WRITINGS OF SAl\'I HOUSTON, 1849
81
convulsions.-The history of this conspiracy to force the well- affected portions of the Union, to buy peace and the safety of our happy institutions by bringing Mr. Calhoun to the haven of his ambition, and make him the arbiter of the question on which he had phrenzied the hot heads of the south by incessant agita- tion, is well understood. He was disappointed in this first hope, and then he resorted to his alternative, "the peaceful 1·emedy"- the subversion of the laws of the General Government in South Carolina. The train-bands were prepared-the Commander-in- Chief, filled with valor and surrounded with well-instructed lieutenants, was ready to take the field. The ordinance of nullifi- cation was passed. Treason acts and test oaths, with capital punishment for all who adhered to their allegiance to the Union, were made the sanction of the annulling decree against the Con- federacy. President Jackson's proclamation, the collection bill giving him new powers to enforce the laws of the General Govern- ment, the ominous destination of an extraordinary force of ships of war, for the harbor of Charleston, with a view to the payment of the customs, together with certain whispers uttered by a very earnest old gentleman, that he might retaliate the pains and penalties of treason upon those who had provided them for the citizens faithful to the Union, brought Mr. Calhoun, and his array, first to a stand, then a retreat, and finally to an alliance with the quondam friends with whom he had acted in imposing the first tariff yoke upon the south. To these he surrendered him- self and his nullification scheme, and, in consideration of a gracious reception, the capitulation, (or compromise, as he termed it) gave the Northern capitalists a renewed nine years lease on the plantations of the south, to fill their coffers and enable them to renew the contest at the end of the term with accumulated power. Mr. Clay, at the moment, announced in his presence, to complete his shame, that but for this concession and compromise on the part of Mr. Calhoun, the protective system was no more; that it would be annulled at the very next session of Congress- a majority of members having been returned to carry into effect the President's recommendation to cut it down at once to the 1·evenue standard. Now, what claim does Mr. Calhoun's tariff machinations, which make up so great a portion of his public career, give him to the confidence of the South? He sacrificed her interests and her honor
Powered by FlippingBook