The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-05-15
HAMPTON ROADS CONFERENCE
Tne South's Bad tiistake at Critical
Juacture.

L
the Hon. A. 81. Stephens in the spring
Of 1876, l thiak /. was. I wish !
could recall the exact date.
Rev. L. B. Fish and myself we're
| conducting Sunday School Institute
at Crawfordville at that time. During
q walk with the pastor Of the Baptist
Church, Rev. Mr.. Jennings, he sug-
gested that we call upon the sage Of
Liberty Hall.
We gladly acted upon his sugges-
tion. We found Mr. Stephens at work
upon his department. Of Johuson's 8
Encyclopedia, Of which he was one Of
the editors. He received US kindly
and cordially made us feel at home.
After general conversation Of ten
or fifteen minutes. l said:
"Mr. Stephens, with your permis-
sion, l would like very much to ask
you some questions?''
He promptly replied:
II will take pleasure in answering
any questions you may ask me"
81 then said:
II have heard ~statement made
that Mr. Lincoln told the Confederate
commissioners at the Hampton Roads
conference that il the South would
lay down her arms and return to The
| union she would be remuneTated for
the loss Of her slaves. Is there any
truth in the statement"
To this he replied:
"No, there is not. There was so such
proposition made"
He then proceeded to tell me Of the
private conversation between Mr.. Lin
coln and himself. He said Mr.. Lin
coin took him apart from the other
commissioners and invited him to
seat at a table. When they were
seated Mr.. Lincoln said:
''Mr. Stephens, I would not ask any
thing dishonorable Of sou, and I don |.
think you would ask anything dishon-
orable Of me. / would IKE for. US to
talk the matter over and see if there
is any way by which this cruel war
can be stopped. Ast to the restoration
Of slavery, let it be understood that no
proposition looking to that end will
be entertained. That matter is set
tied. I, Of course, do not know what
Congress will do; but if the Southern
people will lay down their arms and
return to the union, I will use all my
influence with Congress !, to have the
final emancipation extended to pc.
riod, say Of FIVE years
Mr.. Stephens, by way Of parenthe-
sis, said to me:
Eve could have gotten twenty
years, I have no doubt"
I do not recall that hMfz. Stephens
said anything about the blenk sheet
| es paper with the word HUnien' writ
ten at the top; but the distinct i'm
preston made upon my mind by Mr..
Stephens was that Mr.. Lincoln would
have acceded to any reasonable prop
osition made by him that included the
laying down of arms and the return to
the union.
Mr. Stephens said that when he
stated to Mr. Lincoln the fact that
the commissioners had no authority to
! make any terms that involved the re-
turn to the union, Mr. Lincoln bowed
his head, sighed deeply and said:
am very sorry.
He then went on to tell Mr.. &teph-
ems how utterly hopeless the cause Of
the South was, and that it was but
question of time, and a short ne,
when the South would be entirely
overcome. He said it would be
far better for the South if terms could
be agreed upon and further suffering
and bloodshed averted.
It will be remembered that soon
after the Hampton Roads conference
Mr.. Stephens came home and he never
returned to Richmond to take any
further part in the Confederate gov
ernment. Referring to this, said to
him:
ssMr. Stephens, when you left Rich
mond, did you not know that our cause
was hopeless?"
| "oh, yes, I vas sure Of that he
replied. then asked him what my
friends said was an impudent ques-
tion:
knowing this" I said, "why did
you not tell US sop'
"If / had" he replied, "they would
have called me an old traitor.
And some did call MIN that.
/ then asked him If General Lee did