They
who saw in those measures the forerunner of disaster to the South had no
settled policy beyond a convention, the object of which should be to
devise new and more effectual guarantees against the perils of
usurpation. They were unjustly charged with a desire to destroy the
Union--a feeling entertained by few, very few, if by any, in
Mississippi, and avowed by none.
There were many, however, who held that the principles of the
Declaration of Independence, and the purposes for which the Union was
formed, were of higher value than the mere Union itself. Independence
existed before the compact of union between the States; and, if that
compact should be broken in part, and therefore destroyed in whole, it
was hoped that the liberties of the people in the States might still be
preserved. Those who were most devoted to the Union of the Constitution
might, consequently, be expected to resist most sternly any usurpation
of undelegated power, the effect of which would be to warp the Federal
Government from its proper character, and, by sapping the foundation, to
destroy the Union of the States.
My recent reelection to the United States Senate had conferred upon me
for six years longer the office which I preferred to all others. I could
not, therefore, be suspected of desiring a nomination for any other
office from the Democratic Convention, the meeting of which was then
drawing near. Having, as a Senator of the State, freely participated in
debate on the measures which were now exciting so much interest in the
public mind, it was very proper that I should visit the people in
different parts of the State and render an account of my stewardship.
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