er than with
freedom; he joined in the opposition to the exclusion of slavery from
Missouri. He had no love for slavery, but he was jealous for the right
of each State to choose its own way, for good or evil; a political
theory outweighed in him the sentiment of humanity.

A compromise was proposed. Let Missouri have slavery if she will, but
for the Northwest let it be "thus far and no farther"; let it be fixed
that there shall be no more slave States north of the line which marks
Missouri's southern boundary, the line of 36 degrees 30 minutes north
latitude. Present advantage to the South, future security to the North;
and meantime let Maine be admitted, which keeps the balance equal. This
was the solution accepted by both sides after a discussion lasting
through the Congressional session of 1819-20 until March. But the
smothered flame broke out again. Missouri in 1820 adopted a
constitution, and asked for admission according to promise; and one
clause in her constitution forbade the entrance of free blacks into the
State. This was too much for the North, already half disgusted with the
concession it had made, and when Congress met for the session of 1820-21
the whole question was reopened, and the dispute was hotter and more
obstinate than ever. The issue was wholly uncertain, and disunion seemed
to hover near and dark, when Henry Clay, who in the first debate had
taken no very important part, but had supported the Southern claim, now
threw his whole power, which was great, in favor of conciliation and
agreement on the original basis. Clay was a politician, and ambitious
for the Presidency, but he was a patriot and a lover of humanity. As to
slavery he was a waverer, disliking it at heart and sometimes speaking
manfully against it, but at other times respectful toward it as an
established and mighty fact, and even lending himself to its eulogy. In
the first debate he had advocated the Southern side, had extolled
slavery, and declared the black slaves of the South to be better off
than the white slaves of the North. Now he gave all his persuasive and
commanding eloquence, all the influence of his genial nature and winning
arts, to rally the lovers of the Union to the mutual concessions by
which alone it could be preserved. He justified the objection to the
exclusion of free negroes, he divested himself of sectional
partisanship, and pleaded with equal skill and fervor for the
compromise. He did not forget that he was a