Newspaper Page Text
499
THE COUNTRYMA N.
views, and would state them, if pressed
by the President to do so, and desired to
learn his, in return.
I again insisted on some evidence that
they came from Mr. Lincoln, and, in or
der to satisfy me, Mr. Gilmore refeired to
the fact that pet mission for their coming
through our lines had been asked official
ly by Gen. Grant, in a letter to General
Lee, and that General Grant, in that letter,
bad asked that the request should be re
ferred to President Davis. Mr. Gilmore
•then showed me a card, written and sign
ed by Mr. Lincoln, requesting Gen. Grant
to aid Mr. Gilmore, and friend, in passing
through his lines into the confederacy.
Col. Jaques then said that his name was
not put on the card for the reason that it
was earnestly desired that their visit
.should be kept secret; that he had come
hito the confederacy a year ago, and that
it was feared that if his name should be-
come known, that some of those who had
formerly met him in Petersburg would
conjecture the purpose for which he came.
They said thac the terms of peace, which
they would offer to the President, would
be honorable to the confederacy; that they
did not desire that the confederacy should
accept any other terms, but would be
glad to have my promise, as they gave
theirs, that their visit should be kept a
profound secret, if it failed to result in
peace ; that it would not be just that ei
ther party should seek any advantage by
divulging the fact of their overture for
peace, it unsuccessful. I assented to this
request, and then rising said :
■‘Do I understand you to state distinct
ly that you come as messengers from Mr.
Lincoln, for the purpose of agreeing with
the President as to the proper mode of in
augurating a formal negotiation for peace,
charged by Mr. Lincoln with authority
for stating his own view's, and receiving
those of President Davis?' Both answer
ed in the affirmative, and I then said that
the President would see them at my office
the same evening, at 9 p. m.; that, at least,
I presumed he would ; but if he objected,
after hearing my report, they should be
informed. They were then recommitted
to the charge of Col.-Ould, with the under
standing, that they were'to be reconduct-
ed to my office at the appointed hour, un
less otherwise directed.
This interview, connected with the re^
port previously made by Colonel Ould,
left on my mind the decided impression
that Mr. Lincoln was averse to sending
formal commissioners to open negotiations,
lest he might thereby be deemed to have
recognized the independence of the con
federacy, and: that he was anxious to learn
whether the conuitions on which alone he
would be willing to take such a step,
would be yielded by the confederacy;
that with this view' he had placed his mes
sengers in a condition to satisfy us, that
they really came from him, without com
mitting himself to anything in the event
of a disagreement to such conditions as
he considered to be indispensable. On
informing tbe President, therefore, of my
conclusions, he determined that no ques
tion of form, or etiquette should .be an
obstacle to his receiving any overtures
that promised, however remotely, to result
in putting an end to the carnage which
marked the continuance of hostilities.
The President came to pay office at 6
o’clock in the evening, and Col. Ould came
a few moments’ later, with Messrs'. Jaques
and Gilmore. The President said to them
that he had heard from me that they came
as messengers of peace from Mr, Lincoln;
that as such they were welcome; that
the confederacy had never concealed its
desire for peace, and that he was ready to
hear whatever they had to offer on that
subject.
Mr. Gilmore then addressed the Presi
dent, and in a few minutes had conveyed
the information that these two gentlemen
had come to Richmond impressed w'ith
the idea that this government would ac
cept a peace on the basis of a reconstruc
tion of the union, the abolition of slavery,
and the granfcof an amnesty to the people of
the states, as repentant criminals. In or
der to accomplish the abolition of slavery,
it was proposed that there should be a
general vote of all the people of both fed
erations, in mass, and the majority of the
vote, thus taken, was to determine that,
as well as all other disputed questions.
