In the first place, a provisional tariff bill was passed, extending the compromise act to the 1st of August, as the minimum was reached on the 30th of June, 1842, and after that date no duty exceeding twenty per cent, was to be collected, nor that even, as was thought by many, without some special law. The provisional bill required the duties to be collected at the same rates as were collectable on the 1st of June: it also postponed the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands, but did not surrender the principle, and Mr. Calhoun and other republican senators therefore opposed it. It was vetoed by the President; and the act of 1842, establishing a rate of duties averaging nearly forty per cent on the aggregate value of imports, and of course highly protective, subsequently passed both houses-each by a single vote—and was reluctantly signed by the President. It is almost unnecessary to say, that Mr. Calhoun opposed the passage of this bill from first to last. He likewise delivered an able speech against it on the 5th of August, and pronounced it to be decidedly worse than "the bill of abominations." Its protective features were artfully concealed under specific rates and minimums, but its true character could not be mistaken, and it was generally condemned throughout the country, by all except the manufacturers and the ultra Whigs.

On the 20th day of August, 1842, the Senate ratified the treaty of Washington, or the Ashburton treaty, by which the northeastern boundary was satisfactorily

A revenue duty is one whose increase would be followed by an increase of revenue, or which is already fixed at the maximum of revenue; and a protective duty is one of absolute prohibition, or which must be reduced in order to increase the revenue.

settled, by the decisive vote of 39 to 9. Mr. Calhoun voted with the majority, and delivered a speech in favor of the treaty marked by great ability and power, and which elicited the highest encomiums in England as well as in America. He had never doubted the justice of the claims of Maine, yet, as the United States had in effect agreed to compromise the question by submitting it to arbitration, he approved of the treaty as a fair and honorable settlement of the difficulty. He fully concurred in the sentiments afterwards expressed so pertinently and forcibly by Sir Robert Peel, in reference to this and the Oregon question, that it was "the better policy to propose, in the spirit of peace, conditions perfectly compatible with the honor of each country, and not requiring from either any sacrifice, territorial or commercial, which would not be dearly purchased by the cost of a single week's hostilities."*

* Address to his constituents at Tamworth, 1847.

CHAPTER XII.

The Oregon Question-Resignation of Mr. Calhoun-Appointed Secretary of State-Annexation of Texas-Administration of Mr. PolkDeclines Mission to England-Returns to the Senate-Memphis Convention-Improvement of Harbors and Rivers-Triumph of Free Trade-War with Mexico-Continued Agitation of the Slavery Question-Southern Address-Mr. Clay's Plan of Compromise-Last Speech of Mr. Calhoun.

FOR reasons similar to those which had influenced him in voting for the ratification of the Treaty of Washington, Mr. Calhoun opposed the efforts, whether intentional or otherwise, made during the latter part of Mr. Tyler's administration and the first year of Mr. Polk's, to produce a war between the United States. and Great Britain on account of the Oregon difficulty. He did not think that the title to the whole of Oregon, as high as 54° 40', was entirely unquestionable. On the contrary, he was of the opinion, that the 49th parallel, or some line near that, should be adopted as the boundary. As he regarded this matter, both par ties were committed, by the negotiations of 1818, 1824 and 1826-27, to a compromise of the question by the mutual surrender of a part of their respective claims; and at the session of 1842-43, he delivered a speech on the Oregon bill, introduced by Mr. Linn, of Missouri, which provided for granting lands, and for commencing

systematically the colonization and settlement of the territory in dispute. He opposed the bill, and insisted, that it was neither wise nor prudent, to assert at that time the exclusive right to the territory, as the bill contemplated. In his view, the position of the United States should be one of masterly inactivity. The possession of the Pacific coast was of great importance to them, as it could not be doubted that their authority would soon extend from ocean to ocean. The naval superiority of Great Britain, in men and matériel, if not in efficiency, was not to be doubted nor denied, and it was evident that she could dispatch troops and munitions of war to Oregon with about as much facility as the United States, or, from her East India possessions, with even greater ease. He was in favor therefore, of leaving causes already in operation, to work as they had done, silently. The tide of voluntary emigration from the older states and territories was passing beyond the Rocky Mountains; and it was more than probable, that in a few years Oregon would contain a large population, ready and willing, if the title of the United States should then be asserted by force of arms, essentially to aid in its support and defence.

At the close of this session, which terminated in March, 1813, Mr. Calhoun resigned his seat in the Senate. His private affairs had become considerably embarrassed, in consequence of his protracted absences from home, and his inability to supervise and direct their management except during brief intervals. Of senatorial honors, too, he had enough to satisfy the ambition of any man. Many of his friends, doubtless, looked forward to his elevation to the highest office in the

nation, as they had a right to do, for he was in every way worthy of this proud distinction, and would have conferred more honor upon it, than would have been reflected upon himself. Did he cherish any aspirations of this character, they were confined to his own bosom, and never gave him a moments' pain. Retired to the privacy of his beautiful home at Fort Hill, in the vicinity of Pendleton Court House, he was far happier, in the enjoyment of domestic happiness, and in the occupations and pursuits of a planter, than while mingling in the bustle and turmoil of party politics, which was wholly unavoidable while he was at Washington.

But as the war-horse never forgets the sights and sounds that animated him on the field of battle, so he remembered the important subjects that had engrossed his attention, and taxed his powers, in the stormy debate; and if he did not long to participate again in the strife, his thoughts were often turned to the spot where "the war of words was high." The theory of our government-of all governments--was still his study; and politics, in the enlarged, more comprehensive, and philosophical sense of the term, daily attended him in his study and in his walks, as familiar spirits with whom he loved to take sweet counsel together.

On the 28th of February, 1844, Mr. Upshur, the talented and accomplished Secretary of State, was suddenly killed on board the steamer Princeton, by t. e explosion of one of its guns. Previous to the occurrence of this melancholy event, negotiations had been opened between the authorities of Texas and those of the United States, for the annexation of her territory to that of the latter power.