f an electorate to
their level, Davis saw with clear vision. From the North now came
overtures of peace. Francis P. Blair asked for permission to visit
Richmond.

Blair proposed to end the war by uniting the armies of the North and
South for an advance on Mexico to maintain the Monroe Doctrine against
the new Emperor whom Europe had set upon a throne in the Western
Hemisphere.

The Confederate President received his proposals with courtesy.

"I have tried in vain, Mr. Blair," he said gravely, "to open
negotiations with Washington. How can the first step be taken?"

"Mr. Lincoln, I am sure, will receive commissioners--though he would
give me no assurance on that point. We must stop this deluge of blood. I
cherish the hope that the pride and honor of the Southern States will
suffer no shock in the adjustment."

The result of this meeting was the appointment by Davis of three
Commissioners to meet the representatives of the United States.
Alexander H. Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter and Judge John A. Campbell were
sent to this important conference. For some unknown reason they were
halted at Fortress Monroe and not allowed to proceed to Washington. A
change had been suddenly produced in the attitude of the National
Government. Whether it was due to the talk of the men in Richmond who
were trying to depose Davis or whether it was due to the fall of Fort
Fisher and the closing of the port of Wilmington, the last artery which
connected the Confederacy with the outside world, could not be known.

The Confederate Commissioners were met by Abraham Lincoln himself and
his Secretary of State, William H. Seward, in Hampton Roads. The
National Government demanded in effect, unconditional surrender.

Davis used the indignant surprise with which this startling announcement
was received in Richmond and the South to rouse the people to a last
desperate effort to save the country from the deluge which the Radical
wing of the Northern Congress had now threatened--the confiscation of
the property of the whites and the enfranchisement of the negro race. In
his judgment this could only be done by forcing the National Government
through a prolongation of the war to pledge the South some measure of
protection before they should lay down their arms.

Mass meetings were held and the people called to defend their cause with
their last drop of blood. The President made a speech that night to a
crowd in the Metropolitan Hall on Franklin Street i