Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/574

538 upon any honorable terms so long as its present rulers are in power. * * * Subjugation is no worse than the submission offered to us as the only condition of peace. It would at least save us our honor. Alluding to the possibility of the election of McClellan he said that &quot; it will bring the two contending parties together face to face in the arena of reason and consultation. Then and there can be discussed the history of all our difficulties, the principles involved in the bloody issue, and the respective interests of both governments. Such is my conviction of the omnipotence of truth and right that I feel an abiding confidence that an honorable peace would ultimately spring from such deliberations. * * * I would not be understood as standing on any point of etiquette as to who should take the initiative. All I mean to say is that in view of the avowed policy of the United States government any advance on our part is already rejected before made and that we cannot make any upon the conditions announced by its President. I would not hesitate to take the initiative if there was the least hope of a favorable response or an honorable result. Such I believe to be the temper of our people. Such I am satisfied is the sentiment of the President of the Confederate States. He has avowed it on every occasion which required him to allude to the subject.&quot;

It must be kept clearly in mind that Mr. Stephens and others who associated with him in urging the Confederate administration to initiate during this canvass a movement to assemble an independent Congress or convention of all the several States immediately after the election of McClellan, entertained no design of abandoning the Confederacy. On the contrary they urged with emphasis that the success of the peace party at the North would secure the independence of the South or a reorganization of the Union, which would &quot;secure peace on this continent for ages to come. &quot;In every view I can take of the subject,&quot; said Mr. Stephens, &quot;I regard the success