a prisoner on a lonely island in the midst of the wild Atlantic.1

Discontent attended him there. The wayward man fretted out a few long years of his yet unbroken manhood, looking off at the earliest dawn and in evening's latest twilight towards that distant world that had only just eluded his grasp. His heart became corroded. Death came, not unlooked for, though it came even then unwelcome. He was stretched on his bed within the fort which constituted his prison. A few fast and faithful friends stood around with the guards, who rejoiced that the hour of relief from long and wearisome watching was at hand.

2

As his strength wasted away, delirium stirred up the brain from its long and inglorious inactivity. The pageant of ambition returned. He was again a lieutenant, a colonel, a general, an emperor of France. He filled again the throne of Charlemagne. His kindred pressed around him, again invested with the pompous pageantry of royalty. The daughter of the long line of kings stood proudly by his side, and the sunny face of his child shone out from beneath the diadem that encircled its flowing locks.

The marshals of the empire awaited his command. The legions of the old guard were in the field; their scarred faces rejuvenated, and their ranks thinned in many battles replenished. Russia, Prussia, Austria, Denmark, and England gathered their mighty hosts

1 After the battle of Waterloo (1815) Napoleon surrendered to the British, who exiled him to the Island of St. Helena, in the South Atlantic. He died there in 1821.

2 Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, king of the Franks, was crowned emperor of the West by the Pope in 800.

a daughter of Hapsbur accepted his proud all.. his anxious sight; a dr brow, and it received 11 its cradle. Now he was mate monarcha m the first of an endless there were other monar He was not content. alone.

He gathered new land- from subju, young and brave

HOW CAN THE UNION BE PRESERVED?1

JOHN C. CALHOUN

(1850)

JOHN C. CALHOUN (1782-1850), lawyer and statesman, was born in South Carolina. He was educated at Yale College; studied law; served as a member of the 12th Congress and as Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Monroe. He was twice elected vice president, but resigned this office during

his last term, to take a seat in the Senate, vacated by Mr. Hayne, who had been elected governor of South Carolina. Mr. Calhoun served several terms as senator.

Having now, senators, explained what it is that endangers the Union, and traced it to its cause, and ex

plained its nature and character, the question again recurs, How can the Union be saved? To this I answer, there is but one way by which it can be, and that is by adopting such measures as will satisfy the States belonging to the Southern section that they can remain in the Union consistently with their honor and their

1 From a speech written by Calhoun, but read by a colleague in the Senate chamber, 1850. Calhoun, too ill to deliver the speech in person, was present at the reading. He died within a month after the delivery of the address. Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, the great triumvirate, all participated in this great debate, which ended in the passing of the Compromise Measures of 1850. These included, among others, the following provisions: that California should be admitted as a free state; that the rest of the region acquired from Mexico should be divided into two territories, with no restrictions as to slavery the question of slavery being left to be decided by the people of any new state carved out of this territory; and that fugitive slaves should be arrested in any state by United States officers and returned to those who claimed them as their owners.

safety. There is, again, only one way by which this can be effected, and that is by removing the causes by which this belief has been produced. Do this, and discontent will cease, harmony and kind feelings between the sections be restored, and every apprehension of danger to the Union removed.

The question, then, is, How can this be done? There is but one way by which it can with any certainty; and that is by a full and final settlement, on the principle of justice, of all the questions at issue between the two 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. She has already surrendered so much that she has little left to surrender. Such a settlement would go to the root of the evil, and remove all cause of discontent, by satisfying the South that she could remain honorably and safely in the Union, and thereby restore the harmony and fraternal feelings between the section which existed anterior to the Missouri agitation.1 Nothing else can with certainty, finally, and forever settle the question at issue, terminate agitation, and save the Union.

But 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. The North has only to will it to accomplish it, to do justice by conceding to the South an equal right in acquired territory,2 and 1 The agitation which preceded the adoption of the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

2 The territory acquired from Mexico, including California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado.

to do her duty by causing the stipulations relative to fugitive slaves to be faithfully fulfilled, to cease the agitation of the slave question, and to provide for the insertion of a provision in the Constitution, by an amendment, which will restore to the South; in substance, the power she possessed of protecting herself before the equilibrium between the sections was destroyed by the action of this government.' There will be no difficulty in devising such a provision

one that will protect the South, and which at the same time will improve and strengthen the government instead of impairing and weakening it.

But will the North agree to this? It is for her to answer the question. But, I will say, she cannot refuse if she has half the love of the Union which she professes to have, or without justly exposing herself to the charge that her love of power and aggrandizement is far greater than her love for the Union. At all events, the responsibility of saving the Union rests on the North, and not on the South. The South cannot save it by any act of hers, and the North may save without any sacrifice whatever, unless to do justice and to perform her duties under the Constitution should be regarded by her as a sacrifice.

It is time, senators, that there should be an open and manly avowal on all sides as to what is intended to be done. If the question is not now settled, it is uncertain whether it ever can hereafter be; and we, as the representatives of the states of this, Union,

1 By the acquisition of territory from Mexico. This territory was free territory when acquired by the United States, as Mexico had previously abolished slavery.

AM. ORATORY -8