lad, to meet you, Gentlemen. I have read your note,
and"--bowing to me--"the open letter you bring from ----. Your errand
commands my respect and sympathy. Pray be seated."

As we took the proffered seats, the Colonel, drawing off his "duster,"
and displaying his uniform, said,--

"We thank you for this cordial reception, Mr. Benjamin. We trust you
will be as glad to hear us as you are to see us."

"No doubt I shall be, for you come to talk of peace. Peace is what we
all want."

"It is, indeed; and for that reason we are here to see Mr. Davis. Can we
see him, Sir?"

"Do you bring any overtures to him from your Government?"

"No, Sir. We bring no overtures and have no authority from our
Government. We state that in our note. We would be glad, however, to
know what terms will be acceptable to Mr. Davis. If they at all
harmonize with Mr. Lincoln's views, we will report them to him, and so
open the door for official negotiations."

"Are you acquainted with Mr. Lincoln's views?"

"One of us is, fully."

"Did Mr. Lincoln, _in any way_, authorize you to come here?"

"No, Sir. We came with his pass, but not by his request. We say,
distinctly, we have no official, or unofficial, authority. We come as
men and Christians, not as diplomatists, hoping, in a frank talk with
Mr. Davis, to discover some way by which this war may be stopped."

"Well, Gentlemen, I will repeat what you say to the President, and if he
follows my advice,--and I think he will,--he will meet you. He will be
at church this afternoon; so, suppose you call here at nine this
evening. If anything should occur in the meantime to prevent his seeing
you, I will let you know through Judge Ould."

Throughout this interview the manner of the Secretary was cordial; but
with this cordiality was a strange constraint and diffidence, almost
amounting to timidity, which struck both my companion and myself.
Contrasting his manner with the quiet dignity of the Colonel, I almost
fancied our positions reversed,--that, instead of our being in his
power, the Secretary was in ours, and momently expecting to hear some
unwelcome sentence from our lips. There is something, after all, in
moral power. Mr. Benjamin does not possess it, nor is he a great man. He
has a keen, shrewd, ready intellect, but not the _stamina_ to originate,
or even to execute, any great good or great wickedness.

After a day spent in our room, conversing with the Judge, or watching
the passers-by