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Read Ebook: The Southerner: A Romance of the Real Lincoln by Dixon Thomas Jr Marchand J N Illustrator
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Ebook has 303 lines and 11634 words, and 7 pages
The kindly hand was lifted to John Vaughan's shoulder:
"Why didn't you do it?"
"Then I won you--didn't I?" the President cried with elation. "I've been talking to you just to keep my courage up--just to save my own soul from the hell of despair. But you've lifted me up. If I can win you I can win the others if I could only get their ear. All I need is a little time. And I'm going to fight for it. Every act of my life in this great office will stand the test of time because I've put my immortal soul into the struggle without one thought of saving myself.
"I've told you the truth, and the truth has turned a murderer into my friend. If only the people can know--can have time to think, I'll win. You thought me an ambitious tyrant--now, didn't you?"
"Yes."
He stopped suddenly and fixed John with a keen look:
"You'll stand by me, now, boy, through thick and thin?"
"All right. I give you the chance. I'm going to send you on a dangerous mission. I need but two things to sweep the country in this election and preserve the Union--a single big victory in the field to lift the people out of the dumps and make them see things as they are, and a declaration from Mr. Davis that there can be no peace save in division. I know that he holds that position, but the people in the North doubt it. I've sent Jaquess and Gilmore there to obtain his declaration. Technically they are spies. They may be executed or imprisoned and held to the end of the war. They go as private citizens of the North who desire peace.
"I'm ready, sir," was the quick response.
The big hand fumbled the black beard a moment:
"You doubtless said bitter things in Washington when you returned?"
"Many of them."
"Then you were approached by the leaders of Knights of the Golden Circle?"
"Yes."
"Good! You're the man I want without a doubt. You can use their signs and pass words in Richmond. Besides, you have a Southern accent. Your chances of success are great. I want you to leave here in an hour. Go straight through as a scout and spy in Confederate uniform. If Jaquess and Gilmore are allowed to return and tell their story--all right, your work with them is done. If they are imprisoned, get through the lines to Grant's headquarters, report this fact and Mr. Davis' answer, and it will be doubly effective--you understand?"
"Perfectly, sir."
"That's your first job. But I want you to go to Richmond for a double purpose--to take the train for Atlanta, get through the lines and give a message to a man down South I've been thinking about for the past month. The world has forgotten Sherman in the roar of the great battles Grant has fought. I haven't. Slowly but surely his grim figure has been growing taller on the horizon as the smoke lifts from each of his fights. Grant says he is our biggest general. Only a great man could say that about a subordinate commander. That's another reason I won't listen to people who demand Grant's removal.
"Sherman is now a hundred and fifty miles in Georgia before Atlanta. His road is being cut behind him every other day. You might be weeks trying to get to him by Chattanooga. The trains run through from Richmond. I want you to reach him quick, and give him a message from me. I can't send a written order. It wouldn't be fair to Grant. I'll give you credentials that he'll accept that will cost you your life in Richmond if their meaning is discovered.
"Tell General Sherman that if he can take Atlanta the blow will thrill the Nation, carry the election, and save the Union. Grant is deadlocked at Petersburg and may be there all winter. If he can fight at once and give us a victory, it's all that's needed. I'll send him an order to strike. Tell him to destroy it if he wins. If he loses--I'll publish it and take the blame on myself. Can you do this?"
"I will or die in the effort," was the quick reply.
"All right. Take this card at once to Stanton's office. Ask him to send you by boat to Aquia--by horse from there. Return here for your papers."
In ten minutes John had dispatched a note to Betty:
"DEAREST: God saved me from an act of madness. He sent His message through your sweet spirit. I am leaving for the South on a dangerous mission for the President. If I live to return I am all yours--if I die, I shall still live through eternity if only to love you.
"JOHN."
Within an hour he had communicated with the commander of the Knights, his arrangements were complete, and he was steaming down the river on his perilous journey.
MR. DAVIS SPEAKS
John Vaughan arrived in Richmond a day before Jaquess and Gilmore. His genial Southern manner, his perfect accent and his possession of the signs and pass words of the Knights of the Golden Circle made his mission a comparatively easy one.
He had brought a message from the Washington Knights to Judah P. Benjamin, which won the confidence of Mr. Davis' Secretary of State and gained his ready consent to his presence on the occasion of the interview.
The Commissioners left Butler's headquarters with some misgivings. Gilmore took the doughty General by the hand and said: "Good-bye, if you don't see us in ten days you may know we have 'gone up.'"
"If I don't see you in less time," he replied, "I'll demand you, and if they don't produce you, I'll take two for one. My hand on that."
Under a flag of truce they found Judge Ould, the Exchange Commissioner, who conducted them into Richmond under cover of darkness.
They stopped at the Spottswood House and the next morning saw Mr. Benjamin, who agreed to arrange an interview with Jefferson Davis.
Mr. Benjamin was polite, but inquisitive.
"Do you bring any overtures from your Government, gentlemen?"
"No, sir," answered Colonel Jaquess. "We bring no overtures and have no authority from our Government. As private citizens we simply wish to know what terms will be acceptable to Mr. Davis."
"Are you acquainted with Mr. Lincoln's views?"
"One of us is fully," said Colonel Jaquess.
"Did Mr. Lincoln in any way authorize you to come here?"
"No, sir," said Gilmore. "We came with his pass, but not by his request. We came as men and Christians, not as diplomats, hoping, in a frank talk with Mr. Davis, to discover some way by which this war may be stopped."
"Well, gentlemen," said Benjamin, "I will repeat what you say to the President, and if he follows my advice, he will meet you."
At nine o'clock the two men had entered the State Department and found Jefferson Davis seated at the long table on the right of his Secretary of State.
John Vaughan was given a seat at the other end of the table to report the interview for Mr. Benjamin.
He studied the distinguished President of the Confederate States with interest. He had never seen him before. His figure was extremely thin, his features typically Southern in their angular cheeks and high cheek bones. His iron-grey hair was long and thick and inclined to curl at the ends. His whiskers were small and trimmed farmer fashion--on the lower end of his strong chin. The clear grey eyes were full of vitality. His broad forehead, strong mouth and chin denoted an iron will. He wore a suit of greyish brown, of foreign manufacture, and as he rose, seemed about five feet ten inches. His shoulders slightly stooped.
His manner was easy and graceful, his voice cultured and charming.
"I am glad to see you, gentlemen," he said. "You are very welcome to Richmond."
"We thank you, Mr. Davis," Gilmore replied.
He paused that the visitors might finish the sentence.
"Yes, sir," Jaquess answered. "Our people want peace, your people do. We have come to ask how it may be brought about?"
"Withdraw your armies, let us alone and peace will come at once."
"I know. You would deny us what you exact for yourselves--the right of self-government."
"Even so," said Colonel Jaquess, "we can not fight forever. The war must end sometime. We must finally agree on something. Can we not agree now and stop this frightful carnage?"
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