The combination thus effected was overwhelming.

Mr.Calhoun was now thoroughly alarmed, and we can well imagine that the threats of hanging, in which it was rumored that the President had indulged, began to have a good deal of practical significance to a gentleman who, as Secretary of War, had been familiar with the circumstances attending the deaths of Arbuthnot and Ambrister.

At all events, Mr.Calhoun lost no time in having an interview with Mr.Clay, and the result was, that the latter, on February 11, announced that he should, on the following day, introduce a tariff bill, a measure of the same sort having already been started in the House.

The bill as introduced did not involve such a complete surrender as that which Mr.Webster had seen in Philadelphia, but it necessitated most extensive modifications and gave all that South Carolina could reasonably demand.

Mr.Clay advocated it in a brilliant speech, resting his defence on the ground that this was the only way to preserve the tariff, and that it was founded on the great constitutional doctrine of compromise.