"rights of the states, without which the Union itself would cease to be a blessing.... ," because South Carolina was by no means "ardently attached to the Union"; some called the tariff bill a great triumph: while others objected to any show of rejoicing over it because little had been gained, since the real trouble was that the government would continue to be of a despotic nature until limited to those interests common to the whole confederacy, and because until then there would be neither liberty nor security for the South; and while some wanted credit given to Virginia and no mention made of Clay's bill in the reasons given for the state action, others wanted all credit given to the bill and no mention made of the mediation of Virginia. In many of the speeches there was much boasting of the efficacy of nullification;[1] yet the people were warned to keep up their zeal, courage, vigilance, and military preparations; it was urged that the state should be kept in a firm attitude of defense against the people of the North, for there was more need of such defense than against a foreign enemy.
- ↑ "With but our one-gun-battery of nullification we have driven the enemy from his moorings, compelled him to slip his cable and put to sea"—a prodigious work "for this little state," said Robert J. Turnbull, of Charleston.
