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common ruin。〃 It is still to be discovered what 〃door〃 Stephens
was supposed to have kept open。  Peace talk was now in the air;
and especially was there chatter about reconstruction。 The
illusionists seemed unable to perceive that the reelection of
Lincoln had robbed them of their last card。 These dreamers did
not even pause to wonder why after the terrible successes of the
Federal army in Georgia; Lincoln should be expected to reverse
his policy and restore the Union with the Southern States on the
old footing。 The peace mania also invaded South Carolina and was
espoused by one of its Congressmen; Mr。 Boyce; but he made few
converts among his own people。 The Mercury scouted the idea;
clear…sighted and disillusioned; it saw the only alternatives to
be victory or subjugation。 Boyce's argument was that the South
had already succumbed to military despotism and would have to
endure it forever unless it accepted the terms of the invaders。
News of Boyce's attitude called forth vigorous protest from the
army before Petersburg; and even went so far afield as New York;
where it was discussed in the columns of the Herald。

In the midst of the Northern elections; when Davis was hoping
great things from the anti…Lincoln men; Stephens had said in
print that he believed Davis really wished the Northern peace
party defeated; whereupon Davis had written to him demanding
reasons for this astounding charge。 To the letter; which had
missed Stephens at his home and had followed him late in the year
to Richmond; Stephens wrote in the middle of December a long
reply which is one of the most curious documents in American
history。 He justified himself upon two grounds。 One was a
statement which Davis had made in a speech at Columbia; in
October; indicating that he was averse to the scheme of certain
Northern peace men for a convention of all the States。 Stephens
insisted that such a convention would have ended the war and
secured the independence of the South。 Davis cleared himself on
this charge by saying that the speech at Columbia 〃was delivered
after the publication of McClellan's letter avowing his purpose
to force reunion by war if we declined reconstruction when
offered; and therefore warned the people against delusive hopes
of peace from any other influence than that to be exerted by the
manifestation of an unconquerable spirit。〃

As Stephens professed to have independence and not reconstruction
for his aim; he had missed his mark with this first shot。 He
fared still worse with the second。 During the previous spring a
Northern soldier captured in the southeast had appealed for
parole on the ground that he was a secret emissary to the
President from the peace men of the North。 Davis; who did not
take him seriously; gave orders to have the case investigated;
but Stephens; whose mentality in this period is so curiously
overcast; swallowed the prisoner's story without hesitation。 He
and Davis had a considerable amount of correspondence on the
subject。 In the fierce tension of the summer of 1864 the War
Department went so far as to have the man's character
investigated; but the report was unsatisfactory。 He was not
paroled and died in prison。 This episode Stephens now brought
forward as evidence that Davis had frustrated an attempt of the
Northern peace party to negotiate。 Davis contented himself with
replying; 〃I make no comment on this。〃

The next step in the peace intrigue took place at the opening of
the next year; 1865。 Stephens attempted to address the Senate on
his favorite topic; the wickedness of the suspension of habeas
corpus; was halted by a point of parliamentary law; and when the
Senate sustained an appeal from his decision; left the chamber in
a pique。 Hunter; now a Senator; became an envoy to placate him
and succeeded in bringing him back。 Thereupon Stephens poured out
his soul in a furious attack upon the Administration。 He ended by
submitting resolutions which were just what he might have
submitted four years earlier before a gun had been fired; so
entirely had his mind crystallized in the stress of war! These
resolutions; besides reasserting the full state rights theory;
assumed the readiness of the North to make peace and called for a
general convention of all the States to draw up some new
arrangement on a confessed state rights basis。 More than a month
before; Lincoln had been reelected on an unequivocal
nationalistic platform。 And yet Stephens continued to believe
that the Northerners did not mean what they said and that in
congregated talking lay the magic which would change the world of
fact into the world of his own desire。

At this point in the peace intrigue the ambiguous figure of
Napoleon the Little reappears; though only to pass ghostlike
across the back of the stage。 The determination of Northern
leaders to oppose Napoleon had suggested to shrewd politicians a
possible change of front。 That singular member of the Confederate
Congress; Henry S。 Foote; thought he saw in the Mexican imbroglio
means to bring Lincoln to terms。 In November he had introduced
into the House resolutions which intimated that 〃it might become
the true policy of。。。the Confederate States to consent to the
yielding of the great principle embodied in the Monroe Doctrine。〃
The House referred his resolutions to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs; and there they slumbered until January。

Meanwhile a Northern politician brought on the specter of
Napoleon for a different purpose。 Early in January; 1865; Francis
P。 Blair made a journey to Richmond and proposed to Davis a plan
of reconciliation involving the complete abandonment of slavery;
the reunion of all the States; and an expedition against Mexico
in which Davis was to play the leading role。 Davis cautiously
refrained from committing himself; though he gave Blair a letter
in which he expressed his willingness to enter into negotiations
for peace between 〃the two countries。〃 The visit of Blair gave
new impetus to the peace intrigue。 The Confederate House
Committee on Foreign Affairs reported resolutions favoring an
attempt to negotiate with the United States so as to 〃bring into
view〃 the possibility of cooperation between the United States
and the Confederacy to maintain the Monroe Doctrine。 The same day
saw another singular incident。 For some reason that has never
been divulged Foote determined to counterbalance Blair's visit to
Richmond by a visit of his own to Washington。 In attempting to
pass through the Confederate lines he was arrested by the
military authorities。 With this fiasco Foote passes from the
stage of history。

The doings of Blair; however; continued to be a topic of general
interest throughout January。 The military intrigue was now
simmering down through the creation of the office of commanding
general。 The attempt of the congressional opposition to drive the
whole Cabinet from office reached a compromise in the single
retirement of the Secretary of War。 Before the end of the month
the peace question was the paramount one before Congress and the
country。 Newspapers discussed the movements of Blair; apparently
with little knowledge; and some of the papers asserted hopefully
that peace was within reach。 Cooler heads; such as the majority
of the Virginia Legislature; rejected this idea as baseless。 The
Mercury called the peace party the worst enemy of the South。 Lee
was reported by the Richmond correspondent of the Mercury as not
caring a fig for the peace project。 Nevertheless the rumor
persisted that Blair had offered peace on terms that the
Confederacy could accept。 Late in the month; Davis appointed
Stephens; Hunter; and John A。 Campbell commissioners to confer
with the Northern authorities with regard to peace。

There followed the famous conference of February 3; 1865; in the
cabin of a steamer at Hampton Roads; with Seward and Lincoln。 The
Confederate commissioners represented two points of view: that of
the Administration; unwilling to make peace without independence;
and that of the infatuated Stephens who clung to the idea that
Lincoln did not mean what he said; and who now urged 〃an
armistice allowing the States to adjust themselves as suited
their interests。 If it would be to their interests to reunite;
they would do so。〃 The refusal of Lincoln to consider either of
these points of viewthe refusal so clearly foreseen by
Davisput an end to the career of Stephens。 He was 〃hoist with
his own petard。〃

The news of the failure of the conference was variously received。
The Mercury rejoiced because there was now no doubt how things
stood。 Stephens; unwilling to cooperate with the Administration;
left the capital and went home to Georgia。 At Richmond; though
the snow lay thick on the ground; a great public meeting was held
on the 6th of February in the precincts of the African Church。
Here Davis made an address which has been called his greatest and
which produced a profound impression。 A wave of enthusiasm swept
over Richmond; and for a moment the President appeared once more
to be master of the situation。 His immense audacity carried the
people with him when; after showing what might be done by more
drastic enforcement of the conscription l

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