To please the North, he proposed, first, that California should be admitted as a free state; second, that the slave trade--that is, the buying and selling of slaves--should be abolished in the District of Columbia. To please the South, he proposed, third, that there should be a new and very stringent fugitive-slave law; fourth, that New Mexico and Utah should be made territories without reference to slavery--that is, the people should make them free or slave, as they pleased. This was called "popular sovereignty" or "squatter sovereignty." Fifth, that as Texas claimed so much of New Mexico as was east of the Rio Grande, she should give up her claim and be paid money for so doing. %380. Clay, Calhoun, Seward, and Webster on the Compromise.%--The debate on the compromise was a great one. Clay's defense of his plan was one of the finest speeches he ever made.[1] Calhoun, who was too feeble to speak, had his argument read by another senator. Webster, on the "7th of March," made the famous speech which still bears that name. In it he denounced the abolitionists and defended the compromise, because, he said, slavery could not exist in such an arid country as New Mexico. William H. Seward of New York spoke for the Free-soilers and denounced all compromise, and declared that the territories were free not only by the Constitution, but by a "higher law" than the Constitution, the law of justice and humanity.[2] [Footnote 1: Henry Clay's _Works_, Vol. II., pp. 602-634.] [Footnote 2: Johnston's _American Orations_, Vol. II., pp. 123-219, for the speeches of Calhoun, Webster, and Clay.] After these great speeches were made, Clay's plan was sent to a committee of thirteen, from which came seven recommendations: 1. The consideration of the admission of any new state or states formed out of Texas to be postponed till they present themselves for admission. 2. California to be admitted as a free state. 3. Territorial governments without the Wilmot Proviso to be established in New Mexico and Utah. 4. The combination of No. 2 and No. 3 in one bill. 5. The establishment of the present northern and western boundary of Texas. In return for ceding her claims to New Mexico, Texas to receive $10,000,000. This last provision to be inserted in the bill provided for in No. 4. 6. A new and stringent fugitive-slave law. 7. Abolition of the slave trade, but not of slavery, in the District of Columbia. Three bills to carry out these recommendations were presented: 1. The first bill provided for (a) the admission of California as a free state; (b) territorial governments for New Mexico and Utah without any _restriction_ on slavery; (c) the present northern and western boundary for Texas, with a gift of money. President Taylor nicknamed this "the Omnibus Bill," because of its many provisions. 2. The second bill prohibited the slave trade, but not slavery, in the District of Columbia. 3. The third provided for the capture and delivery of fugitive-slaves.