Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/233

 Calhoun — Nullification Explained. 227

Resolved, That this movement does not seek merely disunion, but the more perfect union of the free States by the " expulsion " of the slave States from the confederation, in which they have ever been an element of discord, danger and disgrace.

Resolved, That it is not probable that the ultimate severance of the Union will be an act of deliberation or discussion, but that a long period of deliberation and discussion must precede it, and this we meet to begin.

Resolved, That henceforward, instead of regarding it as an objec- tion to any system of policy that it will lead to the separation of the States, we will proclaim that to be the highest of all recommendations and the grateful proof of statesmanship ; and will support, politically and otherwise, such men and measures as appear to tend most to this result.

Resolved, That by the repeated confessions of Northern and Southern statesmen, " the existence of the Union is the chief guar- antee of slavery," and that the despots of the old world have every- thing to fear, and the slaves of the whole world everything to hope, from its destruction and the rise of a free Northern Republic,

Resolved, That the sooner the separation takes place the more peaceful it will be ; but that peace or war is a secondary considera- tion, in view of our present perils. Slavery must be conquered, peacefully, if we can, forcibly, if we must.

Since that Convention met a quarter of a century has elapsed ; since Calhoun's death a third of a century. A book has just been published in Boston entitled "John C. Calhoun," by Dr. H. von Hoist. Every well-informed Southerner will rise from its perusal impressed with the ideas :

1. That its author has not been long enough in America to over- come his European predilection for autocratic rule and centralized despotism.

2. That coming here to better his condition, and finding the Union haters of i856-'6o a controlling element of the party in power, he thought the shortest cut to better fortunes would be to secure their patronage by this post mortem attack on their great opponent, Cal- houn.

3. That next after demolishing Calhoun's great reputation for statesmanship, the chief object of this book is to justify and glorify the men of the Worcester Convention and the Higher Law, which they proclaimed. By that Higher Law the Union became a thing to be hated and destroyed — the Constitution (to use Dr. von

\