in battle, 'All is lost save honor.' Such may well be the exclamation of the people of Mississippi, 'All is lost save honor.'

"Not many months since, you are all aware, an election took place in this State for Representatives in Congress of the United States, and I, as one of the candidates for that high mission, addressed you on the great political questions agitating the country. I now appear before you in another view and on other grounds. I do not ask the support of any of my fellow-citizens of this State either on account of their personal friendship for me, or because they belong to the same political party with whose views I have generally coincided. I come before you as the advocate of a high constitutional principle,-a principle before which all the little political quarrels of the day sink into utter insignificance,-the great principle of representation.

"I believe I am one of the Representatives to Congress from Mississippi, -a Representative not merely of my political friends, but of every man, woman, and child in the State, for the number who did not vote for me at the polls were after my election equally bound with the larger number who did vote for me to support the laws and constitution of the State and to defend their right of representation.

"However some of you may differ from me on some of the questions, I trust, fellow-citizens, you will give me credit for candor in my political course. I am anxious that none should be in error regarding my view,— I wish to leave no room for misapprehension or misrepresentation, and to such an extent do I carry this desire that I would not receive a single vote which I believe to be given from a mistaken idea of my principles.

"This is neither the time nor the place for discussing party questions, nor am I before you for that purpose. But, as it has been said that I am anxious to assume new ground in view of the April election, I will refer you to the unreserved expression of my opinions as I addressed them to you before the November election, and remark that they are unchanged, unmitigated in every respect. If any difference exists, it is that I am still firmer in my devotion to them. I return to you a messenger who has not been able to execute his trust. If you had sent in November as Representatives to Congress two good' Democrats,' as they are called, not the slightest breath from that House would have impeded their admission; but you dared to send men of your independent choice without consulting the presiding powers at the Capitol, and on that account are defrauded of the treasure of all others most dear to an American citizen. This is the real cause why my colleague and myself failed in our errand. The proud position which we held as defenders of your constitutional rights impelled us to the performance of our task with unbounded zeal; if there was any deficiency in maintaining those rights, want of ability, not of perseverance, was the cause. I, for my part, have done all I could do to urge the sanctity of your claims. It is for you now to act, and send me to act for you. The contest is yours, not mine. I have no personal interest

in it. The preservation of your rights inviolate and the support of your constitution and laws give me a stand elevated far above any private selfish motive. For them I would shed the last drop of my blood. I only regret that when the attempt was made to fasten dishonor on your name the Senators who represented you in the other wing of the Capitol did not at once show their indignation at the act and return home also.

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But it was said at Washington that if a new election were to be held Messrs. Gohlson and Claiborne would receive a majority of five thousand votes. This I found to be the opinion which one of your Senators entertained and had circulated. It may be his opinion, but this is surely a curious way to decide a great constitutional question; and yet, strange as it may appear, it was not without its influence. Rely upon it, chains have been forged for you at Washington City, and it is expected that you will put them on. Mississippi is still free, but she is called on to do the work of her own degradation. Will her proud spirit brook it?

"I deny that the coming election is valid. It cannot be under your constitution; and although a sense of honor forbids me to resign, I solemnly declare to you that if I am sent back I will consent to be sworn in only under the November certificate. I will not take my seat under any other election than that which is held in accordance with your constitution and laws. Your sacred rights can be preserved inviolate under no other election than that of November. If it be not your wish to maintain the sanctity of those rights and give renewed evidence of the high importance with which you deem them invested, then will I assuredly retire. Against the expressed will of the majority never will I urge my claims. If there be any among you willing tamely to submit to this humiliating deprivation of your elective franchise, or who think my colleague and myself were not constitutionally elected in November, I do not ask their

votes.

"I reiterate, then, let every one that believes that Messrs. Claiborne and Gohlson were constitutionally elected to the Twenty-fifth Congress in July last sustain them now; but if you, on the contrary, believe that in November last my colleague and myself were constitutionally elected the Representatives of the State,-the whole State, and not of a party,—you cannot now consistently refrain from sustaining us. If the people once elect an officer, all party considerations should be instantly lost sight of, and it becomes the duty of every citizen to acknowledge and defend him as such. It matters not whether that officer be an administration man, Whig, national bank, State bank, or sub-treasury advocate, all are alike bound to maintain his rights. Though our State governor be hostile to our political views, yet, should some foreign power attempt to wrest from him those rights which pertain to his office, how soon would all parties rally to the rescue! I did not vote for him, but it is sufficient for me to know that the popular voice has made him governor.

"In this contest, I repeat it, I have no personal interest more than any

other citizen. Did I not believe that the people themselves would sustain me in the high and arduous contest for their rights and privileges, in which a sense of duty to them and their honor alone prompts me to continue, I would at once have resigned; for, so far as I have hitherto trodden the political path, I assure you experience has left me no desire to continue therein. My green ambition is fully satisfied; a political life has no allurements for me. I always understood that constitutions were intended to guard against majorities and restrain lawless acts, as embankments and levees are erected to prevent overflows of rising streams. Constitutional principles can I alone look to. If the people do not think I was constitutionally elected in November, well, so let it be; but let us not submit to have our Constitution trampled under foot. This is the first instance in our history of legislative tyranny, and if we bow our knees to it we only pave the way for a second violation.

