edom for the slaves,
and complete disbandment of the Confederate armies. He had gone to offer
them, honestly and frankly, the best terms in his power, but not to
give up one atom of official dignity or duty. Their main thought, on the
contrary, had been to postpone or to escape the express conditions on
which they were admitted to the conference.

They returned to Richmond and reported the failure of their efforts to
Jefferson Davis, whose disappointment equalled their own, for all had
caught eagerly at the hope that this interview would somehow prove a
means of escape from the dangers of their situation. President Lincoln,
full of kindly thoughts, on the other hand, went back to Washington,
intent on making yet one more generous offer to hasten the day of peace.
He had told the commissioners that personally he would be in favor of
the government paying a liberal amount for the loss of slave property,
on condition that the southern States agree of their own accord to
the freedom of the slaves. (*) This was indeed going to the extreme of
liberality, but Mr. Lincoln remembered that notwithstanding all their
offenses the rebels were American citizens, members of the same nation
and brothers of the same blood. He remembered, too, that the object of
the war, equally with peace and freedom, was to preserve friendship and
to continue the Union. Filled with such thoughts and purposes he spent
the day after his return in drawing up a new proposal designed as a
peace offering to the States in rebellion. On the evening of February 5
he read this to his cabinet. It offered the southern States $400,000,000
or a sum equal to the cost of war for two hundred days, on condition
that all fighting cease by the first of April, 1865. He proved more
liberal than any of his advisers; and with the words, "You are all
against me," sadly uttered, the President folded up the paper, and ended
the discussion.

* Mr. Lincoln had freed the slaves two years before as a
military necessity, and as such it had been accepted by all.
Yet a question might arise, when the war ended, as to
whether this act of his had been lawful. He was therefore
very anxious to have freedom find a place in the
Constitution of the United States. This could only be done
by an amendment to the Constitution, proposed by Congress,
and adopted by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
States of the Union. Congress voted in favor of