e him before the public. Such endeavor would be a wrong to me,
and much worse, a wrong to the country. My wish is that on this subject
no remark be made, nor question asked by any of you, here, or elsewhere,
now, or hereafter."

This is one of the most remarkable speeches ever made by a President.
Washington was never more dignified; Jackson was never more peremptory.

The President's spirit of forgiveness was broad enough to take in the
entire South. The cause of the Confederacy had been doomed from the hour
of his reelection. The cheering of the troops which greeted the news
had been heard within the lines at Richmond, and the besieged town lost
hope, though it continued the struggle bravely if desperately. Although
Horace Greeley's peace mission to Canada had come to nothing, and other
volunteer efforts in the same direction served only to call forth
a declaration from Jefferson Davis that he would fight for the
independence of the South to the bitter end, Mr. Lincoln watched
longingly for the time when the first move could be made toward peace.
Early in January, 1865, as the country was about to enter upon the fifth
year of actual war, he learned from Hon. Francis P. Blair, Sr., who
had been in Richmond, how strong the feeling of discouragement at the
Confederate capital had become. Mr. Blair was the father of Lincoln's
first Postmaster-General, a man of large acquaintance in the South, who
knew perhaps better than anyone in Washington the character and temper
of the southern leaders. He had gone to Richmond hoping to do something
toward bringing the war to a close, but without explaining his plans to
anyone, and with no authority from the government, beyond permission
to pass through the military lines and return. His scheme was utterly
impracticable, and Mr. Lincoln was interested in the report of his visit
only because it showed that the rebellion was nearing its end. This
was so marked that he sent Mr. Blair back again to Richmond with a note
intended for the eye of Jefferson Davis, saying that the government had
constantly been, was then, and would continue to be ready to receive any
agent Mr. Davis might send, "with a view of securing peace to the people
of our one common country."

Hopeless as their cause had by this time become, the Confederates had no
mind to treat for peace on any terms except independence of the southern
States; yet, on the other hand, they were in such straits that they
could not affor