November, 1861. . . . I was wonderfully taken with Lee in our first interview. I saw him put to the test that tries character. He came out of the crucible, pure and refined gold.

The Commissioners met Lincoln and Seward aboard the River Queen, in Hampton Roads. Stephens opened the conference with some pleasant remarks to Lincoln on their association in Congress and as Young Indians. Lincoln responded cordially; inquiries concerning old comrades were exchanged. Then political discussion began, during which no one entered the saloon, "except a coloured servant to bring water, cigars, and other refreshments." Seward promised that there should be no clerk, no records. The military convention, Monroe doctrine, armistice, emancipation, compensation for slaves and status of seceded States if war were abandoned, were reviewed. Lincoln's "opinion" was that the States would be instantly "restored to their practical relations to the Union"; that his Emancipation Proclamation, as a war measure, would only apply to such slaves as had come under its operation; he favoured voluntary emancipation by the States, the Government paying indemnity. But he promised nothing, except liberal exercise of Executive clemency in the enforcement of penalties. "Restoration of the Union is a sine qua non with me," he said. His letter to Davis by Blair had referred to "our common country"; Davis's reply, to "the two countries." Stephens brought up the question of exchange. Lincoln said he would refer that whole matter to Grant with whom the visitors could confer. Stephens relates:

I then said, "I wish, Mr. President, that you would reconsider the subject of an armistice on the basis which

has been suggested. If, upon so doing, you shall change your mind, you can make it known through the military." "Well," said he, as he was taking my hand for a farewell leave, and with a peculiar manner very characteristic of him-"Well, Stephens, I will reconsider it, but I do not think my mind will change; but I will reconsider."

So ended the one interview the Confederate Government was able to obtain with Lincoln, though it had sought many, and in matters of form, Davis had made every concession except that embraced in the term, "the two countries." A pleasant incident occurred when Lincoln said: "Well, Stephens, it seems we can do nothing for our country. Is there anything I can do for you?" Stephens replied that he would like to secure the exchange of his nephew, who had been in prison nearly two years, being sixteen months of this time on Johnson's Island. Lincoln said he would be glad to attend to the matter personally, and on reaching Washington, he telegraphed to Johnson's Island for Lieut. John A. Stephens to be sent to him. John Stephens, ignorant of the cause of his summons, was ushered, at the White House, into Lincoln's presence. Lincoln, who was sitting on a table in a half-reclining posture and talking to Seward, arose, and greeted the young man cordially, remarking in substance: "I saw your uncle, the Honourable Alexander H. Stephens, recently, at Hampton Roads and I promised to send you to him, Lieutenant." In the conversation that ensued, Lincoln gave John what was virtually his first direct news from home, carefully imparting all that could be recalled from what Mr. Stephens had said at Hampton Roads; he spoke warmly of Mr. Stephens, and closed the inter

view by telling young Stephens that the freedom of the city was his as long as he chose to remain in Washington, and, "When you want to go home, let me know and I will pass you through our lines." Weak and ill from long imprisonment, John Stephens was glad of the privilege, and stayed in Washington for nearly a week. On his farewell call at the White House, Lincoln, after a pleasant chat, gave him a letter to his uncle, and then his own autographed photograph, saying in his droll way: "You had better take that along; it is considered quite a curiosity down your way, I believe."

Another incident of the interview is given here because of a reference made to it in the Journal. Hunter called attention to the sufferings which immediate emancipation would entail upon the Negroes, especially on the aged and the infirm, the women and children of the race, who would be unable to support themselves. Lincoln replied with this anecdote:

An Illinois farmer was congratulating himself with a neighbour concerning a discovery he had made which would save time and labour in gathering a food crop for his hogs. "What is it?" asked the neighbour. "Why, plant plenty of potatoes, and when they mature, turn the hogs in and let them get their food as they want it." "But how will they do when the ground is frozen?" "Let 'em root!"

Stephens advised Davis against a public report of the conference; spoke of Lincoln's promise to "reconsider"; thought Davis might hear from it in a quiet way after the "hubbub" over the conference had subsided; the publicity which had attended the mission was enough to account for its failure, if Blair's representations were correct. Davis insisted on the public report, which was

made to the Confederate Congress, February 6th, stating that no terms were offered the South except unconditional surrender and Lincoln's pledge of Executive clemency. Resolutions of indignation and purpose to fight on naturally followed. Impassioned addresses of like tone were made in the Old African Church* and in the Capitol Square by Davis, Benjamin, Hunter, and others. The United States Congress called on Lincoln (February 8th) for information concerning the Congress, and it was given.

Stephens's distress at the turn of affairs is so pronounced in his Journal and in his letter to Seward as to suggest that something more than is published was said about secrecy. There may have been passes of a purely personal nature between himself and Lincoln as old friends and as men, in which each expressed desire to coöperate for peace, and which each felt bound in honour never to reveal. Seward, as a man, may have spoken in some such way. There may have been a tacit understanding, on Stephens's initiative, that the conference should at least not be used to foment public wrath. It is almost impossible to conceive of Stephens as having that interview with Lincoln and not making in his personal character some appeal to the merciful side of his friend in behalf of a suffering people. Yet on the basis of what is known, he might feel acutely that Northern resentment would tie Lincoln's hands and prevent "reconsidering."

Admiral Porter relates of the conference held by Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman on March 27: "Lincoln wanted peace on almost any terms. He did, in fact, arrange the (so-called liberal) terms offered General Joe Johnston." These terms, in Lincoln's words to the Peace Commissioners, "restored the States to their

Richmond's largest auditorium, built by the whites as a place of worship for their slaves.

practical relations to the Union." Sherman says in his "Memoirs": "Mr. Lincoln exclaimed more than once that there had been enough blood shed." In all this, may there not have been some "reconsidering" of that talk at Hampton Roads between the two old friends, neither of whom doubted the goodness and patriotism of the other and both of whom were deeply humane?

Mr. Stephens declined to make a speech in line with the speeches of the Administration: "I could not undertake to impress upon the people the idea that they could do what I believed impossible, or to inspire in them hopes which could never be realized. It was then that I withdrew from Richmond." In their last interview he told Mr. Davis that he would keep silent as to his views of the situation. They parted in the "same friendship that had always marked our intercourse," Mr. Stephens says. It can be understood how each regarded the other as having obstructed Confederate success. In his "War Between the States," the ablest defence of the Confederacy ever given, Mr. Stephens gives a mellowed view of his Chief, but it is not inconsistent with that of the Journal, given when the sore was raw; when the South was in ruins, her public men in prisons, and threatened with hanging; and when he felt that none of this need have come to pass. From his last interview with Mr. Davis he went to Liberty Hall, where he remained quietly, awaiting arrest and probable execution. Their next meeting was when they were both prisoners; Stephens tried to avoid it, as a painful trial for himself and as doubtless the same for Mr. Davis.

It is now in order to give some account of his family ties and surroundings at Liberty Hall, thus making