He then proceeded to state the facts connected with the creation of the bonds in a most clear and able manner, to show that the plainest provisions of the state constitution had been deliberately and wilfully violated. That the bonds, having no legal existence, are not a debt against the state, and that the Legislature, if it had the will, has no power to levy taxes for the payment of those bonds.

The administration of Governor Brown will be long remembered in Mississippi as one of the most fortunate which that state has ever had. With his first election ceased the " Union Bank bond" controversy, and he was left without hindrance to look after the other long-neglected and suffering interests of the state. He found the treasury bankrupt, and the officers and servants of the state paid in a kind of paper, known as auditor's warrants," then at a depreciation of fifty to fifty-five cents on the dollar. He set himself earnestly at work to revive the drooping credit of the state, and had the satisfaction, at the end of two years, to see "auditor's warrants" at par with gold and silver; and, at the close of his second term, to leave a surplus of several hundred thousand dollars in the treasury.

Governor Brown zealously advocated the cause of education. His messages, and other papers, are interspersed with reflections, suggestions, and earnest appeals on this interesting subject. Several schools grew up under his auspices. The common school system was adopted on his earnest and repeated recommendations; but so shorn of its best proportions by the legislature as to be a mere caricature of the system recommended by him. He entered earnestly and zealously upon the task of establishing the State University. Under his direction the funds were secured, and by his advice the institution was put into operation. In every matter relating to the local interests or the honor of Mississippi, Governor Brown was a faithful guardian. So well satisfied were the people of this, and indeed with his whole administration, that at the end of his first term all opposition had ceased, and no one was found to enter the list against him for another election. His second term, like the first, was marked by an unceasing care for the local interests of the state which he governed. The feature in his administration, which distinguished it perhaps as much as any other, was its constant fidelity to the payment of the « Planters' Bank bonds." In his first inaugural speech, after disposing of the Union Bank bond question, he continues:

"Wherever there exists a debt against the state, contracted in good faith and with a proper regard to the constitution, it must be discharged to the last mill. Of this character do I regard the bonds issued on account of the Planters' Bank; and come what may, the state can never shrink from the payment of them. Let prompt and efficient action be taken for their settlement. A speedy liquidation of them will afford what every good citizen is anxious to see-a fitting opportunity to manifest to the world that, in rejecting the Union Bank bonds, we are actuated by no mean or sordid principles of dollars and cents, but by a more elevated impulse—that of adhering faithfully to our written constitution."

And in his message to the Legislature, he reviewed the whole subject of these bonds, showing, that as they legally existed, the state would never, for an instant, falter in the payment, and advised by all means heir prompt discharge.

And again, in 1848, in alluding to the same subject, he remarked :

"In estimating the indebtedness of the state, the bonds issued on account of the 'lanters' Bank have been included. My last general message conveyed to the Legisture and the country my views as regards the state's liability to pay these bonds. 'hese opinions have undergone no material change, but a reiteration of them is uncalled for, and would be unprofitable at this time. Having long since settled in my own mind that the state is bound, by every obligation that the constitution and the laws can impose, to pay the debt, it has only remained to devise some means acceptable to the people, and not too oppressive, by which it could be done. The whole subject has been calmly considered; and however it may be regarded by others, there is, to my mind, but one course to be pursued worthy the character of a great and growing state, and that is to raise the money by taxation, and discharge the debt as rapidly as possible. That course is respectfully but earnestly recommended.

Governor Brown's second term being about to expire, he accepted a unanimous nomination to run for Congress, in the 4th Congressional District; and although it was known that his term as governor would not end until near the middle of January, and that he would not in consequence take his seat until the first two months of the session had passed, he was elected without opposition. He took his place in the House of Representatives in the latter part of January, 1849, in the midst of the excitement growing out of the discussions on the Mexican war. In the course of two or three weeks, he spoke in review of the conduct of the administration, and generally in defence of his own country. Speaking for himself and his constituents, he said:

"We believe the war to have been just and constitutional in its commencement; that it has been vigorously prosecuted thus far, for wise and proper ends; and that it should be so prosecuted until we have the amplest reparation for past wrongs, and the fullest security that our rights as a nation are to be respected in future. To this end, we are prepared to vote such number of troops, and such additional sums of money, as, in the judgment of the commander-in-chief, may be necessary to attain these objects."

In the course of a discussion on the President's proposition to tax tea and coffee, as a means of raising money to carry on the war, Governor Brown indulged in some severe but deserved criticisms on the conduct of the opposition, saying:

"When, sir, did these gentlemen first learn to sympathize with the poor man? Was it at a time when they were taxing cotton cloth, leather, iron, coal, and salt? Was it, sir, when they were levying protective duties on these articles, all of which enter into the poor man's consumption? The gentleman from Vermont [Mr. Marsh1 pours out the fulness of his sympathetic heart over the poor man's tax on tea and coffee, and then be bewails the downfall of protection. You, sir, sympathize with the

poor man's tax! you who would tax all the necessaries cf life to give protection to some overgrown manufacturer! Strange and incomprehensible logic, that we must tax the poor man's hat, his shoes, his shirt, his plough, his axe-everything, in short, which he consumes, for the benefit of the manufacturer! but your sympathetic hearts will not allow you tax his tea and coffee to support your government in time of war. You would send him shoeless, hatless, and shirtless, to cultivate his ground without implements, unless he pays tribute to the manufacturers; only give him tea that is not taxed, and you are satisfied. You would lay his diseased body on a pallet that is taxed; give him taxed medicine from a spoon that is taxed; you give him untaxed tea in a cup that is taxed; he dies, and you tax his winding sheet, and consign him to a grave that is dug with a spade that is taxed, and then insult his memory by saying that you gave him untaxed tea. Why, sir, if I thus outraged the poor man's common sense during life, insulted him in his last moments, and whined a hypocritical sympathy over his tomb when dead, I should expect his ghost to rise up in judgment against me.

