“Shortly afterward,” he continued, “a reference was casually made to Colonel Hardin, who was killed in the Mexican War,--who at one time was a representative in Congress from Illinois; and this drew out a story from Stephens. ‘On a certain occasion,’ he said, ‘when the House was in session, a dispute arose between Hardin and others of the Illinois delegation as to the proper pronunciation of the name of their State. Some insisted it was “_Illinoy_,” others as stoutly that it was “_Illinois_.” Hardin at length appealed to the venerable John Quincy Adams. “If one were to judge from the character of the representatives in this Congress from that State,” said the old man, with a malicious smile, “I should decide unhesitatingly that the proper pronunciation was ‘_All noise!_’”’” In the Augusta (Ga.) “Chronicle,” of the 17th of June, 1865, there appeared a report of this conference, purporting to have been written out from the lips of Mr. Stephens, so characteristic of Mr. Lincoln, that I subjoin the following extracts:-- “The three Southern gentlemen met Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward, and after some preliminary remarks, the subject of peace was opened. Mr. Stephens, well aware that one who asks much may get more than he who confesses to humble wishes at the outset, urged the claims of his section with that skill and address for which the Northern papers have given him credit. Mr. Lincoln, holding the vantage-ground of conscious power, was, however, perfectly frank, and submitted his views almost in the form of an argument. ... “Davis had on this occasion, as on that of Mr. Stephens’s visit to Washington, made it a condition that no conference should be had unless his rank as commander or President should first be recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only ground on which he could rest the justice of the war--either with his own people or with foreign powers--was that it was not a war for conquest, for that the States had never been separated from the Union. Consequently, he could not recognize another government inside of the one of which he alone was President, nor admit the separate independence of States that were yet a part of the Union. ‘That,’ said he, ‘would be doing what you have so long asked Europe to do in vain, and be resigning the only thing the armies of the Union are fighting for.’ “Mr. Hunter made a long reply to this, insisting that the recognition of Davis’s power to make a treaty was the first and indispensable step to peace, and referred to the correspondence between King Charles I. and his Parliament, as a trustworthy precedent of a constitutional ruler treating with rebels.