r. The war must end sometime.
We must finally agree on something. Can we not find the basis of
agreement now, and stop this slaughter?

[VAUGHAN _takes notes rapidly._]

DAVIS

I wish peace as much as you do. I deplore bloodshed. But I feel that
not one drop of this blood is on my hands. I can look up to God and say
this. I tried to avert this war. I saw it coming and for twelve years I
worked day and night to prevent it. The North was mad and blind and
would not let us govern ourselves, and now it must go on until the last
man of this generation falls in his tracks and their children seize
their muskets and fight our battle--_unless you acknowledge our right
to self-government_. We are not fighting for Slavery. We are fighting
for _independence_ and that or _extermination_ we will have----

JACQUESS

[_Protesting._]

We have no wish to exterminate the South! But we must crush your
armies. Is it not already nearly done? Grant has shut you up in
Richmond, and Sherman is before Atlanta.

DAVIS

[_Laughs._]

You don't seem to understand the situation! We're not exactly shut up
in Richmond yet. If your papers tell the truth, it is your Capitol that
is in danger, not ours. Lee's front has never yet been broken. He holds
Grant, invades the North and shells Washington. Sherman, to be sure, is
before Atlanta. But suppose he is? His position is a dangerous one. The
further he goes from his base of supplies, the more disastrous defeat
must be. And his defeat may be at hand.

JACQUESS

And yet, the odds are overwhelmingly against you. How can you hope for
success in the end?

DAVIS

My friend, the South stands for a principle--their equal rights under
the Constitution which their fathers created. This country has always
been a Republic of Republics--not an Empire. We are fighting for the
right of local self-government which we won from the tyrants of the old
world. The states of the Union have always been sovereign. We never
paused to figure on success or failure, sir. Five million Southern
freemen drew their sword against twenty millions because their rights
had been invaded.

JACQUESS

And yet, Mr. Davis, you know as well as I that five millions cannot
hold out forever against twenty. Have we not reached the end?