ber 6 the Texas and New Mexico bill, with the Boyd
amendment, passed by a vote of 108 to 97--and the anti-restrictionists,
as Mr. Stephens said, won the day at last. This was the great compromise
of that year, and the point established was that, since the principle of
division of territory between the North and South had been abandoned,
the principle of congressional restriction should also be abandoned, and
that all new States, whether north or south of 36 deg. 30', should be
admitted into the Union "either with or without slavery as their
constitution might prescribe at the time of their admission."

During this memorable contest Mr. Toombs was in active consultation with
Northern statesmen, trying to effect the compromise. He insisted that
there should be no congressional exclusion of slavery from the public
domain, but that in organizing territorial governments the people should
be allowed to authorize or restrict, as they pleased. Until these
principles were settled, however, he would fight the admission of
California. Into this conference Mr. Stephens and Howell Cobb were
admitted, and at a meeting at the house of the latter an agreement was
reached between the three Georgians and the representatives from
Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois, that California should be admitted: that
the Territories should be organized without restriction, and that their
joint efforts should be used to bring this about as well as to defeat
any attempt to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. Here was the
essence of the compromise, built upon the great measures of Henry Clay,
and finally ripening into the legislation of that session. Here was the
agreement of that compact which formed the great "Constitutional Union
Party" in Georgia, and which erected a bulwark against disunion, not
only in Georgia, but on the whole Southern seaboard. The disunion
movement failed in 1850. "At the head of the States which had the merit
of stopping it," said Thomas H. Benton, "was Georgia, the greatest of
the South Atlantic States." And that Georgia stood steadfast in her
place, and declined every overture for secession, was because of the
united prestige and splendid abilities of Howell Cobb, Alexander H.
Stephens, and Robert Toombs.

* * * * *

During this stormy session Mr. Toombs' heart continually yearned for
home. He was a model husband and a remarkable domestic character. The
fiery scenes of the forum did not we