Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/290

* COMPROMISE MEASURES. 242 COMPURGATION. slavery in the statutes organizing such govern- ments. One pliase of this controversy ended with President Polk's approval, August 14, 1848, of a bill providing for the erection of territorial government in Oregon with a prohibition against slavery. With reference to the territory ac- quired from jMexieo, the problem was compli- cated b}' the fact that !Me.Kico had abolished slavery in lier dominions, by the question whether the line of the ^lissouri Compromise (q.v. ) extended to the Pacific, and also by the question whellicr Congress might admit into the Union a State which had not j)assed through the Territorial stage of organization. The necessity of an early decision was emphasized by the sud- den peopling of much of this territory, incident to the discovery of gold. I'nder such circum- stances Henry Clay offered in the Senate, on January 29, 1850, a general scheme of adjust- ment, which provided: that California should be admitted as a State with no restriction as to slavery: that Territorial governments should be created in the other portions of the Mexican cession without reference to slavery: that trad- ing within the District of Columbia in slaves brought there for purpose of sale shoild be for- bidden; that there should be a more stringent fugitive-slave law: and that Texas should re- lease all claims on Xew Mexico in return for the assumption by the National Govenuuent of the old Texan debt. These proposals were at- tacked both bv the Southern friends of slavery and by the more extreme anti-slavery element at the North. After seveial weeks of heated debate, including the last speech of ]Mr. Calhoun (q.v.) and the famous Seventh of March s]ieecli of !Mr. Webster (q.v.), the whole matter was referred to a committee of thirteen, from Ahich connnit- tee, on May 8, ifr. Clay reported three bills. The first provided, in addition t« details as to the debt and boundary of Texas, for the admission of California with its anti-slavery Constitution, and for the Territorial organization of Utah and New ^lexico in such form that slavery should be allowed in those Territories. The second bill provided for a modified fugitive-slave law. The third bill provided for the abolition of the slave- trade in the District of Columbia. Tliree months even then were occupied with animated and pro- tracted discussions, Avith the result that the whole scheme of compromise seemed to have proved a failure. !Mr. Fillmore, however, hav- ing succeeded to the Presidency upon the death in July of President Taylor, adopted a policy more favorable than had his predecessor to the measures proposed, with the result that prac- tically the whole of Clay's plan eventually be- came law, although divided into several statutes. The Senate passed the bill for the organization of Utah on August 1. that concerning Texas on August 9, that for the admission of California on August 1.3. that concerning Xew Mexico on August 15, the new fugitive-slave law on August 26, and, finally, the law prohibiting the slave- trade in the District of Columbia on September 16. Before the end of September, all these bills had passed the House and had been signed by the President. The arrangement thus effected was accepted by both parties in the campaign of 18.52, in the 'finality' planks of their platforms, and the slavery question was generally regarded as settled. The quiet was broken abniptly, how- ever, and the whole controversy renewed with in- creased bitterness when Steplien A. Douglas "(q.v.) introduced his bill for the organization, in 1854, of Kansas and Nebraska, and thus pre- cipitated the battle anew both on the fields of Kansas and in the halls of Congress. In the first vohmie of Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of ISoO (new ed. Xew York, 1901), a careful review is given of all the circumstances connected with this famous compromise, including sketches of the chief participants in the debates. A shorter review of the situation is given in the fifth vol- ume of Schouler, History of the United States Under the Constitution (Washington, 1889). The lives of statesmen of the jjeriod should also be consulted. See Slavery. COMPTOM'ETER. See C.vlculatixg Ma- CIUNE.S. COMPTON, Hexry (1632-1713). An Angli- can bishop of Oxford (1674) and of London (1675). He was born at Compton Wyugates, and was educated at Oxford. He was the tutor of the daughters of James II., Mary and .Vnne, who through his teachings became attached to the Protestant faith. In 1686. at the instigation of James, he was suspended by the high court of ecclesiastical commission from further exer- cises of episcopal functions, on the alleged ground of having ])ermitted the ])reaching of controversial senuons within his dioceses. This suspension was reversed in 1688. Compton steadfastly held to the Protestant faith, and he crowned William III. He presided over the Upper House of Convocation in 1689, and as- sisted in the revision of the liturgy. COMPTROLLER, or CONTROLLER (OF. contreroleur. Fr. controteur. from ML. conlraro- tulator. keeper of a check roll). An officer who keeps financial accounts, or sees that they are jiroperly kept and audited. In the United States Treasury Department the Comptroller of the Treasury supervises and reviews the actions of the various auditors of the Treasury, upon ap- peal: advises the heads of departments as to constructions of laws : and countersigns all war- rants of the Secretary of the Treasury. The Comptroller of the Currency has charge of the execution of the laws relating to the issue and regulation of the national currency, secured by United States bonds: and has a general super- vision of the national lianks. State and munici- pal comptrollers in the United States have duties similar to those of the Federal officials. COMPULSION. See CoERCIO^-; Duress. COMPURGATION (Lat. eompurpafio, puri- fication, from coinj'urriare, to purify, from eom-, together + pnrqare, to purge, from piirns. pure + afirrr, to perform). An ancient method of proof in legal proceedings. It consisted in the purgation, that is, the j^urging or clearing, of a defendant by the sworn oaths of a certain num- ber of persons who knew him. The procedure was singular in this, that the witnesses swore, not to their knowledge of the fact in issue, but to their faith in the defendant. The importance of the practice consists 'in the fact that it was a device of primitive law for mitigating the harshness of ordinary legal procedure. Thus, if the issue was one that would ordinarily sub- ject the defendant to trial by battle or the horrors and uncertainties of the ordeal, he was