CHAPTER XXIX.

LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURATION.

REBELLION ON ITS "LAST LEGS"—PEACE COMMISSIONS AND PROPOSITIONS—EFFORTS OF GREELEY, JACQUES, GILMORE, AND BLAIR—LINCOLN'S ADVANCES—JEFFERSON DAVIS'S DEFIANT MESSAGE TO HIM—THE PRESIDENT AND THE REBEL COMMISSIONERS AT HAMPTON ROADS—VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, OF THE SECRET CONFERENCE, BY PARTICIPANTS THE PROPOSITIONS ON BOTH SIDES—FAILURE—THE MILITARY OUTLOOK—THE REBEL CAUSE DESPERATE—REBEL DESERTIONS—"MILITARY" PEACE-CONVENTION PROPOSED BY REBELS—DECLINED—CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GRANT AND LEE, ETC.—THE SECOND INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN—A STRANGE OMEN—HIS IMMORTAL SECOND-INAUGURAL