240 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



product in the markets of the world. Professor Sil- 

 liman, though never a partisan, had acted with the 

 Whigs, and with them had resisted the further ex- 

 tension of slavery, and the schemes for obtaining new 

 territory on which slavery might plant itself. But 

 he was ardently attached to the union of the States, 

 and was ready to go as far in the path of concession 

 as he could go without the sacrifice of principle or 

 the public welfare. In the hope of appeasing strife, 

 he supported Mr. Webster in his assent to the so- 

 called compromise measures of 1850. He was wil- 

 ling to believe, with that statesman, that the physi- 

 cal character of the country would keep slavery out 

 of the territory of New Mexico ; he considered the 

 admission of California a substantial advantage to 

 the cause of freedom ; and, much as he disapproved 

 of various features of the Fugitive Slave Law, he 

 believed that some law designed to secure the 

 rendition of slaves was imperatively required by the 

 terms of the Constitution. So far, whether wisely 

 or unwisely, he consented to go. But when, in 

 1854, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, forever pro- 

 hibiting slavery in States to be formed north of lat- 

 tude 36 30', the solemn stipulation on which 

 Missouri, a slave State, had been received into the 

 Union, was annulled by act of Congress, he felt 

 that further concession to the demands of the South 

 would be thrown away, and that agreements made 

 by the Slave Power were no longer to be trusted. 

 Thenceforward he deemed it his duty to join his fel- 

 low-citizens in withstanding every attempt to en- 

 hance the already alarming influence of the slave- 

 holding interest in the government of the country. 



