Page:A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865, Volume I.djvu/207

Rh war, Mr. Stephens vigorously defended him and characterized all such charges as one of "the boldest and baldest attempted outrages upon the truths of history which has ever been essayed; not less so than the infamous attempt to fix upon him and other high officials on the Confederate side the guilt of Mr. Lincoln's assassination." A final effort was made to secure peace by means of a Commission, in February, 1865, of which Mr. Stephens was the head, his associates being John A. Campbell and R. M. T. Hunter. This Commission met Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward in Hampton Roads, on February 3, and Mr. Stephens was the chief spokesman. The effort failed, and with the other Confederate commissioners he returned to Richmond, and subsequently gave a full statement of his recollections of all that occurred in the Conference. Soon after returning to Richmond, he left for his home, where he remained in retirement until his arrest, on May 11, 1865. He was sent as a prisoner to Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, where he was kept in confinement for five months. In October, he was released on his own parole. In February, 1866, he was elected to the Senate of the United States by the Legislature of Georgia, but was refused his seat by the Senate. In 1867, he published the first volume of his "War between the States." He was chosen Professor of Political Science and History in the University of Georgia in December, 1868; but declined to accept, on account of failing health. He published the second volume of his "War between the States" in 1870, and later published "A School History of the United States." In 1871, he taught a law class and became the editor and part proprietor of a newspaper in Atlanta. He was a candidate, in November, 1871, for the United States Senate, but failed of election. In 1874, he was elected to the House of Representatives, and remained in Congress until 1882, when he resigned. The same year, he was elected Governor of his State, by a majority of more than 60,000 over Gen. L. J. Gartrell, a lawyer and an ex-Confederate officer. His last speech was made at the Georgia Sesquicentennial Celebration, in Savannah, on February 12, 1883. In personal appearance Mr. Stephens was slender and boyish-looking, and his voice was weak and piping. He was a chronic sufferer from illness, and weighed less than one hundred pounds. During his last years of service in Congress he was crippled by a fall and by rheumatism, was compelled