place precisely upon these resolutions, but upon the bill itself, it may, perhaps, be agreeable to our readers, to see in this connexion the shape in which the Carolina doctrine was presented on this occasion, by its principal champion. The Resolutions are evidently drawn with much deliberation, and are as follows:

Resolved, That the people of the several States composing these United States, are united as parties to a constitutional compact, to which the people of each State acceded as a separate and Sovereign community, each binding itself by its own particular ratification; and that the Union, of which the said compact is the bond, is a Union between the States ratifying the same.

Resolved, That the people of the several States thus united by the constitutional compact, in forming that instrument and in creating a General Government to carry into effect the objects for which it was formed, delegated to that Government, for that purpose, certain definite powers, to be exercised jointly, reserving at the same time, each State to itself, the residuary mass of powers to be exercised by its own separate Government: and that whenever the General Government assumes the exercise of powers not delegated by the compact, its acts are unauthorized, void, and of no effect; and that the said Government is not made the final judge of the powers delegated to it, since that would make its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers, but that, as in all other cases of compact among sovereign parties, without any common judge, each has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of the infraction, as of the mode and measure of redress.

'Resolved, That the assertions, that the people of these United States, taken collectively, as individuals, are now or ever have been united on the principle of the social compact, and as such, are now formed into one nation, or people, or that they have ever been so united, in any one stage of their political existence; that the people of the several States, composing the Union, have not, as members thereof, retained their sovereignty; that the allegiance of their citizens has been transferred to the General Government; that they have parted with the right of punishing treason, through their respective State Governments; and that they have not the right of judging in the last resort, as to the extent of powers reserved, and of consequence, of those delegated; are not only without foundation in truth, but are contrary to the most certain and plain historical facts, and the clearest deductions of reason, and that all exercise of power on the part of the General Government, or any of its departments, deriving authority VOL. XXXVII.-NO. 80.

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from such erroneous assumptions, must of necessity be unconstitutional; must tend directly and inevitably to subvert the sovereignty of the States; to destroy the federal character of the Union; and to rear on its ruins a consolidated government, without constitutional check, or limitation, and which must necessarily terminate in the loss of liberty itself.'

The day after these resolutions were presented, Mr. Grundy of Tennessee, a leading friend of the administration, offered, in the form of an amendment, a series of counter resolutions in which, avoiding the general principles involved in the question, he confines himself to a naked assertion of the constitutionality of the particular operations of the General Government, to which South Carolina had taken exception. They are as follows.

'Resolved, That by the Constitution of the United States, certain powers are delegated to the General Government, and those not delegated nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people.

2. Resolved, That one of the powers expressly granted by the Constitution to the General Government, and prohibited to the States, is that of laying duties on imports.

3. Resolved, That the power to lay imposts is by the Constition wholly transferred from the State authorities to the General Government, without any reservation of power or right on the part of the State.

4. Resolved, That the Tariff Laws of 1828 and 1832, are exercises of the constitutional power possessed by the Congress of the United States, whatever various opinions may exist as to their policy and justice.

5. Resolved, That an attempt on the part of a State to annul an act of Congress passed upon any subject exclusively confided by the Constitution to Congress, is an encroachment on the rights of the General Government.

'6. Resolved, That attempts to obstruct or prevent the execution of the several acts of Congress imposing duties on imports, whether by Ordinances of Conventions or Legislative enactments, are not warranted by the Constitution, and are dangerous to the political institutions of the country.'

On the following day, Mr. Clayton of Delaware moved to amend the amendment of Mr. Grundy, by substituting for a part of it the following resolution, the language of which is borrowed in part, from the President's Proclamation.

'Resolved, That the power to annul the several acts of Congress, imposing duties on imports, or any other law of the United States, when assumed by a single State, is incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed;' that the people of these United States are for the purposes enumerated in their Constitution ONE PEOPLE AND A SINGLE NATION, having delegated full power to their common agents to preserve and defend their national interests for the purpose of attaining the great end of all government, the safety and happiness of the governed; that while the Constitution does provide for the interest and safety of all the States, it does not secure all the rights of independent sovereignty to any; that the allegiance of the people is rightfully due as it has been freely given to the General Government, to the extent of all the sovereign power expressly ceded to that Government in the Constitution; that the Supreme Court of the United States is the proper and only tribunal in the last resort for the decision of all cases in law and equity arising under the Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made under their authority; that resistance to the laws, founded on the inherent and inalienable right of all men to resist oppression is in its nature revolutionary and extra-constitutional,—and that entertaining these views, the Senate of the United States, while willing to concede every thing to any honest difference of opinion, which can be yielded consistently with the honor and interest of the nation, will not fail, in the faithful discharge of its most solemn duty, to support the Executive in the just administration of the Government, and clothe it with all constitutional power necessary to the faithful execution of the law and the preservation of the Union.'

