Like the sages and
patriots who had preceded him in the high office that he filled, he
believed that "our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never by
cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war. If it can not
live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish. Congress
may possess many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword
was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force."--(Message of
December 3, 1860.)
Ten years before, Mr. Calhoun addressing the Senate with all the
earnestness of his nature and with that sincere desire to avert the
danger of disunion which those who knew him best never doubted, had
asked the emphatic question, "How can the Union be saved?" He answered
his question thus:
"There is but one way by which it can be [saved] with any
certainty; and that is by a full and final settlement, on the
principles of justice, of all the questions at issue between the
sections. The South asks for justice--simple justice--and less
she ought not to take. She has no compromise to offer but the
Constitution, and no concession or surrender to make....
"Can this be done? Yes, easily! Not by the weaker party; for it
can of itself do nothing--not even protect itself--but by the
stronger.... But will the North agree to do this? It is for her
to answer this question. But, I will say, she can not refuse if
she has half the love of the Union which she professes to have,
nor without exposing herself to the charge that her love of
power and aggrandizement is far greater than her love of the
Union.
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