That General Taylor's policy was not so wild and impracticable as Mr.Webster's friends would have us think, is shown by the fact that Mr.Benton, Democrat and Southerner as he was, but imbued with the vigor of the Jackson school, believed that each question should be taken up by itself and settled on its own merits.

A policy which seemed wise to three such different men as Taylor, Seward, and Benton, could hardly have been so utterly impracticable and visionary as Mr.Webster's partisans would like the world to believe.
It was in fact one of the cases which that extremely practical statesman Nicolo Machiavelli had in mind when he wrote that, "Dangers that are seen afar off are easily prevented; but protracting till they are near at hand, the remedies grow unseasonable and the malady incurable." It may be readily admitted that there was a great and perilous political crisis in 1850, as Mr.Webster said.

In certain quarters, in the excitement of party strife, there was a tendency to deride Mr.Webster as a "Union-saver," and to take the ground that there had been no real danger of secession.

This, as we can see now very plainly, was an unfounded idea.
When Congress met, the danger of secession was very real, although perhaps not very near.

The South, although they intended to secede as a last resort, had no idea that they should be brought to that point.