[Non-Sequitur]

They proposed a settlement of debt, they send commissioners to settle debt, they were ignored.

Overruled. The South did nothing of the sort. They sent commissioners to demand the U.S. recognize confederate sovereignty. No other topic was open for dicussion. An end to secession wasn't on the table. None of Lincoln's positions were open for discussion. It was recognition or nothing. And only after the Lincoln administration had given in to demands and recognized the legality of the Southern acts of secession was there a vague offer to discuss 'subjects of interest to both countries'. So no, the south didn't propose settlement of debt. They proposed nothing but Union surrender. Had Lincoln given in to their demands then, maybe, the topic of debt and stolen property might have been discussed. Or it might not. We'll never know.

[smug]

Overruled.

You cannot overrule; Your overruled is Overruled. By what The facts

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS, MR. SECRETARY SEWARD AND JUDGE CAMPBELL. The Commissioners to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON CITY, March 12, 1861. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State of theUnitedStates. SIR: The undersigned have been duly accredited by the Government of the Confederate States of America as commissioners to the Government of the United States, and, in pursuance of their instructions, have now the honor to acquaint you with that fact, and to make known, through you to the President of the United States, the objects of their presence in this capital. Seven states of the late Federal Union, having in the exercise of the inherent right of every free people to change or reform their political institutions, and through conventions of their people, withdrawn from the United States and reassumed the attributes of sovereign power delegated to it, have formed a government of their own. The Confederate States constitute an independent nation, de facto and de jure, and possess a government perfect in all its parts, and endowed with all the means of selfsupport. With a view to a speedy adjustment of all questions growing out of this political separation, upon such terms of amity and good-will as the respective interests, geographical contiguity, and future welfare of the two nations may render necessary, the undersigned are instructed to make to the Government of the United States overtures for the opening of negotiations, assuring the Government of the United States, that the President, Congress, and people of the Confederate States earnestly desire a peaceful solution of these great questions; that it is neither their interest nor their wish to make any demand which is not founded in strictest justice, nor do any act to injure their late confederates. [pg 676] The undersigned have now the honor, in obedience to the instructions of their Government, to request you to appoint as early a day as possible, in order that they may present to the President of the United States the credentials which they bear and the objects of the mission with which they are charged.

We are, very respectfully, your obedient servants, (Signed) JOHN FORSYTH. (Signed) MARTIN J. CRAWFORD. Memorandum. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, March 15, 1861. Mr. John Forsyth, of the State of Alabama, and Mr. Martin J. Crawford, of the State of Georgia,

on the 11th inst., through the kind offices of a distinguished Senator, submitted to the Secretary of State their desire for an unofficial interview. This request was, on the 12th inst., upon exclusively public considerations, respectfully declined. On the 13th inst., while the Secretary was preoccupied, Mr. A. D. Banks, of Virginia, called at this department, and was received by the Assistant Secretary, to whom he delivered a sealed communication, which he had been charged by Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford to present to the Secretary in person. In that communication Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford inform the Secretary of State that they have been duly accredited by the Government of the Confederate States of America as commissioners to the Government of the United States, and they set forth the objects of their attendance at Washington. They observe that seven States of the American Union, in the exercise of a right inherent in every free people, have withdrawn, through conventions of their people, from the United States, reassumed the attributes of sovereign power, and formed a government of their own, and that those Confederate States now constitute an independent nation, de facto and de jure, and possess a government perfect in all its parts, and fully endowed with all the means of self-support. Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, in their aforesaid communication, thereupon proceeded to inform the Secretary that, with a view to a speedy adjustment of all questions growing out of the political separation thus assumed, upon such terms of amity and good-will as the respective interests, geographical contiguity, and the future welfare of the supposed two nations might render necessary, they are instructed to make to the Government of the United States overtures for the opening of negotiations, assuring this Government that the President, Congress, and the people of the Confederate States earnestly desire a peaceful solution of these great questions, and that it is neither their interest nor their wish to make any demand which is not founded in the strictest justice, nor do any act to injure their late confederates.