“6. More effectual enactments of law to secure the prompt delivery of persons bound to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, who escape into another State; and
“7. Abstaining from abolishing slavery, but, under a heavy penalty, prohibiting the slave-trade, in the District of Columbia.”
The “pecuniary equivalent” spoken of in this report to be given to Texas for her claim on the Territory of New Mexico, was rendered by the House and concurred in by the Senate, $10,000,000. And, yet, Texas never had the least shadow of a claim on said Territory. It was first obtained from Mexico by the arms of the United States and afterwards paid for by her money. Slavery gained by this Compromise not only the vast region of Texas and ten million dollars, but the continuance of its existence in the District of Columbia, more stringent laws for slave-catching, the territories of New Mexico and Utah opened to its grasp by the newly ordained doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, and a basis by which to uproot the Sacred Compromise of 1820. What a monstrous Compromise! And, yet, the North made these reluctant concessions, to still agitation, to escape the threat of disunion by satisfying the craving demands of the South.
