Page:Nullification Controversy in South Carolina.djvu/238

Rh it to the honor of being called "an exposition of the affairs of a free people." The governor recommended that the legislature raise an army of 12,000 men, to be called the "State Guard." This the Union men said would be a standing army, dangerous to the liberties of the people—the first step toward the establishment of a military despotism. The governor would go even farther than the proscription of Union men from office by the "test oath," for he recommended a "bill of pains and penalties" to be enforced upon those who should disobey the ordinance, and an "act of treason" to apply to those who should raise their hands in defense of the Union.

The legislature passed an act ostensibly to afford a complete and peaceable protection against the tariff. The first and second clauses authorized any importer, consignee, or owner of goods to recover possession of his goods forthwith from a collector by an act of replevin, or by any other process authorized by law in cases of illegal seizure or detention of personal property. If the person who claimed the goods chose to proceed by replevin, he might make affidavit of the