CHAPTER XXIX.. Lincoln's Second Inauguration.

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