mmitted to a
vigorous prosecution of the war."

Mr. Davis still looking incredulous, I remarked,--

"It is so, Sir. Whoever tells you otherwise deceives you. I think I know
Northern sentiment, and I assure you it is so. You know we have a system
of lyceum-lecturing in our large towns. At the close of these lectures,
it is the custom of the people to come upon the platform and talk with
the lecturer. This gives him an excellent opportunity of learning public
sentiment. Last winter I lectured before nearly a hundred of such
associations, all over the North,--from Dubuque to Bangor,--and I took
pains to ascertain the feeling of the people. I found a unanimous
determination to crush the Rebellion and save the Union at every
sacrifice. The majority are in favor of Mr. Lincoln, and nearly all of
those opposed to him are opposed to him because they think he does not
fight you with enough vigor. The radical Republicans, who go for
slave-suffrage and thorough confiscation, are those who will defeat him,
if he is defeated. But if he is defeated before the people, the House
will elect a worse man,--I mean, worse for you. It is more radical than
he is,--you can see that from Mr. Ashley's Reconstruction Bill,--and the
people are more radical than the House. Mr. Lincoln, I know, is about to
call out five hundred thousand more men, and I can't see how you _can_
resist much longer; but if you do, you will only deepen the radical
feeling of the Northern people. They will now give you fair, honorable,
_generous_ terms; but let them suffer much more, let there be a dead man
in every house, as there is now in every village, and they will give you
_no_ terms,--they will insist on hanging every Rebel south of ----.
Pardon my terms. I mean no offence."

"You give no offence," he replied, smiling very, pleasantly. "I wouldn't
have you pick your words. This is a frank, free talk, and I like you the
better for saying what you think. Go on."

"I was merely going to say, that, let the Northern people once really
feel the war,--they do not feel it yet,--and they will insist on hanging
every one of your leaders."

"Well, admitting all you say, I can't see how it affects our position.
There are some things worse than hanging or extermination. We reckon
giving up the right of self-government one of those things."

"By self-government you mean disunion,--Southern Independence?"

"Yes."

"And slavery, you say, is no longer an element in the con