Nothing remained but to determine how much the South would get from their victory, and how hard a bargain they could drive.

The admission of California was no more of a concession than a resolution not to introduce slavery in Massachusetts would have been.

All the rest of the compromise plan, with the single exception of the prohibition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, was made up of concessions to the Southern and slave-holding interest.

That Henry Clay should have originated and advocated this scheme was perfectly natural.

However wrong or mistaken, this had been his steady and unbroken policy from the outset, as the best method of preserving the Union and advancing the cause of nationality.