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"I don’t like it when you talk in absolutes It usually bodes ill" He kept his eyes trained on the glass while he waited for a response, because the glass was more likely to tell the truth

Des to force the president’s eye contact and failing He gave up and withdrew into his narrow seat It wasn’t intended to be comfortable Grant didn’t want him to stay

"Freedo about all four" Grant sed the last of his drink, but neither put the glass aside nor filled it again He held it firmly, lest his hands shake They often shook these days He called it nerves or exhaustion "But these two things are true, Fowler: They can’t hold onabout both, if I may be so bold"

"I’ve never stopped you yet, even when I should have"

Grant looked up in tiram is vital to--"

"The survival of the nation, yes, as you’ve said But we’re fooling ourselves if that’s e’re out to save The nation has been lost for years Maybe even since the war began You could make a case for that"

"And you’ve done so But noe’re arguing seue, then We can’t save the United States; we can only reconstruct it And we can’t do that until rap up this damn war"

"Which is why I--"

The president slaram," he said bluntly

"And I don’t like the war," Fowler replied "I thought you didn’t, either"

It took all Grant’s strength to keep fro hier, or a bit less alone in a quiet rooht’ve done so Instead he calmed down and forced himself to breathe

He rubbed at his eyes until they were red, then folded his arms and matched Fowler’s stare "I hate it But this is what it comes down to: Do we hate the war more than we love our country?"

Desmond Fowler did not quite squirm, but was clearly uncoo on forever, but if a Union victory costs all hope of reconciliation, then what have we truly won? Shall we govern a conquered, resentful people by force--until they rally to rebel again? Or shall elcome our fellow citizens back into the fold?"

"Obviously one hopes to welcome one’s fellow citizens," Fowler tried carefully "But Alabaree with Lincoln--or yourself--regarding who is a citizen, and who constitutes property Reconstructing the Union will be an uphill battle regardless of how the war is concluded The question is not one of tactics, but of expediency"

"And there you go again--now you’ve turned the matter into a binary Another absolute We can end the war expediently, tactically, without … without…"

"My program is the fastest,A Confederates, and thereby ending the conflict"

"And killing our own men, too God kno many of them You’ve said it yourself, there’s no safe means to deploy such weaponry Not without tremendous casualties to both sides We’d have to lie to our soldiers, assure the them to their deaths"

"All soldiers assu led to their deaths And as for the deploy on that," Fowler assured himatic The simple fact is that we have more men to lose than they do If it costs us a handful to kill thousands of the enemy, then we--"

"The enemy? Our fellow Americans, you mean"

"No, sir Not anymore By their own choice, and their own hand Soht so hard to keep theet away"

It was true, and Grant knew it True, anyway, that Desmond Fowler didn’t understand why the Union should be preserved, or that the odless foreigners They were not dogs to be killed or tamed, any more than the Union armies were fodder to be sacrificed in pursuit of … what, precisely?

The Great Experiovern itself A terrible risk barely a hundred years old, and it could not fail so soon, so completely Grant believed that with all his heart, because if a successful democracy was not possible, then what alternative was there? Chaos or kings, he supposed And he regarded both with equal dismay

"Sir, you want to end the war," Fowler started afresh

"Doesn’t everyone?" The president asked it too flippantly, given the coram is our best option Not the prettiest, not the easiest political decision--no one’s trying to make that case But it’s for the best, and we need your authority to proceed We need your signature to release the funds frouish, and ill miss ourof opportunity"

"I’m sure another one will open I just … I can’t Not yet Come back when you have more information, better numbers, or a better idea of how, exactly, this weapon would work At present, you can’t even guess the extent of the dae There’s no research to say that it won’t poison the land for a thousand years"