nd they only, could take action for the withdrawal of a
State from the Union. The consent of the respective States to the
formation of the Union had been given through such conventions, and it
was only by the same authority that it could properly be revoked. The
time required for this deliberate and formal process precludes the idea
of hasty or passionate action, and none who admit the primary power of
the people to govern themselves can consistently deny its validity and
binding obligation upon every citizen of the several States. Not only
was there ample time for calm consideration among the people of the
South, but for due reflection by the General Government and the people
of the Northern States.

President Buchanan was in the last year of his administration. His
freedom from sectional asperity, his long life in the public service,
and his peace-loving and conciliatory character, were all guarantees
against his precipitating a conflict between the Federal Government and
any of the States; but the feeble power that he possessed in the closing
months of his term to mold the policy of the future was painfully
evident. Like all who had intelligently and impartially studied the
history of the formation of the Constitution, he held that the Federal
Government had no rightful power to coerce a State. Like the sages and
patriots who had preceded him in the high office that he filled, he
believed that "our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never by
cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war. If it can not
live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish. Congress
may possess many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword
was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force."--(Message of
December 3, 1860.)

Ten years before, Mr. Calhoun addressing the Senate with all the
earnestness of his nature and with that sincere desire to avert the
danger of disunion which those who knew him best never doubted, had
asked the emphatic question, "How can the Union be saved?" He answered
his question thus:

"There is but one way by which it can be [saved] with any
certainty; and that is by a full and final settlement, on the
principles of justice, of all the questions at issue between the
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....