Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-10-02
Eur. Calhoun and Separate State Action.

Eur. Calhoun and Separate State Action.
From the commencement of the division Of
the Resistance men Of the State into two par
ties, the co-operationists have assiduously
pressed into their service the revered name
and great authority of Mr.. Calhoun. The
great champion of State Rights aad State
Remedies; he whose vindication OF the sove-
reienty of the States was the characteristic
feature of the last twenty years Of his life-is
made, afte. his death, practically to adure oh
State RIGHTS but such as can be defended by
the combination Of one half the Contederacy:
Cam any one believe that he ever sanctioned
such use of his authority!
Let it be remembered, that up to the last
day of his appearance in the Senate, ana con-
seauently up to the last Of his public deelara-
tions, Mr.. Calhoun had not G iven up all hope
of preserving the Union on terms honorable
to the South But it was alone by the serrl-
ed union her representatives that this could
be done, and for this he labored with all the
strength that disease had left him. 1t was
on this last day of his public appearance that
the detection of some of the Southern States
became manifest, and henceforth, till his death,
his hopes of settlement of the controversy
short of Disunion, became more ana more
faint. He died in the belief that such SET
tlement was nearly impossible.
But the issue so far had been merely one OF
debate, not of actual legislation. NO one OF
that batch of quackery and mischief, known
as the Compromise bills, had yet seen the
light, except in the crude form OF projects.
The causes of resistance, whether by the
whole South, or by the separate States, were
only in prospect, and not in actual being
The great work with him, and with all true
Southern men, was to unite the South in re-
sisting these foul projects of aggression. No
one questioned then, and no one doubts now,
that Southern cooperation at Washington
was absolutely essential to secure this object.
There is another view not less important
to the true comprehension of Mr.. Caihouns
position. All attempts to arrest the aaggres-
sions of Congress might fail from the mo-
ment he saw divisions among Southern men,
he contemplated the probability that they
would fail. But that did not bring up the
question of separate State action. 1t brought
ND the question of the fulflment Of their
pledges by nearly every Southern State
South Carolina was no deeper involved than
any other Virginia stood in the van OF the
resistance ranks The Legislature of Geor-
aia had provided for calling Convention in
the event of the enactment of the hostile mea-
sures. Mississippi and Alabama were alive
with the Southern spirit. The union of large
portion of the South in the common defence,
If the causes for redress should be forced on
them, was the theme of every pen, the conf
dent hope ofevery heart. Mr.. Rhett, no more
than Mr.. Calhoun, at that time, contemplated
separate State action. They We're all co:ope-
rationists then, because cooperation did not
then mean an obscure pathway leading OFT
from all resistance, but was the practical and
obvious form in which resistance presented
itself to every mind !; and to have publicly
raised the question of separate secession,
would have been to throw doubt upon the
good faith with which the States had given
their solemn pledges. Itwould have been to
raise an issue that did not properly belong to
the politics Of the period, and thus, without
any apparent reason, to throw an element OF
discord into Southern counsels. {
But wise and experienced men did contem-
plate in their own minds the possibility that
all these fair promises of Southern resistance
eri.c+ss wars nut! OdruUurf we
assert that to the last he clung faithfully to
the great doctrine of State Rights and State
Remedies It is known that one of his sons,
q gentleman beyond all impeachment, was
with him during the whole of his Illness. In
a recent visit to Charleston, he called on US,
and in the presence of all the conductors OF
this journal, stated that twice during the last
days of his life, Mr.. Calhoun had said in his
presence, that he considered the California bill
as the test; and that II ii passed, and no other
Stale aooulH ac., South Carolina must act
alone. His idea, then, of cooperation, was,
that it was the natural mode of securing re-
dress, ard that all means were to be tried to
attain it; but that, in the last resort, the State
was bound to save herself from dishonor, and
to secure her citizens from the degradation of
living under Government that had proved
itself hostile to their prosperity and their
peace Charleston Mercury.