Even the “omnibus bill” was a failure, and it seemed probable that no legislation on the subject would be secured. Then came the elevation of Fillmore to the presidency through Taylor's death, and after that Congress passed four separate bills, which Fillmore signed. The first of these admitted California as a free State. The second adjusted the Texas boundary, giving the State $10,000,000 as an indemnity, and also organized New Mexico as a Territory, the State or States formed from which should be admitted “with or without slavery, as their constitutions may prescribe.” The third bill amended the fugitive slave law of 1793 by providing new machinery for the capture of such slaves, and imposing a fine not exceeding $1,000 and imprisonment for not more than six months on any one who obstructed the enforcement of the law, or concealed a fugitive. A fourth bill forbade the traffic in slaves in the District of Columbia.
The Tribune realized at once that the
