The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-06-09

| five miles from Durham Station under n flag
| OF truce. After few preliminary remarks he
said TO me, since Lee had surrendered his army
| OF AppomatOX Court House, OF when ne mac
| Just been advised, he looked upon further op-
| position by him as The greatest OF possible
| crimes that he wanted 10 know whether
| could make him any general concessions;
| ANYTHING by which lie could maintain his hold
! and control Of his army and prevent its seat
| tering; anything TO satisfy the great yearnlng
| of the peOplc: il So, lie thought he could az
! range terms satisfactory 10 both parties. He
| wanted 10 embrace the condition and fate of
| all the armies Of tho Southern COnfederacy to
| the Rio Grandc 10 make one job OF it, as he
| expressed IT,
| Jasked him what lis powers wore-whether
| Lie could command and control the fate OF the
| entire arnie. of the COrttdeE.cy TO the Rio
| Grande. He answered that he thought he
| could obtain the power bit lie did not possess
il that moment; be did not know where MIR.
| Davis was, bul he thought If | could give him
| the time he cGald find lIr. Bleckiniidge. whose
| orders would be obeyed everywhere, and he
cOulh pledge TO me bis personal faith that
! III .tcyer he undertook to do would DC done.
| 1 lad had FREQUENT COTrespondence With The
| late President OF the United States with the
Sacrefa,, Of War. with Cen. Hailed, and with
Gen Grant aud the general impression lat
on nv mind was that # Z settlement could b2
mate consistent with the Constitution Of tie
United states the laws Of Congress ard the
proclamation &C The Pre- 5out, they would not
only be willing, bat pleased TO terminate tht
war by one single stroke Of the pen.
/ needed time TO iill-i the railroad from the
Eousg bridge I'D to Raleigh and thought l
c9ud Int ia four on liV. days Of good TIME in
making repairs upon y .. al, event, hal 80
send pfDoC-itOaS to Washington; ! therefore,
consented TO delay twgntY-tour hours. ID on
able him 10 procure Wunt would s~.is.V mel
rs to his aU;holitv ana Ility rs military
mnn - do what he an ieFJCOil 10 d.. / here.
fore consented ;OUac5 him III" next day, ihJ
I7th. a51Z room as the s-mG place.
We Gi4 meet ag.u; after % general iutEr4
chance # cgurtc.ias lc remarked tagt he was
then p -eDarct 10 ST. isiy me int re CcE,d !ulHi
the terms Of our conversation # the day be.
fore. lie then asked re hal / was wiling %
co: told him ia TIE first !i1ca | cond not
Cgtl ..th ANYBODY except men TccCguiZsd 10y
Us as " balgartuts.' because d mill gry m#n
caald 70 hcy1=d that act Ire AttorEey Cen
cal has s'Uce ga d.ci..l. 2-a any man OF com.
mon nsesJ ind rto.d IT, piOrc: there was
rnG5li.TgI.- upon I..lt fEl.., g.. 20 the men and
officer acEomg1Uyrc the C5nlsacra c armies.
| tuli lin iiEC tine h.u..3eag 81 iGe Jai.eG
S."t.e fya published proclamation Had caa-
u.gl CFerv uau 40 Tie Southern CoulcIeR.U
ARMY. O the unE OF colonel aud Und.r 20 pro.
cuca.I chain aaHa..g, iw Simply ,a&ug tae
9th ufalsgi-ucU - tva Ua;ral States aud
a-rgci q 10 90 30 + home and iiva - peace.
Toe terms 0j General Grant h. Guer} Lee cH-
.,uaej JIes ms principles 10 the officers, of
She rank g! Bri.aaitr General AID upward, in.
c-a.@g The sighrs- officer IN the Jo2igGe" .e
aIUiI VIZ. General Ice, the LummaNd,rlU-
CHig.. / WaS therefore willing 10 DFoct ca
with E!m upon the same principles.
Then conversation arose as 10 What fnlm Of
Government ;aey were 70 have in the S5u,h
We're tge States to be discovered aud were the
people To BE- denied representation in Con-
i:ress? We're hepgople there 10 tc--in the
slaves II the peope OF the North OF
course said No: we desire that you shall re,
gsn Your position as citizens OF the United
States, free and equal to u in all respects. and
with representation upon the condition Of sub.
mission to the lawful authority of the United
STATES. as defined nv the constitution, the Unit
cd States courts. and the authority Of the Unit
ed States supported by those courts" He
then referred to me that General Breckenridge,
a Major General in the Confederate army, was
near bv. and. if had no objection, he would
like to have him present. called his attention
to the fact that had on the day before ex-
planned to him that any negotiations between
piled that he understood that perfectly
But" said he. Breckenridge, whom YOU
do not know. save by public ruInor. as Secre-
tary of War. is, in fact, q Major General: l
give YOU NV word for that Have you any OBJ
lection to his being present as Major-Gener.
al?" l replied, II have no objection to any
military ulcer YOU desire being present as a
part of your personal staff" myself had my
own officers near me at call
Breckenridge came a stranger to me, whom
I had never spoken to in my life, and he joined
in the conversation; while that conversation
was going on courier arrived and handed to
Gen. Johnston q package of papers; he and
Breckenridge sat down and looked over them
for some time and put them away in their
pockets; what they were knew not, but one
of them was slip of paper, written, as Gen.
Johnston toll me- by Mr. Reagan, Postmaster
General of the Southern Confederacy; they
seemed to talk about it soto roce, and finally
handed it to me; glanced over it; it was
preceded by preamble and closed with few
general remarks; rejected it at once.
We then discussed matters; talked about
slavery, talked about everything. There was
a universal assent that slavery was as dead as
ANYTHING could be that it was one of the issues
of the war long since determined; and even
Cen. Johnston laughed at the folly of the Con- |
federate government in raising negro soldiers,
whereby they gave Us all the points OF the case.