On the night of the 3d of March, while President Lincoln and his cabinet were at the Capitol, a telegram from General Grant was brought to the Secretary of War, informing him that General Lee had requested an interview or conference, to make an arrangement for terms of peace.  The letter of General Lee was published in a letter to Davis and to the rebel Congress.  General Grant’s telegram was submitted to Mr. Lincoln, who, after pondering a few minutes, took up his pen and wrote with his own hand the following reply, which he submitted to the Secretary of State and Secretary of War.  It was then dated, addressed, and signed, by the Secretary of War, and telegraphed to General Grant: 

Washington, March 3, 1865-12 P.M.

Lieutenant-General grant: 

The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation of General Lee’s army, or on some minor or purely military matter.  He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political questions.  Such questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions.

Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military advantages.

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

The orders of General Sherman to General Stoneman to withdraw from Salisbury and join him will probably open the way for Davis to escape to Mexico or Europe with his plunder, which is reported to be very large, including not only the plunder of the Richmond banks, but previous accumulations.

A dispatch received by this department from Richmond says:  “It is stated here, by respectable parties, that the amount of specie taken south by Jeff.  Davis and his partisans is very large, including not only the plunder of the Richmond banks, but previous accumulations.  They hope, it is said, to make terms with General Sherman, or some other commander, by which they will be permitted, with their effects, including this gold plunder, to go to Mexico or Europe.  Johnston’s negotiations look to this end.”

After the cabinet meeting last night, General Grant started for North Carolina, to direct operations against Johnston’s army.

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

Here followed the terms, and Mr. Stanton’s ten reasons for rejecting them.

The publication of this bulletin by authority was an outrage on me, for Mr. Stanton had failed to communicate to me in advance, as was his duty, the purpose of the Administration to limit our negotiations to purely military matters; but, on the contrary, at Savannah he had authorized me to control all matters, civil and military.

By this bulletin, he implied that I had previously been furnished with a copy of his dispatch of March 3d to General Grant, which was not so; and he gave warrant to the impression, which was sown broadcast, that I might be bribed by banker’s gold to permit Davis to escape.  Under the influence of this, I wrote General Grant the following letter of April 28th, which has been published in the Proceedings of the Committee on the Conduct of the War.