At seven the next (Monday) morning, Governor Swain took the train from Hillsboro to Raleigh, dined with Governor Vance, and at the close of a long and earnest conference, the latter agreed to carry out the scheme submitted if the concurrence of General Johnston could be obtained. He promised to ride out immediately to General Johnston's headquarters and consult him upon the subject. The next morning he authorized Governor Swain to telegraph Governor Graham and request his presence. The latter responded promptly that he would come down in the eleven o'clock train that night, and Governor Swain spent the night with Governor Vance in anxious expectation of his arrival. The train failed to arrive until three o'clock on Wednesday morning. Governor Swain, at early dawn, found Governor Vance writing dispatches by candle-light, and Governor Graham was at the door before sunrise. Mrs. Vance and her children had retired from Raleigh to a place of supposed greater safety, and the three gentlemen, together with Colonel Burr, of Governor Vance's staff, were the only occupants of the executive mansion. After an early breakfast, they went to the capitol, where a communication from Governor Vance to General Sherman was prepared. General Johnston, in the mean time, had retired in the direction of Hillsboro, and General Hardee was the officer of highest grade then in Raleigh. He promptly accepted an invitation from Governor Vance to be present at a conference, prepared a safe-conduct through his lines for Governors Swain and Graham, who undertook the commission to General Sherman; and by ten o'clock, attended by three of the Governor's staff--Surgeon-General Warren, Colonel Burr, and Major Devereux--they left Raleigh in a special train, bearing a flag of truce, for General Sherman's headquarters. Governor Bragg, Mr. Moore, and Mr. Raynor had all been consulted in relation to the course proposed to be pursued, and all had concurred most heartily in its propriety and necessity. There were others who were not consulted, who nevertheless suspected the design of those concerned in these conferences; and one of them is understood to have kept President Davis, who was then in Greensboro, regularly advised by telegraph of all, and more than all, that was contemplated by the embassy. The fate of the mission, and its final results, form, as I doubt not my readers will agree, as interesting and important a chapter in the history of the State as has occurred since its organization. CHAPTER XI. RALEIGH, WHEN UNCOVERED--THE COMMISSIONERS TO GENERAL SHERMAN--THEY START--ARE RECALLED BY GENERAL JOHNSTON--ARE STOPPED BY KILPATRICK'S FORCES--THEIR INTERVIEW WITH KILPATRICK--ARE CALLED TO SHERMAN'S HEADQUARTERS--HIS REPLY TO GOVERNOR VANCE--THE FURTHER PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMISSION--A PLEASANT INCIDENT--THE COMMISSIONERS RETURN TO RALEIGH--GOVERNOR VANCE HAD LEFT--HIS LETTER TO SHERMAN--THE FEDERAL TROOPS ENTER RALEIGH--INCIDENTS.