The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-08-03
NUMBER %.

nave surrendered, and we should
nave ost many lives in destroying
! him. 9
NOW my terms. of surrender were
according to military law. to the
instructions Of Mr.. Lincoln and Mr..
Stanton, and so long as Lee was OH
serving his parole L would never
consent to his arrest. Mr.. Seward
nodded approval. / remember feel
ing very strongly on the subject.
The matter was allowed to die out.
L should have resigned the command
OF the army rather than have carried
out any order directing me to arrest
Lee or any of his commanders who
obeyed the laws. By the way, one
reason why Mosby became such a
friend of mine was because as. Gener-
al gave him, a safe oasl,aetsta aAloz.x.
him to practice law and earn a Iiy-
ing. Our officers in Virginia used
to arrest leading C0nfederates when
ever they moved out of their homes,
Mrs. Mosby went to Mr.. Johnson
and asked that her husband might
be allowed to earn his living. But
the President was in furious mood.
and told her that treason must be
made odiouS, and so on. She came
to me in distress, and I gave the
order to allow Mosby to pass and
repass freely. | had no recollection
of this until Mosby called 1T to my
attention. BY the way, Mosby de-
serves great credit for his sacrifices in
the cause of the Union. He is an
honest, brave conscientious man, and
has suffered severely for daring to
vote as he pleased among people who
hailed him as hero, and in whose
behalf he risked his life"
L did not want the Presidency, AMI
have never quite forgiven myself for
resigning the command of the army
to accept it but it could not be
helped. | owed my hon0rs and op-
portunities to the Republican party,
and fany name could aid it / was
bound to accept. The second nomi-
nation was almost due to me, if I
may use the phrase, because of the
bitterness of political and personal
opponents, My reelection was
great qualification, because it showed
me how the country felt. Then came
all the discussions about the third
term. [ gave my views on that in
my letters to Senator White, of
Pennsylvania. 1t is not known,
however, how strongly was pressed
to enter the canYaSs as candidate. Il
was waited upon formally by a dis.
tlnguiShed mai, representing the in,
tiuepces that would have controlled
the Republicans in the South, and
asked to allow my name to be used,
This request was supported by men
/ in the Northern States whose position
and character are unquestioned. |
said then that under no circum-
stances would | become candidate,
Even if a nomination and an election
were assured / would not run. The
nomination if ran would be after a
struggle, and before it had been
unanimous. The election, if should
/ win, would be after a struggle, and
the result would be tar different from
what it was before. If l succeeded
and tried to do my best, my very
best, J. should still have a crippled
administration. This was the public
view. Personally l was weary of
Office. ] never wanted to get out of
place as much as | did to get out of
the Presidency. For sixteen years,
from the opening of the war, it had
been constant strain upon me. So
when the third term was seriously
presented to me peremntorily de-
clined it, .....t 80 ......