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Show B t he Whig~, so far as respects the peroonal fitness nnd personal chnrncter of Gen. Taylor, and the c ircumstnncee which have caused h1s nommat1on .. Now, fellow c itize ns, if we were weighing the propriety of nomin at1~g s uch a person to the Presidency, it would be on~ thing; if we are COJ~SJd• e ring the expediency, or I may say the necessity, (wh1c h to some ma~ds may seem to Ue the c ase,) of well meaning nnd pat~iotic Whigs supportmg him afte r he is nominated, that is quite another thmg. And that le ads to the conside ration of what the Whig~ of Massac husetts nre to do, or such o f the m as do not see fit to support Gen. Tnylor. Of course they must vot_e for Gen. Cass; or they must vote for Mr. Van Duren ; or they must om1t to vote at all. I agree that there are cases in which, if we do not k nO\~ in what direc· tion to move, we ought to stand still till we do. I adrn1t t hat there are c ases in which, if one does not know what to do, he had better not do he knows not what. But on a question so important to ourse l\'t:a and the country ; on a question of a popular election und~r Constitutional fon~s iu which it is impossible that every man'!S private JUdg~ent can pr~vali.' or -ev~ry man's private c hoice !Succeed, it becomes a quest1on of conscJentJous duty and patriotism, what it is best to do upon the. wh? le. A n~ ~hat leads to the con:siderations which should influence W h1gs, m my op1111011, upon the question now before us. . . . Under the practic al administration of the ConstitutiOn of the Umted States, there cannot be a great range of personal c hoice i·n regard to .the candidate for the Pres idency. In ord er thnt their votes may be e tfect1ve, men must give them for some one .of those who are prominently before the public. This is the necessary result of our forms of governm?nt, and from the provisions of the Constitution And it does, therefore, brmg men sometimes to the necessity of choosing between candidates, ne ither of whom would be the ir orig inal , personal c ho ice. Now, what is thP- cont intre ncy? What is the ulternat i\'e presented to the 'Vhigs of Massachusettst In my judgment, fe llow c it izens, it is me rel.Y Qne: the question is between Ge n. Taylor and Gen. Cass. And that IS the only question. [Great sensation.] . I am no more s killed to fore!See political occurrences than others. I JUdge o nly for myself. But, in my opinion, there is not the least probability of any other result than the choice of Gen. T aylor or Gen. Cass. I know that the enthus iasm of a new-formed party, that the popularity o f a new-formed name, wit hout communicating any new-formed idea, [Enthusiasm] may lead men to think that the s l<y is to fall, and that larks ore sudde nly to be taken. I entertain no such expectat ions. 1 speak without disre~pect of the Free Soil Party. I have read the ir platform, an? though l think the re are some unsound place!S in it, I can stand on ~t pretty well. But I see nothing in it both new and valuable. What IS valuable is not new, and what is new is not valuable. If the term of Free Soil party, or Free Soil men, designate those who are fixed, and unalterably fixed, in favor of the restriction of slavery, are so to d ay and were so yesterday, nnd ha\'C been so for some t ime, [Laug!tter] then I hold myself to be as good a Free Soil nt<~n a.s any of the Buffalo Con\'ention. \bfuclt clapping.] I pray to know who IS to put heneath my feet a freer soi than that upon which J ha\'C stood ever si nce I have been in public life 1 I pray to know who is to make my lips freer than they always have been, or to inspire into my breast a more resol ute and fixed determination to resist the advances and encroachme nts of the slave power 9 than ~as inhabited it s ince I , for the first time, opened my mouth in the co~nc1ls of the country? [Great excitl'mtnt.] fhe gentlemen at Buffalo have placed at the head of their party, Mr. Vau B~ren , a geutl~ma n for whom I have all the respect that 1 should en te~ta u.l for one with whom I have been associated, in some degree, in publtc life for many years, and who hns he ld the hifThest oflices in the ~ou ntry. llut really, speak ing for myself, if 1 were to0 express confidence m. Mr. Van llu.ren and his polit ics on any question, and most especially tht~ very q.uestlon of sl ave~y, J t hin!< the scene would border upon the ludic rous, tf not upon the contemptible. I never propose~ anything in my life, of a general nnd public nature, that Mr. yan Duren dtd not oppose: Nor has it happened to me to support any Important measure thjtt he chd propose. And if he and I now were to find ourselves togethe r under the li'ree Soil flag, I am sure, that with his ~ccustomed good nature, he \\10~ld laugh. [L auglttcr.] If nobody were present, we should both laugh [we~ eased lau::fltet· from tlte audi, 1ce] at the strange oc~u rrences and stranger Jumbles of political l ife, that should have broug ht h.un an? me to sit down cosily :md snugly, side by s ide, on the same platlorm. fhat the lender of the Free Spoil party should , 0 suddenly have b ecome the leader of the F ree Soil party, would be a joke to shake his s1des and mme. Gentlemen, my ~rst a~uain tance in public life with Mr. Vnn Buren wns when he .was pressmg w1th great power, the e lection of Mr. Crawford to the Pres1dency, against Mr. Adams. Mr. Crawford was not elected and Mr. Adams .w.as. .Mr. Van Bur.en was in t.he Senate nearly the \~hole of t hat AdmmJstratJon ; and d un ng the remainder of it, he was Governor of t he S tate of New York. And it is notorious, that he was the soul and ceut.re, throughout. t he whole of Mr. Adams's term, of t he opposition made to h1.rn. And he dtd more to prevent,l\1r. Adams1s election in 1828, and to obtam Gen. J ackson's election, than any other man , yes, than any ten other men. Gen. J ackson was c hosen. Mr. Van Buren was appointed his Secretary of S tate. It so happened t hat in J uly, l t'l2U,. J\I'r. McLane went to England to arr.mg~ the controverted, difficult and d1sputed point on the subject of t he colonial trade. Mr. A dams had held a high tone on that subject. H e had d~m anded , ns a rec1proctty and a right, the introduction of our pro-. d.ucts Into all ,ra.rts of the Brit ish te~ritory, freely, in our own \·essels, smce Great Bnta lfl was allowed to brmg her produce into t he United s.tates. U(lOil t~e ~a me terms. Mr. Adams placed th is upon terms of rec~ pr~CJ.ty an~ JUSt ice. Great Britain would not yield. 1\l r. Van .Buren, in h1s Jnt'truc tions to Mr. McLane, told him to yield t hat question of rioht and the n went on t? say, that the admin istration in wh ich he was Se~re~ tary of ~ta t~, that IS Gen. J ackson's, oug ht not to be debarred in England b~ ~he Engl1:sh govern.ment from the e njoyment of that which he was Willi~~ to ~all not a n ght, but a boon, or a privilege. Gen. J tJC I,son's ad.mmlstr.atJon: l1e said , ought not to be refused that, on account of the mtsbehavwr o l Mr. Adams's admini:5tration. That is the sum and sub-stance of the instruction. ' Veil, gentlemen, it was onP. of t he most painful duties of my life on account of .this, to refuse my assent to .Mr. Van Duren's nomination.' lt was .n?\'el. ~ n our history, when . an a.dl.ninistration changes, for the new ;dmtnJstratton to seek to obtam pnv1leges on the assertion thnt they lave n~andoned the ground of t heir predecessors. I suppose that such u course IS holden to be altogether undignified, by all public men. When 1 |