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[349] Confederacy. This was the policy embodied in Mr. Hunter's letter of instructions to Mr. Slidell already mentioned, and it was the policy constantly kept in view by his successor in office, Mr. Benjamin. An offer to cede territory in exchange for intervention and help would have been fatal to the arguments on which the demand for recognition was based. I must not conclude my personal notice of Mr. Benjamin without stating that such was his appetite and facility for work that the President devolved much upon him not strictly pertaining to his own department. The facility with which after the collapse of the Confederacy he attained the highest distinctions of the English bar and made a large fortune, was one of the marvels of a great career. When I met him in London in 1875 he hardly referred to the great struggle with which he had been so conspicuously identified. Nor can I recall that at any time in Richmond or elsewhere he ever indulged in retrospect. I reserve for notice hereafter one of the so-called ‘lost chapters,’ having some basis of truth, but perverted by elaborate fiction out of all proportion. Washington, D. C.
Richmond, VA. 1901.
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