The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-03-30
JOHN C. CALHOUN.
STATESMAN SEER PATRIOT.
Without a Peer in the Forum OF the Nation.
Speech by Hon. Wyatt Aiken at Recent Unwilling OF Calhoun Statue.

Mr.. Chairman: Doubtless many a "mute inglorious Milton
ia unknown to fame for lack Of an inspiring preceptor. d.
Waddell and the little school, located years ago IN the western
portion Of Abbevile County, known as wilmington tr""ImS'
oued their great prominence largely to the TACT that john
Caldwell Calhoun received there his first scholastic training; Dut
to this great preceptor, it may be truthfuny SAID, vi aiHou
owed his all. II this master prcceptor had not apPlleo inc
snark. the fires of genius would most likely never have klndleo.
The teacher who confines his lessons to the narrow compass d
text books, does not understand Alright his mission, we ascrloe
to DIR. Waddell this part in Mr.. Calhouns career OF III
reason that we assume that the boys VINO came uhoer MS 'oluo"
were presumably not far above the average American boy, gen.
eraly speaking, and yet we find in a long list OF those VINO re-
ceived their early training from him, such other names d.
James l.. Petigru, Judge A. B. Longstreet, George McDu"e, W.
n Crawford. w. D. Martin, Hugh Legare, Geo. w. crawford,
n T and F Fl. Wardlaw and n. P. and P. NJ. Butler, all OF
whom attained great distinction in the service of their State ana
the Nation. ,
higher than an academic education, and so, in 1902, ne entered
yale College. from which he graduated two years later. lie
was twenty years of age at the time he entered 1ale' having Deer
born in Abbevile County, March Is, lS2.
have the honor to represent that district of South Carolha'
from which Mr.. Calhoun was sent to Congress, taking his seat,
November fourth, 1911. My home in the city OF AbbeVlle' Is
but a few blocks removed from the spot where ne began I'M
practice of law, shortly after graduation from lAtchhe'o'
necticut. 1 therefore feel it peculiarly incumbent upon me 10
undertake to portray some of those characteristics which marked
him a national and International figure. 1t ls not false mooesty
TO ssy, that the more 1 have studied his career, the less l have
felt equal. to its proper portrayal.
n tho narrow COMPASS of this discourse, / shall omit the
recital Of events of Mr.. Calhounls early life, and ofhis service in
the Legislature of his native State. These belong 10 the DOMAIN
of history, and here, would be nothing more than cumoerlhg
-onoftion. Nor NAV I attempt to enter into details IN review
inc his service to the Nation, covering as it does, a period Of
more than forty years. For the events of his life were not
mere contribution to history; they were the ~Wellspring OF much
of the history of that day, and gave color to all contemporaneous
eyerts. Mr.. Calhoun made history.
A marked characteristic of MI. Calhoun's mind was ms
ability to read the future in the trend OF the present one lsnF
pressed with this, in reading his speeches IN the llght OF suoSe.
ouent events. If we may pass any criticism on the quality OF
h;,s,,;nd which measured so nearly up to perfecCOn, IL WOulu "
that he read his duty in the plain letter of reason, without due
reoard TO external circumstances affecting it.
Candor compelst the admission that in carrying his theories OF
government to a perfectly logical conclusion, a conclusion war
ran+ed in every detail by the Constitution OF the United States,
he 6 developed latent forces, that with the gathering storm, could
end only in the separation Of north and south. Long before ne
came into public notice, however, this storm was brewing.
Heard first in subdued mutterings, it soon gathered with inky
backuess about the National Capital. He did not create the
otorno but let his real friends not attempt to cover the true
events of history: his logical nina, ike the electric 'op' oo l"i'
and ilumine the riven cloud.
Virginia, Kentucky and the parties to the Hartford Conven-
ton had vaguely outlined the right of state, IN the last eXtreml-
ty, to take measures for its own protectlon; Dut IL was only
through the clear irresistible logic of Mr.. Calhoun that men
,ool;zed however ineXpedent or undesirable notification
might be, it was not inconsistent with the strict meaning OF the
ORIGINAL compact, and the constitution based thereon. IL IS per-
hans as we'll that force finally supplied the omissions IN that
instrument, for after all, the people are reunited, and the will Of
a united people is superior to any written instrument. but MI
Calhoun must be judged in the light of the written instrument
for sentiment was then about equally divided. Inc rght o a
ofQtQ + nOIllV a III ~Seo
rlo;n IN his speech on the Force Bill, which we may remark in
nsssing was his greatest speech, that the North American Review
q STRONG advocate of the Federal Doctrine, admitted "that Mr..
Calhoun had successfully maintained the point that the Con-
sthntion was a compact between thestates" which admission con-
coded the pivotal point of his CONVENTIONS, after which his
other contentious followed in natural and logical sequence. Mr..
Webster. under other circumstances had spoken OF the union
of the States as q compact, of which fact Mr.. Calhoun reminded
him, in replying to him later.
Mr., Calhoun maintained in this speech, and established, IN
go far as reason alone can establish, that the sovereign States, IN
their compact for protection and government, were bound to the
limit and in the strict terms of the Constitution, as ratified by
the States; that the ratification was by the individual OF the
States and not by the individual of the Union; that the states
through the constitution granted to the Federal Government
the right to raise revenue, which was a right conceded; that 1T
also required all taxes to be uniform, which was a right retained.
He maintained that the tariff act of 1923 levied the burden,
mainly on one section, and distributed the proceeds mainly in
another.
As this violated the reserved rights of the State, under the
Constitution, that taxes should be uniform, he believed that it
wa, subject to the States veto. Just how far Mr.. Calhoun looked
into the future of the unequal collection and partisan, as we'll
a. sectional distribution of government revenue, we can not
know. We are rather Of the opinion that ne was combating the
principle, and that he seized upon the tariff Act of 1928 as Illus
trative of the trend of events. Certain it is, that the question is
still an open one that is no nearer solution by reason of one party
domination.
No real student of history would seriously deny that Mr.
Calhoun took from the Constitution the fact of notification and
moulded it into form. At this distance the rr OF his method
of combating a public evil from the standpoint of expediency
and public policy is palpable; his purpose, Judged in the light of
subseouent extortjons from the people, under that doctrine just