THE CONFERENCE AT FORTRESS MONROE.

333

after a fair effort for peace, it was no less a legitimate and honest endeavor. So history should record it.

Horace Greeley was instrumental in hastening this advent of Mr. Blair upon Virginia. His paper was not uncandid when it said that the visit would give a clearer understanding of the differences North and South, and of the reasons or the ends for which further bloodshed might be deemed necessary. It was no idle rumor which said that President Lincoln would propose, through the elder Blair, to Jefferson Davis and his followers, an exit over the Mexican frontier. Once over as armed emigrants, they were to be furnished with the necessary means for a permanent lodgment. There they could erect a splendid government upon the ruins of the cause of the imperial puppet of France-Maximilian. There they could vindicate the Monroe doctrine and revel in a confederacy all their own. Such were the phantoms born of war and its disasters.

In pursuance of the understanding between Mr. Blair and Jefferson Davis, Messrs. Alexander H. Stephens, Robert M. T. Hunter, and John A. Campbell were accredited, with a certificate of appointment, as commissioners to proceed to Washington for conference upon the subject to which it related; or rather for an informal conference with President Lincoln upon the issues involved in the existing war, and for the purpose of securing peace to the "two countries." Upon the 2d of February, 1865, they arrive at Fortress Monroe upon General Grant's flag-boat, the M. Martin. It anchors near the River Queen, on which is Secretary Seward. The commissioners are treated with marked courtesy. They dine with the Secretary on board his vessel. The fastest boat of the bay, the Thomas Collyer, arrives at Old Point Comfort at ten o'clock that night. It has made the fastest run on record, although the weather is severe and the bay full of ice. It has on board no less a personage than President Lincoln. He advises the Secretary of his presence. The parties do not land. Steam on water was weaving an interchange of civilities and duties in this supreme hour. The parties meet the next day on board the River Queen. Students may be reminded by this incident, of the romantic interview upon a raft in the river Nieman, between the great Napoleon and the Czar Alexander, to open negotiations for peace after the long war between Prussia, Russia, and France.

On what do these Federal and Confederate dignitaries confer? All the vexed questions, emancipation, amnesty, debt, finance, and the Monroe doctrine are under discussion. Great hopes are excited that the preliminaries of peace have been agreed upon. Gold drops down to 202. The ultimatum is delivered to the commissioners. They leave for Richmond. The next day the Cabinet at Washington meets. The President opens his budget. All approve of his propositions. They approve of the simplicity and lack of punctilio which characterized the conference. They look to the great end. All minor questions have been subordinated by the clement President to stop bloodshed, and only the main topics are uppermost in his thoughts.

Mr. Seward had proposed that the conference should be confidential. This calls for an objurgatory paragraph from Mr. Davis in his published narration of the affair. Mr. Davis thinks that the views of Mr. Lincoln had changed after he wrote the letter of June 18th to Mr. Blair. This change he attributes to what Mr. Blair heard and saw at Richmond. What he saw

and heard involved a conflict in the very heart of the Confederate councils. The report of the commissioners to the President of the Confederate States was dated on the 5th of February, 1865. It says nothing that, apparently, changed the course of events or the previous state of affairs. It affirms that the commissioners understood from President Lincoln that no terms or proposals of any treaty looking to an ultimate settlement would be entertained or made by him with the authorities of the Confederate States. To treat with the latter would be a recognition of their existence as a separate power. Under no circumstances would he permit this. For a like reason, no such terms would be entertained by him for the states separately. No extended truce or armistice would be granted without a satisfactory assurance, in advance, of the complete restoration of the authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States over all the places within the states of the Confederacy. All the consequences which would follow the re-establishment of that authority must be accepted. Mr. Stephens had previously intimated that a surrender was not thought of. He said to Mr. Lincoln that his colleagues and himself had no power for their own abdication. "Your proposition," then said Mr. Lincoln, "is for independence. Mine for submission. We cannot agree."

In this report, the commissioners plainly indicate that the President had his mind fixed, without malice toward any and with charity for all. He proposed if peace were restored, a liberal use of the power confided to him, to remit pains and penalties. During the conference a significant reference was made to the 31st of January and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. The result of the conference was that there could be no arrangements as the parties were then situated.

The comment, by those who looked at matters in a sinister way, upon these remarkable meetings of the elder Blair with Jefferson Davis and the commissioners with Lincoln and Seward was, that Mr. Blair was a scout, and the Hampton Roads conference an official reconnoissance. If such had been the object it was successful; but the conferences were, undoubtedly, intended to lead in good faith toward the cessation of hostilities and the restoration of the Union. What the commissioners sought they did not get an armistice and recognition. What the President sought he did not get immediate submission. The reports of the respective Presidents show that negotiations were impossible on any other "terms," as Mr. Davis. phrased it, "than those which the conqueror may grant."

Mr. Seward, in writing to Mr. Adams, Minister at London, under date

THE MEXICAN DREAM.

