The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-04

l sense disunion measure; MT. Calhounl i idea was that the Federal government was the creature of the States; that had no powers except such as 1t acquire' from the States. All powers not express l iy delegated by necessary implication were reserved to the States respectivei! or to the people; that our governmen was union of separate States, and tha the Federal government, which was tn creature of the States, did not have thu right. in the last resort, to determine thu question as to what power was. or wal not. delegated" It was argued in oppo sition to this view that it was within thu jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of th' 1 United States to decide such questions but Mir. Calhoun pointed out that In th' convention which framed the Constitu tion when it was proposed to invest tns court with this authority, the proposition was defeated. When again 1t was op jected. that, to allow single State virtual veto against an act of Congress would in practice wholly undermine tho authority of the general government. MT Calhoun pointed out that the power te veto, in the nature of things. could ana would be exercised only in extreme cases and that the resistance of the State mus yield to the action of convention oi three-fourths of the States in declaring against the construction, or in so amend ing the Constitution as to invest Congress with the power in cases of doubtful all thority. MT. Calhoun is sustained in these views in the Virginia resolutions, prepar- ed by MT. Madison, and in the Kentucky resolutions prepared By Mir. Jefferson.
 Whether right of wrong, in this con struction of the Constitution, I submit, it is singularly unjust that this condem- naf choltld from those States and from those people who have shown them- selves 50 active in pursuing the same pol icy. If South Carolina objected to the robber tariff, as they characterized it. put 1t to you, did not the Eastern and Northern States object to the provisions of the Constitution with reference to the return of fugitive slaves? One State In the South sought to nullify and defeat the enforcement of an act of Congress; four teen States in the North adopted legis- lation to nullify the acts of Congress passed to enforce the fugitive slave act Upon what principle shall Mir. Calhoun and the State of South Carolina be con demned for undertaking to nullify ons power of the Federal government, and the States of the North escape all odium for nullifying another power equally ex- plicit and important!
 In the proceedings referred to in the North, not only is the provision of the Federal Constitution set at nought, but the act of Congress and the decision ot the Supreme Court of the United States is openly defied! Here is a resolution adopted by the Wisconsin Legislature and approved by the Governor in 1859:
 Resolved, that the government formed by the Constitution of the United States was not made ths exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself. but that as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and manner of redress"
 And even with reference to the anexa- ton of the State of Texas, several of the Northern States asserted practically the same doctrine. On February 11th, 1S45 the Legislature of the State of Massachu- setts adopted and communicated to Con- gress the following declaration, which embodieS in substance the action of other States. that, "As the powers of legisla- ton granted in the Constitution of the United States to Congress do not em. brace the case of the admission of a for. eign state or foreign territory by legisla' tion into the Union, such act of admis sion would have no binding force what ever on the people of Massachusetts! Another complaint made against MT Calhoun by his opponents is that he spok, for the interest of the section he repre- sented. MT Webster. on being taxed witt inconsistency on one occasion with ref creme to his views of the tariff, Is report ed to have said: Sir, when I made tha' argument, I was representing the great commercial port of Boston. l am now speaking for the great manufacturing State of Massachusetts" If MT. Web ster can be commended for faithfully rep resenting the interests, as he saw them of the manufacturing State Of Massa' chusetts, upon what principle can MT Calhoun be condemned, because he spoke in the interest of the agricultural State of South Carolina? MT. Blaine, in ex- blaming the circumstances under which MT. Calhoun accepted the position oi Secretary of State in the cabinet of President Tyler, says: With keen in sight and quick observation, he saw an opportunity to serve the people of the South And to serve the people of the South was with him, not only a prin- ciple but a passion
 A Defense of the South.
 My friends. l have dwelt at length on the character and services of John c. Calhoun, because he stood at the front and over his head ragged the conflict led by the opponents of the South and of Southern, inter ests. But following his lead were a host of pure, upright, patriotic leaders from all these Southern States, who wee not a whit less viligent or less active in defending Southern interests as they saw them, Mir. Blaine. in his Twenty Years in Congress, pays a high tribute to Southern Statesmanship. and says: Throughout the long period of their domination, they guarded the Treas ury with rigid and unceasing vigilance against every attempt at axtravagance and against every form of corruption"
 In this connection, l cannot refrain from quoting the words of Senator Ham mond of South Carolina, in the Senate of the United States in 1858, in enumeration of the services of Southern leaders to the Union.
 You complain of the rule of the South that has been another cause that has preserved you We have kept the gov ernment conservative to the great pur- poses of the government. We have placed her and kept her upon the Constitution and that has been the cause of your prosperity The Senator from New York says that is about to be at an end; that you intend to take the government from us; that 1t will pass from our hands Parheps what he says is true; 1t may be but do not foTget--it can never be for gotten-it Is written in the brightest pag( of human history, that we took our coun try in her infancy, and after ruling neI for sixty out Of seventy years oi her existence, we shall surrender her to you without stain upon her hon