CH. VII.]

CLAY, CALHOUN AND WEBSTER.

tive slaves; and to affirm that Congress has no power to hinder the trade in slaves between the slave-holding states. Mr. Clay, venerable for his years and a long life devoted to public service, undertook, on the 5th of February, an elaborate defence of the plan of compromise which he had wrought out. In earnest and affecting terms, he besought the Senate to listen to his appeals; he denounced secession in vigorous language, and graphically painted the terrible evils which would flow from a dissolution of the Union. His speech excited much attention, and its sentiments were approved by a large portion of the people. On the 13th of February, the president transmitted to Congress the state constitution which had been adopted by the people of California, in a convention held for that purpose; but that youthful and vigorous state did not then, as was hoped, receive admission into the Union. The debate continued, and the excitement on the points at issue spread more widely and deeply throughout the country.

7

1.850.

:

477

settled opinion, that the course of the north was so aggressive and unjust as fully to authorize this last resort. However undoubted were Mr. Calhoun's integrity and sincerity, his views met with but little favor, even among southern state rights men; and it was impossible that his scheme for settling existing difficulties could be agreed upon by the American people. We may mention here, that the great South Carolina Senator ended his career a few weeks later. His strength sank rapidly from this date, and on the 31st of March he was called away from earth to his final account. Nearly threescore years and ten at the time of his death, Mr. Calhoun had spent the larger part of his life in the service of his country; and however unacceptable a large portion of his views must ever be to the majority of his countrymen, there is no one who can doubt his uprightness, his purity of private life, his vast intellectual force and energy, and his earnest wish to promote the welfare of the United States.*

Daniel Webster also, on the 17th of March, gave utterance to his views on the questions under debate; and in terms which we regret we have not room to quote, he scorned the very name of secession as an act of foul treachery and depravity. Mr. Webster was willing to do any thing that was right in order to mitigate the evils of slavery; but, as he emphatically de

John C. Calhoun, like his compeer, Henry Clay, advanced in years, but unlike him in other respects, greatly reduced in health and strength, brought into the Senate, on the 14th of March, a carefully prepared written speech, which, as he was too weak to deliver it, was read by Mr. Mason of Virginia. He took entirely opposite ground from that of Mr. Clay, and as was to be ex-clared, secession would be, must be, pected from him and his well-known views on the subject of southern rights and claims, he advocated the dissolution of the Union, and gave it as his

*The Works of John C. Calhoun have been collected and published in six volumes, which the stu

dent of history will find it of value and importance to consult and study.

revolution. Mr. Seward of New York, and other Senators, took part in this exciting debate.

the slave trade in the District of Columbia.

Long and wearisome debates and disputes followed, for week after week, to little or no purpose, and by the beginning of August it was found, that the omnibus bill could not be carried in its present shape.* Important events meanwhile had transpired. The Nashville convention of the supporters of slavery met, early in June, and notwithstanding at one time it seemed to threaten serious consequences, it eventually dispersed without leading to any difficulty. Its propositions for

1850.

Toward the close of February, Mr. Foote of Mississippi moved, that the subject of territorial governments for California, Utah, and New Mexico, be referred to a select committee 1850. of thirteen, with instructions to endeavor to effect a compromise upon all the vexed questions then arising out of the institution of slavery. Mr. Foote's resolution was debated from time to time, but was not disposed of till the 18th of April, when it was adopted by a vote of thirty to twenty-settling the troubles then agitating the two. The compromise resolutions of Mr. Clay, and also others which had been offered by Mr. Bell, of Tennessee, were referred to this same committee, which was composed of six northern and six southern members, and a thirteenth, the chairman, chosen by the other twelve. Mr. Clay was elected chairman of this committee.

On the 8th of May, Mr. Clay, in behalf of the select committee, brought in a report of a plan of compromise, which, it was hoped, would allay existing excitement. A series of bills was presented more generally known as the "omnibus bill"-to admit California as a state, to establish territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico, to pay Texas a sum of money sufficient to satisfy her on the subject of her boundary, to provide for the recovery of fugitive slaves,* and to abolish

* Senator Benton delivered himself of an elaborate speech against Mr. Clay's plan of slavery compromise, from which copious extracts are given in the "Thirty Thirty Years' View," vol. ii., pp. 749–65.

country were neither new nor important. Texas, too, had taken lofty ground, and presumed to enter upon such a course as would lead to a settlement of the boundary question with New Mexico, on terms entirely acceptable to herself. That, however, could not for a moment be thought of, and the president took measures to see that the laws should be faithfully carried out in the section of country in dispute.

In the midst of this excitement, the national holiday was again observed, and General Taylor participated in it, like every good citizen; but within less than five days he quietly sank to his rest. On the 9th of July, 1850, Zachary Taylor died, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and before he had had opportunity to develop his plans and purposes as president of the United States. The lamentations for his death were

*For a long and able review of the debate on the compromise bills, delivered in the Senate, July 22d, 1850, see 1850, see “The Life, Correspondence, and Speeches of Henry Clay," vol. vi., pp. 529–67.

TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO BOUNDARY.