Nothing additional has been heard from either Bragg's or
Lee's army. But the positions of both seem quite satisfactory to our government
and people. How Rosecrans can get off without the loss of half his army,
stores, etc., military authorities are unable to perceive; and if Meade
advances, there is a universal conviction that he will be beaten.
But there is an excitement in the city. It is
reported that the United States flag of truce steamer is down the river, having
on board no less a personage than Mr. Seward, United States Secretary of State,
and that Mr. Benjamin, and other dignitaries of the Confederate States, are
going off this morning to meet him. Of course it is conjectured that terms of
peace will be discussed, and an infinite variety of opinions are expressed in
relation to them. Some suppose the mission grows out of foreign complications,
of which, as yet, we can have no knowledge, and that, to maintain the vantage
ground of France or England, or both, Mr. Seward may have a scheme of
recognition and alliance, etc., looking to the control of affairs on this
continent by the United States and Confederate States in conjunction, with
commercial arrangements, etc. Both Seward and Benjamin are regarded by their
uncharitable enemies as alike destitute of principle, and of moral or physical
courage, and hence that they would have no hesitation in agreeing to any terms
likely to be mutually advantageous — to themselves. They are certainly men of
great intellectual power, and if they are not strictly honest, as much may be
said of the greatest diplomats who have played conspicuous parts in the field
of diplomacy during the last century. They may sacrifice men, and castles,
etc., as skillful players do chessmen, with no particle of feeling for the
pieces lost, for equivalents, etc. Nevertheless, nothing can be finally
consummated without the concurrence of all the co-ordinate branches of both
governments, and the acquiescence of the people. But these gentlemen are fully
aware of the anxiety of both peoples (if so they may be called) for peace, and they
may, if they choose, strike a bargain which will put an end to the manslaughter
which is deluging the land with blood. Then both governments can go into
bankruptcy. It may be a humbug.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p.
53-4
