A Man of the People Part 44

GILMORE

The h.e.l.l you don't!

VAUGHAN

No!

GILMORE

We worked on the same paper in Washington, once----

VAUGHAN

Never saw you before----

GILMORE

Get-word-through-will you! _We're in a trap!_

VAUGHAN

Shut your d.a.m.ned trap! or we'll both make our breakfast on lead at sunrise to-morrow morning! Get back to your seat!

[_The sound of approaching steps are heard._ BENJAMIN _enters as_ GILMORE _drops into his seat._]

BENJAMIN

Gentlemen: The President of the Confederate States of America!

[DAVIS _enters and bows to his visitors, who rise. His figure is about five foot ten and quite thin. His features are typically the Southern scholar and thinker with angular cheeks and high cheek bones. His iron gray hair is long and thick and inclined to curl at the ends. His whiskers are thin and trimmed farmer fashion, on the lower end of his strong chin. His eyes flash with strong vitality.

His forehead is broad, his mouth strong. He wears a brown suit of foreign cloth which fits him perfectly. His shoulders slightly droop. His manner is easy and graceful, his voice charming and cultured._]

DAVIS

I am glad to meet you, gentlemen. You are very welcome to Richmond.

GILMORE

We thank you, Mr. Davis.

DAVIS

Mr. Benjamin tells me that you have asked to see me----

[_He pauses and waits for his visitors to finish the sentence._]

JACQUESS

Yes, sir. Our people want Peace. Your people do. We have come to ask how it may be brought about?

DAVIS

Very simply. Withdraw your armies from the South, let us alone and Peace comes at once.

JACQUESS

But we cannot let you alone so long as you seek to divide the Union.

DAVIS

I know. You deny us, what you exact for yourselves--the right of self-government.

JACQUESS

Even so, Mr. Davis, we cannot fight forever. The war must end sometime.

We must finally agree on something. Can we not find the basis of agreement now, and stop this slaughter?

[VAUGHAN _takes notes rapidly._]

DAVIS

I wish peace as much as you do. I deplore bloodshed. But I feel that not one drop of this blood is on my hands. I can look up to G.o.d and say this. I tried to avert this war. I saw it coming and for twelve years I worked day and night to prevent it. The North was mad and blind and would not let us govern ourselves, and now it must go on until the last man of this generation falls in his tracks and their children seize their muskets and fight our battle--_unless you acknowledge our right to self-government_. We are not fighting for Slavery. We are fighting for _independence_ and that or _extermination_ we will have----

JACQUESS

[_Protesting._]

We have no wish to exterminate the South! But we must crush your armies. Is it not already nearly done? Grant has shut you up in Richmond, and Sherman is before Atlanta.

DAVIS

[_Laughs._]

You don't seem to understand the situation! We're not exactly shut up in Richmond yet. If your papers tell the truth, it is your Capitol that is in danger, not ours. Lee's front has never yet been broken. He holds Grant, invades the North and sh.e.l.ls Washington. Sherman, to be sure, is before Atlanta. But suppose he is? His position is a dangerous one. The further he goes from his base of supplies, the more disastrous defeat must be. And his defeat may be at hand.

JACQUESS

And yet, the odds are overwhelmingly against you. How can you hope for success in the end?

DAVIS

My friend, the South stands for a principle--their equal rights under the Const.i.tution which their fathers created. This country has always been a Republic of Republics--not an Empire. We are fighting for the right of local self-government which we won from the tyrants of the old world. The states of the Union have always been sovereign. We never paused to figure on success or failure, sir. Five million Southern freemen drew their sword against twenty millions because their rights had been invaded.

JACQUESS

And yet, Mr. Davis, you know as well as I that five millions cannot hold out forever against twenty. Have we not reached the end?

DAVIS