When they reached the Union lines the officer who met them
informed them that they could go no farther unless they accepted
the President's conditions. They finally changed the form of
their request, and were taken to Fortress Monroe. Meantime Mr.
Lincoln had sent Secretary Seward to Fortress Monroe with
instructions to hear all they might have to say, but not to
definitely conclude anything. On learning the true nature of
their errand he was about to recall him, when he received a
telegram from General Grant, regretting that Mr. Lincoln himself
could not see the commissioners, because, to Grant's mind, they
seemed sincere.
Anxious to do everything he could in the interest of peace, Mr.
Lincoln, instead of recalling Secretary Seward, telegraphed that
he would himself come to Fortress Monroe, and started that same
night. The next morning, February 3, 1865, he and the Secretary
of State received the rebel commissioners on board the
President's steamer, the River Queen.
This conference between the two highest officials of the United
States government, and three messengers from the Confederacy,
bound, as the President well knew beforehand, by instructions
which made any practical outcome impossible, brings out, in
strongest relief, Mr. Lincoln's kindly patience, even toward the
rebellion. He was determined to leave no means untried that
might, however remotely, lead to peace.
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