nd Secession; Tyler, Letters
and Times of the Tylers; Journal of the Virginia Convention of 1861.
However, practically no Virginian would put himself in the position of
forcing any Southern State to abandon slavery against its will. Hence
the Virginia compromise dealt only with the expansion of slavery, would
go no further than to give the North a veto on that expansion. And
its compensating requirement plainly would be a virtual demand for the
acknowledgment of state sovereignty.

Precisely what passed between Richmond and Washington is still something
of a mystery. John Hay quotes Lincoln as saying that he twice offered
to evacuate Sumter, once before and once after his inauguration, if
the Virginians "would break up their convention without any row or
nonsense." Hay MS, I, 91; Thayer, I, 118-119. From other sources we have
knowledge of at least two conferences subsequent to the inauguration and
probably three. One of the conferences mentioned by Lincoln seems pretty
well identified. Coleman II, 337-338. It was informal and may be set
aside as having little if any historic significance. When and to whom
Lincoln's second offer was made is not fully established. Riddle in his
Recollections says that he was present at an informal interview "with
loyal delegates of the Virginia State Convention," who were wholly
satisfied with Lincoln's position. Riddle, 25. Possibly, this was the
second conference mentioned by Lincoln. It has scarcely a feature in
common with the conference of April 4, which has become the subject
of acrimonious debate. N. and H., III, 422-428; Boutwell, II, 62-67;
Bancroft, II, 102-104; Munford, 270; Southern Historical Papers, 1,
449; Botts, 195- 201; Crawford, 311; Report of the Joint Committee on
Reconstruction, first session, Thirty-Ninth Congress; Atlantic, April,
1875. The date of this conference is variously given as the fourth,
fifth and sixth of April. Curiously enough Nicolay and Hay seem to
have only an external knowledge of It; their account is made up from
documents and lacks entirely the authoritative note. They do not refer
to the passage in the Hay MS, already quoted.

There are three versions of the interview between Lincoln and Baldwin.
One was given by Baldwin himself before the Committee on Reconstruction
some five years after; one comprises the recollections of Colonel
Dabney, to whom Baldwin narrated the incident in the latter part of
the war; a third is in the recollections of Jo