335 of Feb. 9, 1865, states that the conference lasted four hours, and that all points of difference were discussed amicably. Then he adds this significant sentence: "What the insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor, was a postponement of the question of separation, and a mutual direction of both sides to some extrinsic policy or scheme, for a season, during which passions might be expected to subside and the armies be reduced, and intercourse between the people of both sections be resumed." It is no part of this narrative to discuss what might have happened had this extrinsic proposition as to Maximilian, which first emanated from Mr. Blair and was now propounded by these commissioners, been adopted. Fancy plays with supposititious situations. The verities discard them as "stuff that dreams are made of."

Upon the 6th of February, 1865, the writer offered a resolution in the House of Representatives, stating that the gratitude of a suffering and distracted country was due to the President for endeavoring, with a view to negotiations for peace and the restoration of the Union, to ascertain the disposition of the insurgents; and that with a similar view he be respectfully requested to omit no honorable exertions thereafter which might lead to the desired object, to wit, peace and union. Against this humane testimony for the American people, thirty-one Republicans in Congress assembled, voted, while one hundred and five of all parties voted in favor of it. This resolution greatly disturbed the extremists. Still, only one-third of that party opposed the resolution on the vote; but in private they were furious in their opposttion to any effort toward peace except through war. The writer was surprised that such leaders as Henry Winter Davis, Governor Frank Thomas, of Maryland, Windom, of Minnesota, Wadsworth, of Kentucky, Morrill, of Vermont, Dawes, of Massachusetts, and Allison, of Iowa, should have opposed a tribute to their own President for such an exercise of his prerogative; but he was not surprised when Thaddeus Stevens led his small phalanx in opposition, among whom were found two ultra Democrats who disliked the President so much that they would not seek even the ways of peace and pleasantness at his hands. These were Rogers, of New Jersey, and Long, of Ohio.

One result of these conferences, or rather of their failure, was to give fresh impulse to the passage of the bill for six hundred millions of dollars. Another result, running to extremes, was a measure which the writer defeated, and which had in a former session been vetoed, concerning the "forfeiture of real property owned by rebels, so as to confiscate the fee simple beyond the natural lives of the owners. On the motion to lay this bill on the table, the yeas were 72, the nays 71. What a rich fund of attorney fees, what a wrangle of litigation, was thus avoided by adhering to the Constitution in reference to attainder and confiscation and corruption of blood.

In other respects the Union cause was the gainer by the Hampton Roads

transaction, while the Confederates were the losers through distraction in council and discouragement everywhere. The duty prescribed now for the North was to conquer a peace, since peace could not be gained by treaty. The North aroused itself to give a finishing blow to its brave but now staggering opponents.

On the 10th of January, 1865, a debate was sprung upon the House in regard to these peace negotiations. It was opened by James Brooks, of NewYork. He favored an armistice. He vigorously assaulted the President's action. Thaddeus Stevens answered in a fierce onslaught on Jefferson Davis, and the position which he assumed for the Confederate Government as an independent state. The saturnine Pennsylvanian had forgotten that he had by his own speeches and action regarded the Confederacy as an independent power. The writer answered both speeches as extreme opinions. He defended the meeting at Hampton Roads. He asserted that if it were followed up it would lead to peace and reunion. He quoted General Grant's statement, that he (the General) was convinced, by conversations with Messrs. Stephens and Hunter, that their intentions were good, and that their desire to restore peace and union was sincere. "If we fail," said the author in conclusion, "to make peace, the fault will lie at the door of the radicals." The war fiercely continued to do its bloody work until April 19, 1865. Then peace was gained. It was contained in this simple proposition of General Grant:

"By the South laying down their arms, they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed." General Sherman, a short time afterward, made the same terms with General Johnston for the disbandment of the army of the latter, which were given to Lee at Appomattox. Thus ended the most momentous war known to history.

CHAPTER XVII.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S POLICY OF RECONSTRUCTION.

THE AMNESTY PROCLAMATION

I

OF

THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE-THE CONDITIONS PARDON-THE EXCEPTED CLASSES RECONSTRUCTION BILL IN THE HOUSE -MILITARY PROVISIONAL GOVERNORS - THE QUALIFICATION OF VOTERS-ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SENATE AMENDMENTS REJECTED - THE BILL PASSES CONGRESS IT FAILS TO BE SIGNED BY THE PRESIDENT ITS POLICY ADOPTED BY HIM - CRITICISMS OF HIS PARTY — MR. LINCOLN'S MODERATE VIEWS-NEGRO SUFFRAGE PROPOSED - EXTREME MEASURES DEVELOPING — AUTHOR'S ESTIMATE OF LINCOLN.

po

N his annual message, dated Dec. 8, 1863, President Lincoln gives at length his reasons for issuing the Amnesty proclamation of the same day. The latter offers terms of reconciliation and a restoration of litical rights and relations under the government to the people of the Confederate States. The policy is for a general amnesty with some exceptions. The preamble to the proclamation recites the clause in the Constitution which provides that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." Reference is made to the acts of Congress declaring forfeitures and confiscations of property and the liberation of slaves. The President then grants the amnesty and pardon in these words: "Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have directly, or by implication, participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them, and each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an oath, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate; and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit: