His
scheme was utterly impracticable, and Mr. Lincoln was interested
in the report of his visit only because it showed that the
rebellion was nearing its end. This was so marked that he sent
Mr. Blair back again to Richmond with a note intended for the eye
of Jefferson Davis, saying that the government had constantly
been, was then, and would continue to be ready to receive any
agent Mr. Davis might send, "with a view of securing peace to the
people of our one common country."
Hopeless as their cause had by this time become, the Confederates
had no mind to treat for peace on any terms except independence
of the southern States; yet, on the other hand, they were in such
straits that they could not afford to leave Mr. Lincoln's offer
untested. Mr. Davis therefore sent north his Vice-President,
Alexander H. Stephens, with two other high officials of the
Confederate government, armed with instructions which aimed to be
liberal enough to gain them admittance to the Union lines, and
yet distinctly announced that they came "for the purpose of
securing peace to the two countries." This difference in the
wording of course doomed their mission in advance, for the
government at Washington had never admitted that there were "two
countries," and to receive the messengers of Jefferson Davis on
any such terms would be to concede practically all that the South
asked.
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