Duncan was one of the best business-men in the Union. From very
small beginnings he had amassed an immense fortune--was a man of rare
sagacity and wonderful energy. He was the cousin of Walker, but was
always opposed to him in politics. This was the commencement of the era
which culminated in the repudiation of the State's obligations and the
general ruin of her people. It was about this period that Jefferson
Davis first made his _debut_ as a public man in the State, with William
M. Gwinn, and Henry S. Foote, McNutt, J.F.H. Claiborne, and Albert
Gallatin Brown. Quitman was made chancellor of the State, and
disappointed sadly his friends. His administration of this branch of
the judiciary was weak and wild; a vast number of his decisions, or
awards in chancery, were overruled, and, in disgust, or from a
consciousness that a chancery judgeship was not his speciality,
resigned. His mind was greatly overrated: it was neither strong,
logical, nor brilliant. His classical attainments were of the first
order, and I doubt if the Union furnished two better or more finished
linguists than John A.
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