the influence of American missionaries, and the native dynasty recognized that the interests of the United States were greater than those of any other power. Chinese trade, however, was very much hampered by restrictions in Chinese ports. In 1844 Caleb Cushing, sent out by the United States, was able to secure a very desirable commercial treaty by which five Chinese "treaty ports" were designated for American trade; American consuls were allowed to hold courts for cases involving their countrymen; and American merchants and other people got the right to buy pieces of ground for their own. occupancy, "and also for hospitals, churches, and cemeteries." PERRY IN JAPAN, 1854. (From Perry's Narrative.) Japan refused to admit any traders or foreign merchantmen on any terms, till the United States sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry to open up relations. He entered ports where no European vessel had ever been seen; he succeeded in breaking in the shell of the old empire; and he secured a favorable commercial treaty in 1854. The principal issue in the presidential election of 1848 was the future of New Mexico and California. The Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor. Van Buren's friends soon after 1844 formed what was called the "Barnburner" faction of Democrats in New York; and when the Democratic con317. Crisis vention of May, 1848, refused their delegates full recog on territonition, and then nominated for President a "dough-face," rial slavery (1846-1849) or northern proslavery man, Lewis Cass of Michigan, on a noncommittal platform, the Barnburners bolted. They combined with the Free-soilers (who included the former Liberty men) in nominating Van Buren for President, on the platform of "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men." This combination polled nearly 300,000 votes and threw New York over from the Democratic to the Whig side, thus allowing Zachary Taylor, a slaveholder, to be elected by 163 electoral votes to 127 for Cass. From 1846 to 1849 several different propositions were made for settling the question whether slavery was to be legal in California and New Mexico: (1) the Wilmot Proviso, excluding slavery by act of Congress; (2) establishment of slavery by act of Congress; (3) continuation of the 36° 30′ compromise line from Texas to the Pacific; (4) "popular sovereignty," which was a suggestion by Cass that the question be left to the people of the respective territories; (5) "executive regulations," through the Walker Bill, which would have given to the President authority to form a government. None of the five propositions could get a majority in both houses of Congress, and the only action bearing on the question was an act organizing the Territory of Oregon (August 14, 1848) with a prohibition of slavery. 318. Slavery questions As soon as Taylor became President (March 4, 1849), he used his influence and authority to bring about a state constitutional convention in California. That convention drew up a state constitution (September, 1849) which definitely (1849-1850) prevented either a compromise line or local slavery on the Pacific coast; for it declared that California extended all the way along the coast from Mexico to Oregon, and it abso lutely forbade slavery. Free miners, working with their own hands, would not permit slaveholders to come out with their slaves and compete in the placers. A state government was immediately organized without waiting for any act of Congress. A CALIFORNIA BIG TREE. "Grizzly Giant," in the Mariposa Grove. The air was full of slavery questions. Antislavery men felt that the time had come for some action which would put a stop to the domestic slave trade almost under the shadow of the Capitol; and Abraham Lincoln introduced a bill (January, 1849) for gradual emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia. The fugitive slave act of 1793 had never worked well, and a decision of the Supreme Court (Prigg vs. Pennsylvania, 1842) took away much of its force. Besides, there was a regular system for aiding fugitives to escape, popularly known as the "Underground Railroad," in which more than 3000 people are known to have taken part; and through which, from 1830 to 1860, upward of 60,000 slaves escaped. Fugitives were kept in the houses of abolitionists, forwarded from place to place at night, or hidden in out-of-the-way places; and if the pursuers came, were finally shipped across the Lakes to free Canada. The South demanded that a more effective fugitive slave law be provided, and bills for that purpose were introduced. Behind all these questions was the larger issue of the relative power of free and slave states. Up to 1849 the principle of balancing states continued; Arkansas (slave) was admitted in 1836, and Michigan (free) in 1837, Florida and Texas (slave) in 1845, and Iowa and Wisconsin (free) in 1846 and 1848. To admit California as a free state meant permanent superiority of the North in the Senate, for there was nowhere a southern territory ready to enter the Union. 319. Com To settle all these complicated questions once for all, Henry Clay, "The Great Pacificator," came forward in January, 1850, with a compromise measure which he urged with all his promise de energies, and which was carried into effect seven months bate (1850) later. He declared, "No earthly power could induce me to vote for a specific measure for the introduction of slavery where it had not before existed"; but he be lieved that New Mexico and California were already free by Mexican law; and therefore that the North might safely accept his plan. Congressional Globe, 1849-1850, p. 279 The Compromise of 1850 was really made possible by Daniel Webster, as leader of the "Cotton," or commercial, Whigs of the North. In his famous "Seventh of March Speech," he argued that the North had not done its duty to the South, and was putting the Union in danger by refusing a fair compromise. As for slavery in New Mexico, he was sure that it could never be profitable there, and he summed up his principles in the striking phrase, “I would not take pains to reaffirm an ordinance of nature nor to reenact the will of God." Contemporaries, IV. 53 Congres Perhaps there was some danger to the Union: the Virginia legislature voted for "determined resistance at all hazards"; and a convention was called to meet at Nashville to discuss the question of separation. Robert Toombs of sional Globe, Georgia declared in open Congress, "I do not hesitate to avow . . . in the presence of the living God, that if you seek to drive us from . . . California. 1849-1850, p. 28 ... I am for disunion." In milder terms John C. Calhoun, in the last speech of his life, argued against a compromise, because the Johnston, Northern senators like Salmon P. Chase of Ohio scouted the idea that the Union was in danger, and denounced any compromise. They looked on Webster as a man who had always been opposed to slavery but was now betraying his own section, in hope of getting southern support for the presidency. adopted President Taylor, who was under the influence of Senator William H. Seward of New York, leader of the "Conscience Whigs," refused to favor Clay's compromise; but he 320. The died suddenly in July, 1850, and Vice-President Fillmore compromise became President, and signed in succession the five bills (1850) into which the Clay Compromise had been divided. They refer to territory not included in the Compromise of 1820. (1) By the first bill New Mexico was organized as a territory comprising lands on both sides of the Rio Grande, but Texas received $10,000,000 as indemnity for accepting her present limits; the real issue of slavery was carefully avoided by providing (a) that "the Constitution and all laws which are not locally inapplicable" should apply to New Mexico; (b) that no citizen of the United States should be deprived of his "life, liberty, or property except by the judg ment of his peers and the law of the land"; (c) that when admitted as a state "the said Territory . . . shall be admitted into the Union, with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of admission." This was a tacit permission to hold slaves while it remained a territory. (2) The next bill admitted California as a free state. (3) The |