once for friendship's, once for duty's sake.* "I will not sacrifice the shadow of a principle for its possession; and never, never

* "During the second term of Mr. Monroe's administration, the names of six candidates were presented to the people of the United States for the Presidential office—Mr. Adams, Mr. Crawford, General Jackson, Mr. Clay, Mr. Lowndes, and Mr. Calhoun. The names of the two latter had been brought forward, the former by South Carolina, and the latter by Pennsyl vania, and both nearly at the same time, without its being known to either that it was intended. They were warm and intimate friends, and had been so almost from their first acquaintance. They had both entered Congress at the same time, and had rarely ever differed in opinion on any political subject. Mr. Lowndes was a few years the oldest, and the first nominated. Mr. Calhoun's nomination followed almost immediately after. As soon as he heard of it, he called on Mr. L. and stated that it had been made with. out his knowledge or solicitation, and that he called to say that he hoped the position in which they had been placed by their friends towards each other would not affect their private and friendly relations. That he would regard it as a great misfortune should such be the effect, and was determined on his part to do everything to avoid it. Mr. Lowndes heartily reciprocated the same sentiment. It is unnecessary to state that they faithfully adhered to their resolutions; and these two distinguished citizens of the same state, and nearly of the same age, set the noble and rare example of being placed by friends as rivals for the highest office in the gift of a great people, without permitting their mutual esteem and friendship to be impaired."

"In the progress of the canvass the talented and lamented Lowndes died, in the prime of life, and Mr. Calhoun's friends in Pennsylvania, with his acquiescence, withdrew his name, rather than subject the state to a violent contest between them and the friends of General Jackson. They had main. tained throughout the canvass the most friendly relations, and were both decidedly opposed to the caucus. On his withdrawal, he was taken up by the friends both of General Jackson and Mr. Adams for the Vice-Presidency."

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"The Senate was so nearly equally divided at one time, a that it was believed that the friends of the administration would intentionally so arrange it as to make a tie, and throw the casting vote on the Vice-President, in order to defeat General Jackson's election. His friends became alarmed, and some of them intimated a desire that Mr. Calhoun should leave his seat to avoid the effect, stating, as an inducement, that, in the event of a tie, the bill would be defeated without his vote. He promptly refused, and replied that no consideration could prevent him from remaining and doing his duty by voting against it; but added, it should not hurt General Jackson's election, for in that event his name should be withdrawn from the ticket as Vice-President. Such was the interest he took in his success, and so strong, and, at the same time, so patriotic, was his opposition to the bill of abominations; and yet many have been so unjust as to attribute his after opposition to the bill to disappointed ambition. On the contrary, he was ready to sacrifice every ob. ject of ambition, at a time when not a cloud darkened his prospects, to defeat a measure he believed to be so fraught with mischief. He was then the second officer in the Government, and stood, without opposition, for re-election to the same place, on the ticket of General Jackson, whose success was then certain; nor was there any other man in the party of equal prominence and

Upon the Tariff of 1828.

will I be nominated by a Caucus."* And the smile of bitterest scorn was revealed on the reproachful lip of the noble South Carolinian.

Never was a man so adored as Calhoun by his State. "South Carolina alone stood by me." "She is my dear and honoured State." "South Carolina has never mistrusted nor forsaken me.” "Mine she faithfully has ever been.” And as he hung upon her memory and her devotion, her Statesman evinced the tenderness and pride with which a lover dwells upon the constancy of his mistress. His breath came quick and short, his proud head was flung back, and his voice was subdued by emotion.

At this moment he is the most powerful man in the Union, and holds the most commanding and dignified position, from the success of the measures he has advocated, and the correctness with which his predictions have been verified ;—

Peace and Free Trade are achieved; and

Mexico is still unconquered; and

Calhoun is Lord of the Ascendant.

Such is this great citizen and Statesman. So exalted in genius, so excellent in virtue; I part from him now with sorrow, as I did before in Washington, when he twice returned to say— Farewell-before he left me; but well I know, that however distant from him and from his country, I shall ever hold fast my place in his memory and in his affections. His sentiments and character, as I trace them in his speeches, form a portion of my daily study.

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH ON THE RESTRICTIVE SYSTEM.

"The restrictive system," he said, “as a mode of resistance, or as a means of obtaining redress, has never been a favourite one with me. I wish not to censure the motives which dictated it, or attribute weakness to those who first resorted to it for a

popularity, except the General himself. Nothing was wanting on his part but to accommodate himself to the course of events, without regard to their effects on the country, to have attained the highest office, which lay within a single step from the place where he then stood. This he could not but plainly see; but his resisting temptation on this occasion is but one instance of self-sacrifice among many in a long life, the whole course of which abundantly proves that office, even the highest, has ever been with him subordinate to his sense of duty and the public welfare."

* A Caucus is a Convention assembled to nominate the candidates for the Presidency.

restoration of our rights. But, I object to the restrictive system because it does not suit the genius of the people, or that of our Government, or the geographical character of our country. We are a people essentially active; I may say we are pre-eminently So. No passive system can suit such a people; in action superior to all others, in patient endurance inferior to none. Nor does it suit the genius of our Government. Our Government is founded on freedom, and hates coercion. To make the restrictive system effective, requires the most arbitrary laws. England, with the severest penal statutes, has not been able to exclude prohibited articles; and Napoleon, with all his power and vigilance, was obliged to resort to the most barbarous laws to enforce his Continental system."

