There was a pre-War peace delegation from the South led by former President John Tyler that Lincoln studiously ignored. Lincoln didn’t want peace, and he made it clear that he intended to press the issue of Fort Sumter, well aware of the response that he would get.
http://www.historynet.com/pre-civil-war-peace-conference.htm
By comparison, Benjamin Franklin spent many years in England hoping to negotiate a better deal for the Americans.
He failed repeatedly, but only reluctantly returned to Philadelphia a full year after the Brits had formally declared war and began waging war against the colonies.
By stark contrast, Confederate negotiators refused to negotiate constitutionally with Congress, and after a few weeks they went home to start Civil War.
Of course Lincoln "wanted peace", and as he told secessionists in his First Inaugural, March 4, 1861, they could not have a war unless they themselves started it.
Secessionist newspapers immediately declared that a "declaration of war", and Jefferson Davis ordered preparations for military assault on Fort Sumter.
And so the war came.