The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-02-10

rests upon two imperfect and appar-
emily conflicting narratives-the official
and formal report of the Confederate
commissioners and the subsequent oral
and personal statement of Mr.. Steph-
ems. The disagreement, however, is
easily explained, having, with its at
tendant controversy, arisen because
what Mr.. Stephens said was assumed
to be an attack upon Mr.. Davis. 1t
was never so intended by Mr.. Stephens,
the aim being solely to throw light
upon the character and purposes of
Mr.. Lincoln.
1t should be borne in mind in this
connection that Mr.. Stephens and Mr..
Lincoln were personal friends-old
Wing colleagues in congress-Lincoln
a warm admirer of Stephens, whom he
wanted to ask to become Il member
of his cabinet when he was elected
president. In the little cabin of the
river steamer where the conference
was being held the two had drawn
apart from the rest. stephens" said
Lincoln, as Mr.. Stephens related the
conversation to many of his friends,
you know 1 am a fair man and / know
you to be one. Both of us understand
the situation. Let me write Union at
the top of this page and you may write
below it whatever else you please. /
am sure you will write nothing which
l cannot agree to-" Mr.. Stephens re-
piled that the commissioners were linn
tied to treating upon the basis Of the
recognition of the independence of the
C%onfederacy. 'rhen, Stephens" said
Lincoln, my hands are clean of every
drop of blood spilled from this time
onward"
In the general rather desultory and,
in the end, wholly abortive, talk be-
tween the three Confederate commits
sioners and Mr.. Lincoln and Mr.. Sc
ward, Mr.. Lincoln recurring to slavery
and the Emancipation Proclamation,
declared that he would be willing to be
taxed to pay the Southern people a fair
valuation for their slaves. 1t is a
matter of fact that he had already
prepared a joint resolution to be rec
commended to the two houses of con-
gress appropriating $500, 100000 to
this purpose, and a proclamation to be
issued by himself as president when
this had been adopted.
On his return to Washington he laid
these two papers before the cabinet.
Inevitably there was opposition. "Why,
gentlemen" he said, how long is the
war going to last2 1t is not going to
end in one hundred days, is it? 1t is
costing us $4,000,000 a day. There
you have the $500, 600. OOO, not counting
the intervening loss of lives and prop
erty. But, you are all against me,
and / will say no more about it,"
Both papers still stand in his own
handwriting.
The South's True Friend.
The death of Lincoln removed from
the head of affairs the best, If not the
only, friend the Southern people had
at court. There came in his stead an
old line southern Democrat-a verit-
able poor Notwithstanding destruc-
ton to the ruling classes at the South,
yet a constitutionalist of the school Of
Jefferson and as hostile to the negro
equality theories OF the radical Repub-
licans as the most ultra Copperhead of
the North. Secession had failed must
it carry with it the failure also of
institutional freedom? Liberating the
black man, must 1t enslave the white2
The plan to impeach Andrew Johnson
was little other than a scheme to Mex
icanize the government. 1t came peril
ously near succeeding.
The Grand Army of the Republic