of the unexpired term; and in 1850 I was re-elected for the full term as my own successor. In the United States Senate I was chairman of the Military Committee; and I also took an active part in the debates on the compromise measures of 1850, frequently opposing Senator Douglas, of Illinois, in his theory of 'squatter sovereignty,' and advocating, as a means of pacification, the extension of the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific. When the question was presented to Mississippi as to whether the State should acquiesce in the compromise legislation of 1850, or whether it should join the other Southern States in a convention to decide as to the best course to pursue in view of the threatened usurpations of the Federal government, I advocated a convention of the Southern States, with a view to such co-operation as might effectually check the exercise of constructive powers, the parent of despotism, by the Federal government.

"The canvass for governor commenced that year. The candidate of the democratic party was by his opponents represented to hold extreme opinions-in other words, to be a disunionist. For, although he was a man of high character and had served the country well in peace and war, this supposition was so artfully cultivated that, though the democratic party was estimated to be about 8,000 in majority, when the election occurred in September the democratic candidates for a convention were defeated by a majority of over 7,000, and the democratic candidate for governor withdrew.

"The election for governor was to occur in November, and I was called on to take the place vacated by the candidate who had withdrawn from the canvass. It was a forlorn hoe, especially as my health had been impaired by labors in the summer canvass, and there was not time before the approaching election to make such a canvass as would be needed to reform the ranks of the democracy. However, as a duty to the party, I accepted the position, and made as active a campaign as the

time permitted, with the result that the majority against the party was reduced to less than 1,000. From this time, I remained engaged in quiet farm labors until the nomination of Franklin Pierce, when I went out to advocate his election, having formed a very high opinion of him as a statesman and a patriot from observations of him in 1837 and 1838, when he was in the United States Senate.

"On his election as President, I became a member of his cabinet, filling the office of Secretary of War during his entire term. During these four years I proposed the introduction of camels for service on the western plains, a suggestion which was adopted. I also introduced an improved system of infantry tactics, effected the substitution of iron for wood in gun carriages, secured rifled muskets and rifles and the use of minie balls, and advocated the increase of the defences of the seacoast by heavy guns and the use of large-grain powder.

"While in the Senate I had advocated, as a military necessity and as a means of preserving the Pacific territory to the Union, the construction of a military railway across the continent; and, as Secretary of War, I was put in charge of the survey of the various routes proposed. Perhaps for a similar reason— my previous action in the Senate-I was also put in charge of the extension of the United States capitol.

"The administration of Mr. Pierce presents the single instance of an executive whose cabinet witnessed no change of persons during the whole term. At its close, having been re-elected to the United States Senate, I re-entered that body.

"During the discussion of the compromise measures of 1850 the refusal to extend the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific was early put on the ground that there was no constitutional authority to legislate slavery into or out of any territory, which was in fact and seeming intent a repudiation of the Missouri compromise; and it was so treated in the KansasNebraska bill.

"Subsequently Mr. Douglas, the advocate of what was called 'squatter sovereignty,' insisted upon the rights of the first immigrants into the territory to decide upon the question whether migrating citizens might take their slaves with them; which meant, if it meant anything, that Congress could authorize a few settlers to do what it was admitted Congress itself could not do. But out of this bill arose a dissension which finally divided the democratic party, and caused its defeat in the presidential election of 1860.

"And from this empty, baseless theory grew the Iliad of our direst woes.

"When Congress met in the fall of 1860 I was appointed one of a Senate committee of thirteen to examine and report on some practicable adjustment of the controversies which then threatened the dissolution of the Union. I at first asked to be excused from the committee, but at the solicitation of friends agreed to serve, avowing my willingness to make any sacrifice to avert the impending struggle. The committee consisted of men belonging to the three political divisions of the Senatethe State Rights Men of the South, the Radicals of the North, and the Northern Democrats, with one member who did not acknowledge himself as belonging to any of the three divisionsMr. Crittenden, an old-time Whig, and the original mover of the compromise resolutions. When the committee met it was agreed that unless some measure which would receive the support of the majority of each of the three divisions could be devised, it was useless to make any report; and after many days of anxious discussion and a multiplicity of propositions, though the Southern State Rights Men and the Northern Democrats, and the Whigs, Mr. Crittenden, could frequently agree, they could never get a majority of the Northern Radicals to unite with them in any substantive proposition. Finally, the committee reported their failure to find anything on which the three divisions could unite. Mr. Douglas, who was a member

of the committee, defiantly challenged the Northern Radicals to tell what they wanted. As they had refused everything, he claimed that they ought to be willing to tell what they proposed to do.

"When officially informed that Mississippi had passed the ordinance of secession, I took formal leave of the Senate, announcing for the last time the opinions I had so often expressed as to State sovereignty, and, as a consequence of it, the right of a Stage to withdraw its delegated powers. Before I reached home I had been appointed by the convention of Mississippi commander-in-chief of its army, with the rank of major-general, and I at once proceeded with the task of organization. I went to my home in Warren county in order to prepare for what I believed was to be a long and severe struggle. Soon a messenger came from the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, bringing the unwelcome notice that I had been elected Provisional President of the Confederate States. But, reluctant as I was to accept the hopor, and carefully as I had tried to prevent the possibility of it, in the circumstances of the country, I could not refuse it; and I was inaugurated at Montgomery, February 18, 1861, with Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, as vice-president.

"From this time to the fall of the Confederate government my life was part of the history of the Confederacy, and of the war between the States. It is impossible, therefore, to follow it in detail.

"In the selection of a cabinet I was relieved from a difficulty which surrounds that duty by the president of the United States. for there were no sections' and no 'party' distinctions. All aspirations, ambitions, and interests had been merged in a great desire for Confederate independence.

"In my inaugural address I asserted that necessity, not choice, had led to the secession of the Southern States; that, as an agricultural people, their policy was peace and free commerce

with all the world; that the constituent parts, not the system of government, had been changed.

"The removal of the troops from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, the guns of which threatened the harbor of Charleston, and the attempt to throw re-enforcements into that fortthus doubly breaking a pledge that matters should be kept in statu quo-constituted the occasion as well as the justification of the opening of fire upon Fort Sumter. Speedily following this event came the call for a large army by Mr. Lincoln, and the secession of other Southern States as the consequence of this unmistakable purpose of coercion.

"Virginia, which had led in the effort, by a peace conference, to avert national ruin, when she saw the constitution disregarded and the purpose to compel free states by military force to submit to arbitrary power, passed an ordinance of secession, and joined the Confederate States.

"Shortly after this, as authorized by the Provisional Congress, I removed the Confederate capital from Montgomery to

Richmond.

"Among the many indications of good will shown when on my way to and after my arrival at Richmond was the pur. chase of a very fine residence in Richmond by leading citizens. It was offered as a present; but, following a rule that had governed my action in all such cases, I declined to accept it. I continued to live in Richmond until the Confederate forces were compelled to withdraw from the defences of the capital.

"That event was not quite unexpected, but it occurred before the conditions were fulfilled under which General Lee contemplated retreat. After General Lee was forced to surrender, and General Johnston consented to do so, I started, with a very few of the men who volunteered to accompany me, for the TransMississippi; but, hearing on the road that marauders were pursuing my family, whom I had not seen since they left Rich