The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1850-03-13
MI. Calhonn,s snesch.

bic for US to give it at length, We have endeag.
ored to make just abstract of the principles it an
nounces and the plan he proposes. 1t will be seen
that he demands the rejection of the Constitution
Of California and the amendment Of the Federal
Constitution. No man who understands the spirit
of the people of the United States can expect the
last. We think he yields too much when he adj
mits the weakness Of the South and the necessity
for additional constitutional guarantees. He does
not inform his hearers what is this amendment He
certainly should not keep il secret. 1t is rumored
that his plan is the election Of two Presidents who
are to take turns of acting in the ofIice This,
however, we are unwilling to believe If it be
any such plan, Mr.. Calhoun will deserve 10 rank
with Locke and his famous model Constitution.
There will be no amendment to the Constitution,
and there will be no secession from the Union.
Mr. Calhoun first spoke of the excited state Of
public feeling. The Union was in danger, and it
was necessary TO remove that danger; this could
be done only by examination of the causes which
had created this feeling of discontenL The first
question is, What he's endangered the Union %
To this question there can be but one that
the immedafs is the almost universal discon-
tent which pervades all the States composing the
Southern section of the Union. The next question
is, "What has caused this widely diffnsed and
almost universal discontent!" is not produced by
politicians and demagogues. 1t will be found in
the belief of the people Of the Southern States as
prevalent the discomfort ITSELF that they cannot
remain, as things now are, consistently with honor
and safety, in the UHion. The next question to be
considered is, What HIS caused this belief The
agitation of the slavery question by the North
and that the equilibrium between the two sections
as it existed at the establishment of the ConsiI-
ton, has been destroyed.
He went into an examination of the relative
population of the free and slave States in 1880 and
in 1910. At the first psriod the free States had
,977, 500, the South 1856, 072, making difference
in favor Of the North Of only %, 1877 In $780, the
North had 972S, 920, the South 1884, 437, making
a difference of 2,4OO,CO0. The North has major.
ty in the House Of fifty, and in the Electoral Col
ege of filty-two. He treats Delaware as neutral,
but inclinng TO the North, The census of this
year will widen the distance, and increase the
strength Of the North. This has not been the
effect of time only, but is attributable, in great
degree, TO the action of the government The first
is the ordinance of 1887, which has excluded South
ern institutions from the States of the North west
The next is the Missouri Compromise then the
law organizing the Territory of Oregon. BY these
acts the South is excluded from 1913, S02 SQUARE
miles. Should the North succeed in excluding
slavery from the territories acquired from Mexico,
the entire soil thus wlested from the South will be
!, 764 ,023 square miles.
The next great source Of complaint is the Tariff
He will not at this time undertake TO show that the
South pays the larger part Of the revenues, be-
cause he deems it unnecessary, as the subject has
been so fully discussed before. Nor will he speak
Of the much larger amount appropriated to the
North than TO the South. He thinks that the
amount paid by the South 10 the North in the way
of protection will be found TO exceed hundreds of
millions.
He then speaks of the tendency of the Govern
ment to consolidation, and says that in fact it has
ceased TO be confederation of Republics, and is
now great National Consolidated Democracy
The result of the whole of these causes com.
bned is, that the North has acquired decided
ascendancy over every department of this Govern.
ment, and through it control over all the powers
of the system. single section governed by the
will of the numerical majority, has now, in fact,
the control of the Government and the entire pow
ers of the system. WHAT was once a constitutional
federal Republic, is now converted, in reality into
one as absolute that of the AutoeIat Of Russia,
and as despotic in its tendency as any absolute
government that ever existed''
He then traces the history of the abolition move
ments from 1885 10 the present time He explains
fairly the course pursued by both of the great po-
litica parties in regard to the quesiion-that each
bias cringed to it from fear of the other The great
error was in the reception of petitions in regard
to subject over which Congress had no iuris-
dictiOn. The reception of the petitions gave rise
and Al IL,
lation of the North is in hostile position to the
institutions of the South.
1t is great mistake 10 suppos- HAT disupion can
be effected by single blow The cords which
bound these States together ia one common Union
are lar too numerous and powerful for that. Dis
union must be the work of time. Ii is only through
long process, and in succession, that the cords can
be snapped, until the whole fabric falls asunder
Already the agitation of the slavery question has
snapped some of the most important and has greatly
weakened all the others, shall proceed to show.
The cords that bind these States together are not
only many, but various in character. Some are
spiritual or eccesia slica; some political; others
'ocial Some apr eriain to the benefit conferred by
he Union, and others to the feeling of duty and |
obligation"
The first cord snapped is that Of the Methodist |
Episcopal Church. The Baptisis have separated |
he Presbyterlans in great measure. The Episco
al Church is the only one left entire. The tie of
'arIy, too, has been broken, aud the old and well
nown political distinctions lost in those of sec.
ional differences.
Such is the danger. The question reeurs-How
;an the Union be saved Not by pronouneing
,ulogiums on the Union, however eloquent 1t
must be done by adopting such measures as will
ialsiy the Southern States that they can remain in
The Union with safety. lie spoke of the violations
Of the Constitution by the passage of acts by the
States hindering the surrender of fugitive slaves,
and by permitting the public agitation of the aholi
lion question.
lie said there WIS nothing ia the memory Of
Washington TO deter them from secession, if il be-
came necessary On the contrary, there was much
n his example 10 sustain them
He declined to examine the proposition of Mr..
Iay, not from want of resi- sct to him, but because
! had already been answered by other Senator'S
lie spoke of the plan Of the Administ alton as worse
han the Wiimot proviso that was a bold, open,
nequivocal avowal of the right to exclude
laveTy from the territories by law of Congress
The Administration denied the right of Con.
ress TO legislate the subject, but in Of.
sct admitted it, by the EeI mission TO all TO move
lto the Territory from the free States, but pro-
hitting persons from the South by the fear of losing
heir slaves There is no difference between it and
he Wilmot Proyiso, except in the mode of eiieclng
he object and in that resi- ect must say that the
litter is much the least Objectionable II goes 10 its
beet openly, boldly, and distinctly. II claims for
congress- unlimitad nots,ar ovar he