"I said to my constituents, and to the people of the capital of my State, on my way here, if such an event did occur," [_i.e._, the election of a Republican President, upon a Republican platform], "while it would be their duty to determine the course which the State would pursue, it would be my privilege to counsel with them as to what I believed to be the proper course; and I said to them, what I say now, and what I will always say in such an event, that my counsel would be to take independence out of the Union in preference to the loss of constitutional rights, and consequent degradation and dishonor, in it. That is my position, and it is the position which I know the Democratic party of the State of Mississippi will maintain."--_Gov. McRae, of Mississippi._ "It is useless to attempt to conceal the fact that, in the present temper of the Southern people, it" [_i.e._, the election of a Republican President] "cannot be, and will not be, submitted to. The 'irrepressible conflict' doctrine, announced and advocated by the ablest and most distinguished leader of the Republican party, is an open declaration of war against the institution of slavery, wherever it exists; and I would be disloyal to Virginia and the South, if I did not declare that the election of such a man, entertaining such sentiment, and advocating such doctrines, _ought to be resisted by the slaveholding States_. The idea of permitting such a man to have the control and direction of the army and navy of the United States, and the appointment of high judicial and executive officers, POSTMASTERS INCLUDED, _cannot_ be entertained by the South for a moment."--_Gov. Letcher, of Virginia_. "Slavery _must_ be maintained--in the Union, if possible; out of it, if necessary: peaceably if we may; forcibly if we must."--_Senator Iverson, of Georgia_.