My devotion to the Union of our fathers had been so often and so
publicly declared; I had, on the floor of the Senate, so defiantly
challenged any question of my fidelity to it; my services, civil and
military, had now extended through so long a period, and were so
generally known--that I felt quite assured that no whisperings of envy
or ill will could lead the people of Mississippi to believe that I had
dishonored their trust by using the power they had conferred on me to
destroy the Government to which I was accredited. Then, as afterward, I
regarded the separation of the States as a great, though not the
greatest, evil.
I returned from my tour among the people at the time appointed for the
meeting of the nominating convention of the Democratic (or State-Rights)
party. During the previous year the Governor, General John A. Quitman,
had been compelled to resign his office to answer an indictment against
him for complicity with the "filibustering" expeditions against Cuba.
The charges were not sustained; many of the Democratic party of
Mississippi, myself included, recognized a consequent obligation to
renominate him for the office of which he had been deprived. When,
however, the delegates met in party convention, the committee appointed
to select candidates, on comparison of opinions, concluded that, in view
of the effort to fix upon the party the imputation of a purpose of
disunion, some of the antecedents of General Quitman might endanger
success.
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