"I fear, fellow-citizens, the fundamental principles of our Constitution are fast passing away. That Constitution is like the splendid edifices of some noble city, which looks as if it would bid defiance to the ravages of time; but there are catacombs beneath it which are gradually undermining its strength and may soon engulf it in their caverns. Do we not every day see men lured away from some great principle to support a little party vote? Will you submit to have your representation played shuttlecock with, and bow to the errors of that arbitrary monarch, the House of Representatives?

"The grand principles of our Constitution appear to us exalted beyond all contingencies, all innovations; but in this we do not repose on a wholesome security. The first instance we are called upon to assert the inviolability of these principles will prove to us the extent of secret plotting which has been working their decay. We shall find ourselves in the situation of a well-trained band of soldiers, who, supposing themselves beyond the reach of danger, are attacked by midnight marauders and are thrown into such confusion that they lose the benefit of their discipline and fall a ready prey to destruction.

"The sacred right of representation is the most valuable we possess. If robbed of it nothing can compensate us. You may gather all the principles which enter into the constitution of our government, make a clustering wreath of them, and what would the whole be worth compared to the countless blessings of representation? Reflect well on your position. No government has the right to surrender vital principles, and in this respect individuals and governments resemble each other. These principles are ours in trust, not to exchange or barter at will. If they were intended merely for the present generation, then indeed we might surrender them with less dishonor; but they are sacred rights, vested in as many generations as we can imagine, and which we ought not to surrender, even at the point of the bayonet. The framers of the great Constitution looked down the stream of time and saw a thousand generations sitting upon its banks,

all waiting for the rich legacy to be wafted to them, to use but not to abuse it and then waft it on to others.

"When looking into futurity, fellow-citizens. I contemplate the rising and rapidly developing glories of Mississippi, and behold the proud destiny opening before her. She seems like a rich bride reclining on the arms of the majestic Father of Waters, and among her sister States the most beautiful of them all. But her honor is at stake. If a young man commit some dishonorable action and tarnish his fair fame, no future years of amendment, however well spent, can efface the stain. As time rolls onward it may become dimmer and dimmer, but the finger of envy or the tongue of scandal will never permit it to be lost in oblivion. This State is now in the position of that young man. Let her look calmly on and see her dearest rights torn from her without a murmur or a blow struck for her deliverance,―let her slavishly submit to her oppressor's mandate, and an indelible stain will remain upon her to the latest generation. Let not party spirit recklessly affix this stigma upon her escutcheon, but let us all, in the united and invincible strength of freemen, rally to the support of the Constitution. "I deprecate all excitement not belonging to the true question before the people. But I regret to see that one of the late members has not the same feelings. Having given up all other subjects, he has taken to abolitionism, and seems to wish this great constitutional question decided as abolition or no abolition. It is true he does not charge me or any other individual with abolition doctrines, but what is the fair inference to be drawn from this parade of his anti-abolition principles in a question where there is not a shadow of excuse for introducing them? I deprecate with the utmost regret this attempt to throw fire-brands around us.

"And now, in conclusion, I thank the fair portion of my hearers for the attention they have paid to the discussion of the important principles brought forward in this address. Upon the maintenance of these principles, so dearly prized by every lover of our civil institutions, their happiness and interest depend. Yes, I appeal to them also, and am confident they would see those most dear to them-their husbands, sons, brothers, and their sweethearts-exposed to all the hazards of war rather than that, through inertness or want of a spirit of patriotism, they should shrink from a fearless and manful support of the Constitution."

The above can give but a faint idea of the speech itself. Mr. Black, the editor of the Natchez Courier, says of it, "The high expectations of all were more than fully realized. For nearly two hours did the orator excite the fixed attention of his auditory. Description is inadequate to give a proper idea of his powers and of the sway he exercises over the minds of his hearers." I have often heard others who were among the audience speak in raptures about the speech. Whigs and Dem

ocrats were alike enthused. The speech embodied the main warp of the theme, into which he threw the woof of his splendid diction in this second campaign.

When Prentiss returned home to Vicksburg he wrote to his sister, telling, in his modest way, how he had been received at his first Mississippi home, and how he had been honored by the presence of the ladies.

After his speech in Natchez he set out on a second pilgrimage for the eastern and northern counties. This must have been a wearisome canvass, for it is always irksome to repeat a twice-told tale, but Prentiss was nerved in the contest by the reflection that a great principle was at stake. He had won his election fairly and honestly, after a hard contest. This had been wrested from him by party tyranny, therefore now it was the State and not he who was the party most deeply interested.

A tradition verbally handed down in Hinds County during the last forty years was, a few months since, crystallized in the columns of the Hinds County Gazette, and will give some idea of the varieties of the second crusade. I shall condense and give only the substance.

Prentiss had made his opening speech at Raymond to an immense meeting. His brilliant thoughts, irresistible appeals, powerful reasoning, and fund of humor carried everything by storm. He captured the whole meeting, and from that day until the Whig party went down in gloom and dismay before the secession billows of 1861, Hinds was immovably a Whig county.

After his splendid victory in Raymond the people, regarding him more as a creature sent from above than a mortal man, were anxious to take him everywhere, that every one should hear his "eloquent and burning words." After telling how all were Democrats when they came to hear him and Whigs when they left, they arranged that two weeks from the following Saturday he should penetrate to "Sutchelou's Mills" and speak there. When the appointed time arrived and he was preparing at Vicksburg for his drive of twenty-five miles to "Sutchelou's,' he was told that it would be perfectly useless for him to go, for to a unit they were all Democrats in that neighborhood. But