Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-05-06

srst day Of April. isG5." / am not Informed |
Whether President Lincoln dld OF, did not |
whether this Information at that time OF |
during the war was communicated 70 any
such thing did occur 1t is certain that no |
such Information was given to tne I9}n,
Of 6fisf5'f sny siS ii he %T shs
~ + h. ,sSsisfeage HS the Ggtsasr's,s s5tss ss
sS'i % Mr rfESdiSa sEiephens n wrijec Tnion
it 1 Whatever III ns PsS yo peass pi The The president Of
course meant that he would accept any any
nsSnse ss fh9F q but the
vamping OF an utterly false statement
w9h has 6T from @ to vedrs nG pa rhe
ssohferennSSe,, e MessFs. stephens Hunter ana
time. and which has been copied into many
historic publications since, makes, ne Imenoo en-
for the slaves, or II Statement by p,rSTsa,
ient. Lincoln to MIR. stephens that II ne
OF 01e the page page he I might % write under i what
ever he pleased. Besides being presen,
when the report OF THIS conntteIehcf con. wns
versed with each OF our commits soners
separately about what occurred IN that
either of them OF either OF these incidents;
But the statement was made by cach OF
them that. no terms were offered or pro.
Of the Confedorncy should be disbonded;
the, Confederate government he uissoiH.l
sentatives to congress. IN answer to this
their statements were that Mr. Hunter
surrender and Followed this statement by
the Interrogation as to whether our neo-
arms in their hands than to be dsarrmed
in The face Of hostile d,n enr"g; g;oda INK ~
Ra s nSs ths oS RSt rR&y Sn&ycr MI The he
possessed the rardoning power, without
saying when or how that power would ,}e Ps
to them the political questions would nave
to. be left TO congress. ,,. ,,,..,-,
History of the Rise and Fan Of the Con-
feieraeyf You viii there. ma an unq}nswer.
Mr. nS9n @ od to pSSy S 5G,as iT ne saNir o r wat
scrlbed a scene. supposed to have been
enacted At the ,Hampt9n Roads confsr. ct.
hhiIm rRe "wriia Gtnion' on the paper IN my
ever else you please" This, II such
thing had occurred would have meant
and could only have meant that the Con-
their their 'S own term terms. rhat they could retain
all their POLITICAL rights and al their
not be supposed that he expected Mr.
stephens would voluntarily surrender one
Let us contemplate the circumstances
attending the supposed enactment OF this
dramatic scene. The president of the
tary of state on the one side; the vice
president Of the. Confederacy and Mr.;
United States senator, who had been sec
retary of state of the Confederate govern
federate senate, and the Hon, John A.
Campbell. who had been one of the justices
and was then the assistant secretary OF
war of the Confederacy,. on the other
side. assembled in the cabin, of vessel
in Norfolk harbor to consider on what
terms. If any, great war could be
term,nated and psaGie rssi0reda hi, var var
sectional controversy which had been GO
ing on for great many years IN which
more than two millions Of soldiers, COM
posing, vast armies, had, on hundreds Of
battlehelds. where tens of thousands OF
brave men had fallen. contendcd for the
mastery in which one side was contend,
the guarantees Of the federal constitution
and laws, and for the maintenance of their
right to three thousand million dollars
worth of. slaves. and the other was con
tending for the supremacy of the Union
a, whatever sgcTitee Of the rS SonstiIitSn ,5d
ing these things. let the picture be pre-;
States, chief Diplomat on one side, in the
presence of this august assembly. af-
vice president of the Contederacy, the
chief diplomat on the other side. the one
hodbns naPGT III nj ibo hHnl old "H4 nonE SaE4F
the top OF this paper and you may write
whatever you please under it."
If such an offer was made why did Mr.
Stephens not accept 1t? Can Mr.. Wat
terson or any one else suppose that
the South who would not gladly have
accepted that offer? But could such, an
Igr Goln n"I had pe issued ' his pr procamaton de-
claring all the slaves free. and the very
congress OF, the United States had sub
clare the slaves free by an amendment of
the constitution, resogni2ing by this action ion
president made in 1852 Could COM
bination of genius, and ,mendacity create
more grossly false as being enacted on
such an occasion, by such persons under
nCe snce? ' VS And tRat too, t When en- PRESIDENT
Lincoln was telling the Confederate com.
be no adjustment except on the basis Of
the unconditional surrender of the Con-
that congress alone could deal with the po-
litical questions ! cannot suppose it TO
have he@n the nurP@Is Of Mr. Wstierson
Surely he could not, have expected rea-
sonable people to believe his story, I
ate embrace of the vice president by the
president, and suppose Mr.; Watterson can
connection with that often exploded story.
Such stories as the above have from
time to time since the war been put In cir
culation by men who assume that the
war should have been brought to an end
and peace restored sooner than II was. and
that thereby the sacrifice of life and prop
erty could have been sooner arrested.
And, as a rule. they have been started
and circulated for the purpose of criti-
csing the action of the president and
other authorities of the Confederacy for
not terminating the war and securing
peace at an earlier day: and for not ac-
cepting s4OO,Oo0,0oO for the slaves; have
answered this latter point, and it has
been shown many times that no such offer
was ever made
on the question as to whether the Con-
federate government could have termin-
ated the war sooner than was done, every
esty knows this could only have been done
by surrendering Internationally to the fed
eral government. think IL would be safe TO
assume that no man who was true to the
North would have consented to any other
terms than the unconditional surrender of
the Confederate authorities. And | think
il was equally true that no man who was
true to the South would have consented
to such a surrender as long as the
Confederate armies could be kept in the
field. This was, | think, the condition on
each side. If any officer or man in the
Northern states had advocated the close
OF the war on any terms short of the un-
conditional surrender of the Confederacy
he would have been met with a storm Of
denunciation and obloquy. If any officer
or man in the Southern states had pro-
posed the unconditional surrender of the
p g.. had