republics,--a Northern one made up of free states,
and a Southern one made up of slave states.

Happily this was not to be; for at this crisis Henry Clay, the
"Compromiser," the "Pacificator," the "Peacemaker," as he was fondly
called, came forward with a plan of settlement.

To please the North, he proposed, first, that California should be
admitted as a free state; second, that the slave trade--that is, the
buying and selling of slaves--should be abolished in the District of
Columbia. To please the South, he proposed, third, that there should be
a new and very stringent fugitive-slave law; fourth, that New Mexico and
Utah should be made territories without reference to slavery--that is,
the people should make them free or slave, as they pleased. This was
called "popular sovereignty" or "squatter sovereignty." Fifth, that as
Texas claimed so much of New Mexico as was east of the Rio Grande, she
should give up her claim and be paid money for so doing.

%380. Clay, Calhoun, Seward, and Webster on the Compromise.%--The
debate on the compromise was a great one. Clay's defense of his plan was
one of the finest speeches he ever made.[1] Calhoun, who was too feeble
to speak, had his argument read by another senator. Webster, on the "7th
of March," made the famous speech which still bears that name. In it he
denounced the abolitionists and defended the compromise, because, he
said, slavery could not exist in such an arid country as New Mexico.
William H. Seward of New York spoke for the Free-soilers and denounced
all compromise, and declared that the territories were free not only by
the Constitution, but by a "higher law" than the Constitution, the law
of justice and humanity.[2]

[Footnote 1: Henry Clay's _Works_, Vol. II., pp. 602-634.]

[Footnote 2: Johnston's _American Orations_, Vol. II., pp. 123-219, for
the speeches of Calhoun, Webster, and Clay.]

After these great speeches were made, Clay's plan was sent to a
committee of thirteen, from which came seven recommendations:

1. The consideration of the admission of any new state or states formed
out of Texas to be postponed till they present themselves for admission.

2. California to be admitted as a free state.

3. Territorial governments without the Wilmot Proviso to be established
in New Mexico and Utah.

4. The combination of No. 2 and No. 3 in one bill.

5. The establishment of the present northern and western boundary of
Texas. In return for ceding her