be included in and receive the same guaranties upon their
complying with the same conditions.

"5. As respects rights of property, it is further guaranteed that
there shall be no interference with existing titles, liens, etc.,
of whatever nature, except those derived from seizures, occupancies,
and procedures of confiscation, under and by virtue of Confederate
laws, orders, proclamations, and decrees, all of which shall be
admitted void from the beginning.

"6. It is further expressly stipulated that the right of property
in slaves shall be referred to the discretion of the Congress of
the United States.

"Allow me to say, in conclusion, that if the above propositions
are received in the spirit they are sent, we can, in my opinion,
speedily have a reunited and prosperous people.

"Very truly, gentlemen, your friend and obedient servant,

"Lew Wallace,
"Major-General of Volunteers, U. S. Army."(14)

General Wallace forwarded this pretentious proposition, with an
elaborate letter, through General Dix to General Grant, who received
both about March 29, 1865, but probably made no response thereto.

The Confederate officers submitted the plan to their chief, who,
besides severely reprimanding them for entertaining it, wrote
General Wallace, March 27, rejecting the proposition, "as to accede
to it would be the blackest treason"; adding, that "whenever there
was a willingness to treat as equal with equal, an officer of your
high rank and character, clothed with proper authority, will not
be reduced to the necessity of seeking an obscure corner of the
Confederacy to inaugurate negotiations."

The whole story of attempts to negotiate a peace is grotesque, yet
the conditions surrounding the North and the South and the stress
of the times speak in defence of the ambitious spirits who came to
the front and essayed, by negotiations, to put an end to the war.
Providence had another, more fitting and consummate, ending in
store, whereby the war should produce results for the good of
mankind commensurate with its cost in tears, treasure, and blood.

( 1) _Life of R. E. Lee_, White (Putnam's), pp. 416-17.

( 2) _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 204.

( 3) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. vii., pp. 367-8.

( 4) _War Between the States_, vol. ii., pp. 557-62, 780; _Lincoln_
(Nicolay and Hay), vol. vii., pp. 371-4.

( 5) Jewett must have attended school where the master required
the class to parse the sentence, "_D