ready to vote for the admission of California separately and immediately. He “did not think it right” that this admission should be confounded or combined with other things. He did not even think that the different resolutions he had offered should be referred to one committee. It was his plan, he said, that they should be acted upon one by one. From this position he gradually drifted away, moved by the pressure brought upon him by Southern men, who insisted that the admission of California as a Free State, uncoupled with other measures, would be highly offensive to the South, and might lead to the immediate dissolution of the Union; in any event, it would meet with bitter, perhaps unconquerable, opposition. By April 5 Clay was so far staggered that he thought the coupling of the admission of California with provisions for territorial governments, and for the adjustment of the Texas boundary, would not be improper; and soon afterwards he found the combination not only desirable, but necessary for harmony and peace. To the objection that to make the admission of California dependent upon extraneous conditions would be an indignity to the state, he replied that California should be proud of the opportunity to contribute to the pacification of the country by a little patience on her part.
In accordance with this idea, the first of the bills reported by the committee provided for the admission of California, the organization of territorial governments for New Mexico and Utah
