The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-11-30

lee w LDAN1 1LCDA Il
down in Georgia, got out" said Turner,
pausing before jut in the wall of the
room. "A flue was here, you see, bu,
we've bricked it up. They took up the
hearth, let themselves down into the
basement, and then dug through the wall
and eighty feet under ground into the
yard of deserted building over the way
If you'd like to see the place, step down
with me-;
"We would, Major. We'd be right
glad ter" replied, adopting, at a him
from tn. = Judge the Georgia dialect.
"Whair' is the keeps 9' asked. eyes
got lots o them, ha'n't yep
No-only six. Step this way, and
I'll show you"
"Talk better English" said the Judge
as we fell few PAGES behind Turner on
our way to the front of the building
"there are some scho6ln .sters in Geor
gia."
oval, thar ha'n't-not in the part
come FROM"
THE ARRANGEMENTS FOR BLOWING UP THI
PRISON.
The keeper soon invited us to walk
into the adjoining basement l was a
few steps in advance of him, taking a
straight course to the entrance, when a
sentinel, pacing to and fro in the middle
of the apartment, leveled his musket so
as to bar my way, saying, as he did so:
Ye carn't pass yere, sir. Ye must
gwo round by the wall"
This drew my attention to the spot,
and | noticed that space, about fifteen
feet square, in the centre of the room, and
directly in front of the sentinel, had been
recently dug up with spade. While
in all other places the ground was trod-
den to the hardness and color of granite,
this spot seemed to be soft, and had the
reddish-yellow hue of the "sacred Soil y
Another sentry was pacing to and fro on
its other side, 50 that the place was com
pletely surrounded Why were they
guarding it so closely? The reason
flashed upon me, and said to Turner:
81 say, how many barr'ls hes ye in
thary'
Enough to blow this .shanty to-" "
he answered, curtly.
II reckon! Put 'em thar when tibet
feller Dahlgreen wus a-gwine ter rescue
'em--the YankeesY'
~ recon-"
He said 90 more, but that was enough
to reveal the black. seething hell the re-
bellion has brewed. Can there be any
peace with miscreants who thus delibe
rately plan the murder, at one. swoop
of hundreds of unarmed and innocent
men?
WHY THE VISIT TO THE CoNFEDERAcY WAS
MADE.
No reader of this magazine is Sc
young as not to remember that, between
the first of June and the first of August
last, peace simoom swept over the
country, throwing dust into the peoples
eyes, and threatening to bury the nation
in disuniOn. All at once the North grew
tired of the war 1t began to count the
money and the blood it had cost, and to
overlook the great principles for which
it was waged. Men of all shades of po-
litical opinion-radical Republicans as
we'll as honest Democrats-cried out for
concession, compromise, armistice for
anything to end the war-anything but
disunion. To that the North would not
consent, and peace, knew, could not be
had without it. knew that !; because,
on the 18th of June, Jeff. Davis had said
to a prominent Southerner that he
would negotiate only on the basis OF
Southern independence, and that decla-
ration had come to me only five days
after it was made.
To get that ultimatum, and to give it
to the four winds of heaven, were my
real objects in going to Richmond.
WHAT LINCOLN I'D TO DO WITH 1T.
1t was a difficult enterprise. At the
outset it seemed well-nigh impossible to
gain access to Mr. Davis, but we finally
did gain it, and we gained it without
official aid. Mr.. Lincoln did not assist
us. He gave us pass through the army
lines, stated on what terms he would
grant amnesty to the rebels, and said
"Good bye, good luck to you" when we
went away, and that is all he. did.
SUMMARY OF ITS DANGERS.
If any one doubts this, let him call to
mind what we had to accomplish. We
had to penetrate an enemy's lines, to en-
ter besieged city, to tell home truths to
the desperate, unscrupulous leaders OF
the foullest rebellion the world has ever
known, and to draw from those leaders
deep, adroit and wary as they are-their
real plans and purposes. And all this
we had to do without any official safe.
guard, while entirely in their power, and
while known to be their earnest and ac-
tive enemies. One false step, one un.
guarded word, one untoward event, would
have consigned us to Castle Thunder OF
the gallows.