Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1867-11-16
From the Trinity Advocate
Interesting Correspondence.
TVNT IIUUbIUNI
NEAR PALESTINE, TEXAS.
October 81 1867.

il you say; ain the year 1860, there
appeared in the Chronicle and Sen.
tinel, u newspaper published in
Georgia, an article purporting to
give an account of the conference
between Mr.. Lincoln and the Com
missioners of the Confederate Gov.
ernment on the Hampton Roads,
1t was stated with other things that
Mr.. Lincoln offered the Southern
States six years within which to
abolish slavery, and four hundred
millions of dollars "a Gompensa-
tion, if they would return to their
allegiance. No contradiction ofthe
statement occurred until recently /;
and in the meantime l had made n
public use of it. If it is incorrect
the public should know it. My wish
is to ascertain the truth from au-
thentic sources. AS you were a
member of the Confederate cabinet
at the time this conference took
place l presume you have accurate
information on the subject. 1t will
not be sufficient to learn that the
statement is simply incorrect, or
partly true and partly Incorrect
Something more is necessary; and l
must ask the favor of you to state
what offers uere made formally and
iwormally, BY Mr.. Lincoln at this
conference to the Confederate commits
sioners for the reunion of the States
and the restoration of peace. Your
answer will be published with your
assent"
Sometime ago l received from you
a package containing three copies of
your printed address of August Oath
tn the voters of San Augustine and
Sabine counties, one for Judge
Reeves, ono for Col. Word and one
for myself. 1 read the copy sent
me, and sent the others to the gen
tlemen for whom they were intend
ed. In that address you made tho
statement, that, at the conference
named in : our letter quoted above,
Mr.. Lincoln had "oflered to allow
the Southern States sic years within
,chich to abolish Slavery, ndfour hun
dred millions of dollars in compensa-
ton, provided they would return to
their allegiance to the National Gov
ernment.? Further on you say
"All hope of foreign intervention
was at this time plain delusion,
and the lamp of the revolution was
fast Pickering in its socket. But
these generous terms, which were
not communicated to the public at
the time were inconsiderately and
promptly rejected by the Confede-
rate authorities; and in ninety days
thereafter Gen. Lee surrendered;
the Southern States We're subjected
to the laws of conquest, and involv-
ed in almost universal ruin by the
reputation of these terms" And
you add: "The proposed treaty, and
the compensation of four hundred
millions of dollars, with six crops
of cotton which might have been
made in the interval allowed for
emancipation, worth three times its
ordinary price, would have saved
the South from insolvency, and re-
stored the blessings of reconciliation
and peace, upon honorable terms.
to our exhausted and convulsed
country. Fellow citizens in COM
mon candor and honesty, who are
responsible for the disastrous conse-
sequences of this tragedy of errors
and calamities, thus commenced,
thus prosecuted and thus terminal
ed2"
At the time / received your ad-
dress containing the passages above
quoted l would have written toyou
for the purpose of calling your at
tention to the errors of fact contain
cd in them, into which you had been
led, but for the fact that l was then
confined to my bed by sickness
And as soon as l was able to get up
l had to leave home to attend the
district court ofa neighboring coun-
ty, and by the time l had returned
home the matter had passed from
my mind and when Iagain thought
of it so much time had elapsed as
to cause me to doubt the propricty
of my calling up the subject again.
But am now glad it has so hap
pened that you call my attention to
the matter again, and to offer the
opportunity for my putting these
reports at rest. l have before heard
and seen them in var Gus forms
They arc entirely without founda-
ton, as / will proceed to show, both
in fact and in spirit; and have no
doubt, in some measure, tended to
create and to stimulate very injuri-
Gus and Unjust prejudices against
Mr.. Davis and his cabinet.
What was called the peace confer
ence at Hampton Roads, took place
on the I'd Of February, 1865, be-
tween President Lincoln and Mr..
Seward, Secretary of State, on the
one side, and Vice President Ste.
phens, Senator Hunter and Judge
Campbell on the other. i can only
give such facts as will fully answer
your questions. To give a narrative
account of the incidents connected
with that conference would consume
more time than / can spare, and
would make my LEI ter longer than
you would probably wish to read.
Francis P. Blair, senior, interest
ed himself in an effort to secure re-
conciliation and peace between the
Federal and Confederate authorities.
He obtained a pass from President
Lincoln 10 pass the Federal lines,
90 South, and return. While Mr..
Blair was in Richmond, Mr.. Davis
addressed TO him a letter, as follows:
RICHMOND, Va, Jan. IL, 1867.
"SIR II have deemed it proper,
and probably desirable to you, to
give you, in this form, the substance
of remarks made by me. to be re-