The Confederate Commissioners were met by Abraham Lincoln himself and
his Secretary of State, William H. Seward, in Hampton Roads. The
National Government demanded in effect, unconditional surrender.
Davis used the indignant surprise with which this startling announcement
was received in Richmond and the South to rouse the people to a last
desperate effort to save the country from the deluge which the Radical
wing of the Northern Congress had now threatened--the confiscation of
the property of the whites and the enfranchisement of the negro race. In
his judgment this could only be done by forcing the National Government
through a prolongation of the war to pledge the South some measure of
protection before they should lay down their arms.
Mass meetings were held and the people called to defend their cause with
their last drop of blood. The President made a speech that night to a
crowd in the Metropolitan Hall on Franklin Street in Richmond which
swept them into a frenzy of patriotic passion. Even his bitterest enemy,
the editor of the _Examiner_, was spellbound by his eloquence.
When he first appeared on the speakers' stand and lifted his tall thin
figure, gazing over the crowd with glittering eye, a tremendous cheer
swept the assembly.
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