or Gen. Lee or the officers of the Confederate Army could possibly be privy to acts of assassination,” but he "would not say as much for Jeff Davis, George Sanders, and men of that stripe." Sherman urged Johnston to surrender on Grant's terms to Lee.

Johnston insisted that they ought to make arrangements for all the Confederate armies. That he could procure authority to control all of them, and that in addition to providing for the laying down their arms, they must be secured in their personal property and political rights. Sherman then told Johnston of his recent interview with President Lincoln and General Grant, and assured him that he was perfectly and fully informed as to the views of the President of the United States, and that he had authority to arrange with Johnston on the terms stated and requested by him. It was agreed that Johnston should return to his lines, and get authority to arrange for all the Confederate armies, and that they would meet again the next day at the same place.

After some discussion, Johnston brought Breckenridge into the conference, and a messenger, having brought a package to Johnston, he opened it, and, after a side talk with Breckenridge, handed one of the papers from it to Sherman. It was, says Sherman, the draft in Reagan's handwriting of the terms, and began with a preamble so long and verbose, that Sherman at once rejected it.

"Then," says he, "recalling the conversation with Mr. Lincoln at City Point, I sat down at the table and

wrote off the terms, which I thought concisely expressed his views and wishes, and explained that I was willing to submit these terms to the new President, Mr. Johnson, provided that both armies should remain in statu quo until the truce therein declared should expire. I had full faith that General Johnston would religiously respect the truce, which he did. And that I should be the gainer,for in the few days it would take to send the papers to Washington and receive an answer, I could finish the railroad to Raleigh, and be the better prepared for a long chase.”*

This is General Sherman's idea of preserving the status quo, and religiously respecting the truce.

"Neither Mr. Breckenridge nor General Johnston wrote one word of that paper. I wrote it myself and announced it as the best I could do, and they readily assented."+

This paper is known as the "Convention at Durham's."

*Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 353. tMe.noirs, Vol. II, p. 353.

THE paper signed is in these words :

Memorandum

or basis of agreement made this 18th day of April, 1865, near Durham's Station, in the State of North Carolina, by and between Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate Army, and MajorGen. W. T. Sherman, commanding the Army of the United States, in North Carolina, both present:

1. The contending armies now in the field to maintain the statu quo until notice is given by the commanding General of any one, to its opponent, and reasonable time, say forty-eight hours, allowed.

2. The Confederate armies now in existence to be disbanded, and conducted to their several State capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State arsenal; and each officer and man to execute and file an agreement, to cease from acts of war, and to abide the action of the State and Federal authority. The number of arms and munitions of war to be reported to the chief of ordnance at Washington city, subject to the future action of the Congress of the United States, and in the meantime to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively.

3. The recognition by the Executive, of the United States, of the several State governments, on their officers and Legislatures taking the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, and where conflicting State governments have resulted from the war, the

legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.

4. The re-establishment of all the Federal courts in the several States, with powers, as defined by the Constitution of the United States, and of the States respectively.

5. The people and inhabitants of all the States to be guaranteed, so far as the Executive can, their political rights and franchises, as well as their rights of person and property, as defined by the Constitution of the United States, and of the States rsepectively.

6. The Executive authority of the government of the United States not to disturb any of the people by reason of the late war, so long as they live in peace and quiet, abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey the laws in existence at the place of their residence.

7. In general terms-the war to cease-a general amnesty, so far as the Executive of the United States can command, on condition of the disbandment of the Confederate armies, the distribution of the arms, and the resumption of peaceful pursuits, by the officers and men hitherto composing said armies.

Not being fully empowered by our respective principals to fulfill these terms, we, individually and officially, pledge ourselves to promptly obtain the necessary authority, and to carry out the above programme.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General, Commanding Army of the
United States, in North Carolina.
J. E. JOHNSTON,

General, Commanding Confederate States

Army in North Carolina.

Sherman says he wrote every word of this paper. Johnston says Sherman wrote it very rapidly, with Johnston's memorandum lying on the table before him, as if he had come prepared to make that arrangement.

In the discussion, Johnston's point had been a general disarmament of the Confederate armies, and, in consideration of that, a general amnesty by the President of the United States.

The proposition to guarantee to the Confederates all their rights of private property as defined by the State constitutions, came from Sherman, as far as can be understood from Johnston's Narrative and Sherman's Memoirs. What he meant by it is impossible to say, for it was a distinct promise to protect property in slaves, which had already been destroyed by the proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, as far as any executive act could destroy it.

In fact it is difficult to understand Gen. Sherman's position about this convention, "every word of which he wrote himself." Johnston nor Breckenridge did not write a word of it.

Johnston, who was only a plain Virginia gentleman, and a soldier trained in the traditions of the old army of the United States, evidently took the agreement to be serious, and that he was bound by it.

When he pledged himself, in the first article, that the armies should maintain the status quo during the truce, he really believed that his honor was pledged to do so, and he religiously did as he had promised.

Sherman, however, did not take it so seriously, but strained every effort to complete the railroad from