Senator Gwin of California hints in the Senate that his state could join the South if the Union breaks up

Senator William M. Gwin of California said in the U.S. Senate Chamber that  "I believe that the slave-holding states of this confederacy can establish a separate and independent government that will lie impregnable to the assaults of all foreign enemies" and that that if the southern states went out of the union "California would be found with the south."  He erased these remarks from the official record, however, fearing political damage at home. (By John Osborne)