"Other gentlemen may do as they please for me and my people, we go for our country. We write on our banner, ‘millions for defence, but not one cent for tribute.' Tax our property, tax our supplies-ay, tax us millions on millions for the defence of our country's flag and our country's honor, and we will pay it; but if you ask us to pay one cent of tribute to your lordly manufacturers, we rise up in rebellion against you. Take our property for the defence of our national honor, but do not plunder us to make a rich man more rich."

At all times, and under all circumstances, Governor Brown has proven himself the steadfast friend of the toiling millions, opposing whatever tended to retard their prosperity, and advocating with energy every measure which promised to advance them intellectually or otherwise. In a debate on the subject of the public lands in the House, he said :—

"I am for disposing of the public lands freely. To the soldier who fights the battles of his country I would give a home, nor would I restrict him to very narrow limits. To every man who has no home, I would give one, and, so long as he and his descendants choose to occupy it, they should hold it against the world, without charge of any kind. The government owns more than nine hundred millions of acres of land, and yet thousands of her citizens, and some of them her bravest and best soldiers, are without homes. The dependence of the government and people should be mutual. If government relies on the people for defence in time of war-if she expects them to fight her battles and win 'empires' for her, the people should expect in return to be provided with homes; this reasonable expectation ought never to be disappointed.

"I have no objection to the government selling lands to those who are able to pay for it, at a moderate price; but I protest my disapprobation of national land-jobbing. The nation degrades her character when she comes down to the low occupation of exacting the hard-earned dollars of a poor citizen for a bit of land, purchased, it may have been, with the blood of that citizen's ancestors. To my mind, there is a national nobility in a republic's looking to the comfort, convenience, and happiness of its people; there is a national meanness in a republic selling a poor man's home to his rich neighbor, because that neighbor can pay a better price for it."

This and many similar extracts might be adduced to show his constant care for the interests of the masses and the great body of the people. But his whole life, public and private, attests his attachment to the laboring man, and his ceaseless care for his prosperity and happi

ness. The writer once heard him asked, how it was that success had so constantly attended him. He replied, "I never forgot that I was one of the people." Ah! there is the secret-he never forgot that he was one of the people. As the man of all work on his father's farm, as the "mill boy," he was one of the people-as a member of the Legislature and of Congress, he was one of the people. Electing him judge did not change his character; and as governor, he was still one of the people. Faithful to all his pledges, frank in the expression of his opinion, open and decided in his course, tolerant towards his opponents, and cordial towards his friends, it is not surprising that he has been the idol of his state.

Governor Brown was re-elected to the 32d Congress. During this term the exciting questions of the admission of California, and that of territorial governments for the other territory acquired by the Mexican war, engaged the consideration of Congress, and led to the enactment of the compromise measures of 1850. Governor Brown occupied a prominent place among the debaters in the House during that portentous time, and was decisive in his opposition to the admission of California.. He voted against it, and all of those measures, except the fugitive slave law.

Though Governor Brown desired to return to private life at the end of the 32d Congress, the condition of parties in Mississippi,.growing. out of the excitement which followed the enactment of the compromisd measures of 1850, in which his representative action on those measutos was involved, induced him to again become a candidate. He warmly espoused in his canvass the cause of the States Rights Democracy, and. was the only member of the delegation in the House re-elected in: the ensuing election. All the rest were candidates, but were defeated by what were then called Union Men. In the Mississippi state convention of that year, nearly every States Rights delegate in the body came from some portion of his district. This affords some idea of how deeply. that cardinal doctrine of American politics is impressed upon his people,

During the 33d Congress, Governor Brown's career in the House. was marked by that same argus scrutiny of the measures before that body, which had characterized his previous incumbency. A reference to his speeches, embraced in this volume, made during that Congress, will exhibit his strict concern with reference to everything affecting the public interests.

At the end of the 33d Congress, Governor Brown retired to private life, to resume the cares and duties of his profession. But the people called him immediately back to the public service.

At the session of the Mississippi Legislature of that year, he was elected United States Senator, to fill a vacancy which existed on. account of the failure of the previous Legislature to elect a successor to Walker Brooke, whose term had expired.

Governor Brown took his seat in the Senate on the 26th of January, 1854. His experience as a legislator, and familiarity with public affairs, acquired by his incumbency previously of high public stations, at once enabled him to become a leading member of the Senate, and to rank amongst its most attentive business members, as well as ablest debaters.

His speeches in this volume, delivered since he has been in the Senate, like all of his efforts, are characterized by that cogency, strength, and all of the other attributes which mark the perfect debater. He has just concluded his first term in the Senate, and is beginning a new one of six years, for which he has been chosen by the Legislature of his

state.

As a Senator, Governor Brown has been eminently national in his course. If to the casual observer he has sometimes appeared a little sectional, it must be borne in mind that he comes from the South, a section against which abolition has directed its batteries-and that it was his duty, as it was his pleasure, to defend that section. His senatorial course is too recent and too fresh in the recollection of the country to need sketching, and we close this brief notice by directing the reader's attention to his speeches in the Senate, as embodied in the last half of this volume.

2