ery worthy gentleman, but I can have nothing to do, directly or
indirectly, with the matter he has in view." The Colonel, however,
persuaded Schenck to send him to Fort Monroe, from whence he reached
Richmond through the connivance of officers conducting the exchange
of prisoners. In eleven days he was again in Baltimore asking the
President by letter to grant him permission to report the "valuable
information and proposals for peace" he had obtained. This permission
was not granted. Mr. Lincoln well understood that he could have
nothing official to report, and that in the brief time he was South
he could have gained no reliable information concerning public
sentiment. After lingering in Baltimore a little, this preacher-
colonel rejoined his regiment. It does not appear that he ever
made, even to Rosecrans or Garfield, any detailed report of this
his first trip to Richmond. Though his efforts had so far failed,
he was not discouraged, but with faith characteristic of his class,
resolved upon another effort. He now associated with him one J.
R. Gilmore, a lecturer and literary character known as "Edmund
Kirke," who had spent some time in the Western armies. Both were
enthusiastic, but their zeal constituted their principal merit in
the matter attempted. The President declined a personal interview
with Jacquess, but gave, July, 1864, Gilmore a pass, over his own
signature, to Grant's headquarters, with a note to Grant to allow
both "to pass our lines with ordinary baggage and go South." Mr.
Gilmore had previously (June 15, 1864) written Mr. Lincoln telling
him something of what Jacquess would propose. In substance he
would say: "Lay down your arms and resume peaceful pursuits; the
Emancipation Proclamation tells what will be done with the blacks;
amnesty will be granted the masses, and no terms with rebels. The
leaders to be allowed to seek safety abroad, and at the end of
sixty days not one of them must be found in the United States."
On the 16th, these two men passed from Butler's lines and were
allowed to proceed, under surveillance, to Richmond. Next day they
asked, through Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin, for an interview
with "President Davis," which was accorded them at nine o'clock
that night, both Davis and Benjamin being present.

The volunteer envoys were politely received, and the interview
lasted two hours. It seems that Jacquess and Gilmore did not even
mention the plan referred to in