ngstreet
reported the result of the talk with Ord, and Lee, March 1st, wrote
Grant that he was informed that Ord, in a conversation relating to
"the possibility of arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the
present _unhappy difficulties_ by means of a military convention,"
had stated that if Lee desired an interview with Grant on the
subject, the latter would not decline, provided Lee had authority
to act. Lee, in his letter, said he was fully authorized in the
premises, and proposed a meeting at the place proposed by Ord and
Longstreet, on Monday the 6th. Accompanying Lee's letters was the
usual "by-play" letter on an immaterial subject. Grant, on receiving
Lee's communication, wired its substance to Secretary Stanton, who
laid the matter before President Lincoln at his room at the Capitol
whither he had gone to sign bills the last night of a session of
Congress. Mr. Lincoln, without advice from any person, took his
pen, and with his usual precision wrote:

"The President directs me to say that he wishes you to have no
conference with General Lee unless it be for capitulation of General
Lee's army, or on some minor or purely military matter. He instructs
me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any
political questions. Such questions the President holds in his
own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or
conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military
advantages."

This perfectly explicit dispatch was shown to Mr. Seward, then
handed to Mr. Stanton, who signed and sent it the night of March
3, 1865. Grant, the next day, answered Lee in the light of the
dispatch, saying:

"In regard to meeting you, I would state that I have no authority
to accede to your proposition for a conference on the subject
proposed. Such authority is vested in the President of the United
States alone."(13)

Thus ended the Ord-Longstreet attempt to patch up a peace.

There was one more remarkable attempt made (before Lee surrendered)
to bring about a peace in part of the Confederacy. General Lew
Wallace was ordered, January 22, 1865, "to visit the Rio Grande
and Western Texas on a tour of inspection." Shortly after his
arrival at Brazos Santiago, by correspondence with the Confederate
General J. E. Slaughter, commanding the West District of Texas,
and a Colonel Ford, he arranged for a meeting with them at Point
Isabel (General Wallace to furnish the refreshments), nomin