(From the
Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Letter Book of Governor Brown.)
Warrenton Mi.
Sir
I have the honor to
enclose you a commission as U. States Senator to fill a vacancy occasioned by
the death of the late General Speight.1 The people have experienced
deep and sincere regret in the mournful event, which deprived them of a
faithful friend and long tried public servant. In this feeling I have
participated to the fullest extent. The event has given us all an opportunity
which we embrace with melancholy pleasure of testifying our high appreciation
of your valuable services as a member of the twenty-ninth Congress, and your
more valuable and distinguished services at the head of the 1st Miss. Regt in
Mexico. The people will never cease to remember with pride and gratitude that
to you, Sir, and the brave Mississippians under your command, is our State
indebted for honors as imperishable as the soil on which you won them; honors,
which shall last as long as chivalry is respected or valor has a place in the
hearts of men. They expect me to offer you this commission, and it gives me
sincere personal pleasure to gratify that expectation. It is the tribute which
a grateful people speaking through their representative pays to heroic deeds of
disinterested patriotism. In returning to the arena of politics you may have it
in your power to counsel your Government in regard to a people whom you have
aided in conquering whose weaknesses & follies you have learned to
appreciate from personal observation, and to whom I am sure you are willing to
give an honorable peace whenever they and their rulers shall have the good
sense to accept it.
1 Jesse Speight, 1795-1847. Born in Greene
County, N. C. Congressman from that State. U. S. Senator from Mississippi Dec.
1, 1845 to May 1, 1847, the date of his death.
SOURCE: Dunbar
Rowland, Editor, Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers
and Speeches, Volume 1, pp. 92-3
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