This unequal and unjust arrangement was pronounced, both by the
administration, through its proper organ, the Secretary of the
Treasury, and by the opposition, to be a *permanent* adjustment;
and it was thus that all hope of relief through the action of the
general government terminated; and the crisis so long apprehended
at length arrived, at which the State was compelled to choose
between absolute acquiescence in a ruinous system of oppression,
or a resort to her reserved powers--powers of which she alone was
the rightful judge, and which only, in this momentous juncture,
could save her. She determined on the latter.

The consent of two-thirds of her Legislature was necessary for
the call of a convention, which was considered the only
legitimate organ through which the people, in their sovereignty,
could speak. After an arduous struggle the States-rights party
succeeded; more than two-thirds of both branches of the
Legislature favorable to a convention were elected; a convention
was called--the ordinance adopted. The convention was succeeded
by a meeting of the Legislature, when the laws to carry the
ordinance into execution were enacted--all of which have been
communicated by the President, have been referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, and this bill is the result of their
labor.

Having now corrected some of the prominent misrepresentations as
to the nature of this controversy, and given a rapid sketch of
the movement of the State in reference to it, I will next proceed
to notice some objections connected with the ordinance and the
proceedings under it.