"Say to Mr. Lincoln from me, that I shall at any time be pleased to
receive proposals for peace on the basis of our Independence. It will be
useless to approach me with any other."
When we went out, Mr. Benjamin called Judge Ould, who had been waiting
during the whole interview--two hours--at the other end of the hall, and
we passed down the stairway together. As I put my arm within that of the
Judge, he said to me,--
"Well, what is the result?"
"Nothing but war,--war to the knife."
"Ephraim is joined to his idols,--let him alone," added the Colonel,
solemnly.
I should like to relate the incidents of the next day, when we visited
Castle Thunder, Libby Prison, and the hospitals occupied by our wounded;
but the limits of a magazine-article will not permit. I can only say
that at sundown we passed out of the Rebel lines, and at ten o'clock
that night stretched our tired limbs on the "downy" cots in General
Butler's tent, thankful, devoutly thankful, that we were once again
under the folds of the old flag.
* * * * *
Thus ended our visit to Richmond. I have endeavored to sketch it
faithfully. The conversation with Mr. Davis I took down shortly after
entering the Union lines, and I have tried to report his exact language,
extenuating nothing, and coloring nothing that he said. Some of his
sentences, as I read them over, appear stilted and high-flown, but they
did not sound so when uttered. As listened to, they seemed the simple,
natural language of his thought. He spoke deliberately, apparently
weighing every word, and knowing well that all he said would be given to
the public.
He is a man of peculiar ability. Our interview with him explained to me
why, with no money and no commerce, with nearly every one of their
important cities in our hands, and with an army greatly inferior in
numbers and equipment to ours, the Rebels have held out so long. It is
because of the sagacity, energy, and indomitable will of Jefferson
Davis. Without him the Rebellion would crumble to pieces in a day; with
him it may continue to be, even in disaster, a power that will tax the
whole energy and resources of the nation.
The Southern masses want peace. Many of the Southern leaders want
it,--both my companion and I, by correspondence and intercourse with
them, know this; but there can be no peace so long as Mr. Davis controls
the South. Ignoring slavery, he himself states the issue,--the only
issue with him,--Union, or Disunion. That is it. We must conquer, or be
conquered. We can negotiate only with the bayonet. We can have peace and
union only by putting forth all our strength, crushing the Southern
armies, and overthrowing the Southern government.