Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1850-03-14
Mr.. Calhoun's Speech.

In oar last. we gave slight abstract of the
through the agency of Mr.. Mason of Virginia,
on the 4th inst. The views ofthis distinguish
ed statesman, however ultra. always command
attention, but unusual interest was mani tested
on this last occasion, from the peculiar circum-
stances of the country and the condition of the
author. Mr.. C. was present, in the Senate,
during the reading of the speech, which was
listened to with profound attention. The lead
ing ideas can be briefly stated.
lie reiterates. in commencing, his oft-rc-
peated charge that Southern discomfort can all
be traced to the aggressions of the North
which, he says. have destroyed the equilibri-
UNI between the North and South. SO that the
former has predominancs in every depart
ment of government, and holds the latter COM
plctely at its mercy. By excluding the South
from the territories of the Union, by an une.
quail system of taxation, and by changing the
original character of the government from that
of a Federal republic to that of q consolidated
democracy, the North. he argues, has become
onnipotent in the Union by the tyrannical
force of a mere majority. This state of things,
he adds, might be endured possibly but for the
hostility of the North to the Southern insti
tuition Of slavery butwith this opposition ex-
isting and increasing, the South cannot, he
declares, remain in the Union without some
new assurances ofsafety. He demands for its
protection a change of the Constitution, which
Ill tl~- l.
free and slave states. What this change is,
which he contemplates, he leaves to the imagi-
nation, though he declares it is easy enough
TO devise it-but without it, he asserts, the
South must inevitably choose between aboli-
tion and secession. To save the Union, there
fore.he insists there is little use of highsound-
Ing eulogiums upon little virtue in the
plan of Mr.. Clay, and less in that of President
Taylor-but abundant power in the North if
she will exercise it. To save the Union, he
says three things are necessary, to wit-to give
the South equal rights in the CONG uered terri
tories-to check the slavery agitation in the
North and compel her to do her duty with re-
spect to the restoration of fugitive slaves-and
- insert new provision in the Constitution
winch will restore the lost equilibrium between
the North and the South. The responsibility
OF saving the Union rests in his Judgment with
'ae North. The South has no connrom;s. =.
says, to offsr-no surrender whatever - r,...
because it only demands simple Justice and h.
constitutional rights. If the North canno.
agree to these, he asks that the South NAV
know it. and be allowed to depart in peace. 7,
the North remains silent. California, he saw,
will be the test question. If she is admitted
according to his doctrine, the slave section
cannot help inferring thai it is to be forever
excluded from the new territories, and to L.
reduced. thus. to powerless minority in the
scale of the Union-and in that event, il mu,t
act accordingly.
With respect to California. he denies the
right of settling there to form State without
the previous assent of Congress, and insists
that there is no precedent in the history of our
government to justify their conduct. Had
they been mere Adventures and conquered the
territory Of themselves, the sovereignty of it