Mr. Calhoun afterwards offered his original resolutions in a slightly varied shape, as an amendment to those which had been substituted for them, in order that the discussion might come on upon them and not upon the substitutes,-but as the original form was probably the one which he preferred, we deem it unnecessary to insert the new one. In offering his resolutions, Mr. Calhoun accompanied them with some eloquent and forcible remarks, to which we shall presently allude, and it was doubtless his wish and intention, that the great principles involved in the question should be discussed when the resolutions were taken up. But the Revenue Collection Bill naturally took the precedence, on account of the immediate and

urgent want of the powers conferred by it, and as it involved the same questions which were stated in the resolutions, the discussion of the latter was in a great measure anticipated. Mr. Calhoun, though professedly avoiding general principles, in fact said but little upon any thing else, and Mr. Webster, without adverting particularly to the other parts of his adversary's argument, avowedly made the general principles involved in the question his principal subject. After the Revenue Collection Bill was disposed of, Mr. Calhoun's resolutions were formally taken up. On this occasion, the Ex-Vice-President made a pretty full and elaborate rejoinder to Mr. Webster's reply to his former speech. This may be said to have closed the debate. Mr. Webster answered in a very few succinct remarks, and the resolutions, without any decisive action having been had upon them, were then laid upon the table.

Such was the form in which this great case was argued before the Senate of the United States. While the discussion was in progress, most of the State Legislatures held their annual sessions, and having received from the Governor of South Carolina copies of the proceedings of the Convention, naturally felt themselves called upon to express an opinion upon their character. The Governors generally recommended the subject to the attention of the Legislatures, and the latter adopted resolutions, accompanied, in several instances, with detailed reports, denouncing, we believe without a single exception, and in the most unequivocal terms, the doctrine of nullification as a palpable and dangerous heresy. The Legislature of Massachusetts authorized a Committee to collect and publish, in connexion with the Carolina documents, the reports and resolutions of all the State Legislatures upon the subject. The volume will form a very interesting memorial of the history of the times.

The only State whose proceedings varied materially from those of the rest, was Virginia. Governor Floyd, in his message to the Legislature, exhibited a decided leaning to the doctrine of Nullification, and there was a pretty strong party in favor of it in the Legislature. The subject was a long time under discussion, and several sets of Resolutions were successively adopted in the two Houses, but the friends of the Union maintained throughout a clear majority, and in the Resolutions which were finally adopted, on the principle of compromise, by an almost unanimous vote, the doctrine is decidedly condemned. But the most remarkable feature in the proceedings of the

Governor of Virginia, was the appointment of Mr. B. W. Leigh, as a special commissioner near the Government of South Carolina, for the purpose of endeavoring to persuade that State to suspend for the present the enforcement of the nullifying ordinance. This overture, in itself a curious and not unimportant proceeding, considered merely as an incident in our political history, seemed to imply a sort of pledge on the part of Virginia, that at a future period she would be prepared to sustain Carolina in her present pretensions. Had the general question taken a different turn, this measure would have had a good deal of influence in determining the course of subsequent events. The sudden compromise of the whole difficulty rendered it a matter of no importance, but there cannot be a doubt that the complexion of the proceedings of Virginia was among the motives that operated most strongly in inducing Mr. Clay to take the course he did. He in fact expressly said as much, in a speech with which he introduced his bill.

While the proceedings of Carolina were under discussion in Congress and in the State Legislatures, they formed of course a prominent topic in the newspapers; and essays of great power and value were published in various quarters of the Union. The most remarkable were those which appeared in the Norfolk Herald, under the title of a Review of the President's Proclamation, with the signature of A Virginian, attributed to Mr. Tazewell. We may here remark, en passant, that whatever may be thought of the correctness of the opinions of the Virginian school of statesmen, they are entitled to great credit for the persevering diligence with which they devote their time and labor to the political affairs of the country. The debates on important topics in the Virginia Legislature occupy more time, and are managed on the whole with far more care and ability than those of any other State. The Virginia newspapers are, as far as the amount and value of the political discussions contained in them are concerned, the best that appear in the Union. It is apparent in short from their conduct, that the men of education, property and talent in the Ancient Dominion, consider the political affairs of the country as a vast and important subject, in the regulation of which they are determined that their State shall possess her proper influence and are willing to go through the labor that is necessary to secure it. This disposition, in connexion with their greater steadiness in supporting each other, and their comparative freedom from