Hon. Wм. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

To Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,

[Copy.]

Secretary of War, Washington:

FORT MONROR

The gentlemen here have accepted the proposed terms, and will leave for Fortress Monroe at 9.30 A. M.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.

On the night of the 2d I reached Hampton Roads; found the Secretary of State and Major Eckert on a steamer anchored off the shore, and learned of them that the Richmond gentlemen were on another steamer, also anchored off shore in the Roads, and that the Secretary of State had not yet seen or communicated with them. I ascertained that Major Eckert had literally complied with his instructions, and I saw for the first time the answer of the Richmond gentlemen to him, which, in his dispatch to me of the 1st, he characterized as not satisfactory. That answer is as follows, to wit:-

THOMAS T. ECKERT, Major and A. D. C.:

CITY POINT, VA., February 1, 1865.

MAJOR: Your note delivered by yourself this day has been considered. In reply, we have to say that we were furnished with a copy of the letter of President Lincoln to Francis P. Blair, of the 18th of January ult., another copy of which is appended to your note. Our instructions are contained in a letter of which the following is a copy:

RICHMOND, January 28, 1865.

In conformity with the letter of Mr. Lincoln, of which the foregoing is a copy, you are to proceed to Washington City for informal conference with him upon the issues involved in the ex• isting war, and for the purpose of securing peace to the two countries.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

JEFFERSON DAVIS

The substantial object to be obtained by the informal conference, is to ascertain upon what terms the existing war can be terminated honorably. Our instructions contemplate a personal interview between President Lincoln and ourselves at Washington; but, with this explanation, we are ready to meet any person or persons that President Lincoln may appoint at such place as he may designate. Our earnest desire is that a just and honorable peace may be agreed upon, and we are prepared to receive or to submit propositions which may possibly lead to the attainment of that end.

A note of these gentlemen, subsequently addressed to General Grant, has already been given in Major Eckert's dispatch of the 1st inst. I also saw here for the first time the following note, addressed by the Richmond gentlemen to Major Eckert:

THOMAS T. ECKERT, Major and A. D. C.:

CITY POINT, Va., February 2, 1865.

MAJOR: In reply to your verbal statement that your instructions did not allow you to alter the conditions upon which a passport could be given to us, we say that we are willing to proceed to Fortress Monroe, and there to have an informal conference with any person or persons that President Lincoln may appoint on the basis of his letter to Francis P. Blair of the 18th of January ult., or upon any other terms or conditions that he may hereafter propose, not inconsistent with the essential principles of selfgovernment and popular rights upon which our institutions are founded. It is our earnest wish to ascertain, after a free interchange of ideas and information, upon what principles and terms, if any, a just and honorable peace can be established without the effusion of blood, and to contribute our utmost efforts to accomplish such a result. We think it better to add that, in accepting your passport, we are not to be understood as committing ourselves to any thing, but to carry into this informal conference the views and feelings above expressed.

Very respectfully yours, &c.,

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS,
J. A. CAMPBELL,

R. M. T. HUNTER.

NOTE. The above communication was delivered to me at Fortress Monroe, at 4.30 P. M., February 2, by Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock, of General Grant's staff.

THOMAS T. ECKERT, Adj't and A. D. C.

On the morning of the 3d, the three gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, came aboard of our steamer, and had an interview with the Secretary of State and myself of several hours' duration. No question or preliminaries to the meeting was then and there made or mentioned. No other person was present. No papers were exchanged or produced; and it was in advance agreed that the conversation was to be informal and verbal merely. On our part, the whole substance of the instructions to the Secretary of State, herein before recited, was stated and insisted upon, and nothing was said inconsistent therewith. While by the other party it was not said that in any event, or on any condition, they ever would consent to reunion; and yet they equally omitted to declare that they would not so consent. They seemed to desire a postponement of that question, and the adoption of some other course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might or might not lead to reunion, but which course we thought would amount to an indefinite postponement. The conference ended without result.

The foregoing, containing, as is believed, all the information sought, is respectfully submitted. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

In this instance, as in the previous case of Mr. Greeley, the President had found himself constrained by the intrusive interference of an individual citizen, to open negotiations for which, in his judgment, neither the rebels nor

the nation at large were at all prepared. No man in the country was more vigilant than he in watching for the moment when hopes of peace might wisely be entertained; but, as he had resolved under no circumstances to accept any thing short of an unconditional acknowledgment of the supreme authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States as the basis of peace, he deemed it of the utmost consequence that the rebel authorities should not be led to suppose that we were discouraged by the slow progress of the war, or that we were in the least inclined to treat for peace on any other terms than those he had laid down. It was for this reason that he had declined to publish his correspondence with Mr. Greeley, unless expressions in the latter's letters, calculated to create this impression in the rebel States, could be omitted. Acting from the same motives, he had given Mr. Blair no authority to approach the rebel authorities on his behalf upon the subject of peace in any way whatever. He gave him, to use his own words uttered in a subsequent conversation, "no mission, but only per-mission." He was probably not unwilling to learn, from so acute and experienced a political observer as Mr. Blair, something of the temper and purpose of the leading men in the Rebel Government, for their public declarations upon this subject were not felt to be altogether reliable; and the knowledge we had of their straitened means, and of the difficulty they experienced in renewing the heavy losses in the ranks of their army, strengthened the belief that they might not be indisposed for submission to the national authority.

