Why my companion, the Rev. Dr. Jaquess, Colonel of the Seventy-Third
Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, recently went to Richmond, and the
circumstances attending his previous visit within the Rebel lines,--when
he wore his uniform, and mixed openly with scores of leading
Confederates,--I shall shortly make known to the public in a volume
called "Down in Tennessee." It may now, however, be asked why I, a
"civil" individual, and not in the pay of Government, became his
travelling-companion, and, at a time when all the world was rushing
North to the mountains and the watering-places, journeyed South for a
conference with the arch-Rebel, in the hot and dangerous latitude of
Virginia.
Did it never occur to you, reader, when you have undertaken to account
for some of the simplest of your own actions, how many good reasons have
arisen in your mind, every one of which has justified you in concluding
that you were of "sound and disposing understanding"? So, now, in
looking inward for the why and the wherefore which I know will be
demanded of me at the threshold of this article, I find half a dozen
reasons for my visit to Richmond, any one of which ought to prove that I
am a sensible man, altogether too sensible to go on so long a journey,
in the heat of midsummer, for the mere pleasure of the thing. Some of
these reasons I will enumerate.
First: Very many honest people at the North sincerely believe that the
revolted States will return to the Union, if assured of protection to
their peculiar institution. The Government having declared that no State
shall be readmitted which has not first abolished Slavery, these people
hold it responsible for the continuance of the war. It is, therefore,
important to know whether the Rebel States will or will not return, if
allowed to retain Slavery. Mr. Jefferson Davis could, undoubtedly,
answer that question; and that may have been a reason why I went to see
him.
Second: On the second of July last, C. C. Clay, of Alabama, J. P.
Holcombe, of Virginia, and G. N. Sanders, of nowhere in particular,
appeared at Niagara Falls, and publicly announced that they were there
to confer with the Democratic leaders in reference to the Chicago
nomination. Very soon thereafter, a few friends of the Administration
received intimations from those gentlemen that they were Commissioners
from the Rebel Government, with authority to negotiate preliminaries of
peace on something like the following basis, namely: A restoration of
the Union as it was; all negroes actually freed by the war to be
declared free, and all negroes not actually freed by the war to be
declared slaves.
These overtures were not considered sincere. They seemed concocted to
embarrass the Government, to throw upon it the odium of continuing the
war, and thus to secure the triumph of the peace-traitors at the
November election. The scheme, if well managed, threatened to be
dangerous, by uniting the Peace-men, the Copperheads, and such of the
Republicans as love peace better than principle, in one opposition,
willing to make a peace that would be inconsistent with the safety and
dignity of the country. It was, therefore, important to discover--what
was then in doubt--whether the Rebel envoys really had, or had not, any
official authority.
Within fifteen days of the appearance of these "Peace Commissioners,"
Jefferson Davis had said to an eminent Secession divine, who, late in
June, came through the Union lines by the Maryland back-door, that he
would make peace on no other terms than a recognition of Southern
Independence. (He might, however, agree to two governments, bound
together by a league offensive and defensive,--for all external purposes
_one_, for all internal purposes _two_; but he would agree to nothing
better.)
There was reason to consider this information trustworthy, and to
believe Mr. Davis (who was supposed to be a clear-minded man) altogether
ignorant of the doings of his Niagara satellites. If this were true, and
were proven to be true,--if the _great_ Rebel should reiterate this
declaration in the presence of a trustworthy witness, at the very time
when the _small_ Rebels were opening their Quaker guns on the
country,--would not the Niagara negotiators be stripped of their false
colors, and their low schemes be exposed to the scorn of all honest men,
North and South?
I may have thought so; and that may have been another reason why I went
to Richmond.
Third: I had been acquainted with Colonel Jaquess's peace-movements from
their inception. Early in June last he wrote me from a battle-field in
Georgia, announcing his intention of again visiting the Rebels, and
asking an interview with me at a designated place. We met, and went to
Washington together. Arriving there, I became aware that obstacles were
in the way of his further progress. Those obstacles could be removed by
my accompanying him; and that, to those who know the man and his
"mission," which is to preach peace on earth and good-will among men,
would seem a very good reason why I went to Richmond.
Fourth,--and this to very many may appear as potent as any of the
preceding reasons,--I had in my boyhood a strange fancy for
church-belfries and liberty-poles. This fancy led me, in
school-vacations, to perch my small self for hours on the cross-beams in
the old belfry, and to climb to the very top of the tall pole which
still surmounts the little village-green. In my youth, this feeling was
simply a spirit of adventure; but as I grew older it deepened into a
reverence for what those old bells said, and a love for the principle of
which that old liberty-pole is now only a crumbling symbol.
Had not events shown that Jeff. Davis had never seen that old
liberty-pole, and never heard the chimes which still ring out from that
old belfry? Who knew, in these days when every wood-sawyer has a
"mission," but _I_ had a "mission," and it was to tell the Rebel
President that Northern liberty-poles still stand for Freedom, and that
Northern church-bells still peal out, "Liberty throughout the land, to
_all_ the inhabitants thereof"?
If that _was_ my mission, will anybody blame me for fanning Mr. Davis
with a "blast" of cool Northern "wind" in this hot weather?
But enough of mystification. The straightforward reader wants a
straightforward reason, and he shall have it.
We went to Richmond because we hoped to pave the way for negotiations
that would result in peace.
If we should succeed, the consciousness of having served the country
would, we thought, pay our expenses. If we should fail, but return
safely, we might still serve the country by making public the cause of
our failure. If we should fail, and _not_ return safely, but be shot or
hanged as spies,--as we might be, for we could have no protection from
our Government, and no safe-conduct from the Rebels,--two lives would be
added to the thousands already sacrificed to this Rebellion, but they
would as effectually serve the country as if lost on the battle-field.
These are the reasons, and the only reasons, why we went to Richmond.