These were stated to be Mr. Lincoln’s
views. The President answered that as
these proposals had been prefaced by the
remark that the people of the north were
a majority, and that a majority ought
to govern, the offer -was, in effect,
a proposal that the Confederate States
should surrender at discretion, admit
that they had been wrong from the
beginning of the contest, submit to the
mercy of their enemies, and avow them
selves to be in need of pardon for crimes ;
that extermination was preferable to such
dishonor.
He stated that if they were themselves
so unacquainted with the form of their
own government, as to make such pro
positions, Mr. Lincoln ought to have
known, when giving them his views, that
it was out of the power of the confederate
government to act on the subject of the
domestic institutions of the several states,
each state having exclusive jurisdiction
on that point—still less to commit the de
cision of such a question to the vote of
a foreign people ; that the separation of
the states was an accomplished fact;
that hehad no authority to receive proposals
for negotiation,except by virtue of his of
fice as President ot an independent con
federacy, and on this basis alone must
proposals be made to him.
At one period of the conversation, Mr.
Gilmore made use of some language re
ferring to these states as ‘rebels,’ while
rendering an account of Mr. Lincoln’s
views, and apologised for the word'. The
President desired him to proceed, as no
offence was taken, and he wished Mr. Lin
coln’s language to be repeated to him as
exactly as possible. Some further con
versation took place, substantially to the
same"effect as the foregoing, when the
President rose to indicate that the inter
view was at an end. The two gentlemen
were then committed to the charge of Col.
Ould, and left Richmond tbe next
day.
This account of the visit of Messrs. Gil
more and Jaques, to Richmond, has been
rendered necessary by the publication
made by one or both of them since then-
return to the United States, notwithstand
ing the agreement that their visit was to
be kept secret. They, perhaps, conclud
ed that as the promise of secrecy was
made at their request, it was admissible to
disregard it. We had no reason for desir
ing to conceal what had occurred, and
have, therefore, no complaint to make of
the publicity given to the fact ot the visit.
The extreme inaccuracy of Mr. Gilmore’s
narrative will be apparent to you,from the
foregoing statement.
You have no doubt seen in the north
ern papers an account of another confer
ence on the subject ot peace, with took
place in Canada, at aboi^J: the same date,
between Messrs. C. C. Clay, and J. P. Hol
combe, confederate citizens of the highest
character and position, ard Mr. Horace
Greeley, of New York, acting with author
ity of President Loncoln.
It is deemed not improper to inform
you that Messrs. Clay, and Holcombe, al
though enjoying, in ah eminent degree,
the confidence and esteem of the Presi
dent, were strictly accurate in their state
ment that they were without any author
ity from this government to treat with
that of the United States, on any subject
whatever. We had no knowledge of their
conference with Mr. Greeley, nor of their
proposed visit to Washington, till we saw
the newspaper publications. A significant
confirmation of the truth of the statement
of Messrs. Gilmore and Jaques, that they
came as messengers from Mr. Lincoln, is
to be found in the fact that the views of
Mr. Lincoln, as stated by them to the
, President, are in exact conformity with
the offensive paper addressed ‘To whom
it may concern,’ which was sent by Mr.
Lincoln to Messrs. Clay and Holcombe
by the hands of his private secretary, Mr.
Hay, and which was properly regarded by
those ge/itleinen as an intimation that Mr.
Lincoln was. unwilling that this war
should cease while in his power ta*con-
tinue hostilities.
.1 am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant.
J. P. Benjamin.
Secretary of State.
Hon. James M. Mason, Commissioner to
the Continent etc., etc., Paris.
Our sanctum was honored, yester-
day, by a visit from those clever gen
tlemen, and accomplished editors,
Messers. Henry Watterson, and Al
bert Roberts, alias ‘ John Happy,’
both formerly editors of this paper,
late of the Confederacy. They were
from Atlanta direct, and left tffat city
with the yankees close upon their
heels.—Rebel.
“Righteousness exaltet.h a nation :
but sin is a reproach to any people.”
“A friend loveth at all times, and
a brother is born for adversity.”