Subsequent disclosures have proved the correctness of these suspicions. It is now known that some of the more sagacious and candid of the rebel leaders had even then abandoned all hope of success, and were only solicitous for some way of closing the war, which should not wound too keenly the pride and self-respect of the people of the rebel States. It was due to their efforts that, in spite of the obstinacy with which Jefferson Davis insisted upon the recognition of his official character, involving the reo

ognition of the South as an independent nation, an interview with the President and Secretary Seward was obtained. But they did not secure the consent of their Executive to negotiate upon the only basis which Mr. Lincoln would for a moment admit-the absolute and acknowledged supremacy of the National Government; and the whole scheme, therefore, fell to the ground.*

The attempt at negotiation, however, served a useful purpose. It renewed the confidence of the people throughout the loyal States in the President's unalterable determination to maintain the Union, while it proved his willingness to end the war whenever that great and paramount object could be secured; and, at the same time, it dispelled the delusive hopes, with which the rebel leaders had so long inspired the hearts of the great body of the Southern people, that peace was possible with the independence of the Southern States. The attempt of Mr. Davis, in the message we have already cited,† to "fire the Southern heart" afresh, by his vivid picture of the tyrannical and insulting exactions of President Lincoln, was utterly fruitless. His appeals fell upon wearied ears and despondent hearts.

Other important affairs had also arisen to occupy the

Since the overthrow of the rebellion an account of this conference has been published in the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, said to have been prepared under the supervision of Mr. A. H. Stephens. It adds nothing material to the facts already known, but the following paragraphs are not without interest:

"Davis had on this occasion, as on that of Mr. Stephens's visit to Washington, made it a condition that no conference should be had unless his rank as commander or President should first be recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only ground upon which he could rest tho justice of the war-either with his own people or with foreign powers-was, that it was not a war for conquest, but that the States never had been separated from the Union. Consequently, he could not recognize another government inside of the one of which he alone was President, nor admit the separate independence of States that were yet a part of the Union. 'That,' said he, 'would be doing what you so long asked Europe to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing the armies of the Union are fighting for.'

"Mr. Hunter made a long reply, insisting that the recognition of Davis's power to make a treaty was the first and indispensable step to peace, and referring to the correspondence between King Charles the First and his Parliament as a reliable precedent of a constitutional ruler treating with rebels.

"Mr. Lincoln's face then wore that indescribable expression which generally preceded his hardest hits, and he remarked: Upon questions of history I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is posted in such things, and I don't profess to be. But my only distinct recollection of tho matter is, that Charles lost his head.' That settled Mr. Hunter for a while."

+ Page 578.

thoughts of the people during the pendency of the peace negotiations. The resolution which had passed the House on January 31st, directing that the electoral votes of certain States which had joined the rebellion should not be counted, came up before the Senate. An effort was made, but failed, to strike out Louisiana from the list of the rejected States. Other amendments were offered, but rejected, and the resolution was adopted as it passed the House. It was also signed by the President, but he sent to Congress the following message concerning it :

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: The joint resolution, entitled "A joint resolution declaring certain States not entitled to representation in the Electoral College," has been signed by the Executive in deference to the view of Congress implied in its passage and presentation to me. In his own view, however, the two Houses of Congress convened under the twelfth article of the Constitution have complete power to exclude from counting all electoral votes deemed by them to be illegal, and it is not competent for the Executive to defeat or obstruct the power by a veto, as would be the case if his action were at all essential in the matter. He disclaims all right of the Executive to interfere in any way in the matter of canvassing or counting the electoral votes, and he also disclaims that by signing said resolution he has expressed any opinion on the recitals of the preamble, or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the resolution. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 8, 1865.

On Wednesday, the 8th of February, the Senate and the House met in joint convention for the purpose of counting the electoral votes. The two bodies having convened, the certificates of election were opened by Vice-President Hamlin. Electoral votes from Louisiana and Tennessee were presented, but, in obedience to the resolution just mentioned, they were not counted. The total number of votes counted was two hundred and thirty-three, of which Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson had received two hundred and twelve, and they were accordingly declared to have been elected President and Vice-President for the ensuing four years, commencing on the 4th of March. The new State of Nevada had cast but two votes, her third elector having been absent on the day of the meeting.