoration of the Union, is to be presumed. The Confederate Government in those futile attempts at negotiation was striving to impress the idea on the Southern people, now fast becoming restless and weary under the daily increasing burdens of the war, that all possible efforts had been made to obtain peace, and that President Lincoln had, with indignity and insolence, refused and repelled all attempts and advances tending to that end. The object of the peace conference on the part of the rebel authorities was apparent on the return of the rebel commissioners to Richmond. A public meeting was called, at which President Davis took occasion to deliver a vindicative tirade against the National administration, and at which meeting resolutions were passed, declaring that the terms offered by President Lincoln were an insult to the Southern people, and that the Confederates would never lay down their arms until they had achieved their independence.

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