118 EEMAEKS ON THE GOVEENMENT TAX. 
Monroe, and Jackson, whom they had given to the nation 
as Presidents ; and they could boast of a Patrick Henry, a 
Randolph, a Pinkney, a Lowndes, a Calhoun, a Hayne, a 
McDuffie, a Clay, and a long line of illustrious statesmen that 
had adorned the annals of the country. They had more 
than borne their part in all the wars for the defence and 
for the maintenance of the honor of the country. Why, 
then, I again ask, did they, by secession, attempt to leave 
the Union ? I answer, because the North had, as they 
thought, miwarrantably intermeddled with their interests — 
interests secured to them by the constitutional compact. 
Because they saw the North treat with contempt an 
opinion of the Supreme Court, deciding the territoiial 
question in their favor ; and because the North had elected 
a President and Congress pledged to carry out the policy 
of excluding them and their property from a participation 
in the enjoyment of the common property of the nation. 
They saw, or thought they saw, a fixed deteimination on 
the part of the North to deprive them of their rights, in 
violation of the compact of union ; and they attempted 
to withdraw the powers they had conferred upon an agent 
that was abusing its trust. For attempting this, the North 
waged war upon them. 
Now, we will not stop to inquire whether the South 
was right or wrong. There can be no doubt but that they 
thought they were right. They never would have left the 
Union which they loved, if they had not believed that the 
life, the soul of that Union was gone ; and that a dead, 
putrefying carcass, called " the UnionJ'' only remained. 
The Union was only valuable because, while it existed 
according to the Constitution, it was the bulwark of our 
rights and liberties. See the deplorable consequences 
resulting from a policy that produced alienation from a 