After showing how the whole mercantile community must become corrupt by the temptations and facilities for smuggling, and how the public opinion of the commercial community (upon which the system must depend for its enforcement), becomes opposed to it, and gives sanction to its violation, he proceeds

"But there are other objections to the system. It renders Government odious. The farmer inquires why he gets no more for his produce, and he is told it is owing to the embargo, or commercial restrictions. In this he sees only the hand of his own Government, and not the acts of violence and injustice which this system is intended to counteract. His censures fall on the Government. This is an unhappy state of the public mind; and even, I might say, in a Government resting essentially on public opinion, a dangerous one. In war it is different. Its privation, it is true, may be equal or greater; but the public mind, under the strong impulses of that state of things, becomes steeled against sufferings. The difference is almost infinite between the passive and active state of the mind. Tie down a hero, and he feels the puncture of a pin; throw him into battle, and he is almost insensible to vital gashes. So in war. Impelled alternately by hope. and fear, stimulated by revenge, depressed by shame, or elevated by victory, the people become invincible. No privation can shake their fortitude; no calamity break their spirit. Even when equally successful, the contrast between the two systems is striking. War and restriction may leave the country equally exhausted; but the latter not only leaves you poor, but, even when successful, dispirited, divided, discontented, with diminished patriotism, and the morals of a considerable portion of your people corrupted. Not so in war. In that state, the common danger unites all, strengthens the bonds of society, and feeds the flame of patriotism. The national character mounts to energy. In

exchange for the expenses and privations of war, you obtain military and naval skill, and a more perfect organization of such parts of your Administration as are connected with the science of national defence. Sir, are these advantages to be counted as trifles in the present state of the world? Can they be measured by moneyed valuation? I would prefer a single victory over the enemy, by sea or land, to all the good we shall ever derive from the continuation of the Non-importation Act. I know not that a victory would produce an equal pressure on the enemy; but I am certain of what is of greater consequence, it would be accompanied by more salutary effects on ourselves. The memory of Saratoga, Princeton, and Eutaw is immortal. It is there you will find the country's boast and pride—the inexhaustible source of great and heroic sentiments. But what will history say of restriction? What examples worthy of imitation will it furnish to posterity? What pride, what pleasure, will our children find in the events of such times? Let me not be considered romantic. This nation ought to be taught to rely on its courage, its fortitude, its skill and virtue, for protection. These are the only safeguards in the hour of danger. Man was endued with these great qualities for his defence. There is nothing about him that indicates that he is to conquer by endurance. He is not incrusted in a shell; he is not taught to rely upon his insensibility, his passive suffering, for defence. No, sir; it is on the invincible mind, on a magnanimous nature, he ought to rely. Here is the superiority of our kind; it is these that render man the lord of the world. It is the destiny of his condition that nations rise above nations, as they are endued in a greater degree with these brilliant qualities."

EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH AGAINST THE FORCE BILL.

Here I must pause for a moment to repel a charge which has been so often made, and which even the President* has reiterated in his proclamation; the charge that I have been actuated in the part which I have taken by feelings of disappointed ambition. I again repeat that I deeply regret the necessity of noticing myself in so important a discussion; and that nothing can induce me to advert to my own course but the conviction that it is due to the

* General Jackson.

cause at which a blow is aimed through me.

view that I notice it.

It is only in this

It ill became the Chief Magistrate to make this charge. The course which the State took, and which led to the present controversy between her and the General Government, was taken as far back as 1828, in the very midst of that severe canvass which placed him in power, and in that very canvass Carolina openly avowed and zealously maintained those very principles which he, the Chief Magistrate, now officially pronounces to be treason and rebellion. That was the period at which he ought to have spoken. Having remained silent then, and having, under his approval, implied by that silence, received the support and vote of the State, I, if a sense of decorum did not prevent it, might recriminate with the double charge of deception and ingratitude. My object, however, is not to assail the President, but to defend myself against a most unfounded charge. The time alone at which the course upon which this charge of disappointed ambition is founded, will of itself repel it, in the eye of every unprejudiced and honest man. The doctrine which I now sustain, under the present difficulties, I openly avowed and maintained immediately after the act of 1828; that "bill of abominations," as it has been so often and properly termed. Was I at that period disappointed in any views of ambition which I might be supposed to entertain? I was Vice-President of the United States, elected by an overwhelming majority. I was a candidate for re-election on the ticket with General Jackson himself, with a certain prospect of a triumphant success of that ticket, and with a fair prospect of the highest office to which an American citizen can aspire. What was my course under these prospects? Did I look to my own advancement, or to an honest and faithful discharge of my duty? Let facts speak for themselves. When the bill to which I have referred came from the other house to the Senate, the almost universal impression was, that its fate would depend upon my casting vote. It was known that, as the bill then stood, the Senate was nearly equally divided; and as it was a combined measure, originating with the politicians and manufacturers, and intended as much to bear upon the Presidential election as to protect manufactures, it was believed that, as a stroke of political policy, its fate would be made to depend on my vote, in order to defeat General Jackson's election, as well as my own. The friends of General Jackson were alarmed, and I was earnestly entreated to leave the chair in order to avoid the responsibility, under the plausible argument that, if the Senate should be equally divided, the bill would be