Part 95 (2/2)
”Do you bring any overtures from your Government, gentlemen?”
”No, sir,” answered Colonel Jaquess. ”We bring no overtures and have no authority from our Government. As private citizens we simply wish to know what terms will be acceptable to Mr. Davis.”
”Are you acquainted with Mr. Lincoln's views?”
”One of us is fully,” said Colonel Jaquess.
”Did Mr. Lincoln in any way authorize you to come here?”
”No, sir,” said Gilmore. ”We came with his pa.s.s, but not by his request.
We came as men and Christians, not as diplomats, hoping, in a frank talk with Mr. Davis, to discover some way by which this war may be stopped.”
”Well, gentlemen,” said Benjamin, ”I will repeat what you say to the President, and if he follows my advice, he will meet you.”
At nine o'clock the two men had entered the State Department and found Jefferson Davis seated at the long table on the right of his Secretary of State.
John Vaughan was given a seat at the other end of the table to report the interview for Mr. Benjamin.
He studied the distinguished President of the Confederate States with interest. He had never seen him before. His figure was extremely thin, his features typically Southern in their angular cheeks and high cheek bones. His iron-grey hair was long and thick and inclined to curl at the ends. His whiskers were small and trimmed farmer fas.h.i.+on--on the lower end of his strong chin. The clear grey eyes were full of vitality. His broad forehead, strong mouth and chin denoted an iron will. He wore a suit of greyish brown, of foreign manufacture, and as he rose, seemed about five feet ten inches. His shoulders slightly stooped.
His manner was easy and graceful, his voice cultured and charming.
”I am glad to see you, gentlemen,” he said. ”You are very welcome to Richmond.”
”We thank you, Mr. Davis,” Gilmore replied.
”Mr. Benjamin tells me that you have asked to see me to----”
He paused that the visitors might finish the sentence.
”Yes, sir,” Jaquess answered. ”Our people want peace, your people do. We have come to ask how it may be brought about?”
”Withdraw your armies, let us alone and peace will come at once.”
”But we cannot let you alone so long as you repudiate the Union----”
”I know. You would deny us what you exact for yourselves--the right of self-government.”
”Even so,” said Colonel Jaquess, ”we can not fight forever. The war must end sometime. We must finally agree on something. Can we not agree now and stop this frightful carnage?”
”I wish peace as much as you do,” replied Mr. Davis. ”I deplore bloodshed. But I feel that not one drop of this blood is on my hands. I can look up to G.o.d and say this. I tried all in my power to avert this war. I saw it coming and for twelve years I worked day and night to prevent it. The North was mad and blind, and would not let us govern ourselves and now it must go on until the last man of this generation falls in his tracks and his children seize his musket and fight our battle, _unless you acknowledge our right to self-government_. We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for independence, and that or extermination we _will_ have.”
”We have no wish to exterminate you,” protested the Colonel. ”But we must crush your armies. Is it not already nearly done? Grant has shut you up in Richmond. Sherman is before Atlanta.”
”You don't seem to understand the situation,” Mr. Davis laughed. ”We're not exactly shut up in Richmond yet. If your papers tell the truth it is your Capital that is in danger, not ours. Lee, whose front has never been broken, holds Grant in check and has men enough to spare to invade Maryland and Pennsylvania and threaten Was.h.i.+ngton. Sherman, to be sure, is before Atlanta. But suppose he is, the further he goes from his base of supplies, the more disastrous defeat must be. And defeat may come.”
<script>