William Carey Crane

“ By voting for men, as electors, who are pledged to principle, and not to this or that individual, the design of the Constitution will be answered. It is certainly as safe for the country to rely on the discretion and judgment of electors, acting under the responsibility of a Constitutional obligation, as it is to rely on the members of a Convention to nominate a candidate, and, therefore, I am willing to rely on the honesty and discretion of the electors, if any should be elected on the Union ticket, so to act and vote, if they can, to defeat Lincoln. ”

“ Orr, and others, concede that he stands no chance of election. If a Union ticket is supported North and South, it can be elected, I think, and let the electors only be pledged to cast their votes for the strongest man against Lincoln, and in this way he may be defeated, otherwise I think Lincoln will be elected by the electoral colleges. By voting for a Union ticket it will not exclude Mr. Breckinridge if he stands on the Union principle, and, if he does not, no one ought to vote for him, or any other man who can not stand there. ”

“ A controversy appeared in the news journals of May, 1860, between Governor Houston and the Comptroller of the State, Hon. Clement R. Johns. The points in debate do not seem to have been any charges of peculation, fraud, or corruption, but wholly involve the question of executing a law, and supervising and attending to its execution.
But the exciting scenes of the Presidential election of 1860 absorbed public attention. [3] Governor Houston addressed letters to the Governors of the other Southern States, proposing some concerted action ”