Election of President
It was evident in the early spring that a few more heavy blows would end the Confederacy and the war. Individuals had made efforts from time to time to secure a peace without conquering the enemies of the Republic by force of arms. In the summer of 1864, the late Horace Greeley made such an attempt. At about the same time, two other civilians made their way to Richmond, for the purpose; and at near the close of the year the venerable Maryland politician, the late Francis P. Blair, visited the Confederate capital on the same errand. He conferred with Jefferson Davis, who, in a letter addressed to him, expressed his willingness to "renew the effort to enter into a conference with a view to secure peace to the two countries." When Mr. Blair communicated the contents of this letter to President Lincoln, the latter expressed his willingness to receive any agent of the Confederacy to confer, with a view, he said, "to securing peace for the people of our common country." The latter expression showed Davis that he could not treat for peace on the basis of independence for the Southern States; nevertheless, so loud was the popular clamor for peace, that he appointed Alexander H. Stephens, John A. Campbell, and R.M.T. Hunter commissioners, who were permitted to proceed as far as Hampton Roads, by water, but were not allowed to land. There they were met by President Lincoln and Secretary Seward. The President assured the commissioners that peace might be secured only on the condition of absolute submission, everywhere within the bounds of the Republic, to the National authority; and that there could be no secession from the position taken on the subject of slavery. He told them that Congress had just adopted an amendment to the National Constitution, which would be ratified by the loyal people, for the prohibition of slavery in every part of the Republic.
The conference was fruitless except in obtaining a clearer definition of the views of the Government and the Confederate leaders. The result was very unsatisfactory to the latter. At a large public meeting held in Richmond on the 5th of February, Mr. Davis, speaking in reference to Mr. Lincoln's expression, "our common country," said: "Sooner than we should be united again, I would be willing to yield up everything I have on earth, and, if it were possible, would sacrifice my life a thousand times before I would succumb." And at a great war-meeting held on the 9th, at which R.M.T. Hunter presided, it was resolved that the Confederates would never lay down their arms until their independence was won. This being their determination, the National Government had no alternative, and was compelled to prosecute the war to a final dispersion of the armed forces seeking to destroy its existence.
The confidence assumed by Davis and his associates seems to have been inspired by hopes yet entertained of receiving foreign aid. Henry S. Foote, a member of the Confederate Congress (once United States Senator from Mississippi), says in his "War of the Rebellion": "The fact was well known to me that Mr. Davis and his friends were confidently looking for foreign aid, and from several quarters. It was stated, in my hearing, by several special friends of the Confederate president, that one hundred thousand French soldiers were expected to arrive within the limits of the Confederate States, by way of Mexico; and it was more than rumored that a secret compact, wholly unauthorized by the Confederate constitution, with certain Polish commissioners, who had lately been on a visit to Richmond, had been effected, by means of which Mr. Davis would now be supplied with some twenty or thirty thousand additional troops, then refugees from Poland, and sojourning in several European states, which would be completely at the command of the president for any purpose whatever." Mr. Foote adds, in that connection, that he was satisfied that Mr. Davis would, in sending peace commissioners, "so manacle their hands by instructions, as to render impossible all attempts at successful negotiation."