OCR Text |
Show 12 the South thought that the accomplishment of the annexation of Texas might be more ~Safely intrusted L<;t Southern hands. '\\ie t.tll know that the Northern portion of the Democrutic party we re friendly to Mr. Van Buren. Our neighbor8 from New llarnpshire, and l\laine, and elsewhere, were Van Buren tneu. But the momeut it was a:3certained tbat Mr. Polk was the favorite of the South and the favorite of the South upon the ground that I have mentioned, ns a' man more cert11in to bring about the annexation of T exas thrrn Mr. Van Buren, these friends of Mr. Van Buren in the North all "caved in ;" not a man of them stood. Mr. Van Buren himself wrote a letter very complimentary to Mr. Polk and .Mr. Dallas, and found no fault with the nomination. NO\'r', gentlemen, if they were " dough faces" who voted for the Missou ri Compromise, what epithet shall describe these men, here in .our New England, who were so ready, not only to change or abandon hun whom they most cordially wished to support, but did so in order to make more sure the annexation of T exas. They nominated Mr. Polk at the request of gentlemen ·of the South, and voted for him, through thick and Lhiu, till the work was accomplushed, and Mr. Polk elected. For my part, I think ~hat 11 dough faces" is an epithet not ~uffi ciently reproachful. Now, I thmk, suc h persons are dough faces, with dough heads, and dough hearts, and dough souls; [ Slwuls of laug!tter] that they are all dough ; that the coarsest potter may mould them to vessels of honor or dishonor,-most readily to vessels of dishonor. Now, what do we see! R epentance has gone far. There ar~ among these very people, these very gentlemen, persons who espouse, With great zeal the interests of the Free Soil party. I hope their repentance is as sincere as it appears to be. I hope it is honest conviction , oud not merely a new chance for power, under n new name and a new party. But, with :all their pretensions, and with all their patriotism, I see dough still sticking on some of their cheeks. A ncl the refore I have no confit.lencc, not a particle. I do not mean to say, that the great mass of the people, especially those who went to that Convention from this State, have not the highest and purest motives. I think they act unwisely, but I acquit them of dishonest intentions. But with' respect to others, and those who ha\'e been part and parcel, those who have brought slavery into this Union, I distrust them all. If they repent, let them, before we trust them, do works worthy of repe ntance. I have said, gentlemen, that in my opinion, if it were desirable to place Mr. Van Buren nt the head of Government, there is no chance for him. Others are as good judges as I am. But I am not able to say that I see any State in the Union in which there is a reasonable probability that he will get the vote. There may be. Others are more ve rsed in such statistics than l nm. But I see none, and there fore I think that the issue is reduced exactly to be between Gen. Cass and Gen. Taylor. You may rcmCmber, that in the discussions of IR44, when Mr. Birney was drawing off votes from the Whig candidate, I said that every vote for Mr. Birney was half a vote for Mr. Polk. Is it not true that the Liberty vote abstracted from Mr. Clay's vote in the State of New York, made Mr. Polk President 1 That is as clenr as any historical fact. And in my judgme nt, it will he so now. I consider every \Vhig vote given to Mr. Van Buren, directly aiding the election of Mr. Cass. !\lark, I say, Wltig \'Ole. Now there may be States in which Mr. Van Bure.n m~y draw from the other side largely. But I speak of .Whig votes, 111 tins 13 Stnte and in any State. And I am of opinion that any such vote given to Mr. Van Buren, inures for Gen. Cass. Now as to Geu. Cass, gentlemen. We need not go to the Baltimore platfi,rm to instruct ourselves as to what his politics are, or how he will conduct the Government. Gen. Cnss will go into the Governn1e11t, if at a ll, by the snme party that elected Mr. Polk; and he will "follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor.'' tLaug!tt eL] 1 hold him, I confess, in the present state of the country, to be the most fla ngerous man in whom the powers of the executive Chief Magistracy could well be placed . He would consider himself not as conservative, not as protecli\·e to present inst itutions, but as belonging to the party of the Progrcs~. He believes in the doctrine of American destiny; and that that destiny is to go through wars, and invasions, and maintain vast armies, to establ ish a great, powerful, domineering government over all this contine nt. \Ve know thnt if Mr. Cass could have prevented it, the treaty with England in 1842 wou ld not have been made; we know ihat if Mr. Cass coulrl ha\'C prevented it , the settlement of the Oregon question would not have been accomplished in 1846. We know that Gen. Cass could have prevented the Mexican wnr; and we know that he was first and foremost in pressing that war. We know that he is a man of talent, of ability, of some celebrity as a statesman , in every way superior to his predecessor, if he should be the successor of Mr. Polk. But I think him a man of rash politics, pushed on by a rash party, and committed to a course of policy, as I believe, not in consistency with the happiness and security of the country. Therefore it is for you, and for me, and for all of u~, Whigs, to consider, whether in th is state of the case we can, or cannot, we wi ll, or will not, give our votes for the \ ·Vhig nomination. I leave that to every man's conscience, I have ende<n·ored to state the c;tse a~ it presents itself to me. Gentlemen, before Gen. T <ty lor's nomination, I str1ted alwnys, when the subject wn:; me ntioned by my friends, thnt I did not and could not recommend the nomination of a military man to the people of the United States, for the oflice of President. It was against my conviction of what was due to the hest interests of the country, and to the character of the republic. I stated alway~, at the same time, that if Gen. Taylor should be nominated by the Whig convention, f<t irly, I should not oppose his e lection. I stand now upon the same declaration. Gen. Taylor has been nominated fairly, as far as I know, and I cannot, therefore, and shall not, oppose his election. At the same time, there is no mnn who is more firmly of opinion that such a nomination W<tS not fit to he made. But the declaration, that I would not oppose Gen. Taylor, if nominated by the Whig party, was of course, subject, in the nature of things, to some exceptions. 1f I believed him to be a man who would plunge the country into further wars for any purpose of ambition or conquest, I would oppose him, Jet him be nominated by whom he mig ht. If I believed that he was a man who would exert his official influence for the further extension of the slave powe r, I would oppose him, let him be nominated by whom he might. But I do not believe either. [Applou!'e.] I belie \'e that he has been , from the first, opposed to the policy of the Mexican war, as improper, impolitic and inexpedient. I bel ieve from the best inform:1tion I can obtain, and you will tnke this as my opinion, gentlemen, I believe, from the best information I can obtain, thnt he has no disposition to go to war, or to increase the limits of slavery to form new States. 2 |